Stories about Environment from March, 2009
Jordan: Amman joins Earth Hour
Amman, Jordan, will turn off its lights for one hour on Saturday as part of Earth Hour, a worldwide initiative which urges people to turn off their lights for an hour on the 28th of every month, reports The Black Iris.
Mexico: A Lack of Water in Mexico City
Mexico City is running out of water. Daniel Hernandez of Intersections writes about what the local government is doing to address the situation, but officials say “drastic steps” may need to be considered including the possibility of turning off the water on the weekends.
Paraguay: A Possible Agrarian Reform
An agrarian reform in Paraguay is possible writes Liam of Políticamente Incorrecto [es], but will take a lot of work and if the state corrects its errors.
UAE: Tweeting the Rain from Dubai
It's raining in Dubai and Twitter is abuzz with reactions about the unusual torrents for this time of year.
Ukraine, EU, Russia: Gas Pipelines Deal
Robert Amsterdam's Blog and Streetwise Professor write about Russia's reaction to the deal signed between Ukraine and the EU to upgrade Ukraine's gas pipelines.
Sri Lanka: Combine Harvesters Take Over
Rajaratarala at Perceptions: musings of a renaissance farmer reports that this year more and more Combine Harvesters have taken over the job of harvesting from the manual labors in rural Sri Lanka.
Israel: World Leader in Water Technology Solutions
Israel is the world leader in water technology solutions with 75 per cent of sewage water recycled for agricultural use. Israeli water technologies are exported to more than 100 countries worldwide. Jonathan Shapira of Cleantech Investing in Israel and Jacob Richman of Good News from Israel have the story.
Palestine: The Politics of Food
Anne at Mapping The Margins describes her attempts to only buy food that is produced locally by Palestinians, rather than Israeli products.
Trinidad & Tobago: A World of Orchids
From Trinidad and Tobago, My Chutney Garden says: “Orchid growing is not for the fainthearted.”
Taiwan: Photos capture daily life
Photo essays by Michael Turton and Shan Ding Lu capture scenes of typical Taiwanese life.
Brazil: A Private Nature Reserve – Is It Possible?
Society demands green action and Brazil’s policy that motivates land onwers to join the National Conservation Units Systems is having a great impact on society. Under the program known as RPPN, land onwers receive investments and credit too. Land use is restricted to research, environmental education and ecotourism. Blogs are one of the tools used to report experiences and document the work being carried out to keep Brazil green.
Israel: The Pomegranate
Hatam Kanaaneh, who blogs at A Doctor in Galilee, writes about the pomegranate: “Rumman – Arabic for pomegranate, originally the Pharonic name for the Iranian native fruit – has a special romantic ring to it in my heart.”
St. Lucia: Visiting Gros Islet
Repeating Islands’ Blog visits St. Lucia and discovers that “the fishing village of Gros Islet – the principal setting for Derek Walcott’s Omeros – seems serenely frozen in time.”
Trinidad & Tobago: The Savannah
From Trinidad and Tobago, Haveworld takes a stroll around the Queen's Park Savannah – and he has the photos to prove it.
Jamaica: The Red Earth
“The fact that a rich natural resource can be a curse on a country has rung true everywhere – whether it’s oil in Nigeria, cobalt in Congo or in fact bauxite in Jamaica”: Jamaica Salt blogs about the long-term cost of mining aluminium ore on the island.
Cambodia: Rice politics
Rice is more than a staple of the Cambodian diet. It also implicates land rights, trade and international relations. Some Cambodians are frustrated over land leases to neighboring Vietnam. They are concerned the leases will evolve into ownership changes, resulting in a reduction of Cambodian territory.
Brazil: The snake blogger
Amazonian blogger Altino Machado [pt] received an impromptu visitor last week: a snake came to see what he was blogging about. Check the pictures out.
Laos: Blog of a coffee cooperative
A blog was set-up by a coffee cooperative in southern Laos.
Azerbaijan: Novruz
Prohibited but celebrated discreetly during its years as a Soviet republic, Novruz is now one of the most anticipated holidays to be openly marked in Azerbaijan. Local and expat bloggers comment on the festival.
Uganda: Mysterious Gorilla Death
An adult female gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda has died under mysterious circumstances. On the evening of March 6th, Kasongo was found dead on public land near the Bwindi Park headquarters in Buhoma.
Barbados: Nature Sanctuary Issue
Barbados Free Press believes that the Prime Minister's “million-dollar support” for the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary “is a ploy…there is no dispute that the Thompson DLP Government intends to develop the lands around Graeme Hall.”
