TEKNIK MENANAM DENGAN VERTIKULTUR

Sesuai dengan asal katanya dari bahasa Inggris, yaitu vertical dan culture, maka vertikultur adalah sistem budidaya pertanian yang dilakukan secara vertikal atau bertingkat, baik indoor maupun outdoor. Sistem budidaya pertanian secara vertikal atau bertingkat ini merupakan konsep penghijauan yang cocok untuk daerah perkotaan dan lahan terbatas. Misalnya, lahan 1 meter mungkin hanya bisa untuk menanam 5 batang tanaman, dengan sistem vertikal bisa untuk 20 batang tanaman. Vertikultur tidak hanya sekadar kebun vertikal, namun ide ini akan merangsang seseorang untuk menciptakan khasanah biodiversitas di pekarangan yang sempit sekalipun. Struktur vertikal, memudahkan pengguna membuat dan memeliharanya. Pertanian vertikultur tidak hanya sebagai sumber pangan tetapi juga menciptakan suasana alami yang menyenagkan.

TOURISM AND GLOBAL WARMING

The relationship between tourism and global warming is a paradoxical one: global warming has become a threat to tourism, yet tourism remains a major cause of global warming. Tis vicious circle is well known to all stakeholders of the tourism industry, but implementing meaningful change has proven difficult because of three types of resistance: politico economic resistance (from policymakers in regions and countries that rely heavily on tourism as a source of income), commercial resistance (from the tourism industry itself), and sociocultural resistance (from tourists who are not ready to change their behavior).

GREEN CHEMISTRY

There are many ways in which chemistry has helped to reduce CO₂ emissions and helped adaptation to a changing climate. Iron fertilization experiments aim to reduce the concentration of atmospheric CO2 by promoting the growth of phytoplankton in oligotrophic regions of the ocean, where primary production is supposedly limited by the iron supply, such as in the Southern Ocean. Some paleontology researchers have shown a link between large quantities of iron in the air and the onset of ice ages. On frst discovering of this, according to J.H. Martin and S.E. Fitzwater, the lead oceanographer in the project commented on the strong link between iron and planetary temperature saying, “Give me a half a tanker of iron and I’ll give you the next ice age.

GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming is a term that is used to refer to an increase in Earth’s average surface temperature. It is due mostly to the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere by human-fuelled activities such as increased fossil fuel consumption leading to the release of carbon dioxide (CO₂), the increasing use of automobiles, the use of nitrogen base fertilizers,and rearing and breeding large methane-belching cattle. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, water vapor, halocarbons (chlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons), methane, and ozone have the capability of absorbing infrared radiation

from the Earth’s surface, thereby altering the heat balance of the Earth.

BIAYA TERSEMBUNYI DARI EKSPLOITASI BURUH KELAPA SAWIT

Minyak sawit adalah minyak nabati yang dapat dikonsumsi, memiliki lemak jenuh tinggi yang berasal dari buah pohon kelapa sawit Afrika. Minyak sawit dan turunannya dipergunakan dalam berbagai macam produk yang dijual di Amerika Serikat dan di seluruh dunia seperti kue, biskuit, cokelat, sereal dan kue untuk sarapan, tepung kue siap saji, donat, keripik kentang, mie instan, manisan dan makanan beku, susu formula, margarin, deterjen, sabun, dan produk perawatan pribadi lainnya. Minyak sawit ditemukan di hampir setengah dari semua produk-produk dalam kemasan yang dijual di toko kelontong.

GREEN HOUSE EFFECT

            The greenhouse effect likewise amplifes the effect of the Sun’s radiation. Greenhouse gases—carbondioxide (CO₂), methane, and water vapor are examples—trap sunlight in the atmosphere. Without any greenhouse gases, sunlight would pass through the atmosphere and strike Earth, which would absorb a portion of the sunlight. (Land absorbs less sunlight than water.) The rest would rebound from Earth as infrared radiation, passing out of the atmosphere and into space. Greenhouse gases do not, however, permit infrared radiation to pass into space, but rather absorb it as heat, in turn heating the atmosphere. Of the greenhouse gases, methane breaks down in the atmosphere after a few decades. CO₂, however, may linger centuries in the atmosphere.

IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING

Impacts from the phenomenon known as global warming include environmental, social, and economic effects. Environmental impacts include sea-level rise, melting of the polar ice caps, and an average increase in temperature. These impacts are documented in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), which commissions reports by scientists worldwide on the issue of climate change. The IPCC Report of 2007 is the first one that reflects scientific consensus that global warming is underway, and that it is primarily human induced. For example, human activities, such as fossil fuel burning, land-use changes, agricultural activity, and the production and use of halocarbons are among the factors causing climate change. The economic report by Nicholas Stern in 2007 highlights that climate change has potentially disastrous consequences for humanity.

KORBAN MINYAK SAWIT YANG BERMASALAH

Pengerusakan hutan hujan, perampasan tanah rakyat dan masyarakat adat, juga emisi Gas Rumah Kaca (GRK) besarbesaran akibat pengeringan dan pembakaran lahan gambut demi diproduksinya Conflict Palm Oil (Minyak Sawit yang Bermasalah), terus menjadi sorotan utama dunia internasional dalam beberapa tahun belakangan ini. Namun, kondisi kerja dan kehidupan buruh perkebunan kelapa sawit hampir tidak pernah dikaji atau pun didiskusikan secara mendalam.

Karena buruh tinggal di daerah yang terisolir secara geografis dengan mobilitas sosial maupun ekonomi yang sangat terbatas, kisah mereka terkubur di dalam perkebunan kelapa sawit yang terletak di wilayah terpencil di mana mereka hidup dan bekerja. Akan tetapi, belakangan ini semakin banyak laporan dari masyarakat sipil, peneliti independen dan wartawan investigasi yang menguak tabir persoalan yang dihadapi buruh kelapa sawit. Laporan-laporan tersebut menyoroti pola pelanggaran hak-hak buruh yang berat di perkebunan kelapa sawit di berbagai belahan dunia.