The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Michelle Pressend -
In this time of multiples crises often referred to as the ‘FFF’ - food, fuel and finance crisis - more than ever before, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7, which is to ‘Ensure Environmental Sustainability’, is a critical goal to achieve.
In the planetary ecological crisis, both the North and South continue to prioritise economic growth based on conventional economic models -- the North wants to maintain its high growth rates and the South wants to play...
Michelle Pressend -
More than 80 percent of the population is still dependent on biomass for energy in the Southern African region, particularly, wood, cow dung and coal. It is mainly women and children in rural areas that bear the brunt of the lack of access to modern, safe and affordable energy. They are the ones that collect wood and search for coal in and around operating and abandoned mines.
As a consequence of no access to modern, safe, clean and affordable energy -- such as electricity -- many...
Is biofuel the answer for energy security? The simple answer is no, but it can play a role in an energy mix, argues Bjorn Stigson of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Much also depends on the new generation of biofuels that are being developed, which will not be dependent on food crops. Looking for new solutions to the world's energy crisis, the tendency is that car producers and the oil industry are now divorcing says economist Ruiz Quintans. The automobile...
Michelle Pressend -
The three day G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan ended with disappointing outcomes on climate change commitments from the most powerful countries in the world.
The G8’s communiqué on environment and climate change released on 8 July 2008 reconfirmed the significance of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and recognised the need for a 50 percent reduction in global emissions by 2050. However this commitment is a far cry from the developing countries consensus in...
Leonardo DiCaprio argues that human addiction to oil has brought us to the brink of destruction. Our burning of oil and other fossil fuels has dumped over seven hundred billion tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere, causing global warming. At the same time, big corporations and politicians have not done enough to save us. They have gained too much money and power off our addiction to oil, making them resistant to change.
Japanese company, Genepax has invented a car that runs on water. The company says that any kind of water, including rain and sea water will do. Once water is poured into the car, an energy generator takes hydrogen from the water releasing electrons that power the car. It takes just a litre of water to keep the car's engine running for about an hour at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour. Genepax has plans to mass produce the vehicle.
