Actually, it can. Some sweaters are directly linked to our growing deserts. In fact, in just five years they made the world’s deserts grow by an area larger than the Netherlands.

But how?
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When do you think the level of happiness in the US peaked?

A new documentary called ’The Economics of Happiness’ explores the link between a greener lifestyle and happiness. (Watch the trailer).
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About 2 months ago, we wrote about how a petition to freeze the European Union’s approvals of genetically modified (GM) crops had reached 1 million signatures.

Today, Avaaz.org and Greenpeace are presenting this petition to the European Commission in Brussels.

And, all these signatures are not just being delivered on a piece of paper.
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Many consumers want to buy “green”. But buying green is not always easy. The amount of false green claims by companies (greenwashing) is truly alarming.
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Well, actually it’s not really Atlantis – but it’s just as incredible.

Imagine an area the size of Russia.

Then imagine that it’s made out of plastic.

Ocean currents have created several gigantic “plastic soups” around the world. Combined they cover an area the size of Russia. It’s not solid plastic, of course. It’s much worse (watch the video).
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“Better world shopper” has announced the winners of their annual competition of the “greenest” companies in the world.

Here is their “top 10”.
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The truth on genetically modified food is needed!

On September 29, 2010 a petition to freeze the European Union’s approvals of genetically modified (GM) crops reached 1 million signatures.

That’s 1 MILLION signatures – and as you read this, the number keeps growing.

But does it matter? (Video after the break).
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How would you feel if an uncontrolled chemical experiment was taking place inside your body?

No matter how you feel about it, this is actually the case.

As you read this, you have at least 700 synthetic chemicals in our body which are not supposed to be there. The scary part is that no one really knows how these chemicals affect us. But the scientific evidence on these effects is slowly emerging – and it’s not pleasant! (video after the break).
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Lack of water is a growing problem in many places around the world.

The island of Cyprus will probably be the first place in Europe which will run dry of water. The people of Cyprus have long been using more water than nature can provide – a situation known as ‘peak water’.

But which country will dry up first? (video after the break).

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To live fast and die fat could easily be the new tagline for today’s Western lifestyle. Afterall, more and more people are becoming obese.

But this blog entry is not about the growing problem of obesity. At least not directly. No, this is about a place where “living fast and dying fat” is a carefully planned goal.

Can you guess what this place is? (video after the break).
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Well, doesn’t that depend on how big the sea is? Nope, not really. The Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is virtually gone. It was once the 4th largest sea in the world.

Can you think of a reason why the Aral Sea would disappear? If you haven’t heard the story, the answer will probably surprise you. It certainly surprised us! (Video after the break)
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Sweatshop workers in Bangladesh recently went on strike because of poor working conditions and salaries. Do you know how much they are paid?

Less than 50 cents per day

The minimum wage at the Bangladeshi sweatshop factories is 24 US dollars… per month! And that’s the official minimum. Most workers only get 13-15 dollars per month – the lowest wages for garment workers in the world.

It is virtually impossible for an individual, let alone his or her family, to live off this salary. The World Bank sets the poverty limit at 1.25 dollars per day.

No wonder they went on strike !

But surely, large and well respected Western companies wouldn’t accept such working conditions !?

Well…
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On 21 August we used up our “ecological budget” for the year. Since that day we are using natural resources that will not be renewed by nature.

It’s called Earth Overshoot Day.

When we were planning to go live with ‘amiiko’ we thought “Great, we can write a blog post on Earth Overshoot Day about 2 weeks after launch”. Last year the day fell on 25 September – so we thought it would probably happen around mid September this year.

We were wrong. It happened much sooner…
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The world could be powered entirely by green, renewable energy. But it isn’t.

One tenth of one percent of the energy that Earth receives from the sun could do the job. But instead of taking advantage of this amazing potential, we keep burning a lot of oil and coal.

Why is that?

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Hello, and welcome to amiiko’s blog! We just launched and this is our very first post.

So what will you find here? Well, we like to think of amiiko as a kind of “world dashboard” where you can get real-time updates on how the world is doing right now. You can also see how the stuff you buy makes a difference in the big picture.

To give you an idea, here are some of the things we cover:

• If overfishing does not stop, our oceans will be emptied for seafood in less than 40 years.
• More and more baby boys are born with deformed genitals.
• Forests are disappearing and desserts are growing.
• 12,500 tons of melted ice is running into our oceans every single second. That’s 5 olympic swimming pools.
• There are more slaves now than at any time in history.

These are just a few of many disturbing developments. Even so, we are optimistic about the possibilities to change them.
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