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Lithuanian, Swedish nuclear closures confirmed

It had closure by 2005 as part of its accession agreement with the EU (ED 10/09/99), but the timetable had recently been in doubt, according to media reports this week. Meanwhile, the Swedish government has set 31 May next year as a preliminary deadline for shutting the second and final reactor at the Barseb?ck nuclear power station. This follows a decision last month to force closure next year (ED 05/10/04).

New, urgent motion for Recommendation Unforeseen Threats to Danube Biosphere Reserve and Its Director

DISTURBED that computer equipment, records, and means of access to operating funds of the Reserve were seized on 2 November 2004, by the Danube Transport Prosecutor’s Office at the request of Ukraine’s Ministry of Transport;

 CONCERNED that these actions appear to be in retaliation for the outspoken positions taken by Director Voloshkevych against the construction of a navigation canal through the core of the Reserve’s most strictly protected area; Continue reading

Auto-Free New York

New York had a subway around the turn of the century (around the time it also fielded a fleet of electric taxis), and all its major planning was designed to accommodate pedestrians, not cars. According to the report “Commuting, Non-Work Travel and the Changing City,” only a third of New York’s workers get to work by car. Again, that’s the lowest rate of any major city.
Given these distinctions, it’s somewhat amazing that New York’s city government seems slightly ashamed of its auto-free advantages. Continue reading

Danube Day 2004 in Ukraine

n the Carpathian region there are the Danube river tributaries ? the Tisa, the Syret and the Prut rivers. NGOs in the Carpathian region ? ?Rutenia? (Uzhgorod , Agency of regional development (Rakhiv) ? took an active part in the ?Be an Artist of Danube? School Competition. In particular in Rakhiv region (Transcarpathians) the event ?From clean Tisa to clean Danube? was prepared. The participants were schoolchildren and the members of the scaut organization ?Plast?. For two weeks children took trips along the Tisa riverbanks and inflowing streams and cleaned them from garbage. Continue reading

Europe Heats Up

Europe’s summer has again been hit by freak weather conditions, with heavy thunderstorms affecting several European countries. In Cornwall, on Britain’s western coast, floods caused buildings to collapse, while in southern France four people drowned after a sudden change in the weather led to powerful winds and massive waves. And these types of weather events are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as the climate continues to change, according to a report published Wednesday by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Continue reading