climate change

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Human Health Depends on Biodiversity

Posted by davidwfox on 13 Jul 2008 | Tagged as: books, climate change

Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity

One of the key things that attracted me to the field of biomimicry was that it showed in very clear terms the value of protecting biodiversity. I just heard the authors of “Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity” interviewed on PRI’s Living on Earth and thought it well worth sharing:

Variety isn’t just the spice of life…it’s essential for life. According to the new book “Sustaining Life, How Human Health Depends upon Biodiversity,” we need birds, bugs, and bacteria a lot more than they need us. We use them for medicines, biomedical and agricultural research, and new materials.

And from the book’s publisher: The Earth’s biodiversity-the rich variety of life on our planet-is disappearing at an alarming rate. And while many books have focused on the expected ecological consequences, or on the aesthetic, ethical, sociological, or economic dimensions of this loss, Sustaining Life is the first book to examine the full range of potential threats that diminishing biodiversity poses to human health.

Check it out now at Oxford University Press, Amazon or your favorite book seller.

Conference: Biomimicry’s Climate-Change Solutions

Posted by davidwfox on 21 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: biomimicry, climate change, energy, energy efficiency, events, water

On October 20th, The Biomimicry Institute in conjunction with the annual Bioneers conference will be holding a one-day conference “Biomimicry’s Climate-Change Solutions: How Would Nature Do It?”

This landmark one-day intensive reveals the leading edge of biomimetic solutions to climate change, modeled on nature’s operating instructions. It’s designed for action-oriented professionals from the fields of business, finance and investment, science, technology, public policy, education, media and civil society.

Find out more and sign up now!

CEC Report: Biggest, Easiest CO2 Emissions Cuts…Green Buildings

Posted by davidwfox on 30 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: climate change, energy, my-new-house, research & reports

As I begin a very expensive green remodel project, its heartening to read this news:

Promoting the green design, construction, renovation and operation of buildings could cut North American greenhouse gas emissions that are fuelling climate change more deeply, quickly and cheaply than any other available measure, according to a new report issued by the trinational Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).

North America’s buildings cause the annual release of more than 2,200 megatons of CO2 into the atmosphere, about 35 percent of the continent’s total. The report says rapid market uptake of currently available and emerging advanced energy-saving technologies could result in over 1,700 fewer megatons of CO2 emissions in 2030, compared to projected emissions that year following a business-as-usual approach. A cut of that size would nearly equal the CO2 emitted by the entire US transportation sector in 2000.

Press release continues…

Read the full report: Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges