CARMA (Carbon Monitoring For Action) have been mapping the highest emissions of CO2 by power plants over the world. It's mainly a massive database that reveals the carbon emissions of more than 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies in every country on Earth. Power generation accounts for 40% of all carbon emissions in the United States and about one-quarter of global emissions.

CARMA would be the first global inventory of a major, emissions-producing sector of the economy. Their objective is to equip individuals with the information they need to forge a cleaner, low-carbon future.

Their website is very well done and you can find what you are searching for easily, like zooming in and get the information for any one of these plants,  make an easy search, etc. - hopefully, the blog will be updated soon. Good information is key, and projects like that gives us the tools to help design a better future.

*CARMA is produced and financed by the Confronting Climate Change Initiative at the Center for Global Development, an independent and non-partisan think tank located in Washington, DC.

The Apollo 2000 solar loader looks like a wonderful product for the filmmaking community production needs. It's a solar battery charger compatible with many accessories like cellphones, Bluetooth headsets, MP3 readers, iPod and iPhones, video game consoles and some digital cameras, and with its small size it can be taken everywhere with you. Solar energy is plainly said good and cheap (the energy supplied by a "free" sun and the retails prices of solar panel products are not as costly as it used to be). The charger is also a hybrid product as it can be reloaded by the sun or more ordinarily by electric power at an affordable retail of 60 Euros.

Oyama, the company that produces it is specialized in portable energy solutions and offers all kind of products like solar tablets for everyday charging  (with quite a nice look, check out below)

and here is Helios, a mobile solar panel which must be great to have on shootings.

I was searching for their recycling policies but i haven't found any, and it's surprisingly hard to find where to buy them. But hey, we welcome renewable energy equipments, and send us your comments if you've tested solar-tech in your production!

click and read a magazine on your iphone!

Yes, your love for tech gagdet like the iPhone can be in affinity with your respect for the planet when you can read a whole magazine on your apparel. Without forgetting that technology equipment pieces are often containing high toxic products (that we ship very far intoxicating poorer countries - have you seen the documentary Manufactured Landscape from Jennifer Baichwal? trailer posted below) as well as recycling policies need to be handle and created in a more responsible and sustainable way, there is a lot of energy spent in the creation and distribution of a paper magazine. Some are nostalgic about the change, but who knows there may be a balance of digital and physical things in the end.

Also check out how Electronics companies are on the way to change-- thanks to organisations like Greenpeace who did an amazing job with their Campaign Green My Apple, addressing personaly Steve Jobs in a ludic but efficient way.

Trailer

On a Manufactured Landscape further note, here is below a TED  Talk by Edward Burtinsky, the great photographer at the origin of Jennifer Baichwal's film.

World's most renowned aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand is launching his latest film HOME on World Environment Day with a widespread original online launch strategy. The film will be available on youtube until June 14th.

The film is all about ecology and humanism immersed in the beauty of the planet.  His famous photography book THE WORLD FROM ABOVE (sold in 3 million copies) is simply strikingly beautiful. Check his website to update yourself on all his projects and watch him speaking during a TED talk event. Here's also a photo gallery on the Treehuggers website.
Go watch it and be inspired!

pictures below from Yann Arthus-Bertrand 

Check out the UK Film Council environmental strategy, an institution at the heart of the British

Industry that commissioned a report - Developing an Environmental Strategy for UK Film. Here are some bits taken from their website explaining their objectives:

• Develop a proactive environmental strategy with strong messages and clear guidance
• Set our own house in order by developing an environmental management system with long-term goals
• Work with the whole industry to define a strategy for environmental sustainability, with an overall vision and targets.

They are working with trade bodies and individual companies, amongst them Green Screen London, an initiative led by Film London. Their website offers some their full report and a very useful carbon calculator spreadsheet. And more, they propose a Code of practice, a guide of Best practice for London Burough film services, and frankly, just lots more of interesting stuff. We will follow these initiatives with a great interest, as they are fore leading the current path to sustainability in the media industry.

It's always good to reconnect ourselves to nature's beauty... just so we remember why we do what we do - so here's one of my favorite website, green.colorize.net. Marcus Wallinder is the creator of this work and lives in Gothenburg, Sweden. These are just samples from a great library-amazing work!

Catch this week's interview of James Loveluck on The Hour. Georges Strombopoulos presents the maverick scientist who's been raising the alarm on climate change since it's first book "Gaïa, a new look at life on earth" that lead to Gaïa's theory that presents life as a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a single organism.

Loveluck's predictions are at the heart of the controversy; he claims that reversing climate change is not possible now and that we might instead try to find ways to survive the inevitable.I take Loveluck's message as a call to action and it worths a watch just for that. 

Montreal Bixi bike service just started with a total of 300 solar-powered stations for 300 bikes. The project is partly inspired by Paris Vélib service. P45 has made the test for us. NY Times also covers its inauguration.

Some great news for Montrealers and a new way of moving around to integrate at work, either to do some errands or go to a meeting, much less stressful to roll on a bike path than being stuck in traffic with your car!

Greenpeace has been releasing their 'Guide to Greener Electronics' since August 2006. The guide ranks the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TV's and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals and recycling.

In the sixth issue of the Guide, they added the leading manufacturers of TVs – namely, Philips and Sharp – and the game console producers Nintendo and Microsoft. The other market leaders for TVs and game consoles are already included in the Guide. The clean-up of the electronic sector is on the way.

Steve Jobs responds to Apple

You can also download their guide below, and their website contains a nice collection of photo essays and videos.

The EMA is a long time environmental media organization base in LA (since 89). They are a quite well-organized group and are backed up by an amazing variety and credibility of board members, feels just like Hollywood.

Their new Green Seal  guide and resources will stimulate participation from the industry while recognizing the efforts of greener production. With the influence of the American cinema everywhere, let's hope that more production take the train and that they'll continue to make grow the green wave in this rgeat industry. The website is useful and easy to navigate, but also entertaining (a Hollywood written-law). Anyway, great work, we'll follow that!