Buying carbon offsets

An article in the Sydney Daily Telegraph offers advice on choosing which carbon offsets to buy - or to avoid.

Interestingly, the article advises individuals to buy their carbon offsets from registered environmental charity so that they can claim a tax deduction.

This is exactly the path we hope to go down with our YPD partnership with Geres Cambodia to sell carbon credits.

Eco-monks and Redwood rabbis

The United Nations has announced a partnership with the Alliance for Religions and Conservation, according to a report in the Toronto Star.

The Star says that a group of environmentally concerned Jewish leaders in California, known as the "Redwood Rabbis," has successfully fought to preserve more than 2,000 hectares of redwood forest.

Meanwhile, "Thai Ecology Monks" have helped launch a ritual blessing of the Nan River, which has led to the creation of nine fish sanctuaries.

And in Yemen, the Islamic Federation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences has organised a water conservation program based on Islamic principles.

Sober lifestyles needed for sustainable development: Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict has again called on people to adopt more moderate lifestyles in order to ensure a fairer distribution of wealth and to reduce pressure on resources, the International Herald Tribune reports.

"One cannot say that globalisation is synonymous with world order — it's the opposite," Benedict said in his homily in Rome today.

"The conflicts for economic supremacy, and the scramble for energy and water resources and raw materials render difficult the work of all those who strive to construct a more just and united world," he continued.

"We need a greater hope, which allows us to prefer the common good of all to the luxury of few and the poverty of many."

"By now it is obvious that only by adopting a sober lifestyle, accompanied by a serious commitment to a fair distribution of wealth, will it be possible to install a just and sustainable model of development," Benedict said.

Explaining the pope's comments, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi added that until recently, "environmental issues seemed the concern of the rich rather than of the poor, of developed countries rather than of more backward ones for which economic development was instead the priority."

"Now, frequent disasters due to environmental imbalances hit hard those who have few resources to defend themselves," he said. "Today, humanity fears for its future ecological balance, and to this observation, the pope links a strong moral call to solidarity," Lombardi said.

Sunshine to petrol?

And here's another interesting development. Scientists at the Sandia laboratory - long associated with nuclear power - in New Mexico, USA, say that they have developed a concentrated sunlight operated device that will break down carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen.

The objective is to produce hydrocarbon fuel from the carbon dioxide - "sunshine to petrol", as Sandia calls it - as well as reducing greenhouse gases.

Are chemicals causing frogs to croak?

Frogs in Australia and around the world appear to be in decline with a number of remarkable species already extinct or close to it, reports The Australian.

Although climate change may be a factor in some cases, some scientists believe that the use of agricultural chemicals may be a key factor in the demise of some species.

One of the frog species that has disappeared, Rheobatrachus silus, which rears its young in its stmach, was first discovered in the Queensland rainforests in 1972. By 1979, it had disappeared, says zoologist, Glen Ingram.

2007 confirms Aussie warming trend, climatologist says

The Australian Bureau of Metereology says that 2007 was Australia's sixth warmest year on record, with the average annual temperature of 21.8 degrees Celsius some 0.67 degrees above normal, AFP reports.

Southern states were most affected as was the key agricultural zone, the Murray Darling Basin. These areas experienced their hottest year since records began in 1910, the Bureau says.

Neil Plummer from the National Climate Centre told AFP that "we are already seeing a change of climate" with 16 of the past 18 years warmer than average.

"There's a fair weight of evidence now that what we've seen in terms of temperature changes, most of it is due to greenhouse gas emissions," Plummer said.

But he also added that it is still too early to confirm whether man-made global warming was responsible for the rising temperatures and drier conditions.

India France EcoSolidarity

Here's an interesting story of a sustainable development project in the Indian town of Rahimatpur, near Pune.

The project includes recycling of water and waste, using renewable energy like solar and wind energy, vermiculture (worm farming) projects and also educational activities to help students to become self-employed.

The project was launched by Rajendra Shende, an Indian expatriate currently based in Paris where he heads the Ozone Action Group of United Nation’s Environmental Programme.

Shende says he was inspired by a speech by former Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam who had called on Indian graduates to adopt and transform their native villages.

The project which mobilised the whole village was so successful that the area became an "embodiment of cleanliness" in just two months.