»sustainability«

In an editorial the NY Times (1.8.2007) notes that tap water in the industrialized countries is as good or even better than bottled water and people shall rely on the water that is delivered almost for free to their homes. Tap water is cheaper, of equal quality (recent consumer reports say its even of better quality) and doesn't consumes fossil fuels for transport or production of bottles. Interestingly, "New York City recently began an advertising campaign that touted its water as 'clean,' 'zero sugar' and even 'stain free'," writes the NY Times.

Gerald Traufetter reports in Der Spiegel (20.3.2006) on how Sweden wants to get independent of fossil fuels by the year 2020—as announced by its government. Actually, Sweden is in a good position of doing so because the share of oil in the total power consumption already decreased from 77 percent in 1970 to 34 percent in 2003. Also today, 24 percent of energy is already provided by the renewables. The article is somewhat short in the questionable parts of turning wood, straw, crops, etc. into fuels, plastics, or chemicals. For instance, it's still a scientific argument whether bio-ethanol from crops is economical, environmental friendly and helps reducing global warming.

Claudia Deutsch writes in the NY Times (28.2.2006) how the chemical industry looks for alternatives of crude oil as a basis for their products. They look for processes using biomass like wood, straw or crops as a feedstock for producing principle chemical compounds. Actually, it's a challenging vision because the chemical industry has optimized processes in refineries for many decades. Substituting these processes today is not economical, and some companies even don't put research money into a field that may have no alternative in the coming decades.

George Monbiot writes in his column for the Guardian (28.2.2006) about climate change and one worrying increasing cause: aviation. In his analysis he comes to the conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions might be curbed in many areas, except aviation. Planes deposit in high altitudes carbon dioxide and water vapour, both greenhouse gases. The run for budget flights, the lack of a tax on aviation fuel, new runways harm the climate, he states. His point is that long-distance travels cannot be turned environmental friendly, in any case. Thus, people have to adjust behaviour. According to Monbiot's experiences, people understand the problem, but don't react to the facts.