Comprehensive Climate & Environmental Websites
Sustainability for All Another extensive site with a comprehensive range of articles. studies, reports and solutions to current problems and challenges under the following broad headings:
CLIMATE CHANGE Climate change is the variation in the state of the climate, directly or indirectly due to human activities that alter the composition of the atmosphere. It is caused mainly by global heating and results in the melting of the polar ice caps, rising sea level and extreme weather conditions, droughts among many other negative impacts. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT- Sustainable development is able to satisfy today’s needs without endangering the capacity of future generations. It comprises three basic elements that must complement one another: environmental, economic and social sustainability. RENEWABLE ENERGY- Renewable energy is produced from natural ecological processes and sources that are continually regenerating and replenishing. These sources include wind, sunlight, water, geothermal heat, tides and although controversial, different kinds of biomass. This type of energy is inexhaustible and constantly renewing. ENVIRONMENT- The environment includes all living and inert beings on the planet or a specific region. It also includes all the ecological interactions between them and the factors that influence their survival and development, and the evolution of species. These factors can be natural - such as sunlight, temperature, water or nutrients in the earth - or caused by humans. WATER- Water is a natural asset; limited, sometimes in scarce supply, and fundamental to life on earth. Just 2.5% of the planet’s water is freshwater, 69% of which is found in glaciers and ice sheets, 30% in groundwater, 0.7% as permafrost, and only 0.3% in lakes and rivers, which are the main source drawn on for daily human consumption. CONSTRUCTION AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT- Construction and urban development are close cousins of sustainability. Innovation, the adaptation of traditional methods to cutting-edge techniques, and new architectural trends, are transforming thousands of city environments worldwide, improving quality of life and equity of millions of people. SUSTAINABLE LIFE- The way we adapt to the standards of a globalized world, the challenges we face in the immediate future, and new trends in services, products and technologies, all form an important part of sustainable life…..for example everything you need to know about electric cars, how to live sustainably, responsible consumption. Green Digital use, and more categories, articles, links, etc.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Guardian's series on Issues & Solutions for 50 Cities
RMI is a huge site that explores all aspects of green energy. It is a great site: Check it out.
Mongabay dedicated only to ecological and biodiversity issues and is a nonprofit conservation and environmental science news platform our environmental news reporting and analysis as well asenvironmental education materials.
Amazon Biodiversity Center (also known as the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragmentation Project; BDFFP) focuses on the Amazon and other worldwide rainforests,and conducts scientific research on the impact diversity of ecosystems, animals, trees and plants when forests are cut down. It is "the world's largest and longest-running study of habitat fragmentation," and is considered the most productive conservation research project in the world. The project also has inspired dozens of the world’s decision makers to preserve robust, biodiverse ecosystems both in the Amazon -- the "lungs of the planet" – and forests worldwide.
