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India: Govt asks court to disband forest panel 2007-07-22 18:18:00 The government has asked the Supreme Court to disband a decade-old forest protection panel and leave forest management to the executive branch rather than judges, a move that has upset many environmentalists. The Supreme Court set up a committee in 1996 to monitor use of forest land and report to the justices on the environmental impact of development projects. The court also banned felling forests without permission from the judges, meaning that companies wanting to develop industrial and commercial projects in forested land needed permission from the Supreme Court.
Read more:India
Eco city advances its green centre 2007-07-21 19:32:00 Waitakere City is seeking an anchor tenant to enable it to proceed with the next stage of its development of the 3.3 hectare Waitakere Central site in Henderson Valley Rd in the heart of Henderson. Waitakere Properties, a council trading organisation, has leased all but 236 sq m of the 1800 sq m of A-grade office space in its Central One building which was completed in February this year. This building was the final part of Stage 1 of the eco-city's project, planned to eventually contain 30,000 sq m of high quality office space along with ground floor retail outlets.
Melting glaciers raise sea level more than polar ice sheets 2007-07-20 19:28:00 Contrary to common belief, melting glaciers due to global warming contribute more to the rising sea level
than the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, researchers said Thursday in a study. Scientists found that the ebb and flow of glaciers where they meet the water causes them to speed up and deliver more ice into the world's oceans than previously estimated, said the study published in Science's latest issue.
Read more:raise
Gulf dead zone to be biggest ever 2007-07-19 17:14:00 This year could see the biggest "dead zone" since records began form in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.Scientists say conditions are right for the zone to exceed last summer's 6,662 sq miles (17,255 sq km).The dead zone is an area of water virtually devoid of oxygen which cannot support marine life.It is caused by nutrients such as fertilisers flowing into the Gulf, stimulating the growth of algae which absorbs the available oxygen.The volume of nutrients flowing down rivers such as the Mississippi into the Gulf has tripled over the last 50 years.
Nuclear energy not clean or safe 2007-07-18 20:26:00 Some radioactive fission gases from the reactor cooling water are retained in tanks for days before being released into the atmosphere through filtered rooftop vents. These airborne gases contaminate not only the air, but also end up in our soil and water. Every exposure to radiation increases the risk of damage to tissue cells. Minimal exposure each day can devastate our health. Nuclear
reactors produce nuclear waste, which is the most hazardous and toxic material known to man and the hardest to get rid of.
UGA starts nation's first school of ecology 2007-07-17 18:51:00 The bust of one of science's most respected ecologists stands at the entrance to what is the country's first university-level school of ecology with a ready reminder: The ecosystem is greater than the sum of its parts. The quote and the bust honor Eugene Odum, the legendary University of Georgia ecologist and namesake of the school, which officially opened last month. And now the late scientist's favorite mantra is being put to the test.
Read more:nation
China to spend $2.63B on Tibetan ecology 2007-07-17 09:51:00 BEIJING, July 16 (UPI) -- China
, which has controlled Tibet since the 1950s, said Monday it will spend $2.63 billion over 20 years on several projects to protect the region's ecosystem. The projects will include construction of nature reserves, protection of natural forests, restoration of grassland and pastures and prevention of desertification, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Environment and wildlife groups get funding 2007-07-26 16:54:00 A group that wants to track the movement of Manitoba's woodland caribou by using GPS collars is among six organizations that recently received funding from the province for environmental and wildlife
projects. Manitoba Conservation announced today the latest group of recipients for funding from its Special Conservation and Endangered Species Fund. Among the funded organizations is the Manitoba Model Forest, which received $25,000 to buy collars outfitted with global positioning systems. The group hopes to put the collars on woodland caribou, an animal with a small presence in eastern Manitoba's forests. The project is designed to monitor their movements and habitat use in order to ensure that the population is sustained.
Read more:Environment
Huge fire releases oil into river 2007-07-24 16:42:00 SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - The state Department of Ecology on Tuesday was trying to contain thousands of gallons of petroleum products that spilled after a spectacular fire destroyed a fuel distribution center. Monday's fire destroyed some structures at Whitley Fuel and led to some petroleum products going into storm sewers and out into the Spokane River.
EU Grants 200 M for Ecology Projects in Bulgaria 2007-07-28 17:38:00 Over 200 million EUR from the EU funds will be granted for the construction of rectifying station and improving the quality of waters. This was announced today by the Minister of Environment and Waters Djevdet Chakurov. He explained that by the end of the year a part of the contracts on the Environment Program have to be concluded.
Read more:Ecology
, Projects
, Bulgaria
The Simpsons Movie and Arctic Tale, Spread pro-green message 2007-07-27 17:00:00 The impact of global warming on the environment may still be debateable in the minds of some, but there is no doubting the impact of Al Gore on the immediate filmmaking landscape. Fallout from Gore's Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" can be detected in two of this week's releases, "The Simpsons
Movie" and "Arctic
Tale," each of which jump on the ecology bandwagon with markedly different approaches.
Read more:Spread
Carbon Emissions Would Drop with New Technology 2007-07-31 16:09:00 TONAWANDA, NY (2007-07-31) Carbon
emissions at coal-fired power plants would be markedly reduced under new technology unveiled Tuesday at Praxair in Tonawanda. Praxair is working with three other companies and the University at Buffalo in developing technology that will capture carbon dioxide during the power-generating process and permanently store it underground. The new technology will be tested at a new power generating plant the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities is building.
Read more:Technology
Ecology Action Center continues to push recycling 2007-07-30 17:48:00 The EcologyActionCenter
, which monitors recycling for McLean County, Bloomington and Normal governments, estimates that 33 percent of materials that could be thrown away is diverted from the trash through recycling, reuse and composting. That's 76,000 tons of stuff that didn't hit the landfill in 2006 alone.
'Arctic Tale' breaks the ice on ecology 2007-07-29 18:41:00 USA TODAY - Like a junior and kid-friendly An Inconvenient Truth, it makes the threat of global warming more real by weaving that message into a pair of absorbing narratives. Queen Latifah provides a friendly and gently funny narration for the two tales of the challenges faced by a mother walrus and her pup and a polar bear and her two cubs in the Arctic
.
Read more:breaks
About 40 percent of deaths worldwide are caused by water, air and soil pollution 2007-08-03 19:14:00 "We have serious environmental resource problems of water
, land and energy, and these are now coming to bear on food production, malnutrition and the incidence of diseases," said Pimentel. Of the world population of about 6.5 billion, 57 percent is malnourished, compared with 20 percent of a world population of 2.5 billion in 1950, said Pimentel. Malnutrition is not only the direct cause of 6 million children's deaths
each year but also makes millions of people much more susceptible to such killers as acute respiratory infections, malaria and a host of other life-threatening diseases, according to the research.
City will pay $12,000 for sewage incident 2007-08-02 19:18:00 The city will have to pay up for allowing nearly 300,000 gallons of untreated sewage to flow into Lake Washington in the Madison Park area. "Last April's sewer overflow was caused by the simultaneous failure of a number of systems, any one of which should have prevented the overflow from occurring," Seattle Public Utilities Director Chuck Clarke said. He vowed it would not happen again and said the utility will not appeal the $12,000 fine issued by the state Department of Ecology.
Birds Help Trees Soar 2007-08-01 23:17:00 Birds boost tree height up to 33 percent by munching on pesky parasites that can literally suck the life out of the tall-growing plants, a new study shows. Birds remove harmful species of beetles, caterpillars, ants and aphids from branches, Mooney explained, increasing the vigor of trees. His findings are detailed in the August issue of the journal Ecology.
Read more:Birds
, Trees
Yellowstone’s Wolves Save Its Aspens 2007-08-05 16:22:00 But the study found that an “ecology of fear” has helped to restore balance to the valley, protecting young aspen shoots from browsing elk for the first time in decades.William J. Ripple, a professor in the university’s College of Forestry and an author of the study, said aspens were recovering in areas where it would be difficult for elk to escape a wolf attack. “We think these elk need to balance the risk of being killed versus eating in their favorite places. So it’s a trade-off between food and risk in an ecology of fear,” he said.
Read more:Wolves
The damage that China's double-digit GDP growth is doing to the environment 2007-08-04 16:18:00 The outcome of the debate is important for the course of a country that will soon overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and where hundreds of millions of people have no access to clear drinking water. A year ago, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) jointly released China
's first green GDP report, estimating the cost of pollution in 2004 at 3.05 percent of gross domestic product.
Read more:double
, doing
Al Gore cites Exxon as misleading on warming 2007-08-08 17:00:00 Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said some of the world's largest energy companies, including Exxon
Mobil Corp., are funding research aimed at disputing the scientific consensus on global warming as part of a campaign to mislead the public.
Read more:cites
Without ecology there is no economy 2007-08-07 19:22:00 Indian-born Kumar, who visited Sydney recently to promote his ideas, has devoted his life to investigating links between ecology and spirituality, literally walking the talk. At the age of nine he became a child monk, going barefoot, begging for food and wearing a cloth over his mouth to avoid inadvertently killing an insect.Then, in 1962, he became inspired and outraged by the incarceration of the English philosopher and peace campaigner Bertrand Russell and decided to walk to the four nuclear capitals of the world. Over 18 months, he trekked to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington in a protest against nuclear arms.
Read more:economy
Heat waves in Europe nearly twice as long 2007-08-06 20:25:00 European heat waves are nearly twice as long as they were a century ago and the number of hot summer days there have tripled, a new study finds. Researchers compiled temperature records from 54 high-quality recording stations from Sweden to Croatia and found that heat waves last an average of three days now (with some lasting up to 13 days), while they lasted only 1.5 days on average in 1880.
Read more:Europe
Cloudy forecast for global warming 2007-08-11 16:33:00 "All leading climate models forecast that as the atmosphere warms there should be an increase in high- altitude cirrus clouds, which would amplify any warming caused by manmade greenhouse gases," Spencer says in a press release. "That amplification is a positive feedback. What we found in month-to-month fluctuations of the tropical climate system was a strongly negative feedback. As the tropical atmosphere warms, cirrus clouds decrease. That allows more infrared heat to escape from the atmosphere to outer space."
Chinese "environment activist" sentenced to 3 years 2007-08-10 21:39:00 A Chinese
man who claimed himself to be an environment activist has been sentenced to three years in prison on charges of extortion and fraud on Friday. Wu Lihong, 39, a farmer in Zhoutie Township of Yixing City in east China's Jiangsu Province, was also fined 3,000 yuan (about 390 U.S. dollars), the Yixing City People's Court ruled. Wu had led a campaign to clean up the Taihu Lake in eastern China. He was hailed as an "eco-warrior" for spending years to expose and report on polluting factories.
Pollution from U.S. coal-fired power plants 2007-08-09 16:32:00 Ontario has launched a second official complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying rule changes for American coal-fired power
plants will spew even more harmful pollution across the border. The province filed comments Tuesday arguing the U.S. plans will only relax the rules, allowing out-dated plants to operate longer hours without installing modern pollution controls. “Air pollution from the U.S. coal-fired power plants continues to harm the health, environment and economy of Ontario,” said Environment Minister Laurel Broten.
Read more:Pollution
Climate change protest at Heathrow 2007-08-13 18:01:00 Hundreds of climate demonstrators set up a tent camp next to London's Heathrow
airport on Monday and threatened "direct action" at the world's busiest air hub to protest against global warming. Police with batons were on alert at the field where the camp is based, within one kilometer of the airport complex. The campaigners plan a week of activities they say will culminate on Sunday in 24 hours of "direct action" in a bid to force the government to halt the planned expansion of the airport, which they argue will exacerbate climate change.
Read more:Climate
, Climate change
Forest fires damage ecology in Algeria 2007-08-12 16:13:00 Forest fires
in Batna that spread over 5,000 hectares over the past 20 days have caused an ecological catastrophe in the region, El Khabar reported on Wednesday (August 8th). Thousands of rare plants and trees in the forests of Bni Fdala and Larbaa Municipalities, 20 of which could be found only in Algeria and Morocco, were destroyed. Many rare birds and animal species died, the paper quoted the local forest department as saying.
Read more:Forest
Arctic Ice Shrinks to New Low 2007-08-18 18:36:00 The University of Colorado at Boulder said there is a 92 percent chance the 2007 September minimum extent of sea ice across the Arctic
region will set an all-time record low. Researchers had previously said the chance of setting a record was only 33 percent. "During the first week in July, the Arctic sea ice started to disappear at rates we had never seen before," said Drobot.
Irrigation may lose to global warming 2007-08-16 20:29:00 California's Central Valley has been buffered against global warming by the expansion of irrigated cropland, but the cooling effect may not help much in the future, according to scientists at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Evaporation from irrigation cools the land surface, and the steady addition of newly irrigated land during the past century has counteracted rising temperatures in agricultural areas. The average cooling effect has slowly increased as irrigation expanded to more than 12,700 square miles for a total of between 3.2 and 5.8 degrees.
Dirty City Air Stunts Kids' Lungs 2007-08-15 17:04:00 Long-term exposure to high levels of air pollution causes reduced lung growth and function in children, according to a study of almost 3,200 Mexico City eight-year-olds.They noted that the effect of air pollution on forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) a measure of lung function among children in the study was greater than the effect of exposure to mothers' smoking among children in the United States.
Read more:Stunts
, Lungs
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