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Disposal and upgrading of the oil shale wastes by fluid- and gas-phase extraction in chemically active media Extensive utilization of the oil shale as the main natural resource of Estonia for oil and electricity production has been engendered millions of tons organomineral wastes and to those millions of tons are added every year. Semicoke, fusses and shale ash are oil shale wastes of different degree of technological transformation and contain different content of organic matter. In this fashion the oil shale wastes are unfit for use and hazardous ones and there is no technology for those re-utilization. Just the re-utilization of oil shale wastes is the clue question for continuation of the pre-existing technology of oil shale processing. The main goals of the present project are to work out novel and effective methods basing on sub- and supercritical extraction in chemically active media for separation the organic matter from fusses and semicoke as the liquid product in order to upg...

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Urgent action is needed to tackle the "mountains" of e-waste building up in developing nations, says a UN report. Huge amounts of old computers and discarded electronic goods are piling up in countries such as China, India and some Africa nations, it said. India could see a 500% rise in the number of old computers dumped by 2020, found the survey of 11 nations. Unless dealt with properly the waste could cause environmental damage and threaten public health, it said. Precious hazard The report gathered information about current levels of e-waste in 11 nations and also looked at how those totals might grow in the next decade. Globally, e-waste is growing at a rate of about 40 million tonnes per year as consumers, in both developed and developing nations, buy new gadgets and discard their old ones. Many of the older items end up in developing nations. By 2020, China and South Africa could see e-waste generated by old computers rise by 400% by 2007 levels. In a decade, estimated ...

Air pollution means the presence of one or more unwanted substances in air. Air pollutants have a negative impacts on humans, animals and plants, and on air quality. What causes air pollution? The main sources of air pollution are the industries, agriculture and traffic, as well as energy generation. During combustion processes and other production processes air pollutants are emitted. Some of these substances are not directly damaging to air quality, but will form harmful air pollutants by reactions with other substances that are present in air.Examples of large-scale air pollutants are VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) and small dust particles. When large concentrations of these substances are emitted this negatively affects ecosystems, materials and public health.Traffic is held responsible for one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions caused by traffic are mainly those of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, VOC and small dust particles.Consumers are also par...

The implications of nanotechnology run the gamut of human affairs from the medical, ethical, mental, legal and environmental, to fields such as engineering, biology, chemistry, computing, materials science, military applications, and communications. Benefits of nanotechnology include improved manufacturing methods, water purification systems, energy systems, physical enhancement, nanomedicine, better food production methods and nutrition and large scale infrastructure auto-fabrication. Products made with nanotechnology may require little labor, land, or maintenance, be highly productive, low in cost, and have modest requirements for materials and energy. Risks include environmental, health, and safety issues if negative effects of nanoparticles are overlooked before they are released; transitional effects such as displacement of traditional industries as the products of nanotechnology become dominant; military applications such as biological warfare and implants for soldiers; and surve...

One saving lifestyle base is awore conpsumtion. It is important when we are buying everyday food, clothes or shoes. Useful tips how to an aware consumer: *Prefer local products instead of imported goods. Local products doesn't consist preservatives. *The less packages, the better. It is better to buy one big than several small ones – you get more product and less package. It is better to use cloth bag rather than plastic bag. *Multiple use glass, recyclable glass, recyclable plastic. *ecoworkings on the products show thatthere isn't used any artificial fertilisers or poisonous chemicals *It is better to eat vegetarian food than meat products, because meat production requires five tiems more energy. The mos environment friendly is to buy cloth bag and avoid buyin a newq plastic bag every time you go to store. When buying clothes, prefer natural materials to synthetic. There isn't used any un recoverable resources – oil or land gas. Before buying anything, consider your needs...

Two recently published e-publications on air pollution from 1990 to 2007 show that air pollution emissions have decreased in Estonia. All air pollution emissions have decreased in 2007 compared to 1990. This has mainly resulted from the restructuring of economy and changes in proprietary relations in Estonia since regained independence. Air pollution emissions have also decreased due to stricter requirements in legal acts concerning environment (limit values, requirements on fuel quality etc), which entered into force in Estonia after becoming members of the European Union. Compared to 2003, most air pollution emissions analysed in the survey decreased by 2007, except for CO (on the same level) and heavy metals, which have increased by 10%. Majority of pollutants are emitted in Harju and Ida-Viru county, where most of the polluting enterprises are located. Pollutants emitted by transport and industry have a significant effect on the quality of ambient air. Acidification is caused by em...

Today forests cover about 30% of mainland. Before global wood cutting started forests covered over 60% of mainland. In Estonia forests cover nowadays about 47%. Deforestation is limited in Estonia and until 1950's the area of forests has started to grow. The general principle in Estonia is that you cannot deforest more than the forests grow in a year. What is Deforestation? Deforestation is defined as the destruction of forested land. It has proved to be a major problem all over world. However, the rates of destruction of forests are particularly high in the tropics. Causes of Deforestation The causes of deforestation vary form place to place. The most common causes, however, are logging, agricultural expansion, and mining. Effects of Deforestation Deforestation has been the cause of many problems facing the world today such as erosions, loss of biodiversity through extinction of plant and animal species, and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Importnace of Vegetation Deforestat...

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The greenhouse effect is where the temperature of the Earth increases. This happens as less heat is radiated back from the Earth than is received from the Sun. The atmosphere becomes clogged up with "greenhouse gases" such as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and methane. This lets the heat from the Sun in but stops some of it from be radiated back out again. This is just how the glass on a greenhouse works. So the inside of the greenhouse gets warmer and warmer over time. In the case of the Earth the warming up has happened very slowly over decades and centuries. However the levels of greenhouse gases have risen sharply recently. As the temperature of the Earth increases it is predicted that we will see changes in weather patterns, including drought and flooding. The Polar ice caps may melt and so produce raised sea levels. Low-lying areas will be flooded including many major cities. Kristiina Tänav, Marek Hendrikson, 12D

The Estonian Tyre Association is a non-profit organisation and the oldest manufacturer’s liability watchdog in the country. We organise the collection and recycling of old tyres. Our members are Estonia’s largest producers and importers of tyres. It is in the best interests of all of these companies that tyres, as problem products, be reused as effectively and in an as environmentally-friendly a way as possible, as is required by the state’s Waste Act and scrap regulations. MANUFACTURER’S LIABILITY The Waste Act applies the principle of manufacturer's liability to problem products, which means that the manufacturer is obliged to ensure the collection and recycling or removal of the waste produced by products it has manufactured, sold or imported. Manufacturer’s liability applies to those companies – producers, importers and wholesale and retail sellers – who are obliged to take responsibility for the substances contained in their products, the components of the products...

LED bulbs can save you thousands of dollars on your Electric Bill. LED bulbs will help make the Planet we live, a cleaner one. LED bulbs last so long, you won't need to change them for years. Finally, The incandescent & Fluorescent bulb will be obsolete in 10 years. Benefits of LED Bulbs - Save money and energy by using LED bulbs. Generally, an LED consumes less than 0.1 watt to operate. This incredibly low consumption means you will save on your energy costs right from the start. - The typical LED bulb will last for 50,000 hours. This is over 10 Years of light from One Bulb used half the time. Compared to an incandescent bulb, which lasts 1,000 hours, a halogen bulb lasts 2,000 hours, and a compact fluorescent bulb may last up to 10,000 hours. - The extremely long life of an LED bulb will virtually eliminate your maintenance costs. There will be no need to change light bulbs throughout the year. - The solid state technology of an LED is very durable and can withstand high lev...

The forests of Estonia Almost a half of the territory of Estonia is covered by forest. Forest is a living place for lots of animals. Forest has always been important for Estonians (food, building material, vacation). Trash in forest Placing trash away into an "invisible place" (in forest) harms forest and its ecological system permanently. Chips of glasses, plastic or dangerous trash might harm animals who live in forests. Trash that lies under the forest spoils the beautiful view. Estonia spends about 2 million EEK taxpayers' money for cleaning the forests every year. Cleaning action "Teeme ära" (also mentioned in an ealier post) Civil initiative "Let's do it! 2008" planned with voluntaries´s help clean up forests, beaches and roadsides in one weekend. The main purpose of the organizers was involving everybody: schoolchildren, retired, young and old, Russians and Estonians. By the data of the union there were about 7000 tonnes of garbage and to c...

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Many environmental risk factors have been associated with asthma development and morbidity in children, but a few stand out as well-replicated or that have a meta-analysis of several studies to support their direct association. Environmental tobacco smoke, especially maternal cigarette smoking, is associated with high risk of asthma prevalence and asthma morbidity, wheeze, and respiratory infections.Low air quality, from traffic pollution or high ozone levels, has been repeatedly associated with increased asthma morbidity and has a suggested association with asthma development that needs further research. Recent studies show a relationship between exposure to air pollutants (e.g. from traffic) and childhood asthma.This research finds that both the occurrence of the disease and exacerbation of childhood asthma are affected by outdoor air pollutants.

Big oil pollution occurred on the coast of Estonia – hundreds of sea birds are dead, up to 5,000 birds are in danger. World Wildlife Fund helps to organize the cleaning of birds. (ELF) Oily birds are collected to the north-western coast of Estonia, to Nõva fire depot. There after the birds are taken to the Zoo in Tallinn. ELF people and the Tallinn diving club members are among the voluntaries. According to ELF, the Estonian oil spill response has been neglected already for years. The Executive Manager of the fund Jüri Salm finds it sad that something should always happen before serious attention is paid to those matters. Possibilities of Estonia for oil spill response and saving birds are very defi cient. Also the readiness of Finland to respond to oil spills is not suffi cient but Finland has passed the law which allows to impose a fi ne for the faulty ship also in international waters. Since the protection of the Baltic Sea is a common concern of the Baltic Sea states, the supervisi...

Tests have shown that some species of Baltic fish have too high levels of dioxin and the EU has called for a ban on sales of fish exceeding permitted levels from July 1. Dioxins - cancer-causing toxic chemical compounds caused by burning plastic, fuel and rubbish - are hard to break down once they get into the food chain. They are also found in dairy products, meat and eggs. The Baltic Sea has been exposed in the past century to heavy pollution, much of it deriving from industry in Russia's coastal cities of St Petersburg and Kaliningrad. Sweden is a driving force in efforts to clean up the sea and measures have been taken by the ex-Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as they apply for membership of the EU. But the problems are far from solved and dioxin levels in fish remain a health risk in the region. Among fish species with excessive dioxin levels is the Baltic herring. A smaller variety of the herring found in the North Sea, it is the main source of income for fis...

As you can see from the previous posting, there are a lot of bright ideas how to recycle your old clothes etc. You just have to be creative! Recycling seems to be everywhere these days . Supermarkets offer reusable bags and recycling bins in their doorways. “Made from recyclable materials” is on many products. Still, goods that could be reused or recycled are tossed in the trash. (Source) We carried out a poll among 40 people in different ages to find out how much they know about recycling. Only 50% of them are recycling their garbage! 37,5% of the respondets doesn't know how to classify wastes. 32,5% answered that the containers locate way too far. Adults were more aware of recycling than teenagers. Let's see what the future brings! Here are two very useful videod about recycling (These are not made by us!) By the way, did know that how long does it take to decompose: Banana peel - 2 months Cardboard milk carton - 5 years Wooden baseball bat - 20 years Leather baseball glove...

Go Green - recycle old clothes into new forms to save the environment One simple thing we can all do to be kind to the environment is reduce the amount of trash we produce. It is revealed that almost 85 percent of the 70 pounds of textiles the average American purchases each year ends up in landfills. This is an environmental disaster that can be easily avoided because clothes and fabrics are so easy to recycle and reuse. As a matter of fact, you can make a big difference by doing some very simple little things around your house. With a little imagination, some cosmetic changes such as a dash of paint, an embroidered motif or an altered hemline can transform a dress. Pieces that are beyond salvage can be used to make baby clothes. A father’s jeans will easily yield enough material for a son’s pair, and a skirt can be used to make a smart blouse for a little girl. Old dresses can be simply closed at the bottom and hung on hangers to make laundry bags. If the bottom is closed by Velcro o...

On May 1, 2005 the deposit system proceeding from the Packaging Act entered into force in Estonia. Eesti Pandipakend LLC (EPP) is a recovery organisation established for the purposes of organising the recovery of packaging subject to the payment of a deposit. The EPP was founded on the basis of the principle of liability of producer provided for in the European Union (EU) Directive on Packaging and in the Estonian Packaging Act. Estonian Pandipakend LLC organises nothing but the recovery of beverage packages. The aim of the EPP- it organises the nation-wide collection and recovery of packaging and packaging waste subject to deposit. For that purpose the EPP creates and operates a transparent and effective nation-wide system of collection and recovery of glass, plastic and metal non-refillable packaging (packaging waste) subject to deposit (deposit packaging) of soft drinks, beer,cider, perry and low-ethanol alcoholic beverages. The recovery of packaging waste helps to keep Estonian nat...

Environmental concerns raised with the Nordstream pipeline are that the construction would disturb the sea bed, dislodging World War II-era naval mines and toxic materials including mines, chemical waste, chemical munitions and other items dumped in the Baltic Sea in the past decades. Thereby toxic substances could surface from the seabed damaging the Baltic's particularly sensitive ecosystem. Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren had demanded that the environmental analysis should include alternative ways of taking the pipeline across the Baltic, as the pipeline is projected to be passing through areas considered environmentally problematic and risky. Estonian scientist and former politician Endel Lippmaa raised concerns over the pipeline's planned path crossing zones of seismic activity in the Baltic Sea. Karl, Aare, Sass, Taavi.

SÄÄSTUMARKET - the store where you can quickly and conveniently buy groceries, household and seasonal goods at unusually low prices. Supernetto/Säästumarket is the first and only hard-discounter chain in Baltics that provides its customers with the basic limited range of everyday food and non-food products without extra service . Low price – Supernetto/Saastumarket offers the absolute lowest prices for basic foodstuffs and non-food goods We offer a limited range of quality products without extra service . For this reason, the products sold in Supernetto/Saastumarket are always approximately 10 to 20 % cheaper than in super- or hypermarkets. Quality assortment of everyday needed basic products. Our fast turnover and big volumes guaranteeing the good quality for fresh products The private label products are the ones that provide good prices. At the moment there are already about 100 private label products representing 30 brands – these products one can buy only at Supe...

The Idea Since Estonia regained its independence in 1991, illegal dumping of garbage in our forests had been a growing problem. The amount of garbage littering our nature had grown too big for our government to tackle alone. And the problem was not in the garbage itself, it was in the mindset of those people who didn’t respect our nature. So we knew that we had to do something drastic to shake things up, to make a real change in people’s thinking. So a group of active citizens with the support of Estonian Fund for Nature, came up with an outrageous plan - to clean up Estonia from illegally dumped or littered waste, in ONE day! For that we needed at least 40 000 volunteers all over the country. Research work done during the campaign One of the founders of Skype, Ahti Heinla, developed a special garbage mapping software based on Google Earth. Then we engaged volunteers all over the country to participate in the regional garbage mapping weekends. In co-operation with Nokia and EMT we pres...

Did you know that recycling one aluminium can save the same quantity of energy which is needed for the TV to run for 3 hours. Recycling one ton waste paper saves 17 trees, 1400 litres of fuel, 4000 KW energy and over 26,000 litres of water. Recycling plastic takes 70% less energy than making new plastic. Recycling glass creates 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than making new glass. Recycling one ton of plastic bags saves 1700 litres of fuel. Recycling and sorting garbage became popular in Estonia just a few years ago and it takes time to get used to it. 5 easy things to remember about sorting garbage : 1. Don't worry too much - In the beginning do as much as you can and don't worry about the rest. It is no use to make things complicated from the start and then realise that sorting garbage is too hard. It's important to remember that even a little bit helps. 2. Recycling garbage means more than just sorting it - Even giving away your clothes for charit...

European nature conservation in its traditional meaning was born at the beginning of 20th century, when an obligation to preserve and keep for future generations rare species and remarkable natural features – such as a jet, a tree growing in a sacred grove, an erratic boulder or a white-tailed eagle – was acknowledged. One started to place under protection impressive natural memorials and to establish the first nature conservation areas. 100 years anniversary quiz (in Estonian)

This week Estonian pupils started measuring their everyday usage of energy and water. We also will put up some info in our blog about Estonian environmental subject. We welcome all new members from all over Europe as well, please join us in our mission of changing our habits :)