tagged w/ Environmental Issues
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As we become more and more aware that we may be using water at an unsustainable pace, the idea of water footprints—the amount of water an individual uses—is becoming more common. Water footprints can be hard to calculate, depending on how far up the chain of production you go, since everything you eat and buy used some water to produce (to feed cows for beef, for example, or to use in the factory that made your cell phone). With our latest Transparency, we give you some examples of how much water is used in some of your daily activities, so that you can begin calculate your footprint and try to reduce your gallons.
To help put things in perspective, think about this: your standard trash barrel holds 32 gallons and a mid-sized passenger car—if pumped full of water—has room for a little more than 800 gallons. So, the difference in the amount of water it takes to produce a pound of chicken and a pound of beef is enough to fill almost two whole cars.As we become more and more aware that we may be using water at an unsustainable pace,... more
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Farmers fertilize their fields to get the maximum yield from their crops. But the effects of these loads of nitrogen and phosphorous extend beyond the field and past the growing season. According to a study published this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, these nutrients can also drive the evolution of aquatic organisms.
Agricultural fertilizers often drain into aquatic ecosystems and spur a frenzy of growth. Eventually the growth peaks and crashes as oxygen is consumed faster than it can be replenished—a condition called eutrophication.
Using samples from two European lakes, Swiss researchers studied a century’s worth of eggs buried deep in the sediment by two species of Daphnia, a tiny crustacean. They found that, during periods of high nutrient levels, genetically distinct hybrid species emerged. Those hybrids appeared better at surviving eutrophication and soon outnumbered the original species.
What’s more, the hybrids remained the dominant Daphnia species decades after pollution control measures brought nutrient levels back to normal. The scientists say short-term human impacts can leave permanent changes in ecosystems and a species' genetics.
You could say we’ve got quite the "gene" thumb.Farmers fertilize their fields to get the maximum yield from their crops. But the... more
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It's often been said - I've no idea who started it, but it was good of him or her - that we know less about the Earth's oceans than we do about the surfaces of other planets.
Well, this week we've found out a little more; fishing close to the surface can have a significant impact nearer the bottom of the sea.
The Royal Society's Proceedings B journal publishes research from the northeast Atlantic - off the southwestern coast of Ireland, to be precise - showing that at depths of about 2.5km, populations of many fish species are significantly lower than they were 30 years ago.
Eel numbers at these depths have halved.
There could be a number of factors involved; but the most likely, according to the researchers, is the commercial fishing operations that have started in the last 30 years for deep-water species such as orange roughy and roundnose grenadier.
Yet most commercial trawls don't go down anywhere near that deep - about 1.5km, in this location, is the maximum - so what's going on?
----- more at linkIt's often been said - I've no idea who started it, but it was good of him... more
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As sea levels rise and world weather patterns worsen, flooding has become a major cause of rice crop loss. Scientists estimate 4 million tons of rice are lost every year because of flooding. That's enough rice to feed 30 million people.
Rice is grown in flooded fields, usually to kill weeds. But rice plants do not like it when they are submerged in water for long periods, Ronald said.
"They don't get enough carbon dioxide, they don't get enough light and their entire metabolic processes are thrown off. The rice plant tries to grow out of the flood, but when it does, it depletes its sugar reserves. It starts to break down its chlorophyll, important for photosynthesis. It grows really quickly, and then when the flood recedes, it just dies. It's out of gas."As sea levels rise and world weather patterns worsen, flooding has become a major... more
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Part street warrior, part philosopher and totally crazy, Mad Momma riffs on environmental issues. Today, she sacks plastic bags.Part street warrior, part philosopher and totally crazy, Mad Momma riffs on... more
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THE pure dingo is nearing threatened species status in Victoria and has been nominated for environmental protection.
A scientific advisory committee has advised that the pure dingo, as one of the only indigenous, top-order predators left in Australia, should be listed as a threatened species in Victoria.
Environment Minister Gavin Jennings said the State Government was working to protect the pure dingo while supporting appropriate control of wild dogs that threatened livestock, with extra funding of $3.4m over five years.
The dog also has a role in keeping kangaroo and wallaby numbers at "sustainable levels,'' he said.
"We need to act now, because scientific evidence suggests pure dingoes are on the brink of extinction in Victoria,'' Mr Jennings said.
"So it is appropriate we develop a management plan to protect this threatened species.
"Wild dog control programs may actually assist in conserving the pure dingo, because the greatest threat to pure dingoes is interbreeding with domestic dogs gone wild.''
The Government says the plan to manage and protect pure dingoes will be developed in consultation with landholders, dingo protection groups and the community.
THE pure dingo is nearing threatened species status in Victoria and has been... more
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Being the barer of bad tidings, yet again, I have to post the sad news that Oscar Beard is dead.
Well, the name anyway.
From now on all my future work on Current, across the Internet and on local national and international news channels will go out under my real name.
A blog is running here:
http://jasonnparkinson.blogspot.com/
The link above is to the first film under my real name, the NUJ-funded movie Press Freedom: Collateral Damage.
The film website is here:
It has been fun running across the world under different personas, but time has been called on Oscar. I am planning a compilation DVD of the Oscar Beard work, which spans some three years and ended up in some pretty dire situations. Keep you eyes on the blog for its release.
Okay for now.Being the barer of bad tidings, yet again, I have to post the sad news that Oscar... more
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THE Tokyo International Film Festival opened today with an environmental theme as filmmakers from around the world greeted Japanese movie fans on a ceremonial "green carpet".
Stars attending the festival include director John Woo and actor Tony Leung, both from Hong Kong, who came for the festival's opening film Red Cliff.
Hollywood actress Julianne Moore also appeared for the epidemic thriller Blindness with her Japanese co-star Yoshino Kimura. Among other participants in the opening was Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Fifteen films, widely ranging in theme and style, will screen in competition for the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix.
There are two Japanese films, Echo of Silence directed by actor Atsuro Watabe and School Days with a Pig by Tetsu Maeda, and two Chinese works, Claustrophobia directed by Ivy Ho and Super Typhoon by Feng Xiaoning.
Other works in competition include an Iranian love story, an Italian domestic drama and a French suspense film.
Academy Award-winning American actor Jon Voight will head the board of judges for the films, all of which will be screened for the first time in Asia.
The Sakura Grand Prix will be announced on October 26.
Now in its 21st edition, the Tokyo International Film Festival, or TIFF, has picked up a theme of the environment.
All movies are screened with electricity generated by wind energy, with a symbolic "green carpet'' replacing the red carpet.
Films to be screened in the "natural TIFF'' environmental section include Blue Symphony, about late legendary diver Jacques Mayol, and Ashes from the Sky, a Spanish comedy about an anti-pollution campaign.
The Tokyo International Film Festival has aspired to be the premier festival in Asia for international films with the same prestige as Cannes, Venice or Berlin.
But TIFF has faced tough competition from the film festivals in Bangkok and Busan, South Korea.
THE Tokyo International Film Festival opened today with an environmental theme as... more
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Autumn temperatures in the Arctic are at record highs, the Arctic Ocean is getting warmer and less salty as sea ice melts, and reindeer herds appear to be declining, researchers reported Thursday.
"Obviously, the planet is interconnected, so what happens in the Arctic does matter" to the rest of the world, Jackie Richter-Menge of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H., said in releasing the third annual Arctic Report Card for the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Autumn temperatures in the Arctic are at record highs, the Arctic Ocean is getting... more
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Autumn temperatures in the Arctic are at record levels, the Arctic Ocean is getting warmer and less salty as sea ice melts, and reindeer herds appear to be declining, researchers reported Thursday.
"Obviously, the planet is interconnected, so what happens in the Arctic does matter" to the rest of the world, Jackie Richter-Menge of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H., said in releasing the third annual Arctic Report Card.Autumn temperatures in the Arctic are at record levels, the Arctic Ocean is getting... more
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If splitting an atom releases enough energy to make a bomb big enough to destoy an entire city, then what would happen if you built a machine designed to create a 'big bang' 100 times hotter than the sun's core? I think it could go something like this...
Revelations 16, 17-19 "The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. "
Hey, but what do I know, the scientists in geneva, those guys know what their doing, don't they? They've build hundreds of these things before right? Relax people, we're in good hands, do you think those brilliant minds would dare screw up something of this magnidtude... what and risk losing that nobel prize, no way... everything will be just fine.If splitting an atom releases enough energy to make a bomb big enough to destoy an... more
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colmor
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You laughed at me, you called me crazy, well eat me y'all nay sayers!
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colmor
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Bureaucrats at the American Physical Society (APS) have issued a curious warning to their members about an article in one of their own publications. Don't read this, they say - we don't agree with it. But what is it about the piece that is so terrible, that like Medusa, it could make men go blind?
It's an article that examines the calculation central to climate models. As the editor of the APS's newsletter American Physics Jeffrey Marque explains, the global warming debate must be re-opened.
"There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for the global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution. Since the correctness or fallacy of that conclusion has immense implications for public policy and for the future of the biosphere, we thought it appropriate to present a debate within the pages of P&S concerning that conclusion," he wrote.
American Physics invited both believers and sceptics to submit articles, and has published a submission by Viscount Monckton questioning the core calculation of the greenhouse gas theory: climate sensitivity. The believers are represented by two physicists from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, who state that:
"Basic atmospheric models clearly predict that additional greenhouse gasses will raise the temperature of Earth. To argue otherwise, one must prove a physical mechanism that gives a reasonable alternative cause of warming. This has not been done. Sunspot and temperature correlations do not prove causality."
But within a few days, Monckton's piece carried a health warning: in bright red ink.
The following article has not undergone any scientific peer review. Its conclusions are in disagreement with the overwhelming opinion of the world scientific community. The Council of the American Physical Society disagrees with this article's conclusions.
Not so much Medusa, then, as Nanny telling the children what not to think.
"The first sentence is nothing more or less than a deliberate lie," writes Professor John Brignell on his Numberwatch blog. "The second is, to say the least, contentious; while the third is an outrageous example of ultra vires interference by a committee in the proper conduct of scientific debate."
Monckton has asked for an apology. In a letter to the APS President Arthur Bienenstock, he writes:
"If the Council has not scientifically evaluated or formally considered my paper, may I ask with what credible scientific justification, and on whose authority, the offending text asserts primo, that the paper had not been scientifically reviewed when it had; secundo, that its conclusions disagree with what is said (on no evidence) to be the "overwhelming opinion of the world scientific community"; and, tertio, that "The Council of the American Physical Society disagrees with this article's conclusions"? Which of my conclusions does the Council disagree with, and on what scientific grounds (if any)?"Bureaucrats at the American Physical Society (APS) have issued a curious warning to... more
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So you can't afford the crazy gas prices and you don't have 30 grand for the new hybrid. I'm in the same boat and our governments are doing little to help us out because they're all in bed with the oil producers. I say F**K EM! I was curious as to how difficult it would be to convert my own car into a hybrid and to my surprise I discovered that it cost about $50 bucks for the parts and another $50.00 bucks for an easy to follow manual. This is a no brainer folks and for the record I am in no way affiliated with the link, I'm not making any $$$ from this. I'm passing this on because our planet can't wait for governments and car manufacturers to get their poop in a group and the sweet part is you'll be saving a fortune every year for less then you spend on monthly video rentals. What's the catch? There has to be a catch! Yeah, thats what I thought... check it out and see for yourself. So you can't afford the crazy gas prices and you don't have 30 grand for the... more
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colmor
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Western Shoshone leader, Corbin Harney talks about his prophetic conversation with the waterWestern Shoshone leader, Corbin Harney talks about his prophetic conversation with the... more
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December 2007: The War On Terror had been raging for over six years, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and US bombs were falling on suspected Al Qaeda strongholds in Somalia.
The result was an increasing flow of refugees escaping war, disease and poverty, 4 million were displaced in Iraq at that time.
With the collaboration of the UK and French governments in 2002 the Red Cross Sangatte refugee camp in Calais, France, was shut down and bulldozed into the ground, an attempt by both countries to halt the flow of refugees into the UK.
Five years later, the refugees were still heading for Calais, in ever increasing numbers, but instead of those fleeing the Balkans war, now most were escaping the war on terror.
After Sangatte captures the plight of those refugees living on the streets of Calais, France.
Ahmed, an Iraqi refugee exposes the suffering of those already there and what awaits those on the way.December 2007: The War On Terror had been raging for over six years, in Iraq and... more
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The Roan Plateau in Colorado has become the subject of disputed real estate, much of it public land that the Federal government's Bureau of Land Management is selling to energy companies interested in drilling for oil and gas in the mountainous region. John McDaniel writes, in his contribution to the Christian Science Monitor (14 May 2008), that the B.L.M. have offered to open up 73,000 acres -- or 70-percent -- of the Roan Plateau Planning Area for oil and gas drilling, a decision initiated late last year.
Deer and elk hunters who have pursued game in the Roan Plateau area between the Colorado Rockies to the Utah border, have aligned with environmentalists to voice expression against the B.L.M.'s plan to sell once-protected areas of the Roan Plateau for energy development.The Roan Plateau in Colorado has become the subject of disputed real estate, much of... more
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A short film on the death of a sea turtle trying to survive in a modern day world
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Golf Digest Magazine explores whether golf is green in this month's issue. John Barton, in his article "How Green is Golf?", identifies core problems with golf courses -- increasing water cost and scarcity, and the burden of golf green maintenance with pesticides. Burton raises some interesting questions which have been explored by environmentalists for years, but only initially explored between the golf establishment and environmentalists together at a Pebble Beach conference in 1995.
Golf course maintenance incurs high costs, and use 300,000 gallons of water each day for golf greens around the United States, according to Burton's article. But golf courses do not depend on water alone to keep it evergreen. Pesticides and synthetic chemicals are sprayed regularly, which compound the environment, and can result in disease and cancer.
Read more in Burton's essay, and additional interviews with golf architects, environmentalists, and others about these issues.
Photo: Desert Springs Golf Course, Costa de Almeria, Spain.Golf Digest Magazine explores whether golf is green in this month's issue. John... more
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A taste of the underwater world of the Komodo Island Marine Park in Indonesia's coral triangleA taste of the underwater world of the Komodo Island Marine Park in Indonesia's... more
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