The Ministry of the Environment has ensured that high temperatures could affect wireless communication, that rain storms could impact the reliability of signals, and that temperature changes in summer and winter could damage  telephone poles and underground cables.

For the U.K Government, these examples demonstrate that developed countries could be affected by climate change in a different way than developing countries.

The chapter in the report about telecommunications is contained in a text which also analyzes the impact of climate change on other infrastructures such as energy or transportation. The government says that the impact of climate change in telecommunications has not been well evaluated.

For example, other phenomena that may affect the quality of telecommunications are the change in vegetation that could affect radio waves or fallen trees over power lines.

A Greenpeace spokesman said that climate change will affect our daily lives in chaotic and unusual ways. This perspective reinforces the need to combat the increase in air emissions, reinforcing the urgency to think about a “green economy”.

Trees over power lines

Changes in the malaria treatment

An important clinical trial, conducted in 2010 in nine African countries, concluded that treatment with artesunate in children with severe malaria reduces the risk of death by almost 25% compared to traditional treatment with quinine.

The evidence is overwhelming, but the change will not happen by itself. The new guidelines of the World Health Organization recommend artesunate for treating children with severe malaria in Africa, but now we need a commitment from donors and African governments.

In its report ‘Severe Malaria: change in direction’, Doctors Without Borders describes the scientific evidence that could prevent the deaths of about 200,000 children each year.

“When children arrive with convulsions, vomiting or are at risk of going into shock, they must be given an effective treatment,” said Veronique de Clerck, medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Uganda. “For decades, quinine has been used to treat severe malaria, but it is complicated to administer and is dangerous; it’s time to say goodbye. Artesunate saves more lives, it is easier to use and safer than quinine. ”

Doctors Without Borders is changing their treatment protocols and is working with health authorities of the countries to expand the use of artesunate. The change must be fast to save more lives. There are no excuses for not changing now.

Countries with malaria

For more information: http://www.msf.es/noticia/2011/dia-mundial-malaria-se-impone-un-cambio-rumbo-en-lucha-contra-malaria-severa-en-ninos

The truth is that this activity is becoming less cost effective because the Japanese people consume less and less whale meat everyday.

This suspension only take place during this year. The organization Sea Shepherd has already predicted that they will proceed in the same way next year if the Japanese whalers return to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, established in 1994.

It is unfortunate that, despite being a protected area, Japan has hunted whales in this region since 1987 without interruption, adducing scientific and research purposes.

In 2005, researchers at Teikyo University published a study which showed that 90% of the costs of “investigations” were covered by the sale of meat for consumption. The environmental organization Sea Shepherd believes that through this action, this year will save 900 whales in the region.

More information at: http://oceans.greenpeace.org/es/our-oceans/la-caza-de-ballenas/antarctic-whaling

Japan has suspended the whaling

Almost two thirds of food consumed by Europe comes from plants pollinated by bees. What will happen if those bees disappeared? Maybe we don’t have to wait a long time to find out. In recent years the bee population in Europe has fallen dramatically. The phenomenon threatens the plant life and the ecosystem in Europe.

Therefore, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament voted on Thursday the 28th of October its first proposal to solve this alarming situation in beekeeping.

Proposed resolution

The parliamentary resolution contains five keys:

1. An action plan to help combat the high mortality in bee populations, including aid in pollination.
2. More funds for beekeeping.
3. Including a list of diseases in bees and veterinary treatments to reduce pests.
4. Improved statistical data.
5. Establishing a clear labeling of honey sold in Europe, including its origin and content.
6. Defining labeling rules and border controls.

Pollution, the main enemy

According to Slovenian Parliamentary of the PP group, Alojz Peterle, who was also president of the Beekeepers Association in his country, the most effective measure to combat the mortality of bees is to improve the environment: “Fewer and fewer bees are becoming less resistant due to environmental pollution,” said Peterle on the Agriculture Committee. He explained, “We don’t need only better veterinarian treatments, what we really need is to reduce the use of pesticides and biocides, making a much more responsible use of these products.”

The Luxembourg Parliament Astrid Lulling, rapporteur of the resolution, explained that “the European Commission will submit this year its communication on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from 2013. From this point of view, it is necessary to ensure that aid beekeeping programs  also have their place in the CAP after 2013″.

Increase aid

Although the European Commission has approved programs in all Member States to improve production of bee products, increasing the annual contribution of 26 to 32 million euros until 2013.

For the President of the committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, the Italian Socialist Paolo De Castro, national programs have been effective but the growing phenomenon of bee mortality demand urgent actions and measures by strengthening the Common Agricultural Policy before 2013.

Aid should be focused on beekeepers and promote national research projects in order to discover new methods to control bee diseases.

Alarming

During the past two years, some European regions have experienced a mortality rate of approximately eighty percent of their bees, while the normal rate is five percent. Also, the production of honey in Europe is at alarmingly low levels.

The drastic decline of bees

A growing population and higher income levels are increasing the demand of products that require more water in their production, such as meat, sugar and cotton. This leads to overexploitation of water resources and pollution of freshwater ecosystems, resulting in dry rivers and wetlands, aquifers with rising water levels and endangered freshwater species. Since 1970, the Living Planet Index of freshwater ecosystems have suffered a drop to 35%. This index measures changes in 2,750 populations of 714 species of fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals found in tropical and temperate ecosystems of fresh water.

How is Spain?

The average water footprint is 107.78 km3/year in Spain. Spain is the 25th country in the world ranking of total water footprinting, but the situation is aggravated by the stress that we put on our rivers and aquifers: we consume more water than is renewed annually. The effects are not noticeable in the short term, but we are mortgaging our future.

What can you do?

Everything we consume has required water at some stage of its production or use. Water is used not only for drinking or washing, it also is needed for agriculture, transport, electricity production and for leisure and culture. So a responsible consumption means less water footprints. For example, a lower consumption of meat and dairy products can help reduce our water footprint and carbon footprint on the planet.

Water footprint in Spain

1. The 33rd “Cursa del Corte Inglés” is a race open to the general public, that will be held on Sunday the 3rd of April, 2011. Registration is free.

2. The race, certified by the Catalan Athletics Federation, is 10.766 m through the streets of Barcelona.

3. The starting point will be in Paseo de Gracia / Gran Via at 9.30 am

4. There are two ways to participate:

ATHLETES WITH YELLOW CHIP
4.1 Registration must be submitted online before 22:00h on Thursday the 31st of March.
4.2 Dorsal must be collected on the 1st and 2nd of April in El Corte Inglés of Portal de l’Angel (2nd floor).
4.3 The starting point is designated by boxes. Each one is accessible according to the dorsal number.

ATHLETES WITHOUT CHIP
4.4 Registration can be done:
- In any of centers of El Corte Ingles or Hipercor, until 22:00h on Saturday the 2nd of April.
- On Internet, until 22:00h on Thursday the 31st of March.
4.5 The starting point will be in Plaza Catalunya.

5. The arrival point will be in Plaza Catalunya and the race will close at 12h.

6. El Corte Inglés will reward 156 athletes in thirteen age groups available in the website. The winners of the men and the women categories will win the “Trofeu Ciutat de Barcelona“, awarded by the City of Barcelona.

7. All participants who complete the race have the possibility of receiving the diploma with his/her mark and classification by category, from 18th to 30th of April.

The race map

Recorrido Cursa del Corte Inglés 2011

More information on http://www.cursaelcorteingles.es/

Cartel Cursa Corte Inglés 2011

If you want to participate, don’t wait until the last minute. You can sign up until the deadline: 3 April. 2,500 dorsals are already reserved for those under 26 years of year.

You have two options to register in the race: go to the following accredited shops or register online.

The registration fee is 15€Û if you have ChampionChip chip, or 17€ if you don’t. If you are a member of the Nike Running Club, with current license to 1 May, the registration is free. You can also participate for free if you buy Nike running material worth over 100€. In both cases spaces is limited.

This year, the Nike challenge will surprise you: “pipiolos vs Puretas“, which means young people versus old people. Do you know which team you are on?

Are you ready? Don’t worry. The “Lunarun” will begin on 17 March and training sessions will begin 19 March. All information related to these events and other updates about the race will be posted on Nike Running Spain’s Facebook page.

Later, also through Facebook, Nike will inform you about the podiatry service that will be at your disposal.

See you on 10t April in the “Cursa Bombers 2011“.

Cursa Bombers 2011

SDO Space Observatory (Solar Dynamics Observatory), which was launched in February of last year in order to analyze the solar activity, recorded the large flame in a very active region, in the southern hemisphere of the Sun, corresponding to the spot number 1158. The southern hemisphere of the Sun has behaved with less activity than the northern hemisphere in recent times.

The eruption was preceded by several less powerful explosions in previous days. It was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, a powerful magnetic explosion on the Sun’s corona, which projected into space an ionized plasma about 900 km/sec. On February 18th, the geomagnetic storm reached the Earth«s orbit.

The large solar flares can cause serious disruption of telecommunications, in the power distribution systems and satellites, but NASA dismisses that Sun eruptions may causes huge problems.

View NASA image

The Sun has the largest eruption

To answer this question, two researchers from the University of Twente (Netherlands) used a recipe from the BBC web site explains how to make this Italian dish in four easy steps: 300 grams of wheat flour, yeast, 100 milliliters of tomato sauce, basil, garlic, 125 grams of mozzarella cheese, oil, salt, etc.

The result found is that to make this simple pizza for two people, about 1,216 liters of water are required on average.

Of the 1,216 liters of water estimated to make this pizza, only 0.2 liters are used directly in the recipe for the dought. Everything else corresponds to the volume of water needed for the production of wheat flour, tomatoes, cheese, etc.

Which of these ingredients requires the most water? By far, the mozzarella. 73% of the water footprint to make a Margarita Pizza corresponds to cheese: 890 liters.

Most of these 890 liters correspond to water required for crops needed to feed the animals (buffalo traditionally, although in the study, scientists used cows).

The concept of water footprint was created to obtain an index that relates the water with the consumption of the population. The water footprint of a country, industry, or person is defined as the volume of water needed for the production of prodcuts and services consumed by the inhabitants of this country, industry, or person.

More information about water footprint in the article: Water footprints of nations, prepared by UNESCO.

Water footprint

Water footprint

A researcher at the Center for Energy and Environmental Research (CIEMAT), who has made a doctoral thesis financed by the Ministry of Environment, gives the answer: for a city like Madrid, the air conditioners can raise the temperature in summer between 1.5 and 2 degrees celcius in some areas.

Alberto Martilli, director of the thesis by Francisco Salamanca, said: “the message is that the air conditioner could have a significant impact on the urban temperature. The study has some uncertainties and measures must be taken with caution. But the most important conclusion is scientists have detected an impact on temperatures.

But the temperature rise doesn’t happened during the hottest hours of the day, rather in the afternoon as it is during these hours when more air conditioner devices are connected.

Researchers highlight the feedback that occurs in this situation: As it is warmer, more air conditioners are installed which in turn emit more hot air outside.

Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (Switzerland) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research have collaborated in the study. Martilli notes that in Houston (Texas, USA) a similar study was made with similar results to the study in Madrid.