tagged w/ Trees
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Washington, DC-- While the U.S. Supreme Court hears its first-ever case involving a genetically modified organism, alarms are sounding over the proposed planting of more than a quarter of a million genetically engineered (GE) eucalyptus trees in the U.S., and transgenic trees are being globally condemned.
On April 27, the Supreme Court began to hear a case challenging a ban on the planting of a genetically engineered perennial alfalfa. The ban was implemented due to concerns about escape and contamination, and the inability of U.S. regulators to protect the public. [1]
In April, Reuters released a report exposing the fact that U.S. regulating agencies have "dropped the ball" when it comes to evaluating the potential risks of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). [2]
Reuters highlighted concerns that, "the U.S. government conducts no independent testing of these biotech crops before they are approved, and does little to track their consequences after." The report even went so far as to state, "Indeed, many experts say the U.S. government does more to promote global acceptance of biotech crops than to protect the public from possible harmful consequences."
This is a particular concern since the USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), one of the named agencies in the report, is considering approving a request by ArborGen to plant 260,000 GE trees across seven states even though researchers admit some of these trees produce viable pollen and some seedlings are assured to escape.
Referring to the questionable efficacy of the altered fertility technology in these GE trees, researcher Steve Strauss said, "There does not seem to have been any serious field studies, in any crop, sufficient to estimate the operational effectiveness of containment genes." Adding, "Until many such studies are published, it would be unwise to assume that genes can be fully and safely contained in the near future." [3]
Additionally, MSNBC [4], NPR [5] and PLoS Pathogens [6] recently reported that a new strain of a deadly pathogenic fungus, Cryptococcus gattii, has been causing fatal human illnesses throughout the Pacific Northwest. The fungus, which is known to grow on some species of eucalyptus trees, has killed one on four people in Oregon, and 40 out of 220 people infected throughout the region. While it is not known whether genetically engineered eucalyptus plantations would be a host for the fungus, the fact that some of the GE eucalyptus would have reduced lignin has raised concerns that they could be more susceptible to fungal infection.
Another study by researcher Claire Williams, recently published in the American Journal of Botany, found that pollen from trees remains viable over long distances. [7] This raises concerns about the potential for pollen from genetically engineered versions of native tree species like pines to travel large distances and contaminate forests. Williams' study found that, "GM pine plantings have the potential to disperse viable pollen at least 41 kilometers from the source."
On April 22, during the World Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a broad gathering of Indigenous Peoples, social movements and organizations from around the world, issued a consensus condemnation of transgenic trees (GMO trees) and monoculture plantations. [8]
"Given all of this evidence, the USDA should not even consider approving the release of any genetically engineered trees," insisted Anne Petermann of Global Justice Ecology Project and the STOP GE Trees Campaign. [9] "The fact that there are so many unknowns and no independent studies evaluating the risks of GE trees--which include human health risks and damage to forests and wildlife--is a major reason why the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in 2006 and 2008 urged countries to use the Precautionary Principle with regard to GE trees. The Precautionary Principle would require GE trees to be proven safe before they are released." [10]Washington, DC-- While the U.S. Supreme Court hears its first-ever case involving a... more
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A short creative project capturing movement by the beat of sound to create a visual structure of a song. I think it came out well for my first try, see what you think!A short creative project capturing movement by the beat of sound to create a visual... more
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Roots of trees were not able to penetrate the sandstone and ancient concrete covering the pyramid.Roots of trees were not able to penetrate the sandstone and ancient concrete covering... more
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Since I was little, I had Bonsais and loved trees.
During my life I have planted thousands of trees, some from the seed.
Some of them I have got to see after 10 and some after 20 years.
Tall, but thin…
When I see a huge trunk, I know age and the effort of such tree.
To know such tree may have survive even longer then our time, more then 2000 years.
The oldest living thing in the Planet.
The redwoods of California, amazing!
The trees are more amazing then any cathedral, then any building, then any other structure in the Planet, because, you cannot replicate such amazing beauty and resistance.
Any tower, any building can be rebuilt,
But no tree of such age can be replaced.
When I see those huge trunks on top of loggers trucks,
I question myself, who is so stupid to do such a Harm.
Not only to a tree, but to thousands and millions of trees,
Not only to the trees, but to thousands and millions of species that are their homes, their food, all.
Our lungs.
But who and how can make such a harm?
How can they get away with it?
People with money, company’s without any consideration for others but themselves.
Those are the rich who support government who support the right to become richer.
What we call the natural conspiracy.
The basis of all, is in fact in courts.
Corrupt courts, who receive donations from attorneys.
Attorneys control the decrees: http://www.oath.tv you will think such case has not much to do?
Wrong, it clearly shows the corruption in our courts and is exposing organized crimes in court between attorneys, judges, process servers, police, all is one big monster: Government.
They claim all is the economy, but the economy is clear destruction of the Planet recourses, growth equal destruction.
Maybe downsize homes, downsize cars, downsize highways, and downsize engines.
When I see the figures of the jungles and forest been cut every second and see the weather changing, I question myself who is so stupid ?
Is those rich people who are so busy making money, that they will never spend it,
Money addicts…
Yet, they stop living life.
The most stupid people I have met, meaning lack of intelligence, are rich.
The wisest people I met, are in nature.
Money addicts…
Stop feedings these addicts, stop buying…
You do not need nothing more than food, a bed, and a very small dwelling.
By http://www.WaterPlanet.tv “ We are growing as a tree, very slow, but very strong”Since I was little, I had Bonsais and loved trees.
During my life I have planted... more
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It all started with Sting, this fad for owning one's very own patch of tropical rainforest, though it is probably unfair to blame him entirely for creating the boom industry that buying up forests piecemeal has become. It is 20 years since the musician first set foot in Brazil and pledged to fight the cause of the Yanomami Indians, setting up the Rainforest Foundation to protect forests and their indigenous inhabitants. Today, protecting forests has acquired a more international purpose.
Climate change, rather than assuring the livelihoods of local people, has become the issue. Celebrities and politicians, and many others just in search of a quick buck, are falling over each other to advocate plant-a-tree conservationism as a salve to global warming. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&Itemid=27&id=27%3Athe-joomla-communityIt all started with Sting, this fad for owning one's very own patch of tropical... more
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worrg
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added this
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2 years ago
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Tree Nation is a social network with the objective of planting trees to fight climate change
Africa struggles with drought, poverty and desertification. So why not plant eight million trees, in the shape of a giant heart, in poor and arid Niger?
Tree Nation, a social network with the objective of planting trees to fight climate change, is doing exactly that.
The company works in partnership with the UN environment programme Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign, providing a social network platform for members to discuss social responsibility issues, along with buying and planting trees.
The site offers six tree options (costing around €8-25), each suited to the area in which it will be planted and each specifically countering desertification. You can plant (by choosing the location on a map) your own tree and monitor its progress through a virtual brother tree.
“Planting trees is a simple and very effective way of enabling us to rectify human error,” Emiliana Silvestri, Content Manager at Tree Nation told Sideways News.
“It is an ideal first step to tackling climate change and shows people how easy it is for them to make a difference and restore hope.”Tree Nation is a social network with the objective of planting trees to fight climate... more
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I planted a red mangrove in Muisne - Ecuador. This is part of my initiative to plant trees in Ecuador. More info about the project check my personal blog http://middleofworld.wordpress.com/
Thanks,
DaniloI planted a red mangrove in Muisne - Ecuador. This is part of my initiative to plant... more
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nilo07
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added this
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2 years ago
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In conjunction with the Earth Day release of Avatar on blue-ray and DVD, Oscar winning director James Cameron kicked off his arbor-themed initiative this past Sunday along with fellow Avatar teamplayer Sigourney Weaver.
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2010/04/12/james-cameron-million-trees-avatar/In conjunction with the Earth Day release of Avatar on blue-ray and DVD, Oscar winning... more
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Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.
"It is the people who must save the environment. It is the people who must make their leaders change. And we cannot be intimidated. So we must stand up for what we believe in."
Wangari Maathai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5GX6JktJZg
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/takingroot/Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari... more
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The National Cherry Blossom Festival is an annual two-week event that celebrates springtime in Washington, DC as well as the 1912 gift of the cherry blossom trees and the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan.The National Cherry Blossom Festival is an annual two-week event that celebrates... more
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It's finally spring! And that means t-shirt weather, so this week I'm excited to show you my favorite new shirt by Excentree. This eco-friendly company uses certified organic cotton to make their limited-edition shirts and gives you the chance to plant one tree for every garment sold.It's finally spring! And that means t-shirt weather, so this week I'm... more
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Growing food. Working in the soil. Bringing trees to Chicago neighborhoods, one block at a time. That's the focus of one inner-city organization with a garden in one of Chicago's toughest areas.
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov spent some time there today - with young gardeners who went from working in a prison to working on that farm.
Their work takes place on a corner lot, across from Humboldt Park. It's being farmed by a group called the Cob Connection and its young farmers.
"There's no question in my mind," says Cob Connection's Urban Farm Manager, Noah Swinney Stein. "Food is one of those things that can bring anybody together."
Twenty-two-year-old Justin Quinones is one of the interns. He, like his fellow Cob Connection farmers, is an ex-con. He says tilling the earth has calmed him down after he was sent to prison for armed robbery when he was just 17.
Workforce development is part of the group's purpose. They've received stimulus money through the city to take apple saplings, plant them in city neighborhoods and teach people how to care for and share them while growing other food, too. It's called the CommuniTree Project, and these men will help see it through.
"We all know that we've all needed our second, third, maybe our fourth, chance to be able to do things right in our lives," Stain said.Growing food. Working in the soil. Bringing trees to Chicago neighborhoods, one block... more
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A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology could help drastically reduce the incidence of waterborne disease in the developing world.
The procedure, which uses seeds from the Moringa oleifera tree, can produce a 90.00% to 99.99% bacterial reduction in previously untreated water, and has been made free to download as part of access programs under John Wiley and Sons' Corporate Citizenship Initiative.
A billion people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are estimated to rely on untreated surface water sources for their daily water needs. Of these, some two million are thought to die from diseases caught from contaminated water every year, with the majority of these deaths occurring among children under five years of age.
Michael Lea, a Current Protocols author and a researcher at Clearinghouse, a Canadian organisation dedicated to investigating and implementing low-cost water purification technologies, believes the Moringa oleifera tree could go a long way to providing a solution.
"Moringa oleifera is a vegetable tree which is grown in Africa, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, and South East Asia. It could be considered to be one of the world's most useful trees," said Lea.
"Not only is it drought resistant, it also yields cooking and lighting oil, soil fertilizer, as well as highly nutritious food in the form of its pods, leaves, seeds and flowers. Perhaps most importantly, its seeds can be used to purify drinking water at virtually no cost."
Moringa tree seeds, when crushed into powder, can be used as a water-soluble extract in suspension, resulting in an effective natural clarification agent for highly turbid and untreated pathogenic surface water. As well as improving drinkability, this technique reduces water turbidity (cloudiness) making the result aesthetically as well as microbiologically more acceptable for human consumption.
Despite its live-saving potential, the technique is still not widely known, even in areas where the Moringa is routinely cultivated. It is therefore Lea's hope that the publication of this technique in a freely available protocol format, a first, will make it easier to disseminate the procedure to the communities that need it.
cont.A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology... more
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Books, books, beautiful books! This is a list of biology, ecology, environment, natural history and animal books that are (or will soon be) available to occupy your bookshelves (or your library's bookshelves) and your thoughts. Includes children's books!Books, books, beautiful books! This is a list of biology, ecology, environment,... more
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A boy of five was left stranded in a tree at school because of a bizarre health and safety policy - which banned teachers from helping him down.
The mischievous pupil climbed the 20ft tree at the end of morning break and refused to come down.
But instead of helping him, staff followed guidelines and retreated inside the school building to ‘observe from a distance’ so the child would not get ‘distracted and fall’.A boy of five was left stranded in a tree at school because of a bizarre health and... more
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Stopping tropical deforestation is something that almost everyone can agree upon as a reasonable and intelligent way to reduce CO2 emissions. Trees absorb atmospheric CO2 and emit oxygen, acting as planetary lungs. Tropical rainforests are some of the largest stands of trees in existence.
So we know what we want to keep. The question is how to do so. ...
http://solveclimate.com/blog/20100323/drivers-deforestation-tropics-urbanization-plays-key-roleStopping tropical deforestation is something that almost everyone can agree upon as a... more
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http://www.prweb.com/releases/climatechange/recycle/prweb3728194.htm
PlantMyPhone, an official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Billion Tree Campaign, estimates that the stockpile of old cellphones in the US totals 275 million pounds. PlantMyPhone announces the launch of a new service that harnesses this stockpile of pollution to fight climate change. PlantMyPhone enables individuals to recycle their old phone to fund the planting of new trees.
PlantMyPhone estimates that the stockpile of old cellphones from the last 5 years totals an astounding 630 million handsets…
It is both a large environmental hazard and a large opportunity that can be harnessed to fight climate change
PBTs are associated with a range of adverse human health effects, including damage to the nervous system, reproductive and developmental problems, cancer and genetic impacts.
Plant for the Planet: The Billion Tree Campaign
(Vocus/PRWEB ) March 16, 2010 -- PlantMyPhone, an official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Billion Tree Campaign, estimates that the stockpile of old cellphones in US from the last five years totals 275 million pounds. To turn the tides of pollution, PlantMyPhone announces the launch of a new service that harnesses this stockpile of pollution to fight climate change. PlantMyPhone enables individuals to recycle their old phone to fund the planting of new trees.
The EPA estimates that of the 140 million cellphones retired per year, only 10% are recycled. The remainder decay in drawers in our homes or end up in landfills. Cellphones contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, beryllium, arsenic, cadmium, and antimony. If incinerated these substances can pollute the air we breathe, in landfills they can leach into local water systems. “PlantMyPhone estimates that the stockpile of old cellphones from the last 5 years totals an astounding 630 million handsets…" explained Krates Ng, co-founder of PlantMyPhone. “It is both a large environmental hazard and a large opportunity that can be harnessed to fight climate change”.
Many of the materials found in cellphones are also on the EPA's list of persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs). Because PBTs accumulate in the fatty tissues of humans and animals, the toxins are gradually concentrated, putting those at the top of the food chain at the greatest risk, especially children. According to the EPA, "PBTs are associated with a range of adverse human health effects, including damage to the nervous system, reproductive and developmental problems, cancer and genetic impacts."
The PlantMyPhone program is free for everyone to participate (PlantMyPhone pays for all postage). Individuals can print free shipping labels or request pre-paid postage mailer bags online at PlantMyPhone.com. PlantMyPhone has partnered with environmentally progressive retailers to increase the awareness of the program and make mailer bags available for local pickup. A listing of local retail partners is available online at PlantMyPhone.com.
In addition to protecting the local environment and fighting climate change, participants have a chance to win $1,000. Odds of winning are set at 1 in 500 to ensure that the awareness will spread from winners via word of mouth.
As an environmental win, PlantMyPhone plants a minimum of 1 tree per phone and an average of 15 trees per phone. These trees are planted in tropical regions that have the highest efficiency in fighting climate change. PlantMyPhone trees are planted via agroforestry education programs that reforest depleted lands with environmentally and economically sustainable farming. Agroforestry integrates agriculture, trees, people and animals in ways that restore ecological balance, while allowing farmers to make the best possible use of the resources they already possess. The ultimate goal is an environmentally and economically sustainable system of land use in which planting and properly nurturing trees helps to provide a lifetime of income and a legacy that can be proudly passed on to future generations.
The purpose of PlantMyPhone is to turn the tide of local pollution and global climate change so that all citizens of our planet can leave a legacy that they can proudly pass on to future generations.http://www.prweb.com/releases/climatechange/recycle/prweb3728194.htm
PlantMyPhone,... more
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Books, books, beautiful books! This is a list of biology, ecology, environment, natural history and animal books that are (or will soon be) available to occupy your bookshelves (or your library's bookshelves) and your thoughts.Books, books, beautiful books! This is a list of biology, ecology, environment,... more
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