We are all looking for ways to better our environment and our financial situations, and many to turn their homes for solutions. Our homes can run up high energy costs which increase our carbon footprint while decreasing our monthly checking accounts. To reduce energy consumption, many household are choosing solar or geothermal technologies while others are making simple updates such as new windows or proper insulation.

While all these green improvements can greatly reduce your energy consumption, they also come at a high initial price which not all households can afford. Paying $30,000 for a solar panel system isn’t easy to do, even with additional government grants, and finding a company to install a geothermal system is difficult as many are still in there developmental phases.

There are other more inexpensive ways to reduce your home’s energy consumption, such as weather stripping and switching light bulbs, however, helping your environment can be as easy as switching your electricity provider.

Certain energy providers, such as Energy Plus Company , invest in more green technologies like solar and wind to help provide more consumers with cleaner energy sources.

Companies like these believe in the value of renewable energy sources, and use their clients’ dollars to help fund promising future green technologies as part of every utility bill goes towards funding these energies.

In addition to promoting more sustainable energies, Energy Plus Company rewards customers for doing something they already do monthly: paying their bills. Every time a client pays their monthly bill on time, they are able to receive rewards such as cash back, airline points, or educational rewards.

So not only are you going more green, but you are saving some too.

As everyone strives to become more sustainable in their actions and thinking, companies will continue to offer stronger incentives for consumers to invest in their green technologies. Electric and Hybrid cars are already seeing a hike in ownership, and thousands of urban dwellers are starting to enjoy urban or community gardening.

Going green doesn’t have to cost you thousands of dollars in up front costs. Performing tasks such as switching a light bulb or your electricity provider can dramatically reduce your carbon footprint and your monthly spending all with very little effort.

There are numerous important people in the world, like celebrities, politicians, and so on, but we shouldn’t forget about the people representing the Church, like the Pope. He has always been a role model and this is why it is an important step that he is going to get a green car.

Mercedes-Benz is creating a greener hybrid car for him, known as the Popemobile. There have been some speculations saying that it would be ready by his visit to his native country, Germany this September but the official spokesperson has denied these rumors.

The reports are saying that the new car will be based on the four-wheel drive M Class Mercedes, having a hybrid electric-petrol motor.

The Popemobile will be equipped with a lithium-ion battery that is rechargeable and this will make it possible for the vehicle to go about 30 km without causing any pollution.

The reason for which the car won’t be entirely green is that there is need for a motor with a bigger capacity, so that in cases of emergency it would be able to take off.

According to the company there will be no more information given on private clients, because of confidentiality issues.

Mercedes has been offering custom made cars for Popes starting with the 1980s. All of them had big windows made of reinforced glass to allow viewing but in the same time providing maximum security.

The first hints regarding the creation of an electric car have been given in December 2010 saying that the Pope would accept to use an electric car as long as it would be reliable and efficient.

Pope Benedict XVI is known as the ‘green Pope’ by the Italian press and he believes that ‘God’s works’ need to be protected and so there is more and more need for environment friendly products. He has been known for a long time to be really supportive regarding the new, environment friendly technologies.

According to official information the car won’t be ready until the end of the year. Some might say that it was about time for the papacy to make such a step. There are more and more environment conscious people who are willing to pay more to get a hybrid car and make sure that they do not contribute to the pollution of the environment.

We actually saw numerous celebrities and politicians making the same step. Whether they are for real or not…remains to be seen.

We would all think that the gold fever is a thing of the past, but as we know, history has the tendency of repeating itself. It seems like this time the miners of Peru have been hit by this ‘disease’ because of the rising price of gold. Massive deforestation is going on around certain parts of the Amazon in the south-eastern region of the country.

Mercury is known to be used for the extraction of precious metals, and now this dangerous substance is flowing into the rivers and oceans. Although at the moment it might help to get the miners the fortune that they are seeking, it also has long-lasting effects especially in case of the marine life that is already endangered.

In case of the Madre de Dios region there have been people looking for gold since the time of the Incas. In the last period of time there have been more and more amateur miners arriving to the region.

This represents a major threat to the ecosystem that is already considered to be fragile.

The impact of the gold miners on the region has been measured through the use of satellite images of the region provided by NASA and also economic data.

It is true that there is gold accumulated in thick gravel and sand bands around the banks of the rivers, and this is the place to find the miners too. In order to get their hands on the gold, the miners are blasting away the river banks.

Between 2003 and 2009 there have been about 15,000 acres of forest cleared out. In the last three years the speed of destruction has increased and it is clear that there is a strong connection to the price of gold that has risen considerably in the last period of time.

As a conclusion, the most dreadful threats of the Peruvian gold rush are deforestation and mercury pollution. The people working with this substance know very little about the impact that they have on the environment and also on their own health. Mercury poisoning has effects on the nervous system and also on the development of human brain.

The majority of mercury used for this purpose is imported to Peru, and in case the import would be restricted, there would be no way for the poor miners to go on looking for gold and extracting it in this manner, thus putting an end to pollution.

The effects of global warming can be seen on a daily basis. For example there are the great floods that occurred in 2008 and 2009 in the UK. These point to the fact that the sewer systems are old and they cannot handle the new situations anymore.

Useful alternatives for the old systems are the sustainable drainage systems (SUDS). These do a lot more than just mitigating flooding, they also improve the quality of water, cooling and greening the city regions this way reducing the high temperatures in the urban area and improving the general health of the population.

In the majority of the cases the old sewage systems gather all the water from impervious streets and pavements in the storm sewage systems pass through pipes, gully pots and water treatment facilities.

The difference between these and SUDS is that the later offers treatment to the water right on site.

While in the first case water is considered to be an hazard, in the second case it is seen as an asset and valued as such.

The ‘urban heat island effect’ has been known since 1919 and it is caused mainly by the lack of vegetation in the urban areas. SUDS devices have been used to create green roofs that have the great advantage that they can be fitted to existing constructions and so they don’t need any extra space.

According to a study, in case 50% of New York’s flat roofs would be greened, the effect would be reduced by 0.88C.

From the land take’s point of view it is true that the developers make a lot less money from having a detention pond than having an extra house. Nonetheless in case the house has SUDS, like ponds and wetlands, these could make up for the loss of land.

Just as any other kind of system, they would need some maintenance to make sure that they perform their duty accordingly. In case people don’t manage to sort out the ownership, nobody will be responsible for the costs of maintenance.

Although all this seems to be great in theory, there are a lot of people claiming that there is no long term evidence that the SUDS systems are really working.

At the moment the production costs of the SUDS are quite high, but the same thing was true for PCs. Hopefully with the increase of the production the price will decline gradually.

The UN general assembly has declared 2011 the International Year of the Forests. The campaign comes with an impressive logo focused on showing the importance of each essential element we take advantage of from the international ecosystem.

The campaign logo covers everything from the air purifying effect of the forests to the healing powers of the forest plants. It is proving that the title of this worldwide campaign is simply related to how we can improve the health of the forests that are covering 31% of the Earth’s land surface.

The International Year of the Forests made its debut on 24 January with a New York forum under the patronage of UN.

According to IUCN, the forest protection would help humanity to achieve some of the most ambitious plans, reducing the poverty, stopping the global warming and encouraging sustainable growth.

We all know that the forests of the world are the air we breathe, the medicines we use for healing, their biodiversity being strictly related to our way of life. The global climate is degenerating because the forests are becoming smaller and smaller every year and the purpose of the 2011 campaign is to do something about it.

Currently the forests of the World host over 80% of the genes, species and ecosystems, which define the concept of life on Earth. The forests of the planet offer the means for survival to over 1. 6 billion people which stand for a quarter of the human kind.

The forests are the climate anchors and because they now cover only 31% of the Earth’s surface, the climate changes become more obvious every day. In the last year the growth of the surfaces used for agriculture led to the deforestation of 13 million acres of which almost 60% were part of the tropical forests. At this rate the forests will be extinct in the next 100 years.

According to WWF, the deforestation is responsible for 15% of the total greenhouse effect we are currently experiencing and the percentage increases with every tree that is cut.

Along with making people aware of the importance of the forests, the 2011 International Year of the Forests event has also very concrete objectives. To celebrate this event, countries like Ethiopia, Georgia, Jamaica, Lebanon, Poland and Korea proposed to conduct massive forest planting campaigns.

Let’s hope this will be the start for a forest green land, better air to breathe and a healthier world to live in.

When Einstein launched the theory that from the moment the honey bees will disappear the human species has only four years before becoming extinct, the world laughed. Nowadays the UN is sounding the alarm concerned about this exact problem.

The smaller and smaller number of bees already threatens to aggravate the world food crisis considering that over a third of the world’s food sources are based on bee pollination.

The food obtained by bee pollination ensures 35% of the calories we consume as well as the large majority of minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants.

In spite of their large food source the bees die at an alarming rate that created the fear of mass extinction.

So far the bee crisis was treated as a secondary subject but lately the matter becomes even more pressing. This happens because the price of the food from the UN index
has reached the highest peak in history and the grain deficit causes riots in the Middle East.

This is how the problem has become one of maximum emergency, being mandatory to be solved before the world food security becomes an issue aggravating the already complicated situation created by the recession.

The US Rabobank declared that the number of bee colonies dying in US has grown from 30% to 35 % in the last year, after many years during which it remained constant at 10%. The bees death toll is over 20% in Europe and almost equally bad in Asia and Latin America.

According to Rabobank , Einstein’s apocalyptic scenario is slightly exaggerated because the large cultures of grain all over the world are pollinated by the wind.

However, the bees are a key factor in pollinating the fruit trees and vegetables all over the world as well as in ensuring the crops of coffee and cocoa.

The worst situation is in US where the unbalance is becoming more and more obvious since 1961. Nowadays, the agriculture manages to ensure pollination with only 10% of the bees that did the same thing a decade ago.

UN calls for a drastic reduction in pesticides use proposing high fines to be applied for the pesticide propagation in the bee risk areas.

The measures could not have come sooner especially because the small bee colonies can barely keep up with the climate changes going on in the world.

The “Land of the Rising Sun” is facing the wrath of nature. It has now been compounded with a dangerous emergency that has never been seen before. Japan is staring in the face of a major radioactive leak.

The Fukushima nuclear plant has reported radiation levels that are 15,000 times higher than the accepted levels immediately after the earthquake. The plant processes nuclear fuel and 2 of its reactors were intentionally made to explode in order to release the pressure from the inner core. Thousands of citizens residing around the affected area have been asked to stay inside their homes and avoid the rains.

Hiromu Nonaka, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, has stated that abnormal reactions may still be continuing inside the nuclear facility. The probability of a “critical incident” having occurred there can’t be denied and there is increasing concern about the radiation levels in the nearby areas. So far three workers have been admitted to the hospital on the 12^th and on the 14^th another 12 people were severely hurt.

Under the shadow of the largest disaster since the atomic bomb, the perspective of a nuclear accident about to happen as a consequence of the largest earthquake in the history of the modern Japan frightens the entire international community.

There is much speculation about the cause of this leak but it is being assumed that the uranium reached a critical point even though the plant had automatically shut down after the quake. Reports say that the lack of electricity may have been responsible for this, making the water cooling system no longer capable to maintain the low temperature of the plant’s nuclear core.

Almost 6 square kilometers of area around the affected plant has been cordoned off and is considered forbidden zone due to the high levels of radiation. The latest news state clearly that a reactor explosion at Fukushima is imminent.

There have been major nuclear plant accidents around the world including Chernobyl explosion ( Ukraine 1986) and Three Mile Island ( Pennsylvania), but experts agree that this incident in Japan may turn out to be the worst ever incident of nuclear radiation leak.

Japan has increasingly turned towards private nuclear power plants to meet its power needs, especially after the 1973 oil crisis. The country depends for its entire oil fuel needs on other countries, thus needed to be able to produce much of its power with the help of nuclear power production plants. Currently these plants were supplying about 42% of their need.

There have been previous incidents of leaks and high radiation levels in surrounding areas of these nuclear power plants but nothing has come close to the current scale of disaster.

A nuclear disaster at Fukushima would be the largest ecological disaster of this nature. The world trembles at the thought of the third largest world economy being crushed by the mighty nature and the fearsome consequences of its wrath.

Drag fishing in the high seas has been an issue of concern for the marine ecologists for quite some time. The technique of dragging heavy fishing nets along the ocean floor to trap fish results in the destruction and harming of the fine marine ecological balance.

Drag fishing can result in damage to the sea mounts. These are mountain ranges on the ocean floor. These mounts are the habitat of rare corals, deep-sea sponges and plenty of other marine life.

They also are the source of food to many fishes. When heavy nets are dragged against them, they not only harm the mounts but also damage this delicate ecosystem.

The environmentalists’ concerns have now been addressed to some extent, thanks to the ecological deal that has been finalized between the various countries along the shores of the North Pacific Ocean.

This deal will protect about 16.1 million sq miles of the ocean floor from the destructive fishing practice known as bottom-trawl fishing.

This agreement advocates the formation of an organization to check the further expansion of trawl fishing. The agreement concerns the international waters from Alaska to Hawaii.

The agreement was finalized in Vancouver and the participating countries include Japan, South Korea, Russia, Canada, China and Taiwan after prolonged discussions that lasted for over 5 years.

The idea is to freeze the current footprint of trawl fishing to be able to control the damage. Until more eco-friendly fishing techniques are developed, the scientists will have plenty of time to study the fish stock and also work out a long term plan. Although steps are being taken to protect the ocean waters, there is plenty of unprotected area that is of concern to the environmentalists.

Drag fishing results in universal damage as they trap species other than individual species being fished. With depletion of fish stock near the shore lines, industrial fishing has now moved on to deeper and higher seas, thus increasing their area of damage.

It now remains to be seen if this agreement will be given teeth in the form of power that helps to enforce the restrictions agreed on by the pacific countries. Despite the agreement, the unprotected waters which cover an area of 5.1 million sq miles remain a matter of concern.

The U.S Department of Defense has teamed up with the Department of Energy for a great green idea, which will develop energy storage. It may sound odd for many but the U.S military is already involved in many environmental initiatives.

Nowadays these two Departments have shown a real green signal that they are ready to be involved in new energy storage projects. Of course the new projects will need to be funded.

According to the Secretary of the Navy Raymond Mabus, these projects can be developed only with a funding of $50 million. The idea came out after it was said that the U.S. military was unable to pioneer the alternative power sources on their missions around the globe. The reason was one – they couldn’t find batteries with enough storage capacity, as well as adequate solar-power storage.

The U.S. mission in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other places can use the green power alternative only if there is a better battery. For instance, some foot patrols of the 3^rd Battalion in Afghanistan were already using roll-up solar panels on their missions, but they had to ditch 700 pounds of batteries. The waste was unavoidable, simply because the soldiers don’t have enough storage capacity, not to mention that the waste can be dangerous for people in there.

The idea for creating new energy storage projects isn’t new, but this time the two Departments are going to launch two projects in this matter. The first project is about creating new hybrid modules for energy storage.

The project will try to improve and create better batteries as it uses only light weighted materials. The batteries will be capable to store huge amounts of energy. The batteries will be very important for the U.S. military, for they will be able to store the energy for use without any waste. The second project that will be funded by the two Departments is going to be a project that will develop energy storage only in military power grids.

It is a well known fact that U.S. has military bases all over the world. The military needs for energy storage have been growing. Therefore, the second project will aim to boost the energy reliability, as well as finding an adequate prevention of an eventual energy supply disruption.

The energy projects will be launched with a certain goal: the expectations are that by 2020 the energy consumption of half of the U.S. bases will be reduced to zero. Using renewable energy sources in all of the U.S. bases is also one of the goals of the green military projects.

The annual initiative called The Earth Hour 2011 will be celebrated from 20.30 to 21.30 p.m on 26 March this year.

In order to join the green initiative, four largest cities in the world, as well as iconic buildings will switch off their lights for one hour to demonstrate the need for action against climate change.

According to the founders of the organization, the issue with the climate change is very serious. The goal of this year’s initiative is to encourage people, businesses and organizations worldwide to share their actions and serve as an example.

The Earth Hour is a global initiative of WWF. During the campaign, individuals, businesses, governments and communities are encouraged to switch off their lights for one hour and thus express their support for sustainable life and comply with environmental standards development on the planet.

In 2010, the initiative involved 128 countries worldwide and some of the most emblematic buildings and natural wonders were darkened for 60 minutes, including the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Buckingham Palace and Big Ben in London, the Empire State building in New York, Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the Acropolis in Athens, the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Sydney Opera House, the Forbidden City in Beijing, the bridge over the Bosphorus in Istanbul and the Niagara Falls.

The big question this year is will the social network Facebook join the green idea of the organizers? Probably not, despite many people believe Facebook will shut down for an hour, in order to serve as a green example.

Yet, many people believe that the network’s owner has consented, but for others this will not happen.

Economically speaking, for the owner of Facebook it would be better to participate in the initiative because it would bring more investment and most importantly, the respect of the environmental organizations.

However, the social network is a company just as any other on the market, which is why many people doubt Facebook will shut down, even for an hour for the sake of the nature.

Yet, the decision remains in the hands of the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg. It will be good to see a status that says: “Mark just saved the world by shutting the social network for one hour only. “

If not, the network will give a bad signal for indifference to the world’s greenest cause.