| |  Moura (Amareleja) Photovoltaic Power Station by Luis Alves
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| |  What a waste by Asa Butcher
Earlier this week I was in generous mood so my daughter received a Kinder Egg. I'm sure you all know that a Kinder Egg has a chocolate shell and inside is a toy, but for such a little item there is a lot of packaging. A foil wrapper, a plastic | |
| |  Don't support drilling ANWR! by Linda Lane
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| |  Photovoltaic Solar in Portugal by Luis Alves
Portugal is one of the European countries with the highest levels of solar radiation (particularly the Alentejo region), enjoying excellent conditions for | |
| |  Hazardous Waste by Jack Wellman
The nation, indeed the whole world, is experiencing an energy crisis. But it is also suffering from a major pollution problem. What to do with mounting piles of hazardous waste, rejected by both the trash service and the recycling cent | |
| |  Nokia: Let HP inspire you by Asa Butcher
Earlier this week Nokia released a report that revealed only a small percentage of mobile phones are recycled, even though they include valuable and potentially toxic materials. According to the survey that polled 6,500 people in a dozen countries | |
| |  Energy in the Space Age by Christopher Wilkinson
I have never read the following idea in science-fiction literature, but I believe I should have.Consider a large concave perfect mirror floating some seventy or eighty thousand feet above the surface of the Earth. Consider tha | |
| |  Whaling Politics - The IWC in Chile by Binoy Kampmark
The International Whaling Commission has had its 60th meeting, this time in Santiago, Chile. Proceedings have followed their traditional pattern; hostilities have been reasserted between pro-whaling parties and those reluctant to give any ground o | |
| |  Nice Beavers! by Clint Wayne
A few years ago while walking in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales my wife and I thought ourselves extremely fortunate to happen upon a wild otter swimming nonchalantly upstream. It was one of those special wildlife moments that only ever seemed to ha | |
| |  Japan's environmental worries by Thanos Kalamidas
Whatever logic I use I cannot understand it when countries like Japan seriously announce that they are going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 to 80% but all that by the year 2050! This is two generations from now and I presume my grandkids | |
| |  Environmental hypocrisy by Thanos Kalamidas
I know, you were all expecting a full World Environment Day for Ovi magazine yesterday, but instead you got …Hugo Chavez and my usual cynicism. It’s not that we didn’t want to talk about it - we did and, of course, at least both | |
| |  Green World, Many Dreams by Vieno Vehko
A little Chinese history: on September 12, 1979, Zhang Changlin was working in a local chemical factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. He accidentally forgot to shut off a flow valve before leaving work; consequently, 150 tons of wastewater, 30 perc | |
| |  Don't poo-poo washable nappies by Asa Butcher
While taking a break from this on-going Ovi saga currently unfolding in the Finnish press, I stumbled across an article that highlights a recent guide that encourages parents to switch from disposable nappies (diapers to our American readers) to r | |
| |  Reforestate, if you dare (in Greek) by Dimitra Karantzeni
Αυτή θα μπορούσε κάλλιστα να είναι η εντο | |
| |  Some thoughts on the Greek fires (In Greek) by Dimitra Karantzeni
Το περυσ | |
| |  1969: Earth's Epic Year by Thanos Kalamidas
You could say that 1969 was an epic year for modern human history. By July humanity had conquered space with man landing on the Moon and the Soviet Union sent a space probe to Venus; back on Earth John Lennon, with Yoko Ono, sang “Give peace | |
| |  Environmental conscience by Asa Butcher
Today is Earth Day. I doubt you have anything special planned. There'll be no joyous parades through our towns, there'll be no flags flying and the kids will still have to go to school, so what's the big deal? Earth Day is supposed to | |
| |  Water is life! Water is capital! by Leila Dregger
On 21st February, the ecologist team of the Tamera Peace Research Center, near Colos, invited ecologists and specialists from the region, as well as from the universities in Lisbon and Evora, to show them the state of | |
| |  The Tamera Peace Research Centre II by Alexandra Pereira
Tamera is no religious sect, Tamera is no science-fiction, Tamera is a Peace Village of the Future, and it is really happening… in the South of Portugal. | |
| |  Nuclear energy in Finland - A heated debate by Cynthia D'Cruz
In a world faced with climate change and global warming the days of fossil fuels are limited. The need for sustainable energy has pushed governments to find alternatives to coal, oil and other energy sources that have bee | |
| |  Plastic Bags and Guns by Jan Sand
Back in my kidtime before I was ten years old the A&P on Sixty-Ninth Street in Bay Ridge in Brooklyn was the source of our groceries. There were some boxed goods and loose dry goods like red kidney beans and rice and coffee beans in burlap bag | |
| |  A diluted greed and eco-terrorism by Thanos Kalamidas
In a link to the media, the Federation of Finnish Technologies Industries expressed their ‘uncertainty created by the energy and climate change package published by the European Commission that threatens to freeze investment in Finland | |
| |  When they were blind by Thanos Kalamidas
Perhaps it is just me, but every time I read a new report about the former General Secretary of the United Nations Kofi Annan I get really angry. In a latest visit to Kenya, the former General Secretary witnessed “gross and systematic abuses | |
| |  Sweden report by Euro Reporter
Real working men wear kilts in Sweden A growing fashion trend in Sweden involves a new type of kilt designed to combine style and function for ha | |
| |  The New Wars of Climate Change by Luis Alves
Conflict syndrome | |
| |  Ice storm by Judy Eichstedt
On Monday morning December 10th, I woke early and turned the heater up just a bit. It was very cold and had been raining ice. My thoughts were focused on Christmas and I was a bit sad that one of my sons, who lives in South Dakota, and my only | |
| |  Thundersnow by Jack Wellman
Old Man Winter comes again to our small plains town. Predictions of another bout with winter are posted with the weather service’s Heavy Snow Warning. It is a prophecy being fulfilled before my eyes. This storm cares not that thousands are s | |
| |  Gaia on the Move by Jan Sand
The forty year old theory of Gaia seems to be exhibiting some visible repercussions. The slow but steady rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is something humanity is guiltily accepting as its responsibility desp | |
| |  Greens don't recommend divorce! by Akli Hadid
Divorces cause emotional and financial damage. It also has consequences for children and… the environment.In Sweden, Finland and Belarus, more than 50% marriages end up in divorce, the highest rates in the world. An Amer | |
| |  Recycling hypocrisy by Thanos Kalamidas
When you first come to Finland one of the things you learn is how sensitive Finnish people are to environmental issues. There is careful recycling in every single house and awareness of how to treat the forest, which is quite impressive for every | |
| |  A Bold Confession by Clint Wayne
My family have always suspected it, but since my childhood I have to admit that I have been living a lie. I know I look the same dressed in my customary shorts and T-shirt and I know I sound the same prattling on about my beloved ‘Toon | |
| |  Finn reporter by Euro Reporter
Greenpeace Activists taken into CustodyOver 30 Greenpeace activists were taken into police custody Sunday for trying to block a ship transporting palm oil to a Finnish Oil distributor refinery near Porvoo. The activ | |
| |  Finland: Living Green by Jack Wellman
I would like to congratulate the nation of Finland. This nation leads the world in living green. That is, they lead the way toward people and earth-friendly environmental practices. This is no small accomplishment. This highly democratic nation ra | |
| |  Puddles at the Pole: A Global Warming Ad by Artie Knapp
“Hello, Bernie here. I am a polar bear living at the North Pole, and this is my friend, Sally. Say hi to them, Sally.” “Hi!” | |
| |  Farewell Anita Roddick by Asa Butcher
Last night I was checking the BBC site when I saw that Jane Wyman, one of Hollywood's biggest stars of the 1940s and '50s and the first wife of former US President Ronald Reagan, had died aged 93 and I was going to write about her, but the | |
| |  Proposal for reducing air pollution by Akli Hadid
Air pollution is a threat to human health and to the ecosystem. It results in global warming, the greenhouse effect, ocean acidification and respiratory diseases that can sometimes can lead to human death. There are a few steps men can do to reduc | |
| |  Putin on the Ritz by Jack Wellman
Russian President Vladimir Putin could soon be shaking the world’s balance of power. He has claimed a vast chunk of the Arctic which he claims is rightfully Russia’s. His scientists have said that the enormous | |
| |  Negotiating survival by Thanos Kalamidas
It is a strange feeling leaving the solution of a major problem to the ones who are mainly responsible for the problem and, furthermore, who stubbornly refuse to recognize it. Angela Merkel is seeking for the improvement of the Kyoto Protocol in c | |
| |  The Economic Value of Prayer by Jan Sand
Amongst people of faith, and that goes across all religions, there is no question that there must be prayer. I have never had any religious indoctrination and never had the slightest inclination to pray since I would not know whom to pray to so th | |
| |  Bee Gone by Jan Sand
T.S.Eliot in his poem "The Hollow Men" predicted that the world would end, not with a bang, but with a whimper. But humanity is partial to | |
| |  Sex Again by Jan Sand
There was a recent news report of an organism, a rotifer (which is a microscopic multi-celled animal), which has been | |
| |  The Janitorial Outlook by Jan Sand
The concept of democracy, in one form or another, has been around for a very long time and in its early manifestation in Ancient Greece it has been denigrated for being based on slavery. | |
| |  Watch this Space by Clint Wayne
In this age of computers, iPods and all matter of digital wizardry any mention of space travel or a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral would be lucky to make the third or fourth slot on the evening news, let alone mak | |
| |  Problems of Underestimation by Jan Sand
When I was a kid, which was quite a few years ago, I visited a dentist quite often. In those days children were considered not quite up to basic adult standards. The dental drill, commensurate with today's high-s | |
| |  Subtle Changes to the Climate by Colin
How much is ‘Global Warming’ really making a difference in our lives and can we detect any effects on the world around us? How many of you have experienced, albeit small, a change in your local climatic conditions? | |
| |  Artificial thrills by Asa Butcher
In December 1999, on the eve of the millennium, I found myself in a helicopter heading towards the rim of one of the greatest holes on earth, the Grand Canyon. Moments after Wagner’s ‘ | |
| |  The Other Side Of Disaster by Jan Sand
There are current reports as to the state of the abandoned territory surrounding the Chernobyl disaster indicating, contrary to expectations, wild animal life has prospered to the extent that people in the villages beyond the forbidden territory c | |
| |  Hook, Line and Sinker! by Clint Wayne
When the working week is over and Friday night is here, the weekend eagerly waits like the first daffodil of spring. There is nothing better for me than to stroll down to my Local Hostelry with my favourite lady for a well-earned beer or two, but | |
| |  An Oscar to the court's jester! by Thanos Kalamidas
How do you really feel when you see a former American vice-president and candidate for the US presidency standing in front of hundreds of Hollywood stars, saying thank you to millions of television viewers while hold | |
| |  Vanhanen's environmental memory by Thanos Kalamidas
Before becoming Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen was MP for the Uusimaa area and had strongly voiced his opposition to the creation of a fifth nuclear plant often talking about the environment’s destruction and proposing alternative ways for e | |
| |  Unmentionables by Jan Sand
In opposition to the inherent human motivation to gossip, spread the good word, disseminate knowledge throughout the world, there is another opposite drive to keep secrets and hold information away from general knowledge. Primitive societies frequ | |
| |  Of, By, and For by Jan Sand
Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the phrase that democracy must be government of, by and for the people. Winston Churchill noted that democracy is the worst form of government except for those others that have been tried from time to time. | |
| |  Citizens of the Earth by René Wadlow
In a mixture of the titles of the “Citizens of the World” and the “Friends of the Earth” – the representatives of 40 governments speaking as the “Citizens of the Earth” called, on 2 February 2007, for a | |
| |  Very likely by Satya Prakash
I am sure almost all would have found the advertisement of Vattenfall, mostly aired on the BBC, to be hilarious, just because it states something so obvious. It shows a conference of intellectuals and scientists, where one person is forcefully del | |
| |  The great switch off by Asa Butcher
How many lightbulbs does it take to save the world? No joke here – it is a serious question that the Alliance for the Planet is asking its fellow citizens of the world. Today, February 1st, at 1855 GMT, French environmentalists are urging ev | |
| |  Desert, Athens! by Thanos Kalamidas
People often ask me if I miss Greece and how could I ever leave a country with sunshine throughout the year and temperatures well above 15 degrees, to come and live in a country that is dark, with snow, short summers and dark winters. Usually I es | |
| |  When global warming reached Aspen by Thanos Kalamidas
Media and organizations from all around the world are talking about global warming and the greenhouse phenomenon more and more lately. As amazing as it may sound, some of those voices belong to chief executives from some of the largest companies i | |
| |  Andromeda Station by Christopher Wilkinson
It is obvious to us all that the environment of our planet is in danger. Our planet is the only home we have. Yet the agendas relating to taking care of our planet seem to have become politicized to the point that nationalistic, poli | |
| |  A few ladies and lots of tigers by Jan Sand
If you take a full bucket of water and poke a very small hole somewhere in the bottom, nobody will be surprised to see water leaking out of the hole. Nobody would assume that there is a marvelous intellect residing in water that is required to ass | |
| |  FAIRTRADE - is it fair? by Asa Butcher
Everywhere I looked recently there were billboards promoting the FAIRTRADE Mark, which reminded me of England's own Fairtrade promotion about seven years ago. At the beginning of 2000, the UK had huge marketing campaign that encouraged consume | |
| |  The melting of our Hopes by Mirage
One of the remaining six ice shelves in Arctic, which is over 4.000 years old, separated from the land during the summer of 2005. NASA and the scientific community knew it since then, but made their announcement only 16 months later because the | |
| |  My spaghetti global warming by Thanos Kalamidas
It is January and I’m writing from Helsinki, Finland. I live just a few thousand kilometers from the North Pole and less than a thousand from the Arctic Circle; it is only weeks since Santa Claus supposedly made his trip on his sleigh and | |
| |  An aboriginal victory by Thanos Kalamidas
It always makes me happy reading on the news something like the following: An aboriginal tribe in Australia has won joint control of world heritage-listed rainforests in a major land rights claim. The deal covers 6,000 square kilometers in New Sou | |
| |  Lands of milk and honey by Jan Sand
The ancient Greeks and the Northern peoples envisioned, respectively, the Elysian Fields and Valhalla, as the final delightful resting places of their honorable dead. The Christians followed suit with a Heaven whose inhabitants occupied themselves | |
| |  Killing by Jan Sand
One of the fundamental capabilities of a living organism is the power to kill. Each living thing is a neat package of tasty edibles. Life either takes its energy directly from solar radiation and its substance from the soil and the air or appropri | |
| |  300,000,000 by Jan Sand
This all began at the inception of life itself wherein the first membrane was formed to assure that everything within that primary enclosure was a functioning part of the mechanism of maintaining the living processes | |
| |  Tsunami killed the dinos by Louie Parsons
At the southern end of Madagascar, lay four enormous wedge-shaped sediment deposits, called chevrons, which are composed of material from the ocean floor. Each covers twice the area of Manhattan with sediment as deep | |
| |  2048 by Jan Sand
For a small fishing village the crowd was astoundingly large. Due, I suppose, to the internet that had buzzed about the event for over a week. It was now impossible to get close to the dock. The crowd had started to | |
| |  Show me the…fish! by Thanos Kalamidas
It is only days since I was writing an article about a futuristic reality for the generations to come. A future in which animals, like cows, will be something seen only in photos and 3D documentaries just like the dino | |
| |  Panic! Wolves in the village by Rinso
Since the first snow a couple of weeks ago, there are wolf trails to be seen in the village. A few days ago, this made the newspapers and even the TV-news. Scared parents don't want their children to walk through | |
| |  Toxic waste ship dragged to court by Amin George Forji
The Dutch charter company, Trafigura Beheer BV, which sparked international condemnation in September, after disposing of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast that left ten people dead and thousands of others ill, is soon | |
| |  Leasing the future by Thanos Kalamidas
"Give a man the secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him a nine year lease of a garden, and he will convert it into a desert...the magic of PROPERTY turns sand to gold. | |
| |  Counting fallen sparrows by Jan Sand
A human being is one of the most intricate machines ever devised, if devised is the appropriate term. The latest model is the current variation from a tree-climbing mammal where it acquired the very useful capability | |
| |  Whales on the run by Thanos Kalamidas
Sometimes when I write an article I feel that suddenly all my thoughts on different things come together. However, it's just that I cannot put in the same article George W. Bush, Angela Merkel and the fin whales. I have often expressed in arti | |
| |  Ownership and other troublesome fictions by Jan Sand
Mackerel, monkeys, mallards and mosquitoes enjoy privileges in human society accorded to no humans. They do not have to record their ancestry, their nationality, their adult status nor their professional qualificatio | |
| |  This is my life: Wangari Maathai by Amin George Forji
Celebrated environmentalist, Wangari Maathai of Kenya became the first African woman to win the prestigious Noble Peace Prize, in recognition of her work to rehabilitate the environment. Using a community-based metho | |
| |  Angela Merkel au secours de Sarkozy? by Europe & Us
Angela Merkel serait-elle prête ou non à accepter le «traité sur le fonctionnement de l’Union» ou «mini traité» proposé par Nicolas Sarkozy ? | |
| |  Bruxelles sans voiture by Krot
Bruxelles est une ville à découvrir. La première visite assure n’importe quel visiteur, qu’il s’agit d’une ville grise, moche comme tout, toujours ennuagée, avec de bâ | |
| |  City folks by Jan Sand
I think it was in one of Kurt Vonnegut’s pieces that an alien landed on Earth and noted that the dominant life form had six legs. I doubt it landed in Finland. | |
| |  Power and Purpose by Jan Sand
There is no one more dangerous, more vicious, more unrelenting and more ignorant about the uses and consequences of unchecked power than a sheep in wolf’s clothing. A wolf is well acquainted with its strength a | |
| |  Transmogrification of junk by Jan Sand
What we throw away is oftentimes more significant than what we keep. It has been noted that the skills in perception and storage, which defines humanity’s dominance over all other species are not attributed to | |
| |  Littering environment and brains by Thanos Kalamidas
Six months ago we had the conversation for a printed Ovi magazine. We actually went so far to create a test layout and collect prices that we found surprising low, despite all the negative advice we heard from former | |
| |  International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer by Asa Butcher
When I was a kid back in the '80s, we were introduced to the word 'ozone'. Initially, we all thought that it was a cool name for a new kid's television show or a brand of mountain bike, but we all soo | |
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