and environmental conservation and improve community health in an economically viable way. This is my 2014 mantra:
and learning how to elevate my capacity in the environmental movement to be at par with
But when Kunas migrated to Panama city their blood pressure increased pointing to an environmental cause. Upon examination Hollenberg found the Kunas outside of cities drank large amounts of indigenous unprocessed cocoa.
#Momentum Builds for Deforestation-Free Palm oil (Op-Ed) Seth Shulman is a senior staff writer at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) a veteran science journalist and author
Such a tipping-point moment is coming into view in the campaign to halt the widespread devastating deforestation currently resulting from the growing world consumption of palm oil.
and Hershey's have pledged recently to buy only deforestation-free palm oil for their products. Two of the world's largest palm oil suppliers Wilmar and Golden Agri-Resources have made similar commitments for the palm oil they sell.
Today's conventional palm-oil production is one of the world's major drivers of tropical deforestation wiping out habitat for endangered species
and contributing to climate change. The other piece of the problem is the corruption and lax laws in many regions that have allowed a sometimes shady network of producers to clearcut vast swaths of tropical forests to make way for palm-oil plantations.
Understanding the climate connection Oil-palm trees grow only in humid tropical regions such as Indonesia and Malaysia as well as parts of Africa and Latin america.
In addition to deforestation palm-oil production has led also to the destruction of peat soils in many regions.
Palm-oil plantations now cover more than 40 million acres an area larger than the state of Georgia. The climate implications are enormous:
All told tropical deforestation currently accounts for a whopping 10 percent of the world's total global-warming emissions equivalent to the annual tailpipe emissions of some 600 million cars.
Sustainable practices backed by science The good news is that tropical deforestation is not an inevitable outcome of palm oil production.
Unfortunately despite a variety of efforts to combat the problem the current lack of traceability along the supply chain allows growers with a history of environmental
Demanding better palm oil To break the cycle companies need to commit to buying only traceable deforestation-free
and Unilever have committed already to purchasing palm oil that is deforestation-free peat-free traceable and transparent.
The UCS's report makes the case that as a consumer you can help drive this change by demanding that the companies whose palm-oil products you use adopt deforestation-free peat-free palm-oil policies for all their products.
Multinational companies really hold the world's tropical forests in their hands said Calen May-Tobin lead analyst for UCS's Tropical forest and Climate Initiative.
With recent commitments from Kellogg's and Hershey's to use only traceable deforestation-free palm oil we see some exciting momentum building said May-Tobin.
and help limit the severity of climate change. And consumers have a big role to play by calling upon these companies to take action now.
Shulman's most recent Op-Ed was Why a Climate Scientist's Libel Case Matters.
asked the medicine man as I ducked into his grass hut to escape the tropical downpour.
Protecting rainforest ecosystems and protecting traditional rainforest cultures. Many in the first group overlooked the opportunity to enlist tribal inhabitants of the rainforest its natural guardians as allies.
Other factors such as climate or urbanization fail to explain the cultural differences. Though the study is limited to China
In these provinces the climate is the same from county to county but the prevalence of rice versus wheat farming differs.
The results revealed the same collectivist-individualistic split among neighbors with counties with more wheat acting more individualistically than rice-farming counties.
This showed that the ancient Egyptians adapted well to the environment while the Nile region became increasingly arid between 3500 B c
when British columbia's climate was similar to that of Portland Oregon today. These are the first two mammals ever found at the dig site in Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park
which makes sense as it shows up in many forested Eocene environments Eberle said. The early Eocene was a steamy time On earth.
and frozen rarely not unlike the climate in Portland today 700 miles (1126 kilometers) to the south.
Visitors often confuse these environmental landmarks with wishing wells or even garbage cans throwing coins and trash into the springs she said.
#Climate and Civilization Killed Egypt's Animals If you took a cruise along the northern stretch of the Nile some 6000 years ago you wouldn't have seen any pyramids
and found that most mammal extinctions over the last six millennia were linked to periods of big change in terms of climate and human civilization.
The stability of the ecosystem tended to unravel during periods of major climate change and sociopolitical turnover the scientists found.
When the so-called African Humid Period ended about 5000 years ago Egypt's landscape switched to a drier desertlike climate;
and his fellow researchers can't really tease apart the possible causes that led to these ecological changes.
A third possible driver could have been the climate; the drier environment might have limited the availability of plants at the bottom of the food chain.
The changes humans are inducing in the environment now are probably fundamentally different from the factors that drove ecological changes in the past Yeakel said.
Nonetheless studying past changes is the only way scientists can predict what will happen in the future.
We have to look at ecosystems as a continuum Yeakel said. We can't just look at the modern ecosystem.
We have to look at how it has functioned in the past and how has changed it over time to establish a baseline for how the system will change in future.
The intense acid rainfall only spiked the upper surface of the ocean with sulfuric acid leaving the deeper waters as a refuge.
Other killer effects included tsunamis a global firestorm and soot from burning plants. The 10 Best Ways to Destroy Earth The ocean-acidification theory has been put forth before
These aerosols played a key role in quickly getting sulfur out of the sky and into the ocean the researchers said.
#Bee Fossils Provide Rare Glimpse into Ice age Environment A new analysis of rare leafcutter-bee fossils excavated from the Rancho La Brea Tar pits in Southern California has provided valuable insight
into the local environment during the last Ice age. The La Brea Tar pits located in Los angeles contain the world's richest deposits of Ice Ace fossils
and cross-referencing their data with environmental niche models that predict the geographic distribution of species the scientists determined their Ice age specimens belonged to Megachile gentilis a bee species that still exists today.
and ensure the bees didn't belong to the next-best-candidate species M. onobrychidis the team turned to environmental niche models.
Understanding climate change Unlike other types of fossilized animals such as mammals and birds insect fossils can provide valuable clues to ancient environments
and climates Holden said. These animals have defined well life cycles and tight climate restrictions and aren't likely to migrate if the climate shifts.
Whenyou find small organisms like insects you know that's where they lived; that was their habitat she said.
The nest cells of LACMRLP 388e were constructed underground (but near the surface) in an area adjacent to the fossil-rich Pit 91.
what the environment and climate were like at La Brea thousands of years ago. After doing so Holden
and her team concluded that the leafcutter bees lived in a low-elevation moist environment during the Late Pleistocene.
Further research into insect fossils at the La Brea Tar pits will help scientists gain an even better understanding of the past environment in the region which could provide insight into what the environment will be like in the coming years.
Understanding climate change in the past will help us understand current climate and environment change Holden said.
Follow Joseph Castro on Twitter. Follow Live Science@livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Live Science Â
And in fact these fires are a bit like seeds in that they are a crucial part of the prairie ecosystem.
The Unexpected Beauty of Tallgrass Prairie The prairies evolved to flourish after lightning-sparked fires a fact humans have taken long advantage of.
but they're actually a complex and diverse ecosystem. About 80 percent of prairie vegetation is grass (40 to 60 species) with the remainder made up of more than 300 species of wildflowers plus trees scrubs and lichens according to Live Science's Our Amazing Planet.
Though there is pressure from agricultural interests to keep that water for irrigation environmental advocates argue that increased flows are necessary to protect both the environment and the economy.
versus plants such as nut trees that must be watered no matter the weather; and lining canals so that precious water doesn't seep into the soil instead of irrigating crops.
and ecosystems and provide recreational opportunities. But with so many demands on them many of America'
The Environmental protection agency (EPA) required the state to develop a plan to clean up the Haw but the state government has passed laws stalling the plan.</
s<a href=http://www. livescience. com/11283-glaciers. html>glaciers</a>feed the scenic White river of Washington state which flows into the Puyallup River and Puget sound.
However oil and gas interests paid for the environmental impact study and would allow more than 15000 wells to be drilled on these lands.
The Corps is finalizing the Environmental Impact Statement for the project this year. Depending on its conclusion the Environmental protection agency (EPA) could veto the new construction under the Clean Water Act.</
</p><p>The Upper Colorado and its tributaries provide drinking water and recreation to residents of the Centennial state as well as habitat to 14 native fish species.
In 2013 the<a href=http://www. livescience. com/42291-colorado-river-experimental-flood-planned. html>Colorado river</a made the No. 1 spot on American Rivers'<
Many people think wolves only live in colder climates but wolves can live in temperatures that range from minus 70 to 120 degrees F (minus 50 to 48.8 degrees C) according to the San diego Zoo.
On the volcanic island of Bali rice farmers have evolved an approach to their livelihoods that blends religion ecological knowledge and an egalitarian water-distribution system that for centuries sustained rice harvests on both
and represents profound historical knowledge of the workings of Bali s agricultural ecosystem including how to deal with crop pests.
which advances research on the governance of social-ecological systems (such as the subaks) with a special emphasis on resilience.
but consumers worry about the chemical residues they leave on fruit their environmental impact and the potential for pathogens to become resistant to them.
and pharmacology as we learn more about our natural environment. Hopefully too we can develop better ways of reducing the huge amount of food loss that takes place
and aggression caused by the environmental deficiencies and restricted feeding regimens. Sows in large industrial operations also are affected by a number of production-related diseases
Beneath the lush forests of the Amazon is a whole different level of diversity that new research says may be one of the keys to understanding how to stem the global impacts of deforestation.
Despite its great plant and animal diversity it is one of the least understood ecosystems for its microbial diversity.
In work published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology we found a surprisingly large shift in microbial community composition
This may have major implication on how nutrients are cycled in the new ecosystem. Any changes to the nitrogen cycle are likely to affect the carbon cycle
The process of deforestation is causing an addition of 1. 6 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere per year substantially increasing greenhouse gases.
While these findings reinforce the toll deforestation is having they also offer some hope. Our examination revealed that approximately 50%of Amazon s abandoned pastures are going through secondary forest formation.
Also using our results we can start devising new methods to aid the recovery of disturbed ecosystems imagine a cocktail of microbes added for ecosystem restoration.
in the Amazon the invisible microbes do as much as the now-disappearing trees to help our environment.
Climate change in Antarctica the cold and ice killed them there and a change to seasonal dryness in southern South america put an end to them in Patagonia Wilf explained in a statement.
whether the tree will be able to respond to the more rapid human-induced threats from climate change and activities like deforestation and selective logging.
just as strong as climate in controlling where vegetation does and doesn't appear in the Sierra nevada said Jesse Hahm a geologist at the University of Wyoming
The plutons have been brought to the surface by millions of years of erosion along with uplift from tectonic forces at the boundary between the North american and Pacific plates.
They focused on the western Sierra between about 6000 and 8000 feet (1800 and 2400 meters) above sea level where glaciers did not remove soil during the last ice age.
Shifting climate While temperature and precipitation are still important factors in controlling the elevation at
What was shocking was that within an area of similar climate the forest varied wildly Hahm said.
The Goldilocks zone inhabited by western Sierra forests is predicted to move to higher elevations in the coming centuries as climate change shifts California's temperature and precipitation bands.
As the forests move under changing climate they will also be restricted by rock type Hahm said.
#Climate Alters Mongolian Past And Present (ISNS)--The drought that devastated Mongolia in the early part of the last decade killed tens of millions of livestock forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee the countryside
which found that unprecedented rainfall in the 13th century gave Genghis khan the resources to turn the Mongolian Empire into the largest land empire in history spanning vast stretches of Asia and Eurasia.
Together the studies of wet and dry periods in 13th-century and modern Mongolia point to the way abrupt decade-scale climate shifts can alter the fates of societies for better or for worse.
and climate in Mongolia one of the longest tree-ring histories on record. More rain means moister soil
which causes trees to grow faster and produce thicker tree rings. Combining their data with previously published tree-ring records they found that the severity of the recent drought was matched only by dry periods in the late 12th century
The researchers'tree-ring record also revealed a time of unprecedented rainfall between 1211 and 1225 coinciding with the expansion of the Mongolian Empire.
While some scholars suggest that droughts pushed the Mongols to invade other lands this is the first evidence to suggest that rain fueled their conquests.
This climate would have benefitted the Mongols by providing them with ample grassland productivity. This productivity was crucial for providing a consistent energy source for horses and livestock to support armies.
and the extension of past empires said Trouet whose research showed that abrupt climate shifts played a role in the fall of the Roman empire.
Although modern societies tend to be more resilient against rapid climate shifts today's Mongolia shows that's not always the case.
The changes that are ongoing in climate now are very often very abrupt Trouet said.
Living underground keeps wild hamsters cool in hot climates. Some hamsters are very social while others are loners.
if the weather gets cold enough. Hamsters will wake up from their hibernation periodically to eat.
#King penguins'Genes Explain Ancient Island-Hopping King penguins colonized a string of islands north of Antarctica about 15000 years ago after glaciers melted
and the climate warmed according to a new genetic study. The balmier weather gave the penguins two things they needed to thrive:
ice-free pockets of land on which to raise their chicks and food within swimming range for feeding those chicks the study found.
The lanternfishes congregate in an ocean region called the polar front where cold polar water meets the warmer tropical water creating a sharp temperature gradient.
In the winter the penguins venture about 621 miles (1000 km) to the fringes of Antarctica to forage for food though exactly what they eat is said a mystery study co-author CÃ line Le Bohec a polar ecologist at the Centre Scientifique
and the glaciers were retreating from the islands. Just as soon as the breeding sites were available then the population just skyrocketed Trucchi told Live Science.
which could help researchers predict how penguins will adapt to climate change. But the future doesn't look so hot for the blubbery birds.
Current models predict that unmitigated climate change will push the polar front south taking the penguins'summer staple of lanternfishes farther from the islands.
Aircraft Drops Retardant on Oregon Fire (Photo) Zooming low and tight against a cloud of billowing smoke an MD-87 air tanker drops retardant on the Two Bulls fire
If you have an amazing weather or general science photo you'd like to share for a possible story
As an added environmental benefit the process sequesters methane a potent greenhouse gas and provides an economic incentive for methane capture at facilities such as landfills wastewater treatment plants and dairy farms.
The study also found that livestock expelled 40 percent more methane than had been estimated by the Environmental protection agency a result in agreement with a recently published review of hundreds of emissions studies detailed in the journal Science.
However it is more effective at trapping infrared radiation (the greenhouse effect. Methane gas comes from natural sources such as decomposing plants in wetlands
The EPA estimated 9. 7 million tons (8. 8 teragrams) of methane from livestock in 2004.
The EPA attributed 9. 9 million tons (9. 0 teragrams) to oil and gas industries.
The latest greenhouse gas inventory published by the EPA still has livestock leading oil and gas in 2012 methane emissions.
The EPA's total for 2004 was 31 million tons (28.3 teragrams) of methane. Natural gas numbers off?
The review published in February in the journal Science of more than 200 studies found the EPA is underestimating total U s. methane emissions by anywhere from 25 to 75 percent.
It's not surprising that livestock emissions were found to be higher than EPA methodologies said Adam Brandt an energy resources engineer at Stanford university in Palo alto California
From the results of our analysis we found the EPA was consistently underestimating total emissions said Brandt who was involved not in the new research.
For example with extreme heat and winds eucalypt crowns can catch on fire regardless of the amount of leaf litter and surface fuel.
But ecologists are concerned that such high frequencies can have damaging effects on plant and animal species that require longer fire-free intervals to complete their life cycles.
or during weather conditions when the fire danger is low. A spectacular use of back burning which stemmed the threat of two large uncontrolled bushfires occurred at the height of the Blue Mountains bushfire disaster in Spring 2013.
The ecological impacts of back burning are discussed rarely but may be quite substantial. Wildlife which can normally flee a fire front can become trapped between the bushfire and the back burn.
This can be avoided by having ecologists help design the footprint of a back burn but extreme bushfire situations may not allow sufficient time for fine-tuning.
if they present no threat to any valued economic or ecological assets. We are yet to achieve ecologically sustainable fire management of flammable landscapes.
Managing bushfires will become more complicated given the increased extreme fire weather driven by climate change
Climate, Animals & Plants The Triassic period was the first period of the Mesozoic era and occurred between 251 million and 199 million years ago.
Climate was generally very dry over much of Pangaea with very hot summers and cold winters in the continental interior.
A highly seasonal monsoon climate prevailed nearer to the coastal regions. Although the climate was more moderate farther from the equator it was generally warmer than today with no polar ice caps.
Late in the Triassic seafloor spreading in the Tethys Sea led to rifting between the northern and southern portions of Pangaea
Due to the dry climate the interior of Pangaea was mostly desert. In higher latitudes gymnosperms survived
She also survived a 2011 tsunami which claimed 2000 of her fellow adult albatrosses and about 110000 chicks in the Midway wildlife refuge an island habitat in the middle of the North Pacific.
Changed ice more stress As the distribution of sea ice is projected to continue to change throughout the century as climate change progresses researchers based at the University of Strasbourg in France were interested in determining how this environmental stress may impact the future population of Adã lies on the southernmost continent.
while at their nests compared to untreated adult males the team reported in the Feb 4 online issue of the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
The loss of those chicks underscores the importance of follow-up studies regarding how environmental change will influence penguin population growth
#Warm, Wet Climate Likely Helped Genghis khan Conquer the World A generous stretch of warm wet weather may have fueled Genghis khan's wave of expansion through Asia
Top 10 Ways Weather Changed History) Grass-fueled invasion Genghis khan was born sometime around A d. 1160.
Originally scientists and historians speculated that the Mongols expanded from their grassy homelands to get away from harsh weather.
From 1211 to 1225 the climate became wet and warm probably allowing for Genghis'initial military forays.
and lasted until 2009 was similar in length and lack of rainfall to the droughts during the chaotic pre-empire times in the 1100s the researchers reported.
even if rainfall doesn't change the landscape is going to get drier. The anthropogenic change highlights another intersection of climate and humanity in Mongolia:
An unrelated 2011 study found that the mass death caused by Genghis khan's conquering forces translated into a slight decrease in global atmospheric carbon dioxide.
and meadows when they live in natural environments. Corn snakes are mostly nocturnal and like to hide under rotting bark logs and rocks during the day.
Katharine Milton a primatologist and human ecologist also at UC Berkeley remained unconvinced after investigating the evidence.
and take the most seemingly uninteresting item out of the environment and through culture manipulate it
</p><p>Cuckoos have figured out a unique way to get the neighbors to do the difficult work of raising young.
While the journey takes the gray whales away from a bountiful food supply the southern neighborhood is free of the dangerous orcas (they stick to colder waters) that otherwise hunt the newborn whales.
and environmental medicine at New york University and co-author of the new study. Weitzman said this trend is especially worrisome
There was basically nowhere else to go said study author Simon Powers a postdoctoral researcher in ecology and evolution at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
Instead they degrade complex organic molecules in their environment into smaller molecules they can absorb to meet their energy and nutrient needs.
The growing tips of the hyphae release enzymes into the environment to degrade complex organic molecules into usable nutrients.
I do about the environment I'm increasingly aware that it's not just the eco-minded who are calling for more mud pies and fewer Leapfrog computers for preschoolers.
in schools with an environmental education component students score higher on standardized tests in math reading writing
In insects this doesn't always appear to be true many seem to have selected a set of bacteria taken up from the environment
but their diversity and functions in hosts and their responses to ecological disturbance are understood poorly she says.
She and her collaborators also conducted a survey of gut symbionts in three bumblebee species to determine whether environmental factors especially agricultural management or geographic location affected symbiont communities.
or leaves rustling in the wind can calm city-dwellers far from woodsy retreats. These natural sounds may also influence the behavior of gorillas raised in zoos that have seen never a rainforest.
Some species of freshwater turtles such as snapping turtles also eat small mammals frogs snakes fish and even other smaller turtles according to Connecticut's Department of energy and Environmental Protection.
indeed phages are present in many foods and natural environments. But this specificity also makes it challenging to find a suitable phage for a given situation.
In a phage hunt a culture of the bacteria is spiked with an environmental sample thought to contain phages.
The 210-million-year-old piece of wood contains the first fossilized fire scar ever discovered researchers reported here this week at the Ecological Society of America's annual meeting.
Photos of Arizona's Amazing Petrified Forest Decades later Bruce Byers took on a contract to help fire ecology researchers in Colorado's Front Range.
If more evidence for fire damage turns up in ancient wood will ecologists reconsider the impacts of fire on plant evolution?
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