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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

The Fall of the Reef Shark

admin — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:08:24 +0000

Sharks have a reputation of being apex predators of the sea. But even they have their weak points. Many shark populations have plummeted in the past three decades as a result of excessive harvesting – for their fins, as an incidental catch of fisheries targeting other species, and in recreational fisheries. This is particularly true for oceanic species. However, until now, a lack of data prevented scientists from properly quantifying the status of Pacific reef sharks at a large geographic scale. Curious gray reef sharks at Kure Atoll in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii were studied as part of a study published April 25 in the journal Conservation Biology. An international team of marine scientists provided the first estimates of reef shark losses in the Pacific Ocean using underwater surveys conducted over the past decade across 46 US Pacific islands and atolls, as part of NOAA’s extensive Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program. The team compared reef shark numbers at reefs.

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The Fall of the Reef Shark

The Domino’s effect: The pizza giant refuses to phase out inhumane pork

admin — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:06:33 +0000

By Twilight

Climate Study: Extreme Rain Storms in Midwest Have Doubled in Last 50 Years, Often Leading to Worsened Flooding

admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:50:17 +0000

The kind of deluges that in recent years washed out Cedar Rapids, IA, forced the Army Corps of Engineers to intentionally blow up levees to save Cairo, IL, and sent the Missouri River over its banks for hundreds of miles are part of a growing trend, according to a new report released today by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Big storms, leading to big floods, are occurring with increasing frequency in the Midwest, with incidences of the most severe downpours doubling over the last half century, the report finds.

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Climate Study: Extreme Rain Storms in Midwest Have Doubled in Last 50 Years, Often Leading to Worsened Flooding

Help at the nest sets chicks up for life

admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:50:16 +0000

A chick’s chances throughout life will depend on a good environment and good parenting in its earliest months. One of the ways that chicks can get ahead is to have an extra relative looking after them. New research shows that the benefits of having a ‘helper at the nest’ extend even into adulthood.

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Help at the nest sets chicks up for life

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

Risky business: A look inside the black heart of a goliath oil company

admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:01:38 +0000

By Greg

U.S. military kicks more ass by using less fossil-fuel energy

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:21:31 +0000

By David

Happy, Happy Parents!

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:03:02 +0000

Raising a family can be a difficult matter. But does it make one happy or miserable? Of course part of the answer is that it depends… Contrary to some scholarship and popular belief, parents experience greater levels of happiness and meaning in life than people without children, according to researchers from the University of California, Riverside, the University of British Columbia and Stanford University. Parents also are happier during the day when they are caring for their children than during their other daily activities, the researchers found in a series of studies conducted in the United States and Canada.

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Happy, Happy Parents!

Ask Umbra: What can I do with old CD cases?

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:40:11 +0000

By Ask

EPA: Protect Yourself from the Sun this Summer!

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 14:42:07 +0000

The warming temperatures will bring many people out into the sun to get a little color on their skins. The sun, while being the source of all life on Earth, is also quite lethal if exposed for too long. As summer approaches, it is good to remember a few things about protecting your skin from the great ball of fire in the sky. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has teamed up with the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Park Service (NPS) in a joint effort to spread the word. They have designated the Friday before Memorial Day as “Don’t Fry Day” to highlight the important message.

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EPA: Protect Yourself from the Sun this Summer!

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.

Natural sinks still sopping up carbon

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:50:29 +0000

Earth’s ecosystems keep soaking up more carbon as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, new measurements find. The research contradicts several recent studies suggesting that “carbon sinks” have reached or passed their capacity. By looking at global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the new work calculates instead that total sinks have increased roughly in line with rising emissions.

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Natural sinks still sopping up carbon

Cars That Run on Natural Gas – Alternative Fuels

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:50:28 +0000

Find out how an alternative fuel used all over the world may find its way into American vehicles. Natural gas is abundant, clean and already a part of our everyday lives—and it may be the next big alternative fuel. In the world of alternative fuels, electric, hydrogen and even hybrid vehicles get most of the attention. Not many people are aware of another alternative automotive fuel that burns cleaner than gasoline, is found abundantly in the United States and is already in heavy use around the world: natural gas. Natural gas is by no means a new fuel; it’s been used to heat homes and cook food in gas stoves for more than a century. But only recently have automotive technicians begun exploring the possibility of using natural gas as an alternative to gasoline in automobiles here in the United States. When used in automobiles, natural gas comes in two forms: Compressed natural gas (CNG) Liquefied natural gas (LNG) Both forms require storage in cylinders that are often located in the trunk of the vehicle. When being burned by an engine, natural gas works very similarly to gasoline; vehicles that run on natural gas will have spark plug timing and compression optimized for that type of fuel.

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Cars That Run on Natural Gas – Alternative Fuels

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?

Jamie Oliver wants you to join the Food Revolution

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:53:38 +0000

By Claire

Umbra’s second helpings: Riding your bike to work [VIDEO]

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:19:32 +0000

By Grist

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