http://forests.org/ Vast Rainforest, Forest and Biodiversity Conservation News and Information -- http://forests.org/ Forests.org a project of Ecological Internet, Inc. info@ecologicalinternet.org (Dr. Glen Barry) http://forests.org/news/forestsnewsfeed.gif http://forests.org/ Agence France-Presse: Conservation group WWF-India has enlisted the support of sports stars and celebrities to raise awareness of the threat, citing government estimates that there are just over 1,400 tigers left in the wild. The campaign, fronted by India's cricket captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and top footballer Bhaichung Bhutia, began at the end of January and has so far more than 75,000 people have pledged their support on http://www.saveourtigers.com. "Stripey", a cute tiger cub who features in ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7196015/Stars-urge-Indians-to-save-the-tiger.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150996 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST tiger India China | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: Phil Hazlewood) Guardian: As snow flurries continued to cause disruption across the country today, spring may feel further away than ever. But recent winters have been ending earlier than ever before, according to a new assessment of Britain's wildlife that reveals global warming could be disrupting the delicate balance of nature. The analysis confirms that spring and summer are occurring earlier, but also shows that this trend appears to be accelerating. The shift could pose problems for animals, birds and ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/09/wildlife-climate-change http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150991 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate wildlife plants seasonality | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: David Adam) Times (UK): India will decide tomorrow whether to approve its first genetically modified (GM) food crop. It is a move that supporters argue will help to avert a global food crisis but which critics say is being rushed through recklessly. The new vegetable, an aubergine -- or brinjal in Hindi -- contains a toxic gene that poisons insect pests and will boost yields while reducing dependence on pesticides, its champions say. It would also open up the world's second most-populous nation to at least ... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7019867.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150990 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST food genetically modified science | South Asia | India info@ecologicalinternet.org (Times (UK): Rhys Blakely) WA Today: Scientists have made a surprising link between climate patterns in Australia and Antarctica. If you thought the drought affecting south-west WA since the 1970s was extreme, you were right. But just how extreme has been a matter of contention. Now, scientists believe it could be the worst of its kind in 750 years, after making an unexpected discovery. Researchers from the Australian Antarctic Division and Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research ... http://www.watoday.com.au/environment/climate-change/wa-drought-could-be-worst-for-750-years-20100205-niee.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150947 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate drought worst | Pacific/Oceania | Australia info@ecologicalinternet.org (WA Today: Chalpat Sonti) Agence France-Presse: China said Tuesday it had nearly 6,000 tigers in captivity and could breed 1,000 more every year, amid international controversy over the benefits of farming the endangered species. The numbers were announced by Yin Hong, vice head of the State Forestry Administration, according to a spokesman at the agency who refused to be named. "There are close to 6,000 tigers that have been artifically bred and raised in China," the official China News Service quoted Yin ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100209/sc_afp/chinaanimaltiger http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=151036 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST tiger captive breeding | East/South-East Asia | China info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given) BBC: India has halted the cultivation of what would have been its first genetically modified (GM) vegetable crop because of safety concerns. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said more studies were needed to ensure genetically modified aubergines were safe for consumption. The GM vegetable has undergone field trials since 2008 and received approval from government scientists in 2009. But there has been a heated public row over the cultivation of the GM crop. "Public ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8506047.stm http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=151035 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST food GMO safety | South Asia | India info@ecologicalinternet.org (BBC: none given) BBC: As CO2 levels increase and the world warms, land use, precipitation and the availability of water will also change. In response to all these disruptions, plants will emit greater levels of fragrant chemicals called biogenic volatile organic compounds. That will then alter how plants interact with one another and defend themselves against pests, according to a major scientific review. According to the scientists leading the review, the world may already be becoming more ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8503000/8503823.stm http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=151003 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate plants | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (BBC: Matt Walker) Bloomberg: Africa's failure to embrace modern farming methods is a greater impediment to food production than global warming, according to the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. Adopting this approach would help the continent offset possible temperature increases of as much as 3 degrees Celsius (37 degrees Fahrenheit), it said, citing conclusions made by computer modeling. Africa emits less greenhouse gas than any other continent, though it will likely be ... http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-09/african-farmers-urged-to-innovate-to-offset-climate-change.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150994 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST carbon offset farmers Africa | Africa | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Bloomberg: Sarah McGregor) Reuters: India has put off allowing the launch of its first genetically modified vegetable, saying it would adopt a cautious approach and wait for more scientific studies on the impact of the new variety of eggplant. "The moratorium will be in place until all tests are carried out to the satisfaction of everyone... If that means no start of production, so be it," Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh told reporters on Tuesday. An government panel last year supported the introduction of ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6181ZN20100209?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150995 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST food genetically modified delay | South Asia | India info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: none given) Agence France-Presse: Finnish researchers called for a revision of climate change estimates Monday after their findings showed emissions from soil would contribute more to climate warming than previously thought. "A Finnish research group has proved that the present standard measurements underestimate the effect of climate warming on emissions from the soil," the Finnish Environment Institute said in a statement. "The error is serious enough to require revisions in climate change estimates," it ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100208/sc_afp/finlandenvironmentclimatechangestudy http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150979 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate soil underestimated | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given) Guardian: The Dongria Kondh tribe from eastern India today appealed to film director James Cameron to help them stop controversial mining company Vedanta from opening a bauxite mine on their sacred land as they believe that he will understand their plight better than most. Like the Na'vi tribe in Cameron's blockbuster Avatar, who are desperately trying to stop humans from mining under their sacred 'home tree' in Pandora, the Dongria Kondh are trying to stop Vedanta from opening its mine on the ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/08/dongria-kondh-help-stop-vedanta http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150956 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST mining indigenous opposition | South Asia | India info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: Kathryn Hopkins) Reuters: China has an estimated 50 or fewer tigers left living in the wild, but efforts to stabilize one population in the bleak northeast are starting to pay off, a conservationist said on Monday. Tigers once roamed huge swathes of China, right up to the now booming east coast. Their population has collapsed due to habitat destruction on the back of rapid economic development and poaching for tiger products to use in traditional medicine. About 10 still live in the southwestern ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6171B220100208?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150895 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST tiger wild dwindle | East/South-East Asia | China info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Ben Blanchard) AAP: The author behind a new study linking 30-year drought in Western Australia with heavy snowfall in Antarctica says it is strong evidence man-made greenhouse gases have provoked dramatic climate change. The Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in Tasmania said it had found a direct link between snowfall in eastern Antarctica and rainfall in Australia's southwest. The heavier it snows in Antarctica, the less it rains in southern WA, the centre ... http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/wa-drought-is-proof-of-climate-change-20100208-nl52.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150869 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate drought proof warming | Pacific/Oceania | Australia info@ecologicalinternet.org (AAP: none given) Telegraph: The study found species such as the brown argus and dingy skipper had more stable populations in varied terrain - helping them survive better in the face of threats such as drought. The findings, based on data from satellites which showed the topography of the land and the kinds of habitats in them, could be used to design landscapes to help conserve insect species. The study of 35 British butterfly species from 166 sites across the UK looked at populations over an 11-year ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7181642/Rugged-hills-with-woodland-and-grassland-help-butterflies.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150916 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST wildlife habitat butterflies | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Telegraph: none given) Agence France-Presse: The European Union on Monday unveiled a new Green logo that will have to be shown on all pre-packaged organic products produced in Europe from July. "I'm delighted that we now have a fresh EU organic food logo," said EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel as she announced that the "Euro-leaf" logo, a green leaf design incorporating the 12 stars of the EU flag, had won a competition to find the right image. "This exercise has raised the profile of organic food and we ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100208/sc_afp/euenvironmentconsumerlogo http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150981 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST organic food Europe | Europe | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given) Mongabay: Everyone knows the tiger, the panda, the blue whale, but what about the other five to thirty million species estimated to inhabit our Earth? Many of these marvelous, stunning, and rare species have received little attention from the media, conservation groups, and the public. This series is an attempt to give these 'forgotten species' some well-deserved attention. The salamander was a mythical creature before it was a real one: the word salamander means a legendary lizard that both ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0208-hance_luristannewt.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150977 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST biodiversity forgotten species | Middle East | Iran info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) International Falls Daily Journal: The potential effects of climate change and other factors on the long-term viability of moose in Voyageurs National Park has prompted a collaring project. Park staff plan to capture up to 14 adult moose to attach state-of-art telemetry collars in the next weeks as part of a continuing project on moose in the park. The project is a collaborative effort among scientists from Voyageurs National Park, the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Natural Resources Research Institute, and ... http://www.ifallsdailyjournal.com/news/outdoors/voyageurs-national-park-collar-moose-it-studies-climate-change-102 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150962 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate wildlife moose | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (International Falls Daily Journal: none given) Australian: THERE are many ways to skin a camel, but none, it seems, that count towards reducing Australia's carbon footprint. Scientists have found camels to be the third-highest carbon-emitting animal per head on the planet, behind only cattle and buffalo. Culling the one million feral camels that currently roam the outback would be equivalent to taking 300,000 cars off the road in terms of the reduction to the country's greenhouse gases. But Climate Change Minister Penny Wong told The ... http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/feral-camels-clear-in-penny-wongs-carbon-count/story-e6frg6nf-1225827641354 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150943 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate wildlife feral camels | Pacific/Oceania | Australia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Australian: Ean Higgins) Agence France-Presse: A drought that has gripped the southwestern corner of Australia since the 1970s is linked with higher snowfall in East Antarctica, a phenomenon that may be rooted in global warming, scientists reported on Sunday. Researchers Tas van Ommen and Vin Morgan of the Australian Antarctic Division said that the drought -- which has seen winter rainfall decline by 15-20 percent -- is extremely unusual when compared with the last 750 years. Hand in hand with the drought is a similarly ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100207/sc_afp/climatewarmingaustraliadrought http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150874 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate drougt linked Australia Antarctica | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given) New Scientist: WE HACK the climate at our peril. Volcanoes spewed so much sulphate into the atmosphere 94 million years ago that the oceans were starved of oxygen and 27 per cent of marine genera went extinct. Geoengineering our climate could inflict a similar fate on some lakes. So claims Matthew Hurtgen at Northwestern University in Chicago, who with his colleagues measured sulphur isotopes in sediments on the floor of the Western Interior Seaway. The WIS was a vast body of water that divided the ... http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527464.400-beware-of-geoengineering-using-volcanoes-tricks.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150831 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST geoengineering dangerous | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (New Scientist: none given) Inter Press Service: Exotic tree seedlings grow next to native species in the southeastern German village of Laufen, at a site where researchers are experimenting with ways to restore forests lost to the effects of global warming. The forest of the future - made up of the Bulgarian fir (Abies borisii-regis), oriental beech (Fagus orientalis), silver linden (Tilia tomentosa), Lebanon cedar (Cedrus libani) and Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) - maintains some characteristics of the old native German ... http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50243 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150829 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST ecological restoration forests climate | Europe | Germany info@ecologicalinternet.org (Inter Press Service: Julio Godoy) Tribune News Service: For each degree rise in the temperature in the region, Punjab will lose 750 kg per hectare of wheat. This startling revelation emerged at the 13th Punjab Science Congress organised by Panjab University in collaboration with the Punjab Academy of Sciences to thrash out issues related to climate change. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir NN Vohra inaugurated the congress on 'Climate change: Concerns and solutions' at the university auditorium here today. Talking to The Tribune, Prof ... http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100208/main5.htm http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150944 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate food wheat | South Asia | India info@ecologicalinternet.org (Tribune News Service: Neha Miglani) Guardian: Taking turns to act as human ploughs, Liang Jianmin and his tiger survey team forge through mile after mile of knee-deep snow in the mountain forests near China's frozen mountain border with Siberia. From dawn to dusk they track, ­looking for droppings, paw prints, bark scratchings, scraps of fur caught on twigs and fences, any sign that the Amur tiger – the biggest cat species in the world – is still alive in the wilds of China. Elsewhere in Hunchun, other teams scour the ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/07/china-tiger-year-amur-conservation http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150875 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST tiger Amur protect | East/South-East Asia | China info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: Jonathan Watts) Mongabay: Due to increased problems with poaching, the conservation organization TRAFFIC has joined with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to begin tracking every tiger mortality in India with a new website called Tigernet. The website will also track tiger-related crimes, allowing wildlife wardens and field directors of Project Tiger Reserves to access key data on tiger death and crime in an instant, including seizures of tiger products. Since the Bengal tiger (panthera ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0207-hance_bengal.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150870 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST wildlife tiger track | South Asia | India info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) Mongabay: The Church of England has dropped is 3.8 million pound stake (5.9 million US dollars) in controversial mining company, Vedanta Resources, citing concern over the company's human rights record. The Indian company has come under considerable criticism for its plan to build a bauxite mine on Niyamgiri Mountain, threatening the mountain, forests, and the local tribe Dongria Kondh tribe. "After six months of engagement, we are not satisfied that Vedanta has shown, or is likely in future to ... http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0207-hance_vedanta.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150865 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST mining indigenous protest | South Asia | India info@ecologicalinternet.org (Mongabay: Jeremy Hance) Telegraph: The legislation will mean owners of weirs and waterways face being ordered to install "eel passes" - a type of chute - or screens that will allow eels to slip past blockages so they can travel upstream to mature, or downstream to spawn. Eels are thought to take up to three years migrating as larvae from the Sargasso Sea to European rivers, where they spend up to 20 years before making the 4,000 mile return journey across the Atlantic to spawn and die. Conservation experts say a ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7173052/Eel-bypasses-to-be-installed-across-Britain.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150839 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST river wildlife eel | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Telegraph: Laura Donnelly) Guardian: New laws could help save critically endangered eels in English and Welsh rivers, the Environment Agency said today. The legislation will require eel passes and screens to be installed in rivers as barriers may prevent from going up or downstream. ­European eels, a traditional east London dish, need to move both ways in the water so they can give birth and grow, but weirs and sluice gates can stop them from migrating. In the river Thames alone the eel ­population has fallen by ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/07/laws-help-rare-eels http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150872 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST river wildlife eels | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: none given) Guardian: A modestly sized airport off the M42 in Birmingham could become a serious competitor to Heathrow under government plans for a 200mph high-speed rail network. A site near Birmingham International airport is being considered as a station on a new route that will link Britain's largest cities by a 50-minute train ride, according to rail industry sources. If the government pushes ahead with the plan it would take no longer to reach Britain's sixth largest airport from London's Euston ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/07/heathrow-threat-high-speed-rail-birmingham http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150868 07 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST transportation Heathrow high speed rail | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: Dan Milmo) Associated Press: Looking to cut government waste, the Hawaii Senate decided two years ago to take aim at a target that was all over the Capitol: paper. The Senate`s 25 members wanted to slash what they said was pointless paperwork by eliminating the use of millions of sheets of paper that usually ended up crowding lawmakers` desks or being thrown into waste baskets. They also sought to reduce the use of the heavy-duty copy machines that kept the briefcases of legislative aides, as well as ... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/us/07hawaii.html?partner=rss&emc=rss http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150838 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST paper conservation | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: none given) Telegraph: My pulse is racing. I have found a new way to save money on food -- and help to save the planet in the process. I had thought there was nothing more I could do to cut back on bills and waste as I am already a devotee of markets, pound shops, supermarkets' yellow cut-price stickers and recycled leftovers. But the next logical step has just been delivered to my door: a box full of items that supermarkets cannot sell but are still fit to eat. According to Approved Food, the leading ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/7175927/Food-Inc-saved-from-the-bin.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150805 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST food waste | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Telegraph: Cassandra Jardine) Independent (UK): An environmentally valuable expanse of Spanish wetlands that dried up through mismanagement of water resources and drought is once again awash with water due to heavy rainfall, an official said Tuesday. Over 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of the wetlands of the Tablas de Daimiel National Park are flooded, the highest level since 1997, up from just 67 hectares on January 7, a park spokesman said. The heavy rains also put out an underground peat fire which had raged at the ... http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/heavy-rains-bring-spanish-wetlands-back-to-life-1891368.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150797 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate drought heavy rain | Europe | Spain info@ecologicalinternet.org (Independent (UK): none given) Bloomington Alternative: They're clean! They're green! Or so the industry PR boasts about biomass power plants. If anything, the opposite is true. Biomass is any substance that isn't a fossil fuel and is arguably organic. Wood waste is one of the primary fuels that biomass incinerators burn. Wood waste includes industrial wood waste (like shipping pallets and sawdust), which is often contaminated with toxic chemicals and plastics that form dioxin, the most potent carcinogen ever studied, when ... http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/articles/2010/02/07/10302 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150837 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST biomass energy bad | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Bloomington Alternative: Linda Greene) Inter Press Service: Ethiopia is building a 240-metre high dam on the Omo River that is intended to end the country's electricity shortage and supply power to neighbouring countries. Not everyone's happy. The Gilgel Gibe III dam will hold back 14.7 million cubic metres of water. Its 1,870 MW generating capacity will be a significant boost for the Ethiopian Electric Power Company (EEPCO) which has plans to extend electricity supply within the country and export power to other countries in East ... http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50241 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150828 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST dam critics | Africa | Ethiopia info@ecologicalinternet.org (Inter Press Service: Ips Correspondent) Guardian: A controversial UK cull of ruddy ducks, a US native that has been compared to a "feathered lager lout" for its displays of thuggish and amorous behaviour, has cost the British taxpayer more than £740 for each dead bird. Figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show that shoots of the chestnut-coloured bird have cost taxpayers £4.6m, yet only 6,200 have been killed. The disclosure has sparked an outcry from ornithologists and animal activists ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/07/ruddy-duck-cull-waste-money http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150821 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST wildlife ruddy duck cull | Europe | United Kingdom info@ecologicalinternet.org (Guardian: Graham Mole) Agence France-Presse: Winter Olympics chiefs will not sanction a desperate last-minute venue switch despite unseasonably warm temperatures continuing to curse Cypress Mountain, the host of the freestyle events at the Games which begin on Friday. The host city enjoyed highs of 11 degrees again on Saturday while meteorological officials said that the warm weather, which has led to 300 dumper trucks and even helicopters being used to transport snow from higher elevations, will continue right up to the opening ... http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jOod_vyCDO8SWK4uw5RObLBQOPJQ http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150816 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate snow lack | North America | Canada info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: Dave James) Time Magazine: Basic biology suggests that plants might grow faster in a world with more carbon dioxide, and field experiments bear that out: when you pump extra CO2 into a field or a forest, trees and other vegetation tend to get bigger. There are plenty of caveats attached: without other nutrients, the size and health of CO2-enriched plants can be compromised, and in some cases noxious weeds like poison ivy do better than the greenery you might prefer. But perhaps the biggest question of all is ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100206/hl_time/08599196056700 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150799 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate forest carbon tree growth | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Time Magazine: Michael D. Lemonick) Time Magazine: Since his election, President Barack Obama has emphasized the importance of developing new sources of energy and cultivating the jobs that will come with them. "I am convinced that whoever builds a clean energy economy, whoever is at the forefront of that, is going to own the 21st-century global economy," Obama told a bipartisan meeting of governors at the White House on Wednesday. But, increasingly, the President's new clean economy seems to rely on old sources of energy. At his ... http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1959011,00.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150793 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate energy Obama nuclear coal | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Time Magazine: Bryan Walsh) Nature: The burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil releases carbon dioxide that alters the balance of carbon isotopes naturally found in the environment -- an effect that is now being found in food, reveals a US study. Modern methods for tracking the origins of processed foods use isotopes -- atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons. Of the most common naturally occurring isotopes of carbon -- carbon-12, with six neutrons, and carbon-13, with seven -- the ... http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100205/full/news.2010.56.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150786 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate trees maple syrup | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Nature: Matt Kaplan) redOrbit: A claim made by the UN climate change panel in 2007 that half of the country of the Netherlands was below sea level, is being contested by the country itself. Dutch authorities estimate that only 26 percent of the country is below sea level and will be asking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to check its figures, environment ministry spokesman Trimo Vallaart told AFP. The IPCC's calculation that 55 percent of the Netherlands was below sea level came from adding the ... http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1819675/netherlands_enters_the_climate_fray/index.html?source=r_science http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150810 06 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate sea land below sea-level | Europe | Netherlands info@ecologicalinternet.org (redOrbit: none given) Christian Science Monitor: The fire burning deep below Centralia, Pa., is just one of numerous coal fires burning in at least 20 states today, with thousands more worldwide. They gobble up resources, spew dangerous emissions, and scar the land. Yet little is known about their impact on climate change or human health due to carbon dioxide and mercury emissions, say experts. Approximately 200 underground coal fires burn in about 20 states, according to Glenn Stracher, a researcher at East Georgia College in ... http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2010/0205/Centralia-Pa.-coal-fire-is-one-of-hundreds-that-burn-in-the-U.S http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150768 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST coal fire burn underground | North America | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Christian Science Monitor: Mark Clayton) Canadian Press: Poor countries are still gripped by the food crisis of two years ago and climate change will only make things tougher in the coming years, says the head of Canadian International Development Agency. CIDA President Margaret Biggs offered that candid assessment of the state of the undeveloped world and what Canada can to do help, in a speech Thursday to University of Ottawa students. Biggs, who rarely speaks publicly, also said a tough road lies ahead in rebuilding ... http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hz-3oLt-z5t_f0Cap3FaDE4iP6kQ http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150752 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate hunger food | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Canadian Press: Mike Blanchfield) Reuters: Temperatures in Tibet rose last year to the highest level since records began for the remote Himalayan region, which scientists say is particularly vulnerable to global warming, state media reported on Friday. The average temperature in Tibet in 2009 was 5.9 degrees Celsius (42.6 degrees Fahrenheit), 1.5 degrees higher than "normal," the official China Daily newspaper reported, citing latest figures from the regional climate center. It did not detail how the "normal" level was ... http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6140HT20100205 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150749 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate heat record high temperature Tibet | East/South-East Asia | China info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6140HT20100205?sp=true) Scientific American: Methane trapped in Arctic ice (and elsewhere) could be rapidly released into the atmosphere as a result of global warming in a possible doomsday scenario for climate change, some scientists worry. After all, methane is 72 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timescale. But research announced at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union this December suggests that marine microbes could at least partially defeat the methane "time bomb" sitting ... http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=defusing-the-methane-time-bomb http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150734 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST methane greenhouse gas time bomb | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Scientific American: Christopher Mims) Canadian Press: Rapidly melting Arctic sea ice is changing the world's weather, releasing contaminants into the food chain and threatening the survival of whales and polar bears, a massive international study on climate change has found. Some 300 scientists from 27 countries spent months on an icebreaker in 2009 studying the effect of climate change in the Arctic and they released their preliminary results Friday at a youth summit in Winnipeg. David Barber, one of the world's top Arctic ... http://www.570news.com/news/world/article/24352--int-l-study-finds-arctic-sea-ice-melting-changing-weather-threatening-mammals http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150773 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate Arctic sea ice mammals | Arctic/Antarctic | info@ecologicalinternet.org (Canadian Press: Chinta Puxley) Associated Press: The American pika isn't heading for the endangered species list, but federal scientists said there's no question it bears watching as the West warms in the coming decades. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally announced its decision Friday that Endangered Species Act protections aren't warranted for the climate-sensitive pika, a mountain-dwelling relative of the rabbit that lives in 10 Western states. Agency officials acknowledge, though, that there's still plenty that's ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100206/ap_on_re_us/us_global_warming_pika http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150724 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate wildlife pika | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Associated Press: Mike Stark) Greenwire: The Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected a bid to extend endangered species protection to a rabbit-like creature that environmentalists say could be pushed to extinction by rising temperatures. The warming of the American pika's mountain habitat in California's Sierra Nevada and in parts of nine other Western states has shrunk the tiny mammal's population and could eliminate part of its range, but federal biologists say new studies suggest the pika will adjust to warmer homes or ... http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/02/05/05greenwire-obama-admin-denies-endangeres-species-listing-73387.html http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150713 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate wildlife endangered pika | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (Greenwire: Patrick Reis) Reuters: Seals are hot at the G7 meeting in Canada's Arctic this weekend, whether it's the sealskin mitts artisans are trying to sell, or the raw seal meat on the menu at a community feast on Saturday. But officials and locals insist that hunting here is an essential livelihood for a community that already faces high prices for basic goods. Iqaluit, a town of 6,000 some 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle, is only accessible by air in winter, when Frobisher Bay freezes into a jagged shoreline ... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6144IY20100205?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150709 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST hunt seals | North America | Canada info@ecologicalinternet.org (Reuters: Janet Guttsman) LA Times: dwelling creature will be unable to survive climate change. The rabbit-like mammal lives on the high slopes of California's Sierra Nevada and in parts of nine other Western states. It is highly sensitive to small changes in temperature. Larry Crist, a Utah field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which reviewed scientific literature on the pika, said the creature can adapt and find suitable habitat despite a predicted summertime rise of 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit in ... http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-endangered-pika5-2010feb05,0,1136076.story http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150653 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate wildlife end | North America | United States info@ecologicalinternet.org (LA Times: Margot Roosevelt) National Public Radio: Every year, an enormous migration takes place in Western Europe. Millions of moths fly for days, riding wind currents southward in the fall and north in the spring. Scientists thought these insects were simply blown to their destinations, but now they've discovered something remarkable: The moths actually select the fastest wind currents, and even change course to shorten their trip. Beating The Birds The moths fly at night and apparently know south from north by some ... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123330735&ft=1&f=1025 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150651 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST insects science | Worldwide/General | info@ecologicalinternet.org (National Public Radio: Christopher Joyce) Agence France-Presse: The Netherlands has asked the UN climate change panel to explain an inaccurate claim in a landmark 2007 report that more than half the country was below sea level, the Dutch government said Friday. According to the Dutch authorities, only 26 percent of the country is below sea level, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be asked to account for its figures, environment ministry spokesman Trimo Vallaart told AFP. The incident could cause further ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100205/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingnetherlands http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=150760 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PST climate science errors | Europe | Netherlands info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: none given)