Environment

The Rocky Mountains command this part of the world. Vast, humbling, magestic, they define this part of the world. Vertically, they soar above 14,440 feet or 4,401 meters. Spanning 40 degrees of latitude, some 4,800 kilometres or 2,980 miles, they run the length of North America from Liard Plain in BC's north to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The mountains you see north of the Liard river, into the Yukon, are often grouped in with the Rockies, but are actually part of the Mackenzie Mountain system. The river systems that gather and wind their way out of these mountains head in all directions…

A deadly new airborne wheat rust disease threatens wheat production and food security throughout Afghanistan. The disease also threatens the region that stretches east across neighboring Pakistan and into India. Named "Ug99", this deadly new form of wheat stem rust has thus far been found in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan, and has more recently spread into Asia, to Yemen and now Iran. "It is only a matter of time before it reaches Afghanistan and then South Asia," said Dr. Mahmoud Solh, Director General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in…

The number of large-diameter trees that Yosemite National Park is famous far are on the decline, and warmer temperatures appear to be the culprit. Their number have declined 24 percent in the park between the 1930s and 1990s. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and University of Washington compared the earliest records of large-diameter trees densities from 1932 to the most recent records from 1988. A decline in large trees means habitat loss and possible reduction in species such as spotted owls, mosses, orchids and fishers (a carnivorous cousin of weasels). Fewer new trees will grow…

The number of large-diameter trees that Yosemite National Park is famous far are on the decline, and warmer temperatures appear to be the culprit. Their number have declined 24 percent in the park between the 1930s and 1990s. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and University of Washington compared the earliest records of large-diameter trees densities from 1932 to the most recent records from 1988. A decline in large trees means habitat loss and possible reduction in species such as spotted owls, mosses, orchids and fishers (a carnivorous cousin of weasels). Fewer new trees will grow…

Medieval Alphabet Book Stays In Britain A unique alphabet book, offering a selection of spectacular and bizarre fonts to the luxury medieval manuscript illuminator stuck for inspiration, has been bought by the British Library after a £600,000 appeal. The importance of the small manuscript, dating from 1500 but concealed within an 18th-century binding, had been missed for the centuries as it sat unrecognised in the Earl of Macclesfield's library. Source: Guardian.co.uk Source: Guardian gallery of images, containing ten images from the book. The book will go on display in the British Library'…

You may have heard the fairy tale of The Three Little Pigs.  In the original story (1), they leave home to find their fortune but the first one builds his new place out of straw and the Big Bad Wolf blows it down and eats him. By the time he got to the third little pig, who built his house of brick, the wolf got his comeuppance, but it still wasn't a great result for the progessive, environmentally-conscious first one. Researchers at the University of Bath say straw in housing has gotten a bad rap and to prove it they are making a "BaleHaus" of prefabricated straw and hemp 'cladding'…

I just don't get the appeal, as I explain in this post about douchebaggery (and nor does Cash, apparently: see #8). But if he can bring a little star power to one of the least environmentally friendly industries out there, more power to him and his ridiculous golf outfit. "Timberlake was the first to play a round at his Mirimichi golf course near Memphis, Tenn., after he spent $16 million renovating the course to make it more eco-friendly." Apparently it's the first to receive the "Audubon Classic Sanctuary" certification from Audubon International, and is a Platinum LEED-certified green…

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati find the forest and water conservation practices of the The ancient Mayans had concerns about forest and water conservation practices 3,000 years ago, according to paleoethnobotanist(1) David Lentz of the University of Cincinnati, who has concluded that not only did the Maya people practice forest management but when they abandoned their forest conservation practices it led to their eventual doom. Lentz is professor of biological sciences at the University of Cincinnati and executive director of the Cincinnati Center for Field Studies.  He…

If global warming projections hold up, tree crops that rely on the 'winter chill' in California's Central Valley could be in peril, say researchers in a new study.   If you aren't aware, California's Central Valley fields produce 25 percent of America’s table food, which seems like a big responsibility for a state that is below Romania in world standing in the eyes of financiers who gauge whether or not a government can pay its bills. The study is the first to map winter chill projections for all of California, which is home to nearly 3 million acres of fruit and nut trees that require…

Don't get Michael Schumacher or Jeff Gordon on the phone yet but we could one day be driving on tires made from trees. Wood science researchers at Oregon State University say they could cost less, perform better and save on fuel and energy, though has any researcher not said that exact same thing about every R&D project they are involved in?   Microcrystalline cellulose, which can be madefrom almost any type of plant fibers, could replace silica as a reinforcing filler in the manufacture of rubber tires, at least partially, according to a new study which suggests that the approach…