Really important issue to me… for other Local Lingo related articles to the climate change and global warming issues.

This Google statistical tool hereunder (on gapminder.org) will provide you better ideas about how the world developped itself.

You can perform comparisons with the indicators you are interested in between any countries of your choice. From “Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Tons per Capita” to “Life Expectancy, Years”, you can have a clear evolution of those nations along the years.

and maybe add this plugin on your Firefox browser. For more info, visit the following page

If you don’t have Firefox yet, you can download it for free by clicking on the button hereunder :

From a Marketing point of view, “green labels” are hot ! Many in the very short future, will claim direct “green” benefits, especially when the citizen will be fully aware of what’s going on.

As a citizen-consumer, you should always bear in mind the following when examining a product claiming such “Green” statement :

- In which material is the product ?
Is it a polluting one ?
Will it become a polluting waste ?
Is the process to produce it more polluting than the pollution it will save the earth from ?
What about the comparison with a standard non-green item ?

-Where do the materials come from ?
if you have to ship the whole material across the ocean - take the pollution caused by logistics into account.

-What about its usage of other resources ? Does it waste them ?
Does it use more water than a standard process ?

-How long will it take for payback time (when talking about energy savings) ?

The eco-house process displayed on these two videos seems to be really “green” at first sight - everything has been thought. No detail seems to have been forgot… I wonder though about the solar panels (usually coming from a polluting process) and the whole hi-tech system in the basement for making such system viable… more complicated than a standard house (domotic, here we go), but more autonomy,… What about its real impact on the local eco-system ?
What would be the local impact of a normal house (connected to the state-electricity and water grid) ?

Well, for more information…

There is as well this petition about the Congo forest (discovered on PunkPrincess website). Timber industry overthere is just looting the forest, local population being just powerless to stop such tragedy,… even during peace situations, Congo bleeds.

If appropriate actions are not taken, the second largest forest in the world might just become this tiny natural reserve for tourists (like Costa Rica).

On the other hand, not so long time ago, Europe was just a mix of swamps and forests. Now it is just about grassland and cities - this transition allowed the continent to economically develop itself. Why therefore such deforestation should not “happen” in Africa ?

Because as spoilt Europeans / Americans, we believe we still have some moral rights on our former colonies, and believe bio-diversity is more important than economy and the local population ? Or because this is just going haywire, without any planification behind, both for the local population and the local environment ? Timber industry can be sustainable and profitable.

With the level of technology we have reached now in the 21st century, economic development (from a mass industrial point of view, not the souvenirs one for tourists) can be sustainable and environmentally friendly. The main stakeholders of the country should be aware of such statement, and that’s maybe the most important mission - even within the specificity of Africa.

If you want further details about the timber situation in Congo, just go to the Greenpeace official website, where you could watch nice videos and maybe take appropriate actions (by signing a petition or making donations).