· July, 2008

Stories about Environment from July, 2008

South Africa: Introducing Carbon Tax

  30 July 2008

Carbon tax on the cards in South Africa, “The National Treasury is investigating the introduction of a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions as part of South Africa’s voluntary commitment to climate change mitigation – government speak for…”

Barbados, Venezuela: Staking a Claim

  30 July 2008

Notes From The Margin is monitoring the “strident” tone of an article in the Venezuelan media which deals with the South American country's claim of Barbados’ waters: “Barbados has little reason to take on Venezuela’s claims other than Venezuela has the means to aggressively enforce its claims on the area...

Arabeyes: Head Over Heels for Muhannad

A strange phenomenon has gripped the Arab world and Arabs seem to agree on something. It is an infatuation with a Turkish soap opera, dubbed in Arabic, and its stunning star Muhanned (played by Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ), whose romantic trysts are beamed on television screens across the region. The obsession of some people with the soap has also prompted the Grand Mufti of the Islamic world, Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh, from Saudi Arabia, to issue a fatwa (religious edict) banning the drama, saying watching it is Haram (a sin).

Morocco: Rural Life

PRÈS DU PUITS, a French transplant to rural Morocco, blogs about ten things that would make her family's life in Ouled Mgatel, a village outside of Fez, easier. The list includes a DSL connection and rainwater tanks.

Trinidad & Tobago: Flambeaux

  28 July 2008

Trinidadian blogger Attillah Springer takes a walk through the Croisee a few days after a known drug dealer is killed: “The flambeaux extend much further than you would expect. Love and fear are strange bedfellows so you’re not sure if they do it because they know him and care or...

Jamaica, India: Signs of the Times

  28 July 2008

The recent bombings in India trigger Jamaican blogger Annie Paul‘s memory about “one piece of graffiti by a Muslim group that had struck me with the simple force and stridency of its message.” In examining the many murals around Kingston, she wonders if “the signs are on the walls.”

Ukraine: Iraqi Scientists Trained in Pripyat

Chernobyl and Eastern Europe writes that “three Texas Tech professors and their graduate students trained 27 Iraqi scientists about processes needed to clean up radioactive debris” this past June in Pripyat: “Well, that’s an interesting use of Pripyat – train Iraqis on radiation clean up techniques in a city that...