Water For Life™ Concerts

AP - Ashaninka and Yines Indians are blocking an airport in the central Peruvian jungle town of Atalaya as well as two stations on a northern oil pipeline to protest laws that they say threaten their ancestral land and resources.

Reuters - The Dow and S&P 500 fell on Thursday after Chrysler's bankruptcy filing undercut optimism about upbeat corporate profits and reassuring job market data.

OneWorld.net - WASHINGTON, Apr 30 (OneWorld.net) - The Obama administration restored Tuesday a regulation requiring U.S. federal wildlife experts to review before implementation any government project that may impact threatened or endangered species.

AP - The oil industry is off to a dismal start this year, with Exxon Mobil and Marathon Oil on Thursday becoming the latest majors to report first-quarter profits plunging by half and more.

PR Newswire - Despite 2/3 Drop in Crude Oil Prices, Oil Giant Boosts Bottom Line With Refining Profits

AFP - Oil prices ended narrowly mixed Thursday as investors signs of recovery against ballooning oil reserves in the recession-mired United States, the world's biggest energy consumer.

Reuters - Oil edged higher on Thursday as gains in wider global markets offset rising energy inventories and slumping demand.

AP - Oil prices wavered Thursday as the nation's employment picture darkened and consumers pulled back on spending.

Reuters - Exxon Mobil Corp disappointed investors who in the past week had grown accustomed to energy companies reporting better-than-expected profits despite the collapse in crude oil prices since July.

U.S. News & World Report - On Wednesday, Barack Obama completed his 100th day in office, the traditional moment to assess how a new president is doing. In Obama's case, there is much to chew over, ranging from the quick passage of his $787 billion stimulus package to his vast spending programs and the reversal of a number of George W. Bush's policies, including those on stem cell research, climate change, and the harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists, which some call torture. [See Obama's 12 most important decisions in his first 100 days.]

AP - Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday first-quarter earnings fell 58 percent from a year ago, its lowest profit in more than five years, as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company saw crude and gas prices fall precipitously.

AP - Marathon Oil Corp. said Thursday its first-quarter profit fell 61 percent from a year ago as the company, like many competitors, saw results dive along with oil and natural gas prices. The result fell below Wall Street expectations.

• Buying local food miles and buy only sustainable or recyclable products.

• not leaving electric items on standby or switch off.

• Making sure our appliances and cars are as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. every year in UK alone £730m pounds spent on appliances being left on  standby.

• replace your light bulbs with energy efficient ones; they last longer and will cut the cost of  your electricity bill.

• turn down your thermostat by just a degree and slash 10% off the energy used in heating  your home.

• opt for a shower rather than a bath, but try to avoid power showers.

• reduce the amount of water going through the toilet cistern.

• Get a free Home energy Check from the energy saving trust.

• run your fridge at between 3-5°C.

• turn down the hot water to 60°C.

• set your washing machine to 30-40°C and try to dry your clothes naturally.

• Improve your loft insulation – up to a third of your household heat will escape through an uninsulated loft.

some countries offer Grants to help finance this.

• Lag your boiler and pipes to prevent heat loss.

• Insulate your hot water tank.

• Install double or triple glazing.

• there are grants available for solar hot water through the Low Carbon Buildings Programme.

• Don’t throw your cooking oil down the drain

• Close the tap whilst brushing your teeth

• Don’t buy unnecessary goods, as everything produced uses water

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished). In 2006, about 18% of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13% coming from traditional biomass, such as wood-burning. Hydroelectricity was the next largest renewable source, providing 3% (15% of global electricity generation), followed by solar hot water/heating, which contributed 1.3%. Modern technologies, such as geothermal energy, wind power, solar power, and ocean energy together provided some 0.8% of final energy consumption
Wind power is growing at the rate of 30 percent annually, with a worldwide installed capacity of over 100 GW, and is widely used in several European countries and the United States. The manufacturing output of the photovoltaics industry reached more than 2,000 MW in 2006,[5] and photovoltaic (PV) power stations are particularly popular in Germany and Spain.[6] Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and Spain, and the largest of these is the 354 MW SEGS power plant in the Mojave Desert. The world’s largest geothermal power installation is The Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of 750 MW. Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country’s automotive fuel. Ethanol fuel is also widely available in the USA.
While there are many large-scale renewable energy projects and production, renewable technologies are also suited to small off-grid applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development. Kenya has the world’s highest household solar ownership rate with roughly 30,000 small (20–100 watt) solar power systems sold per year.
Some renewable energy technologies are criticised for being intermittent or unsightly, yet the market is growing for many forms of renewable energy. Climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices, peak oil and increasing government support are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization. New government spending, regulation, and policies should help the industry weather the 2009 economic crisis better than many other sectors.

Go to the wikipedia for more informations

The issue of human-caused, or anthropogenic, climate change (global warming) is becoming a central focus of the Green movement. As illustrated by the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize being jointly awarded to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the issue is building an increasing level of mainstream interest. Around the world, there is an increasing awareness of the importance of climate change as a factor in a range of issues. Many environmental, economic and social issues find common ground in the form of climate change. Individual and political action on climate change can take many forms, most of which have the ultimate goal of limiting and/or reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. (See also business action on climate change.)

Go to the wikipedia for more informations

Reuters - Exxon Mobil Corp , the world's largest publicly traded company, posted a 58 percent drop in quarterly profit, missing Wall Street estimates, as the global recession sliced into demand for crude oil and depressed prices.

Reuters - U.S. and British forces handed over to the Iraqi navy Thursday responsibility for protecting one of the country's crucial floating oil export terminals.

AFP - Oil prices advanced on Thursday, taking their lead from rising stock markets, despite stubborn concerns that swine flu could dent global economic growth and energy demand, dealers said.

In the IWRM ToolBox, you will find a collection of good practices for managing water resources at all levels. The ToolBox is a free and open database with a library of case studies and references that can be used by anyone who is interested in implementing better approaches for the management of water or learning more about improving water management on a local, national, regional or global level.

The ToolBox is also an excellent tool for you to engage with a broader community of interested professionals around the world and to share your experiences. We hope that the ToolBox in this new look will increase your knowledge, improve your network of contacts, and help you in implementing ideas and solutions for water related problems.

Roberto Lenton
Chair, GWP Technical Committee

More infos about The IWRM ToolBox at http://www.gwptoolbox.org

Reuters - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso held out agreements on fighting the financial crisis, global warming and swine flu as evidence of deepening ties with sometime rival China Thursday, sidestepping tensions over the past.