tagged w/ ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
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When the Environmental Protection Agency declared this year on September 11 that all pending mountaintop removal mining permits in four Appalachian states stood in violation of the Clean Water Act and required further review, Lora Webb didn't have time to join in any celebrations. As she and her husband, Steve, a coal miner, packed up their possessions and left his family's ancestral property outside Lindytown, West Virginia, Lora was more concerned about finding a place to sleep that night.
For the past few years, ever since a massive twenty-story dragline landed on a ridge near their home, the Webbs had endured twice-daily, bone-rattling explosions and the quasi-apocalyptic storms of coal dust and fly rock that blanketed their home and garden. Lindytown's creeks and mountain hollows no longer exist, and a once-thriving community has been reduced to a ghost town. "It's unreal. It's like we're living in a war zone," Lora Webb told a local newspaper last fall.
By the spring of this year, the Webbs were one of the last holdouts in the area. Hoping to avoid displacement, they pleaded with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) and various federal agencies to enforce mining laws. Lora Webb even toted a jar of coal dust to Capitol Hill. In the end, though, they threw up their hands in bewilderment at the government's inaction and sold their beloved home to Massey Energy, the Richmond-based corporation that runs the nearby Twilight mountaintop removal site. Then they were issued a sixty-day order to evacuate.
The temporarily homeless Webbs are a stark example that mountaintop removal does more than "likely cause water quality impacts," as the EPA has determined. More than 3.5 million pounds of explosives rip daily across the ridges and historic mountain communities in West Virginia; a similar amount of explosives are employed in eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia and eastern Tennessee. Mountaintop removal operations have destroyed more than 500 mountains and 1.2 million acres of forest in our nation's oldest and most diverse range, and jammed more than 1,200 miles of streams with mining waste.
In cautious but no uncertain terms, the Obama administration has finally acknowledged these hazards, and has taken some important steps toward mitigating the damage. On June 11 the Council on Environmental Quality chief, Nancy Sutley, declared that the administration "has serious concerns about the impacts of mountaintop coal mining on our natural resources and on the health and welfare of the Appalachian communities."
more at link...When the Environmental Protection Agency declared this year on September 11 that all... more
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Cypress trees belong in the ground, not in plastic bags!
A Florida cypress forest is a beautiful thing. Cypress trees provide habitat for threatened and endangered species, critical areas for migratory birds, help protect our communities from flooding, filter our waters, and are part of the amazing experience of being in nature in Florida. They are a valuable and intrinsic element of all that is wild and free in Florida. They belong in the ground, in our wetlands, and along our coastlines…NOT in plastic bags as mulch.
Cypress forests in Louisiana, Florida, and throughout the Gulf are being clear-cut to produce cypress mulch. Whole swamp ecosystems are being lost and the entire trees are being ground up to be sold in the garden departments of Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe's.
These forests and wetlands are literally being sold off for two dollars a bag. It's like shredding the Constitution to make post-it notes: a NATIONAL TREASURE is being turned into a disposable product.
The Gulf Restoration Network (http://www.healthygulf.org/) and the Save Our Cypress Coalition (http://www.saveourcypress.org) has presented Lowe's, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot with extensive evidence of the destruction that is caused from cypress mulch. All three companies recognize it is a problem, but none of them have taken the concrete steps that are necessary to live up to the environmental commitments that they tout so loudly. These companies need to stop selling cypress mulch.
Cypress mulch is an unsustainable and unnecessary product, and there are much better options available. Melaleuca mulch is a great alternative and using this product is a way to help protect the Everglades while saving cypress trees. (Melaleuca trees were planted by the Army Corps of Engineers around the edges of the Everglades in the early 1920s as a way of drying the "swamps." This tree has become a pest because it proliferates at an enormous rate and can overtake native vegetation). And of course, there are always the leaves that fall in the driveway or the grass clippings from your yard.
The Gulf Restoration Network is proud to be working with Florida Defenders of the Environment to spread the word about protecting cypress forests. FDE has signed on to a Save Our Cypress campaign letter, and recently hosted a meeting of local activists in Gainesville who are working together to stop the sale of cypress mulch. Together we can protect rivers like the Withlacoochee and the Ocklawaha, and ensure the cypress-filled banks are there for future generations.
Please take a moment on your next shopping trip to tell the store manager that you don't want the company to sell cypress mulch, and visit www.healthygulf.org to send a message directly to the CEOs of Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe's.
To learn more about the campaign and to get involved in this effort please contact Joe Murphy at 352-583-0870, or joe@healthygulf.org.Cypress trees belong in the ground, not in plastic bags!
A Florida cypress forest... more
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Every week Current Green features a business or organization that we are Saying YES! to for their leadership in the sustainability arena. Our hope is that this series will not only give credit where credit is due, but will also shed light in the fog of the wild world of green washing.
This week we are featuring To-Go Ware, for their ongoing dedication to raising awareness about over consumption, reducing garbage in landfills, and educating about how we can reconsider the way our society uses (or abuses) plastic.
Current Green: How did you come up with the idea?
Stephanie Bernstein: It was back in college. I was at an ice cream shop with my sister, and we were served our scoops in a plastic bowl with a plastic spoon. Perplexed, I remember asking, “Did we say To-Go?” Now you don’t think twice about being served in disposables regardless if it’s for take-away, but it was at a time where that transition was first happening. We diligent college students carried our reusable coffee mugs around campus (mostly for the discount), but I wondered why we couldn’t carry everything we’d need. And we should call it To-Go Ware, I thought. The entire concept came in a few minutes — then I sat on it for around 7 years until I launched the company.
Current Green: Can you measure the impact of your business? (and/or the individuals who use your business?)
Stephanie Bernstein: Well, according to estimates, Americans throw out enough plastic cutlery each year to circle the equator 300 times. 25 million trees are destroyed each year to make 45 billion disposable chopsticks. While it’s hard to quantify exact numbers of plastic fork usage per individual, we believe that one person has a rather hefty “forkprint,” seeing as how it is nearly impossible to never have an on-the-go meal, where you are handed extra forks, napkins, chopsticks, etc. Let’s say on average (and I’ll go to low end of spectrum), one person throws out 3 forks a week. That’s 156 per year — how many folks are there in the US? Do the math an it boggles the mind that one small behavior change can have such an immediate impact, if done cumulatively.
See the full interview and staff reviews at the link.Every week Current Green features a business or organization that we are Saying YES!... more
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"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered species
(DRC, Africa)
GORILLA HANDS FOR SALE AT A MARKET IN THE
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO... FOR 6 US DOLLARS.
*WARNING: GRAPHIC & DISTURBING IMAGES
This slideshow includes other critically endangered species also for sale.
Some are STILL ALIVE.
Please follow link to 'Endangered Species International' (ESI) for more information & to see what you can do to help..
For the first time, ESI reveal's photos of their field monitoring using undercover methods at key markets in the republic of Congo. Their research reveals that most of illegal bushmeat sold in markets originates from one single region where primary and unprotected rainforest still remains.
ESI estimates about 300 gorillas are illegally killed each year for the bushmeat market in the city of Pointe Noire.
With your help, ESI can stop the illegal commercial hunting of endangered species in Central Africa.
DID ANYONE HEAR THIS?
$6.OO...
THIS IS UNEXCEPABLE!"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered species... more
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Palm oil (aka palmitate, palm kernel oil, and palm fruit oil) is hard on our planet’s lungs and then some. It’s a top-o-the-heap evil-doer when it comes to ubiquitous and environmentally-destructive ingredients.
Here’s a quick and unsettling lowdown: Palm oil’s bland versatility, shelf-stability and lack of trans fats make it highly desirable to those who seek processed-food ingredients to, well, make processed food. It’s in everything from chocolate to snack crackers to margarine. Remember the creamy center of Oreo cookies? Palm oil provides the famously unctuous mouthfeel.
It’s also in cosmetics, soaps, detergents and some plastics. Worldwide, it’s a popular cooking oil.
Last but certainly not least, it’s increasingly used for biodeisel production. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/business/worldbusiness/31biofuel.html
As you’ve heard, palm oil’s “moment” comes at the expense of the planet.
To keep up with demand, vast monocultures of oil palm are grown in Indonesia and Malaysia, where rainforests and peat forests are razed to make way for oil palm trees.
Indigenous people are uprooted and harassed, more carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere and precious habitat is lost, sending species such as the orangutan on the express train toward extinction.
The destruction caused by the demand for palm oil is truly unsettling at a visceral level, even for those who have seen worldwide deforestation.
Chris Wille, chief of sustainable agriculture for the Rainforest Alliance,http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/ told me this: “It’s just mind boggling. I’ve been in this business for a long time and I feel like I’m pretty tough. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of burning forests, but what’s happening in Indonesia and Malaysia - it shocks even us veterans.”
If you need a visual of the rainforest being hacked into a moonscape, go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7fFeJyXkBk
So, can you do right by buying organic palm oil?
Sadly, in this case the organic label may not be sufficient.
Organic certification (ONLY) bans the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, but has NOTHING to say about rainforest management.
That’s right—you could burn down pristine rainforest, plant it with a palms, and STILL GET ORGANIC certification. Industry and green groups are trying to hammer about a certified-sustainable label that ensures responsible forest management. But right now, sustainable palm oil is both hard to find and controversial.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, an international 'organization' of producers, distributors and conservationists, came up with 'standards' to address deforestation and managed to get 1.3 million tonnes of certified sustainable palm oil onto the market last year.
Critics of this “green” palm oil cried foul (AND THEY ARE RIGHT ON!), alleging GREENWASH and weak certification standards... most of that oil has languished on the global market because many of the big players won’t pony up the extra money for it. (Surprisingly, CHINEASE buyers recently stepped up to the plate.)
Hoping to spur interest with a good old-fashioned public shaming, the WWF will soon issue a scorecard to show which major palm oil buyers have made commitments to sustainable palm oil.
THE WWF "SUSTAINABLE PALM SCORECARD" http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2009/WWFPresitem12330.html
LIST OF COMPANIES THAT ARE LARGE USERS OF PALM: http://ran.org/the_problem_with_palm_oil/take_action/sticker/palm_oil_companies/
The Rainforest Alliance is also currently working with some palm plantations in Latin help them meet standards to earn sustainable certification. Within a year consumers will be able to find language on certain food products that will identify palm oil that came from Rain Forest Alliance-certified farms.
Right now there are no official seals or labels that you can rely on and sustainable certification for palm oil (how about 'Native Tribe & Orangutan Friendly')Palm oil (aka palmitate, palm kernel oil, and palm fruit oil) is hard on our... more
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'Cruel Camera'
Background -
Twenty-five years ago, Bob Mckeown and a fifth estate crew stunned the country with an investigative report that showed that many of the wildlife documentaries we'd grown up watching on television (remember the famous footage of the lemmings going off the cliff or some of the memorable moments from shows like 'Wild Kingdom'?) were staged for the television cameras. As well, they revealed that animals often died during the making of movies; all for the sake of the ENTERTAINMENT VALUE.
{for more information visit: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/cruelcamera/index.html}
Now, Bob McKeown and an investigative team have returned to the subject to find out what has changed since the fifth estate's first 'Cruel Camera' documentary. What they found may astonish you.'Cruel Camera'
Background -
Twenty-five years ago, Bob Mckeown and a fifth estate... more
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The End of the Line. The film explains the catastrophic consequences of over fishing - and looks at the many important warning signs from the ocean that we have been ignoring.
The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation says that around 80 per cent of wild marine fish are now either fully exploited or over fished.
Follow link to 'The End of the Line' film homepage that features the movie trailer, interviews (videos), an interactive screening location look-up, educational links, news, a newsletter (& optional sign-up), campaign information and more.The End of the Line. The film explains the catastrophic consequences of over fishing -... more
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A must see documentary about the poisoning of a people and the polluting of one of our world's most precious ecosystems.
Three years in the making, this riveting new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) tells the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet. An inside look at the infamous $27 billion “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life, high stakes legal drama involving global politics, the environmental movement, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, multinational corporate power, and the fate of disappearing indigenous cultures.A must see documentary about the poisoning of a people and the polluting of one of our... more
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(Valparaiso, Indiana) - Rev. Dr. George Cairns of Chesterton, Indiana delivers a Sunday homily about “the major evils of today – genocide and ecocide” entitled “Repent or the Time is Near” on May 31, 2009 at the Union Community Church in Valparaiso, Indiana.
In this two part homily video series, Rev. Cairns discusses the “Cosmic Christ” and a related story in “The Lutheran” magazine by Elaine Siemsen, the United Nations definition of genocide, the loss of language and other heritages in Indigenous peoples like the American Indian, Ecocide, the acclaimed ABC News Special “Earth 2100” and how many experts believes the Earth and its inhabitants are facing the “the Sixth Great Extinction” of the world.
Cairns talks about the results of the American Museum of Natural History national survey on Ecocide that “reveals a biodiversity crisis” and is entitled “Scientific Experts Believe we are in the Midst of Fastest Mass Extinction in Earth's History: Crisis Poses Major Threat to Human Survival; Public Unaware of Danger”
With the statute of limitations up, Rev. Cairns confesses his childhood antics to prevent a highway construction project from ruining the woods in which he played - now an interstate freeway has “vaporized” those woods that meant so much to him while growing up.
The other homilies on Celtic Christianity take a look at several topics including the European roots of the Celts (primarily Scotland and Ireland) and how Earth-based cultures can impact the future of civilization including actively protecting the environment, respecting fellow humans, different cultures and nature.
Cairns works closely with Rev. Gregory Jones on several social fronts.
Rev. Jones is the pastor of the Union Community Church and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theology at Valparaiso University.
Founded in 2007, The non-profit Turtle Island Project is known for its ongoing work with Native American issues and the other wing involves other Earth-based religions like the Celts. Dr. Cairns is the co-founder of the nonprofit Turtle Island Project.
Rev. Cairns continues to work closely with the foremost Celtic group in the world, the Iona Community in Scotland.
Celtic Christianity Today
http://www.celticchristianitytoday.org
youtube & bliptv:
http://celticchristianity.blip.tv
www.youtube.com/celticchristianity
Rev. George Cairns, Spirit Cafe blog, United Church of Christ
http://i.ucc.org/FeedYourSpirit/SpiritCafe/CafeBlog/tabid/83/Default.aspx
Iona Community, Scotland
www.iona.org.uk
www.isle-of-iona.com
www.iona-nwf.org/links.htm
Union Community Church, Valparaiso, IN
http://unioncommunitychurchucc.blogspot.com
Rev. Gregory Jones, Theology Department at Valparaiso University
www.valpo.edu/theology/faculty/gregoryjones.php
http://faculty.valpo.edu/gjones
The Lutheran Magazine: Who is the Cosmic Christ? By Elaine Siemsen
http://www.thelutheran.org/article/article_buy.cfm?article_id=2696
United Nations: genocide
www.preventgenocide.org/genocide/officialtext.htm
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm
www.hawaii-nation.org/genocide.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide
Native American Genocide – then and now:
www.unitednativeamerica.com/aiholocaust.html
www.nemasys.com/ghostwolf/Native/genocide.shtml
www.exiledmothers.com/babies_taken_for_adoption/native_american_babies.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_death
www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/01/a-native-american-language-goe.html
Ecocide:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecocide
American Museum of Natural History survey on Ecocide:
http://www.well.com/~davidu/amnh.html
http://www.well.com/~davidu/extinction.html
http://www.well.com/
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/02/is-mass-species.html
ABC News Special “Earth 2100”
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Earth2100
The Sixth Great Extinction:
http://rewilding.org/thesixthgreatextinction.htm
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/issues/biodiversity/sixth.asp
http://www.well.com/user/davidu/sixthextinction.html(Valparaiso, Indiana) - Rev. Dr. George Cairns of Chesterton, Indiana delivers a... more
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Chevron (formorly 'Texaco') deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxin-laden water of formation into Amazon waterways.
For over three decades, Chevron chose profit over people in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
The cold and calculated decision to save $3 per barrel and yet poison entire communities is compounded daily as Chevron continues its PR campaign to suppress the truth and barrage the media with lies about its actions and responsibility.
This blog is part of an ever-growing campaign to counter Chevron's misinformation tactics and speak frankly about their attempts to hide their role in the world's worst oil-related disaster.
This is the first in a series of reports from the field in Ecuador's northern rainforests, site of perhaps the largest oil related disaster in the world and ground zero of Chevron's $27 billion liability in the ongoing Aguinda v. Chevron lawsuit.Chevron (formorly 'Texaco') deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of... more
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The astonishing collection of everyday plastic items swallowed by a single albatross.
At first glance this collection of bright plastic toothbrushes and bottle tops looks like a colourful mosaic.
But astonishingly all these pieces were found in the stomach of a dead fledgling Laysan albatross.
The stark image is on the cover of today's special issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, which highlights the effect plastic has on the environment and human health.The astonishing collection of everyday plastic items swallowed by a single albatross.... more
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Researchers, who have studied the 24 large mammals that once moved from area to area in their hundreds of thousands, found that six of the migrations have stopped while the rest have been severely diminished.
Springbok and the spectacular scimitar-horned oryx are among the animals whose treks have ceased, according to the research published in the current issue of the journal Endangered Species Research. Bison and caribou have also all been badly affected.
Migrations evolved to take animals from areas where food was scarce to those where it was abundant, and grazers particularly seek out young grass, which is more digestible and has higher levels of protein. Grass quantity and quality depends on the availability of water, either from rainfall or melting snow, which varies from place to place according to the time of year.
In turn the migrants' dung increases the productivity of the areas they visit, so much so that the scientists – from the US Government's Fish and Wildlife Service, the American National Museum, the Polish Acadamy of Sciences, and the Universities of Montana and Aberdeen – say "losing migrations may result in ecosystem collapse".
But converting land to agriculture, fencing it, and building roads and railways block the traditional routes, while hunting has slashed populations, which also reduces migrations.
The scientists are particularly worried by the "devastating effects" of increasing measures to stop diseases from wild animals spreading to livestock, by erecting long fences and culling wildlife.
Numerious species have simply been hunted into extinction for their horns or hide.
Many other animals are in trouble as well. Bison, which once thundered through the North American grasslands MidWest, are now so depleted that they only migrate within the Yellowstone and Wood Buffalo National parks.
Mass movements of the Siberian roe deer have stopped in the Ukraine, as have those of the eland in the South African Karoo and Highveld. And caribou routes are disrupted by fencing and the oil exploitation.Researchers, who have studied the 24 large mammals that once moved from area to area... more
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12th Anniversary Retreat
Spirit of Place
Encounters of Spirituality and the Environment
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Wisdom in Wilderness: The Poetic Vision of Mary Oliver, a Spirit of Place kayaking trip retreat
Kayaking 40 miles along the shores of Lake Superior coastline
August 3-7, 2009
Cost: $850 (Limited to 10 persons)
Interfaith kayaking trip along 40 miles of Lake Superior shoreline, while reading journals of 16th Century Jesuit Missionaries to the Ojibwa tribe; discussions of spirituality and nature; hearty meals including smoked fish and homemade bread; Lodging in an Historic Inn and rustic lakeside cabins.
Facilitators: Rev. John Magnuson & Rev. Lee Goodwin
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God and the Bomb
Science, Faith and the Future of Nuclear Technology
Nov. 12-15, 2009
Pecos Benedictine Monastery, New Mexico
(20 miles north of Santa Fe and 60 miles from Los Alamos)
Historical perspectives on the development of the Atomic Bomb
Small group dialogues on the faith and science with psycho-social insights on the challenge of nuclear technology
Prayers and reflection with members of the Benedictine Community
Ethical considerations for the promise and threat of nuclear energy
Afternoons in Santa Fe and at the Los Alamos National Laboratory with daily hikes in the Sangre de Christo Mountains.
Presenters:
Larry Rasmussen, PhD., Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary
Robert Kraus, PhD., Deputy Director of Research and Development, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Facilitator:
Rev. Jon Magnuson, Director, nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute,
Cost: $850
Limited to 12 persons
Registration Deadline: September 1, 2009
Requires a $250 deposit
Nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute:
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.com/kayaktrips.html12th Anniversary Retreat
Spirit of Place
Encounters of Spirituality and the... more
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CD and DVD Recycling
Each year, BILLIONS of CDs and DVDs are manufactured, while MILLIONS of these discs end up in landfills and incinerators.
If you use, sell, promote, distribute, or manufacture compact discs, it is your responsibility to promote how to recycle them.
Compacts Discs, when recycled properly, will stop unnecessary pollution, conserve natural resources, and help slow global warming.
Spread the word to help us save the world we all live in.
* Where are all the recyclers?
View supporter map here: http://www.cdrecyclingcenter.com/members/map
** Attention CD & DVD Manufacturers and Duplication Facilities
http://www.cdrecyclingcenter.com/pages/to_manufacturersCD and DVD Recycling
Each year, BILLIONS of CDs and DVDs are manufactured, while... more
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Environmental Protections Rolled Back as Western Drilling Surges |
Unlike other industries, BIG OIL & GAS enjoy waivers under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Resource & Conservation & Recovery Act, the Superfund Act, the Emergency Planning & Community Right to Know Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Oil and natural gas companies have drilled almost 120,000 wells in the West since 2000, mostly for natural gas, and nearly 270,000 since 1980, according to industry records analyzed by Environmental Working Group. Yet drilling companies enjoy exemptions under most major federal environmental laws.
Oil and natural gas operations have industrialized the Western landscape, punching thousands of wells on pristine lands, injecting toxic chemicals, consuming millions of gallons of water, clawing out pits for their hazardous waste and slashing the ground for sprawling road networks. Every well carries with it the potential for serious environmental degradation.Environmental Protections Rolled Back as Western Drilling Surges |
Unlike other... more
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Many Orang-utans and gibbons are are kept in zoos in appalling conditions.
Illegal-trade devastates Sumatran orangutan population.
Lack of law enforcement against illegal trade in Indonesia threatens the survival of orangutans and gibbons on Sumatra, a new study by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC shows.
Despite considerable investment in wildlife conservation, numbers of the critically endangered orangutans captured, mainly for the pet trade, exceeded the levels of the 1970s. A lack of adequate law enforcement is to blame, TRAFFIC says.
Just 7,300 orangutans left on Sumatra -
Records of orangutans and gibbons put into rehabilitation centres serve as an indicator of how many of these animals were illegally held. Meanwhile numbers continue to decline in the wild, with the most recent estimate of just 7,300 Sumatran orangutans surviving.
Orangutans, which can weigh up to around 90 kilograms and reach 1.5 metres in length, end up in such centres after they become too old and big to be held as pets. But owners of the reddish-brown coloured apes do not face any legal consequences.
"Confiscating these animals without prosecuting the owners is futile," said Chris R Shepherd, Acting Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.
"There is no deterrent for those committing these crimes if they go unpunished. Indonesia has adequate laws, but without serious penalties, this illegal trade will continue, and these species will continue to spiral towards extinction."
Other threats -
The report recommends that the root causes of trade be examined and that laws be better implemented for the protection of orangutans, gibbons and the island's other wildlife. Sumatra's wildlife is also threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation, logging, land conversion, encroachment, and forest fires.
WWF is working to reduce the destruction of wildlife habitat in Sumatra by working with industry to ensure High Conservation Value Forests are not converted for agriculture, empowering local communities to manage natural resources in a sustainable way, and providing alternatives.Many Orang-utans and gibbons are are kept in zoos in appalling conditions.... more
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Imagine the year 2065. Two-thirds of Earth’s ozone is gone. The infamous ozone hole over Antarctica is a year-round fixture with a twin over the North Pole.
People living in mid-latitude cities like Washington, D.C., get sunburned after five minutes. DNA-mutating UV radiation is up 650 percent, with likely harmful effects on plants, animals and human skin cancer rates.
Such is the world we would have inherited if 193 nations had not agreed to ban ozone-depleting substances, according to atmospheric chemists at NASA, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency in Bilthoven. The researchers have unveiled new computer simulations this week of a worldwide disaster that humans managed to avoid.
In retrospect, the researchers say, the Montreal Protocol was a “remarkable international agreement that should be studied by those involved with global warming and the attempts to reach international agreement on that topic.”
PHOTO: The ozone layer over the far northern hemisphere -- once robust compared to the Antarctic concentrations -- would have developed a similar ozone hole by the 2020s without the Montreal Protocol. Reds represent healthy ozone concentrations; blues show depletion. Credit: NASA GoddardImagine the year 2065. Two-thirds of Earth’s ozone is gone. The infamous ozone hole... more
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Since the 1890s, surface temperatures on Earth have risen faster in the Arctic than in other regions of the world. Usually, discussions on global warming tend to focus on greenhouse gases as the culprit for the trend. But new NASA research suggests about half the atmospheric warming measured in the Arctic is due to airborne particles called aerosols.
Aerosols are emitted by both natural and human sources. They can influence climate by reflecting or absorbing sunlight. The particles also affect climate by changing cloud properties, such as reflectivity. There is one type of aerosol that, according to the study, reductions rather than increases in its emissions seem to have promoted warming.
The research team, led by climate scientist Drew Shindell of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies used a computer model to investigate how sensitive different regional climates are to changes in levels of carbon dioxide, ozone, and aerosols.
They found that Earth’s middle and high latitudes are particularly responsive to changes in aerosol levels. The model suggests aerosols likely account for 45 % or more of the warming measured in the Arctic since 1976.
Though there are several types of aerosols, previous research indicates two in particular, sulfates and black carbon, play leading roles in climate. Both are products of human activity. Sulfates, which come mainly from the burning of coal and oil, scatter sunlight and cool the air. Over the past three decades, the United States and European countries have passed clean-air laws that have halved sulfate emissions.
...Since the 1890s, surface temperatures on Earth have risen faster in the Arctic than in... more
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BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Video
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Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been retreating since the 1990s.
Researchers regarded the ice bridge as an important barrier, holding the remnant shelf structure in place.
Its removal will allow ice to move more freely between Charcot and Latady islands, into the open ocean.
European Space Agency satellite pictures had indicated last week that cracks were starting to appear in the bridge. Newly created icebergs were seen to be floating in the sea on the western side of the peninsula, which juts up from the continent towards South America's southern tip.
While the break-up will have no direct impact on sea level because the ice is floating, it heightens concerns over the impact of climate change on this part of Antarctica.
Over the past 50 years, the peninsula has been one of the fastest warming places on the planet.
Many of its ice shelves have retreated in that time and six of them have collapsed completely (Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and the Jones Ice Shelf).
Separate research shows that when ice shelves are removed, the glaciers and landed ice behind them start to move towards the ocean more rapidly. It is this ice which can raise sea levels, but by how much is a matter of ongoing scientific debate.
Such acceleration effects were not included by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) when it made its latest projections on likely future sea level rise. Its 2007 assessment said ice dynamics were poorly understood.Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been... more
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