Environment

If you care about the environment, you probably have become familiar with the phrase 'food miles' - along with production methods, it has become a key factor in what environmentally conscious people do to get quality food with less impact on the ecosystem. But they may be negating it, according to new research by the University of Exeter (UK) p ublished in the journal Food Policy.   Shopping locally may not be as good for the environment as having food delivered -  on average, lower carbon emissions result even from having food delivered right to your house than driving to a local…

The idea of ecosystem services is a promising conservation concept but has been rarely put into practice. In  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, researchers have created a tool they say can report some of the first quantifiable results that place values on nature's services to humans. Some of the best-described ecosystem services include pollination of crops, flood and storm protection, water filtration and recreation. The challenging part is translating these services into something with a measurable value. Economic valuation methods take changes in the supply of ecosystem…

I read this in today's Daily Telegraph: Campaigns to protect native species 'are racist' Have a read(LINK), and don't you think he is carrying things too far?  Although I have heard groundsmen referring to the grubbing up specimens of the invasive Acer pseudoplatanus, usually called the "sycamore", as "ethnic cleansing".

New research by an Arabian prince could see the millions of date stones disposed of in Saudi Arabia each year instead used to decrease air and water pollution.  Abdulrahman Bandar Al-Saud, 34, is studying for a PhD at Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. His research is based on the premise that date stones can be used to develop activated carbon with a high adsorption capacity.   Activated carbon is a form of the element that has been processed to make it extremely porous with a very large surface area available for adsorption. Not to be…

Every six months or so, I come home to find a stack of new phone books waiting for me by my front door.  My shoulders slump as soon as I catch sight of them - because honestly, I practically never use them.   I drag them inside, swap out the previous year's unused (sometimes even unwrapped) versions, and close the cupboard that's precious shelf space is devoted to this strange, archaic tradition. There was a time that I did actually use phone books, but that was in the age before I became forever spoiled by immediate access to information through the likes of Google.  I grab my…

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida has filed a petition with Secretary Salazar of the United States Department of the Interior to provide additional legal protection for the endangered Florida panther to help prevent its extinction. Only an estimated 90 to 100 Florida panthers remain today, almost all within South Florida. Because of these low numbers, they are considered at extremely high risk of extinction. Although there are provisions to protect the panther provided by the Endangered Species Act (ESA), designation of critical habitat, a key component of the Act, has yet to be…

2009 will be an eventful year for Earth observation at the European Space Agency. I watched the ESA press conference in December 2008 immediately after the Ministerial where ESA's Director General Dordain presented the budgetary results of the negotiations. And for once that was good news, in particular for Earth observation. As an active participant of the global initiativefor Earth observation, GEO, I believe the budgetary success is a consequence of the international focus on better coordination of global earth observation systems. Both space agencies and theEuropean commission have…

2009 will be an eventful year for Earthobservation at the European Space Agency. I watched the ESA pressconference in December 2008 immediately after the Ministerial whereESA's Director General Dordain presented the budgetary results of thenegotiations. And for once that was good news, in particular forEarth observation. As an active participant of the global initiativefor Earth observation, GEO, I believe the budgetary success is aconsequence of the international focus on better coordination ofglobal earth observation systems. Both space agencies and theEuropean commission have given GEO…

New research by Brunel University, the Universities of Exeter and Reading and the Centre for Ecology&Hydrology says there is a stronger link between water pollution and rising male fertility problems. The study outlines how a group of testosterone-blocking chemicals is finding its way into UK rivers, affecting wildlife and potentially humans. The research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.  The study identified a new group of chemicals that act as ‘anti-androgens’. This means that they inhibit…

December SUV and light truck sales are expected to exceed car sales for the first time since early in '08. Production of the Prius hybrid has been halted due to plunging sales, which were down 48% in November.  Heavy SUVs (those built on a truck chassis) and full sized pickup truck sales are expected to exceed 51% of all vehicles sold in this country when all the December sales numbers are in. Global warming or climate change (whichever is currently the politically correct terminology for the theorized environmental impact of carbon dioxide emissions) doesn't seem to be much of a front…