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Friday, 11 February 2022

Abre en Maó Ses Illes Markets, la primera cadena menorquina de supermercados de bajo coste (De :Diario Menorca)

 vla primera cadena menorquina de supermercados de bajo coste, abre sus puertas este lunes en el número 39 de la calle Borja Moll de Maó.

La primera cadena menorquina de supermercados de bajo coste abre sus puertas este lunes en el número 39 de la calle Borja Moll de Maó.

Menorca cuenta desde esta semana con una nueva oferta en el sector de los supermercados. Ses Illes Markets, la primera cadena menorquina de supermercados de bajo coste, abre sus puertas este lunes en el número 39 de la calle Borja Moll de Maó. Su objetivo es posicionarse como un referente entre los supermercados de bajo coste de la isla aportando un elemento diferencial: el producto local de Menorca.

Ofrecer los precios más bajos del mercado sin que se resienta la calidad es la premisa bajo la que opera esta nueva cadena de supermercados. Desde los costes de energía, pasando por los alquileres, la productividad de sus trabajadores o nuevos formatos publicitarios, todos los procesos que intervienen en la distribución y logística de la empresa se analizan de manera exhaustiva para poder ajustar los precios al máximo sin descuidar la calidad del producto. En su apuesta por los bajos precios, Ses Illes Market ofrece al consumidor hasta el doble de la diferencia de cualquier artículo que encuentre más barato en otros supermercados de la isla, siempre que no se trate de una oferta puntual.

Ses Illes Market se adapta a las nuevas necesidades de los consumidores ofreciendo un modelo de tienda basado en el autoservicio y con un horario ininterrumpido de lunes a domingo (de lunes a sábado, de 8.30 a 21 horas, y los domingos de 9 a 14 horas). El supermercado dispone de un aparcamiento exclusivo y gratuito para los clientes.

El cliente podrá elegir entre más de 3.000 referencias de alimentación, limpieza, higiene y todo aquello que necesite para llenar la cesta de la compra al mejor precio, desde pan recién horneado hasta productos cárnicos listos para llevar y, por supuesto, producto fresco de Menorca.

Que bueno, por fin. Vamos a ver cuando llega uno a Ciutadella! Me voy!!!!!! 

El cancion de hoy esta: " Mariposa" de Maná
TTFN

 

 

                                                


Thursday, 10 February 2022

Plastic Treaty Now! Sign the petition at Greenpeace

 Greenpeace International window on the world

 

go here to add your name: Copy and paste into the search bar:

https://act.greenpeace.org/page/98946/petition/1?utm_campaign=plastic&utm_source=plastic-treaty-full-list-22.02.09&utm_medium=email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=email&utm_content=Plastic+Treaty,+Full+List,+Image+22.02.10+A

Plastic Treaty Now!

From beaches in Southeast Asia to the remote Antarctic, plastic pollution is everywhere. It starts polluting the moment it's created, impacting our oceans, climate and the health of our communities.  Scientists have even found microplastics in the air we breathe and the food we eat. We need a solution that matches the scale of the problem.

A global treaty on plastic is that solution.

A strong global plastic treaty means ensuring a holistic approach to ending the plastic pollution crisis:

  • creating a legally binding instrument to ensure compliance from governments and industry;
  • keeping oil and gas in the ground, and protecting our climate;
  • big brands switching to refill and reuse systems and reducing single use plastic pollution;
  • holding countries accountable for managing their own waste and ending waste colonialism; and
  • governments working to ensure a just transition for workers and the health of the most affected communities.

Already millions of people like you have come together to reject single use plastic and ask for change. Now Greenpeace and our allies call on governments and world leaders to start negotiating a strong plastic treaty that addresses the whole life cycle of plastic - from the moment oil is extracted to the moment plastic is discarded, there is no time for empty promises.

Help us make this a reality. Ask world leaders to support a global plastic treaty! 

The blog song for today is: "Dancing Days" by Led Zeppelin
TTFN

Wednesday, 9 February 2022

PVC: Another Problematic Plastic- A report from Earth911

 

PVC: Another Problematic Plastic

At the turn of the century, everybody was up in arms about the hazards of vinyl. More properly known as polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, the substance inspired slogans – “No vinyl, that’s final” and “No PVC for me” – as well as a documentary film, “Blue Vinyl” that explored the environmental and health risks throughout the life cycle of the ubiquitous material. Today, vinyl is no less ubiquitous and no less harmful. Although fewer people are paying attention to vinyl these days, PVC and other chlorinated polymers have made the Living Building Challenge Red List of worst-in-class building materials to avoid.

Polyvinyl Chloride

PVC is the most commonly used plastic in building products, and the third most used plastic in the world, thanks to its extreme versatility, unique technical properties, recyclability, and affordability. Unfortunately, the chloride monomer in PVC is a known human carcinogen. PVC can also contain other Red List materials including heavy metals and phthalates, which can off-gas from vinyl products like shower curtains. Also, PVC’s most harmful component, vinyl chloride, can off-gas from PVC products, but only when they are new. (Think of the scent of a new plastic shower curtain or that new-car smell.) PVC is a persistent organic pollutant source material because the manufacture and disposal of chlorinated polymers can result in the production of extremely toxic dioxins.

However, you are unlikely to find the highest levels of vinyl chloride in your home. Instead, PVC presents a classic case of environmental injustice; vinyl chloride primarily impacts the workers and nearby residents of the factories where PVC is manufactured, rather than the consumers who drive demand for the products. The air around factories that produce vinyl products contains the highest levels of vinyl chloride. Vinyl chloride can also enter household air from contaminated water. Contaminated water is more likely to be found near factories, but can result from PVC pipes under certain circumstances. Vinyl chloride can also be released if PVC is burned. Despite that hazard, communities that incinerate waste routinely accept PVC in the garbage.

Chlorinated Polymers

PVC is the most common chlorinated polymer, but it’s not the only one. Others to look out for include polyvinylidene dichloride (PVDC), chloroprene (a monomer used to make Neoprene), and chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC). Like vinyl chloride, the chemical building blocks used to make these plastics (chloroprene, chlorinated polyethylene [CPE], and chlorosulfonated polyethylene [CSPE]), are persistent organic pollutant source materials. Although they are not always interchangeable in consumer products, all of these plastics share similar benefits and hazards.

Hand opening exterior home door made of PVC
PVC is used to make everything from doors, window frames, 
and flooring to shower curtains, children’s toys, 
and food packaging.

PVC at Home

Every home in America contains PVC, both in building materials and in household items. PVC building materials include pipes, cables, window frames and blinds, building siding, floor tiles, roofing membranes, and more. For some building materials, nonvinyl alternatives may not be available. Where there are alternatives, they are usually more expensive than vinyl. Labeled #3 plastic in household items, PVC makes shower curtains, toys, imitation leather, crib bumpers, and even plastic wrap and other food packaging.

Disposing of PVC

Although PVC is technically recyclable, PVC is the least recycled plastic, with less than one-quarter of 1% of post-consumer PVC recovered for recycling. Most curbside recycling programs and recycling centers do not accept vinyl (although it is worth checking your local options). If your local recycling program does not accept PVC, finding a recycling option can be a challenge. There is a fee-based option for recycling shower curtains, but PVC garden hoses cannot be recycled because of their shape. If you have generated PVC waste as part of a home renovation or construction project, there may be more PVC recycling options available to your contractor through construction and demolition recycling centers, at least in some parts of the country.

Avoiding PVC

Completely avoiding PVC may be impossible. Despite the material’s environmental and health impacts, there may be times when it is the best choice. In some cases, there may not be alternative materials available. Except for those privileged with an unlimited budget, the available alternatives can be prohibitively expensive. Despite the problems with PVC, it is still a better option for plumbing than lead if you cannot afford copper pipes. Most people can probably swing the extra cost for a fabric shower curtain or rubber garden hose. But the cost for more sustainable siding options can be prohibitive for many homeowners. Convincing your children they don’t want the plastic toys their friends have may be an even bigger challenge than money.

Even if “no vinyl” is unrealistic, it’s worth taking on the challenge to avoid PVC when you can. Despite the challenges, plastic-free is a worthwhile goal.

So all we can do is reduce what we can reduce, starting with cling film, food packaging and certain toys, the rest it is a catch 22 situation. In the example of PVC on windows, balancing the time the product lasts against having to renew ordinary windows is the challenge. As with everything good maintenance does help in the long run, but it is not always possible.  

The blog song for today is:"Sweet emotion" by Aerosmith

TTFN

Monday, 7 February 2022

Will more tree species help the climate fight? A report from Adam Vaughan at New Scientist

 

Hi, welcome back to Fix the Planet. A bit of joy this week, thanks to research showing there are far more tree species on Earth than we thought. The new estimate says there are more than 73,000 species globally, with about 9200 of those yet to be discovered by scientists. 

As co-author Peter Reich at the University of Minnesota told me, on the one hand, this is a simple “celebration of life”. On the other, we can’t save what we don’t know about, he says.

But with tree planting and halting deforestation both seen as crucial tools for putting the brakes on global warming, this new finding means it’s also worth asking what greater tree diversity means for tackling climate change. Will preserving more species help us lock up more carbon?
 
A rainforest in Uganda: greater diversity of trees should make forests more resilient and less likely to give up the carbon they store. Photo: Dylan Garcia Photography / Alamy Stock Photo

How might a greater richness of species help store more carbon?
First, it’s worth remembering that if drawing down carbon is your primary concern, the main thing is having more trees and ensuring that they last. One high-profile analysis found there is space left on the planet to accommodate enough trees to lock up more than 200 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, or about five years of humanity’s emissions (it’s worth noting that this research received a lot of criticism). But greater diversity could be part of the answer too, by making forests better at using resources and more resilient to threats. 

Why are more diverse forests more effective?
Differences between tree species cause them to utilise available resources more effectively, says Martin Sullivan at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Varied canopy structures mean some intercept light better, while differences in root architecture influence how they draw resources from the soil. “This would mean that more diverse stands [groups of trees] grow faster, and thus take in carbon more rapidly, because they can access more resources,” says Sullivan. Experimental studies have shown this mechanism in grasslands, and it could plausibly occur in forests too, he adds. Another factor is that tree species differ in their ability to absorb and store carbon, so by chance alone, a more diverse forest is more likely to have species that are very good at drawing down and sequestering carbon.

And why are they more resilient?
In addition to humans chopping them down and natural disasters damaging them, forests face threats from pests and pathogens, plus droughts and fires wrought by climate change itself. Research points to species-rich forests being less susceptible to bugs, disease and extreme climate events, says Florian Schnabel at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv). “Diversity is an insurance,” he says.

“In a diverse forest, each species will have a slightly different niche it occupies, and there is a wide variety of survival strategies,” says Charlotte Wheeler at the Center for International Forestry Research. “If some species die due to a particular disease, then other species will be able to fill the gap they leave behind.” One example is ash trees being removed across the UK because of a fungal disease , with sycamores among the species proposed to replace them. 
 
Tree diversity’s most important role in storing carbon could be the way it prevents forests flipping to other ecosystem types that hold less carbon, such as savannah, says Christian Wirth, also at iDiv. For example, different types of trees have different tolerances to drought, allowing for a turnover of tree species that keeps the forest intact.
 
As temperatures rise, from a global average of 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels now to at least 1.5°C in the next 20 years, that ability to survive and keep carbon locked up will be key. “Resilience is very important for forest and will be an important mechanism to allow forest to adapt to climate change, and inevitably there will be some winners and losers in the face of climate change,” says Wheeler.

How sure are we that diversity means more carbon absorbed and stored?
“There is still no definitive answer to say that more diverse forests will necessarily sequester carbon more quickly,” says Wheeler. Part of the problem is that it’s hard to conduct experiments to measure what impact diversity has, so most research to date has been observational. That makes attributing causality a challenge, says Sullivan.

Nonetheless, he says there is reasonable evidence that diverse temperate forests produce woody growth more rapidly than less diverse ones, drawing down and locking away more carbon. “But it is less clear whether these effects extend to diverse tropical forests,” he says.

What is clear is that newly planted forests with a mix of species usually sequester more carbon than monocultures, such as solely planting eucalyptus, as some tree-planting schemes have done. But again, whether that link holds true for natural forests is less understood, says Wheeler.

What difference will it make to climate efforts if the world has 9200 more tree species?
Not a lot in itself. Most of the predicted but undiscovered species are probably very rare. “What effect are these additional species likely to have on carbon sequestration?  Probably very little, as they're mostly rare, so not making a major contribution,” says David Coomes at the University of Cambridge, a co-author of the paper.

Hang on, tackling climate change is far from the only thing forests offer us, right?
“Ecologists and land managers should not just have a singular focus on one ecosystem service but a balance of many: carbon, biodiversity, human well-being, hydrological regulation, economically useful plants,” says Justin Moat at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the UK.

“There are already compelling reasons to protect the biodiverse tropics: we know that species-rich forests are more resilient to pests, pathogens and a changing climate,” says Coomes. “The news that forests are even more diverse than previously supposed adds further weight to arguments that rainforests should be protected.”

 As usual, a very interesting and informative report! I suppose it all comes down to us all being prepared to make a little bit more effort,which at the moment seems to be almost impossible, being left to those who do, again.  With the click culture firmly becoming embedded and the impacience that goes with it,once again we need to change our tactics to try and get more young people on board.  I'm going to say it again,but our generation (born between 1960 and 1970) are the first ones to realise that we are those who need to make changes, the older ones seem to be in denial that it had anything to do with them,and the younger ones are still too young. I have had conversations with some elderly people who seem to think that all this has nothing to do with them and why should they recycle?  The problem is that some of them have passed this attitude through the family and they all carry on the same!

The blog song for today is: "Save me" by Queen

TTFN