2. Social Constructionism of Environmental Issues: CO2 concern stretched to sell Koala image
3. In what may be the most tendentious and blatant image-engineering of an idea yet in selling and getting attention in the media for CO2 reductions, read this: now anyone who goes against it can be quickly accused of killing cute koala bears.
It's the Australian answer to the World Wildlife Fund's logo, the panda.
The CO2 bear is the koala...
I think with proper spin this may go down as a major image just like the DDT relation to thinning eggshells that was such a media symbolic image for the U.S. environmental movement (when no one wanted to talk about the massive cancer spikes (still!) steadily growing in the USA...they could exhibit moral and ethical concern over little birds.)
-------------------------
Research: CO2 pollution threatens Australia's koala population Posted 2d 7h ago
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Koalas [! not the planetary ecosystem (remember it was 'themed' with the name Gaia 20 years ago to anthropomorphize it) or ourselves, which people may care little about... though koalas!] are threatened by the rising level of carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere because it saps nutrients from the eucalyptus leaves they feed on, a researcher said Wednesday.
Ian Hume, emeritus professor of biology at Sydney University, said he and his researchers also found that the amount of toxicity in the leaves of eucalyptus saplings rose when the level of carbon dioxide within a greenhouse was increased.
Hume presented his research on the effects of carbon dioxide on eucalyptus leaves to the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra on Wednesday.
The researchers found that carbon dioxide in eucalyptus leaves affects the balance of nutrients and "anti-nutrients" — substances that are either toxic or interfere with the digestion of nutrients.
An increase in carbon dioxide favors the trees' production of carbon-based anti-nutrients over nutrients, so leaves can become toxic to koalas, Hume said.
Some eucalyptus species may have high protein content, but anti-nutrients such as tannins bind the protein so it cannot be digested by koalas.
Hume estimated that current levels of global carbon dioxide emissions would result in a noticeable reduction in Australia's koala population in 50 years due to a lack of palatable leaves.
Out of more than 600 eucalyptus species in Australia, koalas will only eat the leaves of about 25, Hume said. Changing the toxicity levels in the trees could further reduce the varieties that koalas find palatable, he said.
"Koalas produce one young each year under optimal conditions, but if you drop the nutritional value of the leaves, it might become one young every three or four years," Hume said.
Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe, a marsupial physiologist, described Hume's predictions of declining koala numbers as speculative but credible.
Eucalyptus leaves already have little nutritional value, he said, and koalas have adapted to their poor diet by sleeping to conserve energy.
"It's a very precarious existence," Tyndale-Biscoe said. "They basically sleep for 20 hours a day and then they've got four hours to do everything else — occasionally eat a leaf and maybe once a year go after another koala" to mate.
Tyndale-Biscoe said koalas had already disappeared from parts of Australia but remained plentiful in others and were unlikely to be wiped out by climate change. They already have been displaced from the most nutritious trees on the most fertile land by the spread of farms and suburbs, he said.
3. This movie was not only a great hit in Korea but also a great example of "Social Constructionism" of envrionmental issues. The Monster in the Han River was created by the toxic chemical which comes from the U.S. military base in Yongsan.(as I remember:) The filmmakers probably wanted to imply how the Han-River is seriously being polluted and that we need to do something about it.
Not only this film, but many others such "Tomorrow" are great examples of social-constructing of environmental issues. ___________________________________
Synopsis of the movie "The Host" (from yahoo)
When a young girl is snatched away from her father by a horrifying giant monster that emerges from the River Han to wreak havoc on Seoul, her entire family sets out to locate the beast and bring their little girl back home to safety in South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's big-budget creature feature. ____________
1. keonhwa Sung 2. Once Lush Sahara Dried Up Over Millennia, Study Says 3. I have thought that deserts are the last step of environmental situation and have no change at all. From this article, however, there is unexpected case. We may see greenish place in Sahara again. Also, we have to think about how this situation affects to us. -------------------- The grassy prehistoric Sahara turned into Earth's largest hot desert more slowly than previously thought, a new report says—and some say global warming may turn the desert green once again.
The new research is based on deposits from a unique desert lake in remote northern Chad.
Lake Yoa, sustained by prehistoric groundwater, has survived for millennia despite constant drought and searing heat.
The body of water contains an unbroken climate record going back at least 6,000 years, said study lead author Stefan Kröpelin of the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cologne in Germany.
Ancient pollen, insects, algae, and other fossil clues preserved in the lake's sediments point to a gradual transformation to a desert environment.
(See photos of the Sahara today.)
Sahara Myth
The study contradicts past research that suggested the region dried up within a few hundred years. That research was based on windblown Saharan dust found in Atlantic Ocean sediments.
"This was a hypothesis used by most of the modelers and many of the scientific community who were not working themselves in the Sahara," Kröpelin said.
"To a large degree we can now show that such an abrupt drying out of the Sahara was a myth," he said.
The new study, which appears tomorrow in the journal Science, instead found evidence for a slow decline in tropical plants, followed by the gradual loss of savanna-type grasslands, and then the eventual spread of desert species.
Pollen samples revealed, for example, that the decrease in tropical trees accelerated after 4,800 years ago, while desert plants took root between 3,900 and 3,100 years ago.
Sand particles in the lake show that fierce desert winds didn't start picking up until about 3,700 years ago, the study found.
The only rapid change noted was in the lake itself, which switched from a freshwater to a salt lake between 4,200 and 3,900 years ago.
The transformation happened exactly in the time period when monsoon rains began moving away to the south, Kröpelin said.
This meant there was no longer surface water flowing in to counter salinity caused by evaporating water.
The study supports previous archaeological findings that human populations in the Sahara moved south over several millennia, following the monsoon rains, Kröpelin said.
(Related: "Exodus From Drying Sahara Gave Rise to Pharaohs, Study Says" [July 20, 2006].)
First Reliable Record
About 20 feet (6 meters) of water evaporate from the lake every year, which is equivalent to the annual water consumption of about a million people, Kröpelin noted.
"No team had ever succeeded in getting geological and paleoclimate information for the past 4,000 years since practically all the lakes had dried up, so there were no more geological archives available," he said.
The Lake Yoa data represent the first "reliable and high-resolution record" in the Sahara for verifying climate models, he added.
Such checks are important, he argues, "because if climate computer models don't work for the past, they probably won't work for the future."
Understanding climatic effects in the Sahara are especially important, since the region covers an area larger than the United States, Kröpelin said.
"Climate evolution in the Sahara reflects to a very large extent climate evolution on the African continent and beyond," he added.
Jonathan Holmes, of the Environmental Change Centre at University College London, was not involved in the study.
He wrote an accompanying commentary on Kröpelin's research in the same issue of Science.
The latest findings fill "an important gap in our understanding of the past 6,000 years of North African climate," he wrote in the article.
The study provides a more accurate picture of climate change in the region since the last ice age, because the "record comes from one of the few Saharan lakes in which sediments have accumulated without a break."
Similar lakes "probably do not exist," according to Holmes.
"However, improving existing geological records and using these to refine climate models would go a long way toward furthering our understanding," he wrote.
Modern Climate Change
Future research at Lake Yoa should provide clues to a potential regreening of the Sahara, triggered by the current trend of global warming, according to Kröpelin.
"I'm expecting reliable information on this possible trend," he said.
The last green phase, which started some 12,000 years ago, may be due to increased water evaporation from oceans. This led to monsoon rains that penetrated the interiors of tropical continents, he said.
"Now, today, man is probably causing the same thing," he said.
(Related: "Sahara Farming Village Struggles for Survival" [January 8, 2008].)
Kröpelin, who has studied the region for almost 30 years, said that since 1988 "there [has been] a strong indication [of] a return of increasing rains" in the eastern Sahara.
Already in some areas "you can see slight changes in the vegetation," he said. ---------------------------------------------------- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/18230993.html
3.A fewdays ago, on "Dongailbo", one columlist said "Don't eat or eat Genetically Modified Organism?". resently Genetically Modified Organism is use many food. Many people are afraid of that. Over there, FDA's announcement is very surfrised. One person said "All the seeds are cloned, the food is cloned, this is a sick twisted world we are living in. What's next, are we going to clone people" I agree that opinion. As improve hightechnology, our life is threatened.
-----------------------
The FDA announced today that cloned animals (and offspring and milk produced by said clones) are safe to consume. The agency said that cloned cows and pigs and other farmed animals "are as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals." Which, as you may have read, isn't saying much.
But with cloned animals costing tens of thousands of dollars each, it's unlikely they will become a staple of our diet unless the technology that produces them is radically less expensive. Their offspring, instead, may be killed to provide consistent meat and milk products.
If you don't want to buy clones or cloned offspring, caveat emptor: the FDA "is not requiring labeling or any other additional measures for food from cattle, swine, and goat clones" or their offspring because the agency considers clones and non-clones identical. Food retailers and consumers, I think, will see the issue differently. I can just see the ads now: "the Carl's Jr. 100% ORIGINAL beef burger! No clones!"
------- Posted by Jen Phillips on 01/15/08 at 4:50 PM
2. Polar Bear Listing Decision Ordered by U.S. Court
3. I think this article can be an example of "Social constructionism" of environmental issue. They selected polar bears as a symbol of threatened species. Even though there are lots of other animals which are threatened by global warming.
-----------------------------------
4. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken agreed with conservation groups that the department missed a January 9 deadline for a decision. She rejected a government request for a further delay and ordered it to act by May 15.
"Defendants have been in violation of the law requiring them to publish the listing determination for nearly 120 days," the judge, based in Oakland, California, wrote in a decision issued late Monday.
"Other than the general complexity of finalizing the rule, Defendants offer no specific facts that would justify the delay, much less further delay."
Allowing more time would violate the Endangered Species Act and Congressional intent that time was of the essence in listing threatened species, Wilken wrote.
Global Warming Ties?
The ruling is a victory for conservation groups that claim the Bush Administration has delayed a polar bear decision to avoid addressing global warming and to avoid roadblocks to development such as the transfer of offshore petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast to oil company bidders.
"We hope that this decision marks the end of the Bush Administration's delays and denial so that immediate action may be taken to protect polar bears from extinction," Greenpeace representative Melanie Duchin said in a statement.
A decision to list polar bears due to global warming could trigger a recovery plan with consequences beyond Alaska.
Opponents fear it would subject new power plants and other development projects to federal review if they generate greenhouse gases that add to warming in the Arctic.
Representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Tuesday morning.
Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, the lead author of the petition submitted in 2005, called the judge's order a huge victory, despite not knowing whether polar bears ultimately will be listed.
"It means that whatever political interference going on right now is going to be short-circuited," she said.
"The politicians and the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., are going to have to stop interfering with the decision and get it out the door."
The law requires a decision based on science, she said, and science shows the Arctic is thawing.
"The science is perfectly clear. There's no dispute. The polar bear is an endangered species," she said.
Sea Ice Shrinking
In response to the petition filed in 2005, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed in December 2006 that polar bears be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because of the loss of their primary habitat, Arctic sea ice.
Summer sea ice shrank last year to a record low, about 1.65 million square miles in September, nearly 40 percent less ice than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000.
Some climate models have predicted the Arctic will be free of summer sea ice by 2030.
A U.S. Geological Survey study generated in response to the listing petition predicted polar bears in Alaska could be wiped out by 2050.
A decision on the proposed listing was due January 9, but Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall said in January that a delay was needed to make sure it came in a form easily understood.
He promised a decision within a month, but that deadline also passed, and the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Greenpeace sued in March.
2. Radical Eco-Feminist West Coast Spring Tour 2008
3. This is not dealing with big accidents or hot news. I just post this article becuase I thought that this is quite related to what I learned from last week. Eco-feminism.
What is eco feminism? According to eco feminism, the problem of woman and environment is depeely interelated with the oppresive society to women. That is a different view with the variance of sex in terms of environmental sociology.
Here we can see the thinking of radical reformist. It could be realized by the mindmap, presentation, and so on. I hope that we keep our eyes on seeing the people and trends of this eco feminism.
-------------------
From the open publishing newswire: This Spring, two womyn from the Portland Animal Defense League, Rising Tide North America and Stumptown Earth First! will be on tour in your area with an interactive and engaging presentation. They will be offering a two hour presentation on radical eco-feminism and environmental ethics. Eco-feminism is the social movement that regards the oppression of women and nature as interconnected. It is one of the few movements and analysis that actually connects two movements. Consequently it is now better understood as a movement working against the interconnected oppressions of gender, ethnicity, class and nature. This is a two part workshop which dives into recognizing the need for radical analysis over reformist thinking- working to drastically change the system rather than working within it. Using the method of popular education called a mind-map, the presentation draws direct links and parallels between radical-feminism and environmentalism exploring eco-activisms' need for radical feminism. And finally, it displays the reasons it is so important to include animal liberation into the radical-feminist-environmental analysis. It is interactive and provides plenty of time for discussion.
You may have seen part of this workshop at the EF! Rendezvous in Indiana or on the Rising Tide North America Climate Justice Action Tour last summer.
Northwest stops include:
March 22- Portland- PSU March 23- Olympia- Evergreen March 24- Portland- Reed College Interviews available by email. Contact: stephanie@risingtidenorthamerica.org www.risingtidenorthamerica.org
3. This is very interesting article showing possibilities of making environmentally friendly society. similarly the eco city of china.
They planed to make new buildings which are built by the recycable resources. The couple here in the article is very adventrous, and they just invest many things for their envrionment passion. They tried many appliation of envrionmental friendly materials for building.
So, this can be kind of advancing case for making new kind of waves in ecological modernization.
--------------
The Ecology lends specifically for new builds that are considered ecological. By this we mean that they must have a minimal impact on their environment. For example the build could be utilising recyclable, reclaimed or energy-saving materials.
Many of the new builds we finance are timber framed and clad constructions, some are straw bale, some are constructed using reclaimed materials, some have eco features such as turf roofs, composting toilets, rainwater harvesting systems, and some are built on reclaimed brownfield sites. Few incorporate all of these features - unlike this project.
Ecology members Sarah and Jeremy have redeveloped an inner city brownfield site in London into a modern live/work unit, largely constructed from low impact, recycled and sustainable materials.
The couple are both university lecturers in architecture and Sarah also runs her own architects business, so they had very strong ideas on what they wanted to create and how they wanted to create it.
The site was classed as industrial land and was being used as a forge. It was bought from British Railways in February 1994. Planning permission for the change of classification and build were granted in July 1997 - amazingly on the first application. The couple approached the Ecology in June 1998 to help finance the build and remained in their existing property until their new home was habitable.
The Build Sarah and Jeremy not only wanted to build a comfortable, ecological home and work place, but this development also gave them the opportunity to experiment with various architectural techniques and a range of unique, environmentally-friendly materials. The property incorporates the following environmental features;
Partially turfed roof. Timber clad walls rendered with lime. Cedar cladding. Timber frames with straw (barley) bale infill, which is clad with translucent polycarbonate in some areas so it can be seen externally. Exterior sandbag cladding. Window casement formed from old railway sleepers found on site. Recycled concrete support pillars. Rainwater harvesting system with a 3000 litre capacity, collecting rainwater from the roof in underground tanks, which is then distributed by a solar pump to feed the garden, irrigate the turf roof and provide water for the office toilets and washing machine. Passive solar panels for water pre-heating. Composting toilet. Organic vegetable garden. Warmcel insulation. South-facing aspect almost entirely glazed for maximum solar gain and natural light. The couple chose the materials for their low embodied energy and super-insulating qualities, i.e. straw bales, recycled concrete, sandbags and located the property to harness the sun's energy for space and water heating.
Being both client and architect Sarah and Jeremy were able to be adventurous in the application of the materials. For example, the appearance of the exterior sandbag cladding on part of the build resembles a duvet. The sandbags contain a mixture of sand, cement and lime. It is anticipated that the hessian sandbags will eventually rot away to leave a wall of rippling, uneven concrete with a cloth imprint.
The first floor office is supported by pillars, which are designed to minimise and accommodate ground movements from the adjacent railway. The pillars themselves are surrounded by large gabion baskets like those commonly used to prevent riverbank erosion and support motorway embankments, and contain lumps or reclaimed concrete.
Sarah and Jeremy's innovative and award winning home is now completed. Being located on one of the main rail routes out of London, the groundbreaking project, amazes rail passengers on a daily basis. Tours are available on selected open days, with details available on Sarah's web site.
A very down to earth* kind of guy. I'm an environmental sociologist interested in establishing material and organizational sustainability worldwide. I'm always looking for interesting materials/technologies, inspiring ideas, or institutional examples of sustainability to inspire others to recognize their choices now. To be fatalistic about an unsustainable world is a sign of a captive mind, given all our options.
*(If "earth" is defined in a planetary sense, concerning comparative historical knowledge and interest in the past 10,000 years or so anywhere...) See both blogs.
7 comments:
1. Mark Whitaker
2. Social Constructionism of Environmental Issues: CO2 concern stretched to sell Koala image
3. In what may be the most tendentious and blatant image-engineering of an idea yet in selling and getting attention in the media for CO2 reductions, read this: now anyone who goes against it can be quickly accused of killing cute koala bears.
It's the Australian answer to the World Wildlife Fund's logo, the panda.
The CO2 bear is the koala...
I think with proper spin this may go down as a major image just like the DDT relation to thinning eggshells that was such a media symbolic image for the U.S. environmental movement (when no one wanted to talk about the massive cancer spikes (still!) steadily growing in the USA...they could exhibit moral and ethical concern over little birds.)
-------------------------
Research: CO2 pollution threatens Australia's koala population
Posted 2d 7h ago
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Koalas [! not the planetary ecosystem (remember it was 'themed' with the name Gaia 20 years ago to anthropomorphize it) or ourselves, which people may care little about... though koalas!] are threatened by the rising level of carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere because it saps nutrients from the eucalyptus leaves they feed on, a researcher said Wednesday.
Ian Hume, emeritus professor of biology at Sydney University, said he and his researchers also found that the amount of toxicity in the leaves of eucalyptus saplings rose when the level of carbon dioxide within a greenhouse was increased.
Hume presented his research on the effects of carbon dioxide on eucalyptus leaves to the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra on Wednesday.
The researchers found that carbon dioxide in eucalyptus leaves affects the balance of nutrients and "anti-nutrients" — substances that are either toxic or interfere with the digestion of nutrients.
An increase in carbon dioxide favors the trees' production of carbon-based anti-nutrients over nutrients, so leaves can become toxic to koalas, Hume said.
Some eucalyptus species may have high protein content, but anti-nutrients such as tannins bind the protein so it cannot be digested by koalas.
Hume estimated that current levels of global carbon dioxide emissions would result in a noticeable reduction in Australia's koala population in 50 years due to a lack of palatable leaves.
Out of more than 600 eucalyptus species in Australia, koalas will only eat the leaves of about 25, Hume said. Changing the toxicity levels in the trees could further reduce the varieties that koalas find palatable, he said.
"Koalas produce one young each year under optimal conditions, but if you drop the nutritional value of the leaves, it might become one young every three or four years," Hume said.
Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe, a marsupial physiologist, described Hume's predictions of declining koala numbers as speculative but credible.
Eucalyptus leaves already have little nutritional value, he said, and koalas have adapted to their poor diet by sleeping to conserve energy.
"It's a very precarious existence," Tyndale-Biscoe said. "They basically sleep for 20 hours a day and then they've got four hours to do everything else — occasionally eat a leaf and maybe once a year go after another koala" to mate.
Tyndale-Biscoe said koalas had already disappeared from parts of Australia but remained plentiful in others and were unlikely to be wiped out by climate change. They already have been displaced from the most nutritious trees on the most fertile land by the spread of farms and suburbs, he said.
---
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/environment/2008-05-07-australia-koala-threat_N.htm
1. Jee-Hyun Song
2. Movie "The Host"
3. This movie was not only a great hit in Korea but also a great example of "Social Constructionism" of envrionmental issues. The Monster in the Han River was created by the toxic chemical which comes from the U.S. military base in Yongsan.(as I remember:) The filmmakers probably wanted to imply how the Han-River is seriously being polluted and that we need to do something about it.
Not only this film, but many others such "Tomorrow" are great examples of social-constructing of environmental issues.
___________________________________
Synopsis of the movie "The Host"
(from yahoo)
When a young girl is snatched away from her father by a horrifying giant monster that emerges from the River Han to wreak havoc on Seoul, her entire family sets out to locate the beast and bring their little girl back home to safety in South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's big-budget creature feature.
____________
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809422954/info
1. keonhwa Sung
2. Once Lush Sahara Dried Up Over Millennia, Study Says
3. I have thought that deserts are the last step of environmental situation and have no change at all. From this article, however, there is unexpected case. We may see greenish place in Sahara again. Also, we have to think about how this situation affects to us.
--------------------
The grassy prehistoric Sahara turned into Earth's largest hot desert more slowly than previously thought, a new report says—and some say global warming may turn the desert green once again.
The new research is based on deposits from a unique desert lake in remote northern Chad.
Lake Yoa, sustained by prehistoric groundwater, has survived for millennia despite constant drought and searing heat.
The body of water contains an unbroken climate record going back at least 6,000 years, said study lead author Stefan Kröpelin of the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cologne in Germany.
Ancient pollen, insects, algae, and other fossil clues preserved in the lake's sediments point to a gradual transformation to a desert environment.
(See photos of the Sahara today.)
Sahara Myth
The study contradicts past research that suggested the region dried up within a few hundred years. That research was based on windblown Saharan dust found in Atlantic Ocean sediments.
"This was a hypothesis used by most of the modelers and many of the scientific community who were not working themselves in the Sahara," Kröpelin said.
"To a large degree we can now show that such an abrupt drying out of the Sahara was a myth," he said.
The new study, which appears tomorrow in the journal Science, instead found evidence for a slow decline in tropical plants, followed by the gradual loss of savanna-type grasslands, and then the eventual spread of desert species.
Pollen samples revealed, for example, that the decrease in tropical trees accelerated after 4,800 years ago, while desert plants took root between 3,900 and 3,100 years ago.
Sand particles in the lake show that fierce desert winds didn't start picking up until about 3,700 years ago, the study found.
The only rapid change noted was in the lake itself, which switched from a freshwater to a salt lake between 4,200 and 3,900 years ago.
The transformation happened exactly in the time period when monsoon rains began moving away to the south, Kröpelin said.
This meant there was no longer surface water flowing in to counter salinity caused by evaporating water.
The study supports previous archaeological findings that human populations in the Sahara moved south over several millennia, following the monsoon rains, Kröpelin said.
(Related: "Exodus From Drying Sahara Gave Rise to Pharaohs, Study Says" [July 20, 2006].)
First Reliable Record
About 20 feet (6 meters) of water evaporate from the lake every year, which is equivalent to the annual water consumption of about a million people, Kröpelin noted.
"No team had ever succeeded in getting geological and paleoclimate information for the past 4,000 years since practically all the lakes had dried up, so there were no more geological archives available," he said.
The Lake Yoa data represent the first "reliable and high-resolution record" in the Sahara for verifying climate models, he added.
Such checks are important, he argues, "because if climate computer models don't work for the past, they probably won't work for the future."
Understanding climatic effects in the Sahara are especially important, since the region covers an area larger than the United States, Kröpelin said.
"Climate evolution in the Sahara reflects to a very large extent climate evolution on the African continent and beyond," he added.
Jonathan Holmes, of the Environmental Change Centre at University College London, was not involved in the study.
He wrote an accompanying commentary on Kröpelin's research in the same issue of Science.
The latest findings fill "an important gap in our understanding of the past 6,000 years of North African climate," he wrote in the article.
The study provides a more accurate picture of climate change in the region since the last ice age, because the "record comes from one of the few Saharan lakes in which sediments have accumulated without a break."
Similar lakes "probably do not exist," according to Holmes.
"However, improving existing geological records and using these to refine climate models would go a long way toward furthering our understanding," he wrote.
Modern Climate Change
Future research at Lake Yoa should provide clues to a potential regreening of the Sahara, triggered by the current trend of global warming, according to Kröpelin.
"I'm expecting reliable information on this possible trend," he said.
The last green phase, which started some 12,000 years ago, may be due to increased water evaporation from oceans. This led to monsoon rains that penetrated the interiors of tropical continents, he said.
"Now, today, man is probably causing the same thing," he said.
(Related: "Sahara Farming Village Struggles for Survival" [January 8, 2008].)
Kröpelin, who has studied the region for almost 30 years, said that since 1988 "there [has been] a strong indication [of] a return of increasing rains" in the eastern Sahara.
Already in some areas "you can see slight changes in the vegetation," he said.
----------------------------------------------------
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/18230993.html
1. Hea Joung Lee
2. FDA Approves Cloned Animals for Store Shelves
3.A fewdays ago, on "Dongailbo", one columlist said "Don't eat or eat Genetically Modified Organism?". resently Genetically Modified Organism is use many food. Many people are afraid of that. Over there, FDA's announcement is very surfrised. One person said "All the seeds are cloned, the food is cloned, this is a sick twisted world we are living in. What's next, are we going to clone people" I agree that opinion. As improve hightechnology, our life is threatened.
-----------------------
The FDA announced today that cloned animals (and offspring and milk produced by said clones) are safe to consume. The agency said that cloned cows and pigs and other farmed animals "are as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals." Which, as you may have read, isn't saying much.
But with cloned animals costing tens of thousands of dollars each, it's unlikely they will become a staple of our diet unless the technology that produces them is radically less expensive. Their offspring, instead, may be killed to provide consistent meat and milk products.
If you don't want to buy clones or cloned offspring, caveat emptor: the FDA "is not requiring labeling or any other additional measures for food from cattle, swine, and goat clones" or their offspring because the agency considers clones and non-clones identical. Food retailers and consumers, I think, will see the issue differently. I can just see the ads now: "the Carl's Jr. 100% ORIGINAL beef burger! No clones!"
-------
Posted by Jen Phillips on 01/15/08 at 4:50 PM
1. Nuri Na
2. Polar Bear Listing Decision Ordered by U.S. Court
3. I think this article can be an example of "Social constructionism" of environmental issue. They selected polar bears as a symbol of threatened species. Even though there are lots of other animals which are threatened by global warming.
-----------------------------------
4. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken agreed with conservation groups that the department missed a January 9 deadline for a decision. She rejected a government request for a further delay and ordered it to act by May 15.
"Defendants have been in violation of the law requiring them to publish the listing determination for nearly 120 days," the judge, based in Oakland, California, wrote in a decision issued late Monday.
"Other than the general complexity of finalizing the rule, Defendants offer no specific facts that would justify the delay, much less further delay."
Allowing more time would violate the Endangered Species Act and Congressional intent that time was of the essence in listing threatened species, Wilken wrote.
Global Warming Ties?
The ruling is a victory for conservation groups that claim the Bush Administration has delayed a polar bear decision to avoid addressing global warming and to avoid roadblocks to development such as the transfer of offshore petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast to oil company bidders.
"We hope that this decision marks the end of the Bush Administration's delays and denial so that immediate action may be taken to protect polar bears from extinction," Greenpeace representative Melanie Duchin said in a statement.
A decision to list polar bears due to global warming could trigger a recovery plan with consequences beyond Alaska.
Opponents fear it would subject new power plants and other development projects to federal review if they generate greenhouse gases that add to warming in the Arctic.
Representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Tuesday morning.
Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, the lead author of the petition submitted in 2005, called the judge's order a huge victory, despite not knowing whether polar bears ultimately will be listed.
"It means that whatever political interference going on right now is going to be short-circuited," she said.
"The politicians and the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., are going to have to stop interfering with the decision and get it out the door."
The law requires a decision based on science, she said, and science shows the Arctic is thawing.
"The science is perfectly clear. There's no dispute. The polar bear is an endangered species," she said.
Sea Ice Shrinking
In response to the petition filed in 2005, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed in December 2006 that polar bears be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because of the loss of their primary habitat, Arctic sea ice.
Summer sea ice shrank last year to a record low, about 1.65 million square miles in September, nearly 40 percent less ice than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000.
Some climate models have predicted the Arctic will be free of summer sea ice by 2030.
A U.S. Geological Survey study generated in response to the listing petition predicted polar bears in Alaska could be wiped out by 2050.
A decision on the proposed listing was due January 9, but Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall said in January that a delay was needed to make sure it came in a form easily understood.
He promised a decision within a month, but that deadline also passed, and the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Greenpeace sued in March.
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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080429-AP-polar-bears.html
1. Gowoon JUNG
2. Radical Eco-Feminist West Coast Spring Tour 2008
3. This is not dealing with big accidents or hot news. I just post this article becuase I thought that this is quite related to what I learned from last week. Eco-feminism.
What is eco feminism? According to eco feminism, the problem of woman and environment is depeely interelated with the oppresive society to women. That is a different view with the variance of sex in terms of environmental sociology.
Here we can see the thinking of radical reformist. It could be realized by the mindmap, presentation, and so on. I hope that we keep our eyes on seeing the people and trends of this eco feminism.
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From the open publishing newswire: This Spring, two womyn from the Portland Animal Defense League, Rising Tide North America and Stumptown Earth First! will be on tour in your area with an interactive and engaging presentation. They will be offering a two hour presentation on radical eco-feminism and environmental ethics. Eco-feminism is the social movement that regards the oppression of women and nature as interconnected. It is one of the few movements and analysis that actually connects two movements. Consequently it is now better understood as a movement working against the interconnected oppressions of gender, ethnicity, class and nature.
This is a two part workshop which dives into recognizing the need for radical analysis over reformist thinking- working to drastically change the system rather than working within it. Using the method of popular education called a mind-map, the presentation draws direct links and parallels between radical-feminism and environmentalism exploring eco-activisms' need for radical feminism. And finally, it displays the reasons it is so important to include animal liberation into the radical-feminist-environmental analysis. It is interactive and provides plenty of time for discussion.
You may have seen part of this workshop at the EF! Rendezvous in Indiana or on the Rising Tide North America Climate Justice Action Tour last summer.
Northwest stops include:
March 22- Portland- PSU
March 23- Olympia- Evergreen
March 24- Portland- Reed College
Interviews available by email.
Contact: stephanie@risingtidenorthamerica.org www.risingtidenorthamerica.org
1. Gowoon JUNG
2. Eco innovation: urban self build
3. This is very interesting article showing possibilities of making environmentally friendly society. similarly the eco city of china.
They planed to make new buildings which are built by the recycable resources. The couple here in the article is very adventrous, and they just invest many things for their envrionment passion. They tried many appliation of envrionmental friendly materials for building.
So, this can be kind of advancing case for making new kind of waves in ecological modernization.
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The Ecology lends specifically for new builds that are considered ecological. By this we mean that they must have a minimal impact on their environment. For example the build could be utilising recyclable, reclaimed or energy-saving materials.
Many of the new builds we finance are timber framed and clad constructions, some are straw bale, some are constructed using reclaimed materials, some have eco features such as turf roofs, composting toilets, rainwater harvesting systems, and some are built on reclaimed brownfield sites. Few incorporate all of these features - unlike this project.
Ecology members Sarah and Jeremy have redeveloped an inner city brownfield site in London into a modern live/work unit, largely constructed from low impact, recycled and sustainable materials.
The couple are both university lecturers in architecture and Sarah also runs her own architects business, so they had very strong ideas on what they wanted to create and how they wanted to create it.
The site was classed as industrial land and was being used as a forge. It was bought from British Railways in February 1994. Planning permission for the change of classification and build were granted in July 1997 - amazingly on the first application. The couple approached the Ecology in June 1998 to help finance the build and remained in their existing property until their new home was habitable.
The Build
Sarah and Jeremy not only wanted to build a comfortable, ecological home and work place, but this development also gave them the opportunity to experiment with various architectural techniques and a range of unique, environmentally-friendly materials. The property incorporates the following environmental features;
Partially turfed roof.
Timber clad walls rendered with lime.
Cedar cladding.
Timber frames with straw (barley) bale infill, which is clad with translucent polycarbonate in some areas so it can be seen externally.
Exterior sandbag cladding.
Window casement formed from old railway sleepers found on site.
Recycled concrete support pillars.
Rainwater harvesting system with a 3000 litre capacity, collecting rainwater from the roof in underground tanks, which is then distributed by a solar pump to feed the garden, irrigate the turf roof and provide water for the office toilets and washing machine.
Passive solar panels for water pre-heating.
Composting toilet.
Organic vegetable garden.
Warmcel insulation.
South-facing aspect almost entirely glazed for maximum solar gain and natural light.
The couple chose the materials for their low embodied energy and super-insulating qualities, i.e. straw bales, recycled concrete, sandbags and located the property to harness the sun's energy for space and water heating.
Being both client and architect Sarah and Jeremy were able to be adventurous in the application of the materials. For example, the appearance of the exterior sandbag cladding on part of the build resembles a duvet. The sandbags contain a mixture of sand, cement and lime. It is anticipated that the hessian sandbags will eventually rot away to leave a wall of rippling, uneven concrete with a cloth imprint.
The first floor office is supported by pillars, which are designed to minimise and accommodate ground movements from the adjacent railway. The pillars themselves are surrounded by large gabion baskets like those commonly used to prevent riverbank erosion and support motorway embankments, and contain lumps or reclaimed concrete.
Sarah and Jeremy's innovative and award winning home is now completed. Being located on one of the main rail routes out of London, the groundbreaking project, amazes rail passengers on a daily basis. Tours are available on selected open days, with details available on Sarah's web site.
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http://www.ecology.co.uk/html/aboutus/casestudies/urbanselfbuild.htm
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