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	<title>SKCEA.ORG</title>
	<link>http://skcea.org</link>
	<description>Environmental Education And News</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 23 May 2012 19:08:25 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Why the best world-changing ideas begin in your neighbourhood</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Your ideas for changing the world may be desperately important. But if you can't find a way to engage the interests of the people around you they may never take off, argues John-Paul Flintoff. The environmental movement has often been guilty of making people despondent, either by talking about 'problems' in a way that makes listeners feel powerless, or by presenting solutions as miserable duties. It needn't be that way. Instead, we could try to make doing the right thing appealing, rather than merely necessary - and one way to do that is to offer people a chance to say hello to their neighbours. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/why-the-best-world-changing-ideas-begin-in-your-neighbourhood/</link>
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		<title>Charting a new environmental course in China</title>
		<description><![CDATA[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. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/charting-a-new-environmental-course-in-china/</link>
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		<title>The Fall of the Reef Shark</title>
		<description><![CDATA[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. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/the-fall-of-the-reef-shark/</link>
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		<title>Study links fungi to early vascular plants</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Cooperating with fungi didn't just help the earliest plants spread across a barren, rocky landscape; it also played a decisive role in the rise of more complex plants with roots and leaves that make up most of today's flora. That's the conclusion of a recent study, which used experiments on closely-related plants that are still around today to investigate how major environmental changes around 400 million years ago gave more complex new 'vascular' arrivals the edge over older, simpler 'non-vascular' plants like liverworts. A sudden plunge in atmospheric CO2 made these simpler plants' cooperative fungal networks far less capable of supplying them with enough nutrients to grow, compared to a corresponding improvement for their vascular rivals. Adding to the problem, the upstarts were starting to outcompete them for light. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/study-links-fungi-to-early-vascular-plants/</link>
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		<title>Is &quot;Wine on Tap&quot; a More Sustainable, Drinkable Alternative?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[An innovation in wine drinking is emerging in California restaurants: wine on tap. Wine served from a keg is not a new concept; it has a long-standing history in Europe. But here in the United States, wine on tap has been brought to the market and failed – more than once; first in the 1970s, then twice again in the 1980s. This time, however, the concept is sticking; wine kegs are opening up a new market for wineries and rejuvenating the wine industry. Kegged wine has multiple advantages for both the restaurant and the winery. These advantages are environmental, quality related, and economic. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/is-wine-on-tap-a-more-sustainable-drinkable-alternative/</link>
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		<title>G8 Leaders Agree to Act on Climate, Air Pollution</title>
		<description><![CDATA[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). ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/g8-leaders-agree-to-act-on-climate-air-pollution/</link>
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		<title>Leaf &#8217;stamp&#8217; could detect crop diseases</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Crop diseases could be detected earlier and more easily if a new method that stamps a leaf with a color-changing biosensor is successful. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded US$100,000 to Hideaki Tsutsui of the University of California, Riverside, earlier this month (9 May) to develop the early warning system for crop diseases. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/leaf-stamp-could-detect-crop-diseases/</link>
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		<title>Republicans try to force the military to use dirty energy it doesn’t want</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ By David]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/republicans-try-to-force-the-military-to-use-dirty-energy-it-doesn%e2%80%99t-want/</link>
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		<title>Lord Monckton delights Heartland conference with birther antics</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ By Stephen]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/lord-monckton-delights-heartland-conference-with-birther-antics/</link>
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		<title>The Domino’s effect: The pizza giant refuses to phase out inhumane pork</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ By Twilight]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/the-domino%e2%80%99s-effect-the-pizza-giant-refuses-to-phase-out-inhumane-pork/</link>
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		<title>Who’s really hurting Aspen’s environment — jet-setters or immigrant workers?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ By David Naguib]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/who%e2%80%99s-really-hurting-aspen%e2%80%99s-environment-%e2%80%94-jet-setters-or-immigrant-workers/</link>
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		<title>Could Romney’s scorn for wind power hurt him in the heartland?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ By David]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/could-romney%e2%80%99s-scorn-for-wind-power-hurt-him-in-the-heartland/</link>
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		<title>Check the math: Study touting ‘safer’ fracking reveals Big Oil’s ties to academia</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ By Sharon]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/check-the-math-study-touting-%e2%80%98safer%e2%80%99-fracking-reveals-big-oil%e2%80%99s-ties-to-academia/</link>
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		<title>Chemical weapon and radiation fear at Scottish RAF base</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Ministry of Defence (MOD) may have sold off land contaminated with chemical weapons and radioactive material buried at an RAF base in North-East Scotland, according to reports. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) is already investigating radioactive contamination at RAF Kinloss, believed to be from Second World War aircraft coated in radium and buried at the site. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/chemical-weapon-and-radiation-fear-at-scottish-raf-base/</link>
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		<title>The Complete Electric Car with Charging Station</title>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the problems with an all electric car is charging them. As opposed to gasoline stations, there are far fewer opportunities to charge electric vehicles. Shai Agassi hopes Israel is ready to embrace the efficiency and economics of electric cars. His company Better Place rolled out four electric car charging stations in northern Israel. It is planned to quickly grow this network so that every place in Israel be within range of one of their network stations. This is intended to eliminate, the range anxiety which frightens some consumers out of considering electric cars. Better Place contracted with French automaker Renault to produce a customized version of their Fluence electric car. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/the-complete-electric-car-with-charging-station/</link>
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		<title>Watersheds</title>
		<description><![CDATA[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. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/watersheds/</link>
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		<title>Climate Study: Extreme Rain Storms in Midwest Have Doubled in Last 50 Years, Often Leading to Worsened Flooding</title>
		<description><![CDATA[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. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/climate-study-extreme-rain-storms-in-midwest-have-doubled-in-last-50-years-often-leading-to-worsened-flooding/</link>
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		<title>Help at the nest sets chicks up for life</title>
		<description><![CDATA[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. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/help-at-the-nest-sets-chicks-up-for-life/</link>
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		<title>High Concentrations of Toxic Mercury in the Arctic from Circumpolar Rivers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Environmental scientists have known that high levels of the toxic element, mercury, have been accumulating in the Arctic Ocean for some time. It was believed to be mostly caused by atmospheric sources stemming from the combustion of coal. However, a new study from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Harvard School of Public Health has found that the great majority of Arctic mercury arrives via circumpolar rivers. Some of the largest rivers in the world flow north into the Arctic in Eurasia and North America. ]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/high-concentrations-of-toxic-mercury-in-the-arctic-from-circumpolar-rivers/</link>
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		<title>Stanford nutrition guru on how to change our food system (without giving up pizza)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ By Leslie]]></description>
		<link>http://skcea.org/stanford-nutrition-guru-on-how-to-change-our-food-system-without-giving-up-pizza/</link>
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