iPic Theaters: Earth Preservation Contest

iPic Theaters is organizing a Film Festival Contest themed under "Earth Preservation". The winning video will have their chance to get their video premiered at iPic Theater for a month. The winning contestant will also receive $4000.

How to get involved?

Create a short film on the theme of Earth Preservation with a timeline of two to six minutes. Submissions will be accepted from Jan 7th,2012 - Feb 10th,2012. Results will be published on Earth Day, April 22nd 2012. Time is running out as the deadline approaches. To know more about the event go over to the facebook event here.


*All applicants must be 21 years or older.

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Climate Vulnerable Forum: November 2011

Nineteen climate vulnerable countries have signed the Climate Vulnerable Forum 2011 Dhaka Declaration last year November.
To know more about Climate Vulnerable Forum visit DARA.

Dhaka Ministerial Declaration of the Climate Vulnerable Forum

We, Ministers and representatives of Governments from Africa, Asia, the Caribbeans, Latin America and the Pacific, members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, representing a significant number of countries most vulnerable to climate change and meeting in Dhaka on 14 November 2011.

Recalling the 2009 Male' declaration as the founding document of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, created at the initiative of the Republic of Maldives, and the 2010 Ambo Declaration, agreed under the leadership of the second Forum chair, the Republic of Kiribati,

Mindful of the firmly robust and unequivocal scientific basis of accelerating global climate change, wherein human activities are indisputably the principal and growing cause as well as of the imperative to act with urgency,

Standing indivisible as we are in our determination to act to bring about a resolution to the global menace of climate change which ultimately entail ever greater human suffering, inequity and irreversible damage to the Earth,

Resolute thereby in our commitment to pursuing, autonomously as an independent strategic choice and to the extent possible, national green development pathways, in spite of our limited capacities and negligible present and historical contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions that are the principal cause of climate change.

Reaffirming herein the objectives and principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as the commitments of its parties, to enable its full, effective and sustained implementation through immediate and long-term cooperative action,

Acknowledging that the challenges of climate change are global in nature and call for the most extensive and inclusive cooperation by all countries, on the basis of equity and in accordance with common but differentiated responsibilities, historical responsibility, and respective capabilities and socio-economic conditions as laid down in the UNFCCC,

Concerned at the findings of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2010, an independent study examining the current and near-term socio-economic impacts of climate change that point to a large-scale and growing worldwide crisis,

Noting that many heavily affected developing countries are low-lying, small-islands, isthmus, land-locked, remotely located, arid and semi arid least developed; and are faced with rapid on-set and/or slow on-set climate phenomena affecting productive capacities, and often reversing developmental gains,

Noting further that climate change is rendering development projects costlier and compelling diversion of already inadequate funds from development to costly adaptation programmes,

Mindful nonetheless of the possibility that highly effective adaptation responses to climate change could be capable of limiting, in a cost-effective manner, a significant range of adverse socio-economic and environmental consequences, particularly with respect to human health,

Aware that climate change induced displacement of people is a major concern and their relocation puts enormous pressure on infrastructures and service facilities; and furthermore, large-scale displacement has the potential to transform into security concerns,

Recognising that migration is a viable adaptation strategy to ensure that populations are not compelled to reside in high risk and affected areas, and to manage risks during displacement; and furthermore a planned strategy in the long-term to offer displaced populations with enhanced options for dignified and diversified livelihood,

Emphasizing that climate change related impacts have a range of implications, both direct and indirect, undermining our government's ability to ensure the full and effective enjoyment of human rights and that resultant humanitarian crises, if not adequately addressed, may create multifaceted security challenges,

Seized in this light of the window of opportunity for preventing irreversible changes nationally, regionally, and globally as fast narrowing and that a failure to arrest further anthropogenic factors to climate change indeed implies existential threats for a significant number of the most vulnerable countries,

Reaffirming also the continued relevance of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development,

Recalling the Copenhagen Accord and the Cancun Agreements including commitments made by industrialized countries to take mitigation actions and developed countries to provide specified quantities of climate finance for the adaptation and mitigation actions of developing countries,

Recognizing the inadequacy of essential commitments, in particular of mitigation actions proposed by industrialized countries for containing global temperature rise within the current internationally agreed goal of less than 2 degrees Celsius,

Expressing deep concern at the very slow realization of essential commitments, as well as the real possibility of a vacuum in the international, legally-binding framework governing GHG emission reductions at the expiry of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, which could seriously endanger political and economic momentum,

Determined to seize this challenge of climate change as an opportunity for manifestation of our resolve to attain sustainable development to help lead the world into a new era of prosperity in fullest harmony with the Earth and in the interest of the younger and future generations,

Adopt the following Declaration:

1. We underscore that it is incumbent upon the developed countries, given their historical responsibility to climate change and taking into account their commitments to reduce our vulnerability, to extend all necessary support to our vulnerable countries so as to be able to respond to the challenges posed by climate change.

2. We renew calls for a comprehensive legally-binding global agreement capable of fully attaining the objective of the UNFCCC, in all urgency and into the long-term, and voice the imperative for a well-calibrated balance in the global focus on adaptation and mitigation with emphasis on development and easy transfer of environmentally sound technology in nationally determined priority areas;

3. We, as vulnerable countries, resolve to demonstrate moral leadership by committing to a low-carbon development path on a voluntary basis within the limitations of our respective capabilities, which are to a large extent externally determined by the availability of appropriate financial and technological support, and call on all other nations to follow the moral leadership.

4. Adaptation

- We underscore the need of focusing on adaptation in particular in the short term in order to minimize growing and widespread harm, and seek support for initiatives and projects on adaptation with a view to developing and realizing urgent country-driven adaptation activities;

- We call upon developed countries to support implementation in the developing countries, particularly in the most vulnerable countries, of our national adaptation plans and climate resilient development strategies and low carbon development plans;

5. Mitigation

- We reiterate our firm resolve to work collectively with the other Parties to the UNFCCC towards limiting foreseeable global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, peaking global GHG emissions by 2015, and thereafter achieving progressively ambitious emission reduction targets every subsequent decade targeting a sharp decline to a global reduction of 85% by 2050 relative to 1990 levels, and long-term atmospheric GHG concentrations to 350 ppm;

- We underline the imperative for securing a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol with no gap between first and second commitment periods and the immediate conclusion of a broad-based and inclusive legally binding agreement on GHG emission cuts, enacted by all Parties on the basis of equity, common but differentiated responsibilities, and respective capabilities;

- We seek necessary and immediate support for undertaking programmes to uphold mitigation by creating carbon sink, dissemination of environmentally sound technologies, and establishing a balance in the energy mix by focusing on renewable and/or alternative energy;

6. Finance

- We demand that climate finance under the authority of the Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC must be truly new and additional to Official Development Assistance commitments, as well as adequate, predictable, transparent and with comparable reporting, easily and directly accessible, and that may be supplemented through innovative sources of financing;

- We demand further that decisions taken at Cancun on finance are realized through immediate implementation by ensuring accelerated disbursement of commitments made, prioritization of the most vulnerable countries, easy and direct access for nationally determined priority projects, preferably through public channels. We also demand early establishment of the Green Climate Fund, which itself should achieve operational implementation by 2013 at the latest;

- We call upon the developed countries to make firm commitments on a progressive increase of funds with a specific and reasonable annual enhancement in the period 2013-2020 leading to USD 100 billion per year (in 2009 dollars) under the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and to realize those commitments;

- We underscore the need for establishing a balanced adaptation window of at least a 50 percent allocation on adaptation for all climate finance within the GCF to address requirements of the most vulnerable countries in relation to the number of people affected, the extent of challenge of reducing vulnerability and consequential adverse effects;

- We request that adaptation funds also be made available on an ongoing and predictable basis for the anticipated emergency response to severe weather events, with particular priority for vulnerable countries;

7. Transfer of technology and capacity building

- We declare that the most vulnerable countries need critical support from the international community in the areas of transfer of technology for adaptation in particular but also for mitigation actions, and for both public and private sector capacity building;

- We call for ensuring fuller and more pragmatic technology development, including appropriate models for generating hydrological scenarios at different scales in the affected regions to enhance water security through the adoption of climate resilient techniques, transfer and research and development to support crucial adaptation and green growth in vulnerable countries;

- We also call for an immediate agreement to begin the progressive release and transfer of all technologies of beneficial effect for the adaptation and green development actions of vulnerable countries commensurate to the challenge of tackling climate change as implied by science, and including patented knowledge, where these have resulted from the investment of public monies;

- We request for enhanced international collaboration and greater support on capacity building in order to enable us to respond effectively and comprehensively to minimize our risks to and impact of climate change, including the early, adequate and appropriately prioritized resourcing of the Climate Technology Centre and Network included in the Cancun Agreements;

- We further request for technical assistance for public and private sector capacity building in our countries targeted at the development, registration and scaling-up of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects with high payoffs for adaptation as well as wider socio-economic/environmental co-benefits;

8. General points

- We urge the UN System, International Financial Institutions and other global organizations and forums to focus on building greater convergence on recognizing the nexus among environment, climate change, migration and development, and to work towards an enhanced reflection of the vulnerability of affected countries in the prioritization of projects and programmes under their respective mandated responsibilities.

-We acknowledge the expression of solidarity of the UN Secretary-General and request him to use all means available to his Office to promote our cause and remain engaged with the Climate Vulnerable Forum;

- We call for a common framework/criteria for assessing climate vulnerability with respect to the allocation of funds, (giving due consideration, inter alia, to the scale and extent of the present impacts of intensifying natural disasters, likely losses and risks in future, respective capabilities and socio-economic conditions, and people exposed to the impact of climate change country by country);

- In particular, we call for the immediate implementation of paragraph 14 (f) of the Cancun Agreements, which recognizes that migration is a viable adaptation strategy to address human displacement induced by climate change, and includes undertaking measures to enhance understanding, coordination and cooperation with regard to climate-induced displacements; migration and planned relocation; and in this respect call for the commencement of an international dialogue for an appropriate framework;

9. We urge the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), 2012 to recognize the very limited progress in achieving the objective of the UNFCCC and endorse the fundamental need to redouble efforts to limit further harm due to climate change;

10. We agree to work together in order to ensure widest possible dissemination of this declaration among all relevant national and international actors;

11. We recognize the important requirement of having enhanced clarity on the operational modalities of the Climate Vulnerable Forum and take note of a non-paper on provisional operational modalities as circulated by the People's Republic of Bangladesh as a reference document;

12. We agree to that Costa Rica would host the next Forum.

13. We also agree on the following as part of the agreed Forum activities for November 2011-June 2012:

a. Durban UNFCCC COP-17, South Africa: Side Event and delegation briefings to disseminate and support awareness, dialogue and implementation of the Dhaka declaration (November/December 2011).

b. Roll-out CVF web site development (from January 2012).

c. Rio+20 Technical Meeting to fine-tune substantive CVF inputs (April 2012).

d. UNFCCC First Sessional: Feed-in delegate briefing documents updated against outcomes at/since COP-17 and delegate feedback, plus CVF focal point action (May 2012).

e. Launch of second Climate Vulnerability Monitor report (June 2012).

f. Rio+20 Caucusing: High-level coordination and communication (June 2012).

g. Commence work on a new Low-Carbon Development Monitor.

14. We express our deep appreciation to Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh for hosting the Climate Vulnerable Forum 2011 in Dhaka.

Adopted at Dhaka, Bangladesh on 14 November 2011.

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Reason for businesses going green

When going green started out couple of years back, businesses were very reluctant not to go towards that. There was a myth that going green was a waste of money and just a business-killer. However over time becoming more environmental-friendly became an investment to companies in the long run.

I worked on some technical aspects on renovating businesses/industries into green industries in Dhaka and found certain things why it’s worth it:

When it came to energy auditing, generally the entire energy flow would be mapped. Then after mapping that, you know where you are losing extra energy. So if you plug that portion of energy down, you save energy. So what’s the benefit of saving energy? Firstly you spend less fuel (with fuel prices increasing, you would be definitely glad if fuel was saved), you save electricity are just some places where you save. However the strongest motivation is money, and trust me you save a lot of money. For businesses

Saving Money = Profits

Anyways I got an article from The Economist on as to why firms go green.

Link courtesy @Julika Niehaus- Global Campaign Manager at 10:10

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Pushing Toxic Water Uphill: Chevron's Losing Battle in Ecuador Pollution Case

Chevron is back up against the ropes after a United States federal court judge denied a bid made by the corporation to stop Ecuadorian plaintiffs from collecting a damages award of $18 billion. Federal court judge Lewis Kaplan was asked to freeze assets owned by the plaintiffs until the result of a fraud lawsuit against the Ecuadorians was known. Unfortunately for Chevron, the bid was denied.

Adding to that, just a few days before the bid to freeze assets was made, Chevron was hit with one more nail in the coffin. An Ecuadorean appeal court upheld the $18 billion judgement over the oil damage in the county’s Amazon region. If the fraud lawsuit against the Ecuadorian plaintiffs fails, the oil giant has just one more option left, and that’s to make an appeal to Ecuador’s Supreme Court.

What caused the polution?

The exact circumstances of the pollution in question happened under Texaco, which has been part of Chevron Corporation since 2000. Texaco developed and operated the Lago Agrio oil field in the country from 1972 up until 1993, and during that time it is alleged that they did not dispose of industrial waste safely. It has been claimed that Texaco released up to 18 billion gallons of produced water into the Amazon rainforest, leaving a toxic trail that damaged vegetation, killed wildlife, and caused a variety of sicknesses in the local indigenous population. An environmental audit of the area pressured Texaco and Petroecuador, the two companies that extracted oil from the Lago Agrio oil field, to fund a $40 million remediation program from 1990 onwards. In 1998 a scientific team took water and soil samples only to find that around half of the samples analysed still had unsafe levels of petroleum hydrocarbon in them.

Action taken against Chevron

After years and years of campaigning, the Ecuadorian people finally managed to bring a case against Chevron in 2003. 30,000 Ecuadorean people were responsible for creating enough pressure and finding enough money to take on the multi-national corporation, and it paid off 8 years later. On the 15th of February 2011, an Ecuadorian court fined the oil company $8.6 billion for polluting the Amazon rainforest and the consequences of the damage. It was claimed during the lawsuit that local cancer rates increased, and crops and livestock were lost to the pollution.

The penalty rose to $9.5 billion dollars once an additional 10 per cent for reparations was included, but the total sum requested by Ecuadorian plaintiffs ended up being $27 billion. The court granted $18 billion, and the result of the case set a precedent, because it was the first instance of indigenous people suing a multinational corporation in a court located within the country the pollution actually happened in. Environmental activists celebrated and saw it as a start to charges being brought against other companies that pollute developing countries without punishment.

Chevron fights back

Chevron has opposed the fine since it was imposed, and filed a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian plaintiffs for fraud. The corporation believes that they have cleaned up their part of the damage to the rainforest, and they are being charged too much for the damages that have been claimed against them. Chevron has claimed that fraud and corruption have been used by the Ecuadorian plaintiffs, and the racketeering lawsuit they filed in New York in 2011 has yet to be decided.

This is not the first time that Chevron has been accused of illegal pollution, and they have even broken laws in America concerning pollution, namely the Clean Air Act. Other notable incidents were the 2002 oils spills in Angola that resulted in a claim for $2 million by the government of Angola for the damage. Only last year Chevron were prohibited from activities in Brazil after over 400,000 litres of oil were leaked into the ocean off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The legal act that is being brought against Chevron in the Brazil case is demanding that $10.6 billion is paid in damages.

The controversy over Chevrons actions in Ecuador and whether they have been treated unfairly has been debated many times, but perhaps this new ruling is the beginning of the end to the case. What is certain is that no amount of money can turn the clock back and make good the damage done to the Amazonian rainforest.

--
This is a guest post.

Olivia Lennox is a green freelancer from London. Normally she'll be extolling the virtues of tempurpedic products or the latest organic soaps, but she has her finger on the pulse of international environmental law too.

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GreenMyParents- Parents taught to save the planet

A program launched on Earth Day 2010, GreenMyParents is a concept developed by young people to teach their parents and their peers to help the economy, earn money at home and to save the planet through simple everyday actions. When it started it targeted 100 kids to save $100 and spread through more kids so that through Earth Day 2011, it was intended to save $100 million.

Its actually simple! By following household efficiency and conserving energy it will take you a long way ahead in savings. They have also launched a book to give you tips on how to manage and be efficient. You can grab a copy at Amazon. Anyways to get a starter kit head down to their website.

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Blog Update 2012

Happy New Year to all you! Although I doubt it this will be last New Year I will be wishing considering the fact that 2012 is supposed to be the end. Anyways no more about the impending doom,let me go on with my updates. I have been out for over a year and ever since I had the recent realization, it was time I came back. Although I have become much busier than I was, the fight must go on. So with that in mind, I have actually decided to expand my horizon.

Firstly I have moved back to my domain again, BDPollution , and will shift to that completely soon. I am going through a transition period where I will be posting duplicate posts one on Blogger and on BDPollution. Eventually once work on BDPollution is complete and is stable, I will probably close down Blogger.

Secondly when I began this blog I considered the international viewer ship, although over time, I have been meaning to consider local news and now that I now broadening my horizon, So I will be having a dedicated section on Bangladesh, which will be covering on Bangladesh's environmental issues.

So hopefully have a lot of things to do and now back to regular posting..

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Disappointed..but back again...

I begin this post more than a year apart with great disappointment and a recent experience which reminded me how things might look like in the future. Why disappointed? The recent outcome of COP17 at Durban just makes it clear that even though with such visible changes about the environment, countries are still willing to fight over petty things. Although some say that this conference did somewhat have a positive outcome but nonetheless it reminded me of a similar conference that was held two or three years before where all the countries were in a rush to come up with a decision and in the end a three-page document was created containing absolutely nothing solid about proper climate change mitigation targets.

For rich countries, climate change sure does not seem like a big issue considering the current economic crises, and I understand that but for LDCs its a major dilemma. Least to say that they are the worst affected; such countries are stranded in the middle of a ping-pong court, just bouncing from one side to another. Hence I come to the point that reminded of a personal experience that I had recently.
I live in a supposedly posh area in Dhaka, and in such an area it is expected to get continuous water, electricity and gas supply or just to say the basic utilities. I never had complains about any of these issues unlike places in Dhaka where you would to wait in line to get water from the water authority.

So I was having this water shortage at my place and I remember that every time I would wake up from sleep to head to office, I knew if i was lucky that I could get a nice proper shower but that was not the case. I remember when I switched on the tap, it was clear only drops of water would fall, so I would quickly find a bucket to save as much as I could. From whatever water I saved, I would brush my teeth and manage to have a shower.

When I would get back from office, I could not even wash my hands, since there was no water. It became more than a necessity to me than anything, and not for lavish purpose of taking a nice long bath, but doing the basic things, like brushing your teeth, having a shower, washing your clothes, all of these things. Later eventually we bought water bottles, so that we could at least manage the basic necessities. It then popped in my head that buying water was cheap in Dhaka, hardly less than a dollar, if I consider a 5 liter water bottle. I know abroad that water is expensive.
For Bangladesh, water crisis is a norm, where a majority of people are used to it. Although not many rich countries are accustomed to such situations, with the effects of climate change, things will change.

So I started to imagine that the water shortage I had in a week, not having enough water to do the basic necessities will become a usual activity in the future. Water will become an expensive commodity and the people rich enough will have money to buy whereas for those who are poor would not be able to afford it. It might begin first with water territory issues then slowly will lead to war and so many more issues, and water is just of many problems we will face with climate change.

Hence with all of this disappointment and rabbles going on inside my head, I came to a realize that I almost gave up on the fight for climate change and with such outcomes at COP17 just made it clear that, the fight must go on and should never give up…

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The United Nations has designated the first Monday in October as annual World Habitat Day.

On Oct. 4, 2010, in recognition of World Habitat Day, Habitat for Humanity will raise awareness of the need for improved shelter and highlight Habitat’s priorities: the worldwide connection between human health and housing, and, in the United States, neighborhood revitalization. These themes echo the United Nations’ chosen theme for 2010 for events in the host city of Shanghai, China and the rest of the world: “Better City, Better Life.”



Every week, more than a million people are born in, or move to, cities in the developing world. As a result, the urban population of developing countries will double from 2 billion to 4 billion in the next 30 years. (Kissick, et al: 2006)



By the year 2030, an additional 3 billion people, about 40 percent of the world’s population, will need access to housing. This translates into a demand for 96,150 new affordable units every day and 4,000 every hour. (UN-HABITAT: 2005)

Habitat for Humanity hopes that by raising awareness and advocating for universal decent housing we can dismantle and alter the systems that allow for poverty housing and make an affordable, decent place to live a reality for all.

Habitat for Humanity World Habitat Day events

Around the world, many Habitat for Humanity local offices have organized World Habitat Day events. Habitat for Humanity’s 27th annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project is a World Habitat Day event this year. It will be held Oct. 4 – 8 in six cities in the United States. Held in a different location each year, Habitat’s Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project is an annual, internationally-recognized week of building that brings attention to the need for simple, decent and affordable housing. This year, the Carters will work alongside volunteers in Washington, D.C.; Baltimore and Annapolis, Md.; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.; and Birmingham, Ala. to build, rehabilitate and improve 86 homes.

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UK kicks off one of the world's largest wind farm

As UK leads one of the largest coordinated global event 10:10:10, the Global day of Doing, this news sounds great. UK embraces renewable energy to a whole new level.

Details, basically this wind farm is one of the world's largest offshore wind farm situated off the Thanet in Kent. The project was at a cost of £780m ,and is expected to generate enough electricity to power 240,000 homes.

Read more about it.

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UN Secretary General endorses 10/10/10

Its great to hear that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has endorsed 10/10/10, the Global Day of Doing. As he quotes

“It’s time for us to roll up our sleeves and get to work on building the clean energy future that will generate economic opportunity and provide a better, safer, healthier world for our children. On October 10, I encourage everyone to do his / her part to be part of the solution to the climate challenge.”

He further said

“It’s time to roll up our sleeves.” Let’s get to work pulling in those 35 remaining countries and signing up even more work parties for 10/10/10. Together, we’ll show our nations what unity is all about.

Why the rest 35 countries? Apparently in 350.org website, 25 countries are still not active about 350 as in no activities relating to 350 have taken place. If they did last year, probably not this year. Just before posting this article, I was going through the list of the countries at 350.org website.

Read more about it.

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