sustainability

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National Geographic July 18, 2016 - Although the feat has yet to be certified by Guinness World Records, Indian officials have reported that volunteers planted a whopping 49.3 million tree saplings on July 11, blowing past the previous record for most trees planted in a single day.

That record of 847,275 trees was set by Pakistan in 2013.

A reported 800,000 volunteers from Uttar Pradesh worked for 24 hours planting 80 different species of trees along roads, railways, and on public land. The saplings were raised on local nurseries.
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Photo courtesy Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press

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*update* 16Dec2015
BBC - India Supreme Court cracks down on Delhi vehicle pollutionIt has ordered a temporary ban on the sale of large diesel vehicles and stopped trucks more than 10 years old from entering the city. India has 13 of the world's 20 most polluted cities, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported last year.

The Guardian - Delhi is now the world’s dirtiest city, surpassing Beijing for air pollution limits  read more »

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Fossil Fuels Losing Cost Advantage Over Solar, Wind: cost of producing electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind has dropped significantly over the past five years, narrowing the gap with power generated from fossil fuels and nuclear reactors, according to the International Energy Agency.
“The costs of renewable technologies -- in particular solar photovoltaic -- have declined significantly over the past five years,” the Paris-based IEA said in a report called Projected Costs of Generating Electricity. “These technologies are no longer cost outliers.”  read more »

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Farmer recently put solar panels all ovr his roof, now collectng cheques instead of paying bills, thanks to solar
No one likes getting a hydro bill in the mail, but a Sudbury farmer is now collecting cheques instead of bills, thanks to solar panels. Stew McCall of McGrows Farms and Gardens, is now getting money back from the hydro company, thanks to solar panels installed on his roof.

Stew McCall is converting his farm to be entirely self-sufficient when it comes to energy, as he's recently put solar panels all over his roof.

He sends that power back to the grid and gets paid for it. McCall said solar power generation has the potential to create independence for small farmers.
"One of the major costs for farming is energy," he said. "If you can defray your energy costs or reduce them by generating your own power, or partially generating your own power, then that offers the opportunity to expand your farm." He said this month, he received a cheque from the utility for $520.98 — all for the power generated by the solar panels on his property.

"After years and years and years of paying hydro, it's kind of been nice to be in a situation where they can pay you," he said.  read more »

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better" (Albert Einstein)

worldwide 90% of stocks of fish stocks are gone

NASA: breathtaking new space images

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better" (Albert Einstein) -
Oceans with fish aplenty or barren sea without fish? Fracking involves using a high-pressure water mixture to penetrate rock in order to release gas. Can gas be replaced by solar energy? Can there be life without water (already short)?

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The Blackfriars Railway Bridge, which houses the London Underground's Blackfriars station, opened recently and is covered end-to-end with solar panels, making it the largest solar bridge in the world. The bridge is covered with 4,400 solar panels which will produce about 900,000 kWh of electricity annually, or about 50 percent of the station's annual electricity output.

Solar-powered lights illuminate the 1,542-foot-long Kurilpa Bridge

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Washington Post: We’ve killed off half the world’s animals since 1970 - a jaw-dropping statistic
The new Living Planet Index report from the World Wildlife Fund opens with a jaw-dropping statistic: we've killed roughly half of the world's non-human vertebrate animal population since 1970.

The main culprits? Exploitation (i.e., overfishing and overhunting), and habitat degradation.

The declines are almost exclusively caused by humans' ever-increasing footprint on planet earth. "Humanity currently needs the regenerative capacity of 1.5 Earths to provide the ecological goods and services we use each year," according to the report. The only reason we're able to run above max capacity - for now - is that we're stripping away resources faster than we can replenish them. Carbon consumption - the burning of fossil fuels - represents a huge and growing chunk of the demand we put on the earth. "In 1961, carbon was 36 per cent of our total footprint, but by 2010 (the year for which the most complete dataset is available), it comprised 53 per cent."  read more »