ecology
Environment: the maggot in Steve Jobs’ apple
While tributes to its CEO Steve Jobs flood the web, don't forget Apple’s lack of green credentials
ecology, consumers, techno-media, apple, death, society, internet
Paris: the green at the end of the tunnel
Paris is like a tunnel which threatens to devour everything, a pressure cooker ready to explode. The city has the densest population in Europe: 21,000 people per square kilometre. Worn out by an insatiable demand for accommodation, a jam-packed metro and trees wilting due to pollution, the Parisians are eager for change. Citizens have already rolled up their sleeves (literally!) and are creating new green spaces. With shared gardens, honey, biodiversity and public politics transforming the city, Paris aspires to transform velibs into autolibs, to develop new trains and to listen again and again to the lectures of the ecolo-geeks. Cafebabel.com shows you the green leaves peeking through the paving stones
Athens: Got 99 problems and environment is one...
The Greek capital has other problems to deal with than the environment. While the main Kifissos river has dried up due to poorly planned construction works, the Aegean sea is being swamped with illegally dumped waste. The battle of Keratea, a small village outside the capital, against an immense landfill site which has been in the pipelines for the last fifteen years, is just one more worry for the government. Athens’ expanding cycle lanes are to die for, especially on a Friday night – but otherwise the town is breathless because of pollution and the oppressive heat. Will the anger of citizens be enough to protect the marvels of Attica? (Image: © Benedicte Salzes/ benedictesalzes.com)
- Read the special edition Athens: Got 99 problems and environment is one...
- Forget environment! Cars rule the road in Athens
- Sex, Sartre & rock n’roll in Paris theatre
- The attican landfill war: a load of trash?
- Environmental art in Athens: art project for Kifissos river
- Freeday: beer vs bikes through Athens on Fridays
Summer's here, so travel green for Green Europe on the ground
Going on holiday in this economic climate is impossible for many. But as good old Bertie Einstein said, ‘In a crisis, imagination is more important than knowledge’. cafebabel.com wraps up its second citizen media project of the year, ‘Green Europe on the ground’. The pick of articles from the year encourage you to get on your imaginary bikes through an Italian capital during the day. For the night, you’ll don your telescopes to contemplate the real deal beyond the lights of a Slovenian capital before dancing it all off in a ‘green disco’ in a German capital. We’ll take a serious stop in a Hungarian country to see how the effects of a natural disaster can mobilise people, before taking an organic break in a southern Spanish regional capital. We’ll also have that chat with young Parisians on how they feel about the new political green climate, because environment is essentially inseparable from European politics. Read the ‘best of’ our journalists’ ‘alternative energy’ in a collection of green articles this summer (Image: (cc) annais/ Flickr)
- Read the special edition Summer's here, so travel green for Green Europe on the ground
- Europe's unique light pollution law: dark skies over Slovenia
- Sludge-hit Hungary: Europe’s biggest ecological catastrophe since Chernobyl
- Green dancefloors Berlin: spread the eco-dance germ to Europe
- Organic Seville: too many exports, not enough young workers or local mouths
- Parisian 'eco-geeks': the youngest players in the French presidential elections
- Rome was not built in a day...nor for bikes
Marrying 'eco' with 'logical' in Strasbourg
300 hectares of green spaces, more than 500 kilometres of bike route and the nature park of Vosges just nearby. The Alsatian capital definitely classes as one of Europe's ecological paradises, and we even find citizens who plan their weddings with a green visor. We sent a budding Sherlock Holmes through the city to crack its eco-crimes, because after all, Strasbourg is most famous in the European eco-crime scene for the second seat of the European parliament which it hosts, compromising the city's eco-balance. Read the following edition in a ten-month 2011 monthly series, ‘Green Europe on the ground’ (Image: (cc) njaminjami/ Flickr)
Seville gets mean on green
At a time when unemployment is enemy number one across the country, April saw the launch of a new monument to Seville which cost a grand total of 123 million euros - 70% more expensive than first chalked. Things don't look good before local elections take place in Spain on 22 May. But there is some future somewhere, and the capital of Andalusia has some green goods despite its bad municipal management. Between solar energy successes, local organic producers and the increase in bicycle lanes in the city, there is definitely a case to be made for green economy in Seville. That doesn't mean it's the place for greenwashing though. Fifth edition in a 2011 monthly series, ‘Green Europe on the ground’ (Image: (cc) Franie Frou Frou/ Flickr)
Rome: far niente ecology
All roads do not necessarily lead to Rome when it comes to talking environment. The Italian capital might be the greenest in Europe after Oslo, but it ranks after Bombay as the city with the most amount of scooters in the world, which remains one of the most popular transport methods for Romans. Taking a bicycle out on those mean streets seems to stir up a bit of a kamikaze effect. But of course, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and if you look, you will find. There is a supreme sophistication in the simplicity of organic Italian food. Theatres and design boutiques reveal an alternative green edge to Rome, whilst more evidence is found on the city’s periphery and the solar roofs of the Vatican, even if its ‘green pope’ sends out mixed WikiLeak messages. Fourth edition in a 2011 monthly series, ‘Green Europe on the ground’ (Image: (cc) Reza Vaziri/ Flickr)
Student guide: community-supported agriculture in France
The system of associations for community-supported agriculture (French initials AMAP) has been growing in Europe over the last 20 years. In recent years, student 'AMAPs' have multiplied on campuses. From Nantes to Palermo, a look between pickers and carrots
ecology, food, nantes, agriculture, europe, society, environment
France's Karima Delli on MEP salary increases
On 3 March MEPs voted to increase their monthly allowances by a further 1, 500 euros. It comes just one year after voting to a first increase by the same amount: an extra 27 million euros over two years, at a time when citizens all over Europe tighten their belts. We speak to the French MEP for the greens
ecology, society, economy, european union, economical crisis, two seat system problem, european parliament
Japan radiation reaches Europe, where 14 states run 143 nuclear plants
'Would we be ready to face a nuclear disaster in Europe?' asked EU energy and environment ministers during a risk evaluation meeting on 14 and 15 March. It's a reaction to the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in central Japan, damaged after an earthquake and tsunami on 11 March
ecology, japan, europe, society, nuclear energy, nuclear plant, referendum
Eco-activism: Sea Shepherd puts early stop to Japanese whaling
Three months of fierce combat in the Antarctic has successfully ended the annual whale hunt in Japan. We first met the US-based conversation society activists during preparations for their grand departure on Operation No Compromise in early December 2010
ecology, japan, fishing, fisherman, environmental protection, society, environment
Guerrilla gardening Berlin: fighting capitalism
Are they squatters? Ecologists? Do they fire flowers instead of bullets? Do they wear masks and secretly plant seeds? A tour around Berlin’s squares and avenues to get to grips with a popular initiative designed to cultivate organic culture in our cities
ecology, germany, berlin, green europe on the ground, society, lifestyle
Being green: German lifestyles are less sustainable than they'd think
In Germany sustainability is in. Germans are buying organic yoghurt, separating their rubbish meticulously and not leaving the tap on when they brush their teeth. But, to be honest, they are actually being inconsistent, for they do also sometimes use a low-cost airline to jet across Europe, they cannot resist new trainers and they eat tomatoes in winter. So why are they more eco-friendly in their minds than in reality?
ecology, consumers, green cities, germany, environmental protection, society, environment
10:10? EU 'first ever' energy summit? Don’t bother going green
With America dumping 128% of Europe's total Co2 figures into the atmosphere and China 133% we just can't make a difference, and the EU knows it. Can it honestly slash its energy consumption by 20% by 2020? Before the first EU energy summit on 4 February, some of us are asking, why bother
ecology, energy, london, carbon footprint, green europe, economy, sustainable developement
Erasmus, 9/11, social networks mark unnamed eighties generation
We're more used to typing on a computer keyboard than to putting pen to paper. It's hard to define our generation - generation google, generation Y, the lost generation... Young people between 20 and 35 have always been connected to a whole world which has little in common to that of their parents. Analysts and victims of this incertitude present the key facts needed to understand this unknown generation
ecology, society, lifestyle, 11m, social networks, budget, facebook
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