The auto industry is beginning to look to lithium batteries to power new models of hybrid cars. The new demand for lithium could be a boon for Bolivia, the poorest country in South America, which holds half of the world's lithium reserves, according to BBC News.
For every birth in Mexico City, two new cars enter the city's vehicle fleet each year, according to the Center for Sustainable Transport, or CTS in its Spanish acronym.
Photo credit: AIDG
We were interested to read that Guatemala is the test site for three of the 10 Everyday Technologies That Can Change the World in the online edition of DISCOVER magazine.
The three technologies being piloted in Guatemala are:
1) A micro-hydroelectric power generator
Our crew at the Huehuecoyotl Ecovillage, Tepoztlan, Mexico
On November 10, 2003 twenty-six of us aboard two school buses and a pickup truck all running on recycled vegetable oil departed Berkeley, California on a journey through Mexico and Central America to our final destination, Costa Rica. We ranged from a 20 year old hippie from Ohio, a hobo anarchist from Los Angeles to a 55-year old radical clown named Brino, and we lived in very close quarters. ...
Grupo Bimbo, Mexico's largest producer of baked goods, announced this week it will be replacing its plastic packaging with a new biodegradable plastic in all main supermarkets and retail outlets in Mexico City.
The ubiquitous green and white Volkswagen bugs that serve as cheap taxis for millions of Mexico City residents while damaging their lungs by spewing ultra fine particulate matter and other pollutants will be phased out by 2012, according to the Spanish news agency Efe. The cars, known fondly as "vochos," proliferated in Mexico decades after Volkswagen began manufacturing them in the city of Puebla.
Stephen Brooks is the co-founder of Kopali Organics and a correspondent for Planet Green’s G Word .
Isn’t it crazy to think that everything we eat or use that comes from plants at one time grew completely wild? That’s right, rice, corn, beans, cotton, oranges, tomatoes… everything came from somewhere on the earth and grew there wild. It’s somewhat hard to believe. ...
Determined to prove its not a just a smog-addled city notorious for traffic and pollution, Mexico City had jumped on the bike-sharing bandwagon and launched its own free program called Mejor En Bici (Spanish link), or Better On Bicycle in English.
Photo credit: Hector Tobar/ LAT
Criminal mafias have long been associated with environmental destruction in countries around the world including Mexico and Liberia. A recent story in Los Angeles Times reveals that narcotraficantes, or drug traffickers, are clearing land in protected areas in Guatemala's Peten region, an area known for its exquisite biodiversity and ecological wealth.
To add insult to injury, it now appears that smog -- in addition to causing lung infections, asthma, heart attacks and cancers -- can diminish your sense of smell. A recent study showed people in Mexico City had trouble smelling everyday odors like coffee and orange juice compared to residents of a nearby town, according to Reuters/Planet Ark.
According to a researcher who ran the study, the subjects' noses were so badly damaged from a life inhaling toxic particles that they also struggled to notice the scent of rotten food.
(Photo: An Argentine girl breaks into the last EU-LAC summit, in 2006, to claim for the pulp mills issue. UE-ALC press service.)
We admit we should have jumped on this news earlier, like in late 2007, but better late than never to report that the HSBC Tower in downtown Mexico City is the first building in Latin America to receive LEED Gold certification from the Mexico Green Building Council, an institution that promotes and certifies sustainable and environmentally friendly design and construction. Fortunately a columnist for the Mexican paper
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