RIO DE JANEIRO — Want to save a few million premature deaths each year? Regulate salt, said researchers at the World Nutrition Rio2012 meeting held here last week.
"Salt [added to food] is the major cause of high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is the major cause of death worldwide," said Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary, University of London. "The evidence for salt [in causing premature death] is overwhelming, equivalent to the onus of smoking."
Wellington, New Zealand – WWF-New Zealand is calling on the Department of Conservation to help protect the world’s remaining Maui’s dolphins by extending the boundary of the Marine Mammal Sanctuary further south and suspending all current mining and seismic activity in their habitat.
State officials in Alabama have taken action, and other states need to take action to keep dangerous seafood from the Gulf off the dinner tables of Americans.
April 27, 2012 |
Auckland, New Zealand – May 1, 2012 – carboNZero Holdings, the world’s leading greenhouse gas (GHG) certification company today announces that is has become the first non-UK company to provide accredited certification for product carbon footprints under British Standard Institute’s (BSI) PAS 2050. carboNZero Holdings’ adoption of PAS 2050 as the standard for product carbon footprinting will arm its clients with a competitive edge in securing favourable recognition among their customers and promote ease of entry into the UK market.
New Worldwatch Institute report stresses the urgent need for cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions.
Washington, D.C.----Although global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) declined slightly in 2009, the beginnings of economic recovery led to an unprecedented emissions increase of 5.8 percent in 2010. In 2011, global atmospheric levels of CO2 reached a high of 391.3 parts per million (ppm), up from 388.6 ppm in 2010 and 280 ppm in pre-industrial times. According to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org) for its Vital Signs Online project, energy use represents the largest source of global CO2 emissions.
UK renewable energy business ENER-G (www.energ.co.uk) has partnered with the Municipality of Aguascalientes to open Mexico's first landfill gas capture facility at San Nicolás landfill, Aguascalientes, in central Mexico.
ENER-G Natural Power and its sister company Biogas Technology are generating clean electrical energy from biogas for use by Nissan at its manufacturing site in Aguascalientes. The power generated is being sold over a long term power purchase agreement with the car maker.
Fremantle, Australia: After more than a decade lagging behind all of the worlds other Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has begun to move towards sustainable management of the ocean’s fisheries.
WWF welcomes the long overdue endorsement of a precautionary approach for Indian Ocean tuna management as well as some basic elements of sustainable management measures including turtle and seabird protection. First steps have also been adopted for the management of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs), anchored or free floating platforms around which fish congregate.
New research into the impact of climate change on Chinese cereal crops has found rainfall has a greater impact than rising temperature. The research, published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that while maize is sensitive to warming increases in temperature from 1980 onwards correlated with both higher and lower yields of rice and wheat.
Washington, D.C.----Over the last 50 years, the world's middle and upper classes have more than doubled their consumption levels, and an additional 1 to 2 billion people globally aspire to join the consumer class. The planet cannot maintain such increases in resource demand without serious consequences for both people and ecosystems, concludes the Worldwatch Institute in State of the World 2012: Moving Toward Sustainable Prosperity.
Catastrophic events in 2011 caused fewer deaths than in 2010
but incurred record monetary costs
Washington, D.C.----During 2011, 820 natural catastrophes were documented around the world, resulting in 27,000 deaths and $380 billion in economic losses, according to data compiled by Munich Reinsurance Company and analyzed in the Worldwatch Institute's Vital Signs series. The number of natural catastrophes was down 15 percent from 2010 but was above the annual average of 790 events between 2001 and 2010, and considerably above the annual average of 630 events between 1981 and 2010
Tumon, Guam: Deadlocked talks and a deferral of key conservation and management measures for high value tuna stocks mark a disappointing outcome for the annual meeting of The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), WWF noted as the meeting closed in Tumon, Guam today.
Washington, D.C.----The global population of farm animals increased 23 percent between 1980 and 2010, from 3.5 billion to 4.3 billion, according to research by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online publication. These figures continue a trend of rising farm animal populations, with harmful effects on the environment, public health, and global development
