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Biodiversity
Building a New Model of Bio-Exploration Two US land-grant universities have developed a new approach to global bio-exploration, one that returns most of the fruits of discovery to the countries that provide the raw materials on which the research depends. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Game Hunting Park in Cambodian Jungle The Cambodian government is studying a Spanish company's proposal to convert a huge tract of jungle in the country's wild northeast into a game hunting park for big-spending tourists, a wildlife protection official said. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Experts Seek Equivalent of IPCC for Biodiversity When will there be an intergovernmental panel on biodiversity along the lines of the IPCC for climate change? The specialists are hoping such a structure can be set up by the end of 2008. In November, almost 80 of them met in Montpellier, France and agreed to initiate such a panel. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs US: Species Recovery Credits to Offset Harm The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comment on a new program designed to help federal agencies conserve imperiled species on non-federal lands while allowing them to suffer harm on federal lands. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Species Watch World's Largest Spitting Cobra Species Found in Kenya Mystery Killer Stalks Chambal (India) Crocodiles First Video Ever of Long Eared Jerboa Project Seeks to Barcode Entire Ecosystem More Than One-quarter Of US Bird Species Imperiled How Global Is The Global Biodiversity Information Facility? 7 US Federal Wildlife Decisions to be Revised Britain Considers Reintroduction of Wolf, Lynx, Beaver and Boar CI Rapid Assessment of Atewa Forest (Ghana): New Species Roundworms Killing China's Wild Pandas Mexico Raid's Mills Near Monarch Butterfly Reserve Study: Genetic Identity of Interspecific Neighbors Mediates Responses to Environmental Variation Rainforest Reserve Established in DR Congo to Save Bonobo Business
Corporations and
Finance
Nintendo, Microsoft and Philips Flunk Toxic Test >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Scotts Fined for Engineered Bentgrass The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) hit the Scotts Company with the maximum penalty of $500,000 for allowing an experimental turf grass to become established in the wild. Scotts' negligence allowed the creeping bentgrass, which was genetically engineered to tolerate the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup), to escape from field trials in Oregon and interbreed with wild relatives. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs S. Korea Gives US$4.4 million to First Environmental Project Between Two Koreas >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Japan to Offer $1.8 Billion in Environment Loans >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs World Bank Endorses $9.3M West African Regional Biosafety Project >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Climate
CO2 Addiction: Who Are the Pushers? An internal analysis conducted by Enviromentality shows that the top five producers of CO2 potential from fossil fuels in 2005 were: 1) China, 2) USA, 3) Russia, 4) Saudi Arabia, and 5) Algeria. These five countries were responsible for 51.47% of the world’s CO2 potential. The results were calculated using the CO2 emission coefficients for coal, oil, and gas and then multiplying these by the amounts of each fuel produced by the country. Good so far? Now supposing we give a credit of 3 tons of carbon capture per year per hectare of forest in each nation. Then the top five become: 1) China, 2) USA, 3) Saudi Arabia, 4) Algeria, and 5) India. Now supposing we add population to the analysis and calculate the amount of CO2 potential produced per person in each country. Then our list becomes: 1) Norway, 2) United Arab Emirates, 3) Saudi Arabia, 4) Algeria, 5) Australia. For complete numbers see the tables. >Tables >Post Comments Six Places in the World Where Climate Change Could Cause Political Turmoil From Nepal to Nigeria, Indonesia to the Arctic Circle, a warmer world poses different problems. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs CO2 Emissions From Power Plants Rated Worldwide >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Of Two Minds: Groups Square Off on Carbon Sequestration Opposition to a new clean coal plant near Los Angeles foreshadows potential NIMBY reaction to sequestration. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Sequestration and Treaty Watch Bali Roundup: Nations Set Timetable to Revive Climate Treaty US Senate Panel Adopts Emissions Curbs: S. 2191 NY's Mayor Bloomberg Advocates Carbon Tax in Bali Stern: Targets-Trading Must Be At Heart of Global Agreement Rethinking Kyoto: CO2 Emissions From Biofuels Carbon Credits Standard Lacks Credibility, WWF Argues German Government Agrees to Climate Change Package Near Zero Emissions Coal Launched in Beijing Pore Mineralization of CO2 May Occur Within 1 Year of Injection Water Treatment Plants to Enhance Ocean CO2 Absorption Asean Leaders Promote Green Region, Nuclear Power US$750 Million for New Arab Climate Change Fund Energy
and
Transportation
Industry Flexes, Weaker Energy Bill Passes The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned electric utilities, led the opposition to the renewable electricity mandate. Along with its member companies in the Midwest and Southeast, the group carried out an extensive lobbying campaign warning that the bill would cause sharp increases in electric rates. The institute was joined by the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce and groups representing the paper, mining, petrochemical and refining industries. Nevertheless, this bill makes giant strides towards the new environmental economy. >Story >Text of Bill >Related Blogs Cleaner Nuclear Power Congress pushes for another look at thorium fuel, saying it could reduce the amount of high-level nuclear waste produced by reactors. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Self-Organized Traffic Light Control System Could Improve Traffic Flow 95 Percent >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Helium Isotopes Point To New Sources Of Geothermal Energy In a survey of the northern Basin and Range province of the western United States, geochemists have discovered a new tool for identifying potential geothermal energy resources. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Grid Watch Smarter Energy Storage For Solar And Wind Power Grid Watching Gadgets to Spur Energy Conservation Fixing the Power Grid Electricity Grid Could Become a Type of Internet NIST Calibration Phasors for More Reliable Power Grids Forests and
Agriculture
Monitoring and Estimating Tropical Forest Carbon Stocks: Making REDD a reality Reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in developing countries is now a part of the Bali roadmap. Foremost among the challenges is quantifying nations' carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, which requires information on forest clearing and carbon storage. Here is reviewed a range of methods available to estimate national-level forest carbon stocks in developing countries. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Tropical Forests Face Huge Threat From Industrial Agriculture With forest conversion for large-scale agriculture rapidly emerging as a leading driver of tropical deforestation, a new report from the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) suggests the trend is likely to continue with Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Peru, and Colombia containing 75 percent of the world's forested land that is highly suitable for industrial agriculture expansion. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Quantifying the Biodiversity Value of Tropical Primary, Secondary, and Plantation Forests The study compared species richness of major invertebrate, vertebrate, and plant taxa across replicated sites in Amazonia. A range of patterns was observed. A few taxa (scavenger flies, moths, and grasshoppers) appeared to be more species-rich in the secondary and plantation forests; unsurprisingly, at the other extreme, amphibians, birds, and woody plants were far better represented in the undisturbed forest; small mammals, orchid bees, and fruit flies appeared to be relatively unaffected by habitat type. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs US Congress Set to Reauthorize Smallest Tropical Forest Conservation Act Ever It appears likely that the US Senate will pass a Tropical Forest Conservation Act that authorizes only $20M in 2008, $25M in 2009, and $30M in 2010. In addition the Act has been has renamed as the Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Act so that these funds must be stretched to include both types of ecosystems in developing countries. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Agriculture and GM Watch Initiative to Develop "Climate-Ready" Farming and Forestry Pesticide Use Down on California Farms in 2006 Chief UK Science Advisor: GM Food Safer than Normal Food Drought Tolerant Plants Need 70% Less Water Parasitic Insect Effectively Controls Vineyard Fruit Flies EU Commissioner Rejects Syngenta's, DuPont's GM Corn GM Bt corn Could Affect Aquatic Ecosystems Feeding Cattle Ethanol Byproduct Causes E. Coli 0157 to Spike U.S GMO Rice Found in China Supermarkets Nutrition, Health,
and Wealth
WHO and UNICEF Accused of Misusing Science >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Update on US Millennium Challenge Corporation The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a federal agency set up almost four years ago to reinvent foreign aid, has taken far longer to help poor, well-governed countries than its supporters expected or its critics say is reasonable. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs | |
