Environment

What happens when the pet owners refuse to take the responsibility of the animals litter? They are either turned outdoors as strays or sold back to the pet dealers and puppy mills where they are resold or exterminated. Over 25 million pets in the U.S, alone become homeless, of which 27 % are pure breds as per the earthlings movie.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7584730387826688635 Of this 9 million die out of disease, starvations or accidents, while 16 million are exterminated legally as humans have no use for the excess animal population. Hitler’s Gas chamber deaths are the most…

The Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) with their distinct white and black coloring are natives of China, but these hardwood tree killers have been around New York since 1996.  They travel to North America via wood crating or packaging materials. Once on our shores, the adults fly off to the local tree tops where their young bore into the conductive tissues of hardwood trees, in many cases fatally injuring them. The Secretary of Agriculture has declared the beetle infestation "an extraordinary emergency" starting a…

Here's a 15 minute video of Scientific Blogging featured writer Jane Poynter talking about her 2 years and 20 minutes in Biosphere 2, along with what she is doing to save Biosphere 1 (errrr, that would be Earth).

Let me introduce myself an environmental activist when I was young now older I am a scientist solving problems. I work every day in my field environmental agriculture lab. I am an expert in various fields, potato field, flower field, melon field just to name a few. OK that was a stab at humor, not only do I know my stuff I experiment hands on with practical applications. The humidity and heat has kick me back to the house where I now find time to share my findings. Things are changing right now and we need to keep an open mind to new ideas that will solve problems and create opportunities. I…

Sperm bigger than the actual creator of the sperm and phallic mushrooms have been all the rage this week, but immobilized microbes that can break down potentially harmful Phthalic Acid Esters (PAEs), commonly known as phthalates, are big news too, according to researchers writing in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution.   So now we get to talk about phthalic symbols. These microbes might be used to treat industrial waste water and so prevent such materials from entering the environment. Phthalates are widely used as additives in polymer manufacture as plasticizers. They…

Fluctuating temperatures in Africa have always made reliable agriculture production difficult and global warming could make it even worse.   If local varieties of maize and other food staples are unsuitable, the food security of many Africans will depend on farmers in one country gaining access to climatically suitable varieties now being cultivated in other African nations, and beyond, according to a study published in Global Environmental Change.  But the study, conducted by researchers at Stanford University's Program on Food Security and the Environment and the Rome-based Global…

It's No Soap - Laundry Saves Lives On January 7th 2007, at Sizewell A power station on England's Suffolk coast, an environmental disaster was narrowly averted when a worker visiting the laundry spotted a coolant leak. A chance decision to wash some clothes narrowly averted a nuclear disaster, a safety report has found. While using the laundry room at Sizewell A power station, a contract worker spotted a leak from a cooling tank. By the time he raised the alarm more than 40,000 gallons of radioactive fluid had spilled out from a 15ft long crack in a pipe. Some of it reached the North Sea.…

Jellyfish blooms are up almost everywhere and it's going to become a menace.  The reason?   Over-fishing and excess nutrients from fertilizers and sewage, say researchers from The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency. "Dense jellyfish aggregations can be a natural feature of healthy ocean ecosystems, but a clear picture is now emerging of more severe and frequent jellyfish outbreaks worldwide," says CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and University of Queensland scientist Dr Anthony Richardson. The new research, by…

Looking for a great summer destination? Why not make a trip to the Saanich Peninsula, the cycling capital of Canada. Sooke, a small fishing town on Vancouver Islands' southwestern edge, was originally inhabited by the T'sou-ke, a group related to the Salishan First Nations, who found the mild climate and sea access ideal. Today, these same attributes bring boaters, bikers and casual visitors from around the globe. Salt air adventurers love this small hamlet for its quaint charm and easily explored beaches. Those interested in marine life, both living and long extinct, can poke around…

Activists tend to point to someone else's job and say it's for the good of the planet that it disappear.   But everyone need to cut back, including climate scientists, says a researcher who, ironically, regularly flies north to study the health of caribou. Scientists studying the impact of climate change on the Arctic need to consider ways to reduce their own carbon footprints,  according to postdoctoral fellow Ryan Brook  in the June issue of Arctic, the journal of the University of Calgary's Arctic Institute of North America.  Brook calls on scientists to show…