bemoreeco

 

If you delve deeper into the world of tress and shrubs around us, then you will find more reasons as to why we need to protect the existent forest cover in the world and why we need more trees to make the planet a better place.

Till recently scientists believed that trees countered the phenomenon of global warming by just absorbing the carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. In effect, reduction of carbon emissions was their only contribution towards cooling the planet.

But a new study indicates that there is a lot more going on than meets the eye!

Trees release a chemical called Terpenes which helps form aerosols by reacting with particles in the atmosphere. These aerosols ensure that the clouds form thicker than normal.

Dominick Spracklen, of the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science at Leeds University, the brain behind the research, says that his team found this effect prevalent in boreal forests across northern regions such as Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. The release of Terpenes ensured clouds doubled in thickness some 1,000m above the forests, and could reflect an extra 5% sunlight back into space.

In fact, it is these Terpenes that give pine forests their unique aroma and scientists now believe that this effect would surely go a long way in slowing down the effects of global warming. A 5% of additional sunlight being reflected back into space is actually a huge difference and this can cause a cooling effect that can effectively combat global warming.

Any other conclusion than being good stewards to the planet and not steal its forest? We need to plant more trees. It’s a fact!

Source : The Guardian

 

In was reported on the BBC News website that a bit of greenery near our homes can cut the “health gap” between rich and poor, say researchers from two Scottish universities.

Even small parks in the heart of our cities can protect us from strokes and heart disease, perhaps by cutting stress or boosting exercise.

Their study, in The Lancet, matched data about hundreds of thousands of deaths to green spaces in local areas.

Councils should introduce more greenery to improve wellbeing, they said. Across the country, there are “health inequalities” related to income and social deprivation, which generally reflect differences in lifestyle, diet, and, to some extent, access to medical care.

This means that in general, people living in poorer areas are more likely to be unhealthy, and die earlier. However, the researchers found that living near parks, woodland or other open spaces helped reduce these inequalities, regardless of social class.

When the records of more than 366,000 people who died between 2001 and 2005 were analysed, it revealed that even tiny green spaces in the areas in which they lived made a big difference to their risk of fatal diseases.

Although the effect was greatest for those living surrounded by the most greenery, with the “health gap” roughly halved compared with those with the fewest green spaces around them, there was still a noticeable difference.

Stress buster

The change was particularly clear in areas such as heart disease and stroke, supporting the idea that the presence of green spaces encourages people to be more active.

However, the researchers, Dr Richard Mitchell from Glasgow University, and Dr Frank Popham, from the University of St Andrews, said that other studies had suggested that contact with green spaces also helped reduce blood pressure and stress levels, perhaps even promoting faster healing after surgery.

They wrote: “The implications of this study are clear - environments that promote good health might be crucial in the fight to reduce health inequalities.”

They called for planning authorities to consider making more green spaces available to improve the health and wellbeing of their residents.

In an accompanying article in The Lancet, Dr Terry Hartig, from the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University in Sweden, wrote: “This study offers valuable evidence that green space does more than ‘pretty up’ the neighbourhood - it appears to have real effects on health inequality, of a kind that politicians and health authorities should take seriously.”

David Tibbatts, from GreenSpace, a charity which promotes parks in urban areas, said that they were threatened by “decades of decline” in some areas.

“The study confirms what we have been saying for many years - parks are important for health and everyone should have access to high quality, beautiful and vibrant green spaces. “Unfortunately, despite the benefits green spaces bring to communities, our research has shown a decline in park services that has spread across more than 30 years.

“Despite increase recognition of their role in areas such as improved health, far too many parks teams find their revenue budgets are still under continuous threat.”

Professor Barbara Maher from the Lancaster Environment Centre said her research had shown that roadside trees improve health by protecting people from pollution.

“Urban and roadside trees may be an under-used resource both in terms of acting as natural ‘pollution monitors’ and actively screening people, especially, children and the already ill, from the damaging health effects of particle pollution,” she said.

 

 

Article source www.bbc.co.uk/news.

The planet is headed for an ecological “credit crunch”, according to a report issued by conservation groups. The document contends that our demands on natural resources overreach what the Earth can sustain by almost a third.

The Living Planet Report is the work of WWF, the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network. It says that more than three quarters of the world’s population lives in countries where consumption levels are outstripping environmental renewal. This makes them “ecological debtors”, meaning that they are drawing - and often overdrawing - on the agricultural land, forests, seas and resources of other countries to sustain them.

Read the full article at the BBC

These days there are so many products out there which say they are good for you and help you make, look and feel younger, but what is actually in them. Therefore the question you ask are; Which toxic ingredients should you avoid? Should you buy Organic and Natural products instead?

When doing the weekly shop I all ways look at the the ingredients to see what is being added to the food we eat. After a period of time you naturally move over to buying Organic foods instead. I feel that this is the same for skincare products. At present many people buy products with out considering what is in them. We should all take a look.

Information provide by Smartplanet  details what ingredients we should avoid. For example a bottle of shampoo might not seem particularly offensive on its own. But in the UK, 93 per cent of women use at least 20 different products every day, according to the Soil Association. Each of those products might contain ingredients that are relatively harmless, but their cumulative effect — also called ‘the chemical cocktail effect’ — is believed by some to be harmful, provoking a variety of illnesses from eczema to cancers, autism and dyslexia.

Susan Curtis at Neal’s Yard Remedies recommends buying natural and organic products to avoid toxic ingredients. It’s worth noting, however, that labels such as ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ are not legally enforced on beauty products.

Susan also advises taking a close look at the ingredients listing. A pocket book guide is one way to help navigate the lists, but don’t automatically despair if ingredients sound synthetic. “There are some chemical names that will occur even in natural and organic products,” says Susan. “For example, a shampoo will have a detergent and a moisturiser, cetearyl alcohol or stearic acid, which are common plant-based emulsifiers.”

Here are Susan’s ingredients to avoid:

1. Formaldehyde,
A known carcinogen
2. Dimethicones
Also anything that ends ‘-methicone’ 
3. Parabens
Preservatives known to be hormone destructors
4. Aluminium and antiperspirants
They can be absorbed by the body and can cause health problems
5. Talc
A mineral that’s easily absorbed in the body and has been linked to ovarian and prostate cancer

It’s worth remembering the first items on an ingredients list will comprise the bulk of the product, so if they have names that you don’t recognise, look them up on a database such as Skin Deep.

 

To read the full article at Smartplanet <click here>

 

Lets take a quick time out from saving the environment to admire it. I’ve compiled together 9 of the greatest lightning strikes ever caught on camera:

9 ) So close it sets off the guy’s smoke alarms!

8 ) Why you never, ever, stand beneath a tree during a lightning storm

7 ) "This is probably stupid". Quite.

6 ) Lightning Strike during football game, media tries to interview a player!

5 ) An incredible 3-second lightning pulse

4 ) Saint Petersburg, Florida

3 ) It doesn’t get much closer than this

2 ) Several lightning strikes on the highest man-made object on Earth (can’t we use this electricity?)

1 ) Amazing lightning strike just a few feet away

Find the 10th

So here is a challenge. Can you find a tenth lightning strike to complete the set?