Lights off for Earth Hour's global crowdfunding call

Lights went off in thousands of cities and towns across the world on Saturday for the annual Earth Hour campaign, which is aiming to raise money via the Internet for local environmental projects.
The Singapore-based campaign by conservation group WWF was boosted by Hollywood star power, with "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx leading ceremonies at the city-state's Marina Bay district.
Comic-book hero Spider-Man is this year's "ambassador" for Earth Hour in which 150 countries are taking part, according to organisers. The event was launched in Sydney in 2007.
The Australian city's Opera House and Harbour Bridge were among the first landmarks around the world to dim their lights for 60 minutes during Saturday's event.
An estimated 7,000 cities and towns from New Zealand to New York are taking part at 8.30 pm local time.
Hong Kong's stunning waterfront skyline was unrecognisable on Saturday evening, with the city's tallest skyscraper, the International Commerce Centre, stripped of the vast light show usually wrapped around its 118 storeys.
Blazing neon signs advertising some of the world's largest brands were shut off, leaving the view of the heavily vertical southern Chinese city peppered only with tiny lights from buildings' interiors.
In the Indian capital of New Delhi, lights were turned off at major landmarks, including the India Gate.
Earth Hour partnered with payments giant PayPal to allow donors to contribute to specific projects from Russia and India to Canada and Indonesia, using Asian fundraising site Crowdonomic.
Earth Hour chief executive Andy Ridley said before the lights went off in Singapore that the event had moved beyond symbolism to concrete action.
"If you want to get real social change you need to have symbolism," he told AFP.
"We are seeing some really big outcomes."
But it has drawn criticism, including from Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg who argues it does little for the real problem of global warming and diverts resources from other problems.
"This celebration of darkness sends the wrong message, Lomborg said in a statement this week.
"While more than a billion people across the globe make a symbol of foregoing non-essential electrical power for one hour a year, another 1.3 billion people across the developing world will continue to live without electricity as they do every other night of the year."
Projects under the "Earth Hour Blue" crowdfunding scheme -- which aim to raise more than $650,000 in total -- include a turtle centre in Italy and funding for forest rangers in Indonesia.
Other projects include a 24,000-dollar effort in the Philippines to bring fibreglass boat technology to coastal communities affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan in November last year.
In Nepal, $100,000 is being sought for a programme called "A Flame Called Hope" to provide access to biogas energy for 150 households in the Terai region, reducing the need for wood as fuel and helping protect the habitat of endangered wildlife, according to the Earth Hour website.
"Spider-Man 2" star Garfield told journalists that he was a personal supporter of the Nepal project.
"What they are doing is turning waste into energy, it's like the cycle of life right there, if only everyone knew how simple it was," he said.
Earth Hour will see other landmarks including the Empire State Building in New York, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Kremlin in Moscow switch off their lights for an hour.
burs/pdh

From AFP

World Water Day 2014: Water and Energy

Water and energy are closely interlinked and interdependent. Energy generation and transmission requires utilization of water resources, particularly for hydroelectric, nuclear, and thermal energy sources. Conversely, about 8% of the global energy generation is used for pumping, treating and transporting water to various consumers. 

In 2014, the UN System – working closely with its Member States and other relevant stakeholders – is collectively bringing its attention to the water-energy nexus, particularly addressing inequities, especially for the 'bottom billion' who live in slums and impoverished rural areas and survive without access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, sufficient food and energy services. It also aims to facilitate the development of policies and crosscutting frameworks that bridge ministries and sectors, leading the way to energy security and sustainable water use in a green economy. Particular attention will be paid to identifying best practices that can make a water- and energy-efficient 'Green Industry' a reality.

Selling fuel wood at wood market in Cambodia ©FAO/J. Koelen

Geothermal Power Station in Þingvellir, Iceland - Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 by Scott Ableman

• Raise awareness of the inter-linkages between water and energy
• Contribute to a policy dialogue that focuses on the broad range of issues related to the nexus of water and energy
• Demonstrate, through case studies, to decision makers in the energy sector and the water domain that integrated approaches and solutions to water-energy issues can achieve greater economic and social impacts
• Identify policy formulation and capacity development issues in which the UN system, in particular UN-Water and UN-Energy, can offer significant contributions
• Identify key stakeholders in the water-energy nexus and actively engaging them in further developing the water-energy linkages
• Contribute as relevant to the post-2015 discussions in relation to the water-energy nexus.

ARM System in Kaohsiung

Taking MRT in Kaohsiung also do recycling. EPA Kaohsiung designed the first "automatic resource recycling machines" in Taiwan. The public can insert empty PET bottles, aluminum, iron cans into the machine in the MRT station and the refund will refill in the travel card automatically.  The city mayor Chen Chu demostrated the recycle process in person and said the refund will only refill in the travel card, that means we encourage the publics taking the MRT ar rent the bike. The ARM system can improve the convenience and efficiency of recycling, and it is the symbol of the progress for the city.

Green trails around Taiwan

Imaging, a beautiful trail around the island is only for walk and bike.

Imaging, a mountain trail without Mercury lamp, herbicides and cement barrier.

The project began in April 23, 2006. It is a civic action, which is committed to protecting Taiwan mountain and ocean scenery, especially the local humanities. Hand-made trails are different from those using the equipment. The volunteers built the trails by local materials and simple tools to combine the local environment and historians. Since 2007 leading in the Appalachian Trail volunteers’ concept, we combine the official and non-governmental forces to organize the trails working holiday, to establish the trail base and even the combination of community-based Eco-tourism.

Completion of the thousands of miles of trails around the island road network series, we further proposed the idea of "One Village One forest path, the period of" Community” and finally reach the environmental rehabilitation and ecological the goal of restoration.

more information: http://www.tmitrail.org.tw/website/?page_id=49