Eco-Briefs

	MEXICO
	A Green University

MEXICO CITY, Mar 22 (Tierramérica).- The private Ibero-American University of Mexico is working to reduce its harm to the environment through the ambitious "Green Campus" program.

"The aim in the first phase is to reduce the university's environmental impact," Dulce Ramos, coordinator of the school's environmental program, told Tierramérica.

In operation since 2008, it comprises 10 areas, including water, energy, solid waste, and management of toxic materials.

One of the innovations for 2010 is the collection of electronic waste, like computers and cellular phones, and their recycling. For lighting, more efficient bulbs are used, and motion sensors were installed so that lights are not left on when nobody is around.

There is also a new wastewater treatment system, with output used to irrigate the campus's green areas.

	BRAZIL
	Bioinsecticide Against Dengue

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 22 (Tierramérica).- A biological insecticide developed at Brazil's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation is an effective weapon against dengue because it does not harm human health or the environment, say researchers.

It can be used in household water tanks and in pools, lakes and rivers, killing the larvae of the Aedes aegypti mosquito - which transmits the disease - within 24 hours.

"It is made from a protein in the form of a crystal, which paralyzes the mouth of the larva, and bacterial spores, which kill through intestinal infection," project coordinator Elizabeth Sanches told Tierramérica.

For 50 liters of water, 350 milligrams of the bioinsecticide are dissolved. In rivers and lakes, which require dispensing pumps, the quantity needed is calculated according to flow or area. It is effective for 20 to 24 days, depending on rainfall.

	ARGENTINA
	More and More Garbage

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 22 (Tierramérica).- The government of the Argentine capital is depositing twice the volume of solid waste in sanitary landfills than is allowed under the 2005 "zero garbage" law.

Through recycling and separation of materials, the law aimed to reach 2010 with 30 percent less garbage than in 2004, but by last year it was dumping twice the base amount. Buenos Aires should have dumped less than one million tons, but ended up with more than 1.8 million.

"This year we are going to have a similar amount because nothing is being done," Juan Carlos Villalonga, director of Greenpeace-Argentina, told Tierramérica.

He is convinced that "residents are absolutely willing" to sort out dry and damp waste, but he said there are no public campaigns and little political will to make the changes established by the law.

*Source: Inter Press Service.