1. Lee, Sung-Hee 2. Water-Related Conflicts Set to Escalate 3.We see that environmental problem is connected with many political processes. Like this news, the dam project and water management of Mekong is surrounded by many stakes. The development of common natural resource makes a political and personal processes including conflicts between different groups. As a result, most cases are likely to win powerful groups. We need to reflect on social issues and to support low socioeconomic status - groups. ----------------------- "The current rate of population growth and urbanisation are already impacting food production. We need to improve the efficiency of agricultural output, as it's unlikely that the acreage under cultivation can be much increased. Improved efficiency requires the efficient use of water resources," says Professor Olli Varis from the Water and Development Research Group at Aalto University. The Group's main research interests include integrated approaches to the management and planning of water resources as well as international water issues.
Professor Varis points out that the utility of existing water resources is adversely affected by increasing industrial pollution and the breakdown of natural material circulation. The utilisation of water resources, and groundwater in particular, already exceeds the renewal capacity. "Up to 60-90 per cent of the world's population live in countries that suffer from water shortages, and that figure will rise sharply in the future." ------ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100430101752.htm
1. Hong Eun Sook 2. Finding uses for other' garbage 3. I can find these use in tradition of Korea. Even I wore some clothes from my cousins. But nowadays it is nearly disappeared, now materials are affluent. Now we may have to start it again not lacking of material but environment problem. And still some people in the same earth take a suffer from lack of materials, while some people waste materials. Cradle to Cradle assumes someone's waste using for themselves. But it would be nice, if the recycling system is in charge of the someone who make wastes and the benefits of recycling distribute to everyone who in needs. ----------------------------------------- CHICAGO -- Kay McKeen has sent microscopes to Ghana, zippers to Ethiopia, textbooks to India and a baby grand piano to a high school on Chicago’s South Side.
She outfits classrooms across the state of Illinois. She turns wax nubs into bright, gorgeous crayons. She collects, sorts and donates hundreds of thousands of books.
She‘s equal parts environmentalist, Dumpster diver and missionary, and her motivation is simple: “If we don’t rescue it, it‘s in a landfill forever.”
McKeen, 59, of Wheaton, Illinois, is the founder and executive director of SCARCE (School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education), a Glen Ellyn, Illinois.-- based organization dedicated to collecting people’s unwanted stuff and finding a use for it -- from bottle caps and old keys to overhead projectors and, in one case, a 16-foot balance beam.
“It came from a school whose insurance no longer covered gymnastics,” McKeen recalls. “We found a magnet school in Chicago that just happened to need a new balance beam.”
As the world prepares to toast Earth Day‘s 40th anniversary on Thursday, there’s plenty to give the green movement the blues: a global water crisis, a giant garbage patch in the Pacific, polar ice caps melting in the Arctic. But McKeen takes a different approach.
“People should feel excited,” she says. “There are some amazing things happening.”
Especially at SCARCE headquarters, a warehouse tucked into a nondescript brick office complex. When you walk through the front door, tidy suburbia gives way to delightful chaos. Thousands of books line the walls from floor to ceiling. A shelving unit holds containers of American flags, dried-up ballpoint pens, eyeglasses, old keys, wine corks, cell phones and other items that often get tossed.
“It‘s not trash,” McKeen says. “It’s resources.”
Resources for whom? You name it. McKeen funnels goods to recycling centers or groups that can use them. The eyeglasses go to the Lions Club, where they‘re cleaned up and distributed to people in need. The Lions Club takes the keys as well, melting them down for the brass and scrap metal. Pens go back to their manufacturer for recycling. Wine corks go to teachers for art projects or Whole Foods for recycling. American flags go to the VFW for proper retirement -------------------- http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100427000584
A very down to earth* kind of guy. I'm an environmental sociologist interested in establishing material and organizational sustainability worldwide. I'm always looking for interesting materials/technologies, inspiring ideas, or institutional examples of sustainability to inspire others to recognize their choices now. To be fatalistic about an unsustainable world is a sign of a captive mind, given all our options.
*(If "earth" is defined in a planetary sense, concerning comparative historical knowledge and interest in the past 10,000 years or so anywhere...) See both blogs.
1. Lee, Sung-Hee
ReplyDelete2. Water-Related Conflicts Set to Escalate
3.We see that environmental problem is connected with many political processes. Like this news, the dam project and water management of Mekong is surrounded by many stakes. The development of common natural resource makes a political and personal processes including conflicts between different groups. As a result, most cases are likely to win powerful groups. We need to reflect on social issues and to support low socioeconomic status - groups.
-----------------------
"The current rate of population growth and urbanisation are already impacting food production. We need to improve the efficiency of agricultural output, as it's unlikely that the acreage under cultivation can be much increased. Improved efficiency requires the efficient use of water resources," says Professor Olli Varis from the Water and Development Research Group at Aalto University. The Group's main research interests include integrated approaches to the management and planning of water resources as well as international water issues.
Professor Varis points out that the utility of existing water resources is adversely affected by increasing industrial pollution and the breakdown of natural material circulation. The utilisation of water resources, and groundwater in particular, already exceeds the renewal capacity. "Up to 60-90 per cent of the world's population live in countries that suffer from water shortages, and that figure will rise sharply in the future."
------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100430101752.htm
1. Hong Eun Sook
ReplyDelete2. Finding uses for other' garbage
3. I can find these use in tradition of Korea. Even I wore some clothes from my cousins. But nowadays it is nearly disappeared, now materials are affluent. Now we may have to start it again not lacking of material but environment problem. And still some people in the same earth take a suffer from lack of materials, while some people waste materials. Cradle to Cradle assumes someone's waste using for themselves. But it would be nice, if the recycling system is in charge of the someone who make wastes and the benefits of recycling distribute to everyone who in needs.
-----------------------------------------
CHICAGO -- Kay McKeen has sent microscopes to Ghana, zippers to Ethiopia, textbooks to India and a baby grand piano to a high school on Chicago’s South Side.
She outfits classrooms across the state of Illinois. She turns wax nubs into bright, gorgeous crayons. She collects, sorts and donates hundreds of thousands of books.
She‘s equal parts environmentalist, Dumpster diver and missionary, and her motivation is simple: “If we don’t rescue it, it‘s in a landfill forever.”
McKeen, 59, of Wheaton, Illinois, is the founder and executive director of SCARCE (School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education), a Glen Ellyn, Illinois.-- based organization dedicated to collecting people’s unwanted stuff and finding a use for it -- from bottle caps and old keys to overhead projectors and, in one case, a 16-foot balance beam.
“It came from a school whose insurance no longer covered gymnastics,” McKeen recalls. “We found a magnet school in Chicago that just happened to need a new balance beam.”
As the world prepares to toast Earth Day‘s 40th anniversary on Thursday, there’s plenty to give the green movement the blues: a global water crisis, a giant garbage patch in the Pacific, polar ice caps melting in the Arctic. But McKeen takes a different approach.
“People should feel excited,” she says. “There are some amazing things happening.”
Especially at SCARCE headquarters, a warehouse tucked into a nondescript brick office complex. When you walk through the front door, tidy suburbia gives way to delightful chaos. Thousands of books line the walls from floor to ceiling. A shelving unit holds containers of American flags, dried-up ballpoint pens, eyeglasses, old keys, wine corks, cell phones and other items that often get tossed.
“It‘s not trash,” McKeen says. “It’s resources.”
Resources for whom? You name it. McKeen funnels goods to recycling centers or groups that can use them. The eyeglasses go to the Lions Club, where they‘re cleaned up and distributed to people in need. The Lions Club takes the keys as well, melting them down for the brass and scrap metal. Pens go back to their manufacturer for recycling. Wine corks go to teachers for art projects or Whole Foods for recycling. American flags go to the VFW for proper retirement
--------------------
http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100427000584