The world is experiencing a global bee crisis, and with bees responsible for almost a third of the food on our plate, this is a crisis that could affect us all. In the winter of 2013, areas of Europe lost up to 53% of their bee population. SimiValar decline has been recorded in the US. Astonishingly, Australia is the only country in the world where the bee population continues to thrive. As commercial beekeepers are pushed out of business abroad, Australian bees are exported to pollinate foreign farmlands. However, the fate of Australian bees hangs in the balance. It seems that the bee crisis is intricately tied to the way we have changed our planet. Catalyst investigates how modern agriculture methods, increasing diseases and the impending threat of the deadly varroa mite could destroy the last safe-haven for bees on the planet.
Month: September 2014
17 yr old invents smart device makes clean water and power at the same time
Around the world, many of the 783 million people who don’t have clean drinking water also don’t have access to electricity. A new design from an Australian high school student aims to solve both problems at once: While the device purifies wastewater, it uses pollutants in the water to boost power production in a separate compartment.
17-year-old Cynthia Sin Nga Lam, one of 15 finalists in this year’s Google Science Fair, started researching renewable electricity generation last year, and quickly realized that she could incorporate water purification into her process.
Her prototype, called H2Pro, is a portable device powered only by sunlight. Dirty water goes in one end, and a titanium mesh, activated by the sun, sterilizes the water and sends it through an extra filter. The photocatalytic reaction also splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen–so someone can flip a switch and start feeding a hydrogen fuel cell to produce clean power. Detergent, soap, and other pollutants in the water help make more hydrogen.
“There are some technologies for purifying water that are similar, but you’d need an extra source of electricity,” says Lam. “For this one, you only need sunlight and titania. It can generate a very efficient source of clean electricity as well.” The device is also low-cost, and because of the simple construction, would be easy to maintain over time.
Though Lam built a small, portable prototype, she envisions the same technology could be used at a larger scale. On a rooftop, for example, wastewater could be sent through a titanium dioxide net and then directed through different pipes to produce power and provide purified water. The tech could also be used along with solar panels to provide even more electricity.
“I think people around the world don’t really understand how serious water pollution and the energy crisis is,” says Lam. “I’d really like to finalize the design, because it could potentially help people in developing countries. It would be great to have clean water and electricity supplied sustainably, without needing any outside help. It would be awesome.”
Gender Equality Is ‘A Human Rights Issue’ Emma Watson
Gender Equality Is ‘A Human Rights Issue’
Actress Emma Watson gave a speech at the United Nations Headquarters calling on men to fight for gender equality. Reuters
Less than a day after Emma Watson’s plea to engage more men and boys in the fight for gender equality was posted to YouTube, more than 20,000 men around the world have already pledged to take action against gender violence and discrimination. As you might expect, not all countries are pledging equally.
Watson, best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” films, gave an impassioned speech Saturday at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, where she announced the launch of a campaign called “HeForShe,” which aims to include men and boys in the global dialogue to end inequalities faced by women and girls.
“[T]he more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating,” she said. “If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.”
Speaking in her role as U.N. Women’s Goodwill Ambassador, which she’s held for six months, Watson called on men around the world to take the following pledge:
“Gender equality is not only a women’s issue, it is a human rights issue that requires my participation. I commit to take action against all forms of violence and discrimination faced by women and girls.”
The centerpiece of Watson’s speech was the activation of a real-time geotagged map showing the countries in which men who take the pledge are located. The pledge and corresponding map are accessible on the HeForShe website. As of Monday morning, 20,974 men had taken the pledge, with most pledgees coming from English-speaking countries such as the United States (8,125 men), Australia (2,427 men), the U.K. (2,197 men) and Canada (1,380 men).
Some of the countries with the least number of men taking the pledge are also those that typically rank near the bottom of lists that rate countries on women’s rights. Last year, a TrustLaw poll of 370 gender specialists ranked India and Saudi Arabia dead last for women’s rights. (The poll looks at factors like child marriage, slavery and reproductive rights.) In India, 509 men have taken the pledge while in Saudi Arabia only 17 men have.
Given that the map is less than two days old and presently only in English, it’s hardly a complete picture, but as a potential dataset on gender-equality efforts around the world, it’s a telling start. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Saturday that the map has a target of 1 billion people by this time next year.
“HeForShe” is a project of U.N. Women, a United Nations organization that focuses on gender equality. The hashtag #HeForShe trended on Twitter throughout much of the morning on Monday.
At 24, Watson has been famous since 2001, when “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” became the top-grossing film of the year. In her speech Saturday, the former child star also spoke about how she began challenging gender-based assumptions at age 8 and was sexualized by the “certain elements of the press” at age 14. She said she lamented that the word “feminism” has been subverted in some circles to mean “anti-men.”
“I want men to take up this mantle,” she said. “So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too — reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.”
Read the full text of Watson’s speech here or watch it below.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2014 UN Climate Summit Speech
The head of the United Nations has warned that humanity has never faced a greater challenge than climate change as world leaders gathered in New York a high-level climate summit.
In his opening address to the UN talks, secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon warned the dreams of humanity hung in the balance.
“To ride this storm we need all hands on deck,” he said. “The human environmental and financial cost of climate change is fast becoming unbearable.”
US president Barack Obama said despite the present threats of terrorism, instability and disease, climate change would define the contours of the century more dramatically than any other issue.
Country commitments
Barbados: 29 per cent of electricity will be green by 2029
Denmark: Aims to be fossil fuel free by 2050
Georgia: Aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050
Ireland: Reduce greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050
Mexico: More than one third of electricity-generating capacity
Ethiopia: Zero net emissions by 2025
France: One billion USD to the green climate fund over the next few years
Iceland: Commitment to become an entirely fossil free economy
Korea: Next year it will become the first Asian country with a national carbon trading scheme
Chile: 45 per cent of energy to be green by 2025
Finland: Phasing out coal in power stations by 2025
Monaco: Goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050
Costa Rica: 100 per cent of energy to be green
Indonesia: Will cut emissions by 26 per cent by 2020 and says that will rise to 40 per cent with international help
Brunei: 63 per cent reduction in energy consumption by 2035
EU: Committed to cutting emissions by 80 to 95 per cent by 2050
UK: On track to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050
China: Reiterated commitment to cut carbon intensity by 40 to 45 per cent of 2005 levels by 2020, committed $US6 million to advance South-South cooperation on climate change
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/un-says-climate-change-biggest-ever-threat-to-humanity/5764636
Environmental Film Festival Melbourne program: 4 -12 Sept
The Environmental Film Festival Melbourne opens this week with groundbreaking films, challenging the way people think about the natural world and inspiring them to discuss, explore and act on important environmental issues.
http://www.effm.org.au/program
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