1. La degradación de los acuíferos en Costa Rica
In Costa Rica most of the water we use at home comes from underground rives. Never the less, as citizens, we don’t realize that we are exploiting them. In places like Flamingo and El Coco, where the construction industry has grown dramatically, the underground rives have been exploited to the point that in the long term there are going to be useless. In the other part of the country, due to the great amount of agriculture the rivers have been contaminated with insecticides. There have been a lot of studies showing and alerting us about this problem, but the government has not taken the correct actions to stop it.
Referencia:
Barquero, A. I. (2010, Febrero) La degradación de los acuíferos en Costa Rica. Ambientico,197, 5-6. Obtenido el 1ero de Abril del 2010, desde http://www.ambientico.una.ac.cr/A36.pdf
2. Responsabilidad social y conservación de los recursos marinos
Coco Island is the biggest national park in Costa Rica, but there have been several threatens to its biodiversity. The biggest concern is the fishing industry, because around the island fishing is done illegally affecting lots of species in the water. This kind of crime is punished through a fine, but it hasn’t stopped the magnitude of the problem. Therefore La Fundación Amigos de la Isla del Coco and the Área de Conservación Marina de Isla del Coco have encourage social responsibility on businesses both national and internationally, by not buy acquiring fish from illegal sellers.
Referencia:
Cambronero, A. (2008, Febrero) Responsabilidad social y conservación de los recursos marinos. Ambientico,173, 5-6. Obtenido el 1ero de Abril del 2010, desde http://www.ambientico.una.ac.cr/173.pdf
3. El tiempo del atún rojo se agota
The red fish has been exhaustively fished in the Mediterranean Sea. That is why 80 people from the Green Peace Organization went to the European Seefood Exposition to manifest their disconformity with the companies who benefit from doing the activity. Some people yelled trough a megaphone their opinion in different languages while others held big posters. At the end of the day most of them got arrested, however they couldn’t save the stocks of fish some businesses had, making it even more difficult to preserve the specie.
Referencia:
Fistick, j. (2008) El tiempo del atún rojo se agota. Green Peace, 2, 11. Obtenido el 1ero de Abril del 2010, desde http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/espana/reports/revista-green-02-08.pdf
4. Transgénicos No
The Green Peace organization manifests how dangerous the use of transgenic food can be. In Spain, with help of other organizations, they are trying to create pressure in order to abolish these types of crops, because is the only country in the European Union that use transgenic in big scale. Previously, in Germany they banned them due to a study revealing how dangerous they were. In theory, the transgenic were invented to improve the quality of the crop, and to increase the amount produced, but it didn’t accomplished what it was expected. Today, the authorization for growing MON 810 (a type of transgenic) has ended, and the EU needs to determine whether or not to approve it again, in addition with the incorporation of other transgenic like rice.
Referencia:
San Román, M. (2009) Transgénicos No. Green Peace, 2, 32-33. Obtenido el 2 de Abril del 2010, desde http://www.full-interactive.com/revistas/greenpeace/0909/
5. Cambio Climático
The climate change has been a concern for many governments, because it can bring with itself several consequences like floods, droughts, an increase in the water level, and alterations in the ecological natural balance among others. This can bring negative effects to the societies and economy. However, we are on time to prevent it from expanding and possibly reverse the effect. That is why the government of Andalucia, Spain has taken the actions to reduce the emission of green house gases, otherwise their agriculture, tourism and human health can be in trouble.
Referencia:
Coves, F. (2007) Cambio Climático. Medio Ambiente, 57, 3. Obtenido el 2 de Abril del 2010, desde http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/medioambiente/site/web/menuitem.a5664a214f73c3df81d8899661525ea0/?vgnextoid=74861c5d42735110VgnVCM1000000624e50aRCRD&vgnextchannel=46ceb19c7acf2010VgnVCM1000001625e50aRCRD
6. Viabilidad para cinco plantas de biomasa forestal
Biomass is a new concept of renewable energy the government of Andalucia, Spain is trying to incorporate. This plan will allow the creation of forest parks, apart from of quality jobs and the reduction of fires in forests. There would be a lot of support to the production of biomass, apart from the investment private companies may do, in case they are interested. This initiative allows the reduction of CO2 emissions and a step to increase the consumption of renewable energy.
Referencia:
Desconocido (2006) Viabilidad para cinco plantas de biomasa forestal, Medio Ambiente, 57, 40. Obtenido el 2 de Abril del 2010, desde http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/medioambiente/contenidoExterno/Pub_revistama/revista_ma53/ma53_40.html
7. Isla de resurrección
South Georgia is an island located in the Antarctic. From the day it was discovered, it has suffered from several threatens from humans, but its environment has helped other species. It helped a group of sailors as shelter when their boat was crashed by a big piece ice. Its biodiversity attacked humans to take advantage of the whales and as a consequence they killed them all, making them disappear. Now, the island is the home of millions of penguins and sea lions. But their glaciers and life are threatened by the increase in the world temperatures.
Referencia:
Brower, K. (Enero del 2010) Isla de resurrección, National Geographic, 26 (1), 70-91
8. El amor está en el aire
Long time ago, plants could only reproduce when they were close to each other. As the years passed, with the aid of the wind and pollen they could reproduce in long distances. And now, there are some plants that protect their ovaries by creating fruits and petals. This means that right now the air is full of pollen, which it would get to another plant to continue with the reproduction process. Never the less, studies have demonstrated that the increase in the word temperatures has decreased the amount if pollen in the air. Additionally, with the climate change pollen will move and adapt to new places were the temperatures best suits the plant.
Referencia:
Dunn, R. (Diciembre de 2009) El amor está en el aire, National Geographic, 25 (6), 42-55.
9. El Hierro será la primera isla del mundo que se abastecerá al 100% con energías renovables
El Hierro, is a Spanish island that forms part of the Canary Islands. The government has encouraged the creation, planning and implementation of a project where the island gets its electrical power from renewable resources, mainly from a combination of wind and hydroelectric. This is the first island where its electricity is going to be 100% renewable; therefore the negative effects to the environment are going to be completely decreased. This is going to reduce the consumption of petrol and the emissions of CO2, sulfide dioxide and nitrogen oxides to the atmosphere.
Referencia:
Cadildo Insular del Hierro, (Julio-Agosto de 2007) El Hierro será la primera isla del mundo que se abastecerá al 100% con energías renovables, Ambienta, 68, 51-57. Obtenido el 2 de Abril del 2010, desde http://www.mma.es/secciones/biblioteca_publicacion/publicaciones/revista_ambienta/n68/pdf/51hierro682007_.pdf
10. Indicadores de sostenibilidad y calidad de las aguas
Water has to be sustainably managed, so that in the long term we can use it in an adequate way in order to accomplish equilibrium between the economical, environmental and social use. The quality of water has been one of the biggest concerns in Spain due to the dramatic urban expansion. As a consequence, the demand and consumption of water bottles has grown, but this doesn’t mean that it is the best quality. Water bottles involve extra costs such as transportation and packaging that makes it more expensive than normal tap water. Yet, as citizens, the biggest concern is the climate change and the negative effect over the hydraulic resources.
Referencia:
Guaita, N y Landa L. (Junio 2008) Indicadores de sostenibilidad y calidad de las aguas, Ambienta, 78, 83-84. Obtenido el 2 de Abril del 2010, desde http://www.mma.es/secciones/biblioteca_publicacion/publicaciones/revista_ambienta/n78/pdf/83_84_OSE782008.pdf