Ferrero wants to generate 75% of the energy consumed by their factories

The Ferrero group, the world's fourth largest company in the area of confectionery, is promoting an international energy efficiency plan that will produce the equivalent of 75% of the energy consumed by all its European factories by the end of 2014.

According to the Consumer, the plan was presented at the Embassy of Italy in Lisbon, and also wants to express the company's commitment to human rights, environment, natural resources and the promotion of healthy living habits.

The company explains that materialized in advance one of the objectives for 2020 â€" reduce energy consumption per unit of output by 5%. In the same report, the company explains that also declined in 20% of global water consumption.

On the other hand, the six raw materials used in the manufacture of its products â€" cacao, hazelnuts, sugar cane, palm oil, coffee and eggs-are sustainable source and in balance with the natural resources development.

The Italian group, responsible for the Nutella and Ferrero, Kinder brands, will still implement traceability plans and ensure natural sources of supply for its agricultural products such as hazelnuts or sugarcane.

Ferrero set still targets for reducing emissions and greenhouse gases and will decrease by 40% CO2 emissions derived from production activities.

In 2013, the company has reduced by more than 30 thousand tons of CO2 emitted, which is equivalent to the total annual emissions of 14 thousand cars. Additionally, because CO2 emissions also derive from the product distribution, was also established the objective of 30% reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases originated in the activities of transport and storage.

Foto: ninacoco/Creative Commons

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Barbados will host world environment day

Barbados, a small Caribbean island with 280 000 inhabitants, will host of world environment day, which commemorates the day on June 5. The tiny island was chosen by UNEP (United Nations Environment) the measures it has taken to combat global warming.

This year, UNEP intends to draw attention to the challenges faced by small island developing States. The celebrations will flow date for five days, with the theme "expand your voice, not sea level".

During this week, the UNEP will discuss adaptation technologies, the sustainable business, resource management, and protected areas and local culture.

To combat the rise in mean sea level, Barbados included the green economy in their six key objectives of the national strategic plan. The nation has undertaken to increase to 29% the participation of renewable energies in the energy matrix until 2029, a goal that would cut more than €205 billion ($ 620 billion) on total cost of electricity and reduce CO2 emissions by 4.5 million tonnes.

See some pictures of this beautiful â€" but threatened-island.

Fotos: Ben124. /Creative Commons

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Serbian architects build Noah's Ark against natural disasters

The architects Serbs Aleksandar Joksimvic and Jelena Nikolic have designed a floating city, self-sustaining and resilient to natural disasters. Able certainly to survive at diluvianas rains that have originated the biblical story of Noah's Ark.

The city's name is Noah's Ark and can be installed in the middle of any ocean safely. According to the architects, she can manage themselves alone, without relying on the rest of the world to survive.

In fact, this town does not stick to a single infrastructure. Are several arcas interconnected through submarine cables, and all will have flexible stalks prey with columns at the bottom of the ocean.

According to the architects, the sides of the island are large enough to protect the residents of strong storms and even tsunamis â€" each has about 64 feet long.

In case of an emergency there is also a plan B, no less futuristic: the potential residents can flee to giant air balls that are in tunnels covered, not vulnerable to external climate, which are flood-proof.

One of the vital factors for the sustainability of this town relates to energy. She will come from three sources: tides, Sun and wind. The water will be collected through a funding system that extends through the entire island. The entire structure of the project will be covered with artificial coral, which attracts marine life and encourages the emergence of new ecosystems with.

Here are some pictures of the project.

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Giant virus discovered in the Brazilian Amazon

A team of researchers from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), in partnership with the University Aix-Marseille in France, a new giant virus discovered in the waters of the Rio Negro, in the Amazon in Brazil. The virus, strangely named Samba, is the largest ever identified in the country: he is 12 times the size of the dengue virus and 100 times more genetic material.

Scientists analyzed the samples in the laboratory and have managed to isolate the virus inside an Amoeba â€" to reproduce, the virus need parasitize other organisms. The discovery was published last Wednesday, in the journal Virology.

According to Jonathan Abraham, professor of Virology at UFMG and lead author of the study, a possible explanation for the size of Samba is the high amount of genetic material necessary for the adaptation of the virus to the place where he lives. "The Rio Negro is a acid medium, unlike other rivers," said the researcher to See Brazilian magazine.

The virus encodes proteins, 1,000 Samba is comprised of 1.2 million base pairs of DNA and has 600 nanometres in size (each nanometre equals the millionth of a millimeter), against 50 nanometres of the dengue virus.

It may not be dangerous for man

It has not yet been possible to establish whether this virus can bring consequences to man, but Abraham explains that the fact that it is bigger and more complex doesn't make it necessarily more dangerous. The mimivirus (generic name given to the giant viruses) have been found in animals and in humans. "The mimivirus have been associated with cases of pneumonia, but the studies are not yet conclusive. If this is true, the disease must manifest itself only in people who have already had immune problems. I can't believe a mimivirus is the cause of an epidemic, "says Abraham.

Following this investigation, the scientists also announced the discovery of a virus, dubbed of Rio Negro, which infects the Samba. For this feature, the Black River is classified as a virófago, name given to a virus that another parasite. He is able to reduce the multiplication of Samba and cause defects in training in descendants.

According to Abraham, the Rio Negro is important for maintaining the Samba in balance. "Samba infects and destroys the amoebas very easily. Without the Negro River to curb their proliferation, he would eventually destroy all amoebas and become extinct, since you wouldn't have to reproduce, "he explains.

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Devastating floods in the Balkans dig up landmines

Last week, the Balkan region experienced precipitation levels equivalent to three months, provoked the biggest floods in living memory. There are hundreds of isolated people waiting for help, thousands were forced to leave their homes and possessions behind and the authorities realize at least 44 dead. However, this may not be the bottom line as the water level continues to rise in some areas.

The Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, declared a State of emergency already in many cities around the country, including the capital, Belgrade. Also in Bosnia has been declared a State of national emergency, refers to Mashable.

One of the most complicated situations we live in Obrenovac, South of Belgrade, where after four days of intense rain, there are still people who are waiting for help on the roofs of houses and buildings. The bad weather affection also to the production of electricity, and there are many people without power for several days, at a time when Serbia's electrical production reduced by 40% and was forced to increase imports, agudizando the financial problems of the country.

In Bosnia the situation is too dramatic. Almost a third of the country was affected by the floods. One of the places most affected is the city of Doboj, where floods and landslides have caused at least 27 deaths. In total, there are about 150,000 homes without electricity in Bosnia.

In addition to rescue all the people isolated and restore electricity to thousands of homes, one of the main concerns of the authorities of both countries is related to landmines, left by the war in the former Yugoslavia, which did not explode and were now exposed by floods and landslide, constituting a danger to civilians.

The rains caused some flooding in Austria and Croatia. Several European Union countries, as well as Russia, are participating in the efforts of aid to Serbia and Bosnia.

Extreme rainfall observed in the Balkans is consistent with verified occurrences in other parts of the globe, which indicate that the planet is warmer as a result of the high emissions of greenhouse gases. As a result, large floods have become more severe and frequent. In recent years, countries such as Germany, Poland and Czech Republic have experienced degrees of abnormal rainfall and floods.

Fotos: Associated Press/Marshall

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Portuguese is the fourth most used language of Twitter

When we launched the Green Savers, three and a half years ago, we always have about us we extend to Facebook and Twitter, once the technology is one of the most powerful tools of social inclusion â€" and that allows us to reach more people and help more easily, to change mentalities.

Today, social networks are a privileged means to convey information related to sustainability, citizenship or good environmental practices. And in Portuguese, as Gnip data, an American company which examined various data since 2006 and concluded that the language of Luís Vaz de Camões and Jorge Amado is the fourth most used in this social network â€" Gnip data analyzed the language that users put as the main in your profile.

The graph below gives an account of the great popularity of Twitter in global terms, but also gives us to understand the amount of conversations in Portuguese in this social network. The Portuguese language only loses to England's (first), Japanese (second) and Spanish (third) in the global ranking. The following are the Indonesian, Arabic, French, Turkish, Russian and Korean.

This painting also explains how the major events impact the Twitter service. The huge increase in users who have selected the Arabic as preferred language, for example, coincided with the events of the last few years in the Middle East.

In percentage terms, taking into account all the languages used Twitter, the Portuguese rose of 0.03% in 2006 to the 0.31% (2007), 0.52% (2008), 1.48% (2009), 2.55% (2010), 4.26% (2011), 6.02% (2012). In 2013, this percentage dropped to 5.10%.

The English, with 51.02%, continues to be the main language used on Twitter, followed by Japanese (14.8%), Spanish (13.43%), Portuguese (5.10%) and Indonesian (3.25%).





Foto: JefferyTurner/Creative Commons

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The slow death of walking without purpose

Walking has become a luxury in the West. There are few people who can do it, given the congestion and all means of transport which have at their disposal. In this way, walk, regardless of distance, turned into a planned activity or recreation. Or for health reasons and to keep fit. However, there is one other thing that the walks provide: time to think.

Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Thomas De Quincey, Friedrich Nietzsche or Vladimir Nabokov are some of the great world writers who appreciated a good walk and used this time to reflect on life and thinking these thoughts, which resulted in his works.

But it is not necessary to be a writer or a great thinker to cherish a good walk. But a hike in particular, the distance between the corner of the street and the nearest coffee shop. The journey of contemplation without a defined purpose.

May in the United Kingdom, is the National month of hiking and a book of Frederic Gros, launched recently, entitled "the Philosophy of Walking", is the subject of some discussion among the British. Last week, a Stanford University study highlights the benefits that a short walk, even if it's on a treadmill at home or the gym, promotes the creative thinking, says the BBC.

"There's something special about pace of walking and thinking, which seem to synchronize. Walking requires some attention, but provides many moments to think. I believe that once the blood begins to flow to the head, the brain starts to work more creatively, "says Geoff Nicholson, author of" The Lost Art of Walking ".

Nicholson is a writer who lives in Los Angeles, a city where cars have primacy. But there are many other cities where do a simple walk to be a Herculean task. Kuala Lumpur, for example, capital of Malaysia. Anyone who wants to walk in this city must have a great patience and nerves of steel. The tours end up mysteriously. The bustling streets must be traversed without the help of treadmills. And the simple act of walking down the street can cause bewilderment of residents.

But even in cities that appear to have been built for the cars there is fruit for those who choose to ramble. "Most of my hiking are made in the city â€" in Los Angeles things are scattered. Therefore, there is plenty to look at. Is urban exploration. I'm always looking for narrow streets and alleys strangers ", indicates Nicholson.

But not everyone is prepared to wait. There are many who consider hiking as long dead, an obligation to move from one side to the other without accomplishing anything useful, at a time when time seems to be increasingly precious. As such, this time is used to the fullest and it is increasingly common to see people walking and doing something else at the same time. Many walk and talk on a cell phone at the same time or send messages, view email or social networks. And accidents with pedestrians distracted by mobile devices are increasing.

The contemplative hikes seem to be on the verge of extinction, as well as the opportunity to reflect on life and its aspects.

Foto: Redrock Junction/Creative Commons

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