SKCEA.ORG » Environmental Economics/Politics

Charting a new environmental course in China

admin — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:08:25 +0000

Founded in 1951, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) works in more than 30 countries and has projects in all 50 of the United States. The Conservancy has over one million members, and has protected more than 119 million acres of wild-lands and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide. TNC has taken an active interest in China, the world’s most populated nation, and in many important ways, a critical center of global development. The following is an interview with multiple directors of The Nature Conservancy’s China Program. Mongabay: Please tell our readers about the background and history of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) work in China. Zhang Shuang, Director of TNC China Program: Though TNC is a big international organization, we started small in China, in the critically important Northwest corner of the province of Yunnan. We were invited by the Yunnan provincial government to help them complete a regional conservation plan. That was in 1998. We still operate a number of projects in Yunnan but now have also expanded site work into Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, and the Yangtze River Basin. While the opportunities and need for addressing environmental challenges in China are enormous, we still try to focus our work on select areas, where we can really have an impact. This includes addressing climate change (through restoring forests and creating adaptation strategies), introducing new models of protected areas while strengthening existing conservation landscapes, and minimizing the impact of hydropower and other development in the Yangtze River Basin, China’s heartland.

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Charting a new environmental course in China

G8 Leaders Agree to Act on Climate, Air Pollution

admin — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:08:22 +0000

At the Camp David meeting last week, G8 leaders agreed to act on climate change and air pollution by focusing on methane, black carbon (soot), and hydroflurocarbons (HFCs).

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G8 Leaders Agree to Act on Climate, Air Pollution

Watersheds

admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:50:18 +0000

Where will the water be? That is the critical question for the future as climate changes occur forcing water to change its habits. Climate change projections indicate a steady increase in temperature progressing through the 21st century, generally resulting in snow pack reductions, changes to the timing of snow melt, altered stream flows, and reductions in soil moisture, all of which could affect water management, agriculture, recreation, hazard mitigation, and ecosystems across the nation. Despite some widespread similarities in climate change trends, climate change will affect specific water basins in the U.S. differently, based on the particular hydrologic and geologic conditions in that area.

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Watersheds

1,000 Years of Climate Data Confirms Australia’s Warming

admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:56:02 +0000

In the first study of its kind in Australasia, scientists have used 27 natural climate records to create the first large-scale temperature reconstruction for the region over the last 1000 years. The study was led by researchers at the University of Melbourne and used a range of natural indicators including tree rings, corals and ice cores to study Australasian temperatures over the past millennium and compared them to climate model simulations

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1,000 Years of Climate Data Confirms Australia’s Warming

Lose Weight While You Sleep!

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:03:01 +0000

Want to lose weight but find it hard to hit the gym three times a week or eating 1,500 calories per day? You might not have to do either. New research suggest sleeping more could be enough to keep the flab away. Research into the circadian clock that regulates our sleep-wake cycle shows disruptions to the clock may be linked to metabolic disorders such as obesity and type-2 diabetes. And researchers say sleeping for eight hours a night and eating during daylight hours could be as important in controlling weight gain as diet and exercise. Gad Asher, clinician and medical researcher from the Department of Biological Chemistry at Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, presented research to a Garvan Institute seminar on obesity in Melbourne last night that found every cell in the body has a circadian clock.

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Lose Weight While You Sleep!

Lasers and Trains

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:02:59 +0000

A laser is a device that emits light (electromagnetic radiation) through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term laser originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The emitted laser light is notable for its high degree of spatial and temporal coherence, unattainable using other technologies. Laser systems can be used to implement highly precise and ultra-fast measuring processes. Railway measuring technology has a huge worldwide need here. One prerequisite for its use is that nobody is damaged or suffers irritations by the laser. Dr. Heinrich Höfler and Dipl.-Ing. Harald Wölfelschneider from the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM in Freiburg have worked with their team to develop a 3D laser scanner. It can be used outdoors without hesitation. Extremely fast and precise, it is able to spatially measure and monitor the position of the contact wire or the track from a train traveling at up to 100 kilometers (62 mph) per hour. If the scanner is stationary, it can capture passing trains and check for loads that might have slipped.

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Lasers and Trains

Tropic Atmospheric Circulation

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 23:15:55 +0000

An University of California – Riverside led team has identified black carbon and tropospheric ozone as the most likely drivers of large-scale atmospheric circulation change in the Northern Hemisphere tropics zone. While stratospheric ozone depletion has already been shown to be the primary driver of the expansion of the tropics in the Southern Hemisphere, the researchers are the first to report that black carbon and tropospheric ozone are the most likely primary drivers of the tropical expansion observed in the Northern Hemisphere.

Taste and Temperature

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:50:27 +0000

Some people like food or beverages hot and some like them cold. What’s the difference? Can the temperature of the food we eat affect the intensity of its taste? It depends on the taste, according to a new study by Dr. Gary Pickering and colleagues from Brock University in Canada. Their work shows that changes in the temperature of foods and drinks have an effect on the intensity of sour, bitter and astringent tastes but not sweetness. Their work is published online in Springer’s Chemosensory Perception journal. Humans receive tastes through sensory organs called taste buds concentrated on the top of the tongue. Taste is sensed through taste cells, which are known as taste buds. There are about 100,000 taste buds that are located on the back and front of the tongue. Others are located on the roof, sides and back of the mouth, and in the throat.

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Taste and Temperature

Paper or Plastic?

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:50:26 +0000

Cities in a number of Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan, are currently on the warpath against plastic shopping bags. The cities have passed local laws that ban such bags, on the basis that they clog sewers and drainage canals, cause street flooding, choke animals and are responsible for other forms of environmental damage. China and Taiwan, for example, impose heavy fines on violators. Other countries are appealing for a switch to the production and use of biodegradable bags. But this misses the point. People do not object to using biodegradable bags, and consider them a welcome return to the traditional practice of using shopping baskets and bags made from locally available materials — such as jute, abaca and cloth — that are less harmful to the environment.

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Paper or Plastic?

NOAA: Six Fish Populations Restored to Healthy Levels in the US

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:49:14 +0000

All are aware of the tragic loss of biodiversity that this planet is current going through in various ecosystems. However, a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report shows that when good policies are in place, natural ecosystems can sustain themselves and thrive. NOAA has released its annual report, stating that a record six fish populations have been rebuilt to healthy levels in 2011. This brings the number of rebuilt US marine fish populations to 27 since the start of the 21st century, showing that great strides have been made to end overfishing thanks to all interested parties.

Melting Sea Ice Could Lead to Pressure on Arctic Fishery

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:49:13 +0000

With melting sea ice opening up previously inaccessible parts of the Arctic Ocean, the fishing industry sees a potential bonanza. But some scientists and government officials have begun calling for a moratorium on fishing in the region until the true state of the Arctic fishery is assessed. When scientists with the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program began tracking 323 vertebrate species across the entire Arctic several years ago, most assumed that many fish and animals would not fare well in a region where rapid warming is causing such profound changes.

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Melting Sea Ice Could Lead to Pressure on Arctic Fishery

European Agricultural Ministers look to backtrack on Farm Carbon Program

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:49:12 +0000

Conservation groups have condemned a move by European agricultural ministers to tone down some of the most controversial environmental proposals in the next phase of the EU’s farm support programme. Agricultural and fisheries ministers from the 27 EU countries called yesterday (15 May) for replacing conservation measures recommended by the European Commission with a more flexible system. The decision was not a surprise – ministers have indicated in the past that there was little political appetite for creating requirements in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that tie direct payments to farmers to measures aimed at cutting carbon emissions and reducing other pollutants.

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European Agricultural Ministers look to backtrack on Farm Carbon Program

Solar Paint Technology May Revolutionize the Renewable Energy Industry

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:49:11 +0000

Lowering your carbon footprint and reducing greenhouse gasses may become as simple as painting your home or office, thanks to breakthrough research from the University of Notre Dame. The researchers, led by Professor Prashant Kamat, have created a new solar paint dubbed Sun-believable, which is laced with power producing nanoparticles capable of producing electricity. With the ability to generate renewable energy from this new, less invasive method, bulky solar panels as we know them today may soon become relics destined for the museum.

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Solar Paint Technology May Revolutionize the Renewable Energy Industry

Wind, Solar…Coconuts: Small Island Developing States Commit to Renewable, Sustainable Energy for All

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:04:53 +0000

Typically heavily reliant on the cost of high and volatile diesel and fossil fuel imports, small island developing states are also on the front line when it comes to having to cope with climate change. Now they’re realizing there’s a lot in the way of cleaner, more efficient and less costly power and fuel resources right at home. They’re increasingly, if belatedly, establishing ambitious renewable energy programs and setting aggressive targets to employ local renewable energy resources to reduce CO2 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, working with a range of international development agencies, public and private sector partners domestic and foreign, in doing so.

How Pain Comes and Goes

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:57:26 +0000

Pain is an unpleasant feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli as communicated by a nerve. No one likes it though it does serve as a warning to do something about the pain source. Researchers at the University of Leeds have found a previously unknown mechanism through which pain is signaled by nerve cells. A discovery that could explain the current failings in the drug development process for painkillers and which may offer opportunities for a new approach. In order to control pain, one, must understand how it works.

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How Pain Comes and Goes

How Pain Comes and Goes

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:57:26 +0000

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How Pain Comes and Goes

How Pain Comes and Goes

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:57:26 +0000

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How Pain Comes and Goes

How Ambient Noise Affects Cognitive Ability

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:57:25 +0000

Just as water pollution is contamination of the water, noise can be considered contamination of the air waves. From a cognitive standpoint, there exists an optimal level of ambient noise. Too far above or below this level will cause focus and creativity to drop off. In this sense, noise is like pollution of the mind. A new study from the University of Illinois shows that ambient noise is a major factor affecting creative cognitive abilities. It is something that advertisers and marketers should be especially attuned to in marketing their products to the public.

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How Ambient Noise Affects Cognitive Ability

How Ambient Noise Affects Cognitive Ability

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:57:25 +0000

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How Ambient Noise Affects Cognitive Ability

How Ambient Noise Affects Cognitive Ability

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:57:25 +0000

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How Ambient Noise Affects Cognitive Ability