Alexander G. Johnsons Krimi jetzt auch in skoobe.de

Neu auf skoobe.de:
Der spannende Malta-Kriminalroman ‟Der Tote von Dingli Cliffs‟ ist neu auch in der beliebten digitalen Bibliothek skoobe.de als Ebook zu haben » Link zum Angebot.

A World War II Hero

End of May 2024, we realised a project for our family in the UK. Author Alexander G. Johnson's late uncle Peter Johnson can truly be called a hero of World War II. His sons Douglas and Robert Johnson brought to paper all their father's adventures and tragic experiences while serving in the Royal Artillery between 1936 and 1946. First in the UK, then transferred to India in 1938 just to be sent to Egypt shortly after to fight against the Germans and Italians together with the Allied Forces in North Africa. With D-Day memorised only last week on June 6 for the 90th time, he, too, landed in Normandy - on Sword Beach - and fought his way further into Northwest Europe. But there were also happy days, before, after and even during his service.
The book has been made available in print and electronically for distribution among the many family members and friends only. A commercial publication might follow.

Bewertungen auf Lovely Books schreiben (Germany)

Zwei der Bücher unseres Autors Alexander G. Johnson können nun auch auf der mit 1,9 Millionen Lesenden und 500.000 Nutzenden grössten deutschen Bücher-Community » Lovely Books bewertet werden. 

Auf LovelyBooks werden z.B. Leserunden veranstaltet und Bücher verlost und natürlich rezensiert, kritisiert, gelobt, verworfen... ‟der Ort im Internet, an dem alles das möglich ist‟ (Zitat LovelyBooks). 

Alexander G. Johnson's crime novel re-released with a new title

We have just re-released 'A Time of Adversity / Eine Zeit der Widrigkeiten' under a new title exactly one year after the first edition was released:

'Murder at Dingli Cliffs'

'Der Tote von Dingli Cliffs'

The new title is more significant and descriptive compared to the previous one, we believe. 

'A Time of Adversity' and the German translation have already been taken down on Amazon worldwide and the change will also appear in many other online book stores soon. 

Unfortunately, all reviews have been lost through this transaction on Amazon but they had been saved to our web site before. 

Click » here to access the review page.

NEW: Alexander G. Johnson's 2099 Future Fiction now available in German

Originally published in 2011, Alexander G. Johnson rewrote his thrilling future fiction story 'The Last Cigarette - the priceless final puff' in 2021, expanding the short story to become a short novella. 

This extended edition has now been translated to German - 'Die letzte Zigarette - Koste sie, was es wolle!'. Both ebook and paperback are already available in all Amazon stores and on Lulu.com. More Online book stores in the Germanic countries will follow soon. See details and links on the German book's webpage:

2099 ist ein düsteres Jahr. Die Welt wird von einer Zentralregierung mit Sitz in Hong Kong streng regiert. Mandarin, Spanisch und Englisch sind die offiziellen Sprachen. Die Fleischproduktion wurde stark eingeschränkt ebenso wie Rauchen und Tabakanbau weltweit verboten wurden. In London steht die Versteigerung der letzten legalen Zigarette bevor, jedoch lassen an diesem Tag gleichzeitig stattfindende Ereignisse mehr als nur Tabak in Rauch aufgehen. 

Alexander G. Johnson's Crime Novel now also available in German: Eine Zeit der Widrigkeiten

Last week, on the 23rd of March 2023 - hopefully our lucky date - Alexander G. Johnson's crime novel was published on Amazon as print-on-demand paperback and hardcover as well as Kindle in German. More stores around the world to follow.

Am 23.03.23 - hoffentlich unser Glückstag -  konnten wir Alexander G. Johnsons Krimi mit dem Titel ‟Eine Zeit der Widrigkeiten‟ nun auch in deutscher Sprache auf Amazon veröffentlichen - als E-Buch, Taschenbuch und gebundene Ausgabe, die beiden letzteren als Print-on-Demand. Weitere Online Buchanbieter werden folgen.

Eine Zeit der Widrigkeiten
Unruhe, Verderbtheit und Blutvergießen unter der heißen Sonne Maltas

1973, die sonnigen Mittelmeerinseln Malta befinden sich im ersten Jahrzehnt ihrer Unabhängigkeit. Der Mord an einem Priester in einer Kirche der überwiegend römisch-katholischen Inseln erschüttert das kleine Land und stürzt den Junggesellen, Tubisten und Feinschmecker Chief Inspector Xavier Xuereb, Leiter der Mordkommission der maltesischen Polizei, in den grausamsten und aufreibendsten Fall seiner Karriere. Ein Mord jagt den nächsten, und nur wenige Hinweise und Indizien führen Xavier durch ein dorniges Labyrinth aus organisiertem Kindesmissbrauch und Korruption, das sich durch Malta, seine Schwesterinsel Gozo, London und den Vatikan zieht. Seine politisch motivierten Vorgesetzten behindern Xaviers Ermittlungen zunehmend, während seine depressive, nörgelnde, verwitwete Mutter eine zusätzliche Belastung darstellt. Einen unerwarteten Höhepunkt erreicht der Fall in den letzten Monaten des Jahres 1974, dem Jahr, in dem Malta zur Republik erklärt wird.

Links und mehr auf der Webseite des Buches.

New Make-Up for Alexander G. Johnson's crime novel 'A Time of Adversity'

We wanted to give this fine crime novel a more illustrative look and opted for a photograph from our own archives, showing the majestic cliffs of the south-western coast line of Gozo. 

Tinted in dark-green and black, the symbolism of these rock formations will be recognised by the reader. 

Get your personal copy online in all Amazon stores worldwide, at Barnes & Noble, Lulu.com and many more, as paperback, hardcover and e-book.

Details and shop links on the book's webpage.

First reviews available on several online store sites.

Book: Papua New Guinea in 5 Days - now also in English

We are proud to announce that Gabriele Ruttloff-Bauer's 1992 Travel Diary is now also on sale in English - besides the German-language original. Paperbacks are available by print-on-demand from Amazon Stores as well as Lulu.com. More online outlets such as Barnes & Noble will follow.

Visit the book's webpages for links and more:
» English
» German

The selling price is €9.99 or the equivalent, plus VAT where applicable.
Enjoy the trip!

Retro Travel Diary: Papua New Guinea in 5 Days

or ... a tourism specialist inspects a new travel destination in the year 1992. By Gabriele Ruttloff-Bauer. This photo-story book is currently available in German. An English translation will follow early 2023.

«Papua Neuguinea in 5 Tagen»
Geschäftspartner in Australien hatten sie gewarnt. Papua Neuguinea sei nichts für alleinreisende Frauen und darüber hinaus auch gar nicht interessant. Nur Minenarbeiter und Wissenschaftler bereisen das Land, hiess es. Dennoch machte sich Gabriele Ruttloff-Bauer am 12. Juli 1992 auf den Weg, dieses touristisch wenig bekannte Land zu erkunden. Ein Schweizer Reiseveranstalter brauchte einen Bericht aus erster Hand. Es war eine Blitztour, mit einem vollgepackten Zeitplan ganz im Stil der Studienreisen im Tourismus. Mit der Hilfe einer örtlichen Agentur verschwanden die Bedenken aber schnell und Papua Neuguinea wurde ein intensives und spannendes Erlebnis in einem aussergewöhnlichen und vielseitigem Land. Dieses Buch ist das originalbelassene Tagebuch der Autorin mit eigenen Fotografien - aus der Sicht von 1992.

Kommen Sie mit auf eine ungewöhnliche Kurzreise und besuchen sie die Webseite des Buches für weitere Details.

New Crime Novel by Alexander G. Johnson

Just published in all Amazon Stores worldwide - Paperback as well as Kindle ebook. Here's what Alexander G. Johnson's new crime novel is about:

«A Time of Adversity»

Subversion, Depravity and Bloodshed beneath Malta’s flaming Sun.

It is 1973 and the sunny Mediterranean islands of Malta are in their first decade as an independent nation. 

The murder of a priest in a church on the predominantly Roman Catholic islands sends shockwaves through the small nation and plunges bachelor, tubist and food lover Chief Inspector Xavier Xuereb, head of the Maltese police homicide squad, into the most heartless and gruelling case of his career.

As one murder leads to another, a few clues lead Xavier through a thorny maze of organised child abuse and corruption that spans Malta, its sister island of Gozo, London and the Vatican. His politically-motivated superiors increasingly hamper Xavier's investigation, while his depressed, nagging widowed mother is an added burden. The case reaches an unorthodox, unexpected climax in the final months of 1974, the year Malta declares itself a republic.

Visit the book's page for more details on this page turner, read a first five star review and find the links to your preferred Amazon Store.

Selling Books out of Switzerland: Amazon is not for small Suppliers

We have just removed the "Islands of Cats" hardcover edition from all Amazon stores. Reasons? Quite simply, as a small seller on Amazon, you earn next to nothing to amortise your costs and time.

• Amazon fees (Europe): In order to be reasonably competitive, the selling price must be kept low. Our last price for the hardcover edition was €27.99 / £22.99, which is actually too high for the subject of this book. From this, Amazon deducts a hefty sales fee of €6.65 / £5.88 (and VAT €2.16 Germany) and contributes €3 / £4.02 shipping costs. Makes € 22.18 / £21.13 net for us 👍🏻. But ....

• Postage from Switzerland: The hardcover edition weighs 620 grams. On January 1, 2022, Swiss Post merged the Economy and Priority shipping options for shipments to the EU / Europe, and instead of Fr 10 as before (exchange rate today €9.65 / £8.25), Swiss Post now charges double of that, i.e. Fr 20 (€19.30 / £16.50) = net for us €2.88 / £2.50. Unfortunately, as a small seller, you cannot adjust the postage on Amazon, you can only inform the prospective buyer in the product description. 👎🏼

• Other costs: The color printing of the book (offset) with its 220+ photographs costs around €3 / £2.60 per copy in Malta in 2016. That alone exceeds the income of €2.88 / £2.50, plus the padded envelope, the labels, the printer ink, the trip to the post office, the customer correspondence and the marketing work are not yet paid for. 👎🏼

• Alternative: Let Amazon do the work and use 'FBA - Fulfilment by Amazon', where the goods are stored in one of Amazon's large warehouses and are also shipped from there. However, this is of no interest to small suppliers, because monthly fees of up to €36 / £25 are incurred plus shipping the stock to the warehouse. If a certain sales target is not reached, then Amazon will charge extra. To recoup these fees, we would have had to sell at least 13 books per month to start making a profit. 👎🏼

• Public interest: We have also offered the hardcover edition to various Malta-related organisations free of charge, but animal welfare in the Mediterranean does not seem to be of interest. 👎🏼

For all these reasons, and as only a costly campaign could still sell the remaining hardcover editions, we decided to give it away for 60% discount, subject to packaging and shipping costs » LINK. 

What is still in storage by autumn 2022 will then be thrown away.

The book is still available, showing a new book cover, as print-on-demand together with the Kindle version in the Amazon stores (with similar low profit - the more colour photos, the higher Amazon's printing costs). The book's topic is timeless, the Maltese Islands are always worth a visit, and cat lovers will enjoy the many insights and photographs.

🐈‍⬛🐈

Alexander G. Johnson's futuristic short novella 'The Last Cigarette' - new enhanced edition now available

Alexander G. Johnson's short novella 'The Last Cigarette - The Priceless Final Puff' reworked, enhanced and newly republished: 

This short novella takes you to a frantic future: “It is the year 2099. The world is ruled by one central government seated in Hong Kong. The produce of beef has been limited, and the official languages are Mandarin, Spanish and English. The smoking and planting of tobacco has been outlawed. In Great Britain's London an auction of the last remaining, legal cigarette is about to start. The surrounding events that take place on the same day make it a smoke to remember …"

Now available in all Amazon Online Stores as Kindle / Ebook or Paperback (print-on-demand).  Visit the book's page for sales links and more.

More online outlets and German language edition coming soon.

'Malta & Gozo - Islands of Cats' - now as paperback

Stray and feral cats are still an issue in the Maltese Islands. That's why we now made 'Islands of Cats' - new title 'Malta & Gozo - Islands of Cats' available as print-on-demand in Amazon Stores, such as the UK, the USA, Canada, European Stores eg. Germany, Australia and Japan. 

22 representative portraits of the work of over one thousand volunteers are complemented by 232 of Gabriele Bauer's best photographies and entertaining texts, facts and stories written by Alexander Johnson. The authors promise an informative read not only about the dedicated work of the many cat carers but also about locations on the islands Malta and Gozo. An exciting book for animal lovers as well as travellers.

The sales price of the paperback varies per Amazon store and the applicable VAT. Amazon UK lists the book for £ 14.60 including shipment, for example, the US store for US$ 19.99 including shipment. 'Malta & Gozo - Islands of Cats' is also available as ebook for Kindle Fire or the Kindle App (€5.99, £5.15, US$ 9.42).

The more elaborately designed hardcover edition (€29.99, £25.75, European Amazon stores only) will now be securely shipped registered from Switzerland, or order direct through our sales page to save on the hardcover (worldwide shipping). 'Malta & Gozo - Islands of Cats' also comes in German (all formats, 'Malta & Gozo - Inseln der Katzen') and Maltese (hardcover only, 'Malta & Gozo - Il-Gżejjer tal-Qtates').

Video: How the Future Works ....

  

© 2020 The Futures Agency, Switzerland

Digital Transformation: Business as usual is dead.

Featuring: 'Technology vs. Humanity' by Gerd Leonhard

"Are you ready for the greatest changes in recent human history? Futurism meets humanism in Gerd Leonhard’s ground-breaking new work of critical observation, discussing the multiple Megashifts that will radically alter not just our society and economy but our values and our biology. Wherever you stand on the scale between technomania and nostalgia for a lost world, this is a book to challenge, provoke, warn and inspire." Gerd Leonhard on www.techvshuman.com

Seven Beland highly recommends 'Technology vs. Humanity' as an important lecture for the modern human in our technology-driven, modern society. The book is available as hardcover and e-book in all Amazon-Stores worldwide, for example:

Great-Britain	US / Intl	Canada	Deutschland

<-- Seven Beland Posting is taking a Break -->

Environment: How tiny Malta copes with several hundred thousand stray cats - new ebook 'Islands of Cats'

Islands of Cats ebook pre-release available on Lulu.com

Many of us appreciate a cat as a pet, the moggy that wakes us in the morning with a loving purr or lounges in our favourite arm chair when we come home. In several countries around the globe, stray cats have become a true problem. This species is very productive when it comes to procreating, and though this is their nature, in the absence of natural predators, cats that end up in the streets will instinctively mate and after a while we have a population explosion, if not a pest. The US currently cope with 50 million stray and feral cats, Australia is confronted with 20 million jeopardising several endangered species, around Berlin 100'000 strays roam the area, the UK faces problems, Switzerland is discussing a tax on un-neutered/un-spayed cats, the shelters are packed, to name just a few. Many stray cats end up in shelters just to be euthanised ...

In 2012 we moved to Malta and soon noticed the many stray and feral cats in the streets. Moving to a place with a "cat colony" across the street in 2015, the topic finally caught our attention. Why are these home-less felines so good looking, well-fed and healthy? How many are there? Who are these more than 1,000 individuals going around to feeding spots on our Islands to provide food, water, veterinary aid and neutering 7/365? How does tiny, sea-locked Malta cope with the issue? To answer all this and much more, we went around Malta and Gozo to interview dozens of "Stray Cat Carers" as well as shelters dedicated to cats. After six months we are now able to present our research in an entertaining and, at the same time, educational photo-story book with the mission to take this environmental topic closer to the public and to clear some misunderstandings.

"Islands of Cats" contains 22 representative carer portraits, interviews, cat facts and descriptions of places of interest on 121 pages with 222 high-resolution photographs. Of the Euro 7.99 (excl. VAT) sales price we will return 1 Euro to the stray cat carer community, to help with food and vet vouchers to cover otherwise and primarily privately paid costs for the carers' many furry protégés. This electronic pre-release comes as PDF in English, German, or Maltese. A print version is planned. Please refer to our most recent newsletter for all details, a preview, and more links. And please share share share. Grazzi ħafna !!

Mumbai airport recycling 25% of the water used by every passenger (via The Indian Express)

illustration: original post

The Indian Express 7 June 2016: "To reduce its consumption of fresh water, the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) has set up three sewage treatment plants. The plants recycle 25 per cent of water used by every passenger, which is then utilised for toilet flushing, cooling and in the airport’s green spaces.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event to mark World Environment Day on Sunday, a Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said, “Fresh water is required for airport activities such as concessioners, cooking, drinking, cooling tower, etc. We can’t substitute fresh water requirement by treated sewage totally, but fresh water requirements in some activities, such as toilet flushing, gardening and cooling in HVAC, can be substituted by treated sewage. The sewage generated from... "read on.

Journey to Mars begins … and ends with Earth (via TheSpec)

Space innovations also used to develop new technologies for industry and medicine

The Hamilton Spectator 30 May 2016: "Mars is as far away as humans have so far dreamed of going to, but the end goal is actually to help those close to home said an American astronaut visiting Hamilton.

"What we do in space exploration is really about life back here on earth," Catherine Coleman told the 2016 Innovation Nation conference at Liuna Station Sunday.

Space innovations get us one step closer to Mars, but they're also used develop new technologies for industry and medicine.

The remote-controlled mechanical arm Canadarm and Canadarm2 are used in space to deploy and capture satellites, maintain equipment and move cargo. But it has also inspired a better way to..." read on.

A World With Little Water Supply Has Dire Economic Consequences: World Bank (via TechTimes)

Tech Times 24 May 2016: "Too little water supply in an increasingly warming world can spur dire economic consequences, trigger sudden migration and spark conflict around the globe, a new report by the World Bank warns.

High And Dry
The new report examines the long-term effects of diminishing water supply on the world, citing effects on food, urban, energy and environmental systems.

As cities expand, incomes rise and populations continue to grow, and water supply becomes more erratic and uncertain, researchers write.

Unfortunately, unless action is taken immediately, water will become scarce in places where it is currently abundant, including East Asia and Central Africa.

At the same time, scarcity will worsen in places already with short supply, including the Middle East and the Sahel, the..." read on.

Meet the private company that has changed the face of the world (via Fortune)

A rare inside look at family-controlled global construction giant Bechtel.

illustration: original post

Fortune 26 May 2016: "Fourteen stories below Saudi Arabia’s Capital, Riyadh, a 1,000-ton monster is carving a hole. The tunnel-boring machine, or TBM, is longer than a Boeing 747 and weighs five times as much. It grinds through the Arabian Desert sandstone 24/7, chewing through the pink-hued rock with its tungsten blades to sculpt a circle 33.6 feet in diameter. The massive device has been given the name Mneefah, for the legendary stallion that carried the kingdom’s first ruler to victory.

This modern Mneefah, however, grinds along rather than gallops. On a recent visit, the tunnel behind the machine’s cutting head is bathed in an eerie fluorescent light. Suddenly, in a cycle that repeats every hour, the blades stop whirring, and a robotic arm swoops down and uses its powerful suction shoe to slowly pick up eight curved six-ton concrete panels one at a time and place them on the newly carved wall in a..."
click to read full article.

A Warming World Means Less Water, With Economic Consequences (via KQED)

illustration: original post

KQED 23 May 2016: "We often associate climate change with too much water — the melting ice caps triggering a rise in sea levels. Now a new World Bank report says we also need to think about too little water — the potable sort.

High and Dry: Climate Change, Water, and the Economy examines the future effects of diminishing water supplies on the world. “Water-related climate risks cascade through food, energy, urban, and environmental systems,” researchers write. “Growing populations, rising incomes, and expanding cities will converge upon a world where the demand for water rises exponentially, while supply becomes more erratic and uncertain.”

The World Bank says that in areas where water is readily available, like Central Africa and East Asia, it could become harder to find. And in areas like the Middle East, already facing..." read on.

Environmental policy must be on the agenda (via The National)

image: original post

The National 21 May 2016: "We are only a few months past the Paris agreement, which was signed by more than 165 countries last December at the meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, with the pledge of limiting global warming to below 2°C.

The UAE is particularly vulnerable to climate change and, as part of the Arabian Peninsula, one of the most water-stressed regions in the world. Prospects for an acceleration of climate change – including more extreme summer temperatures and the faster withdrawal of scarce fresh water resources – are no distant possibility. We’re witnessing greater temperature extremes, and Abu Dhabi’s water reserves are now expected to run out in as little as 50 years at current consumption rates.

It is high-time for more coordinated climate governance internationally and nationally. Energy has long been at the core of climate-related policy, and rightly so: the power generation and energy-intensive industries together account for over 80 per cent of the..." read on.

Stop Firms to waste water worth 1'250 Olympic size pools A DAY (via This is Money)

We meet the Ofwat boss demanding firms stop the astonishing 1,250 Olympic-size pools worth of water A DAY leaking out

This is Money 16 may 2016: "Britain's water regulator has a blunt message for companies that provide our water and sewerage service: they need to get ‘a hell of a lot more efficient’.

Energy companies and telecoms groups are used to taking flak over high prices but it sounds like the water sector is about to come under similar pressure – from Ofwat chief Cathryn Ross.

And the challenges are legion: prices must fall and leaks must be reduced, says Ross. The equivalent of 1,250 Olympic-size swimming pools is leaking per day from the network in England and Wales.

‘This sector right now is at a pivotal point,’ says Ross. ‘If you think about the challenges – population change, climate...' read on.

REPORT: Recycled Antifreeze has 28% Lower Carbon Footprint (via WmW

illustration: original post

WMW 17 May 2016: Recycled antifreeze has a lower carbon footprint than virgin, according to a study commissioned by Indiana based ORG CHEM Group, a specialist in the distillation of heat sensitive materials.

The newly released study compared Carbon Footprint of Recycled Antifreeze vs. Virgin Antifreeze by analyzing energy consumption from the two processes.

According to ORG CHEM fleet managers can help meet their organisations' scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets by purchasing recycled antifreeze. However, the company added that due to data limitations, a cradle-to-grave comparison was not possible, making the comparison..." read on.

To Prevent Zika, US And Mexico Join Forces To Collect Tires (via KBPS)

KPBS 12 may 2016: "Every year, environmentalists rush to clean uphundreds of discarded tires that flow into southern San Diego County from Mexico through the Tijuana River. But whenever it rains, the tires pile up again.

A new binational collaboration led by the organization Wildcoast aims to stop the tires from washing into the U.S. The pilot program, which launched Thursday, aims to collect and shred up to 100,000 tires in Tijuana. The tires will be sold for reuse by a Mexican commodities company.

The initiative brings together government officials, business leaders and environmentalists from both sides of the..." read on.

Indian Scientist Has Developed System From Sea Water To Drinkable Water (via PressInsider)

PressInsider 11 May 2016: "The Indian Scientist has developed a system to purify the sea water into drinkable water successfully. Right now, the system is producing nearly 6.3 million liters of potable water daily from the sea water.

Ther are 13 states are affected by heavy drought, As the development of the converting the sea water into the drinking water by the system, It gives relief for the states and solves the water problem.

Also, they have developed specific filtration methods, which ensures the groundwater is containing the arsenic and uranium are safe to..." read on.

Digital transformation: are you ready for exponential change? by Futurist Gerd Leonhard / TFA Studios

A short film by Futurist Speaker Gerd Leonhard.

Business as usual is dead. Increasingly, science fiction is becoming science fact. Exponential technologies are rapidly changing our lives and societies, every day, everywhere. We will need different skills, and we will need to get much better at driving change - or we will be driven by it. Most importantly, we should embrace technology but not become it. Anything that can be digitized or automated, will be - and anything that cannot be digitized or automated will become extremely valuable. Lastly, we must go beyond technology to define real human values in this new digital ecosystem.

5-Hour Energy Drink Founder Wants To Make Fake Rain (via Forbes)

Forbes Green Tech 10 May 2016: "Manoj Bhargava is taking the Henry Ford approach to clean water.

Bhargava, who single-handedly changed impulse buying in convenience stores by with his 5-Hour Energy Drink, is now dedicating his time to the Rain Maker, a water distilling system for helping ameliorate the world’s looming water crisis.

The system works similar to other evaporation systems from companies like 212 Resources or Altela. Wastewater goes in one end, get transformed into vapor and, when again condensed, comes back as clean water. Whether you call it artificial rain, water recycling or distillation, you’re essentially using heat in an..." read on.

Video: Emma Watson explains how she wore trash on the red carpet

As seen on CNN Style 5 Mai 2016: Emma Watson: Changing the world one dress at a time

Using treated sewage water to clean trains, railway station

To clean one train, it takes 20,000 liters of water!

Rush Lane 2 May 2016: "Over two lakh liters of fresh water is being used every day to clean 20 trains in Chennai alone. With Indian Railways cleaning hundreds of trains every day, crores of liters of fresh water is being wasted on a daily basis. But, cleaning trains is equally important. So how to clean trains without wasting fresh water? Well, Chennai has an answer.

Basin Bridge Train Care Center is supplying treated sewage water to the Chennai Central Railway Station as they embark on a new strategy to save water. Main pipelines are laid for the transportation of water while branch carries the water to all platforms. This drastically reduces the amount of fresh water being used to..." read on.

How To Grow Your Own Food Garden

Grow your own veggies and herbs in any place or space

illistration: Longevity

As seen on Longevity 29 April 2016: "In today’s world, the idea of growing your own food garden is appealing. Not only is it cost-effective, but you can control the soil in which your plants grow, and will be assured that no additives or pesticides have been used, thereby improving the nutrient and mineral content.

But is it easy? The correct guidance on the nature of soil, water recycling and creative spaces can quickly dissolve inhibitions and turn gardening into a fun adventure. Longevity speaks to some of South Africa’s top gardening..." read on.

Japan, China, South Korea agree to cooperate over disaster waste

The Japan Times 27 April 2016: "Environment ministers from Japan, China and South Korea agreed Wednesday to cooperate on management and reuse of disaster waste, with Tokyo offering to share its experience from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan and other disasters.

“Japan would prepare an opportunity among the three countries to share experience and know-how on disaster waste management,” said the joint communique adopted by the ministers following their two-day meeting in Shizuoka, where they also discussed air pollution and marine trash.

Environmental cooperation is one of the few realms that have not suffered a serious setback amid Japan’s sometimes strained diplomatic relations with China and South Korea over differing views on history and territory. The trilateral environment talks have been..." read on.

New UN report finds almost no industry profitable if environmental costs were included

Exposing Truth 9 April 2016: "If you haven’t been paying attention, I don’t blame you for at first not believing this. After all, companies go to great lengths to greenwash their image and present themselves as progressive and environmentally responsible, even while they turn your land to deserts and your oceans into dead zones. Unfortunately, as Mark Twain once famously said: “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”

The truth is that our current system allows pretty much every corporation to externalize both environmental and social costs. In this article, we won’t even be touching on social costs. If you don’t know what cost externalization is, you can imagine it as making someone else pay part or all of your costs. For example, BP externalized the environmental costs..." read on.

Indian Railways comes up with a noble solution to save water

Business Insider India 24 April 2016: To cope up the drought situation slowly gripping the country, Indian Railway has decided to set up automatic coach washing plants at 10 major depots to save water required for cleaning trains.

ACWP will be equipped with an effluent treatment system and water softening plant for recycling water used for cleaning trains and platforms. There are 23 railway depots out of which we will set up modern washing plants with added facilities for treatment of water for reuse at 10 at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore, said a senior Railway Ministry official involved in execution of green initiatives of the national...read on.

South Korea cuts food waste with 'pay as you trash'

Country has adopted creative ways to manage food waste problems and promote recycling

The Straits Times Asia 24 April 2016: Moving to South Korea from the US in 2012, English teacher Michelle Svensson was shocked to find that she had to separate her food waste and dump it in a centralised bin within her apartment compound.

"It's kind of disgusting," said the 29-year-old half-Swedish, half- Korean mother of two.

"My husband and I really hated taking the food waste out because it'd smell so bad and it's so embarrassing to go into the lift when there are other people inside."...read on

Almost Nothing About the ‘Apple Harvests Gold From iPhones’ Story Is True

The Motherboard 20 April 2016: "You may have seen a viral headline floating around over the last few days: Apple recycled $40 million worth of gold last year, which was extracted from iPhones. Almost none of what was reported is true.

The story was everywhere, from major mainstream outlets like CNN, Fox News, and Huffington Post to tech-focused and normally very good sites such as MacRumors, Gizmodo, Quartz, and The Verge. I’ve never come across a story that has been so uniformly misreported—hundreds of outlets covered Apple’s “Environmental Responsibility Report,” and not one article I read came remotely close to getting the story right.

The most egregious and inaccurate storyline goes something like this: Apple, out of the goodness of its heart or perhaps fueled by monetary incentives, took old iPhones and iPads that were brought back into its stores, took them apart, melted down the roughly 30 milligrams of gold in each phone, and ended up with 2,204 total pounds of…" read on.

iPhone News And Rumors: Apple Gained $40 Million From Recycled Gadgets

Recycling is undoubtedly a good environmentally-conscious practice for companies.

News Everyday 19 April 2016: Just recently, the Cupertino-based company has publicly announced how their gadgets recycling program allowed them to rake in (literally) almost a metric ton of gold from recycled devices and parts from electronic products like iPhones and iPads last year worth at an estimated $40 million as per its Environmental Responsibility Report.

Out of the 90 million pounds of trash that went through its e-waste recycling program, the Silicon Valley giant was able to extract 61 million pounds of reusable materials including gold albeit in relatively small amount. However, gold is currently worth $1,200 per troy ounce as per latest trading value in the market which makes the precious one of...read on.

Geosynthetic-Concrete Composite Barrier for Brazilian Mine

image by original post

geosynthetica.net 19 April 2016: In October 2015, a Concrete Canvas® GCCM (Geosynthetic Cementitious Composite Mat) composite barrier was used to line a newly constructed drainage lagoon at Votorantim Metais Zinco mine in Vazante, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The site needed to transport alkaline mine water through a series of drainage ditches—also to be lined—to the lagoon where the water would be treated.

Sites like this had used concrete-based solutions in the past; but, with the rainy season having already begun, a solution such as shotcrete was not possible. The specification of a geosynthetic-concrete composite barrier system gave the site operators a strong lining system that could be...read more.

Turning surplus food into a resource

San Diego Union-Tribune 6 April 2016: What is excess food — waste or a resource? California aims to re-characterize surplus food so that we see its value. Starting April 1, state law began restricting organic material — food scrap and yard trimmings — from going to landfills. At the heart of it, organic material retains minerals and nutrients that were mined from our soil. Once disposed in a landfill, those resources are lost, just as with landfilled aluminum cans. Compounding this environmental concern, organic material in our landfills generates copious amounts of greenhouse gases. Instead of landfilling, organic material can be recycled into a soil amendment through composting or into energy through anaerobic digestion.

With new legislation (AB 1826), California continues its progress toward removing all recyclable material from our landfills. Businesses that generate a large volume of organic material must make arrangements for services to have it all recycled. But the San Diego region cannot comply with this state law right now. We do not have the capacity to handle all the material we generate — an estimated half million tons of organic material each year. So while large food-generating businesses must begin recycling their surplus food, most have no service to turn to.

Over 25 years ago, California passed the nation’s landmark solid waste law, the Integrated Waste Management Act (AB 939), which sought to decrease the amount of...read on.

Recycling program launched to clean migrant waste trail on Greek island

New China 3 April 2016: The huge "mountains" of life jackets and dinghies left behind by thousands of refugees on the beaches of the Greek island of Lesvos over the past year bring hope and possible job opportunities for recession-hit locals as authorities have launched a recycling program this spring to protect the environment and generate revenues.

The municipality of Lesvos in cooperation with volunteer architects and environmentalists has started a pilot project to turn refugee waste into items of immediate use for the refugees and migrants such as bags, raincoats, mattresses and shelters, local officials told Xinhua in recent telephone interviews.

With the support of the Greek Ministry of Environment, Lesvos hopes to become an example for other islands that are affected by the refugee crisis.

Lesvos has been at the front line of the crisis during the past year. Almost half of the one million arriving in Greece since early 2015 were registered on the island.

Up to 700,000 life vests and 10,000 inflatable dinghies were left on the beaches since...read on.

Massive deforestation discovered in Brazil's Cerrado region

During the dry season, farmlands recycled 60 percent less water than native savanna.

UPI 1 April 2016: A new study shows deforestation, already prevalent in the Amazon, has expanded southward into Brazil's Cerrado, a vast region of tropical savanna.

"This is the first study to show how intense the deforestation and agricultural expansion in the Cerrado has been in the past decade," Gillian Galford, an ecologist at the University of Vermont, said in a news release. "It's clearly a new hotspot for tropical deforestation."

In coordination with researchers at Brown University and the Woods Hole Research Center, Galford and her colleagues at Vermont used satellite imagery to plot the...read on.

Lifting weight of water off women

Bethany Caruso:  Females must carry as much as 50kg daily for each family member for drinking, cooking and cleaning.

NZ Herald 28 March 2016: Imagine going through your day without ready access to clean water for drinking, cooking, washing or bathing. Around the world, 663 million people face that challenge every day. They get their water from sources considered unsafe because they are vulnerable to contamination, such as rivers, unprotected wells, streams and ponds. And the task of providing household water falls disproportionately to women and girls.

Water, a human right, is critical for human survival and development. A sufficient supply of biologically and chemically safe water is necessary for drinking and personal hygiene to prevent diarrhoeal diseases, trachoma, intestinal...read on.

Video: Plastic Pollution Coalition "OPEN YOUR EYES"

A must-watch clip, narrated by Actor Jeff Bridges:

Thirsty Cities Need Smart Solutions Like Water Reclamation

The New Indian Express 27 March 2016: This week, across cities, conscientious Indians did not use water to celebrate Holi. The unprecedented water crisis compelled the shift in social practices. Essentially, necessity acquired the cloak of virtue.

The magnitude of the crisis of thirst is illustrated by headlines from across the country. In Hyderabad, residents took away a 5,000-litre water tanker of the HMWSSB. Authorities in Latur imposed Section 144 to avoid water riots. Kochi plans to introduce permit raj to ensure water quality supplied by tankers. Navi Mumbai residents are agitated about tanker operators siphoning from pipelines for sale to housing societies. In Gurgaon, authorities warned use of water for car wash or gardens could result in FIRs. Aggrieved women in Dhenkanal, Odisha, forced engineers out of office to check tube wells. Residents of...read on.

Austrian Environment Agency assists Ukraine in waste management

umweltbundesamt - Kiev, 22 March 2016: A new two-year Twinning project on the collection and recycling of e-waste and used batteries was officially launched today at the Ministry of Regional Development, Building and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine. 

Every year, Ukraine has to dispose half a billion tons of wastes, including hundreds of tons of harmful e-waste that often contains hazardous substances that cause pollution and health problems. In the EU waste legislation, landfilling is the "least preferred option" and recycling is encouraged, in particular for waste containing harmful substances and valuable raw materials like e-waste.

Georg Rebernig, Managing Director of Umweltbundesamt, the Environment Agency Austria, explains at the Kick-off event in Kiev: “With this project, the Environment Agency Austria together with...read on.

Apple's robot rips apart iPhones for recycling

Lisa Jackson, Apple vice president for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, introduces a robot named Liam that deconstructs iPhones during an event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California March 21, 2016

Reuters 21 March 2016: Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Monday unveiled a robotic system called Liam to take apart junked iPhones and recover valuable materials that can be recycled, such as silver and tungsten.

The move is an attempt to address criticism that Apple's products, while sleek and seamless in design, are so tightly constructed that their components can be difficult to disassemble, refurbish and reuse.

Liam, which has been under development for nearly three years, will initially focus on the iPhone 6. Apple plans to modify and expand the system to handle different devices and recover more resources, the company said.

The system started to operate at full capacity last month and can take apart one iPhone 6 every 11 seconds to recover aluminum, copper, tin, tungsten, cobalt, gold and silver parts, according...read on.

Barbecue ban not enough to keep beaches clean, say environmental NGOs

In Malta, litter on beaches is a big problem, and the more activities allowed, the more litter there is.

Times of Malta 12 March 2016: Banning all non-gas operated barbecues was still not enough to keep beaches clean, environmental NGOs said yesterday, calling for more enforcement and better waste-management solutions.

The organisations were reacting to the decision to allow only gas barbecues to be used at Golden Bay after this newspaper reported that all other types would soon be banned from Mellieħa bay, as the council steps up efforts to keep its beaches clean.

Mayor John Buttigieg told this newspaper that during discussions on whether to revoke the barbecue ban at Għadira, the council identified threats to the quality of the beaches due to barbecues. So it decided to propose banning barbecues which do not run on gas at Golden Bay, where all...read on.

Israel top in recycling water, bottom in renewable energy

Israel has the best record in the OECD in recycling wastewater and the worst record in producing electricity from renewable sources.

Globes 16 March 2016:  The proportion of Israel's population not connected to wastewater recycling is one of the lowest among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to a quality of life report published today. The proportion of people not hooked up to wastewater recycling in Israel fell from 7.7% in 2000 (485,000 people) to 2.2% in 2014 (180,000 people). Most of the people not connected to water recycling live in unrecognized Bedouin communities or East Jerusalem. The proportion of people connected to tertiary (the highest level) of wastewater treatment rose from 33.6% in 2000 to 51.7% in 2014.

Israel's management of its water sector has won praise around the world. In an interview published in "Globes last October, Seth Siegel, author of "Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved World," explained how Israel had changed from a...read on.

Heathrow sets sustainability pledges for food and drink retailers

resource 14 March 2015: Heathrow Airport has set targets, including a 70 per cent food waste recycling rate, for all its food and beverage retailers as part of a new sustainable restaurant guide.

Drafted in partnership with the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), ‘Ingredients for Success’ is designed to help the airport work towards a Responsible Heathrow 2020, which aims to ‘enhance local, regional and national, economic and social benefits of Heathrow in a sustainable way’.

The guide sets out sustainability target for all food and beverage retailers on the airport, focusing on six core areas: waste, water, energy, colleagues, community and customers.

As part of the sustainability commitment, Heathrow will also review the waste prevention and recycling communication tools and messaging with the food service community.

Additionally, the guide suggests that the airport retailers will reduce energy use by 10 per cent for every person served and implement a systematic approach to...read on.

This supermarket is Denmark’s first to only sell waste food

WeFood is a supermarket that sells only surplus and waste food at a discounted price, while giving the profits to charities.

Springwise 4 March 2016: Waste food still remains a massive problem in developed countries. Only this year did France passed a law banning supermarkets from throwing away waste food, instead asking them to donate it to charities or food banks.

That’s why WeFood opened in Denmark in February. The shop is the country’s first selling only food that has gone past its sell by date, with prices up to 50 percent cheaper than in normal shops. The store is located in the country’s capital Copenhagen, and is run by volunteers. The company has already secured deals with retailers and importers to sell the food that would otherwise...read on.