By Phil Chapman
BBC
China is a country that in some peoples’ minds has become synonymous with industrial pollution, rigid political control and spectacular economic expansion.
But behind this image lies another world which is the real, essential China – a place of vast shifting deserts, tropical coral reefs, steaming jungles, snow-capped peaks, evergreen forests and smoking volcanoes.
And surviving, tucked away within this incredibly diverse landscape, is a wealth of animal and plant life.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2008
3:05 PM
CONTACT: Union of Concerned Scientists
Aaron Huertas, 202-331-5458
Chrysler Gas Gimmick Keeps Customers Addicted To Oil, Science Group Says
Statement by David Friedman, Union of Concerned Scientists
WASHINGTON, DC – May 6 – Chrysler announced today that it will cover gasoline costs above $2.99 a gallon for customers who buy or lease a new vehicle from the company. The offer is limited to the first three years customers use their cars and covers up to 12,000 miles per year.
According the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Chrysler is trying to fool consumers into overlooking its vehicles’ poor fuel economy and environmental performance. The savings the Chrysler program offers, the organization says, don’t measure up to the savings one would get from purchasing a fuel-efficient vehicle.
Do you eat shrimp imported from Asia? Do you vacation there?
Lance
——————————————–
“… large-scale conversion of mangroves into
shrimp and fish farms were among the main
destructive drivers.
“Other pressures included new development to
accommodate the growth in the tourism sector and
rising populations.”
———————————————-
BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7385315.stm
Published: 2008/05/06 17:30:25 GMT
Mangrove loss ‘left Burma exposed’
By Mark Kinver
Science and nature reporter, BBC News
Destruction of mangrove forests in Burma left
coastal areas exposed to the devastating force of
the weekend’s cyclone, a top politician suggests.
ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said
coastal developments had resulted in mangroves,
which act as a natural defence against storms,
being lost.
At least 22,000 people have died in the disaster, say state officials.
There is more to the climate-forest relationship than carbon.
ASW
——————————————
“The plain truth is that eucalypt forests are periodic emitters of
carbon and excluding fire from our forested landscape is neither
realistic nor ecologically justifiable. Factoring eucalypt forests
into the carbon economy is not for the faint-hearted.”
———————————————-
The Australian
May 07, 2008
End the forest wars
David Bowman, Peter Kanowski and Rod Keenan
THE bushfire smoke that blanketed the sky above Hobart late last
month graphically marked an abrupt turn in the public debate about
forest management.
Environmentalists were quick to make the link between forest
regeneration burns and carbon emissions, and to argue that old growth
should be saved to serve as carbon stores.
Indeed, this debate was anticipated in February at a conference in
Hobart on management of the world’s old forests; by co-incidence that
week Government adviser Ross Garnaut released his interim report on
Australia’s possible response to global change.