Photo: Robert Roffman
World Religions Taking a
Stand on the Environment
The environment is taking a prominent position at pulpits and in temples across the planet. From the Pope to the Dalai Lama, religious leaders are now taking a public stance on global warming, pollution and other environmental issues.
The Dalai Lama, who has long shared his views on the subject of the environment said recently, "We are also being drawn together by the grave problems we face: overpopulation, dwindling natural resources, and an environmental crisis that threatens our air, water, and trees, along with the vast number of beautiful life forms that are the very foundation of existence on this small planet we share. I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace, the equitable use of natural resources and, through concern for future generations, the proper care of the environment."
Here is a video of an address by the Dalai Lama which includes his teachings on the inner and outer environment. You will need Windows Media Player installed on your computer to view it. -Editors.
While some conservative Christian groups have been slow to get involved in environmental causes, changes are certainly afoot. In March, the Vatican began to to show its green side. It has added pollution to the realm of "new sins" that today's Catholics must confront and avoid. In this age of expanding globalization, the Vatican is telling followers that sin is not just an individual act but can also be a transgression against the larger community. An offense against God, said senior Vatican official Msgr. Gianfranco Girotti, "is not only stealing or coveting another man's wife, it is also destroying the environment."
In February 2006, a group of 86 respected evangelical Christian leaders from across the nation unveiled a campaign for environmental reform and put out a statement calling on all Christians to push for federal legislation that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to stem global warming. This Evangelical Climate Initiative, which has helped publicly solidify a nascent environmentalism in the evangelical community, also intends to lobby federal legislators, hold environmental meetings at churches and colleges, and run television and radio ads that link drought, starvation, and hurricanes to global warming.
Their statement read in part "The same love for God and neighbor that compels us to preach salvation through Jesus Christ, ... compels us to recognize that human-induced climate change is a serious Christian issue requiring action now."
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Sources:
The Environment Report: www.environmentreport.org
Los Angeles Times: www.latimes.com
Bill Moyers on America: www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/green/environment.html
University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment
E-Magazine for Elementary Teachers Brings Polar Issues Into Classrooms
To fill a national void in the elementary school curriculum and capitalize on student interest in the polar regions, Ohio State University and the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) have launched a new online magazine for teachers in the early grades.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded publication, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears (Tom, this link is: http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/) is designed to help teachers develop their knowledge of the Arctic and Antarctica and to use best practices to integrate science and literacy instruction around polar themes. The materials showcased in the publication are chosen specifically to help teachers understand and to explain the role of the polar regions in the global ecosystem. As the magazine's creators note, elementary teachers seldom have either the preparation or expertise to teach science or the time or resources to learn how.
Photo credit: National Science Digital Library / Ohio State University
Each month's issue will be organized around a theme that reflects common science topics in the elementary curriculum. The magazine also features links to content-rich Web sites, interactive videos, animations, articles written specifically for K-5 students that are available in text-only versions as well as in printable, foldable book versions, photographs that highlight polar beauty and mystery, and even a poetry lesson plan that features work contributed by elementary school students in Anchorage, Alaska.
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Sources:
National Science Foundation: www.nsf.gov
Eat Those Fruits and Veggies -
Like Our Ancestors Did!
Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation
Using high-powered microscopes, researchers looked at rough geometric shapes on the teeth of several Paranthropus boisei, also called the "Nutcracker Man, specimens and determined that their structure alone was not enough to predict diet.
An ancient hominin that lived between 2.3 and 1.2 million years ago,"Nutcracker Man," had the biggest, flattest cheek teeth and the thickest enamel of any known human ancestor. It was thought that this ancestor must have lived on a regular diet of hard nuts and seeds or tough roots and tubers because the teeth, cranium and mandible appear to be built for chewing and crunching hard objects.
Analysis of scratches on the teeth and other tooth wear reveal the pattern of eating for the "Nutcracker Man" was more consistent with modern-day fruit-eating animals. Since food interacts with teeth, it leaves behind telltale signs that can be measured. Hard foods like nuts and seeds, for instance, lead to more complex tooth profiles, while tough foods like leaves lead to more parallel scratches.
The findings showed that P. boisei teeth had light wear, suggesting that none of the individuals ate extremely hard or tough foods in the days leading up to death. The pattern was more consistent with modern-day fruit-eating animals than with most modern-day primates.
Researchers compared dental microwear profiles of P. boisei to modern-day primates that eat different types of foods. Similar to both Old World and New World Monkey species, these ancestors most likely ate fruit, vegetables and fell back on harder nibbles such as nuts or palm fronds when their preferred foods were scarce.
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Sources:
National Science Foundation: www.nsf.gov
California Students Build Antarctic Submersible!
After a full season of diving, the rover began to show signs of wear and tear, a typical problem in Antarctica. Gretchen Hofmann (left) and Tim Crombie, a technician in Hofmann's lab, effect a "field repair" with duct tape. Credit: Peter West, National Science Foundation
Using "off-the-shelf" materials and working with graduate students and technicians from marine biologist Gretchen Hofmann's laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), two female graduates of Cabrillo High School in Lompoc, California, built an underwater, camera-equipped "rover" that appears to be able to meet the challenges of the harshest environments on Earth. The students worked along side a research team at McMurdo Station, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) logistics hub in Antarctica.
The submersible rig has been dubbed M'RAJE (pronounced "mirage"), from the first initials of its creators, and it is providing Hofmann and her team with an extra set of eyes to observe fish in their natural environments--a task made difficult in waters frequently covered by many meters of ice. Hofmann studies the environmental genomics of Antarctic fishes and how they respond to variations in water temperatures, responses that could tie closely to climate change.
Jessica Dutton (left) reaches out to deploy the underwater, camera-equipped "rover," M'RAJE, into an ice hole. Credit: Peter West, National Science Foundation
The rover was built by Ryan Garner and Amanda Wilson, both high-school seniors at Cabrillo High at the time. The two worked closely with graduate students Jessica Dutton, Mackenzie Zippay and Elizabeth Hoaglund in Hofmann's lab to turn the design into a workable prototype. Back in 2005, when they were juniors, Garner and Wilson were members of a team at Cabrillo that competed and placed highly in the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center's Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) design competition.
Let's hear it for Science Girl Power!
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Source: National Science Foundation: www.nsf.gov
Insects Use Plants as "Telephones"
The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research reported that Dutch ecologist Roxina Soler and her colleagues have discovered that subterranean and above ground herbivorous insects can communicate with each other by using plants as telephones. It seems that subterranean insects issue chemical warning signals via the leaves of the plant. This way, aboveground insects are alerted that the plant is already "occupied." This messaging enables spatially-separated insects to avoid each other, so that they do not unintentionally compete for the same plant.
Via the"green telephone lines," subterranean insects can also communicate with a third party, namely the natural enemy of caterpillars. Parasitic wasps lay their eggs inside above ground insects. The wasps also benefit from the chemical signals emitted by the leaves, as these reveal where they can find a good host for their eggs. The communication between subterranean and above ground insects has only been studied in a few systems. It is still not clear how widespread this phenomenon is.
This research was carried out at the Netherlands Institute for Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) by Roxina Soler, Jeffrey Harvey, Martijn Bezemer, Wim van der Putten and Louise Vet. The PhD project, in which this study was carried out, was funded by the Free Competition of NWO Earth and Life Sciences.
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Source: Environmental News Network: www.enn.com
New England Bats in Serious Trouble
Wildlife experts are trying to determine what's causing hibernating bats in the Northeast to die en masse. The condition has been dubbed "white-nose syndrome," after a white fungus seen on bats' noses — but scientists aren't sure if the fungus is causing the deaths, or is just a symptom indicating the presence of some other disease. So far, white-nose syndrome has been identified in bat caves in New York, southwest Vermont, northwest Connecticut and western Massachusetts. Tens of thousands of bats have died. Little brown bats, Indiana bats, northern long-eared, eastern pipistrelle, small-footed and other bat species have all been affected. This is of particular concern as the Indiana bat is already listed as an endangered species.
Studies show bats eat far more insects than birds do, protecting plants of the rain forest and, in one of the studies, coffee plantations. These studies, published in the journal Science, suggest that the loss of bat populations worldwide might seriously affect agriculture -- not to mention make warm evenings outside more uncomfortable. Some experts are likening the situation to that of the unexplained declines in honeybee populations due to "colony collapse disorder." (Please see below article.) Bat researchers are racing to explain the deaths — and keep the disease from spreading — but they're hampered by few clues and a lack of funds.
Please click here to donate to Bat Conservation International's efforts to fund much needed research to help save the bats:
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Sources:
National Public Radio: www.npr.org
Environmental News Network: www.enn.com
Coming to the Rescue of the Bees!
Bee keepers across the globe believe that Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which has already wiped out tens of thousands of hives of bees across North America again this fall, is caused by a pesticide you can easily purchase for using at home! "The cause is imidacloprid, plain and simple," said David Hackenberg, the beekeeper who was the subject of a 60 Minutes story that aired Oct. 28. Hackenberg, who has tended bees his entire adult life, said he told 60 Minutes bout this imidacloprid theory in these same direct terms.
Imidacloprid is a pesticide ingredient. It is found in brand names such as: Merit, Kohinor, Admire, Gaucho, Confidor, Hachikusan, Premise, Prothor, and Winner. It is also the main ingredient in the pet flea and tick product Advantage.
No one debates that imidacloprid is toxic to bees, yet Bayer, the exclusive patent holder from 1988 until this year, denies its product causes CCD. (It's curious that Bayer Corporation paid $70 milion dollars to French beekeepers to avoid a lawsuit.) Many countries including France and Brazil are employing the "precautionary principle" and pulling products containing imidacloprid from the shelves. But in the U.S., homeowners and farms are using more and more of it — especially since many competing products (which relied on the compound diazinon to kill grubs and other insects) have already been banned due to their proven toxicity.
The pesticide's residue stays in the soil and is taken up by the plant the next season. The poison winds up in the pollen where is then disorients and sickens the bees.
Eric Lane a California beekeeper said he can trace the origin of Colony Collapse Disorder to 2003, the year imidacloprid was approved for use in his state. He estimates he lost 80 percent of his bees last winter and said he was not surprised, based on his prior research. "When an adult bee goes out to forage for pollen (on plants affected by imidacloprid), by the fourth day the bee loses the ability to smell," he said. "Young bees do their normal duties around the hive for five days. Then they go and fill up with nectar and realize they don't know where home is. Old bees hang around the hive but eventually wander off and die. Young bees fly off and never come home."
In Canada, the Sierra Club has taken a particularly strong stand against imidacloprid's impact on species other than bees. "It has been shown to cause acute health effects, including spasms and thyroid lesions," the Sierra Club stated. "No chronic toxicity tests have been made available to the public, but we do know that it has effects on mammalian reproduction. The reproductive health of birds is also affected, with reduced egg production and egg thinning. It affects a multitude of beneficial insects, as well as earthworms."
The pesticide fipronil, has also been implicated in bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). This is the active ingredient in Combat, Regent, Frontline (for pets), Chicpro Choice (commercial/farm) and Termidor (commercial/termite treatment). This chemical is marketed by BASF.
So here's what YOU can do. Stop using pesticides outside or around your home--especially those containing imidacloprid or fipronil. No pesticide has been proven safe over the long term for your family. It's also important to buy organic produce as organic farms don't use pesticides. To get ideas about treating pest problems in a safe way check out your local National Audubon Society chapter. An interactive map of their locations may be found at: www.audubon.org/states/index.php. Extremely Green offers a great natural pest control guide which can be found at: http://www.extremelygreen.com/pestcontrolguide.cfm. Together, we can make a difference!
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Sources:
Environmental News Network |
