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Biodiversity
New Framework to Measure Biodiversity To account for the historical nature of ecological phenomena, the Historical Biodiversity Index is proposed, considering not only the present status of a given habitat type (in terms of species composition) but also its history. This will allow biodiversity crises to be identified, including potential extinctions. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs The Botanist Effect Revisited This study finds that the number of field biologists working in and around a particular geographical area can magnify the region's perceived ecological qualities. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Captive Breeding Causes Fitness Decline in Wild Even a few generations of domestication may have negative effects on natural reproduction in the wild and the repeated use of captive-reared parents to supplement wild populations should be carefully reconsidered. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs UNESCO Adds 23 Reserves to Biosphere Network The first biosphere reserves set aside by El Salvador, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are among 23 new reserve sites in 18 countries accepted by UNESCO into its Man and the Biosphere global network. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Species Watch New Breed of Flying Fox Found in Philippines 40 Toadlets Produced in Detroit Zoo Breeding Program Eleven New Species Found in Vietnam's Green Corridor Forests of Endangered Kelp Found Deep Off Galapagos Isles Cambodia Sets Up Sanctuary for Eastern Sarus Crane Rising Mercury a Threat to Turtle Egg Gender Incubation Tigers Rediscovered in Indian Rainforest Smithsonian Zoo Acquires 12K Elkhorn Coral Larvae for Culture Mediterranean Monk Seals Under Close Genetic Scrutiny Miami Men Charged With Illegally Exporting Conch Barcoding Database Reaches 30K of 500K Species Goal Rwanda Forest Project Protects Half of All Mountain Gorillas Comment Period Extended to 10/22 on Polar Bear Extinction Endangered Species Status Sought for American Pika Business
Corporations and
Finance
Toyota Lobbies Against US Mileage Standards Toyota has, unfortunately, joined the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers’ campaign to undermine a vital component of the Energy Bill. The spirit of competition seems stronger than international climate change cooperation. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Global Corporate Climate Change Report Released The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a collaboration of over 315 institutional investors with assets under management of more than $41 trillion, releases its 5th annual global report, providing the largest and most comprehensive database of strategies from the world's largest corporations regarding the impact of climate change on shareholder value. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Dell Moves Up Carbon Timeline Dell Inc. unveiled an environmental plan that the computer maker said will make its operations carbon-neutral by 2008, a year earlier than it previously promised. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Climate
Close-Up On The Bush Climate Change Doctrine Believe it or not there is method to the position of those who oppose the recommendations of the IPCC. Here are several articulations of the theory: >Foreign Affairs Magazine >Thomas Schelling (mp3 at 52:54) >Institute of Physics Report (pdf) >Post Comments Is Climate Warming Research Too Political? In May, based on the work of hundreds of scientists from around the world, the United Nations issued a groundbreaking report on Earth's climate. An article in the Christian Science Monitor examines the claims that these IPCC scientists are bending the truth for political gain. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Global Change Biology CO2 Enrichment Transforms GrasslandsSequestration and Treaty Watch UN Climate Meeting Wrap Up US Climate Meeting Wrap Up UNFCC: .3-.5% of World GDP for GHG Reductions by 2030. US-DOE Backs Deep Saline Reservoir Injection for Sequestration Should Development Forbearance Be A Source of Offset Credits? Giant Ocean-Based Pipes Could Capture CO2 Latest Research on Coal Seam Sequestration Cost Structure of a Postcombustion Capture System Using CaO Energy
and
Transportation
The Solar America Initiative Takes Shape The Bush Administration’s Solar America Initiative (SAI) was launched in January 2006 as part of the Advanced Energy Initiative. The SAI has a goal of installing 5-10 GW of photovoltaic (PV) systems in the U.S. by 2015 and 70-100 GW of PV systems in the U.S. by 2030. To make PV cost competitive with other energy resources, this requires that the installed cost of PV fall from approximately $8/Wdc in 2005 to $3.3/Wdc in 2015 and $2.5/Wdc in 2030. >Story (pdf) >Post Comments >Related Blogs Best Energy Strategy: Small, Green And Local Energy efficiency practices (like more efficient appliances), renewable energy systems (such as generators that create electricity from sunlight, wind, and falling water), and small-scale distributed generation technologies (such as generators that produce decentralized and modular power close to its point of consumption) – appear to offer many advantages over large and centralized nuclear and fossil fueled generators. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Tampa Electric Defers Use of Clean Coal Plant Tampa Electric announced that it no longer plans to meet its 2013 need for baseload generation through the use of integrated gasification combined-cycle technology, or IGCC. Primary drivers of the decision include continued uncertainty related to carbon dioxide (CO2) regulations, particularly capture and sequestration issues, and the potential for related project cost increases. Because of the economic risk of these factors to customers and investors, the company believes it should not proceed with an IGCC project at this time. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs US Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels The United States' Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels has made public its findings and recommendations on the future role to be played by five non-petroleum energy sources found in America: shale oil, heavy crude, tar sands, coal-to-liquids and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using captured carbon dioxide. No single fuel source is likely to be adequate to substantially reduce America’s dependence on imported oil. Even with the production of almost 7 million barrels per day of incremental supply by 2035, unconventional fuels development would only slightly reduce the volume of net imports, after offsetting expected demand growth. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Transportation Sector Watch New Legislation Will Enable Buyers to Compare Vehicle Emissions Clean Cities Program Saves 375 Million Gallons Of Gas In 2006 UC Experts Lay Out Method for Judging Different Fuels for State Toyota Says New Fuel-Cell Car Can Go Further on Single Tank Are Plug-Ins the Next Wave of Hybrid Vehicles? EEStor Promises: "replacement of electrochemical batteries" Lithium-Ion Batteries for Motorcycles Catalytic Conversion of Tail Pipe Emissions How Plug-Ins Will Improve (Not Hinder) the Electric Grid NY's Yellow Cabs Will Go Hybrid Green by 2012 GM Volt's Battery Technologies Corn Cobs Can Store Natural Gas Effectively for Transport Use NREL Summary of Plug-In Hybrid Research All-Electric Aircraft On the Horizon Today's Plug-In Hybrid Models US DEP Awards $19M to 5 Electric Vehicle Research Projects MIT Studies Potential Market Dynamics of Alternate Fuel Economy Environmental Assessment of Plug-In Hybrids Forests and
Agriculture
Intact Forests Get No Carbon Credit Under Kyoto Countries that have preserved their tropical forests receive no incentive to maintain them as carbon storehouses under the Kyoto Protocol. This creates a "perverse incentive" to chop them down to reap both short-term profits and future payments for regrowth. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs World Bank Accused of Razing DRCongo Forests The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. "The World Bank must change drastically its forest policies. Industrial logging is not contributing to poverty reduction, while its expansion undermines future financial benefits for environmental services..." >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Sustainable Development of Amazon Goes Awry Under the guise of a sustainable development scheme, a Brazilian land agency has granted large tracts of Amazon rainforest to colonists who quickly resold the forest to loggers, alleges a new report from Greenpeace. Some of the concessions were in the Amazon National Park, a national park. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Long-Term Effects of Group-Selection Timber Harvesting on Abundance of Forest Birds >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Agriculture and GM Watch GM Corn Could Affect Aquatic Ecosystems Human Urine as Safe, Inexpensive Fertilizer For Food Crops Pest-Resistant Eggplant to be South Asia's First GM Food Crop Using American Cassava to Improve African Cassava Genetically Plastic Eating Grubs Attack Irrigation Lines UN FAO Launches Interactive Web Tool for Rural Development No-Tilling Rice Cultivation Could Save CO2 Emissions Vitamin C is Essential for Plant Growth Nutrition, Health,
and Wealth
Mental Health Treatment Deficit in LDCs A study of mental health services for anxiety, mood, and substance disorders in 17 countries in the WHO world mental health survey finds unmet needs for mental health treatment are pervasive and especially concerning in less-developed countries. Alleviation of these unmet needs will require expansion and optimum allocation of treatment resources. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs |
 Baboons and humans are butting heads in Cape Town, South Africa. Hundreds of the feisty primates have left nature preserves on the outskirts of town and are roaming neighborhoods, sometimes entering homes in search of food. Many residents are up in arms about what they perceive as a threat to their safety. But there's disagreement about how best to control the animals. (Credit: Terry Fitzpatrick) Nutrition, Health,
and Wealth, cont'd
World Bank, UN to Help Poor Nations Recover Stolen Assets The World Bank and the United Nations announced that they were setting up a system to help developing nations recover assets stolen and sent abroad by corrupt leaders that amount to an estimated $40 billion a year. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs UN Adopts Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples The General Assembly adopted a landmark declaration outlining the rights of the world’s estimated 370 million indigenous people and outlawing discrimination against them – a move that followed more than two decades of debate. >Story >Post Comments >Related Blogs Judge Strikes Down Calorie-Posting Rule in NYC A judge has struck down a city rule requiring fast-food restaurants to post calorie content on menus, saying it conflicts with federal law. >Story >Post Comments |
