Portuguese catering and hospitality guide premiere environmental indicator

Evaluate the good environmental practices in the accommodation and restaurants, contributing to national that the environmental impact is as low as possible is the aim of the environmental indicator that has just been created by green dot Corporation exclusively for the Good Bed good table Guide, edited by the newspaper Expresso and the Vision Magazine. The first results of this evaluation are provided in the guide which was recently put up for sale.

This innovative index seeks to evaluate the environmental practices of restaurants and hotels, through individualized questionnaire, on a simplified scale and continuous 1 to 5 points. The rational consumption of water, energy saving and waste management are the main components evaluated.

"In a country that increasingly turned to the outside, we thought relevant to value and encourage the good environmental practices of hospitality and catering establishments, since they are a privileged point of contact with foreign citizens visiting our country. On the other hand, this index aims to respond to consumer demands increasingly sensitized national for the importance of the environment, allowing you to extend the best practices out of the House, "says Luis Veiga Martins said in a statement, CEO of green dot Corporation.

Green dot society believes that this environmental indicator will give a vital contribution, through the promotion of good practices, for the achievement of the objectives of Portugal in environmental matters to alert and sensitize the catering establishments and hotels to practices that have a direct impact on operational costs reduction and natural resource savings.

The opinion is shared by Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Chairman of the holding Company, owner of the Express titles and vision. "The teams that searched, visited and reviewed hundreds of sites, had a new major challenge: assess environmental good practices, through an indicator prepared exclusively for the good guide Bed good table, by the green dot. Hard work and largely, to sensitize those responsible for restaurants and hotels to the importance of these good practices for the present and for the future of our country ".

The saving of natural resources is today a form of effective cost savings in operations of this type of accommodation. In turn, consumers are increasingly demanding and see in good environmental practices a responsible behaviour with identifying themselves. For this reason, were also valued the behaviors that take place away from the watchful eye of consumers (backoffice operations) and shared practices with employees and consumers (front office).

The 2014 Edition of the Guide Good Bed good table presents 408 accommodations and 591 restaurants. In addition to the traditional Guide Good Bed good table, with € 500 in discount coupons that readers can use in dozens of hotels, is also available to App Good Bed good table, 2014 through Play Google or from the App Store.

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Madrid: diesel cars will pay more for parking

Diesel cars of Madrid will soon pay more for parking than their petrol brethren, according to the Guardian. It is the fault of the new smart parking meters that the Spanish capital prepares to install, that will add a fee to the cars that pollute more.

The initiative kicks off on July 1 and will use a highly complex pricing table, dictated by engine type and year of construction of the vehicle. The hybrids will pay 20 percent less than the average of vehicles, for example. A diesel car manufactured in 2001 will pay 20% more, while electric cars can park for free.

The mayors of Madrid expect the new price list will help solve the problem of pollution â€" the city is constantly breaking air quality levels required by the European Union, exceeding the limitations of nitrogen dioxide. This is one of the measures used to discourage car use in the city centre.

The price of parking meters will also vary depending on the street â€" a system that already exists in Lisbon, of rest. The streets with more available parking spaces will cost less, the other will be 20% more expensive. In some streets, the parking price will reach €3,29 per hour.

According to the Guardian, one in every four madridistas will pay substantially more for a parking spot. A reason to discourage the approximately one million drivers from Madrid to take your vehicle to the busiest streets of the city, helping to reduce pollution levels.

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Large amount of trash discovered in deep sea in Europe

There is a lot of garbage, bottles, plastic bags between and fishing nets, in the deep sea of Europe, the Mediterranean and European coast to the mesoatlântico, the 2,000 miles of Earth.

This is the result of an investigation which involved 15 organizations from all over Europe and was led by Center IMAR, University of the Azores.

The investigation gave rise to a scientific paper published on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, which explains that the large amount of garbage that reaches the deep sea is a subject of global importance ". "The results of the study highlight the extent of the problem and the need for action to prevent the growing accumulation of garbage in marine environments", researchers have revealed.

Named Marin Litter Distribution and Density in European Seas, from the Shelves to Deep Basins, the study adds that the Marine trash still has the problem of being confused for a few animals as food, a process known as ghost fishing.

Of the approximately 600 samples taken by scientists over the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, including the Mediterranean Sea, between 35 and 4,500 meters deep, the plastic was the most common item. On the other hand, the garbage associated with fishing activities-networks and lines stuck in the bottom â€" is particularly common in seamounts, oceanic ridges and banks.

"This research has shown that the human garbage is present in all marine habitats, from beaches to deeper areas and remote areas of the oceans," explained Christopher Lusa Pham, researcher at the University of the Azores.

"Most of the deep sea remains unexplored by humans and this is our first visit to many of these sites, so we were shocked to discover that the trash was there before us," added the scientist.

According to the study, garbage was found in virtually all sites investigated, with plastic to contribute globally with about 41% and abandoned fishing equipment with about 34% of the total. It was also discovered glass, metal, wood, paper and cardboard, clothing, ceramics and other materials not identified.

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What happens when you cross a zebra with a donkey? A zonkey

What animal looks like a zebra but only have stripes on the legs? A zonkey. A zonkey is the animal resulting from a cross between a zebra and a donkey (ass). However, these crossovers are quite rare because the chromosomes of the two species tend to not be compatible.

Last week, however, was born a zonkey on a Zoo of Mexico. It's called Kumbh and does not have any health problem, apart from the fact that it is sterile, because as the Mule â€" the cross between a donkey and a horse or horse and a dumb-is barren due to the odd number of chromosomes that prevent meiosis.

Kumbh is not the result of in vitro fertilization, but the love between mother zebra, Rayas, and albino donkey, father Ignacio. The animals used to meet every afternoon at the zoo and eventually, Rayas ended up pregnant.

This small Mexican zonkey is the first to be born in captivity. Last year, Ippo, another was born a zonkey on a Zoo in Florence, Italy. Despite being a rare animal, it is possible to find wild zebrasnos in South Africa and Namibia, countries where donkeys and zebras live in proximity.

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The most difficult countries to identify

The set of countries, where each participant has to say the name of a country that starts with certain letter to lose, is one of the most popular geographic games. Another is the very identification of countries on a map.

The elaborated a Sporcle quiz for readers whose task is to identify various countries of the world, called "Identify the countries of the world". So far, nearly eight million readers have tested their knowledge of geography. About 60% of the site traffic is still American that the result may be biased, statistics relating to replies allow you to know which countries are most difficult identification for Internet users and also those who are more often confused.

According to the site statistics, countries that were identified less often, due to lack of knowledge, are Equatorial Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Tonga, Mauritius, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Solomon Islands, Grenada, Brunei, Burundi, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Timor-Leste, Comoros, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Palau, Sao Tome and Principe, Kiribati and Nauru.

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The seven horses of a Swedish maid cloth

Ulrika Cordwood is a young Swedish photographer of 23 years. However, despite the young age, Ulrika isn't limited to pointing the lens of the camera and photograph. The photographer creates part of their scenarios through the incorporation of plastic elements created for her.

In the latest work, Girl With 7 Horses (Girl with 7 Horses), Ulrika intended to portray a young maiden whose seven horses are raptured by high winds on a fall afternoon.

Ulrika's horses are created from their own clothes that are laid out in the landscape. The result in film is, at the same time, fleeting, permanent and fleeting, even if fixed.

The project was started as a way to incorporate animals into your photographic imagery, the artist's access to scarce animals. "I photographed my first horse in the early autumn of last year and on the journey home came the idea of the girl and their seven horses," says Ulrika, quoted by Ecouterre.

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United Kingdom will invest €580 million in electric cars

While some countries, with Portugal to head, desinvestem in electric vehicles and its infrastructure, others start now your way towards sustainable mobility. In the case of the United Kingdom, which has approved an investment of €580 million (US $ 1.7 billion) to encourage electric vehicle sector, helping consumers to buy them and stop twisting the nose to your performance.

According to the country's Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, the investment will be made between 2015 and 2020 and will create jobs, contribute to the reduction of emissions and establish an agenda for the industry, cities and drivers, in order to help the United Kingdom to stand in the forefront of green technology.

Clegg said he wants to encourage drivers to abandon petrol and diesel vehicles, making electric vehicles more accessible â€" about €230 million ($ 710 million) investment will serve to finance discounts of up to € 5,700 ($ 17,700) per car.

The infrastructures were also not forgotten: more charging points will be installed on streets and roads, to provide security to drivers, and the cities will have money to launch plans of benefits for users of electric cars: free parking or permission to use the Bus lanes.

Almost 99% of cars sold in 2013, in the United Kingdom, are gasoline or diesel â€" only electrical and hybrid 3,584 2,512 were sold. But that will change.

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