SKCEA.ORG » Ecosystems

Are Nuisance Jellyfish Really Taking Over the World’s Oceans?

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:19:27 +0000

In recent years, media reports of jellyfish blooms and some scientific publications have fueled the idea that jellyfish and other gelatinous floating creatures are becoming more common and may dominate the seas in coming decades. The growing impacts of humans on the oceans, including overfishing and climate change, have been suggested as possible causes of this apparently alarming trend.

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Are Nuisance Jellyfish Really Taking Over the World’s Oceans?

Chicago-Based Eco-Friendly Dentist Doubles Down on Green

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:57:30 +0000

Almost exactly five years ago, I took at look at Transcendentist, a Berkeley based green dentistry office that combined environmental responsibility with a very different approach to patient care. Rather than the typical clinical approach, the founders of Transcendentist created a spa-like atmosphere complete with foot massages. Even then, the idea was taking off: nothing like a little calm to take the edge off of that fear of the dentist thing.

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Chicago-Based Eco-Friendly Dentist Doubles Down on Green

Donna Resevoir and Canal

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:57:29 +0000

During the week of February 6-12, 2012, representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) will be in the area of South Alamo, Texas, to speak with residents about the contamination in the Donna Reservoir and Canal. This effort is being made to provide local residents with information about the health risks of consuming fish taken from the Donna Reservoir and Canal. The possession of contaminated fish taken from the reservoir is prohibited by the TDSHS and has been since 1993.

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Donna Resevoir and Canal

DuPont and Suntech Sign Strategic Agreement

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:41:14 +0000

To help increase the supply of photovoltaic materials and technologies for the growing global market for solar energy, the world’s largest producer of solar panels has signed a strategic agreement with DuPont. The agreement focuses on technology advancements, supply chain optimization cost reduction initiatives, and DuPont™ Tedlar® polyvinyl fluoride film supply.

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DuPont and Suntech Sign Strategic Agreement

Carbon Source or Carbon Sink: Greenhouse Gases in the Tropics

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:55:56 +0000

The lush vegetation wrapping the center of the globe is one of the most important features for regulating a stable climate in the world. Much excess CO2 emissions from industrialized regions find their way to the equator to be absorbed by abundant CO2-consuming plant life. However, as large tracts of tropical rainforest are cut down in the Amazon, Congo, and Southeast Asia, worries have grown that this vital region may turn from a carbon sink to a carbon source. Those worries can be put at ease somewhat thanks to a recent study from the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC). Their report suggests that carbon storage of forests, shrublands, and savannas in the tropics are 21 percent higher than previously believed.

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Carbon Source or Carbon Sink: Greenhouse Gases in the Tropics

Study Reveals Impacts of Environmental Changes on Southern Ocean Food Web

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:55:55 +0000

In January of this year, a comprehensive study of animals in the Southern Ocean was completed, showing that the region is under threat from climate change. The scientific journal Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography featured the findings of an international group of researchers who wrote over 20 papers about the effects on the Scotia Sea food web by above average water temperatures.

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Study Reveals Impacts of Environmental Changes on Southern Ocean Food Web

Nano Improved Transformer Oil

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:55:54 +0000

Rice University scientists have created a nano-infused oil that could greatly enhance the ability of devices as large as electrical transformers and as small as microelectronic components to shed excess heat. Research in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan, which appears in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano, could raise the efficiency of such transformer oils by as much as 80 percent in a way that is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly. The Rice team focused their efforts on transformers for energy systems. Transformers are filled with mineral oils that cool and insulate the windings inside, which must remain separated from each other to keep voltage from leaking or shorting.

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Nano Improved Transformer Oil

ARKive celebrates World Wetlands Day

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:02:04 +0000

World Wetlands Day (WWD) is an annual celebration held on the 2nd February in order to raise worldwide awareness of the importance of wetlands. The date is particularly significant, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands, also known as the Ramsar Convention, which is an international treaty that represents the commitment of its members to the preservation of their wetlands.

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ARKive celebrates World Wetlands Day

Europe to target pharmaceutical pollution with new water quality rules

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:02:04 +0000

The European Commission has unveiled a new set of water pollution rules, which will for the first time include certain pharmaceutical products. The Commission is proposing to add 15 chemicals to the list of 33 pollutants that are currently monitored and controlled in EU surface waters. The popular pain-relieving drug Diclofenac is one of three pharmaceuticals to be put on the European water watch-list, which law-makers say is another step towards improving the quality of rivers, lakes and coastal waters. The 15 substances include industrial chemicals as well as compounds used in biocides and plant protection products. They have been selected on the basis of scientific evidence that they may pose a significant risk to health.

Fascinating ancient Sahara site celebrated for World Wetlands Day

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:02:02 +0000

Tunis, Tunisia: A remote seasonal salt lake on the edge of the Sahara leads a list of 15 new Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance being declared in the country on World Wetlands Day, February 2. Chott Elguetar, a 7,400 ha site with an intermittent lake, is vital to the survival of the threatened Scimitar Oryx, Addax and Dama Gazelle. It also contains traces of human religious and industrial activity that have been dated back 40,000 years.

UN Calls Sustainable Development a Top Priority

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:35:17 +0000

The UN High-Level Panel Global Sustainability released its report in Addis Ababa yesterday entitled Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing. The panel’s 99-page report, which will serve as an input to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June, (otherwise known as the Rio+20 Summit) is a call to action, “to address the sustainable development challenge in a fresh and operational way.” This document is incredibly rich, beautifully written and filled with a tremendous amount of good thought, clear vision, careful analysis, sober assessment, and useful suggestions for ways to move sustainable development from an abstract concept to the core of mainstream economics.

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UN Calls Sustainable Development a Top Priority

UPS Foundation Donates $6M To Champion Diversity

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:35:16 +0000

It’s good news for the human environment. The UPS Foundation today announced almost 120 grants totaling more than $6 million to non-profit organizations around the world that champion diversity and support diverse communities. For more than 60 years, UPS’s philanthropic arm has funded organizations that support under-served and under-represented members of society. This year’s grants will support a wide range of programs, including those for wounded veterans, the hearing and visually-impaired, women and girls and culturally distinct populations.

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UPS Foundation Donates $6M To Champion Diversity

Energy Poverty Remains a Global Challenge for the Future

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:09 +0000

Washington, D.C.—Despite massive gains in global access to electricity over the last two decades, governments and development organizations must continue to invest in electrification to achieve critical health, environmental, and livelihood outcomes, according to new research published by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online publication.

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Energy Poverty Remains a Global Challenge for the Future

Kick-Starting the Bio-Based Economy

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:08 +0000

Massive, varied, and intricately woven into the fabric of modern industrial society, the global chemical industry was valued at over $4 trillion in 2011, according to Pike Research’s Green Chemistry report. The non-pharmaceutical chemicals industry in the United States is valued at around $700 billion per year. The rise of bio-chemicals promises to transform that industry. Bio-based chemicals and plastics – often referred to as bio-based products – are commercial or industrial products (other than food or feed) that are derived from biological products or biomass. They serve as direct replacements for the building blocks used in petrochemical production.

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Kick-Starting the Bio-Based Economy

Canada Uranium and Other Mines: The Future

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:06 +0000

Canada was the world’s largest uranium producer for many years, accounting for about 22% of world output, but in 2009 was overtaken by Kazakhstan. Production is expected to increase significantly from 2013 as the new Cigar Lake mine comes into operation. Canada is also a large producer of many other mineral products. The problem is that many mining operations produce significant amounts of waste in an environment with a fragile ecosystem and limited resources to deal with environmental issues. While the government of Canada has introduced legislation to ensure that at least some of the costs associated with reclamation are accounted for in future developments, critics believe there are still serious risks.

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Canada Uranium and Other Mines: The Future

Escaped pet Pythons causing decline in Everglades Wildlife

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:05 +0000

Non-native Burmese pythons are believed to be the cause of severe mammal declines in the Florida Everglades, according to new research. Also known as the Asiatic rock python, the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) is a large constricting snake native to Asia. The exact origins of the pythons in the Everglades are unknown, but many have been imported into the United States through the pet trade, and some are likely to have escaped or been released into the wild. In the absence of natural predators, the Burmese python population has exploded. Since 2000 the species has been recognised as being established across large parts of southern Florida, where it is known to eat a wide variety of mammals and birds.

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Escaped pet Pythons causing decline in Everglades Wildlife

Do Pollutants Cause Breast Cancer?

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:30:27 +0000

Breast cancer is partly caused by toxic chemicals in the environment, according to a recent study by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). These pollutants are surprisingly common, and most women are exposed to them from a variety of sources. Carcinogenic pollutants come from radiation and from consumer products. They are in household cleaning products, microwaves, cosmetics, hairsprays, and refrigerators. These chemicals seep into water as runoff from landfills, affect people as well as animals, and have been shown to cause breast cancer in women. The Breast Cancer Action Foundation believes that the environmental factor has been overlooked in research, and that its influence has been grossly underestimated.

NASA Confirms Man’s role in Global Warming

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:30:26 +0000

A new NASA study confirms the fact that greenhouse gases generated by human activity – not changes in solar activity – are the primary force driving global warming. The study offers an updated calculation of the Earth’s energy imbalance, the difference between the amount of solar energy absorbed by Earth’s surface and the amount returned to space as heat. The researchers’ calculations show that, despite unusually low solar activity between 2005 and 2010, the planet continued to absorb more energy than it returned to space. James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, led the research. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics recently published the study.

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NASA Confirms Man’s role in Global Warming

Carbon Link to Snowball Earth reassessed

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:41:36 +0000

In a study published in the journal Geology, scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science suggest that the large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates which occurred prior to the major climatic event more than 500 million years ago, known as ‘Snowball Earth,’ are unrelated to worldwide glacial events. “Our study suggests that the geochemical record documented in rocks prior to the Marinoan glaciation or ‘Snowball Earth’ are unrelated to the glaciation itself,” said UM Rosenstiel professor Peter Swart, a co-author of the study. “Instead the changes in the carbon isotopic ratio are related to alteration by freshwater as sea level fell.”

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Carbon Link to Snowball Earth reassessed

Cooling Lagoons aim to reduce thermal discharges to marine ecosystems, improve efficiency

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:41:35 +0000

Gulf countries that lack freshwater resources rely deeply on seawater desalination to meet their daily needs and cool down thermal generation plants. According to Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates alone uses four trillion litres of Gulf seawater each year to cool down its power plants, foundries and desalination plants. The byproduct of these operations produces a hot briny fluid that is then pumped back into the Gulf, seriously compromising coral reefs and the overall marine ecosystem. But Crystal Lagoons – the same people who were behind the worlds largest artificial lagoon planned for the Red Sea, is marketing a new closed-loop cooling system that would ensure that no more water would have to be extracted from the Gulf to cool down industrial plants! Thermal power plants require water for cooling, but disposing of that water back into the Gulf is not only harmful to the marine ecosystem, according to Crystal Lagoons, it is also a waste of thermal energy.

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Cooling Lagoons aim to reduce thermal discharges to marine ecosystems, improve efficiency