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Mallory Huizenga

"Costa Rica Aims to Be a Carbon-Neutral Nation" - 0 views

www.npr.org/...story.php

NPR CostaRica

shared by Mallory Huizenga on 29 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • It's announced it wants to be the first developing nation to be carbon-neutral; that is, to have zero output of carbon dioxide. It's goal is to be that by 2021.
  • A small regional air carrier called Nature Air advertises itself as the world's first carbon-neutral airline.
  • What if everything, every hotel room, every sack of coffee beans, every microprocessor made by Intel carried the C-neutral brand?
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  • Land owners think of cattle, agriculture or selling to a developer, and forest conservation is the last thing they think about. So we need to create an incentive so the property owner will conserve.
  • Saving trees is important. They're the lungs of the Earth. Costa Rica claims to have planted five million trees last year, although there's no proof how many of them survived, but that's not going to make this or any other country carbon-neutral.
  • New Zealand and Norway have also pledged to erase their carbon footprints
  • What if you don't become carbon neutral but become 90% carbon neutral? I think this still would be a great example to the world.
  • The big obstacle for all three countries is transportation.
  • I'm not against it, but I think it will be very difficult, because here our culture is not educated for such a thing.
  • Some Costa Ricans believe their government's goal of zero carbon emissions is a distraction from more pressing environmental problems. Illegal loggers are still hauling out old growth hardwoods.
  • , in 2005 Costa Rican plant life absorbed about two and a half million metric tons of CO2, but Costa Ricans produced five times that amount, about twelve and a half million metric tons of CO2
  • Or 80% carbon neutral, or 70%. People who work on global warming say considering the sluggish movement of most countries on climate change, Costa Rica's green crusade, however quixotic, should be applauded.
  • Mallory Huizenga on 29 Mar 11
     
    Research Journal #3: Article Two Research Question: How is ecological conservation effecting Costa Rica? Source: NPR: "Costa Rica Aims to Be a Carbon-Neutral Nation" by John Burnett Citation: Burnett, John. "Costa Rica Aims to Be a Carbon-Neutral Nation." Climate Connections. NPR, Feb. 2008. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. . Summary: This article is set up interview style. The author John Burnett, talks with different people about Costa Rica's goal to become carbon-neutral by 2021. Becoming carbon-neutral in a short amount of time isn't that easy. Other countries such as New Zealand and Norway also hope to become carbon-neutral, but have set their goal for a later date of 2050. This article focuses on the transportation, cattle ranching, trees, and the Costa Rican government. The article looks at what those areas are doing to bring Costa Rica to being carbon-neutral. The article does speak of how failure of reaching this goal is quite possible unless Costa Rica works hard to change its ways.  Reflection: I found this article intriguing because it brought forth the idea that Costa Rica could fail. Other articles I have read, don't talk about the possibility of failure. If Costa Rica takes the right steps, and works hard to change their ways I do believe they can become carbon-neutral. I hope that Costa Rica works hard to achieve this goal. They have strong potential. I think there willingness and their drive to become carbon-neutral will lead them to becoming carbon-neutral. Questions: 1) How far along is Costa Rica on their journey to becoming carbon-neutral? 2) How much is still need to be done for Costa Rica in the next 10 years? 3) How many other countries are striving to become carbon-neutral? 4) Is America looking at one day becoming carbon-neutral?
Kyleah Vander Klok

HIV/AIDS deepens food crisis in southern Africa. (News). - 0 views

find.galegroup.com/...infomark.do

zambia

shared by Kyleah Vander Klok on 10 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Severe food shortages in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe--and in parts of South Africa--are being worsened by HIV/AIDS. The disease is having "dramatic" effects on agriculture
  • Zambia have already declared their food shortages national disasters
  • households affected by HIV/ AIDS had a far lower yearly income (rand 13 000, i.e. USS 1300) than the unaffected households (rand 20 000 or USS 2000). HIV/AIDS-hit households spent more on medical care and hospital bills, transport and funerals, but less on housing and education.
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  • households met part of the cost of AIDS by selling their goats and chickens and taking their children out of school.
  • another study shows that by the time a person dies of AIDS, two person-years of labour have been lost--not only because of the incapacity of the patient, but because of the care that others have to provide, and because in many places people can't work during funerals
  • HIV/AIDS also impoverishes the household, so affected families are less able to buy food,
  • people are not fully aware of this, but HIV/AIDS has become a major part of the food crisis
  • Kyleah Vander Klok on 10 Mar 11
     
    HIV/AIDS deepens food crisis in southern Africa. (News). Walgate, Robert, and Kerry Cullinan. "HIV/AIDS deepens food crisis in southern Africa. (News)." Bulletin of the World Health Organization 80.8 (2002): 687. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=AONE&docId=A92081438&source=gale&srcprod=AONE&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0 2. Because of AIDS and other problems there are food shortages in Zambia and other countries. The costs of funeral are to high for families so they can barely live and with the money they do earn it is not enough to feed a family.  3. I did not expect that it would cause food shortages. I thought that it may cause people to not be able to buy food because of expenses but I did not think of the problems with not enough people to grow crops.  4. What would it be like to live in fear that family was going to die? would this kind of life desensitize the people living there to what is going on? How many family members are taken care of by one family member
Katie Feikema

Recycled roads. - 0 views

find.galegroup.com/gtx/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C14%29Transportation%3AAnd%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C10%29Costa+Rica%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28AC%2CNone%2C8%29fulltext%2

Transportation Costa Rica

shared by Katie Feikema on 11 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Recycled roads.(Out Of The Box)(Costa Rican portion of Pan-American Highway)(Brief Article). Latin Trade 11.9 (Sept 2003): p59(1). (149 words) 
  • The Pan-American Highway,
  • the jugular vein of road trade and tourism in the Americas. But decades of torrential rains have degraded the Costa Rican portion the highway, leaving a 240-kilometer strip in much need of rehabilitation.
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  • Traditional repair methods, such as repaving the entire strip of road, are expensive and time consuming.
  • Like a slow-moving train, the recycler heats old asphalt, combines it with new material, and lays it back out as a higher quality road.
  • Costa Rica is recycling its old road into a new one.
  • "The recycling technique we currently use in Costa Rica saves us about 30% in costs," says Steven Lee, the principal pavement engineer for Trow Engineering.
  • which is enforcing environmental consciousness to protect its tourism industry, especially liked the recycling method because it uses fewer resources than traditional repaving.
  • the Costa Rican government,
  • Source Citation"Recycled roads." Latin Trade 11.9 (2003): 59. Academic OneFile. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
  • Document URLhttp://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=AONE&docId=A109178276&source=gale&srcprod=AONE&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0
  • Katie Feikema on 11 Apr 11
     
    SOURCE: highlighted SUMMARY: This article is talking about the cost effective way that Costa Rica was approaching the re-construction of their portion of the Pan-American Highway. Instead of ripping it all up and using all new materials to build a new section; they recycled the road they had and added new asphalt to the mix. This saved them close to 30% on cost to repair.  REFLECTION: I have seen large chunks of old roads sitting in piles in junk yards, as I drove by on new roads. I like what Costa Rica is doing because it saves money by recycling, and it also saves time and space by not having to dispose of the old roads. I am not surprised by what they are doing, because they are such a green country already, and this is just another way to be an even better country.  QUESTIONS:  - Do they do this for their other roads, or just for the Pan-American? - Did other countries follow their lead and do this too?
William Leys

Due to flooding, the Australian Coal Production Loss $ 8, 3 Billion | Business Area - 0 views

businessarea.org/n-loss-8-3-billion-271523.html

Australia Flooding

shared by William Leys on 10 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • SIDNEY – Damage caused by flooding in Australia some time ago resulted in the loss of coal production is estimated at $ 8, 3 billion.
  • s previously projected. Heavy floods hit parts of Queensland in January, causing significant damage, among which is the cessation of mining production and the cessation of transportation infrastructure.
  • “It is estimated the lost coal production ranges between 20-30 million tonnes,” said the Australian Treasury Department was quoted as saying by the AFP on Sunday (03/04/2011). Previously the government has indeed been estimated that the floods which covers an area of ​​the country of France and Germany will cut its coal production of approximately 15 million tons in the first quarter of March.
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  • In addition to main economic impacts due to these disasters is the disruption of mining and coal exports. Another thing that affects the agriculture in several countries. “Rising prices for crops and livestock, leaving farmers to further increase the expenditures and strive to increase their capital,” said the Australian Treasury. Besides these two effects, the flood that killed more than 30 people also have an impact on the tourism industry. Tourism Australia is facing some problems.
  • William Leys on 10 Apr 11
     
    Research Question: What are the effects of the Australian Flooding? Summary: Continuing problems with coal have impacted Australia more than anticipated Reflection: Since the coal mines still have stagnant water in them, the process of procuring coal has stayed difficult and over-costly. Forcing coal prices to rise for the Australian-Asian market. Questions: Why were the original lost tonnage estimates by the Australian Government so off? Shouldn't they have had a better picture of the amount lost?
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