Environment
'Blue haze' is a natural occurrence over heavily forested areas around the world but natural does not always mean good. Still, while blue haze may be formed by natural emissions of chemicals, human activities can worsen it to the point of affecting the world's weather and even cause potential climate problems, according to a new study.
When you walk through a forest or even a large grassy area, it's not uncommon to be able to smell the plants around you, such as pine trees or other vegetation. That smell is nature's way of naturally making organic gases produced by the plants themselves…
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What a difference a bulb makes? On the 6th of November the 2100 inhabitants of the Isles of Scilly - a small British archipelago just off the mainland – will be asking this and a little more, by switching off for 24 hours all unused electrical apparatus, while measuring online, and in real time, the energy saved. This unique event aims to raise awareness of climate change and energy wastage, whilst showing how easy it is to make a real difference. All this is part of the “Isle of Scilly Earth Summit” that launches this weekend (3/4 October) with talks by islanders from all over the world…
Reduviasporonites were tiny organisms that covered the planet more than 250 million years ago. According to new research in Geology, they appear to be a species of ancient fungus that thrived in dead wood and the researchers believe that the organisms were able to thrive during this period because the world's forests had been wiped out.
Researchers had previously been unsure as to whether Reduviasporonites were a type of fungus or algae but by analyzing the carbon and nitrogen content of the fossilised remains of the microscopic organisms, the scientists identified them as a type of…
By thinking about packaging size and shape, major environmental gains can be made, says Renee Wever, who will defend his thesis on this topic at Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) on Monday 5 October. This is a different focus than recycling, the traditional method of environmental savings which hasn't really worked out.
Smaller-sized, more easily handled boxes require less transport and the Dutch packaging industry alone is worth billions of dollars annually. More cleverly designed packaging options could result in significant savings, suggests Wever. According to…
A research team led by Dr Howard Falcon-Lang from Royal Holloway, University of London, analyzed spectacular discoveries of 300-million-year-old rainforests in Illinois coal mines and came to a conclusion that won't surprise most - Mother Nature is resilient.
Climate change wreaked havoc on these early rainforests but they quickly bounced back, they write in Geology. The ancient rainforests date from the Carboniferous period, 300 million years ago, when most of the world's coal resources were formed.
Preserved over vast areas, these fossilized rainforests in Illinois are the largest of…
I fly all the time and am usually engrossed in a book or asleep by the time the flight attendants go through their safety rigmarole. I will admit, however, that sometimes I sneak a peek during the oxygen mask portion. I've seen a gazillion times but still, maybe that one time when I need it, I won't remember that the mask may not inflate although air will be flowing to it. (Thank you, asthma, for that irrational fear.)
In other gases-that-make-up-the-air-we-breathe news, San Francisco Airport has installed Climate Passport kiosks, at which passengers can pay a fee to assuage their guilt /…
The state is rich in floral diversity as 1911 wild species belonging to 780 genera and 154 families are found here (Singh and Pandey, 1980, 1983, 1998; Katewa et al., 2004). The commonly used herbal medicines used by tribals of Rajasthan belongs to the families Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Apiiaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Acantheceae, Papaveraceae, Capparidaceae and Solanaceae (Sharma and Vyas, 1985; Shetty and Singh,1987; Joshi, 1991, 1994; Sharma, 2002; Parveen et al., 2007). The distribution of family Euphorbiaceae in Rajasthan is given in Fig 1.4.
The family contains a large variety of…
Jaipur the world famous pink city has lost its amber fort mawtha or reservoir which did not fill this rainy season. Its water source Ramgarh lake has dried up because its water channels have been blocked by colonisers. The vegetation of Ramgarh forest has declined and forest cover has also declined Plants have associations like humans and one plant is cut from the association it affects others also. e.g. cutting of Boswellia serrata and Sterculia urens from the hill tops has affected the vegetation of Diospyros malanoxylon which are found in its association. The plants whihch make hills green…
Taboos of certain trees and plants : It is considered bad to pluck flowers in afternoon. In Uttar Pradesh even folk songs for children prohibits the cutting of peepal (Ficus religiosa Linn.), banyan (Ficus bengalensis Linn.) and sandal (Santalum album Linn.) trees . In Kumoan , cutting of timber after sunset is believed to attract illness of children (Anonymous, 1959) .
Totems based on trees and flowers : Childless women do a number of totems for having a son . In Bhojpur, the offering of sesame (Sesamum indica Linn.), rice (Oryza sativa Linn.) etc to the sun near a river bank is a totem (…
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Is anyone else out there as cynical as I am about Newsweek's 2009 Green Rankings for the largest 500 corporations in the United States?
I have to grant that the efforts put forth by the top five companies in some cases are fairly impressive. We do need corporations to take on the responsibility of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and use of toxic materials. We do need to have a standard of corporate ethics with relation to the environment, as opposed to solely considering maximizing shareholder profits the One True Good. It's wonderful to hear that companies like Dell…