have reached we an environmental tipping point? If there's one thing I hope this column achieves,
New data shows the rate of climate change could be even faster than thought. Perhaps most worryingly of all, 22 scientists warned last week we are approaching a planetary tipping point, beyond
which environmental changes will be rapid and unpredictable. Basing their alarming conclusion on studies of ecological markers from species extinction rates (currently 1, 000 times the usual rate,
and comparable to those experienced during the demise of the dinosaurs) to changes in land use (more than 40%of land is dominated by humans
where nitrates and other pollutants are greater than anything our ecosystems have evolved to function in,
including climate change, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, change in land and freshwater use. The concept was embraced enthusiastically by institutions such as the United nations and large NGOS like Oxfam,
By living more efficiently in larger populations, we free up rural land for ecosystem services or agriculture.
Societies have adapted successfully to environmental threats in the past.""Planetary boundaries are not a useful concept for society,
and shouldn't be used to guide global environmental policy. Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute environmental think tank say that many of the Anthropocene conditions we've brought about have been to the net benefit of humanity.
Rockstrom counters, saying:""We should not frame this crisis as an opportunity. This is not an opportunity.
If we destroy the water supply, the air, the climate, humanity will not be safe, Â he says,
adding that we already have for three of the nine (climate change, nitrogen cycle and biodiversity loss).
There are many examples of societies exceeding environmental limitations with disastrous consequences, as well as some encouraging ones of good environmental stewardship.
But perhaps we have not got any better at recognising thresholds except with hindsight. Apart from gravity and (effectively) sunlight, everything else we use has its limits.
That produced a raft of environmental management treaties and declarations oe including the United nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),
the basis for governments'attempts to curb global warming gases. But progress on addressing the most critical global challenges,
such as climate change, has reached a farcical level in which time spent arguing over punctuation and grammar in lengthy documents has stymied any real action on greenhouse gas emissions.
And in the meantime almost all environmental problems targeted by the original summit have got worse rather than improved.
I pass a street filled with cafes where groups of people sit outside engulfed in clouds of honey-scented smoke.
and poaching in this area by allowing them to document destruction and deforestation with games and interactive maps.
Haklay and his colleagues set up a community project where individuals monitored the noise pollution coming from a local scrapyard.
the UK Environment Agency revoked the scrapyard's licence. Lewis meanwhile is working with indigenous people in the Republic of congo
as well as the vital ecosystem services humans rely on from food to water management. Because tigers are a top predator,
Ultimately, the reason for conserving tigers may be less to do with their ecosystem or tourist economy benefits,
A century ago, vast flocks of passenger pigeons covered the North american skies. Hundreds of millions, even billions, stretched across the horizon in every direction.
like a dragon going through the skies, Â says Harvard Medical school geneticist George Church. And then European settlers arrived.
this majestic sight could one day return to our skies. Â Armed with new reproductive biology
though he does not underestimate the effort required to bring the passenger pigeon back to the skies.
for example oe it is doubtful we could replace as cheaply the many ecosystem functions that soils provide, from water management to pollution, remediation to supporting structures,
First, the rocks that have made it from the Earth's interior to the surface must be weathered by wind and rain,
(although it is a little faster in the tropics), but it can be lost in a matter of hours.
we are allowing the wind and rain to wash it into the oceans. Soil erosion is such a serious problem that some scientists believe European soil could last less than a century.
And Europe is one of the better places. In China, soil is being lost 57 times faster than it can be replenished naturally,
A raft of practices oe from deforestation for land clearance to the types of intensive farming that exhausts nutrients or make the soil too salty for crops oe contribute to depleted soils.
If we want to preserve the few remaining forests and other diverse ecosystems around the world,
Deforestation is a major driver of soil loss. Once shrubs and grasses have been cleared from the land
buffer the winds and slow rainwater. West african countries, for example, have achieved already remarkable improvements in soil fertility
I found farmers planting vetiver oe an Indian grass oe to protect their soils from erosion,
and roots in place holds retains the soil and its moisture, reducing erosion. The rotting vegetation recycles nutrients
and provide ecosystem services. The practice is gaining popularity in Brazil and across The americas but getting the world's poorest farmers to adopt it will take time, partly because of the prohibitive cost of equipment.
while his neighbour who still ploughs uses 19.8 gallons (90 litres) an hour for substantially longer,
And when you factor in climate change, limited fresh water supplies and competition for harvests from biofuel makers, it is clear the world faces a major challenge.
In 2006, Long and his colleagues described how climate-change experiments have shown that rising atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide lead to higher rates of photosynthesis in plants.
they found a strain that did not waste precious energy trying to elongate itself above the waters when submerged by a flash flood,
they then crossed this flood-tolerant strain with a high-yield strain of rice.""This form of breeding used to take 6-15 years,
Some environmental groups, including Greenpeace, fear that this genetically modified strain could contaminate and harm other vital rice strains.
finding a small number of maize varieties that grow in both tropical and temperate climates and
and avoid environmental harm by not adding unnecessary fertiliser or water, Khosla says.""But with precise input management, farmers can also influence grain yield and efficiency.
Another big pressure is climate change. A third is the lack of water. Â Khosla says."
As the global climate shifted at the end of the last ice age, some 10,000 years ago, humans put their fire-making skills to great use,
Humans proved so clever and successful that we were able to overcome almost all the environmental limitations that restricted other species to their ecological niches.
ecology and biology have been transformed by humans. Human scientists say Earth has entered the Anthropocene epoch oe the Age of man oe
we are changing the climate by melting glaciers and raising sea levels. Our atmospheric tinkering means that scientists think we have delayed indefinitely the next Ice age.
At least 75%of the world's land surface has been modified by humans, according to Erle Ellis, an ecologist at the University of Maryland.
and other excavation shifts four times the amount moved naturally by glaciers and rivers. We are changing the numbers
Some of our changes are geologically profound oe deforestation and the elimination and distribution of species,
But some are more subtle and harder to see directly oe the way we are changing the climate
Sadly, not every city will be able to celebrate the end of 2010 by dropping a giant something from the sky.
Hundreds of neighborhood dementia diagnostic centers have been created. Nursing homes have tripled nearly since 2008. Other dementia programs
as if a tsunamis coming, said Lee Sung-hee, the South korean Alzheimers Association president, who trains nursing home staff members,
and circled his old neighborhood seeking his no longer-existent house. oehe used to be very scary to me,
(but not people) There may be many similarities between the importance of large predators in marine and terrestrial environments,
with ripple impacts on other aspects of the ecosystem and an ecological significance that goes far beyond these species. The study was done by scientists from Oregon State university and the University of Washington,
and was published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. oefor too long weve looked at ecosystem functions on land
and in the oceans as if they were said completely separate William Ripple, a professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems at Society at OSU,
and an international expert in the study of large predators such as wolves and cougars. oewere now finding that there are many more similarities between marine and terrestrial ecosystems than weve realized,
Ripple said. oewe need to better understand these commonalities, and from them learn how interactions on land may be a predictor of what we will see in the oceans,
A more frequent information exchange between terrestrial and marine ecologists could provide additional insights into ecosystem function
#Planting Climate Friendly Crops Could Help Offset the Effects of Global Warming Climate friendly crops reflect sunlight Planting climate friendly crops that reflect sunlight could help offset the effects of global warming,
The concept of using increased reflectivity to manipulate our climate is, in fact, an ancient one humankind has painted for centuries settlements white to reflect the sun and keep cool.
The findings were outlined in London over the weekend at the Royal Society discussion meeting Geoengineering Taking Control of our Planets Climate.
A global climate computer simulation was used to assess the potential for planting crops with high reflectivity.
The one test so far, online, required answering five questions in 10 minutes a lightning round meant to prevent cheating by Googling answers.
#Volcanoes Have shifted Asian Rainfall Powerful volcanoes potential to shift rain patterns Scientists have known long that large volcanic explosions can affect the weather by spewing particles that block solar energy and cool the air.
scientists have shown that eruptions also affect rainfall over the Asian monsoon region, where seasonal storms water crops for nearly half of earths population.
but bring more rain to southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar the opposite of
what many climate models predict. Their paper appears in an advance online version of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The growth rings of some tree species can be correlated with rainfall, and the observatorys Tree Ring Lab used rings from some 300 sites across Asia to measure the effects of 54 eruptions going back about 800 years.
The data came from Lamonts new 1, 000-year tree-ring atlas of Asian weather,
the researchers also have done a prior study of volcanic cooling in the tropics. oewe might think of the study of the solid earth and the atmosphere as two different things,
the studys lead author. oevolcanoes can be important players in climate over time. Large explosive eruptions send up sulfur compounds that turn into tiny sulfate particles high into the atmosphere,
As for rainfall, in the simplest models, lowered temperatures decrease evaporation of water from the surface into the air;
and less water vapor translates to less rain. But matters are complicated greatly by atmospheric circulation patterns, cyclic changes in temperatures over the oceans,
Up to now, most climate models incorporating known forces such as changes in the sun and atmosphere have predicted that volcanic explosions would disrupt the monsoon by bringing less rain to southeast Asiaut the researchers found the opposite.
The researchers studied eruptions including one in 1258 from an unknown tropical site, thought to be the largest of the last millennium;
while mainland Southeast asia got increased rain. The researchers say there are many possible factors involved, and it would speculative at this point to say exactly why it works this way. oethe data only recently became available to test the models,
if atmospheric dynamics and volcanic eruptions come together with the right timing, they could reinforce one another, with drastic results. oethen you get flooding or drought,
whether proposed oegeoengineering schemes to counteract manmade climate change with huge artificial releases of volcanism-like particles might have unintended complex consequences.
The nature-nurture debate is a oegiant step closer to being resolved after scientists studying bees documented how environmental inputs can modify our genetic hardware.
The research was led by Professor Ryszard Maleszka of The Australian National Universitys College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, working with colleagues from the German Cancer Institute in Heidelberg,
and how environmental inputs can transiently modify our genetic hardware, he said. oesimilar studies are impossible to do on human brains,
confirming for the first time that human excrements contribute to water pollution, primarily with nitrogen and phosphorus. A team of researchers from the Universidad de Almerã a (UAL) has estimated the environmental impact of the Spanish diet
and role that human excrements play in the life cycle of food. It is the first time that a scientific study of this type incorporates the role played by human excrements. oefood in Spain produces emissions of around two tonnes of carbon dioxide per person
analyses the relationship of the food production and consumption chain with global warming and the acidification and eutrophication (excess of nutrients) of the environment, taking what a person in Spain ate in 2005 (881 kilograms) as a reference.
and the food industry are the greatest source of carbon dioxide water pollution, but in both cases the effects of human excretion (through breathing or due to waste water treatment) are next on the list.
The researcher makes the point that returning these wastewaters to the environment is not a bad thing in itself,
just like manure is reused as fertiliser in agriculture. oethe problem is that in many cases our rivers have a very low water level
the element at the heart of global climate woes, is steadily eroding as the worlds farmers expand croplands at the expense of native ecosystem such as forests.
plants and their carbon-rich detritus in the soil is becoming more pronounced as more and more of the worlds natural ecosystems succumb to the plow.
is most acute in the tropics, where expanding agriculture often comes at the expense of the tropical forests that act as massive carbon sinks because of their rich diversity and abundance of plant life.
The article is part of a special PNAS feature on climate mitigation and agricultural productivity in the tropics. oewe analyzed the tradeoffs between carbon storage
and crop production at a level of detail that has never been possible before, according to Stephen Carpenter, one of the senior authors of the study and a professor at the Center for Limnology at UW-Madison. oethe main news is that agricultural production by clearing land in the tropics releases a lot of greenhouse
gases per unit of food produced. Compared to the worlds temperate regions, the tropics release nearly twice as much carbon to the atmosphere for each unit of land cleared,
explains Paul C. West, a UW-Madison graduate student and the lead author of the new study. oetropical forests store a tremendous amount of carbon,
we have to clear carbon-rich ecosystems to create tropical croplands, and unfortunately they often have lower yields than temperate systems,
director of the University of Minnesotas Institute on the Environment and a co-author on the study. oein terms of balancing the needs of food production
In the tropics, for example, it is estimated that for every ton of crop yield, carbon stocks are diminished by as much as 75 tons.
In the tropics, 11 percent of the land is farmed. However, in the tropics pressure to plant more land is growing fastest due to increasing human population, changing diets, food security concerns,
and a rising demand for the raw materials of biofuels. mroevia sciencedaily. com Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati t
which was led by Princeton ecologist Andrea Graham and published in the Oct 29 issue of Science. The research revealed that the sheep population over time has maintained a balance of those with weaker and stronger levels of immunity
an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton who also is on the faculty of the University of Edinburgh,
the field of immunology has been based on studies of domesticated animals in clean lab environments where animals are given all the food they want,
and decrease evolutionary success, depending on the circumstances. oethis is a really excellent example of the power of long-term ecological studies,
The research was funded by the National Trust for Scotland, the U k. Natural Environment Research Council
An ambient light sensor that adjusts the brightness of your screen to fit your surroundings oeifluxcapacitor:
both the virus and the fungus proliferate in cool, damp weather, and both do their dirty work in the bee gut,
and how much environmental factors like heat, cold or drought might play a role. They said that combination attacks in nature,
And the images may help pave the way for a new United nations monitoring system to curb deforestation and forest degradation.
The UNS Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation or REDD, initiative could create financial incentives to reduce carbon emissions from forest destruction and overuse,
The map is from a project by the Carnegie Institutions Department of Global Ecology, in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund and the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment. oewhat were showing here for the first time is an ability to not only map the carbon that is in the forest,
but also use a technique that allows us to estimate the emissions, Greg Asner, lead author of a study that produced the map,
tells Reuters. In terms of an international climate treaty, thats the big one. LINK Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati h
protecting trees and having a major impact on the properties of the ecosystems in which they live.
The scientists believe that adding ant colonies to vulnerable plants in Africa could prevent deforestation
when environmental issues are broken down into dollars and cents. When animals get in the way of people
A 2004 study pegged the total environmental damages and losses from invasive species in the U s. at $120 billion per year, and rising.
Concerns over climate change, water shortages and population growth have loomed in the background for years.
The newest study, reported Thursday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, examines the effects of both prenatal and childhood exposure to the pesticides,
but the problems resulting from environmental exposure are seen often first in those with the highest exposure.
Follow with a sugar drizzle, a chunk of banana, a chocolate drizzle, a fudge ball, a whipped cream rosette,
the clay should hold the sticks upright so the drizzles dont get crushed. In this case, slide the strawberry on right before serving.
Judge White cited the USDAS insufficient testing of weedkiller-tolerant sugar beets and their possible effects to the environment.
Not until the USDA submits an environmental impact statement process that can take up to three years.
consumers and the environment and not the bottom line of corporations such as Monsanto. This could be a major headache for sugar beet growers and food producers.
and Environmental Research Agency (FERA) before they can be listed on the European Seed Register. And John is hoping someone will help him out with the £1, 500 fee.
#Heat wave in U s. Causes Trees to Change Colors Leaves change colors during heat wave. Man, its hot out there.
Dont worry, Im not going to talk about climate change. Im just trotting out some ideas for a Bob Hope-style comedy routine.
And climate change wouldve probably been too edgy for Hope, anyway. So how hot is it?
Arkansas. Russia is having one of its worst heat waves in recorded history, 9 nations have shattered temperature records this summer,
researchers told the Ecological Society of America conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The scientists behind the discovery say this highlights a lack of proper monitoring
says Cynthia Sagers, an ecologist at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, who led the research team that found the canola (Brassica napus, also known as rapeseed).
whether these escaped GM canola plants have any ecological consequences. But those that have evolved resistance to both herbicides could become a weed problem for farmers,
Tom Nickson, head of environmental policy at Monsanto in St louis, Missouri, told Nature, oethose familiar with canola know that these plants are readily found on roadsides and in areas near farmers fields.
Alison Snow, an ecologist at Ohio State university in Columbus, says it is not surprising that escaped transgenic plants have now been found in the United states,
but also by climate scientists. Chinas energy consumption rose so sharply last winter that it produced the biggest surge ever of greenhouse gases by a single country.
an especially dirty fossil fuel in terms of emission of gases contributing to global climate change. In addition to the energy-efficiency objective in the current five-year plan
They are most popular in the tropics, where they grow to large sizes and are easy to harvest.
#Climate Change Could Increase Mexico-U s. Migration: Study The study says climate change may drive up to 6. 7m Mexicans across the border into the US by 2080 A warming climate could see millions of adult Mexicans migrate to the US as rising temperatures cause a drop in crop yields, according to a study by researchers
at Princeton university. For every 10%of lost crop yields in Mexico, another 2%of Mexicans are likely to leave their country,
The research draws a clear connection between climate change and immigration two heavily debated issues in the US.
Many climate experts say human activity is contributing to an increasingly warm planet. And now a team of researchers led by Michael Oppenheimer says rising temperatures affecting crops through floods, droughts,
and stronger storms will induce some workers to relocate. Farmers migration oeclimate change is expected to cause mass human migration,
including immigration across international borders, says the study. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said a 10%reduction in crop yields would lead an additional 2%of the population to emigrate. oeit has been established well that farmers do tend to want to migrate
The study used census data from 1995 to 2005 as well as statistics on climate data and crop production
Mr Oppenheimer, a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the findings drew attention to oethe need to grapple with greenhouse gases.
and places in the story a description of the Mayfair neighborhood in London where the protagonists live or a history of the Black death plague,
Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree. Joyce Kilmer is known mostly for his poem, oetrees, published in the 1914 collection, Trees and Other Poems,
000. oeits like any retail environment, says Sean Fey, a co-owner of the Green Room. oegiven overhead expenses,
But environmental campaigners question whether the GM material is safe for humans to consume and fear the sterile salmon will mutate in the wild
A fish that grows that quickly is likely to lose some of its environmental benefits.
since Owen was rescued from a reef where he was stranded during the 2004 tsunami in the Indian ocean
and brought to Lafarge Ecosystems sanctuary in Kenya. The frightened hippo ran right over to the surprised tortoise
impact on the environment and quality and safety of meat. Consumers are increasingly demanding grass-fed beef,
said Joe Cloud, a landscape architect who joined farmer Joel Salatin celebrated among the oelocavore movement to buy a small slaughterhouse in the Shenandoah valley in 2007 that was about to shut down.
Cloud said. oei just dont see how were going to rebuild the local community-based system using mobile units.
impact on the environment and quality and safety of meat. Consumers are increasingly demanding grass-fed beef,
said Joe Cloud, a landscape architect who joined farmer Joel Salatin celebrated among the oelocavore movement to buy a small slaughterhouse in the Shenandoah valley in 2007 that was about to shut down.
Cloud said. oei just dont see how were going to rebuild the local community-based system using mobile units.
Consequently causing unwanted damage to the place erosion. Just like Taiwan, How long could this magnificent phenomenon exist?
How I wish to lie down enjoying the breeze and looking at the ever-changing clouds in the sky...
Rare opportunity to see the burning clouds, I set up my camera and got it...Bad temper donkey did not want to work with the bull, such uncoordinated working force.
Clear sky with a rainbow after the rain...This hollowed place is the most distinct part of the land.
in a neighborhood of twisted streets lined with busy spare parts vendors. The school building, a large, two-story block-like structure with a flat roof,
#Study of Biofuel Use Shows Large Climate Benefit Ethanol and biogas use in Sweden shows a large climate benefit,
PÃ¥L BÃ rjesson, researcher in environmental and energy systems at the engineering faculty, in a statement.
and has analyzed its environmental impact, both in relation to each other and as alternatives to fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel.
While initially seen as a major boon for the fight to control climate change, many have come to believe that growing these crops serves no net climate benefit.
In addition to greenhouse gas emissions, environmental impacts such as eutrophication, acidification, tropospheric ozone and particle emissions were included also in the study,
climate change and the advent of genetically modified crops for what is now known as colony collapse disorder.
oeincrease in the usage of electronic gadgets has led to electropollution of the environment. Honeybee behaviour and biology has been affected by electrosmog
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