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Ozone Depletion - Losing Earth's Protective Layer

2012-01-05T06:33:00.000-08:00

The ozone layer is a belt of naturally occurring ozone gas that sits 9.3 to 18.6 miles (15 to 30 kilometers) above Earth and serves as a shield from the harmful ultraviolet B radiation emitted by the sun.

Ozone is a highly reactive molecule that contains three oxygen atoms. It is constantly being formed and broken down in the high atmosphere, 6.2 to 31 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) above Earth, in the region called the stratosphere.

Today, there is widespread concern that the ozone layer is deteriorating due to the release of pollution containing the chemicals chlorine and bromine. Such deterioration allows large amounts of ultraviolet B rays to reach Earth, which can cause skin cancer and cataracts in humans and harm animals as well.

Extra ultraviolet B radiation reaching Earth also inhibits the reproductive cycle of phytoplankton, single-celled organisms such as algae that make up the bottom rung of the food chain. Biologists fear that reductions in phytoplankton populations will in turn lower the populations of other animals. Researchers also have documented changes in the reproductive rates of young fish, shrimp, and crabs as well as frogs and salamanders exposed to excess ultraviolet B.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chemicals found mainly in spray aerosols heavily used by industrialized nations for much of the past 50 years, are the primary culprits in ozone layer breakdown. When CFCs reach the upper atmosphere, they are exposed to ultraviolet rays, which causes them to break down into substances that include chlorine. The chlorine reacts with the oxygen atoms in ozone and rips apart the ozone molecule.

One atom of chlorine can destroy more than a hundred thousand ozone molecules, according to the the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The ozone layer above the Antarctic has been particularly impacted by pollution since the mid-1980s. This region’s low temperatures speed up the conversion of CFCs to chlorine. In the southern spring and summer, when the sun shines for long periods of the day, chlorine reacts with ultraviolet rays, destroying ozone on a massive scale, up to 65 percent. This is what some people erroneously refer to as the "ozone hole." In other regions, the ozone layer has deteriorated by about 20 percent.

About 90 percent of CFCs currently in the atmosphere were emitted by industrialized countries in the Northern Hemisphere, including the United States and Europe. These countries banned CFCs by 1996, and the amount of chlorine in the atmosphere is falling now. But scientists estimate it will take another 50 years for chlorine levels to return to their natural levels.

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40 simple ways you can conserve energy and reduce toxicity in your home and office

2012-01-03T21:22:00.000-08:00

1. Turn off unneeded lights even when leaving a room for a short time

2. Once your cell phone is charged, unplug it from the charger!

3. Set your refrigerator temperature at 36 to 38 and your freezer at 0 to 5

4. When using an oven, minimize door opening while it is in use; it reduces oven temperature by 25 to 30 every time you open the door

5. Unplug seldom used appliances.

6. Purchase appliances and office equipment with the Energy Star Label; old refrigerators, for example, use significant more energy than newer models
7. Turn down or shut off your water heater when you will be away for extended periods
8. Use electric appliances only when you need them
9. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs to save money and energy.
10. Shut off electrical equipment in the evening when you leave work
11. Replace old windows with energy efficient ones
12. Use cold water instead of warm or hot water when possible
13. Buy green electricity – electricity produced by low – or even zero-pollution facilities.

14. Eliminate mercury from your home by purchasing items without mercury, and dispose of items containing mercury at an appropriate drop-off facility when necessary (e.g. old thermometers)
15. Learn about alternatives to household cleaning items that do not use hazardous chemicals
16. Review labels of household cleaners you use. Consider alternatives like baking soda, scouring pads, water
17. Use traps instead of rat and mouse poisons and insect killers
18. Have your home tested for radon
19. Minimize pesticide use
20. Turn off computers and other appliances when not in use
21. Copy and print on both sides of paper
22. Reuse items like envelopes, folders and paper clips
23. Use e-mail instead of paper correspondence
24. Use recycled paper.

25. Use discarded paper for scrap paper
26. Encourage your school and/or company to print documents with soy-based inks, which are less toxic
27. Telecommute!
28. Purchase radial tires and keep them properly inflated for your vehicle
29. Walk or ride your bike instead of driving, whenever possible
30. Join a carpool to get to work.

31. Check and fix any water leaks
32. Install water-saving devices on your faucets and toilets
33. Don’t wash dishes with the water running continuously
34. Install a low-flow shower head
35. Replace old toilets with new ones that use a lot less water
36. Avoid products with several layers of packaging when only one is sufficient (about 33 of what we throw away is packaging)
37. Use reusable plates and utensils instead of disposable ones
38. Use reusable containers to store food instead of aluminum foil and wrap
39. Shop with a canvas bag instead of using paper and plastic bags
40. Buy rechargeable batteries for devices used frequently

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OPPORTUNITIES TO SAVE AND SUSTAINABLY USE THE WORLD'S FORESTS THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

2012-01-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

The world's forests continue to deteriorate despite international efforts to save them. Recent studies show that deforestation rates in tropical countries are increasing, that sustainable forest management for timber, fuelwood, and other products is rare, and that air pollution is eroding the health of forest ecosystems in the temperate zone. Mature forests--destroyed or fragmented--are being replaced by even-aged, highly simplified stands.

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The Chipko Movement - India

2012-01-02T00:49:00.000-08:00

In the 1970s, an organized resistance to the destruction of forests spread throughout India and came to be known as the Chipko movement. The name of the movement comes from the word 'embrace', as the villagers hugged the trees, and prevented the contractors' from felling them.

Not many people know that over the last few centuries many communities in India have helped save nature. One such is the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan. The original 'Chipko movement' was started around 260 years back in the early part of the 18th century in Rajasthan by this community. A large group of them from 84 villages led by a lady called Amrita Devi laid down their lives in an effort to protect the trees from being felled on the orders of the Maharaja (King) of Jodhpur. After this incident, the maharajagave a strong royal decree preventing the cutting of trees in all Bishnoi villages.

In the 20th century, it began in the hills where the forests are the main source of livelihood, since agricultural activities cannot be carried out easily. The Chipko movement of 1973 was one of the most famous among these. The first Chipko action took place spontaneously in April 1973 in the village of Mandal in the upper Alakananda valley and over the next five years spread to many districts of the Himalayas in Uttar Pradesh. It was sparked off by the government's decision to allot a plot of forest area in the Alaknanda valley to a sports goods company. This angered the villagers because their similar demand to use wood for making agricultural tools had been earlier denied. With encouragement from a local NGO (non-governmental organization), DGSS (Dasoli Gram Swarajya Sangh), the women of the area, under the leadership of an activist, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, went into the forest and formed a circle around the trees preventing the men from cutting them down.

The success achieved by this protest led to similar protests in other parts of the country. From their origins as a spontaneous protest against logging abuses in Uttar Pradesh in the Himalayas, supporters of the Chipko movement, mainly village women, have successfully banned the felling of trees in a number of regions and influenced natural resource policy in India. Dhoom Singh Negi, Bachni Devi and many other village women, were the first to save trees by hugging them. They coined the slogan: 'What do the forests bear? Soil, water and pure air'.

The success of the Chipko movement in the hills saved thousands of trees from being felled.

Some other persons have also been involved in this movement and have given it proper direction. Mr Sunderlal Bahuguna, a Gandhian activist and philosopher, whose appeal to Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, resulted in the green-felling ban. Mr Bahuguna coined the Chipko slogan: 'ecology is permanent economy'. Mr Chandi Prasad Bhatt, is another leader of the Chipko movement. He encouraged the development of local industries based on the conservation and sustainable use of forest wealth for local benefit. Mr Ghanasyam Raturi, the Chipko poet, whose songs echo throughout the Himalayas of Uttar Pradesh, wrote a poem describing the method of embracing the trees to save them from felling:

' Embrace the trees and
Save them from being felled;
The property of our hills,
Save them from being looted.'

The Chipko protests in Uttar Pradesh achieved a major victory in 1980 with a 15-year ban on green felling in the Himalayan forests of that state by the order of Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. Since then, the movement has spread to many states in the country. In addition to the 15-year ban in Uttar Pradesh, the movement has stopped felling in the Western Ghats and the Vindhyas and has generated pressure for a natural resource policy that is more sensitive to people's needs and ecological requirements.

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Reasons To Save Trees :

2012-01-02T00:28:00.000-08:00

Trees clean the air: Trees help cleanse the air by intercepting airborne particles, reducing heat, and absorbing pollutants such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.

Trees are Effective Sound Barriers: Trees are as effective as stonewalls in stopping sound. They muffle urban noise almost as effectively as stonewalls. Trees, planted at strategic points in a neighbourhood or around your house, can mitigate major noises from crowded roads, railway stations and airports.
Trees Produce Oxygen: A mature leafy tree, in a few months, produces as much oxygen as that required by 10 people for one year.
Trees become dustbins for harmful gases: a tree absorbs and locks away carbon dioxide, and other harmful gases which warm the environment. An urban forest is a carbon storage area that can lock up as much carbon.
Trees Shade and Cool: Shade from trees reduces the need for fan, coolers and air conditioning in summer. Studies have shown that parts of cities without cooling shade from trees can literally be "heated islands," with temperatures as much as 4-6 degrees Celsius higher than surrounding areas. In winter, trees break the force of winter winds.
Trees Act as Windbreaks: trees break the force of the wind. This protects houses, farmland and vegetation.
Trees Fight Soil Erosion: Trees fight soil erosion, conserve rainwater, and reduce water runoff and sediment deposit after storms.
Trees help in lowering the dust levels and pollution levels in the cities.
Trees decrease respiratory problems: Children staying in areas and localities with trees have much less breathing problems that children staying in localities which have no trees.

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Happy New Year 2012 ...

2011-12-31T07:51:00.000-08:00

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Save The World By Recycling

2011-12-29T21:21:00.000-08:00

It has become increasingly apparent that human beings must make some major changes in order to reverse some of the damage they have done to the environment. Recycling is one of the best examples of an effort that can have a very positive impact on the fate of the planet. Once a relatively obscure and rare phenomenon, recycling has become quite popular in modern times. The number of people who recycle has skyrocketed; even major corporations have gotten in on the action.

What Can Be Recycled?

When most people think about recycling, paper comes immediately to mind. Paper is the most common material that people recycle, after all. Many other materials can be recycled, though; other very popular choices are soda pop aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Other forms of aluminum and plastic can also be reused and recycled, reducing the amount of refuse in landfills. Glass is frequently recycled by being melted down and turned into new glass. Batteries are another item that people are encouraged to recycle whenever possible. As recycling efforts increase, the number of recyclable items continues to rise around the world.

How To Recycle

The most popular and common way to participate in recycling is by finding your local recycling center and bringing items you want to recycle there on a regular basis. Some communities even provide special bins that residents can use to set along the curb for the collection of recyclable materials. Many supermarkets and convenience stores have can and bottle machines that people can use to recycle their old products. Beyond community efforts, recycling can take place right within the home. Paper can be saved and set aside to be reused by kids for art projects; other household items can be saved for future undertakings.

What Happens To Recycled Materials?

When paper, plastic, glass, aluminum and many other items are recycled, they are used to make many new products. In many cases, recycled materials are used to manufacture more of the same product that they were originally. This is especially true in the case of aluminum cans, which are frequently recycled and made into new cans. Any sheet of paper that you choose to recycle might very well end up becoming a part of another notebook or other set of paper in the future. Glass is recycled and made into new types of glass, too; concrete is recycled and made into fresh concrete components as well.

Why Should You Recycle?

The more people who choose to recycle, the greater the impact recycling will have on the environment. Therefore, it is important that every single person do their own part and contribute to recycling efforts. If you have children, showing them your willingness to recycle can help instill good recycling habits in them that will benefit the environment for years to come. Knowing that you are doing your own part to help save the world through recycling can be a very good feeling; it is a proactive way to reduce the amount of pollution on planet Earth.

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Environmental Benefit Facts about Forests

2011-12-28T23:29:00.000-08:00

A large tree in full leaf can "lift" well over a ton of water a day from the soil and carry it along an elaborate system of pipelines to every leaf. Most of this water is returned to the air through a process called transpiration. On that same day, the same tree may transpire several hundred gallons of water into the air, cooling as much air as would six window-unit air conditioners.

Wind is estimated to cause about 30% of annual soil erosion, on agricultural cropland. Wind erosion is primarily due to tilled fields lying exposed for long periods between growing seasons. Forest crops are rotated over decades rather than annually, so wind is not a major erosive factor for forests.

A typical tree uses nearly a pound-and-a-half of carbon dioxide and gives off more that a pound of oxygen to grow one pound of wood. An acre of trees might grow 4,000 pounds of wood a year, use 5,880 pounds of carbon dioxide and give off 4,280 pounds of oxygen in the process. One mature tree absorbs approximately 13 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. For every ton of wood a forest grows, it removes 1.47 tons of carbon dioxide and replaces it with 1.07 tons of oxygen.

An average, large, healthy tree could have about 2,000 leaves. During 60 years of its life, such a tree could grow and shed approximately 3,600 pounds of leaves. Those leaves return about 70 percent of the nutrients to the soil.

Three well-placed mature trees around a house can cut air-conditioning costs by 10-50 percent, while trees and other landscaping can increase property value by 5-10 percent.

Clearcutting is the only effective means to regenerate forest types adapted to catastrophic disturbance and are intolerant of shade.

Fall color timing is based mostly on photoperiod (actually the increasing number of night-time hours). Color intensity and persistence is influenced by forest health conditions, frosts, other weather factors.

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Soon, database on Indian bio-resources

2011-12-27T23:43:00.000-08:00

PUNE: The Unit for Research and Development of Information Products (URDIP) here has prepared a database of patents granted world-wide to Indian bio-resources, including food crops, forest trees, marine organisms, microbial resources, livestock, other animals and agro-resources.

The database is expected to help monitor patenting of bio-resources, detection of bio-piracy, commercial exploitation and benefit sharing. The database is created with an emphasis on technologies and applications for multiplication, harvesting, processing and utilisation of bio-resources.

The URDIP, of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has also created a database of 500 major Indian medicinal plants covering their cultivation, new medicinal use, food application, etc., from world-wide scientific and patent literature. Around 12,000 patents - which aim to benefit the pharmaceutical industry for plant-based drug discovery - have been issued on these 500 plants.

The database project is supported by the National Bio-resource Development Board (NBDB), department of biotechnology, New Delhi. It is part of the NBDB programme on digital inventory of plant resources of India. The information will be part of the Indian Bio-resources Information Network (IBIN) portal, a national database infrastructure offering information on diverse aspects of bio-resources. The portal is expected to be launched in August 2012.

R R Hirwani, head, URDIP, told TOI that the database on patent on aromatic, medicinal and economic plants (PAMEP) has already been created and is being extended to bio-resources for the IBIN portal.

"The aim for PAMEP is to keep track of technical advances to add value to bio-resources. The patent literature is a unique source of inventive ideas. The development of patent database on plants and monitoring of claims will also help the country take appropriate action in protecting bio-resources. It will help scientists and policy makers to conserve and develop biodiversity,'' he added.

Hirwani pointed out that a majority of the patents in case of medicinal plants are granted from the US. "India does not grant patents for applications founded on traditional knowledge. India has to protect its traditional knowledge."

K N Ganeshaiah, head, department of forestry and environmental sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, who has conceived and built the IBIN, said that many institutes across the country have been identified for creating database on bio-resources on various topics for the IBIN portal and URDIP is one of them.

Bio-resources screened by URDIP includes:

Food crops and other agri-resources: 269 species

Forestry: 112 species

Livestock and other animals: 24,336 species

Marine: 1,841 species

Microbial: 13,596 species

* Some of the patents for medicinal plants were claimed under the following categories: Plant breeding and cultivation, traditional knowledge, new medicinal uses, food application, cosmetic use, industrial, other miscellaneous uses

2011-12-27T00:35:00.000-08:00

Global warming is the current rise in the average temperature of Earth's oceans and atmosphere and its projected continuation. The scientific consensus is that global warming is occurring and was initiated by human activities, especially those that increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as deforestation and burning of fossil fuels.

This finding is recognized by the national science academies of all the major industrialized countries and is not rejected by any scientific body of national or international standing.

About one half of the forests that covered the Earth are gone. Each year, another 16 million hectares disappear. The World Resources Institute estimates that only about 22% of the world's (old growth) original forest cover remains "intact" - most of this is in three large areas: the Canadian and Alaskan boreal forest, the boreal forest of Russia, and the tropical forest of the northwestern Amazon Basin and the Guyana Shield (Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Columbia, etc.)

Today, forests cover more than one quarter of the world's total land area, excluding polar regions. Slightly more than 50% of the forests are found in the tropics and the rest are temperate and boreal (coniferous northern forest) zones.

Seven countries (Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, China, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) account for more than 60% of the total.

For millennia, humankind has influenced the forests, although much of the impact has been relatively minor. Today, the impact is enormous. Deforestation is expanding and accelerating into the remaining areas of undisturbed forest, and the quality of the remaining forests is declining. Today we examine global patterns in deforestation, assess the human and ecological costs of forest loss, and discuss some of the steps that can help to rectify this alarming situation.

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