Palm Oil Even Worse For Deforestation, Emissions Than Thought : TreeHugger

Palm Oil Even Worse For Deforestation, Emissions Than Thought : TreeHugger: "The report says that currently about two-thirds of all forest outside of protected areas is leased to palm oil companies. At the present rate of expansion, by 2020 one-third of that land will be plantation and intact forest will shrink to just 4% of land cover. Yes, 4%. By this time, the study says, 90% of the emissions from palm oil plantations will come from those planted on cleared forest growing in peaty soils."

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Walkability drives Europe´s fastest growing housing market | Post Car(d) Urbanism

Walkability drives Europe´s fastest growing housing market | Post Car(d) Urbanism: "Stockholm is the fastest growing city in Western Europe. What then is so attractive here, except thriving businesses and a healthy environment? A recent big study shows that the housing market is basically driven by walkability."

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Free-Public-Transport Pirate Party Raids Its Fourth State Parliament | Global Spin | TIME.com

More Trouble for Merkel as Pirate Party Raids Its Fourth State Parliament | Global Spin | TIME.com: "Whether established parties were left celebrating or commiserating last night, all will have talked about the Pirates. Campaigning for free public transportation and a basic income guarantee, they managed to attract 30,000 first-time voters, according to research from Infratest dimap/ARD. The Greens could only attract 20,000. And they also coaxed 70,000 non-voters to the polls, compared with 50,000 for the Greens. But Germany’s mainstream parties will be most worried about the direct hits they sustained in NRW. The Pirates marauded voters from all major parties, stealing 60,000 from Merkel’s CDU, 80,000 from the Greens, and 90,000 from the SPD. “Germany’s party system lacks a party that is young, modern, progressive and representative of the 21st century’s Information Society,” says Alexander Hensel, a political scientist who studies the Pirates at Germany’s Goettingen Institute for Democracy Research. “The Greens had this role, but they are too old now.”"

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Prague attracts conventions with free public transport

News - News details: "Prague will put on free transport for congresses with more than 500 delegates - at least 20 per cent from abroad - who spend two nights or more in the city. The announcement was made at a ceremony at the Mayor’s Residence to pay tribute to scientists and experts in other fields who have helped to bring conventions to the Czech capital."

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Want to jump start the green revolution? Free public transit is the way.

Estonia's Capital Pursues Free Public Transit - Commute - The Atlantic Cities: "Tallinn, Estonia, looks set to become the first European capital with a completely free public transportation system. As the BBC reports, Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar wants his city of 416,000 to be "the flagship of the green movement in Europe." By providing free public transit for locals (visitors would still pay), city government believes car usage will decrease enough to make it worthwhile."

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Party for free public transport continues to grow in Germany

Pirates raiding German politics - Chicago Sun-Times: "The tremendous success has doubled the Pirates’ membership to 25,000.

About 1,500 members gathered at a party convention Saturday in Neumuenster to discuss the group’s growth. New polls predicted it would win seats in two more state legislatures in May. Forecasters expect it to secure about 9 percent of the vote in both states."

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Yevgenia Chirikova Honored - Robert Amsterdam

Yevgenia Chirikova Honored - Robert Amsterdam: "Despite the government’s continued efforts to suppress the movement, Chirikova has succeeded in garnering widespread support from a diverse range of interest groups. Even the Moscow chapter of the Russian Federation of Motorists, an unlikely ally for an environmental group, has joined their efforts to fight the construction project. Defend Khimki Forest’s first rally amassed a crowd of 5,000 people—one of the largest public environmental protests in Russian history—and gathered more than 50,000 signatures."

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