It seems like Berlin’s classic and iconic old airport Tempelhof will remain an oasis in the heart of the German capital after that the people’s movement who wanted to preserve the old airfield area as an open space for the impromptu mixed uses which have developed after the closure of the airport. Among the many activities people now enjoy there are ecological gardening, biking on the abandoned runways and flying kites over the vast open space.
The electricity provider EKZ in the canton of Zürich will build the largest photovoltaic solar power plant in Swetzerland with a projected 9 MW output.
Source: NZZ.ch
As if the earthquake and the following tsunami were not enough, Japan got into another nightmare with its damaged and apparently out-of-control Fukushima nuclear power plant.
It can of course be argued over the logic in the reasoning to construct nuclear plants in a region that is on the absolute top of the list when it comes to earthquake risks. Japan have naturally not been unaware of the risks involved, but have apparently deemed that in order to provide the electrical energy needed to power the world’s second largest economy the risks were worth taking. It now seems that the safeguards even in such a hightech country have not been sufficient.
It is not the first time the safety of Japan’s nuclear programme has been questioned, or even the first time incidents have cast a shadow on the policies. But this is by far the worst such incident.
John Feeney has written on BBC World about the population problem, a problem that is just a little too hot for being a central part in the debates regarding a sustainable development in the future. In reality, the topic is the same as in the days of Thomas Malthus, but maybe the subject is more volatile today than it was back then?
Source: BBC World
When smaller farms are abandoned, the tropical forests get new space. These “secondary forests” have now started to be used as an argument in the debate on rainforest deforestation and the impact on climate change.
Source: International Herald Tribune
