Tetra Pak will sell 484 million certified packages in Portugal this year

The Swiss-Swedish multinational company Tetra Pak must sell 484 million cartons with FSC certification in Portugal in 2014, representing approximately 34% of the total number of packages sold in our country.

"Our first FSC certified packaging was introduced in Portugal in 2011. Since then, much has evolved towards certification and Tetra Pak has developed a series of actions with a view to creating a greater awareness around the importance of a responsible forest management, "explained Protects What's good Ingrid Hawk, head of Tetra Pak ' s Environment in Portugal.

According to the gate Protects What's good, Tetra Pak aims to reach 100% certified packaging, in Portugal. "Being one of the world's largest buyers of card, is fundamental to Tetra Pak ensure a responsible and sustainable supply of raw materials from forests", explains the portal.

To contribute to creating a greater awareness about the importance of responsible forest management, Tetra Pak has promoted several actions of awareness and information, including through the insertion of messages in their packaging.

A study promoted recently by Tetra Pak in Portuguese territory on the perception that consumers have in relation to messages transmitted in their packaging indicates an increase in consumer recognition, FSC branded face to 2013, revealing that 39% of respondents associate your symbol to responsible management and protection of forests. On the other hand, 67% of consumers consider to be "very important" the FSC certification.

Read more about the study and certification of packagings in Protects What's good.

Foto: Nicholas A. Tonelli / Creative Commons

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Dogs are as intelligent as a baby of five months

A new study reveals that dogs possess abilities similar to those of a baby of five months. As a baby's brain develops, children learn to notice the behavior of people. So far, this cognitive function was assigned exclusively to humans and non-human primates. However, this new study come reveal that dogs, like children can recognize behaviors objectives.

This means that dogs know where to look and how to respond to people when circumstances indicate that something important could happen â€" something that children also learn.

During the study, researchers at the University of Milan used a test intended for babies from 5 months in dogs and found that the animals could do so well the test as children. Throughout the study, 50 dogs were placed in a room where she was a researcher and your response to stimuli was recorded. During the study, domestic dogs viewed a human interacting with two objects, a globe and a watering can.

Initially, the dogs observed the interaction between the person and the globe. Subsequently, the position of the globe and the sprinklers were exchanged and when the Exchange, researchers found that the dogs observed the person and the globe in the new location and not the watering can that was in place previously observed, referring to the Daily Mail. However, when people left the globe and interacted with the watering can, the attention of the dog was in the watering can.

Just like children, dogs spent more time watching the human to which they were accustomed to seeing during the experiment than the place they were watching first. When an inanimate object rather than a person, was used with the other two objects, the dogs ' response was similar to that experience that involved people.

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Artists transform magazines and old newspapers into sculptures of insects

The Agency Soon, Belgian design atelier, made magazines and old newspapers into realistic sculptures of insects. The bugs were created for the launch of a line of recycled paper for IGEPA Benelux.

Page by page, the magazines and newspapers were cut and folded into delicate forms of insects, flowers and plants, which together form a three-dimensional garden lush. The wings of each insect reveal its former use, through text and images printed on paper.

The pretty insects were an alternative way of the workshop alerts to the infinite possibilities of recycling of paper, referred to Inhabitat.

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Discovered new species of dinosaur with giant nose

A new species of dinosaur with a giant nose was discovered by researchers from an American University. The identification was made from a fossil that was in storage for two decades and has never received the attention deserved, so far.

The animal would have more than nine meters long and a giant nose, earning him the new scientific name â€" Rhinorex condrupus. The remains of the animal have been found in Brigham Young University in Utah, by researchers from North Carolina State University and Brigham Young Museum of Paleontology. According to scientists, the fossil was first discovered in 1990, in the rock formation of Nelsen.

The fossil is about 75 million years and indicates that the animal was a herbivore and lived in the late Cretaceous, referred to the Daily Mail. According to the team of researchers, it took more than two years to rebuild the skeleton of the animal and only during the process it was possible to notice that he was facing a new species. The origin and use of the nose remains a mystery for scientists.

This is the first complete fossil of a species of dinosaur group of hadrosaurs-the duck-billed dinosaurs â€" who inhabited that region of rock.

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USA: Seattle's fining residents who produce organic waste too much

The municipal authorities of Seattle, in the United States, passed a law that will make it possible to fine those inhabitants who henceforth more than 10% of organic waste in their dustbins. The aim is to encourage recycling and composting, so the city can reach the goal of recycling 60% of the total waste in 2015.

To that standard is met, the cantoneiros will assess the amount of organic waste present in the box of each resident. If the amount exceeds the value, the offence shall be recorded in an online system and the resident notified. On the invoice following sanitation and water, the resident shall pay €0,77 by organic waste more. In case the amount of organic waste persist, the resident may spend to pay fines up to €39, writes the Treehugger.

The new normal will start at the beginning of 2014, but the warnings will start to be issued only in July, when residents started to be fined. The standard will also apply to buildings and businesses, although in these cases will be left two warnings before the ticket is issued.

To avoid fines, the City encourages residents to practice with backyard composting and that this is not possible to reduce food waste.

In San Francisco, there is also a similar standard, introduced in 2009, where after a few warnings, residents are fined up to €78.

Foto: cliff1976 / Creative Commons

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An electric sports car powered by salt water

The sports cars do not have the best reputation when it comes to sustainability. However, the Quant and-Sportlimousine is an exception. It was designed to reach the 350 km/h using mias nothing but saltwater.

But if you think this car has a performance inferior to other high-end sports cars for being eco-friendly, think again. the innovative driving system allows the vehicle, which weighs 2,300 kg, hitting 60 mph in 2.8 seconds, which makes it so fast as a McLaren P1. Not to mention its 920 horses.

The model, which was developed by NanoFlowcell, a company based in Liechtenstein, was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March this year and managed to have certification for power through the European roads in testing period.

And how does this salt water powered car? Works similarly to a cell, but the liquid hydrogen to store energy is the saltwater. The car is equipped with two water reservoirs â€" each with a capacity of 200 litres. Between the two tanks there is a membrane through which the water and go through this membrane is generated an electrical current. This electricity is stored and distributed by supercapacitadores to power the four electric motors fitted on the vehicle, referred to in Inhabitat.

The two tanks of 200 litres each allow a range of 600 km, the price of the vehicle has not yet been established, but it is estimated that it can cost more than €1,25 million.

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The world's population is expected to reach 11 billion in 2100

A new study from the University of Washington, in the United States, and the United Nations (UN) quantified for the first time with great precision the evolution of the world's population throughout the 21ST century. Conclusions? In 2100 we will be 11 billion, rather than the previous statistics indicated.

Previous studies suggested that the world's population should start declining from the second half of the century, but the new study comes to counter this hypothesis and affirming that there is 70% probability of the number of people inhabiting the planet rise from the current seven billion to 11 billion at the end of the century. Such a hypothesis represents serious challenges at the level of food resources, water, medical care and social cohesion.

"Previous projections indicated that the issue would fade and attention were diverted from the population issue," says Adrian Raftery, University of Washington researcher, cites the Guardian. "There's a strong argument for the population back to the top of the international agenda. The population is the catalyst of all the rest and a rapid population growth can exacerbate all kinds of challenges, "indicates. The lack of health care, increased crime rates, poverty and pollution are just some of the current problems that will be exponenciados.

The region where the population is expected to grow more in sub-Saharan Africa, where the population can grow to 5 billion in 2100. The drop in fertility rates, which began in 1980, in many of these countries should continue, but the latest data indicate otherwise. In countries like Nigeria, the most populous on the African continent, the decline in fertility rates has already been reversed, with the average women to have six children. The population of Nigeria is expected to increase from the current 200 million to 900 million in 2100.

Another factor is included for the first time in the study were data on HIV and AIDS, which indicate that the epidemic is killing as many people as previously thought, especially in African countries. "For 20 years the impact on population was absolutely gigantic. Now, the accessibility of antiretrovirals is much higher and the epidemic seems to have passed its peak, "says Adrian Raftery.

Foto: India Photography / Creative Commons

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