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Books & products |
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E4W stands for Eco 4 the World, a 13-part, half-hour television magazine show launched at MIPTV in Cannes in April. UNEP and the United Nations Development Programme are partnering with the Singapore-based production house, Big Durian, together with the Singapore Economic Development Board, to produce the multimedia show which will reach out to a young global audience, communicating environmental ideas and messages through innovative, lively and interactive programming. Highlighting positive stories, focusing on fun – and involving Nobel Peace prizewinner Archbishop Desmond Tutu and stars Sting, Alicia Keys, and Simple Plan – it will aim to create environmental awareness around the world. |
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Japan’s official Prime Ministerial residence has been transformed into a model eco-home, as a symbol of the country’s determination to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol. The refurbished four-storey building is the first in the country to be partially powered by fuel cells, while its roof is covered with solar panels. But, while facing towards the future, it has also kept in touch with the past: it includes a traditional teahouse, complete with tatami mats, looking out on a Japanese garden. |
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The latest in a series of groundbreaking UNEP children’s storybooks on environmental issues – Tina and the Green City – tells of a young North American girl who, unhappy with her polluted city, organises an after-school club to try to make it cleaner and greener. Though at first everyone laughs at Tina and her friends, they embark on a step-by-step programme starting with cleaning up the park across their street. Eventually the city is transformed and their initiative is emulated throughout the country. Written by Carole Douglis and illustrated by Adrienne Kennaway, it is the third book in the series: one of the others, Theo and the Giant Plastic Ball, was featured in the New York Times in April. Tina and the Green City sells for US$8 and can be purchased from UNEP’s online bookshop at: www.earthprint.com |
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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has selected UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE) for the 2005 Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award, the first UN agency programme ever to received it, in recognition of the work of the OzonAction Branch. The prestigious award – a collective achievement of DTIE’s Compliance Assistance Programme delivered through its Paris office and through UNEP’s regional offices – was presented in Washington, DC on 4 May. USEPA praised the “leadership and innovation of the OzonAction Programme” and said it has “benefited well over 140 countries through its unique regional networks of National Ozone Units and global information clearing house.” |
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Between 30 and 60 per cent of the people of most cities in the developing world now live in shanty towns and slums. Empowering Squatter Citizen, edited by Diana Mitlin and David Satterthwaite, published by Earthscan, contains case studies of innovative government organisations in Thailand, Mexico, Nicaragua and the Philippines and community-driven processes in India, South Africa, Pakistan and Brazil which have been effective in reducing urban poverty by strengthening the organisations of the poor and homeless. |
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One Planet, Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment illustrates – though a combination of current and historical satellite images, ground photographs and narrative based on extensive scientific evidence – how humans have altered their surroundings and continue to make observable and measurable changes to the global environment. Produced by UNEP in cooperation with NASA, the US Geological Survey, and the University of Maryland, it underscores the importance of developing, harnessing and sharing technologies that help provide deeper understanding of the dynamics of environmental change.
One Planet, Many People Atlas of Our Changing Environment can be purchased from UNEP’s online bookshop at: www.earthprint.com. Price:US$150 (332pgs, large format).
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