"The next generation of Indonesians will not see the forest, if the government does not take drastic measures," said Bustar Maitar, responsible for organization Greenpeace Indonesia for forest. Between 2000 and 2005, Indonesia has suffered the fastest deforestare in the world, surface cleared in every hour represents the equivalent of 300 football fields, said Greenpeace. Indonesia already has lost nearly 72 percent of its forests, and those remaining are threatened by cutting trees for wood to use in commercial purposes and to make way for agricultural land, especially plantations of palm trees.
The process of deforestation started slowly but, once started, it became almost impossible to stop. Between 1950 and 1960, the forest state was still good, almost 70 percent of secular forests were intact. Intense deforestation began in the 1970's, when Indonesia became the largest exporter of wood in the world, with foreign investors.
Besides the demand for wood and plywood, oil palm is another cause of deforestation. Indonesia, the second global supplier of palm oil after Malaysia, manages to keep pace with demand for oil for cooking and cosmetics by cutting the forests. Corporations such as Nestlé, Procter and Gamble and Unilever maintain high demand for palm oil, according to a Greenpeace report.
The greatest irony is that palm oil is used as a diesel alternative, which it should be more environmentally friendly than other fuels. But this fuel production quickly pollutes the environment, contributing to the Indonesian occupation in the top three countries with the highest emissions of greenhouse gases, after China and the United States. Indonesia, although it occupies only 0.1 percent of the Earth surface, is responsible for 4% of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.
Although corruption slows the punishment of those who practice illegal logging, progress became apparent. "In the last two years, almost half of the wood processing companies have been forced to close as a result of lack of raw materials," reports an article in The Financial Times. Even the smallest reforms matters, such as restrictions placed Indonesian vessels to penetrate in foreign ports, where carrying wood illegally obtained.
On the Road: Drive More Efficiently
* Stay within posted speed limits. Gas mileage decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 miles per hour.
* Stop aggressive driving. You can improve your gas mileage up to five percent around town if you avoid “jackrabbit” starts and stops by anticipating traffic conditions and driving gently.
* Avoid unnecessary idling. It wastes fuel, costs you money, and pollutes the air. Turn off the engine if you anticipate a wait.
* Combine errands. Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much fuel as one trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm.
* Use overdrive gears and cruise control when appropriate. They improve the fuel economy of your car when you’re driving on a highway.
* Remove excess weight from the trunk. An extra 100 pounds in the trunk can reduce a typical car’s fuel economy by up to two percent.
* Avoid packing items on top of your car. A loaded roof rack or carrier creates wind resistance and can decrease fuel economy by five percent.
At the Pump: Use the Octane Level You Need
* Your owner’s manual recommends the most effective octane level for your car. For most cars, the recommended gasoline is regular octane. In most cases, using a higher octane gas than the manufacturer recommends offers no benefit. Unless your engine is knocking, buying higher octane gasoline is a waste of money.
At the Garage: Maintain Your Car
* Keep your engine tuned. Tuning your engine according to your owner’s manual can increase gas mileage by an average of four percent. Increases vary depending on a car’s condition.
* Keep your tires properly inflated and aligned. It can increase gas mileage up to three percent.
* Change your oil. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), you can improve your gas mileage by using the manufacturer’s recommended grade of motor oil. Motor oil that says “Energy Conserving” on the performance symbol of the American Petroleum Institute contains friction-reducing additives that can improve fuel economy.
* Check and replace air filters regularly. Replacing clogged filters can increase gas mileage up to ten percent.
* An average car produces in a year 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
* In slowness traffic, the pollution level is 2 - 3 times higher inside the car than outside.
* In London move 40,000 cars per hour during the day.
* Over 20,000 tonnes of waste are disposed annually in the North Sea. 70% is deposited on the seabed.
* A ton of plastic means 20.000 of bottles or 120,000 bags.
* It takes 1.5 gallons of oil to make a carton of printer.
* The printer ink cost more than fuel for space ships or old champagne.
* Airports and airlines in the U.S. throw in each year a quantity of aluminum cans enough to build 58 Boeing 747 planes.
* Daily use of cosmetics exposes women to more than 200 chemicals.
* Mazda Motor Corporation recompenses employees in Japan to $ 12 per month if they come to work on foot.
* Reducing the number of cars in a city with 5% to 10% can minimize delays caused by traffic choking up 10% to 30%.
* A trip transatlantic plane generates as much emissions of greenhouse gases as a car headed for a year.
* Plastic bags and other waste from the same material, disposed in the ocean, killing 1,000,000 copies of aquatic species,in each year.
* A PC monitor left on all night uses enough energy to print with laser 800 of A4 pages.
* If every house from Great Britain would put even a light bulb that saves electricity, it would save enough electricity to feed 3 million homes for 1 year.
* 25% of the population uses 80% of electricity available.
* A light bulb that saves electricity, reduce electricity consumption by 80% compared to a normal light bulb.
* TV, printer, computer or other electronic device left in stand-by consumes between 40% and 70% of the energy they would consume if it was lit, which means an unnecessary extra expense and a waste of energy.
* A laundry its reduce electricity consumption by one third if it wash at 40 degrees C instead of 60 degrees C.
* Heat-insulated houses require less heat in the winter. The bare walls are to lose 35% of heat, while the other 25 percent are lost due to a bare roof.
* Reduce the temperature by just one degree Celsius may shrink heating bill by 10%.
* Seven of every ten trips in the UK are made with car.
* In the UK, at the peak, nearly one in five cars carrying children to school.
* The proportion of children between 5 and 16 years who go to school by car rose from 16% in 1985 to 28% in 1996 / 8, while the use of bicycle in transport has fallen from 4% to 1% and walking became less frequent, decreasing from 59% to 49% in British preferences.
* An average family could save up to 68.000 liters of water per year if they let water run continuously when washing dishes, when using water for personal hygiene or when washing the car.
* If a person in a week, instead of doing the bathroom, made round, would save as much water to get to 1,000 cups of coffee.
* A building block in the toilet tank vessel reduces water consumption by 15% - 40%, about two liters a use.
* Less than 2% of water reserves on Earth is freshwater.
* Handwash vessels require 37% less water than if it's made with dishwashers.
* A garden sprinkler from a automated irrigation system uses twice as much water in an hour than a family of four persons per day.
* A defect valve (which runs a drop of water per second) lose 25 liters of water per day.
At a conference with subject climate change, science Austrian man Anthony Patti said that the European target to achieve by 2020 a rate of 20% of the energy required altenative sources can be achieved by installing in North Africa a network of solar panels on an area of about 80 thousand square kilometers.
Solar power uses mirrors to focus the Sun’s rays at a thin pipe containing either water or salt. The rays boil the water or turn the salt molten and the energy is extracted by using the heat to power turbines.
Trials of concentrated solar power are being planned for Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Dubai. Libya and Tunisia could also be considered as sources of European electricity.
Receiving energy from North Africa would, the conference heard, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, which drive climate change by emitting carbon dioxide. The renewable source of energy would also mean that Europe relied less on Russia and the Middle East for fuel.
In 2007, the Company invested $60 million in a series of recycling initiatives, including support of RecycleBank's curbside collection program and the construction of the world's largest PET bottle-to-bottle recycling plant .
The Coca-Cola Company, in collaboration with United Resource Recovery recycling company (URRC) have opened in Spartanburg, North Carolina State a new facility for PET recycling sites. The investment amounted to about 60 million dollars, being held on an area of 9300 sqm.The processing capacity is estimated about 45.5 million kilograms of PET, or the equivalent of over two billion bottles of Coca-Cola.
In 2007, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), the world's largest Coca-Cola bottler, formed Coca-Cola Recycling LLC (CCR) with a mission to recover and recycle the packaging materials developed and used by the Coca-Cola system. CCR plays a key role in the Company's aspiration to recycle and reuse 100 percent of its packaging. While the primary beverage container materials -- aluminum and PET -- have high value as recyclables, not enough are recovered to meet the increasing demand.
The project also has launched a collection center. In 2010 will be released a second processing line, with a annual capacity of 20 million Kg.
