Environment

Bioenergy is considered as the resource with the highest environmental impact amongst the renewable energy sources and this does not refer to incineration or waste treatment only, but it even applies to wood combustion. This is due to the fact that there are always residues (such as ash and liquid effluents) to be disposed off and practically in all applications there is a stack or a chimney. This may induce the general public to relate bioenergy plants to coal fired plants, incinerators and in general emission of gaseous pollutants. It is therefore mandatory that all Bioenergy technologies…

Scientific Name Cinnamomum verum Presl ( syn C.zeylanicum Bi) Family Lauraceae Used Part Bark Distribution Area A tree native to Sri Lanka and cultivated in South India for its aromatic bark and also found to a limited extent in eastern India. Common Uses . The bark is used to a limited extent in medicine. It is aromatic, astringent, stimulant, expectorant and carminative. It possesses the property of checking nausea and vomiting. As a stimulant it is beneficial in cramps of the stomach, gastric irritation, and paralysis of tongue. The ground cinnamon shows lipolytic activity. It is useful…

Scientific Name B. monosperma (Lam.) Taub. syn. B. frondosa  Koenig ex Roxb.   Family   Fabaceae  (Papilionaceae )   Used Part  Fruit pieces   Distribution Area It is common throughout the greater part of India, ascending the Himalayas up to 900 m and in peninsular India up to 1,200 m.   Common Uses . The seeds are purgative, ophthalmic, anthelmintic, rubefacient, depurative and tonic. They are useful in herpes, skin diseases, ringworm, opthalmopathy, epilepsy, round worms, arthritis, flatulence, constipation and diabetes. The seeds possess a…

Ginseng Araliaceae Panax pseudoginseng Wall. Family Araliaceae is a very rare 30-60 cm tall erect herb distributed in the interior temperate mountainous regions of Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal and China, recorded in the Western Himalayas from Pithoragarh district in Uttar Pradesh. The root of Asian ginseng contains active chemical components called ginsenosides (or panaxosides) that are thought to be responsible for the herb's medicinal properties. The root is dried and used to make tablets or capsules, extracts, and teas, as well as creams or other preparations for external use. Ginseng is used as…

P. pseudoginseng Wall. A very rare 30-60 cm tall erect herb distributed in the interior temperate mountainous regions of Sikkim,  Bhutan, Nepal and China, recorded in the Western Himalayas from Pithoragarh district in Uttar Pradesh. Common Uses . Ginseng is used as a stimulant and aromatic bitter, stomachic and demulcent, and is considered alliterative, carminative, tonic, expectorant and antipyretic. It is used as a masticatory. It is reputed to have a sedative effect on the cerebrum and a mildly stimultating action on the vital centers. It is also a gonadotrophic agent containing…

The North Sea was once isolated from surrounding oceans and its change to a more fresh water state led to a significant reduction in the diversity of life, say a team of German and British scientists who have used fossilized shark teeth to reconstruct the climate of the North Sea during the Palaeogene period, between 40 and 60 million years ago.  The Palaeogene was a time when greenhouse conditions prevailed and mammals began to diversify in the wake of the mass extinction event that saw the demise of the dinosaurs, along with 65% of all species. It also featured a brief episode of…

We will be conducting an restoration effectiveness monitoring workshop at this years Oregon Network of Watershed Council Gathering in Klamath, Oregon at the end of October.  Please join us as this years gathering is looking like a fun one! For more details please visit http://demeterdesign.net adurinnd check out our forum (the link is at the top of the home page). We are also presenting our findings of the TBW Physical Habitat Assessment (the report will be available on our website soon http://demeterdesign.net/downloads ) at the Coastal Estuarine Ecological Federation (CERF) conference…

The state of Rajasthan is situated between 23º3’ and 30º12’ N latitude and 69º30’ and 78º17’ E longitude . The total land area of the state is about 3,24,239 km² , out of which about 1,98,100 km² is arid and rest is semi arid. The physical features are characterized mainly by the Aravallis and to the some extent by the vindhyan formation, and the Deccan trap. A major portion of western Rajasthan has desert soils and sandy plain. Sand dunes occupy a greater part of western Rajasthan ( 1,20, 983 km²). The soils of the desert plains are loamy sand to loam and eastern part has alluvial soil which…

On the big list of environmental challenges we face, you might worry about volcanic ash or industrial soot or farting cows ... some people are even concerned by an obscure greenhouse gas named carbon dioxide.    But you probably aren't concerned about the global impact of those rare rocket launches. Going green is big, though, so efforts to make green rocket propellant are getting funding.   Thus, NASA and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research are pleased  to accounce they have successfully launched a small rocket using an environmentally-friendly, safe…

When Earth was cooling from its fiery creation, the sun was faint and young, far too weak to keep the oceans of earth from freezing without some help from greenhouse gases; they kept water, essential for the creation of life, liquid on our young planet.  But what were they?    A team of researchers from Tokyo Institute of Technology and University of Copenhagen's department of chemistry say ancient rocks have provided a possible answer, and they report the results in PNAS. "The young sun was approximately 30 percent weaker than it is now, and the only way to prevent earth from…