How to clean up the slums -- cook on garbage
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Entering Nairobi's fetid slums the senses are first assaulted by a gagging stench and the sight of garbage everywhere, some even hanging from trees or smoldering in acrid fires.
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By KAREN GOULART  A Kingston resident whose property was declared a hazardous waste site by the state Department of Environmental Protection this week wants neighbors to know he is doing all he can to quickly correct the problems.
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(InfoWorld) - I recently moved from a small apartment in Oakland to a new house in Sacramento. The cat and I are adjusting quite well, thank you, though for about one month, I was without a kitchen. Or a water heater. Or downstairs flooring. It may not have been the best-laid renovation plan. I do have new kitchen appliances, which spent quite some time looming largely and uselessly off to the side of the future kitchen. They're very shiny, which is nice, and they're Energy Star certified, of course I say "Of course," because in this day and age, Energy Starred fridges and stoves and the like are incredibly easy to come by. Plus, they come with little tags that tell you how much you'll save in energy bills per year. Oh, and the local utility will give me money for buying them. So how could I go wrong investing in a green kitchen? Alas, for IT, it's not nearly so easy being green. Swapping out a fridge isn't as quick, straight-forward, or nondisruptive as swapping out a server rack or farm. Determining the potential long-term savings for a bunch of new laptops isn't as simple of figuring out how much you'll save with a new stove (it's right there on the tag). Deciding where to place the dishwasher is pretty much a no-brainer whereas figuring out how to set up your server racks to maximize energy efficiency can be exceedingly complex. In fact, it's likely that you, or whoever runs your business, has seemingly more important things on the brain than developing a strategy for a greener, more energy-efficient operation: boosting sales; keeping the network secure and running; and figuring out who's been stealing Hot Pockets from the Energy Star fridge in the break room. Perhaps youâre not sure where to begin. Or perhaps you're not even convinced that going green -- or greener -- is a worthwhile endeavor, or something you can really afford. Well, let's explore the question -- or rather some answers to the question -- of why going green should matter to you in the first place. 1. Going green really can save you money. For many organizations, that benefit may well be the foremost argument for adopting more eco-friendly practices. Less energy consumption means lower bills -- and hereâs the kicker: You're likely burning (or cooling) away thousands of dollars each year paying for energy that's really not contributing to your bottom line. One of the biggest culprits: cooling costs for the datacenter. In fact, by 2010 IDC predicts that companies will be spending an additional 70 cents per dollar invested in a new server. That's up from 50 cents on the dollar in 2005 and 21 cents per buck in 2000. You'll certainly want to prepare as those costs creep up. It doesn't end there: Waste abounds at organizations, and research has found that companies that work to reduce their environmental impact tend to perform better than their counterparts. Fortunately, there are cost-saving strategies out there. Among them is re-thinking the kind of equipment you can buy (more energy-efficient hardware and standards are coming out all the time), the technologies you employ, such as virtualization and thin clients, and even the way you lay out your datacenter. 2. Going green will help reduce the impact of the imminent energy crisis. Yes, I know: Crisis is often one of those words that media types throw around to cause panic and sell magazines or newspapers or drive Web site traffic. Nevertheless, based on the research I've seen, crisis is an apt word. Right now, energy supply looks to be struggling to keep up with demand. A recent study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concludes that, thanks to the industry shift to low-end servers, global power consumption has doubled since 2000 to more than 123 million kw/hours. Power demands are expected to increase by 40 percent come 2010 -- and that's assuming that per-server power consumption remains at 2005 rates. Or consider what Gartner proclaimed at the end of 2006: Half of datacenters will run out of power by 2008. As explained by Timothy Morgan at ITJungle: "Gartner did not, by the way, literally mean that datacenters would go dark in two years after blowing some fuses or melting under their own heat. What Gartner did say was that by the end of 2008, 50 percent of the datacenters in the world would not have enough power to meet the power and cooling requirements of the high-density computing gear that vendors are increasingly peddling." Although this prediction doesn't mean it's time to get hysterical, or start training an army of hamsters to power your server farm, it should certainly be a compelling reason to start looking at ways to conserve energy. Want more information? Check out this Webcast from The Uptime Institute about "The Invisible Crisis in the Data Center." (Registration is required for viewing.) 3. Going green is good PR. Both environmentally- and economically-conscious people like a good news article about the ways companies are leveraging green technology, be it simply investing in more energy-efficient gear, or putting solar panels on top of their datacenters. That kind of positive publicity is good advertising, which also can offset some of the cost of investing in green IT. (These kinds of case studies can also provide useful guides for other companies looking for ways to cut energy costs.) 4. Going green is good for the environment. Ah yes, the environment. Trees. Oceans. Fresh air. Turtles. I'm personally in favor of all of those things (even those vicious snapping turtles that would bite off a toe without a second thought). And IT commerce in general has a huge impact on the environment, such as landfills piled up with improperly discarded computers and servers, wasted printer paper, as well carbon dioxides contributing to global warming. Yes, I do realize that some people remain skeptical as to whether or not global warming is real and a concern. (Some people also remain skeptical whether the Earth is flat and whether it revolves around the Sun.) Too flippant? Perhaps. Let's just say that even the previously skeptical political leaders of the world are acknowledging that global warming warrants consideration, and that it requires reducing the carbon dioxides and toxins we spew into environment (and later inhale). And even if you disagree with those who proclaim global warming a concern, you'd best prepare for forthcoming regulations on reducing energy waste -- or risk legal headaches. Yes, there may be a significant up-front cost required to switch to leaner, greener machines -- but there are also incentives out there (federal and local) to help you get the job done. I'll help keep you abreast of those in the coming days and weeks. So there you have it: four simple reasons to consider embracing green IT at your organization. Be sure to check in regularly at my Sustainable IT blog for the latest news and analyses about green IT.
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Human Rights Watch urged Indonesia to stop evicting tens of thousands of poor people from their homes in Jakarta.  A Human Rights Watch report, quoting numerous accounts of those evicted, alleged the city government's excessive use of force to clear out urban slums.
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The city wants slum dwellers in apartments, but demolitions have left thousands homeless.
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ATHENS, Jul 23 (IPS/IFEJ) - Household waste recycling is on the rise in Greece  but there is still a long way to go before the cleanup is  complete.
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By Marian Gail Brown, Connecticut Post, Bridgeport  Jun. 12--HARTFORD -- In Connecticut garbage, there is turf. In some of the state's biggest cities and sleepy-eyed-towns, the turf gets carved up into territories. There is a pecking order. You do those houses on this street.
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By DANA BARTHOLOMEW  LAKE VIEW TERRACE -- For decades, neighbors shut their windows to the hideous smell, dust and noise from the Lopez Canyon Landfill.  Now city officials are asking community members to help plan a park on the former 400-acre dump.
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It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.
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Recently I had family members over for dinner at our West Jordan home. I pointed out the recycling garbage can for their soda cans. But residents of Cottonwood Heights and incorporated Salt Lake City don't concern themselves with the environment or recycling.
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Gandalf Garbage and Frodo Bin-Gaggins from Lord of the Bins are to join more than 100 local volunteers at a Smash the Trash festival in Middlesbrough's picturesque Fairy Dell.   The event, which will include a mass litter pick of the site, runs from 10am to 2pm on Saturday .
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China is filthy and needs to spend lots of money to clean up. American companies could get that business.
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Throw away the matches and get rid of the lighter if you want to kick the smoking habit. The Peoria City/County Health Department is there to help.
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Plus, from zero to Hero, and stale Wonder Bread?
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SOFIA, May 30 (IPS/IFEJ) - On several occasions over the past two years, the  streets of the Bulgarian capital Sofia have been literally  covered with trash. The city of one million is one of the few  European capitals without a waste processing system.
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After a good meal, how about asking the head waiter if you can take the waste grease from the kitchen to fuel your car?
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I like to cook. Sometimes, though, I just don't feel up to making my usual killer stir-fry or made-from-scratch Southwestern Burrito. &nbsp;When I'm too lazy or disinterested in making a masterpiece, I make a casserole.