100 posts
Danish minister: Green growth without prophesying
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By Timothy Spence Danish Environment Minister Ida Auken has an ambitious agenda for her country's EU presidency, in...
EU’s carbon emissions reduction target: key for developing countries
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European chair of the G77 group of developing nations, Pa Ousman, recently told Euractiv that an increase in the EU’s carbon emissions reduction target to 30% on 1990 levels within eight years is ‘very fundamental’ to the developing world’s i...
EU is going ahead with stricter recycling of electric and electronic Waste
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After two years of intensive debating in the Council and EP the EU has cleared the path for more comprehensive recycling of the rising volume of electric and electronic waste. By 2020, 85 per cent of the electric and electronic equipment (refrigerato...
Assesment of DURBAN COP 17 – from a model of league of nations to a Global Communitty for the Environment
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Yet another Conference Of Parties (COP) finished in Durban in December 2011 with yet another decision to postpone action. Like in any European Council summit, after more than a fortnight of multilateral negotiations most national and regional delegat...
IMO starts addressing C02 emissions from maritime transport
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Maritime transport accounts for about three per cent of global C02 emissions, as much as air transport. In the absence of an effective international jurisdiction both transport modes have so far escaped an effective curb of their emissions. This situ...
Enhancing Capacity for Greening Development
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"Moving to a greener development path requires incorporating the environment into every aspect of the national planning and budgeting process. A key obstacle for many developing countries in meeting this objective is a lack of capacity for identi...
Rio+20 – we need more flesh on the bones
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The "zero draft" summarising key issues forming the basis of the Rio+20 final agreement is a good starting point for subsequent negotiations. But it still falls far short of the hopes and ambitions of organised civil society in Europe for what could...
Leaked document reveals Rio+20 sustainable development goals
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“Nations will be asked to sign up for 10 goals and promise to build green economies at this summer’s earth summit…” (Source: The Guardian) Some good ideas in this "leaked" Rio+20 document but missing sense of emerg...
What do you think of Denmark’s ‘Sustainable’ Presidency?
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Later this week, Denmark’s Presidency of the Council of the EU will officially be launched. These ‘Presidencies‘ rotate between countries, and see a different EU member-state take over the running of the Council every 6 months.
Avedøre Power Station
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Part of the Danish Presidency Press Trip is a tour of Avedøre Power Station. It’s a remarkable place – both in terms of its efficiency as a CHP plant, and in terms of its design. A set of photos (CC … Continue reading →...
WWF’s alarm bell: economic bail-out plans hurt sustainability transition
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WWF International has written letters to the European Commission and several international institutions warning that current "solutions" to the economic and financial crisis are detrimental to the long-term sustainability agenda for the plane...
How sustainable can we get this year
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It has always been my belief that Europe is and should continue to be a driver and leader in sustainability reform at global level. It proved this once again in Durban several weeks ago when it put pressure on large CO2 emitters and succeeded in achi...
Climate Change will accelerate unless Humanity acts speedily
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I. Climate change has become an intrinsic component of modern life. It is there every morning, everywhere on earth. Winters have become much milder than 30 years ago. The weather has become whimsical: we can no longer tell what temperatures will be l...
Animal armageddon: "they compete, they parasitize each other and they eat each other"
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Global warming scaremonglers are becoming more and more desperate. The latest scare comes from University of Connecticut warmists who have invented some "really sophisticated" models for predicting the coming of animal armageddon: “We hav...
2012: the year of the unreasonable
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“The next year is going to be an unreasonably difficult.” We must be equally unreasonable in our ambitions for advancing sustainability, says Simon Zadek in this excellent editorial for the Guardian’s Sustainable Business blog.
The New Year 2012 could finally bring a solution to the eurozone crisis
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A look into the crystal ball finally offers some good news for the battered eurozone:(picture provided by the EU photo service)2012 could be the year when the leaders of the European Union find out the real reason behind the&...
Environment Ministers fail to endorse Commission’s greening proposals
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The refusal of the Environment Council meeting on 19 December last to endorse the Commission’s greening proposals in its legislative proposals for CAP reform has been interpreted as a victory for agricultural interests attempting to water down the...
Ban welcomes climate change deal reached at UN conference in Durban
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“Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed today the set of decisions reached by countries at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa …” The Zombie Train remains on the rails … on road to 3-6 degr...
Low average for the 27 EU member states
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While key actors discuss in Durban, a new report commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) analyses EU’s climate policies and considers that such a strategy is "standstill in long-term". Among potential measures to undertake, the s...
European Parliament delegation to Durban
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15 members of European Parliament delegation to the UN climate summit (COP 17) begin their programme in Durban, South Africa. According to the delegation Chair, Jo Leinen (S&D, DE), this week is crucial "in laying these vital building blocks towa...
EU and China’s institutional diplomacy in the field of climate change.
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This Occasional Paper aims at giving another perspective on the relevance of climate change for the EU’s foreign policy. Considering its linkages with various policy areas such as energy security, economic growth, foreign policy and even political...
Is the European Meltdown a Euro Crisis or a Resource Crunch?
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"Using Ecological Footprint metrics and monetizing the cost of Ecological Deficits, he provides evidence that the Euro crisis is a symptom of deepening resource constraints. Therefore, turning around resource trends becomes a necessary condition...
"Stating Our Priorities" by Max Gruenig
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Three pillars are essential to developing sustainable policies: economic, environmental and social. True progressive sustainability requires a balance of these three pillars which, in turn, allows...
EU commits funds to combating climate change
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EU finance ministers on 8 November pledged to add €7.2 billion in short term funds to help poor countries deal with the effects of climate change. “Despite the severe economic downturn and strong fiscal constraints in Europe, we have mobilised
Attenborough sets out to convince the world that the frozen planet is melting
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It’s just one of a host of mind-blowing images in Sir David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet – but it also provides a taste of things to come both in the series and in the white world at large. In the opening minutes of this week’s episode, the c...
Naomi Klein in The Nation: Capitalism vs. the Climate
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“Denialists are dead wrong about the science. But they understand something the left still doesn’t get about the revolutionary meaning of climate change.” Interesting analysis by Naomi Klein on the political debate over climate and capitalism.&...
Climate Economics: The State of the Art
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The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) has just published one of the best studies on the strengths and weaknesses of the models and assumptions used in recent climate economics publications. The SEI authors conclude that "climate economics ten...
CCS: Another one bites the dust
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"A power company that was expected to demonstrate a carbon-capture technology has said it cannot take part, leaving the remaining partners at risk of losing $1 billion in federal funds." (NY Times) It really becomes embarrassing: so many proj...
Succesful Zero Waste event in Rome
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Organised by Zero Waste Lazio with the support of the Italian Zero Waste Network Last weekend the Piazza Apostoli in Rome was filled with more than 3000 people who were asking for a Zero Waste alternative to the “Polverini local plan” which i...
Green charities: way more evil and dangerous than Exxon or the Koch Brothers
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Sorry, I find Europe so paralysingly depressing I can't possibly blog about it. Instead, here's a piece of investigative journalism to gladden the heart from Norman Rogers – a physicist and senior advisor at the Heartland Institute. It describe...
Durban welcomes COP 17 warmists with "a ring of steel"
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The soon (28 Nov.) to open Durban COP 17, the UN global warming cult´s annual mega carbon footprint meeting, is more and more beginning to look like a huge battlefield. The 15000 high priests of the cult (the delegates) will...
HP number 1 in Greenpace Guide to Greener Electronics
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Greenpeace 2011 Guide to greener electronics is out. It ranks leading mobile phone, TV and PC manufacturers on policies and practices to reduce their impact on the climate, produce greener products, and make their operations more sustainable. HP take...
EU finance ministers reaffirm climate financing
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(Reuters) – “EU finance ministers on Tuesday signed off on more than 4 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in short-term funding to help developing countries adapt to climate change and curb emissions…" This is positive news but with growing d...
Eco-summit move on Jubilee clash
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BBC News: The Brazilian government is likely to move the dates of a key UN environment summit, as a clash with the UK Royal Jubilee threatens to keep leaders away. Maybe the Queen should postpone her Royal Jubilee with one week? Would give a better s...
End doublespeak on energy efficiency, EU states told
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The European Commission's top energy official has criticised EU member sates for holding a double language on the bloc's target to cut energy use by 20% by the end of the decade. Philip Lowe, the head of the Commission's directorate-general for...
MEPs call for global green economy targets
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The UN’s Rio de Janeiro summit on sustainable development (“Rio+20”) should set "accountable targets", including global goals on renewable energy and energy efficiency, according to a resolution approved by Parliament on Thursday. Parliam...
EU Resource Roadmap will not solve ecological debt crisis
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Via Scoop.it – The Great Transition“… the question should not be how to do more with less or have more growth with less impact but how to maintain or further develop European prosperity for all while at the same times respecting pla...
Carbon capture progress has lost momentum – the Guardian
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Via Scoop.it – The Great TransitionThe International Energy Agency is warning that CCS is being left behind due to financial crisis and weakening political will…Show original...
World Bank: ditch fossil fuel subsidies to address climate change
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Via Scoop.it – The Great Transition Leaked documents seen by Guardian say rich countries should use money to help poorer countries adapt to climate change…Show original...
Companies must push harder for sustainable growth
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Via Scoop.it – The Great Transition Companies are far too timid and comfortable with what they already have to make any serious effort to change their business models. Excellent analysis by the Guardian’s Sustainable Business Blog on why...
Pachauri: "Critical voices are also needed"
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R.K. Pachauri has shown signs of a new kind of humility on a recent visit to Finland. He even admits that "One cannot succeed every time" and that "Critical voices are also needed, and we are pleased to receive all new informatio...
Necesitamos una sociedad más eficaz: la verdadera crisis no es financiera sino de abuso de los recursos naturales
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Llevamos tres años, desde la quiebra de Lehman Brothers, abducidos por la situación de las finanzas mundiales. Primero fueron los bancos y después los Estados los que nos han hecho caer en la falsa imagen de que el principal problema al que se enf...
IPCC warmists get desparate: Doomsday scenarios even more megalomaniac
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The UN global warming religion promotion network IPCC is clearly getting desperate as it is trying to deal with its continuing loss of credibility. The warmist high priests seem to think that they will regain the initiative by making their doomsday p...
Place your bets for the environmental winners at the Rio 2012 Earth Summit
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Via Scoop.it – The Great TransitionInteresting article by two sustainability experts on the odds for success at Rio+20. “If the rule in Macau, Monte Carlo and Las Vegas is that the house always wins, in Rio, the question is who we perceiv...
Earth Overshoot Day on 27 September 2011
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Via Scoop.it – The Great Transition“Global Footprint Network’s preliminary 2011 calculations show we are now using resources at a rate that would take between 1.3 and 1.5 planets to sustainably support. Our research shows us on track to...
European Debt Crisis and Sustainability
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Via Scoop.it – The Great Transition Whether or not the Euro situation leads to disorder, there are innumerable other debt problems around the world that are likely to get worse, as world oil supply gets tighter. Countries are likely to go back...
More Americans believe world is warming: Reuters/Ipsos
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Via Scoop.it – The Great TransitionWASHINGTON (Reuters) – More Americans than last year believe the world is warming and the change is likely influenced by the Republican presidential debates, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Thursday.Show or...
The Marxist roots of the envirofundamentalist movement
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There are a lot of "useful idiots" in the environmental movement, who have no idea of the roots of the envirofundamentalist ideology. They should read Marxist sosiology professor John Bellamy Foster´s (University of Oregon) "scientific" ar...
Is there any need to support the implementation of EU climate policy through cross-country burden sharing?
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In the current context, where public budgets are overstretched due to the economic crisis, there is a pressing need to understand the fiscal implications of climate policies. Decarbonization will impact both sides of a country’s budget via changes...
Scientist:" If anything, a few degrees warmer would probably be a net benefit"
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"Coral reefs have survived everything from asteroid impacts to ice ages and even extensive reconfiguration of the oceans and continents by plate tectonics. Nevertheless, the self-appointed experts of climate change tell us that coral bleaching due to...
Leading expert about electric cars: "To me, this electric hype is inexplicable"
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This Detroit Electric car appeared over 90 years before the much hyped "stimulus injection" Chevrolet Volt manufactured by Obama´s Government Motors hit the market. The green lobby, assisted by its numerous supporters in the media, has been bus...
Rio+20 must ‘unenvironmentalise’ green issues, says G77 negotiator
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Via Scoop.it – The Great Transition Focus should shift to economics to make notion of sustainability more widely accepted, says senior organiser for Brazil… I fully agree but how many finance and economy ministers will attend the Rio+20 c...
World’s largest firms ‘acting on climate change’, analysis shows
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Via Scoop.it – The Great Transition Climate is central to business strategy of 68% of the world’s 500 largest companies, compared with 48% last year… Some good news in the run-up to Durban, but we need much more and faster progress.
What's REACH's Impact on the EU Chemical Industry?
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ECHA invites you to complete this survey: http://www.cses.co.uk/reach_innovation_survey/ Another survey we recommend. Again -- like most business professionals today -- we are ill to the gills with entities so desperate for our attention that we're...
You Can Lead Them to the Enlightenment, But You Can't Make Them Think
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With thanks to the razzzzberry we discover what a bunch of hopeless dopey vapidity the UN encourages. Ban Ki Moon, speaking in the Solomon Islands:Your very existence is threatened. Therefore the UN shares your concerns very much. Climate change is...
How do you go about buying your fish?
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We need to act now to protect marine life, as due to overfishing, there are fewer and fewer fish in the sea and the situation is getting serious. Together, we can help to make sure there will be more fish in the sea. Watch EC video clip on the is...
Scientists: Bacteria spreading in warming oceans
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By DON MELVIN BRUSSELS (AP) — Warning: The warming of the world’s oceans can cause serious illness and may cost millions of euros (dollars) in health care. That is the alarm sounded in a paper released online Tuesday on the eve of a two-day c...
Europäische Rohstoffstrategie: Bütikofer-Bericht angenommen
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Via Scoop.it – The Great TransitionEurActiv Germany on the European Parliament’s adoption of a report on the EU’s raw materials strategyShow original...
Latest warmist scare: Cholera!
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Another day, another global warming scare. The latest scare is about sea bacteria putting millions of swimmers and sailers at risk: Cholera!A new European report says the warming oceans caused by climate change are leading to the spread of...
Climate Spending Rose 7% to a Record $567 Billion
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Via Scoop.it – The Great Transition Global climate-protection spending rose by 7 percent last year to a record $567 billion, as spending in Latin America more than doubled, according to calculations by HSBC Holdings Plc. If so much money is bei...
The hubris of an Australian warmist professor: "We put the physics in and then the answer pops out"
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The Australian global warming lobby is desperately trying to convince an increasingly sceptical audience about the blessings of their climate models Dr. Dave Griggs, from the Monash Sustainability Institute and Dr. John Chur...
Business & Zero Waste
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Zero Waste is one of the pillars of sustainability. It is impossible to be sustainable as long as what we discard cannot be the resource of another process without endangering health or the environment. This is why Zero Waste concept is good for both...
Obama´s "austerity" program: A new $21 million climate change "embassy" in Papua New Guinea
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We all know that the Obama administration is trying to improve the dismal US government finances through an austerity program. However, even when ordinary Americans are suffering, the president is wasting US taxpayers´ money on senseless climat...
"Cost of Catastrophes, Natural and Unnatural" by John Weeks
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“Hurricane Irene will most likely prove to be one of the 10 costliest catastrophes in the nation’s history,” with damage estimated at US$ 7-10 billion (“Hurricane Irene Seen as...
Green Standards – measuring the environmental impact of ICT
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Earlier today, I had the pleasure to speak at the ITU’s Green Standards Week, where we talked about the impact of ICT on the environment. There are two aspects to this issue. On the one hand, the use of ICT can save carbon in other sectors of t...
Europe is burning - Top EU leaders busy promoting failed carbon price scheme in Australia
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European stocks tumbled 4 per cent, with banks plumbing a more than two-year low, as worries about public deficits in Greece and Italy and a regional election rout for Germany's ruling party cast fresh doubt on the euro zone's ability to tackle its d...
Greenpeace on thin ice
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The thick winter ice on the Baltic also is part of "climate change"In an article titled "Into thin ice", Greenpeace Nordic´s "ocean campaigner" Frida Bengtsson reveals why Greenpeace switched from global wa...
EU may propose Kyoto Protocol extension
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The EU could propose a lifeline for the beleaguered Kyoto Protocol and secure the future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) beyond 2012, government negotiators and observers have told Point Carbon news. EU officials will discuss whether to b...
EU is getting ready for Carbon Capture and Storage
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Four years after the Commission proposals for a CCS Directive and two years after its adoption in April 2009 half of the member states have transposed the directive into national law, thus creating the regulatory framework for applying carbon capture...
Guyana president raises climate change issues with EU Commissioner
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Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo has raised the issue of undisbursed climate change funds with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Andris Piebalgs, the European Commissioner from Latvia, both of whom attended the 32nd CARICOM Heads of Go...
Tory Euro-MPs defy Cameron on climate change
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British Conservatives in the European Parliament rebelled against the climate change policy of their party leader today and cast the deciding votes against a resolution calling for the EU to increase its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions...
Here comes Poland: the EU's 'anti-environment' presidency?
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The Hungarian presidency of the EU, which is now drawing to a close, got off to a rough start. Just before taking the reigns of the rotating ministerial presidency, which goes to a different EU country every six months, they passed a media law which...
Broken Balance of the World
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“You are only 200 000 years old, but you have changed the face of the world. Despite your vulnerability, you have taken possession of every habitat and conquered swathes of territory, like no other species before you”. These sentences are from th...
One in six people have no access to clean water
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Access to clean drinking water is a fundamental right, but it is not a fact in many parts of the world. Contaminated water causes 1.5 million deaths a year, 2.5 billion people live without basic sanitation and one in six people does not have acces...
