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BP Oil Filling The Water

Originally uploaded by Greenpeace USA 2010

Oil clings to reeds on the bank of the the breakwater in the mouth of the Mississippi River where it meets the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana, Tuesday, May, 18, 2010. The BP leased Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded April 20 and sank after burning, leaking an estimate of more than 210,000 gallons of crude oil per day from the broken pipeline to the sea. Eleven workers are missing, presumed dead. Photo by Sean Gardner/Greenpeace

11 March 2010 by Debora MacKenzie

SCHOOLS in three US states – Louisiana, Texas and South Dakota – have been told to teach alternatives to the scientific consensus on global warming. The moves appear to be allied to efforts to teach creationism in public schools. Such efforts have in the past been thwarted when courts ruled them unconstitutional, but those advocating the teaching of sound science may find it harder to fight misrepresentations concerning climate change.

Last week, South Dakota’s state legislature adopted a bill which “urges” schools to take a “balanced approach” to teaching about climate change, because the science is “unresolved” and has been “complicated and prejudiced” by “political and philosophical viewpoints”.

When New Scientist asked what these were, the bill’s sponsor, Don Kopp, mentioned claims commonly cited in opposition to the idea of human-induced global warming: for example, that any global warming is due to changes in solar activity. “I am against bankrupting the country to fight warming,” he said, “without being sure it’s true.”

The measure makes no mention of evolution, but its wording resembles bills in other states primarily aimed at teaching alternatives to evolution. Since a court in Pennsylvania ruled in 2005 that “intelligent design” had religious origins, so could not be taught in state schools, states have used vaguer language in bills when calling for schools to teach alternatives to established science.

In Michigan in 2005, one such bill also called for students to “critically evaluate… theories of global warming”. It failed, as have all similar bills – except in Louisiana, which in 2008 passed a law requiring “open and objective discussion” of warming, evolution and human cloning. Kentucky is now debating a similar bill.

In March 2009, Texas adopted school standards that both allow creationist claims and say students must “evaluate different views on the existence of global warming”. Texas buys more textbooks than any other state, so publishers often conform to Texan demands, including adding scepticism about warming.

Bundling warming with evolution in calls for “academic freedom” may make it harder to challenge these laws. Steve Newton of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California, observes that the US constitution restricts the teaching of religious ideas in state schools, but not the teaching of bad science. A study last year found that evangelical Christians, who account for most creationists, are up to three times as likely as other Americans to deny that warming has human origins.

Moves against climate science and in favour of creationism are linked in other ways too: some see warming, like evolution, as the product of a hostile scientific establishment. When the US Chamber of Commerce, which opposes stringent cuts in greenhouse emissions, called for a public hearing on climate science last August, it called it “the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century”, after the 1925 Tennessee trial about teaching evolution.

>>> Read the full article here

This article shows you how to get fit and lose weight in a way that won’t bust your pocket or your carbon footprint!

1. Go for a walk – There is nothing more refreshing or eco-friendly than going for a stroll! It uses absolutely no carbon energy and can be a replacement for your school or work trip meaning you save on petrol as well as keeping fit!

2. Eat seasonally – Save on energy consumption by buying local, seasonal and fresh produce. Try not to buy anything that has been flown in from abroad and have a go at trying some new foods to mix up your diet!

3. Go to a local exercise class – Support your local community and businesses by attending a local exercise class. Whether it’s pilates, yoga or spinning this can be a great way to trim up and meet new people in the area.

4. Take your nutrients – Shops like Holland & Barretts provide a great range of vitamins and supplements that will help keep you fighting fit and your metabolism high.

5. Cycle to work – Cycling has many benefits for your body. It’s great cardiovascular exercise and, now the weather is warming up, can be a brilliant way to get to and from work.

6. Don’t take too many baths! – Not only do too many baths waste water and energy, they are also bad for your skin! Having too many can dry out your skin meaning you require more moisturiser and products that can be detrimental to your bodily health.

7. Get your Five-a-day – Make sure you get your recommended five fruits and vegetables a day. Keep them seasonal, keep them local and try them in all kinds of combinations. You will be surprised what a difference it can make to how you feel.

8. Lose weight the sensible way – Don’t invest time, money and energy in fad dieting and overpriced exercise machines. Go for a run, take the kids to the park and eat right and you will see that weight come off at a healthy rate that is maintainable.

9. Eat less meat – Get your protein from other sources, such as nuts, and help cut your personal carbon footprint as well as naturally increasing the healthy foods you eat during the day.

10. Have fun – Enjoy the outdoors, enjoy your food and look and feel eco-fabulous!

A US-led initiative called the Copenhagen Accord has formed the centre-piece of a deal at UN climate talks in Copenhagen, despite some countries’ opposition. Below is an explanation of the main points in the agreement.

1. Legal Status - The Accord, reached between the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, contains no reference to a legally binding agreement, as some developing countries and climate activists wanted. Neither is there a deadline for transforming it into a binding deal, though UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it needed to be turned into a legally binding treaty next year.

The accord was merely “recognised” by the 193 nations at the Copenhagen summit, rather than approved, which would have required unanimous support. It is not clear whether it is a formal UN deal.

2. Temperature Rise –  The text recognises the need to limit global temperatures rising no more than 2C (3.6F) above pre- industrial levels. The language in the text shows that 2C is not a formal target, just that the group “recognises the scientific view that” the temperature increase should be held below this figure. However, the accord does not identify a year by which carbon emissions should peak, a position resisted by some richer developing nations. Countries are asked to spell out by 1 February next year their pledges for curbing carbon emissions by 2020. The deal does not spell out penalties for any country that fails to meet its promise.

3. Financial Aid - The deal promises to deliver $30bn (£18.5bn) of aid for developing nations over the next three years. It outlines a goal of providing $100bn a year by 2020 to help poor countries cope with the impacts of climate change. The accord says the rich countries will jointly mobilise the $100bn, drawing on a variety of sources: “public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance.”

A green climate fund will also be established under the deal. It will support projects in developing countries related to mitigation, adaptation, “capacity building” and technology transfer.

4. Emissions Transparency - The pledges of rich countries will come under “rigorous, robust and transparent” scrutiny under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In the accord, developing countries will submit national reports on their emissions pledges under a method “that will ensure that national sovereignty is respected.”

Pledges on climate mitigation measures seeking international support will be recorded in a registry.

5. Review of Progress - The implementation of the Copenhagen Accord will be reviewed by 2015. This will take place about a year- and-a-half after the next scientific assessment of the global climate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, if, in 2015, delegates wanted to adopt a new, lower target on global average temperature, such as 1.5C rather than 2C, it would be too late.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

1. Turn it Off

Turn things off at the plug. Make sure that little red light on your TV is switched off at night time and don’t leave your computer endlessly on charge!

2. Energy-Saving Products

Energy saving products can be a fantastic way to upgrade your home and keep your carbon footprint down. Water-saving products are a particularly efficient way to keep your bills down and your home eco-friendly.

3. Commit to 10:10

Make it your New Years Resolution to cut down your emissions by 10% in 2010

4. Clean your filters

Make sure all of your appliances are efficient by keeping them clean

5. New Appliances!

Ironically, keeping your old appliances might mean your using more energy than you need! If it’s from before the 90s then it might be time to think about buying a new and more energy efficient replacement.

6. Tumble Dryers

Turn them off!!! Dry your clothes outside for a nicer smell, a better feeling and a much-reduced energy bill

7. Heating

Heating can be one of the biggest expenditures, especially around this time of year. Try to exclude any draughts and seal your windows and doors as best as possible. Have thick curtains instead of blinds to retain the heat and don’t keep your heating on all day! If you keep your windows and doors closed you shouldn’t need the heating on.

8. Use The Dimmer

Using your light dimmers is a great way to cut down on electricity. Try not to have your lights on full power and remember to turn them off whenever you don’t need them.

9. Run Full Loads
In your dishwasher and washing machine. This can dramatically save water-use and save you money and time!

10. Insulate!

Insulation in your attic or home is the best way to retain heat on those chilly winter days

While some cell phone companies are introducing convenient ways for you to recycle your phone once you’re done with it, a new start-up is making it just plain simple. EcoATM will be deploying kiosks at retailers around the country where you can drop off your old phone, have its value assessed and immediately get an in-store trade-up coupon or gift card.

The first of these kiosks has been stationed at the Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha for the last year. After great success with that one kiosk, the company is going install the e-cycler at wireless and big box stores in San Diego, Washington state and Vermont in the next couple of months. By the second quarter of next year, the kiosks will be popping up around the country and the machines will soon be able to accept other gadgets like MP3 players, cameras and laptops.

The EcoATMs have cameras that can detect damage to the phone and then come up with its value. If the phone is worth nothing, you can still choose to have it recycled and receive a free waterproof phone case and, for every phone recycled, the company plants a tree. The machine will also recycle your used batteries.

The company makes it beneficial to the retailers by installing the machines at no cost and making the payments redeemable in-store, increasing their sales. It also allows them to apply donations from the machine to their favorite charity.

We are just wondering when and where the first UK EcoATM will be located. Also as there are no ecoATMs’ in the UK you should check out the companies which can do this for you via post at MoreEco.

>>Via EcoGeek

The team at BeMoreEco have decide to make the move to MoreEco.

We can now be found in their News & Views Section.

MoreEco is the UK’s only Eco Cash Back website.

We list over 100 organic, green and ethical online retailers and have negotiated with them a Cash Back % which is passed on to you.

Once you have chosen your shop, click through, start shopping and in 30 days you will receive % of what you spent in your MoreEco account. It’s simple!

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Research published today (22 July 2009) shows that 21st century British woodlands are less distinctive than those of the early 20th century due to environmental change. Native woodland plants have re-organised over the last 70 years in response to increased soil fertility and loss of light related to increased canopy shading.

The research was carried out by a team from Bournemouth University, Natural England and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and will be published online in Proceedings of the Royal Society B (FirstCite website) on 22nd July 2009.

Lead author, Sally Keith of Bournemouth University, said: ‘We have identified the loss of unique communities within British woodlands through a comprehensive large-scale study of woodland plants. The results show that we must monitor biodiversity at the landscape scale, as well as gain a better understanding of processes affecting our native flora, if we are to conserve and restore the character of the traditional British woodland.’

The researchers investigated changes in the flora of British woodlands over seven decades with the study providing evidence of a new kind of biodiversity loss, namely a loss of the unique character of individual woods which had developed over centuries in response to local conditions. They found that the woodlands are more similar to each other now, when compared with 70 years ago, even though the number of plant species in each woodland had not fallen.

Co-author Professor James Bullock from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology said: ‘This study shows that increased pollution and poor countryside management has led to increasing homogenisation of biodiversity in British woodlands. These two issues must be addressed in future if we wish to restore the diverse woodland communities of the past.’

The study relied on a comparison between new field results and a historic dataset recorded over 70 years ago. In the 1930s, Professor Ronald Good cycled around Dorset and recorded the presence of plants at over 7,000 sites. The Dorset Environmental Records Centre (DERC) provided the research team with access to the historical data, and the scientists re-surveyed a subset of Professor Good’s woodland sites, visiting 86 woodlands across Dorset from late spring to early summer in 2008, recording the presence of plants as they are now. They then compared the plant records from the 1930s and the 21st century to see if and how the woodlands had changed.

The results indicated that, whilst the average number of plant species within each woodland remained the same, the difference between woodlands was significantly reduced. The researchers concluded that the woodlands that exist now are only a subset of the variety that could be seen in the 1930s. This process of increased similarity between ecological communities (groups of species in one site) is called ‘biotic homogenisation.’

Biotic homogenisation has major implications for biodiversity conservation as it is related to the loss of unique species combinations leaving an impoverished version of the past variety of nature. Other documented observations of homogenisation have been caused by the introduction of non-native species; however this study concluded that the impact of non-natives was negligible. The results demonstrate that homogenisation can occur simply through a re-organisation of native species, potentially suggesting the phenomenon may be more widespread than previously imagined.

The characteristics of the 2008 plant communities indicated that the soil was more fertile than in the 1930’s – a side-effect of the use of fertilisers in agriculture and its effect on the surrounding woodland. The composition of the plant communities also indicated that there was now less light available in the woods than in the past. This light loss is probably associated with the decline in traditional practices such as coppicing, which creates openings in the woodland as trees are harvested, leading to decreased woodland management.

Source: Bournemouth University

The G8 leaders are set this week to deliver their strongest statement so far on global warming.

They are likely to agree that the world ought to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050 – with rich nations reducing them by 80%. The group will probably also say that any human-induced temperature rise should be held to 2C – a level considered to be a danger threshold.

The US has previously objected to such a clause. But it looks as though the G8 will fall short of agreeing the short-term targets scientists say are essential to ensure that the 2C threshold is not breached.

Environmental campaigners accuse the G8 of willing the ends on climate change but not willing the means. American officials have privately told BBC News they cannot cut emissions as fast as the science requires, because the issue is still too politically contentious in the US Congress.

A group of 22 leading climate scientists has written to G8 and MEF leaders calling for policies that would see global emissions peak by 2020, and shrink by at least 50% by 2050.

“Unless the burden of poverty in developing nations is alleviated by significant financial support for mitigation, adaptation, and the reduction of deforestation, the ability of developing countries to pursue sustainable development is likely to diminish, to the economic and environmental detriment of all,” the scientists said.

Source; BBC News