Every piece of plastic ever made still exists today, and much of this plastic has traveled from our hands to our oceans. The most important thing you can do is use less plastic. Join the Blue movement and sign the plastic pledge at SaveMyOceans.com.

FYI: Song: Pot Kettle Black by Tilly and the Wall

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From Al Jazeera English:

Al Jazeera looks at what engineers are facing in trying to stem the flow of oil.

Gulf Coast Oil Spill In-situ burn

From DeepwaterHorizonJIC:

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Duration: 5 min 8 sec

Tens of thousands of people from nearly every nation on earth have descended on Copenhagen this month for the UN climate summit. As the delegates try to piece together a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, they’re also absorbing lessons from one of the world’s leading cities in sustainable transportation. In Copenhagen, fully 37 percent of commute trips are made by bike, and mode share among city residents alone is even higher.

Come see “the busiest bicycling street in the Western world”, and lots of other you-gotta-see-them-to-believe-them features including bike counters (featuring digital readouts), LEDS, double bike lanes (for passing) and giant hot pink cars.

via Will D

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AIDG would also like to announce that in response to the current dire situation at Lake Atitlan, we will be making a special investment in another GuateVerde team that is helping address the issue and support the communities most effected. Lake Atitlan, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Guatemala, has suffered from a harmful cyanobacterial bloom in the second half of 2009. The blue-green algae has spread across the surface of the lake covering it in a thick green scum. Local news reports cite sewage, agricultural runoff, and erosion related to deforestation as causes of the bloom.

Duration: 2 min 44 sec

The lake as it should be. Photo by Deborah Coleman

The lake now. Source: Prensa Libre

Flowercin/Altec, a team based out of Solola, will be working with the local municipality at the Lake to collect organic material (trash) and convert it into nutrient-rich and affordable organic fertilizer. Flowecin’s business was previously recognized in Technoserve’s Idea Tu Empresa competition in 2007.

We at AIDG love Lake Atitlan and hope that through Flowercin/Altec we can help in the effort to improve the conditions of the lake and all who rely on its health.

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From Dominican Today:

An Environment Ministry study in Baoruco and Independencia provinces (southwest) identified 23 communities where 200 people make 37,000 sacks of charcoal per month, a clandestine market worth RD$89.2 million (US$2.5 million) yearly.
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[The Cross-border Environmental Program report] details a simple yet effective chain to make, traffic and illegally market charcoal in Haiti and notes that the 200 producers are mostly of Haitian origin, helped by 12 Dominican truck drivers, to produce every month around 37,000 sacks, sold to less than five Haitian retailers, who gather on the west side of the lake, for subsequent transport and sale in Port au Prince.

“This production equals 445,788 sacks annually (27,300 tons) which is sold at RD$200 (US$5.55) per sack, generating an annual market of RD$89.2 million, US$2.5 million).” the study headed by the consultant Humberto Checo said.

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On Wednesday, August 26 the AIDG office in Guatemala hosted a group of enthusiastic 9-11 years old in an exciting compost workshop in our very own garden. Students from the new environmental club at the Beehive School arrived with bags in hand filled with compost they collected from their homes days before. With our Biodigestor Intern Chris Salam on hand to guide the kids through the amazing world of anaerobic digestion and vermicompost, the wide-eyed group of future environmentalists got their hands dirty and put their food waste to action.

From a lesson on what is compostable to feeding the ARTI biodigestor, the workshop was a huge success. In a region where recycling is close to none and garbage bin sightings are rare, it’s exciting to see that the movement for environmental awareness indeed has no borders. Although Guatemala may not be moving as far or as fast along the “green” track as other countries, the Beehive School’s environmental club is a perfect indication that there is hope…and in this case in comes in the form of a dynamic group of 4th and 5th graders.

AIDG is pleased to be able to support local community education initiatives on environmental awareness and introduce alternative technological solutions to long endured energy, sanitation and water issues. We thank the Beehive School and their students for also responding to the current environmental situation and we invite others to do the same. We await you with open arms, big smiles, and composting worms!

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AIDG’s is pleased to announce its first business plan competition in Guatemala, GuateVerde! The winning business plan may win up to $50,000 in small business financing and support over two years. The proposed business should serve to increase access to energy, water or sanitation using renewable and sustainable technology. For more information: www.guateverde.com

Para AIDG es un gran gusto anunciar su primer concurso de microempresas en Guatemala! El Concurso Empresarial: Guate Verde premiará al equipo ganador hasta con $50,000 de financiamiento con dos años de apoyo empresarial. La empresa propuesta (y el producto) debe servir para aumentar el acceso a la electricidad, el agua, o el saneamiento usando la tecnología renovable y sostenible. Para más información: www.guateverde.com

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Rosalinda and Josefina from La Florida help us test fuel usage with the Rocket Box as compared to a traditional wood stove.

Our Rocket Box stove developed by Beau Baldock and manufactured by XelaTeco got a shout-out in Forbes along with 9 other green tech innovations for developing countries.

Xela Teco, a small manufacturer in Guatemala, worked with the Boston-based nonprofit Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group to develop a better design for a wood burning stove that uses 50% less wood and funnels the smoke out of the home through a chimney. It sells for around $150; the payback on the stove is about one year, since it can cut in half the average $25 families spend per month for wood.

See the rest of the featured technologies: In Pictures: 10 Eco-Friendly Innovations [Forbes]

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4th Annual Tufts Energy Conference
“Global Green Infrastructure: Powering the 21st Century”
Date: March 28th, 2009
Time: 9am - 5pm
Location:
Sophia Gordon Hall
Tufts University
15 Talbot Avenue
Medford, MA 02155

****Free Registration****

Description:
9:00-09:30
Open Registration

09:30 - 09:45
Welcome and Introduction by Sherman Teichman, Director of the Institute for Global Leadership (with introduction from Peter O’Regan, Conference Co-Chair)

10:00 - 11:30
Panel 1: Innovation and Diffusion of New Infrastructure Technologies
Theme: This panel is an examination of efforts to both finance and develop technologies that allow us to use power more efficiently and sustainably. It brings together the science and technology of infrastructure development and explores the future of new technological innovation and diffusion.

Confirmed:
• Jon Karlen, Flybridge Capital
• Rob Pratt, EnergyClimate Solutions
• Philip Guidice, Commissioner Mass Department of Energy Resources
• James Bickford, Draper Labs
• Richard Larson, MIT

11:30-11:45
Coffee Break

11:45-12:15
Opening Keynote: Peter Droege, World Council for Renewable Energy

12:15 - 1:30
Panel 2: Revitalizing National Infrastructure
Theme: This panel will explore the future of U.S. Infrastructure policy. What role will the U.S. Federal government, state governments, utilities, and other actors play in the future of U.S. Infrastructure policy? How can we alter our grid to encourage more sustainable power use? Is distributed generation a better means to greener power supply and usage than grid-based infrastructure?

Confirmed:
• Watson Collins, NE Utilities
• Suzanne Watson, American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
• Alan Nogee, Union of Concerned Scientists
• Penny Conner, NSTAR
• Professor Bill Moomaw, Tufts (moderator)

1:30-3:00
Networking lunch with keynote Gregg Dixon

3:00-4:00
Panel 3: Powering the Developing World
Organizer: Charles and Luo
Theme: This panel will examine developing world energy infrastructure. It seeks to see how growing nations will get their power in the future, especially as many countries see rapid population growth and subsequent energy demand growth. What are the best routes for meeting this need in a sustainable manner? Can distributed generation technologies carry the load? What other technologies and policies are needed? To what extent will developed nations contribute to the process?

Confirmed:
• Richard Hanson, Soluz Inc.
• Sam White, Promethean Power
• Professor David Dapice, Tufts (moderator)

4:15-4:45
Mindy Lubber, CERES

4:45-5:00
Closing remarks, Alex Clough, Conference Co-Chair

Co-sponsored by the Tufts Institute for Global Leadership and the Tufts Climate Solutions Coalition

Past Energy Forums at Tufts

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From Celsias

The [Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica], located due south of the tip of South America, is currently hanging on by a rapidly diminishing 25-mile wide strip of ice which has narrowed to 1,640 feet at its narrowest point.

Another victim of climate change, the shelf was more than 62 miles wide as recently as 1950 and covered 6,000 square miles, or slightly larger than the U.S. state of Connecticut. As it breaks up, and pieces break free, the sea around the Shelf is fraught with icebergs as big as football fields.

In its demise, Wilkins follows in the footsteps of nine other shelves which have gone the same route in the past half-century; the three sections of Filchner (1986), the Larsen A (1995), several portions of the Ross A (2000), the Larsen B (2002), the Ayles (2005), and the Markham (2008). In total, Antarctic ice loss since 1950 exceeds 9,652 square miles, an area the size of Vermont, changing the face of a continent which has endured, intact (prior to the advent of the Industrial Revolution) for at least 10,000 years.

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