American Buddhist Net

(CNN) -- An estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas are living in a swamp in equatorial Africa, researchers reported Tuesday, double the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide.

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Jenny Booth

Four US Olympic cyclists who caused an outcry when they arrived at Beijing airport wearing smog masks have today apologised to Games organisers.

The four - Mike Friedman, Bobby Lee, Sarah Hammer and Jennie Reed - said that they were wearing the masks because of pollution fears, a touchy subject for the Chinese authorities.

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BEIJING (AFP) — A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit southwest China's Sichuan province on Tuesday, close to the area that was devastated by a quake earlier this year, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake's epicentre was located 48 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Guangyuan city at a depth of 10 kilometres at 5:49 pm (0949 GMT), according to a statement on the USGS website.

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Sunday August 03, 2008
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

BARCELONA, Spain — Blue patrol boats crisscross the swimming areas of beaches here with their huge nets skimming the water’s surface. The yellow flags that urge caution and the red flags that prohibit swimming because of risky currents are sometimes topped now with blue ones warning of a new danger: swarms of jellyfish.

In a period of hours during a day a couple of weeks ago, 300 people on Barcelona’s bustling beaches were treated for stings, and 11 were taken to hospitals.

...But while jellyfish invasions are a nuisance to tourists and a hardship to fishermen, for scientists they are a source of more profound alarm, a signal of the declining health of the world’s oceans.

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By Alexis Madrigal EmailJuly 31, 2008

A new catalyst makes it feasible to split water with solar power.

MIT chemists say the catalyst, used in conjunction with cheap photovoltaic solar panels, could lead to inexpensive, simple systems that use water to store the energy from sunlight.

In the process, the scientists may have cleared the major roadblock on the long road to fossil fuel independence: Reducing the on-again, off-again nature of many renewable power sources.

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APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

Thailand will host the world's first international meeting on fireflies with over 200 firefly experts from 20 countries taking part to discuss the latest findings on the lightning bugs. The International Symposium on Diversity and Conservation of Fireflies will be held at the Botanical Garden Organisation in Chiang Mai from Aug 26-30.

Suyanee Vessbutr, chief of the organisation's technical and research department, said the symposium was a follow-up of a meeting of firefly experts from around the world in Portugal last year.

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By TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 30, 3:17 AM ET

FRESNO, Calif. - Just like people damage their skin in the sun, fruits and vegetables also can get nasty burns. That's why farmers are increasingly applying sunscreen to their crops to prevent skin blistering, heat stress and blemishes.

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Thursday, July 31, 2008

It is a pity that in a country that is blessed with natural fauna and flora, its people are the number one destroyer to this natural wonder. A country safe from quakes, volcanoes, typhoon, and other natural disasters, it has attracted thousands and millions to her land since early civilization.

Our history dates back to early Hindu and Buddhist empires and the remains at Bujang Valley prove the existence of civilized man. Then came the explorers from China, led by Zheng Ze and other visitors from the west. They marvel at our beauty, and took full advantage of our resources.

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The loss of billions of bees raises questions about our pesticide controls.

By Al Meyerhoff
July 30, 2008

...There is increasing reason to believe that Gaucho and other members of a family of highly toxic chemicals -- neonicotinoids -- may be responsible for the deaths of billions of honeybees worldwide. Some scientists believe that these pesticides, which are applied to seeds, travel systemically through the plant and leave residues that contaminate the pollen, resulting in bee death or paralysis. The French refer to the effect as "mad bee disease" and in 1999 were the first to ban the use of these chemicals, which are currently only marketed by Bayer (the aspirin people) under the trade names Gaucho and Poncho. Germany followed suit this year, and its agricultural research institute said it concluded that the poisoning of the bees was because of the rub-off of the pesticide clothianidin (that's Pancho) from corn seeds.

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By JIM YARDLEY
Published: July 29, 2008

BEIJING — Less than two weeks before the Olympics, Beijing’s skies are so murky and polluted that the authorities are considering emergency measures during the Games beyond the traffic restrictions and factory shutdowns that, so far, have failed to clear the air, state media reported on Monday.

For the past five days, Beijing has been a soupy caldron of humid, gray skies. Local pollution ratings have exceeded the national standard for acceptable air since last Thursday, despite a temporary air pollution control plan that began on July 20.

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JESSICA LEEDER
David Hutton; Sources: Jessica Leeder, Parks Canada
July 29, 2008

A four-square-kilometre chunk has broken off Ward Hunt Ice Shelf - the largest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic - threatening the future of the giant frozen mass that northern explorers have used for years as the starting point for their treks.

Scientists say the break, the largest on record since 2005, is the latest indication that climate change is forcing the drastic reshaping of the Arctic coastline, where 9,000 square kilometres of ice have been whittled down to less than 1,000 over the past century, and are only showing signs of decreasing further.

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Several experts on the media and risk said that one result could be public disengagement with the climate issue just as experts are saying ever more forcefully that sustained attention and action are needed to limit the worst risks.

Ethical Issues in Funding for Adaptation in Countries Vulnerable to Climate Change; the Example of Bhutan

23 July 2008

We are a little late to the party, but it is worth adding a few words now that our favourite amateur contrarian is at it again. As many already know, the Forum on Physics and Society (an un-peer-reviewed newsletter published by the otherwise quite sensible American Physical Society), rather surprisingly published a new paper by Monckton that tries again to show using rigorous arithmetic that IPCC is all wrong and that climate sensitivity is negligible. His latest sally, like his previous attempt, is full of the usual obfuscating sleight of hand, but to save people the time in working it out themselves, here are a few highlights.

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Reuters
Published: Friday, July 25, 2008

MUMBAI - About 100 people worried about industrial pollution set fire to a construction site of a local unit of Dow Chemical Co. in western India on Friday, police and a Dow official said.

The company is setting up a research and development centre with an initial investment of 4 billion rupees ($90 million) near Shinde village, about 200 kilometres from Mumbai.

Dow Chemical Co is the largest U.S. chemical maker.

For many Indians, Dow is synonymous with the catastrophic industrial accident in Bhopal in central India in 1984, when tons of toxic gas leaked from a pesticide plant owned at the time by Union Carbide.

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First off, that's mist, not pollution. And second off, we like our air with a little bite to it around here. Also, quit commenting on our internal affairs!--PRC Environmental Official ABN
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The Associated Press
Published: July 27, 2008

BEIJING: Thick pollution blanketed the Chinese capital on Sunday, but a city environmental official pledged that the air quality would be "good" by the time the Beijing Olympics start in 12 days.

The grayish haze was one of the worst seen in Beijing in the past month despite tough traffic restrictions imposed a week ago to help reduce pollution. Visibility was a half mile (less than a kilometer) in parts of the city. At the opening of the Athletes' Village on Sunday, the complex was invisible from the nearby main Olympic Green.

The city's notoriously polluted air remains one of the biggest question marks hanging over the games, which begin Aug. 8.

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July 26, 2008
By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers

BEIJING — The haze that stubbornly cloaks China's capital in the run-up to the Summer Olympics looks worse than it really is, two senior officials asserted Saturday.

The officials referred to the gray haze over the city as "fog" and "dust" but refrained from calling it air pollution.

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July 24, 2008
Tony Halpin in Moscow

Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues.

At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week.

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By Alexis Madrigal EmailJuly 24, 2008

Beijingair_2Last week, we reported on how China's herculean efforts to clean up Beijing's air ahead of the Olympics wouldn't work if the weather didn't cooperate.

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July 24, 2008 06:52am

AT least 43 people were taken to hospital for injuries after a powerful earthquake struck northern Japan early today, officials said.

The injuries were reported in and around the city of Hachinohe in Aomori prefecture, near the epicentre of the earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale.

"The number of injuries related to the earthquake in the region has now risen to 43," a spokesman for the National Police Department in Tokyo said, adding that all the injuries were not serious.

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Japan earthquake: Fears as fire hits northern city of Hachinohe

This is a piece of good news. It shows that people can do things to stop pollution. We need to do far more. As matters now stand, just a few generations of humans are on course to destroy virtually all of the natural world within which we--and so many other animals and plants--have evolved. That is a horrendous thing to do, especially when you consider that the "benefits" we have been receiving in return for our profligacy are few and can easily be replaced or foregone. ABN
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July 21, 2008
Reporting by Roddy Scheer

Arctic animals are showing less toxic chemicals overall, but more mercury.
A new study by the Canadian government shows that levels of toxic chemicals in animals across the Arctic are dropping. The study concluded that carcinogens such as PCBs, DDT, chlordane and toxaphene have largely leveled off or have begun declining in Arctic animals after years on the rise.

According to Laurie Chan, the University of Northern British Columbia researcher who led the study, falling toxin levels in Arctic animals are proof that international environmental agreements on limiting the use of toxic chemicals are have a real positive impact on food safety and the health of wildlife in the Arctic and beyond. “That’s good news,” she told reporters.

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ScienceDaily (July 22, 2008) — If you are living in the eastern United States, the environment around you is being harmed by air pollution. From Adirondack forests and Shenandoah streams to Appalachian wetlands and the Chesapeake Bay, a new report by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and The Nature Conservancy has found that air pollution is degrading every major ecosystem type in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.

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By STEPHEN WADE, AP Sports Writer Sat Jul 19, 6:35 AM ET

BEIJING - Beijing's Olympic shutdown begins Sunday, a drastic plan to lift the Chinese capital's gray shroud of pollution just three weeks ahead of the games.

Half of Beijing's 3.3 million vehicles will be pulled off the roads and many polluting factories will be shuttered. Chemical plants, power stations and foundries left open have to cut emissions by 30 percent — and dust-spewing construction in the capital will be halted.

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By Andrea Thompson, Senior Writer
18 July 2008 01:59 pm ET

Claims are floating around the blogosphere that the American Physical Society, the leading professional organization for physicists, has reversed its position on global warming.

But on its Web site, the APS has reaffirmed that it supports the consensus view that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet.

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Global Warming: How Do Scientists Know They're Not Wrong?

APS Position Remains Unchanged

The American Physical Society reaffirms the following position on climate change, adopted by its governing body, the APS Council, on November 18, 2007:

"Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth's climate."

An article at odds with this statement recently appeared in an online newsletter of the APS Forum on Physics and Society, one of 39 units of APS. The header of this newsletter carries the statement that "Opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the APS or of the Forum." This newsletter is not a journal of the APS and it is not peer reviewed.

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