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Sun, 2009-03-22 04:36 — mdmcdonald

The mission of this Working Group is to enhance our understanding and relationship with the environment and ecology.

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This working group is focused on issues of Environment and Ecology to ensure resilience and sustainability for all.
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Rainwater Harvesting in the Amazon Cleans up Where Oil Left its Mark

Tue, 2012-05-29 23:37 — Corey Watts

submitted by Albert Gomez

Good Environment - www.good.is - May 29, 2012 (Photo by Mitch Anderson)

Oil companies started drilling around Ecuador’s Lago Agrio in 1972. Texaco had found oil here a few years before, in the middle of the Amazon, and for decades the oil industry harvested the oil gushing from the ground. Chevron took over when it bought Texaco, and Ecuador’s state oil company took over from Chevron. All the while, the drilling operations were pouring pollution in the area’s air and water—so much pollution that last year an Ecuadorian judge ordered Chevron to pay a total $18 billion to a group of 30,000 indigenous people, represented by a coalition of lawyers from Ecuador and North America. 

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Environment
Water
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Plastic-Eating Fungi Found in Amazon May Solve Landfill Problems

Mon, 2012-05-14 18:05 — Kathy Gilbeaux

               

digitaljournal.com - by Anne Sewell - March 10, 2012

Just when you thought that plastic waste was never going to break down in the environment, along comes Mother Nature to solve the problem.

The Amazon contains more species of flora and fauna than virtually anywhere else on earth.

In a report by NZ Herald it was stated that a group of students from Yale University found a species which appears to be happy eating plastic in airless landfills.

Their findings were published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology last year with the conclusion that the microbe is "a promising source of biodiversity from which to screen for metabolic properties useful for bioremediation."

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Endophytic Fungi

http://aem.asm.org/content/77/17/6076.short?rss=1&amp%3bssource=mfr

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World Needs to Stabilise Population and Cut Consumption, Says Royal Society

Wed, 2012-05-02 17:59 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

World population will reach 9 billion by 2050. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Economic and environmental catastrophes unavoidable unless rich countries cut consumption and global population stabilises

guardian.co.uk - by John Vidal - April 25, 2012

World population needs to be stabilised quickly and high consumption in rich countries rapidly reduced to avoid "a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills", warns a major report from the Royal Society.

Contraception must be offered to all women who want it and consumption cut to reduce inequality, says the study published on Thursday, which was chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston.

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What is a Food Forest?

Mon, 2012-04-30 23:08 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Albert Gomez

      

A Food Forest is a gardening technique or land management system that mimics a woodland ecosystem but substitutes in edible trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals.  Fruit and nut trees are the upper level, while below are berry shrubs, edible perennials and annuals.  Companions or beneficial plants are included to attract insects for natural pest management while some plants are soil amenders providing nitrogen and mulch.  Together they create relationships to form a forest garden ecosystem able to produce high yields of food with less maintenance.

Beacon Food Forest - http://beaconfoodforest.weebly.com/

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Activists Worry About Oil Spill Due to North Sea Platform Gas Leak

Mon, 2012-04-16 15:47 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

This is an undated handout photo issued by Total E&P UK Ltd of Total's Elgin PUQ (Process/Utilities/Quarters) platform. (AP/TOTAL E&P UK Ltd.)

Associated Press - foxnews.com - March 29, 2012

EDINBURGH, Scotland –  Environmental groups warned Thursday they fear an oil spill could be triggered at a North Sea offshore platform that has been leaking highly pressurized gas since the weekend.

A flame is still burning in the stack above the Elgin platform, which stands about 150 miles off the coast of Aberdeen, eastern Scotland, after a leak of flammable gas Sunday-- prompting all 238 staff to be evacuated on Monday.

Platform operator Total S.A. insists there is no threat of any explosion under current weather conditions, but said that surveillance flights have detected a sheen around the platform estimated to extend over 1.85 square miles.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)


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Clinton Sees ‘Goldmines’ in Methane Emission Curbs to Fight Climate Change

Mon, 2012-04-02 23:21 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by Alexander Ragir and Joao Oliveira - bloomberg.com - June 1, 2011

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton urged cities and the World Bank to work on curbing methane emissions from landfills and charcoal, saying those steps first would buy time in the fight against global warming.

Politicians may need years to work out a way to limit the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels, and it would cheaper and quicker to focus on other gases first, Clinton said at the C40 meeting of mayors from the world’s largest cities in Sao Paulo today. Methane has 25 times the global warming impact of carbon dioxide, also known as CO2.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Just Undo It: Nike, NASA Partner on Waste Innovation Challenge

Mon, 2012-04-02 22:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by Joel Makower - greenbiz.com - April 2, 2012

Nike is joining with NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Department of State to identify 10 “game changing” innovations that transform waste systems in both developed and developing countries.

The 10 winners don’t get cash or other prizes, but rather the chance to engage in a collaborative process with some of the world’s smartest and most connected people.

The goal of the LAUNCH: Beyond Waste challenge is to identify companies and organizations that have innovative designs for zero waste solutions, waste elimination, waste transformation, and waste mitigation technologies, “as well as waste reduction-focused education, business, and financial strategies that have the potential to reduce and/or eliminate waste at a household, community, office building, campus, or industrial level,” according to the program overview (download – PDF).

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Dwindling Resources Trigger Global Land Rush

Thu, 2012-03-15 22:57 — Kathy Gilbeaux

       

Caudalosa workers clean up mining tailings in Peru's Opamayo River. - Credit:Milagros Salazar/IPS

by Stephen Leahy - ipsnews.net

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 1, 2012 (IPS) - A global scramble for land and mineral resources fuelled by billions of investment dollars is threatening the last remaining wilderness and critical ecosystems, destroying communities and contaminating huge volumes of fresh water, warned environmental groups in London Wednesday.

No national park, delicate ecosystem or community is off limits in the voracious hunt for valuable metals, minerals and fossil fuels, said the Gaia Foundation’s report, "Opening Pandora's Box". The intensity of the hunt and exploitation is building to a fever pitch despite the fact the Earth is already overheated and humanity is using more than can be sustained, the 56-page report warns.

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21 Issues for the 21st Century - Result of the UNEP Foresight Process on Emerging Environmental Issues

Fri, 2012-02-24 18:12 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Jerome C. Glenn

The process, which was led by the UNEP Chief Scientists with support from UNEP Division of Early Warning and Assessment, involved the identification of emerging issues by UNEP colleagues and a Foresight Panel comprising of 22 distinguished members of the scientific community cutting across a wide spectrum of environmental related disciplines and world regions; the debating and prioritization of the identified issues by the Foresight Panel; the scoring of prioritized issues via an electronic consultation (survey) involving more than 400 scientists worldwide; and a further debating and ranking of the final list of issues by the Foresight Panel, putting into consideration the outcome of the electronic consultation.

The process resulted in a list of 21 emerging environmental issues tagged “21 Issues for the 21st Century” covering the major themes of the global environment including food, land, freshwater, marine, biodiversity, climate change, energy, waste, and technology; as well important cross-cutting issues ranging from the need for better environmental governance, to the need for human behavioral change towards the environment.

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Global
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Climate
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2010 Russian Heat Wave Caused by Both Manmade, Natural Causes

Thu, 2012-02-23 17:04 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - February 23, 2012

The heat wave that struck western Russia in summer 2010 killed 55,000 people and caused $15 billion in damage; a new study concludes that soaring temperatures were within the natural range for a Russian summer, but that due to human-induced climate change, the chance of such an extreme heat wave has tripled over the past several decades

The heat wave that struck western Russia in summer 2010, killing 55,000 people, broke July temperatures records and caused $15 billion in damage. Searching for a culprit for the soaring temperatures, research teams have identified either natural or manmade causes. A new study concludes, however, that the devastating heat wave had both. Soaring temperatures were within the natural range for a Russian summer, the researchers found, but due to human-induced climate change, the chance of such an extreme heat wave has tripled over the past several decades.

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Climate
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