Environtmental and Global Health

Archive for the ‘Global’ Category

The green bricks are another alternative to have a less polluted and more sustainable use of resources, without sacrificing quality.

What are the green brick?

The green bricks are brick built with materials that do not degrade the environment, and the manufacture is also friendly with this, compared to normal bricks and materials whose manufacture is not as innocuous.

The green bricks have qualities similar to those traditionally used for building houses. Therefore, its use does not result in loss of quality because, like most organic products, are more evidence that traditional viability. The bio is in no way conflict with a comfortable house, nice and safe. Read the rest of this entry »

Activities reducing emissions from greenhouse gases-GHG-, usually known as mitigation, these cover a range of measures, policies and technologies implemented in the different sectors of the economy and human activity in general, resulting in a fewer tons of GHG released into the atmosphere, either by reducing the increase in emissions or increasing terrestrial carbon storage as a result of the implementation of mitigation actions.

Currently there are a variety of activities to reduce GHG emissions applying to sectors such as energy, transportation, waste, agriculture, forestry and industry, which are linked to the development of international and national policies on climate change. Mitigation activities incorporate technological changes in production systems, efficient use of raw materials and fuels, fuel switching, avoiding GHG emissions from different sources, and the expansion, protection and conservation of forest ecosystems. Additional mitigation measures are conceived as complementary to the objectives of a country’s development, which can strengthen social programs, economic and environmental.

Below are the mitigation options proposed by the sectoral level Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-IPCC-:

Energy efficiency improvements to the transport sector,
industry and energy supply.
Replacement fuels in the transport sector and
as use of alternative energy.
Expansion of forest management and protection to existing ones.
Bioenergy production from agricultural residues and new crops.
Husbandry associated with higher quality pasture
nutrition and cultivation of trees.
Waste management associated with the recovery of methane,
and recycling.
Some of the above activities can be geared to the market in certificates of emission reduction (CER’s) under the Clean Development Mechanism-CDM, the Kyoto Protocol, which allows the participation of the Annex I of the Framework Convention United Nations Climate Change to meet their emission reduction targets (for the first commitment period covering the period 2008 – 2012) with the participation of an Annex I country that has no emissions reduction commitments, such as the case of Colombia. These CER, s offset the emission reduction commitments made by Annex 1 countries and the country supplier of CERs, s will benefit from technology transfer, and implementation of practices that contribute to sustainable development.

To make projects under the CDM is a need for methodologies approved by the executive board of the mechanism for formulation, estimation of the amount of emission reductions generated by the project, assessment of environmental impacts, and consultation different actors and / or stakeholders. Just as the offeror’s national approval and have the validation and monitoring of an independent audit process that concludes with the issue of emissions reduction certificates CERs.

One of the pillars upon which modern science was built, starting in the second half of the sixteenth century, based on which attempted to show its superiority over other systems of knowledge of the world, was its high predictability, but this is not equal for biotechnology.

One of the pillars upon which modern science was built, starting in the second half of the sixteenth century, based on which attempted to show its superiority over other systems of knowledge of the world, was its high predictability.

Traditionally believed that science is the activity that has unquestioned ability to predict events in the various fields or levels of study. The basis of this thesis is to a large extent, the ontological reductionist conceptions important role played in modern philosophy.

According to this thesis, among others nominated by René Descartes (1596-1650), all bodies in the universe are composed of essential parts, the sum of which determines the properties of everything that these parts are homogeneous, independent of each other, that the effects produced are always preceded by the cause and effect of each one of them is a cause, only one, which is constant while conditions remain unchanged.

These theses have always had great acceptance among circles of scientists, philosophers, politicians and civil society, and classical mechanics is the paradigmatic example of corroboration of the validity of those theses, and with them, high predictive ability of the science. Classical mechanics deals with very simple systems, whose behavior can be predicted with great precision, such as the motion of a planet around the sun or of a billiard ball on the cloth. The variables involved in these systems are very few and can be managed comfortably.

But with the development of life sciences has shown that science can not always be predictive showing in classical mechanics. In living systems the quantity and quality of the variables are numerous and therefore so are the interactions between the constituent parts of these systems.

To complicate matters further, the constant interaction of each and every one of those variables with the external environment makes the ability to predict their behavior is restricted to simple aspects of their operation, but at the time they are integrated the cluster of interactions and relationships between the other parties of these with the whole and of all the parties, such predictive ability is greatly reduced.

This is found routinely in studies of ecology and evolutionary processes in which it is not possible to have a preview of what will happen to a living system, much less when it comes to long-term processes.

Although this has been shown every day, advocates of GM food production will have insisted on living systems implement a methodology for the classical mechanics, uncritically acting in response to complaints by opponents of the development of organisms genetically modified.

Thus, it is intended that if there are harmful effects of GMOs to human health or ecosystems in the short term, or are not “statistically significant”, it concludes that you can continue manufacturing and marketing. Escapes consider that genes may have cached information for generations and generations, and then you get to express, through combinations of genes are impossible to predict. Overlooked that there is always a unitary relationship of cause and effect relationship between a gene and its protein product, but a single gene can produce, in ways not fully understood, many features, or parts of them (known as ” pleiotropy “) or sometimes certain features can only be expressed if there is a specific combination of genes.

It further argues that in any case there is no completely safe technology and that, therefore, biotechnology can not be considered particularly dangerous.

Friends of the Earth has analyzed a range of foods on sale in supermarkets in search of unlabelled GM corn. Have been found contaminated products, like microwave popcorn or coloring for paella. Data from the Spanish Food Safety Agency (EASA) confirm that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are in our diet without consumers knowing it can not help it. Friends of the Earth demands respect for the right to a healthy, safe and free from GMOs.
The legislation requires that if a food contains genetically modified, this information appears on the label. However, contamination is tolerated up to 0.9% in each ingredient without which the consumer has to be informed, in practice allowing GMOs to enter into our diet without which we could avoid it.

Friends of the Earth has discussed various foods with corn as main ingredient, not labeled as GM. Three of these products containing GMOs [1]. Data from the AESA analysis performed periodically to corn and soy products show that in the years 2004 and 2005, between 15 and 17% of food tested contained GMOs. These products are not identified as GM, including baby food and baby milk, yoghurts, ready meals and meat products [2].

David Sanchez, Head of Agriculture and Food Friends of the Earth said: “The law does not allow consumers to exercise our right not to eat GM. Despite the social rejection of these foods are coming into our diet without us being informed. “

The origin of this widespread presence of GMOs in food products is explained by the conditions under which GM maize is grown in Spain since 1998 and imports of GM soya. The lack of transparency and the absence of actual control information and prevent farmers can avoid seeing their crops contaminated by GM maize or the separation between raw materials and conventional transgenic or ecological effective.

The uncertainties about the safety of GMOs to human health and the environment continue. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Elena Espinosa said in an interview to 20 Minutes on 12 February this year that GM: “Never have provided environmental impact studies or guarantees about the health of consumers.”

David Sanchez added: “GM in our country are beyond our control and contaminated food ends. Meanwhile, the maximum charge in Agriculture and Food acknowledges doubts about its safety. We can not afford to continue experimenting with our health and our environment. “

And we must not forget those critical resources, but often overlooked as resources because apparently “do not cost money” – which represent sinks (atmosphere, oceans, the land itself) that are diluted and sometimes neutralize pollutants result of human activity. And it is that we are also wasting resources, soils, oceans, air, saturated with pollutants.

Of particular concern is the fact that the oceans (which contain about 50 times more dissolved CO2 atmosphere) and as the Arctic permafrost soils are evolving, when temperature rises, sinks into sources of CO2 and methane, threatening a fatal increase the greenhouse effect (Pearce, 2007). Read the rest of this entry »

On the other hand, logging and fires are made, supposedly to have more fertile soil, but the result is a total breakdown after a very short time is what happens in the rainforests.

For example, Brazilian governments, in the early 80′s, encouraged the colonization of certain areas of tropical forest, with the supposed fertility of the soil able to grow so lush vegetation.

But shortly after having cut down and burned large areas, the fertile soil, very little thickness, had been swept away by not having the setting of trees and crops extraordinary first year fell dramatically. But it was too late to rectify and in those areas can not continue growing … not grow back the forest, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect. Read the rest of this entry »

The problems and imbalances and enhance each other, threatening the survival of the human species. A clear example of this is another essential tool in reverse: that of the forest. In the past 100 years the world has lost almost half its forest area. And, as indicated by reports of the FAO (Food and Agriculture) the Earth is losing on net every year 11.2 million hectares of virgin forest.

This is reportedly the World Wildlife Fund, mainly due to its use as an energy source (about 2000 million people worldwide depend on wood as fuel ) of agricultural and livestock expansion and mining and logging companies activities, often beyond control.

A report by the Brazilian government acknowledged in 1999 that 80% of the timber from the Amazon without a permit was obtained. And the tropical forest areas cleared in Africa correspond to species that take more than two hundred years to grow. One problem has been to add the deforestation that is causing Cotlan exploitation in Africa with great impact also on biodiversity. Read the rest of this entry »

Naturally it is difficult to predict precisely how long we can continue to have oil, coal or natural gas. The answer depends on the estimated reserves and the rate of global consumption. And both are subject to change: they are prospecting for new deposits and is even going to extract oil from fields that were long ago abandoned as unprofitable.

But the trends are becoming clearer, even the most optimistic can ignore that it is non-renewable fossil resources whose extraction is becoming increasingly expensive, resulting in a progressively more expensive oil, which has soared to an alarming after the invasion of Iraq. Read the rest of this entry »

We now face a serious problem of depletion of essential resources, despite the fact that most humans have little access to them. Depletion of resources has played a role in the collapse of past civilizations and now threatens to lead to the collapse of global society as a whole. It is possible, however, adopt measures leading to sustainable use of resources. Not all are simple measures, of course, but it is urgent to begin to implement, as claimed by the Worldwatch Institute, with “a mobilization and in times of war.”

The depletion of many resources vital to our species-a result of dilapidation or destruction, the result of predatory behavior consciously or unconsciously guided by the pursuit of private benefits in the short term is one of the most troubling problems of the current situation planetary emergencies (Brown, 1998; Folch, 1998). Read the rest of this entry »

5. Other toxic substances

Toxic substances are chemicals whose manufacture, processing, distribution, use and disposal are an unaffordable risk to human health and the environment. Most of these toxic substances are synthetic chemicals that enter the environment and persist there for long periods of time. In the dumps chemicals are produced significant concentrations of toxic substances.

If they are leaking into the soil or water, can pollute water, air, crops and domestic animals, and have been associated with human birth defects, abortions and organic diseases. Despite the known risks, the problem is not on track to settlement. Recently, it has produced over 4 million new synthetic chemicals in a period of fifteen years and create 500 to 1,000 new products over the years. Read the rest of this entry »