or sink for carbon dioxide a gas that has been linked to climate change. Through photosynthesis the Amazon absorbs 1. 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year in a process that requires input of nitrogen.
The new paper featured in the January issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology looks for the first time at the reaction of free-living nitrogen-fixing microorganisms called diazotrophs to the deforestation.
in the country that accounted for more than 85 percent of deforestation from 1996 to 2005.
They theorize the pasture ecosystems rely on the diazotrophs more for nitrogen because of the continuous grazing from cattle requiring constant regrowth of grasses.
and limit deforestation in the first place Rodrigues said. There is still time to recover if we act now he said.
Often scientists study biodiversity at all levels--from genes to entire ecosystems. Currently researchers at the University of Missouri are employing genotyping to study movement patterns of African forest elephants in protected and unprotected regions of Gabon to better understand how human occupation of these areas might affect elephants on the African continent.
or a species that is especially important to the health of ecosystems in Africa Eggert said.
and the addition of makeshift perches such as transmission polls in sagebrush ecosystems are creating preferred habitat for common ravens that threaten sensitive native bird species including greater sage grouse.
The authors looked at 82 raven nests on the U s. Department of energy's Idaho National Laboratory land in southeastern Idaho a sagebrush steppe ecosystem where ravens increased in numbers eleven-fold between 1985 and 2009.
This is bad news for the animals in that ecosystem upon which ravens prey. Common raven populations have increased more than 300 percent over the last 40 years in the western United states
#Temperature most significant driver of worlds tallest treesunderstanding forest biodiversity and how carbon dioxide is stored within trees is an important area of ecological research.
Height also allows for wind-dispersed pollen and fruits to travel further. The new study explores the role of temperature in driving tree height a study which may allow us to forecast how forests adapt to climate change.
The research examined the temperature-driven physiological model of tree height in order to explain the thermal climates in which the tallest individuals of the tallest tree species grow.
The tallest specimens of the world's nine tallest tree species were found to grow in climates with an unusually small seasonal temperature variation
which accounted for only 2. 1%of global land area. In contrast their distance from the equator ranged from 3900 to 5500 km their altitude above sea level from 50 to 1750 m
even though not knowing current variation makes predicting climate change caused changes difficult or impossible said Markku Larjavaara.
and would therefore mitigate climate change. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Wiley.
maintaining productivityas the climate warms up more and more farmers in Switzerland need to irrigate their crops.
Climate change will lead to regional water shortages. If the use of river water is regulated not both water quality
and has an impact on the environment. Testing options on the basis of case studiesresearchers of an NRP 61 project investigated alternatives not in terms of sourcing more water but rather in terms of reducing the agricultural need for water.
while minimising the use of water and the impact on the environment says JÃ rg Fuhrer leader of the project Water demand in Swiss agriculture and sustainable adaptive options for land and water management
even if the climate changes the cultivation of agricultural land will remain viable at least theoretically in areas that are threatened by droughts such as the Plain of the Broye.
Farmers in these areas need to limit the climate-related increase of water use and at the same time the losses in production and income.
An environmental performance analysis shows however that agricultural production will continue to negatively impact the environment
and less ecological measures to maintain the status quo. His team's study says Fuhrer provides the scientific basis for a discussion
which will become increasingly pertinent in view of the expected climate change and the related risks for agriculture. 1st Agroscope Sustainability Conferenceon 23 january 2014 the Institute of Sustainability Studies at Agroscope will organise a conference on Water in agriculture--today and tomorrow.
and approaches for adapting to the changing climate. The political environment in which this adaptation will have to take place will also be discussed.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Foerderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung.
and the research project leader whose lab focuses on urban entomology insect behavior and chemical ecology.
-and-kill approach once it is implemented successfully in practical pest management programs could potentially provide maximum control efficacy with reduced amount of insecticides applied in the environment.
--or minimal--negative impact on the environment non-target organisms and human health. According to Choe from a practical standpoint future development of the proper formulation of (Z)- 9-hexadecenal would help improve its efficacy and usability.
but these cities'extensive suburbs essentially wipe out the climate benefits. Dominated by emissions from cars trucks and other forms of transportation suburbs account for about 50 percent of all household emissions--largely carbon dioxide--in United states. The study
which has been accepted for publication in the journal Environmental science & Technology (ES&T) uses local census weather and other data--37 variables in total--to approximate greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the energy transportation food goods
We hope cities will use this information to begin to create highly tailored community-scale climate action plans.
Metropolitan areas look like carbon footprint hurricanes with dark green low-carbon urban cores surrounded by red high-carbon suburbs said Christopher Jones a doctoral student working
Other important factors include population density the carbon-intensity of electricity production energy prices and weather.
which is bad news for the climate explains Jones. So if building more population-dense cities is not a viable solution for city planners
Households and cities can calculate their own carbon footprints to see how they compare to their neighbors
and create customized climate action plan from over 40 mitigation options. In some locations motor vehicles are the largest source of emissions
Tailored emission lowering strategies The real opportunity say the authors is tailoring climate solutions to demographically similar populations within locations.
When you package low carbon technologies together you find real financial savings and big social and environmental benefits.
and increase motivation to engage residents in climate action. People need to act within their own spheres of influence where they feel they can make the most difference Jones said.
and to enable more tailored climate strategies. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of California-Berkeley.
and severity is attributed frequently to structural changes brought about by fire exclusion past land management practices and climate.
but such information is useful to forest management focused on restoring biodiversity and resilience to these ecosystems.
Understory vegetation should benefit from thinning or prescribed fire treatments that lead to a greater abundance of higher light environments within stands.
The evolution of flowering plants caused an enormous change in the biodiversity of life On earth especially in the tropics
and subtropics Poinar said. New associations between these small flowering plants and various types of insects and other animal life resulted in the successful distribution
#Antarcticas Pine Island Glacier sensitive to climatic variabilitya new study published in Science this month suggests the thinning of Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is much more susceptible to climatic
which the glacier flows decreased by 50 per cent between 2010 and 2012 and this may have been due to a La Nin㣠weather event.
Pine Island Glacier has thinned continuously during past decades driven by an acceleration in its flow.
The acceleration is thought to be caused by thinning of the floating ice shelf created as the glacier slides into the sea.
and the glacier's response is key to assessing how much it will contribute to rising sea levels.
It's now known that much of the thinning is due to a deep oceanic inflow of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) on the continental shelf neighbouring the glacier.
This ungrounding event was one of the major driving forces behind the glacier's rapid change. In 2009 a higher CDW volume and temperature in Pine Island Bay contributed to an increase in ice shelf melting compared to the last time measurements were taken in 1994.
But observations made in January 2012 and reported now in Science show that ocean melting of the glacier was the lowest ever recorded.
So its presence enhances the ice shelf's sensitivity to climate variability since any changes in the thermocline can alter the amount of heat filtering through.
In January 2012 the dramatic cooling of the ocean around the glacier is believed to be due to an increase in easterly winds caused by a strong La Nin㣠event in the tropical Pacific ocean.
Normally the winds flow from the west. The observations suggest there is a complex interplay between geological oceanographic and climatic processes.
The study stresses the importance of both local geology and climate variability in ocean melting in this region.
We found ocean melting of the glacier was the lowest ever recorded and less than half of that observed in 2010.
and thinning has been much more variable than hitherto suspected and susceptible to climate variability driven from the tropics.
Waste from neighboring drains would also turn up less of a variety of foods revealing a socioeconomic distinction between neighbors.
but the financial returns depend heavily on your local climate and use patterns. For both efficiency upgrades and solar systems, there may be rebates
you might consider a wind turbine, or go big and try growing oilseed crops to make your own fuel for your diesel vehicles--after all, that's
Friends and neighbors and gardening buddies are great, but it's generally true that nobody has your back like family
We will see smarter neighborhoods. Neighborhoods, said Bartlett, are a great place to gain momentum for
what we need to do at a city level. When you can study buildings in the context of a neighborhood.
Neighborhoods mimic living systems. For example, IBM is involved in a project in Boston's Backbay to help the neighborhood implement smart grid technology that electronically monitors
and analyzes power consumption. With the carbon matching system in place in this neighborhood, traffic patterns can be broken down,
and other sources of carbon can be traced. According to Bartlett, this system helped IBM identify carbon in unexpected places
like in methane leaks from utilities. When you can have this type of project in the neighborhood,
he said, you can then redesign a green corridor there. It can be a blueprint for the larger city level.
providing a more dynamic interpretation of the surroundings, and apps can help them contribute, said Bartlett.
He called this environmental crowd sourcing, or the ability of a citizen to use their smartphone to alert the city to building issues,
 Just as smarter buildings and smarter neighborhoods are the building blocks of smarter cities people are as well.
Why would you conserve water in the urban environment when the farmers are flooding the fields?
They're so pressed in their economic model that environmental concern is not impactful to them.
Ecosystem needs--lakes and rivers need a certain amount of water for them to survive.
This is the first perfect storm I've seen for water technology. SP: Because fracking uses a lot of water
That's why one company is working to better incorporate trees into the urban environment,
Big, mature trees define established neighbourhoods in cities such as Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. But such trees can be scarce in new suburbs,
on downtown streets and in neighbourhoods where construction and excavation have left little soil that isn â¢t compacted.
In fact, last march, the United nations Environmental Program issued a report dubbing honeybee disappearance a global phenomenon.
A year after Fukushima, how life in Japan has told changedas to Laura Shin by Yuki Kokubo Yuki Kokubo is based a Brooklyn filmmaker who focuses on social and environmental issues.
Since the earthquake and tsunami she has visited Japan twice--once in June, and again in December.
and tsunami have changed really Japanese attitudes. My mom told me a story that, before the earthquake,
I never thought about tsunamis growing up. They were not part of my consciousness at all. But earthquakes were really frequent.
They're environmental refugees in a way. My parents are just trying to get back to normal life.
Look at what happened with the tsunami. In Japan, the disaster has made a lot of people anti-nuclear,
The plastic legacy of Great East Japan tsunami debris Q&a: Hitoshi Abe on design lessons from the Great East Japan earthquake Listen to Japan's 9. 0 earthquake Fukushima's Lesson:'
How Japan's anti-nuclear plan could go nuclear In post-Japan quake & tsunami era, Noah offers emergency shelter
Today, he â¢s a leader in green design making chairs from plant Å trash  and hurricane debris,
we were actually doing something good for the environment. At this point, I became even more in love with these materials.
This chair is made entirely out of Hurricane Katrina debris. In 2005 we were hired by Metropolis magazine to make an instillation.
It takes away the nutrients from the fish and blocks the whole ecosystem in the river.
Why cities are on the Ëoecutting edge of environmentalism â¢Climate change: it's time for the health sector to get involved Earthquake could threaten California â¢s water supply Tech,
Large towers that use  aquaponic growing systems--I'm imagining a larger version of this already functional aeroponic garden at O'hare airport in Chicago--grow food in various micro-climates at different
and other metropolises, is an environmental sham. So says none other than a self-proclaimed environmentalist,
who notes that the craze for eating locally grown food emits tons more CO2 (that infamous instigator of climate change)
Ecology think tank The Breakthrough Institute republished his article after the Observer ran it. But other greenies are sure to come with torch
All energy and climate solutions are localthe climate movement isn't dead; it's just gone underground.
The United nations climate summit in Rio de janeiro ended with participants gnashing their teeth and issuing a long string of condemnations, calling the final report the longest suicide note in history, a failure of epic proportions,
In the background are the blades of huge wind turbines being staged for deployment at a new wind farm in the Mojave,
but building solar upon solar wind upon wind, and eliminating our need for fossil fuels permanently, one town at a time, from the bottom up.
then so are the solutions to our energy and climate challenges. Â We can kill the carbon monster
An old Chicago slaughterhouse turned vertical farmin a neighborhood with close ties to the American industrial food system, an old Chicago meat-packing plant could become the symbol of the new urban
a neighborhood that inspired Upton Sinclair's critical look at the meat-packing industry (among other things) in  The Jungle.
But both sides have goals social and environmental responsibility. Are projects like The Plant the new industrial?
never once realizing that much of the pristine environment of which he read was being torn apart. At that time
environmental concerns have taken a backseat to economic growth in China. This has made the nation an economic world power
but has created also some of the world's worst air and water pollution, deforestation and dangers to public health.
investigative reports by Ma â¢s Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) have ignited public pressure on some of the world â¢s biggest companies like Nike, General electric,
and environmental crimes at Chinese factories is fierce and tireless. Robert Percival, a U s.-China environmental law expert who teaches at University of Maryland â¢s Francis King Carey School of law,
Ma became an investigative environmental journalist for the South China Morning Post, one of the country â¢s few muckrakers.
Ma realized that without persistent public awareness and participation in the environmental health of their country,
 Like the United states and Europe, China has passed significant environmental reforms since the 1970s. But enforcement of those laws has been piecemeal at best,
The group posted a water pollution map online based on government records. It followed with two databases of air
and water pollution violation records spanning years. The initial response was tepid by the public which had seen not previously such transparency.
Å We can use transparency as a tool in environmental (enforcement), Ma said. America started doing that in late 1980s with pretty amazing results.
which knocked down the cost of doing the environmental transparency. Â The databases gave journalists and environmental activists in China easy, quick access to government pollution records.
Å I feel that there's a historic opportunity to do that in China. But the potential has not been tapped,
While doing an environmental consulting job for Western companies that used Chinese factories, Ma had an epiphany.
In January 2011, IPE and other environmental organizations took square aim at the tech titan.
 an investigation found more than 27 Chinese suppliers to Apple had environmental problems that violated the company â¢s own stated standards.
not a single violation was based on environmental pollution, Â the report said. Å The public has no way of knowing
a number of significant environmental violations at companies that made parts or assembled Apple's products were exposed.
Dongguan Shengyi, was the subject of constant pollution complaints from its neighbors. The complaints were ignored until IPE unearthed records that exposed the magnitude of the company â¢s pollution.
and other electronics companies--was dumping waste into a storm water channel, which drained into neighboring Nantaizi Lake.
Earlier this year, Ma accepted the Goldman Environmental Prize in San francisco, the Nobel prize of the environmental world.
ŠThis could be some turning point in our general environmental governance  Ma said. ŠOur current system is made to ensure a very rapid economic growth,
 Photo courtesy Goldman Environmental Prize
Another cure for whisky's carbon hangoverthe stink of methane is not what comes to mind
There are so many hare-brain environmental schemes out there and in the whisky industry that just don't work
 The review process includes an Environmental Impact Assessment, development review and public hearings at the Planning commission and the City council.
'Perhaps after recent factory inspections that found problems in areas including working hours and environment,
and Chinese environmental and work activists have protested against the company's previous reluctance to disclose supplier details.
It comes as the drumbeat of criticism against practices across the company's ballooning supplier footprint has grown from prominent Chinese environmental activists and others.
People wanted to have a sense that they could control their own lives and surroundings again,
numerous wars of various sizes, a dragged-out global recession, multiple environmental problems, overpowering consumerism,
in order to keep tabs on all the raw data needed to make a farming operation more sustainable--such as the daily evapotranspiration ratio (how quickly the sun will suck up moisture from plants and the dirt) and wind speeds.
is an attempt to track the seed-to-shelf environmental impact of all produce-based products.
because cities don't have to invest as much in expensive storm water treatment plants. They also help filter water impurities.
And besides the economic and energy saving benefits, urban trees can help to enhance the sense of place in neighborhoods
Cities must work with the challenges of their environment. The dry Southwest will need to use drought-resistant trees
The order goes up into the cloud and lands with the robot, who then sends a reply,
And just like the neighborhood barista, the robot remembers what they like. Everything else I consume in life I want variation,
When one applies these chemicals in a confined environment like a greenhouse, one â¢s likelihood of intoxication increases notably,
They water your garden rain or shine. Sometimes they water your sidewalk, too--in other words, far from foolproof.
Cyber-rain, Rain Bird & Hydropoint all offer smart sprinkler systems, which take into account plant type and use weather data
Working for Laybourne, Dove was so enthusiastic about the field that she went to graduate school and studied environmental science and public policy,
The software helps document the software of information needed for environmental compliance. It can also help land management
Our stakeholders like the transparency of the modeling provided by the spatial utilities and open programming environment.
The Environmental protection agency estimated worldwide insecticide usage in 2007 at 892 million pounds, with the United states accounting for about 93 million pounds of it.
under EPA review Images: USDA, Agrisolar, Flickr danmachold
Southwest Airlines unveils first'green plane';'saves 9, 500 gallons of fuel per yearsouthwest Airlines has announced the world's first green plane, a Boeing 737-700 that's 472 lbs. lighter than a conventional model and saves
According to Outside. com, airlines account for about two percent of all glacier-melting, polar bear-killing emissions released into our carbon-choked friendly skies.
That article cites Southwest as the leading U s. airline for carbon footprint awareness, and notes that the company spent $175 million to retrofit the navigation systems on its planes to calculate tighter flight paths
The decision to go green isn't just smart for the environment, of course; it's also smart business.
and create a better environment here but we think it could be easy to replicate.
The biggest concern when you re doing agriculture in urban environments is the soil. So we re not using New york city soil.
The public green space will include a playfield, off-leash dog park, two-way cycle track on 7th avenue and a weather-protected walkway between the buildings.
the same firm behind Google and Samsung's projects, is to create an alternative environment where employees can work
Google is pulling out all the stops in this new facility and promises to break new ground in environmental sustainability, reported Bloomberg.
and promote environmental sustainability. Participating vendors are held to stringent standards to encourage the creation of a local food system.
They bore the 95-degree weather with bespoke jackets combined with shorts and multicolored wingtips with blue laces.
I said for the environment. But I think it part of the future--you can wear these pants in summer
The research, published in Environmental science & Technology, estimates that we could save about 350 million of those barrels
and temperate weather make Melbourne, Australia, a hot spot for cycling. The city is also home to Mick Peel,
The big retailers and manufacturers are saying that they won't buy anything anymore from illegal deforestation.
an artificially-controlled indoor environment that provides lighting, mineral nutrients and water--but not much else.
What's the advantage of an indoor growing environment over outdoors? Some of the things that indoor growing environments don't have are pests, molds and infections.
You can restrict a lot of that with a closed environment and reduce your crop failure, which also means higher yields.
And by going vertical you can grow a lot more crops without having to take up so many acres of land.
and now having the ability utilize technology that effectively reuses resources like water instead of letting it go to waste by flushing it down a storm drain.
So it's more about perfecting the indoor growing environment. What's kind of reactions do you get from people regarding the idea of allowing customers to wheel around their weed supply?
The old way of doing it was getting pot from your dealer down the street who maybe got it from a source that grew it in a relatively unsavory environment like a garage where you're dealing with chemicals, molds, mice.
Giving them the marijuana from a sterilized environment like our trailers is a huge benefit to this industry.
Why cities are on the cutting edge of environmentalism Climate change: it's time for the health sector to get involved Earthquake could threaten California water supply Invention may lead to greener power plants Accidental environmentalist designs furniture from invasive species
and his commitment to sustainability was recognized by the city in 2009 with an Environmental Excellence award.
you ruin their environment. People need to know the smaller fish â sardines, anchovies â need to be consumed.
Weland said using the whole animal is ecological because it means no waste. We split a carcass with Proof.
Permafrost ancient and recent history During the last ice age, western North america and eastern Siberia were covered not in glaciers,
but powerful winds and rivers brought in massive amounts of silt and dust to these frigid areas.
A 2007 lightning-sparked fire on the Anaktuvuk River in northern Alaska was the first of its size (400 square miles) in 5, 000 years.
This means more cars, more traffic, more noise, more neighbors above and below you, and more pollution of all kinds.
how good corn-based ethanol is for the environment, cars, and food prices is highly questionable.
whether the oil spill or ethanol was worse for the Gulf, SF Gate reported: Ethanol consumes two-thirds of all federal subsidies for renewable fuels,
said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working group, an advocacy group, leaving solar wind and the rest to fight over the remaining third.
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