The Conservation Report

ANIMAL WELFARE: Houston Zoo elephant Mac, 2, dies of viral illness

ARCTIC MELTING: Arctic Ice Melt Sparks Plankton Blooms

AUTO INDUSTRY: Ford Scion Looks Beyond Bailout to Green Agenda

BIOFUELS: US Dept of Energy and Brazil to Commercialize Biofuels

BIOLOGY: Top 10 Useless Limbs (and Other Vestigial Organs)

BIOMASS: New Biomass Plants Called For in Obama’s Green Agenda

CAMPAIGN 2008: Challenged ballots: You be the judge

CHINA: China tells rich polluting nations to change lifestyle

CLIMATE CHANGE: Nike, Starbucks Demand Congress To Act On Climate Change, An historic summit of state and provincial governors from around the world convened this week in California to advance national and worldwide efforts to fight climate change — and The Nature Conservancy played a key role in the summit’s success.

CORAL REEFS: Pacific Shipwrecks Potentially Toxic Timebombs, Scientists try to revive Japan’s biggest coral reef: Scientists are in an unprecedented project to restore Japan’s largest coral reef by planting thousands of baby corals growing on tiny ceramic beds.

DEFORESTATION: 3,000 Person Mob Attacks Govt. Offices to Protest Crackdown on Illegal Amazon Logging

DEREGULATION: Bush Aides Rush to Enact a Safety Rule Obama Opposes

DRILL BABY DRILL: Court Says Shell Can’t Drill Near Alaska: A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked Royal Dutch Shell from drilling oil wells off Alaska’s North Slope after finding that the Interior Department had failed to conduct an environmental study before issuing the company’s drilling permit.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: New electric version of MINI Cooper offers MINI fun with zero emissions.

ENERGY: Phone Makers Monitor Charger Energy Consumption, Dutch homes get warm water from disused coal mine

ENVIRONMENT: Dumb eco-questions you were afraid to ask

EVOLUTION: “Smile” Octopus Spawned Many Species

FAIRTRADE: Starbucks to use Fairtrade coffee in every drink sold in Britain: Starbucks is to use Fairtrade coffee in every drink it sells in Britain, the company has announced.

FAST FOOD: Fast Food Made Up Mostly of Corn

FOOD: Tyson Foods Injects Chickens with Antibiotics Before They Hatch to Claim “Raised without Antibiotics”

FORESTS: Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS: Once Thought Invasive, Some Galápagos Plants Can Call the Place Home: For years, conservationists have been concerned about the impact of invasive plant species in the Galápagos Islands. Hundreds of species have been identified as nonnative, introduced through human contact. The idea was to remove these plants to help keep the archipelago ecologically pristine.

GENETICS: Lizards, Birds Have Hair Genes

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Raser Technologies Gives Utah a New Geothermal Plant to Power Homes

GLACIAL MELTING: Baby Chimp Rescued From Congo Army

GLOBAL WARMING: New Ice Age Predicted — But Averted by Global Warming?

GREAT APES: Tibetan Glaciers Melting at Stunning Rate

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Kulongoski lobbies to bring China’s new hybrid car to Oregon, LA 2008: Honda shows off Insight’s Eco Assist dashboard

INVASIVE SPECIES: Beetle Invasion to Dim New England Fall Colors?, More cockroaches expected in Florida

LANDFILLS: Israel Turns 2,000 Acre Trash Dump into One of World’s Largest Parks

MARINE MAMMALS: Why Do Dolphins Rub Flippers?

NASA: Going Out On A Limb With A Tree-Person Ratio: Who knew that NASA, charged with looking deep into space, also looks backward at us? For years, NASA satellites have been snapping photos of our oceans, mountains and forests, and sharing them with ecologists and biologists.

NATURAL GAS: Drill for Natural Gas, Pollute Water: In July a hydrologist dropped a plastic sampling pipe 300 feet down a water well in rural Sublette County, Wy. and pulled up a load of brown oily water with a foul smell. Tests showed it contained benzene, a chemical believed to cause aplastic anemia and leukemia, in a concentration 1,500 times the level safe for people.

NATURE: Debate: Which is the world’s most invaluable species?: Plankton, bats, primates, fungi and bees - which species would have the greatest impact on our planet if it were lost? Five experts set out their case public debate in London next Thursday

NEW SPECIES: Penguin, Now Extinct, Discovered in New Zealand: Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500 years ago.

NONRENEWABLE ENERGY: U.S. Moves Ahead on Oil, Gas Leases on Public Land: Decision Could Pose Problem for Obama

PALM OIL: The slippery business of palm oil: Palm oil is used in a third of all groceries. But can it ever be produced without causing environmental devastation as some big companies are promising?

PLASMA GASIFICATION PLANT: Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy

PRIUS: BossDowner’s 2010 Prius Commercial - PriusChat.com, BossDowner’s 2010 Prius Commercial #2 - PriusChat.com

RENEWABLE ENERGY: Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists: A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim., Plumbing the oceans could bring limitless clean energy, Britain’s water mills given role in clean energy generation, EPA Coal Decision Levels Playing Field for Wind, Solar

RECYCLING: Why California Recycled 80% of Glass and the Rest of the U.S. 30%

REDISCOVERED SPECIES: “Extinct” Primate Found in Indonesia

SEA LEVEL RISE: Schwarzenegger Orders California to Prepare for Sea-Level Rise

SMART GRID TECHNOLOGY: Boulder, Colo.: America’s First ‘Smart Grid City’: Some Homes Can Remotely Control All Aspects of Their Energy-Saving Features, Report Calls for Overhaul of Power Grid to Handle Sun and Wind Power

SOLAR: Solar Panels Are Vanishing, Only to Reappear on the Internet, Solar at Sea: Chinese Cargo Ships Will Have Solar Sails, Solar-Powered Plane to Perform Test Flight

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Cuba Gets Green Cred: Cuba is the only country that meets the criteria for sustainable development from the conservation group WWF. But concern persists for once thriving Caribbean marine turtles.

WATER AVAILABILITY: The eco machine that can magic water out of thin air, Cow Sh*t to Clean Water

WHALING: Japanese Whalers Set Sail, Say Witnesses

WILD HORSES: U.S. Won’t Kill Wild Horses — For Now

WIND POWER: Giving Turbines a Boost With Curves, 360 Wind Powered Wal-Mart Stores by April 2009, Mega Wind Farms Could Steer Storms, Offshore Wind Power Could Alter Ocean Currents: “Whether or not this is a good thing is a matter of debate,” Brostrom said. Though he stressed that the goal for any man-made object should be to minimize environmental impact, he added: “I’m an optimist; I think this could be beneficial to local fisheries.”, Don’t Call it a Wind Farm, It’s an EcoPower Centre: Canada’s Largest Wind Project (200 MW) Opens

WTF?: Levelling the lingerie playing field: An online shop in Japan has seen an extraordinary demand for its newest product: bras for men. More than 300 have been snapped up in two weeks

“Environmental News Picks” are made possible with help from Kevin.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.

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AGRICULTURE: Amazon Rain Forest’s Untapped Fruit Bounty

AIR POLLUTION: 35W sculptures aren’t just for looks: Cemstone became the first company in the nation to use a new form of concrete that removes carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxide from the atmosphere.

CLIMATE CHANGE: A baaa-d idea? Aussie sheep made to wear gas masks so scientists can see how their breath can affect climate

CONSERVATION: Colorado tests high tech roadkill prevention system

CORAL REEFS: Florida Town Wants to Grow Coral Reefs with Electricity: As coral reefs around the world continue to disappear, one Florida town has taken the initiative by investing $60,000 to stimulate coral reef growth using electricity. While there is not yet peer-reviewed evidence to suggest that using a low powered electrical current works, scientists are not dismissing the idea. The company that has been hired to make the reefs claims that they have had many prior successes.

DINOSAURS: Site thought to be a watering hole discovered on Arizona-Utah border where dinosaurs ‘were happy’

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Texas Teen Builds His Own Electric Car on $10,000 Budget, Johnson Controls: electric cars will eventually win out, Berlin Announces Plans for World’s Largest Community Electric Car Infrastructure, Oreva Super Electric Car Going for $2000 in India

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Government May Weaken Endangered Species Act For Fish, IUCN Reveals That 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth Are Threatened with Extinction: The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List reveals world’s mammals in crisis

ENERGY: Can Electricity From Trees Power Gadgets?

ENVIRONMENTALISM: Do environmental messages do more harm than good?

EVOLUTION: Scientists Discover Fish in Act of Evolution in Africa’s Greatest Lake

FUEL SPILL: Hurricane Ike Spilled 12,000 Barrels of Oil: Is Offshore Oil Worth the Risk?

FUNDAMENTALS OF OUR ECONOMY: You Buy, You Break At Sarah’s Smash Shack

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Geothermal Sources Could Add Significant Power Generation Capacity

GLOBAL WARMING: Memos tell wildlife officials to ignore global-warming impact: New legal memos by top Bush administration officials say that the Endangered Species Act can’t be used to protect animals and their habitats from climate change by regulating specific sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of global warming.

GREEN: How green is Apple now?

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: 15 Inspiring Glimpses into the Future of Green Housing

HABITAT DEGRADATION, LOSS, & FRAGMENTATION: Chimps 90 Percent Gone in a “Final Stronghold”

HOMOSEXUALITY IS NATURAL: How gay sex can produce offspring

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: 2010 Toyota Prius Adds Muscle at Expense of Fuel Efficiency: Toyota’s yet-to-be-unveiled 2010 Prius will have a bigger engine and a higher top speed, but improvements to CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency will take a backseat, Honda Takes on the Hybrid Motorcycle

HYDROGEN FUEL: Scientists Reach Hydrogen Storage Milestone

INVASIVE SPECIES: Aquatic alien ‘thugs’ set to meet

MARINE MAMMALS: Picture is Worth a Thousand…

NATURE: Planet’s loneliest bug revealed: A bug which lives entirely on its own and survives without oxygen in complete darkness underground has been discovered in South Africa, Deepest-Ever Fish Caught Alive on Camera

OBAMA: Racist Obama Billboard Causes Outrage, Man shot three times in street by racist gunman - for wearing Barack Obama T-shirt

OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION: Lockheed Martin to Develop Ocean Thermal Energy Prototype

OFFSHORE DRILLING: Making America Stupid

PLANET EARTH: Birth of an Ocean: The Evolution of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression: Formation of an ocean is a rare event, one few scientists have ever witnessed. Yet this geophysical nativity is unfolding today in one of the hottest and most inhospitable corners of the globe. Visit the site in safety through this extraordinary photographic essay

RECYCLING: Real Simple Recycling A to Z: A Comprehensive Primer on Recycling Nearly Everything, Often for a Good Cause, 7 Hurdles to Electronics Recycling

SARAH PALIN: Sarah Palin: Palling Around With Secessionists

SOCIAL ISSUES: Homeless numbers ‘alarming’

SOLAR: Solar Power Replaces Human Toil in New Rickshaws, Solar Wineries Taking Root and Coming into Bloom

TOXIC CHEMICALS: Adding the ‘Nasty Nine’ to the ‘Dirty Dozen’: The United Nations Considers Expanding Toxic Chemical Ban by 75%, Heavy Metal-Eating “Superworms” Unearthed in U.K.

WATER CONSERVATION: Caroma Profile Smart Dual Flush Toilet: 2008 Breakthrough Product

WIND POWER: Taiwan students invent wind-powered bicycle headlights, Navy charters kite-powered cargo ship to deliver equipment, Huge Offshore Wind Farm Wins Approval

WTF?: Cheney: Wildlife Conservation Has Been A ‘High Priority’ Of Bush Administration

Whether we live in the United States or Nigeria, if we save the environment we save ourselves. Environmental degradation exacerbates poverty, has a negative impact on our health, and it is often the result of an unsustainable use of natural landscapes and resources.

Some environmental factors affecting developing populations include (1) the lack of healthy soil for agriculture; (2) the problem with encroaching deserts or desertification; (3) excessive drought conditions, (4) a lack of drinking and irrigating water; and (5) a problem with erosion, which is connected to deforestation, so these factors obviously interplay.

For example, deforestation can result in erosion, and the runoff containing precious topsoil is lost upstream and water borne diseases from upstream affect people living downstream. Once a forest is cut, the microclimate is affected too. As a result, there may be a lack of rain and an intensifying of desertification. We can prevent and reverse the damage by changing behaviors, beliefs, and perceptions of individuals living in communities or politicians working in the government, and some countries like Nigeria are fighting back. From AllAfrica.com, Washington:

Senator Lawan said “Between 50 percent and 75 percent of the states [in Nigeria] have been overtaken by desert. These states, with a total population of about 42 million people, account for about 43 percent of the country’s land area. Other states are also affected in different ways by the menace.”

He revealed that as a result of poverty, majority of Nigerians have resorted to cutting down of trees for fuel wood saying, “a study of Nigeria’s forest cover in 2008 shows that between 1990 and 2000, Nigeria lost an average of 409,700 hectares of forest per year.

This amounts to an annual deforestation rate of 2.38 percent. Between 2000 and 2005, the rate of forest change increased by 31.2 percent to 3.12 per annum. In total, between 1990 and 2005, Nigeria lost 35.7 percent of its forest cover, or around 6,145, 000 hectares.”

But in his contribution, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu (PDP, Enugu West) said though he supports the bill there is the need to include other environmental hazards such as erosion and flood in the bill.

He said, “Desertification is an environmental issue, so also is erosion, coastline erosion, ocean surge and flooding. They are all related and we need to bring them together under this commission. If you set up a commission for desertification, tomorrow there will be another motion for erosion and other environmental problems. I believe that the problem should be dealt with together.”

AGRICULTURE: SCIENTIST AT WORK | NORMAN T. UPHOFF: Food Revolution That Starts With Rice

ANIMAL WELFARE: Boy fed zoo reptiles to crocodile: A seven-year-old boy has been filmed going on the rampage at a popular zoo in Australia, killing rare reptiles and feeding live ones to a crocodile

ARCTIC MELTING: Arctic Ice in “Death Spiral,” Is Near Record Low

AUTO INDUSTRY: No “Revolting” the Volt: Chevy Battery Does Not Recharge While Driving

BUSHMEAT: Bush-Meat Ban Would Devastate Africa’s Animals, Poor?

CARBON: Heat Hinders Ground’s Ability to Absorb CO2

E-WASTE: 7 Hurdles to Electronics Recycling

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 19 Electric Car Players Pitch San Francisco, 30 electric cars companies ready to take over the road, China Planning Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

ENERGY: Researchers Developing the “Internet for Energy”, New Energy Project Will Be Even Larger than the Pickens Plan: Move over, T. Boone Pickens. You’re about to be overshadowed by Babcock and Brown

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Croc Hunter’s ‘Bum-Breathing’ Turtle Faces Extinction

EVOLUTION: Scientists Discover Fish in Act of Evolution in Africa’s Greatest Lake, From the Onion: Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs ‘Oh, Shit,’ Says Humanity

FUEL CELLS: First Fuel Cell-Powered Plane Presented in Germany

GOOGLE: Google search finds seafaring solution

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: 15 Inspiring Glimpses into the Future of Green Housing, The First LEED Platinum Skyscraper Nearly Completed, Lost middle-class tribe’s ’secret’ eco-village in Wales spotted in aerial photograph taken by plane, Paint it white: Cool roofs save cash and carbon, New experimental homes will heat themselves

HIV/AIDS: Colonial clue to the rise of HIV: The arrival of colonial cities in sub-Saharan Africa at the dawn of the 20th Century may have sparked the spread of HIV

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Honda Takes on the Hybrid Motorcycle, Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHYBRID unveiled

HYDROGEN FUEL: Scientists Reach Hydrogen Storage Milestone

INVASIVE SPECIES: State wildlife commission seeks tougher rules for owning pet snakes, Stop slithering intruders: Asian swamp eels are an invasive foreign species that is dangerously prolific and adaptive, threatening fish and other native creatures

NATURAL GAS-POWERED VEHICLES: Pickens Overlooks Existing Natural Gas Cars in Energy Plan: Reality Check

NEW SPECIES: New Iguana Species Revealed

OFFSHORE WIND POWER: Huge Offshore Wind Farm Wins Approval, Offshore Wind To Supply 15% of Rhode Island Electricity

PHEV: Plug-In Hybrids Aren’t Coming — They’re Here, Houses passes bill with $5k Volt tax-credit, mandatory alternative fuel pumps

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: California’s 220 MPH High-Speed Train Will Be Emissions-Free

RECOMMENDED IMAGE(S): Earth From Above comes to NYC, Yup, still a pig, Monk Seal

RECOMMENDED MAP: USA National Gas Temperature Map

RECOMMENDED YOUTUBE: SOUTH CENTRAL FARM - PART 1, The End of Suburbia - 52 minute documentary on oil, McCain’s YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare, Sarah Palin Gibberish

REDISCOVERED SPECIES: Rare Plant Thought Extinct Re-discovered in Upstate New York

SCIENCE: Sciencedebate2008: Presidential answers to the top 14 science questions facing America, Japanese Scientists Plan to Build Space Elevator

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: Indiana will get $227 million waste to fuel plant

WATER AVAILABILITY: When Will Los Angeles Run Out of Water? Sooner Than You Think, Cactus Goo Makes Water Safe: The slimy ooze inside prickly pear cactuses that helps the plants store water in the desert can also be used for scouring arsenic, bacteria and cloudiness out of rural drinking water, according to research at the University of South Florida in Tampa

WATER CONSERVATION: Harvesting Rainwater by Not Letting It Go to Waste

WTF?: Cheney: Wildlife Conservation Has Been A ‘High Priority’ Of Bush Administration

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK: Yellowstone seeks to balance nature, cell phones, Judge refuses to let snowmobiles roam Yellowstone

ZOONOTIC DISEASES: Hamsters, Exotic Pets May Put Young Children At Risk, Doctors Say

AUTO INDUSTRY: Ford reminds world that it didn’t “willfully” violate wiper patent, Audi traffic light detection system gets the green-light

BIODIESEL: New Facility Uses Algae to Turn Coal Pollution Into Fuel

CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE: University of Calgary scientist Keith cracks carbon capture conundrum, Scientists Create Device to Remove Carbon Directly from the Air

CLIMATE CHANGE: Australians urged to eat kangaroo: An Australian government adviser on climate change has urged Australians to ditch beef and lamb for kangaroo steaks to help save the planet, Endangered Natural Wonders Worth Seeing

CONSERVATION: Ecosystem May Get Endangered Species Protection, No Joke: Bush Urges for Greater Protection of Ocean Areas, Extinct Galapagos Tortoise Could Be Resurrected

DEFORESTATION: Amazon Burned, Forest Loss Up, Oil Palm Plantations Are No Substitute For Tropical Rainforests, New Study Shows

DEVELOPMENT: Cities rethink wisdom of 50s-era parking standards

ECOTOURISM: Lova Lava Land Eco-Resort in Hawaii, Shark Fishers Try to Reel in Cash, Turn to Conservation

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric Car Conversion Gaining Buzz

ENERGY: World’s First 100% Renewable Jet Fuel Created

EVOLUTION: 650-Million-Year-Old Reef May Offer Evolution Clues

FOOD: Where Does Our Happy Meal Come From?

FUEL ECONOMY: Fuel stretching Taylors get world record 58.82 mpg around the U.S.

GLOBAL WARMING: Earth’s Air Divided by Chemical Equator, Rubber ducks help scientists understand global warming: Rubber ducks are being used to help scientists understand global warming and melting glaciers

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: The New Green California Academy of Sciences Unveiled!

GREENFREEZE TECHNOLOGY: First Greenfreeze Climate-Safe Freezer Launches in the United States

HIV/AIDS: AIDS Virus Traces Back 100 Years

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Paris 2008: Honda Insight LIVE REVEAL, Toyota confirms Prius-based Lexus hybrid for Europe

INVASIVE SPECIES: Dogs vs. Rabbits in Eco-War, Beetle Epidemic May Affect Weather, Air Quality

NEW SPECIES: Strange New Species Found on Great Barrier Reef, Hundreds of New Reef Creatures Found in Australia, 100+ New Sharks, Rays Named in Australia, New Iguana Found in Fiji

NOISE POLLUTION: Noisier Oceans May Be “Disaster” For Marine Animals, A New Kind of Ocean Pollutant: Noise

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION: Ocean Acidification Turns Up the Volume

OCEAN DEAD ZONES: Ocean Dead Zones May Be Worse Than Thought

OFF-GRID LIVING: Samso, the Danish island living off-grid

PESTICIDES: Pesticides Killing Flamingos?

RECOMMENDED IMAGE(S): Pictured: Inside the £800m Dubai hotel boasting a £13,000-a-night suite and dolphins flown in from the South Pacific

SCIENCE: Earth’s Air Divided by Chemical Equator, Plastic-Munching Bugs Turn Waste Bottles Into Cash: New Bacteria-Driven Process Could Make Recycling Plastic Bottles More Attractive, Glowing Red Fish Discovered

SEA TURTLES: African Sea Turtles Tagged

SOLAR ENERGY: Scientists Create Energy-Producing Solar Paint, Cool Earth Solar Constructing First Solar “Balloon” Prototype Plant, Vatican Goes Solar

TIDAL POWER: Scotland Plans World’s First Tidal Turbine Farms: The two projects, which each include 20 underwater turbines, will be finished within three years and will provide power to 40,000 homes

TOYOTA: Toyota takes to the parks: Workers from San Antonio’s Toyota factory swapped their torque wrenches and hard hats for shovels and paintbrushes Monday as they began a two-week citywide beautification effort

WATER AVAILABILITY: Iran Sinking as Groundwater Resources Disappear

WATER CONSERVATION: Washington State to Ban Home Car Washing?

WTF?: Extreme Piercing: Welcome to the Phuket Vegetarian Festival…

ZOOLOGICAL CONSERVATION: Odd Sharks Bred in Captivity

An editorial in Barron’s argues that hoarding water is “unfair” and the resource should be managed like oil, and “if water were traded like vegetables, if markets set the price for this scarce resource” then people can make money. However, water and oil do not mix, and selling water to drought stricken regions isn’t an adequate remedy to the problem, since smarter policies to manage water can solve many of the problems in areas where water is scarce. The Barron’s editorial offers an example of smart policy to better mange water: “subsidized lower-margin crops . . . should be left to farmers in other regions.” Why waste water on crops that can be grown in more suitable areas where water is plentiful?

However, I disagree that free markets and speculators should be managing local water resources (including the Great Lakes). I believe local governments should be managing water resources. People are often promised that by selling their local natural resources to outsiders, they will profit. However, the paradigm has been proven false many times before, because corporations profit and often give very little back to the communities that they extract the resources from.  What happens when those water resources are degraded or tapped?  What will the remedies be then?  Even the Great Lakes shouldn’t be though of as an infinite resource.

The policy for managing water has always been regionally specific. With water rights, especially when there are many potential owners, there is a duty of reasonable use.  If we all used natural resources reasonably, the world would be a much better place, and allowing other states such as Georgia, Florida, or Texas to draw water from the Great Lakes would be a unreasonable for several reasons.  First, individuals and governments always have a duty to use water reasonably, and in America, potable water is not thought of as a finite resource, even in some states where drought persists. However, recent drought conditions in states such as North Carolina has changed behaviors and local government policies.

Second, local governments should be developing policy frameworks to deal with water issues, because regions know what’s best for their communities. A lack of initiative and planning results in a lack of water. However, some regions have implemented successful methods to fight drought. From NPR:

But one community has not had to worry. Nearly two decades ago, Clayton County began building a unique water treatment system that includes wetlands and reservoirs.

“I like to say it’s raining everyday in Clayton County because we’re putting right now about 10 million gallons back in our water supply,” says Mike Thomas, general manager of the Clayton County Water Authority.

Thomas says the reservoirs here are full and have never been in danger of being too low. That’s because back in the 1980s, folks realized there wasn’t enough water to support the growth, so they decided to build a system of wetlands and reservoirs that would help them save water.

This case study from Clayton County, Georgia is important, because it illustrates how early planning and imaginative progressive policies are remedies to low water availability.

Exporting water from the Great Lakes region to thirsty areas such as Texas will do nothing to solve their water problems. These regions should be implementing smart policy initiatives. Just like our energy woes highlighted in the current energy debate (i.e., offshore drilling), we merely treat the symptoms of a chronic problem without curing or eradicating it with smart progressive policies. From Barron’s:

LIKE SPECULATION AND PRICE-GOUGING, HOARDING HAS A BAD name among economic illiterates, and for the same reasons: Hoarding is denounced as antisocial, unfair, vicious and that old standby, mean-spirited. As we have for speculation and price-gouging, we now put in a good word for hoarding. It helps make markets work for the benefit of all.

.       .       .

When food is scarce, those who have stored it in granaries can sell it for the new higher price that scarcity demands. The hoarders get richer — and it will be a just compensation for their investment — but not more popular. As with speculation and price-gouging, hoarding is a chancy business because hoarders must deal with resentful customers.

The problem applies to other basic commodities, such as water. (Did you think we were going to discuss oil again? The lessons are the same.)

.       .       .

Owners and consumers of resources traded in markets know how much to hoard and how much to sell, and when. Speculators participate to set the right price, despite humans’ general inability to predict weather and other important future events.

World oil markets, however much maligned, work well, compared to the water market, which is governed by political horse-trading.

Trade can enrich both sides of a bargain, but not if prices fail to reflect supply and demand. Water deals, if any, should reflect prices set in free markets.

IMAGE provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE

Image Found Here

AIR POLLUTION: Beijing begins massive shutdown to curb pollution before Olympics

ANTARCTIC MELTING: Ice adrift from warming scrapes Antarctic seabed bare, Ice shelf hanging by a thread, More icebergs scouring Antarctica’s seabed

ARCTIC COOLING: Distant wildfires cause Arctic cooling

ASSISTED COLONIZATION; ASSISTED MIGRATION: Should we relocate species threatened by climate change?, Move species threatened by warming, scientists advise, Moving species to save them: Pros and cons

BIODIESEL: China builds tung tree oil biodiesel plants

CARBON SEQUESTERING: EPA drafts rule for carbon sequestration, Amazon river powers Atlantic carbon sink

CLIMATE CHANGE: White House buries climate change deaths report

DESERTIFICATION: Sand swallowing Chinese city

DEVIL FACIAL TUMOUR DISEASE (DFTD): “Teen sex” rising for cancer-affected Tasmanian devils

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: Judge orders federal wolf protections restored: Decision likely ends planned wolf hunt for this fall, Living with wolves Q&A: No hunting season for wolves, but poachers likely, Gray wolves regain endangered-species protections: A Montana judge sides with environmentalists who had challenged the species’ delisting

ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP: Green countries: A global report card on nations doing the most, and least, to clean up the environment

EVOLUTION: Noisy fish reveal evolution of vocalizing

GREEN ADVERTISEMENT: Cooling off on dubious eco-friendly claims

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: Vast cities that float on the seas are to transform how we live, real-life Atlantises that will allow humankind to prosper once existing coastlines fall to the ravages of global warming, XERITOWN: New sustainable urban complex for Dubailand

HYDROGEN FUEL: Researchers generate hydrogen without the carbon footprint

INVASIVE SPECIES: Tiny bug threatens to take down U.S. citrus crops

MARINE CONSERVATION: Vibrant new reefs found off Brazil

NATURE: Leopard attacks and kills crocodile (PHOTOS, VIDEO), Weirdest animals and creatures in the world post, “Annoying” bird mimics sirens, Bees enlisted to attack crows in Tokyo, Nature’s own nano gold found

NEW SPECIES: Has a new species of insect appeared in the middle of London?

OFFSHORE DRILLING: The three biggest myths the Bush Administration wants you to believe about offshore drilling

REEL BIG FISH: “Monster” lake’s rare giants lure anglers, biologists

RECYCLING: Jets mined for parts, homes

RED TIDE: Red tide kills Mexico fish

SOLAR: Florida gives green light to largest solar power plant in U.S.

SUSTAINABILITY: Amazing Stat: California uses more gas than China

TIDAL POWER: East coast getting tidal energy projects , World’s first commercial-scale tidal power turbine begins feeding electricity to the grid: SeaGen more than four times the size of next largest tidal turbine

UPWARD MIGRATION: Stinging wasps moving north due to warming?

VERTICAL FARMING: Country, the city version: Farms in the sky gain new interest

WATER AVAILABILITY: The water shortage myth, Bottled water wars

WAVE POWER: Wave-powered boat makes it from Japan to Hawaii

WIND POWER: First U.S. town powered completely by wind

Lake Chad was formerly one of the largest lakes in the world but decline in vegetation from overgrazing and desertification combined with climate change has reduced the great lake by around 95%. However, the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) wants to divert water from other rivers to revitalize the lake and local livelihoods. The LCBC convened recently to discuss “ecosystem conservation and [the] transfer of water from the Congo River to the drought prone Lake Chad basin.” It will be interesting to follow the project’s implementation and success. According to a Goddard Space Flight Center Press Release dated February 27, 2001 just after the inauguration of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001:

Using model and climate data, Coe and Foley calculate that a 30 percent decrease took place in the lake between 1966 and 1975. Irrigation only accounted for 5 percent of that decrease, with drier conditions accounting for the remainder. They noticed that irrigation demands increased four-fold between 1983 and 1994, accounting for 50 percent of the additional decrease in the size of the lake.

“NASA Landsat satellite imagery taken of the lake over the last 30 years really capture the model conclusions and visualize them very well,” the researchers noted.

Lake Chad and the Chari/Logone river system, which transports 90 percent of the runoff generated in the area basin, are important water resources for the local population. The lake is 820 feet (250 m) above sea level and is shared by Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger. Lake Chad has always undergone seasonal and inter-annual fluctuations because it is less than 23 feet (7 m) deep. In recent decades, during wet periods the lake expands up to 10,000 square miles (25,900 square km). The warming climate and increasing desertification in the surrounding Sahel region have dropped water levels far below the average dry season level of 4,000 square miles (10,000 square km) to only 839 square miles (1,350 square km).

The Northern Africa Sahel region has experienced numerous devastating droughts over the last three decades. “Climate data has shown a great decrease in rainfall since the early 1960’s largely due to a decrease in the number of large rainfall events,” Coe said.

On the Net: A SHADOW OF A LAKE: AFRICA’S DISAPPEARING LAKE CHAD
On the Net: Africa’s Disappearing Lake Chad
On the Net: Satellite picture shows Africa’s dying lake
On the Net: Shrinking African Lake Offers Lesson on Finite Resources

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IMAGE: Kathy Lohr, NPR

Clayton County’s water conservation planning is an example of the type of progressive policies and thinking we need in America and the world to solve environmental and resource use problems. From NPR’s Morning Edition:

But one community has not had to worry. Nearly two decades ago, Clayton County began building a unique water treatment system that includes wetlands and reservoirs.

“I like to say it’s raining everyday in Clayton County because we’re putting right now about 10 million gallons back in our water supply,” says Mike Thomas, general manager of the Clayton County Water Authority.

Thomas says the reservoirs here are full and have never been in danger of being too low. That’s because back in the 1980s, folks realized there wasn’t enough water to support the growth, so they decided to build a system of wetlands and reservoirs that would help them save water.

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1. MARINE MAMMALS: More Polar Bears, or More Oil? You Decide. @ AOL News Newsbloggers, VA




2. MARINE MAMMALS: Dozens of Sea Lions Found Massacred in Galapagos @ Nationalgeographic.com




3. TAILPIPE EMISSIONS: Former chairman of Shell UK, wants the EU to ban the sale of new cars which do less than 35 miles to the gallon @ Scotsman.com




4. CLIMATE CHANGE: Warming Creating Extinction Risks for Hibernators @ Nationalgeographic.com




5. ENERGY MIX OF THE FUTURE: Little treadmills everywhere: Floors that harvest the energy in every step @ the International Herald Tribune
6. WATER AVAILABILITY: Study: Climate Change Escalating Severe Western Water Crisis @ Wired
7. MINING: Video: U.S. Mining Law Contested @ Nationalgeographic.com
8. DAMS: Cambodian Dam Threatens Protected Forest @ Discovery.com
9. AMAZON: Brazil to Crack Down on Amazon Clearing @ Nationalgeographic.com
10. OCEAN BIOLOGICAL DESERTS: The Ocean’s Biological Deserts Are Expanding @ ScienceNOW

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New technologies and innovative ideas are allowing us to drink reclaimed water. But is drinking reclaimed or recycled water like drinking waste? Not exactly, because the water is treated or the good parts are separated from the unpotable parts. This is what communities are forced to do when people cannot change their behaviors or do not conserve freshwater. Communities are forced to use these innovative but necessary extremes. The most important fact is that reclaimed water from sewage is unaffected by drought. From Chemical & Engineering News:

Some communities have used reclaimed water for decades to recharge their drinking water supplies. In Virginia, recycled water is added to a stream feeding the Occoquan Reservoir. In Los Angeles, treated wastewater is added to the Montebello Forebay, where it percolates through the soil to replenish the groundwater supply. Also in California, the Orange County Water District’s (OCWD’s) Water Factory 21 facility reclaims wastewater that is then injected into aquifers to provide a pressurized barrier against seawater intrusion into groundwater.

To meet additional need to prevent such intrusion and to meet increased demand for drinking water, the California Department of Public Health, along with the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, approved OCWD’s new state-of-the-art water reclamation facility on Jan. 10. The Advanced Water Purification Facility (AWPF) will yield 70 million gal of drinkable water per day, or about 10% of the district’s daily need for 2.3 million residents. “It will give us a supply unaffected by drought,” notes Mehul Patel, OCWD’s principal process engineer.

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IMAGE: This river in Florida was replaced by grass because of a drought.

To consume half a billion gallons of water a day but still need more is simply not sustainable. From My Way News:

North Florida cities such as Jacksonville, St. Johns County and a river advocacy group all say the plan would destroy the delicate balance of saltwater and freshwater needed to preserve critical biological habitat and submerged vegetation.

The St. Johns River Water Management District, which developed the proposal, said it will consider a new two-year, $1.8 million plan to study its possible effects.

But John Cirello, director of environmental services for Seminole County near Orlando in central Florida, said he does not understand north Florida’s opposition.

“I think they are misled,” he said.

The district developed the proposal after determining that areas of central Florida could reach their groundwater limits within five years, and that by 2025 it will need 200 million gallons of water a day from alternative sources.

Partly because of the fast growth of central Florida, half a billion gallons of water are being pumped out of the deep underground Floridan aquifer each day.

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Go here or click the image for the latest information on the North Carolina drought including drought and water restrictions, drought maps, water conservation tips, a detailed look at Triangle-area water restrictions and more!

Image: The San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta

This court order will help preserve not only Delta Smelt habitat but water for human use too. It will also improve water conservation or management as well which is much needed across the United States.

From Central Valley Business Times, CA:

If 2008 is a dry year, State Water Project customers will receive 7 to 22 percent less Delta water than would have been available without the court decision.

If 2008 is an average water year, exports will be reduced 22 to 30 percent….

The actual impact on water supply will depend on a number of factors including the locations where adult smelt spawn and offspring hatch, levels of precipitation for the year, and water temperatures affecting how quickly the fish migrate, the state says.

On the Net: Center for Biological Diversity’s Factsheet for the Delta Smelt
On the Net: Delta Smelt Recovery, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office
On the Net: Delta Smelt Species Account, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office
On the Net: Delta Smelt Critical Habitat, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office

Delta Smelt image courtesy of Peterson, B. Moose / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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@ News 14 Carolina, NC

but Durham will tap into a rock quarry to extend water to 600 million gallons or 30 days of water:

@ Water Technology Online

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@ All American Patriots (press release), Sweden.

From the future of things:

The Fog Shower reduces water consumption immensely by creating a vapor flow with microscopic water droplets. The water is heated and sent under pressure to an ultrasonic vaporizer, and is then forced through perforated metal plates. An intelligent sensor system aims the water vapor in different angles, depending on the movements of the person showering.

[Joao Diego] Schimansky believes that his eco-design manages to provide comfort and convenience while reducing negative impact on the environment. He points out that the Fog Shower is different than existing devices, which have to compensate for the inconvenience of the reduced water flow by increasing the water flow’s aeration.

The Fog Shower can utilize renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power. In addition, the device saves energy simply because less water needs to be heated.

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On the Conservation Report, I have asked if it is our inalienable right to a green lawn. Additionally I have asked if it is our inalienable right to drive a large SUV without necessity. Certainly, if behavior that encourages waste continues in addition to significant population growth then green lawns and large SUVs will be outdated. Therefore, is it our right to produce a large family biologically if we are already experiencing natural resource strain and climate change? The Mike Thompson Blog of the Detroit Free Press was an interesting read this weekend:

I’m old enough to remember the gas crisis of the 1970’s when Texans slapped “Freeze a Yankee, Drive Faster” bumper stickers on the backs of their pickups; ever so smug about sitting on giant deposits of petroleum, while shivering Midwesterners paid out the nose for home heating oil.

Fast forward three decades and it’s residents of the water-rich Great Lakes states who are smirking. Estimates are that by 2050, Texas’ population will double, but its water supply will decrease by 17 percent. And Texas is hardly alone among states in the South and Southwest in terms of rapid population growth coupled with falling water supplies.

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IMAGE: Lake Alatoona, Georgia

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will reduce water flow downstream from Lake Lanier to Florida. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged that it has not developed a drought plan that might have allowed it to manage the Lake Lanier water crisis better. The corps blamed the long years of tri-state water wars litigation among Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

Lanier, which supplies drinking water for more than 3 million metro Atlantans, has been falling fast as it releases billions of gallons a day down the Chattahoochee River and into Florida, primarily to satisfy the needs of federally protected species. Emptied by months of drought and the releases, the lake is expected to break its 26-year-old record low level this weekend.

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The News & Observer during October of last month gave some insight into the drought and efforts to conserve water. Duke University insisted on watering the fake turf on its hockey playing fields. Apparently the fields need watering for better play and safety reasons. From the The News & Observer in Raleigh, NC:

It’s not just the way the ball bounces, athletics officials say, although field hockey balls do bounce better on saturated fields. When the turf is wet, coaches add, field hockey players have better grip on the surface and report fewer injuries.

Beth Bozman, Duke’s field hockey coach, said she understood why passers-by could get all worked up over sprinklers going full blast amid conservation pleas.

“I drive a hybrid, and I recycle,” Bozman said. “I’m as green as anybody. I understand.”

Durham, which has about 69 days left in its water supply at the current use rate, has banned all outdoor watering. Duke, which could not supply a number for the gallons used on turf watering, gets a business exemption to spray the field and other places on campus as long as overall consumption decreases by 30 percent.

IMAGE: Falls Lake, North Carolina on 21 October 2007

by Buck Denton

I am for people praying and being spiritual. However, I am also for people who conserve natural resources. I believe praying is necessary and a right but I believe the conservation of natural resources is necessary and should be the law. I believe God who is busy in other places like Iraq would like some ingenuity from his creations in other areas such as water conservation. Instead of blaming endangered wildlife, the endangered species act and the Army Corps of Engineers how about we become accountable for our own actions.

People can seek the worst short-term solutions. It is embarrassing.

I would be interested to know how early or late, proactive and aggressive water conservation and rationing has been in Atlanta or the South. In my opinion, I believe water conservation has come too late. Thankfully, the water bill which President Bush vetoed was overridden by our Senate. Water or the access to water will be a great issue of our time and the fact President Bush vetoed the water bill illustrates his disconnect from the issue.

People should wash their cars and water their green lawns less or plant appropriate grass species which are more adapted to fluctuations in weather.

As an observant person, I have seen people’s best and worst behaviors in action. Unless the government takes aggressive action at the appropriate time during drought a significant number of people will continue their negligent and reckless behavior, negating the efforts of those great citizens who do practice water conservation.

The situation in Atlanta and the world’s situation on climate change and relying too much on oil in addition to how quickly natural resources are consumed reminds me of the childhood fable by Aesop, which illustrates a “moral lesson about hard work and preparation” entitled The Ant and the Grasshopper. Enacting the moral lesson from The Ant and the Grasshopper is needed more than ever.

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Consuming natural resources at an unsustainable rate is one of the greatest issues of our time. I highly recommended the discussion between Tom Keene and Henry Vaux, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, about the costs of desalination versus better water conservation management practices. An excerpt of the discussion:

Tom Keene: We have an inalienable right to a green lawn. Is that going to be gone in 20 years?

Henry Vaux: Oh I think so….

Given the current discourse and oil prices, is it our right to drive an SUV for any other purpose than absolute necessity?

On the Net: LISTEN AT Bloomberg
On the Net: READ ON AT Bloomberg
On the Net: Eco-Lawn Grass Seed
On the Net: Eco-Lawns
On the Net: “Natural Landscape,” Minimalist Design, Formal Design

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