Design 21: Social Design Network

Thanks to UPA’s bungling, economy is back to where it was in 1990 – MyVideo.de, crown jakarta capital management environmental

Original article: http://www.myvideo.de/watch/9083348/Thanksto_UPAsbunglingeconomyis_backtowhereitwasin1990LinkedIn

The Atal Behari Vajpayee Government bequeathed a robust economy to the UPA. Remember that the growth rate registered in 2003-2004, the last year of the NDA regime, was an impressive 8.5 per cent. Foreign exchange reserves were plentiful. General prices were well under control. Share markets were booming. And there was a general sense of well-being. Work on the Golden Quadrilateral highway linking four corners of India was in full swing. And various public infrastructure projects under the Public-Private- Partnership model were proceeding without any hitch.

Now, in the last year of the UPA-II, we are back to the ‘Hindu rate of growth’. If the economy logs anything above 5 per cent, it would be a miracle. The prestigious highway project has become a casualty of the UPA Government’s venality and drift. Instead of making 20 kilometres of new roads daily — as was the case under the NDA — new construction has crawled to less than a kilometre or two. So much so that a number of private concessionaires, after successful bids have reneged on these projects. PPP model itself has been vitiated with collusive post-tender benefits being given to concessionaires at the cost of the paying public, be it the Delhi airport or numerous other project...

Warmer Climate causes Greener Arctic http://janusjaneacrowncapitaleco.tumblr.com/post/47082200871/crown-capital-eco-management-climate-warmer-warmer

Researchers say, elevated temperatures and a longer growing season mean some of Earth’s chilliest regions are looking increasingly green. As reported and base from the new study, at present the plant life at northern latitudes often looks like the vegetation researchers would have observed up to 430 miles (700 kilometers) farther south in 1982. “It’s like Winnipeg, Manitoba, moving to Minneapolis-Saint Paul in only 30 years,” study researcher Compton Tucker of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement. A team of university and NASA scientists including Tucker looked at 30 years’ worth of satellite and land surface data on vegetation growth from 45 degrees north latitude to the Arctic Ocean. The researchers suggest that, in this region, large patches of lush vegetation now stretch over an area about the size of the continental United States and resemble what was found 4 to 6 latitude degrees to the south in 1982. “Higher northern latitudes are getting warmer, Arctic sea ice and the duration of snow cover are diminishing, the growing season is getting longer and plants are growing more,” climate scientist Ranga Myneni of Boston University said in a statement, adding that the changes are leading to great disruptions for the region’s ecosystems. In the precedent several decades the Arctic has been war...

People don’t like being forced to purchase things they may not want, which is why over half of us are hoping that the Supreme Court throws out the individual insurance mandate in President Barack Obama’s health care plan. There’s also a worldwide rebellion brewing against being forced to purchase expensive electricity produced by so-called “renewable” sources, now being exacerbated by the availability of very cheap natural gas from shale formations. But, here in the U.S. there are some 30 different statewide “renewable portfolio standards” (RPSs) that also mandate pricey power, usually under the guise of fighting dreaded global warming. RPSs command that a certain percentage of electricity has to come from wind, solar, geothermal, or biomass. Given that this power generally costs a lot more than what comes from a modern coal or gas plant, your local utility passes the cost on in the form of higher bills, which the various state utility commissions are only too happy to approve in the name of saving the planet. RPSs generally do not include hydroelectric power, which produces no carbon dioxide. It’s also much more predictable than solar or wind, and costs about the same as the average for gas and coal combined. It’s not in the portfolio standards because dams are soooo 20th century, and it isn’t a darling of the green lobby, like solar, wind and biomass. But hydro can deliver more juice than solar is ever likely to.

Nor do RPSs allow for natural gas. The...

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/309243/concern-over-environment-ministrys-no.html Concern over environment ministry’s ‘no’ to radar in Andamans

The recent rejection of a request of the defence ministry by the Union environment ministry to allow setting up of a radar in Narcondum Island in the Andaman Sea raises the question of whether in this country security of the nation is of paramount importance or whether the environmental issues can override it. It becomes all the more important when we see total abdication of issues of environmental abuse by the government.

However, so far the debate has been between environment and industrial growth but now the debate has moved to a more serious issue of environment and national security which is a matter of greater concern.

That there is large scale violation of environment in this country is a known fact. The ministry of environment is either conniving or watching helplessly, whichever way the reader wants to accept it. The mining mafia, supported by political-bureaucratic nexus is indulging in the rape of forests violating all forms of environment laws and hardly any action is being taken against any individual or company. Some activists with conviction have fought cases against the mining mafia and inaction of government and in some cases got favourable judgements.

The pollution control agencies responsible for the welfare of various rivers are a scandal. Yamuna and Ganga River Control Authorities have spent thousan...

http://www.pri.org/stories/business/global-development/flood-refugees-begin-returning-to-jakarta-indonesia-braces-for-more-rain-12755.html Jakarta is often beset with flooding, but heavy rains and commercial developments made the past week's flooding especially widespread, and also especially egalitarian -- inundating the homes of both the poor and the wealthy. A week of severe flooding in Jakarta is beginning to subside and refugees are starting to return to damaged homes and businesses. At least 20 people died in the flood and 46,000 became homeless. More rain is forecast this weekend. At its peak on Jan. 17, the water in some areas reached above six feet. Public transportation and traffic came to a halt forcing businesses to shut down. “At the time, the water reached some places that previously were never (flooded), such as the presidential palace and the main road of Jakarta in Sudirman-Thamrin,” said Wahyu Dhyatmika, managing editor of the online news portal Tempo.co. “Even the city landmark (the Hotel Indonesia's roundabout) became a large pond of dark brown water.” Environmental journalist Harry Surjadi painted a grim picture in an email on Friday. “I can say that Jakarta has collapsed,” he said. “The rain has stopped at night but I can see that a grey cloud is covering Jakarta.”

http://crowncapitalmgnt.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/crown-capital-eco-biomass-boiler.html

The boiler system was designed to highlight how biomass can reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Visitors can see the boiler operate through specially designed windows. In the hall just outside of the boiler room, the noise level and ambient temperature is consistent with the rest of the building. Savings Fuel costs have been cut by two-thirds. The densified pucks are used with almost no residual ash; eventually, however, tree clippings from the Ketchikan walking trails will be ground and fed into the boiler, eliminating the need for transport to a landfill, burning, and other methods of disposal.

The system easily can be replicated for heat or heat/power generation up to 20,000 kw. In June 2011, Smith served as a keynote speaker for the fifth annual Native American Economic Development Conference in Anaheim, Calif., where he described the initiatives being implemented in Ketchikan and shared success stories of biomass-fired boiler systems installed on institutional campuses and in manufacturing facilities throughout the United States, particularly in challenging and remote locations. Systems include municipal solid waste, as well as woody biomass for steam production and steam to power.

http://crowncapitalmng.livejournal.com/4246.html The thought could be scary, knowing how much toxins you inhale everyday. Through the help of technology European researchers are gearing up to monitor thousands of people. Smartphones are given away to record the chemicals to which they are exposed every day. Exposome, the term used by European Commission to study the effects of environmental exposures to human health. It was then hope that the four-year studies will benefit public health in ways that genome research so far has not. Exposone could reveal a warning or warnings of environmental health issues for use. “There’s been too much emphasis on genetic factors, which contribute relatively little to disease compared with environmental factors,” says Martyn Smith, a toxicologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who is participating in the newly funded Exposomics project. Paolo Vineis, an environmental epi¬demiologist at Imperial College London, leads the €8.7-million project. Some studies do not always succeed like the Genome-wide association studies, in which scientists search for genetic variants linked to disease. They have failed to fully explain why some people are more susceptible than others to chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. The new study will work this way, subjects will carry smartphones equipped with sensors to measure exposures, and their blood will be analyzed to monitor molecular changes. The majority of the participants are already concern...

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WASTE MANAGEMENT ORDERED TO PAY $376K http://kerrydavid.tumblr.com/post/34153754294/business-in-brief

BOSTON - A Texas-based waste disposal company has been ordered to pay more than $376,000 in fines and restitution for violations of prevailing wage laws, Attorney General Martha Coakley said. Waste Management Inc. was cited for charging employees for health care coverage they did not receive, Coakley said. From June 2008 through June 2011, Waste Management made deductions from the prevailing wage for employees who had opted out of the company’s health and welfare plans. Waste Management agreed to pay back 56 employees for the costs of unwanted benefits that had been deducted from their wages. AD AGENCY MOVES TO INDUSTRIAL PARK PLYMOUTH - ViaMark Advertising has relocated to an expanded office at 5 Aldrin Road in Plymouth Industrial Park. The move was necessitated by expanded staff and plans to open more franchise offices throughout New England. The company was at Cordage Commerce Center for the last seven years. The company chose to remain in Plymouth because of its proximity to Boston, Providence and Cape Cod, the media markets that it has identified as ripe for franchise growth, founder Glenn Anderson said. The agency handles more than 100 accounts from Massachusetts to Florida, specializing in creative services, media placement and radio, TV, print, outdoor and online advertising. NATIONAL GRID WARNS CUSTOMERS ABOUT SCAM WALTH...

http://chirpstory.com/li/33789

Fraudsters attack even natural disasters victims

-Natural Disasters Victims: Scammers Wait until we are in our Lowest Opportunists prey on natural disasters’ victims and even those who want to help. They would not miss any single chance that they could profit something from any kind of people by taking advantage of their weaknesses. Victims are at their most desperate state and scammers see this as an opportunity to deceive them.

http://my.opera.com/crowncapitalindonesiafraud/blog/2012/11/12/crown-capital-eco-management-indonesia-fraud-renewable-energy-would-save-eu-tr The Commission by environmental campaigners forecast 3 trillion euros would generate by 2050 on their green revolution campaign- to make EU energy almost totally carbon free.

The energy shift would already create around half a million extra jobs by 2020, Crown researchers from German aerospace center DLR, which also specializes in energy and transport, found. It has legislated to ensure that 20 percent of the energy mix is green by the said year, as part of a set of three main environmental goals. But it has yet to achieve agreement on binding targets beyond 2020, even though non-binding roadmaps have laid out the need for a virtually carbon-free electricity mix by 2050.

Commissioned by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), the 2012 Energy evolution report lays out risk avoidance towards almost carbon-free energy. They include curbing energy demand through greater efficiency, increasing investment in wind and solar power and phasing out subsidies for carbon-intensive energy, such as coal.