OSA

Scarlet Macaw

The most biologically intense place on earth

By Nick St Clair for the Earthtimes.org

      Costa Rica has long been renowned for its incredible biodiversity; a small, yet environmentally rich country that is home to over 5% of the entire world's animal and plant species.

      Lying along its south-western coast is the Osa Peninsula, a tiny strip of land measuring just 35 miles long and 20 miles wide and covered in magnificent, unspoiled rainforest. The Osa Peninsula is itself home to half of all the species in Costa Rica, that's a staggering 2.5% of the entire biodiversity of the planet, living on a mere 0.00000085% of the earth's total surface area.

      Formed geologically by the same faulting system that extends to California, this patch of Costa Rica's last remaining tropical humid rainforest embraces a complex system of freshwater and marine systems; there are 13 major ecosystems, ranging from sea level to 745 metres and encompassing mangroves, sandy beaches and elevated primary forests.

      As a result, the Osa Peninsula is home to over 700 species of trees, which is more than all the North temperate regions of the world combined. Trees that are comparable in grandeur to the best that the Amazon Basin and the South East Asian forests have to offer, with 80 endemic species and the largest tree in Central America, a giant Silk Cotton tree some 77 metres tall.

      There are 117 species of reptiles and amphibians, 365 species of birds and over 120 species of mammals, (all with varying degrees of endemism). Its forests are home to endangered species such as Baird's tapir, the white-lipped peccary, the American crocodile, the harpy eagle and the Central American squirrel monkey.

Endangered Central American harpy eagle

      It's a place where jaguars still roam the jungles, scarlet macaws fly freely about the town and the enormous humpbacked whales swim close to its shores. The Osa Peninsula holds possibly the highest natural diversity on the planet, inspiring The National Geographic magazine to describe it as "the most biologically intense place on earth"...

To read the rest of this article please go to:

http://www.earthtimes.org/conservation/osa-peninsular-the-biologically-intense-place-earth/2020/

Hey! why can't I read the full text here?

Duplication of a site’s content has a negative effect on its popularity with Search Engines. So in the drive to provide my clients with unique, original (and entertaining) content, even though I wrote this I don't even reproduce it fully myself.

RECYCLE!

Cuba! Revolutionary recyclers.

by Nick St Clair for earthtimes.org

      Whether the blame lies with America's 60 year old trade embargo or just bad government, the fact is that for decades the people of Cuba have had to learn how to cope with limited resources. The current economic situation is so bad that even essential items such as soap and toothpaste have been erased from the already meagre ration books.

      But out of this bleak scenario has emerged some remarkable ingenuity. Cuba is renowned for the adaptability of its people; and no where is it shown more poignantly than when it comes to recycling. In a country where the average monthly wage is just £10, it's often a question of survival and as a result, necessity has become the mother of all invention.

      Just about everything in Cuba is collected and recycled. Rum bottles cut down to size to serve as drinking glasses, CD cases make picture frames, iconic Cuban cigar labels make coasters and bookmarks, even plastic bags are washed, hung out to dry and reused.

      But if you really want in to experience at first hand the Cuban's ingenuity for improvisation, just take a taxi. It's a ride which will take you on a journey of recycled materials and energy saving that is stretched to the very limits...

To read the rest of this article please go to:

http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/cuba-revolutionary-recyclers/981/

Hey! why can't I read the full text here?

Duplication of a site’s content has a negative effect on its popularity with Search Engines. So in the drive to provide my clients with unique, original (and entertaining) content, even though I wrote this I don't even reproduce it fully myself.

OBAMA

President Obama unveils Climate Action Plan for the US

 By Nick St Clair for climateactionprogramme.org

         President Barack Obama has just unveiled a series of measures designed to combat this growing threat, which include: introducing limits on emissions from power plants, encouraging renewable energy projects, improving flood resilience and a call for an international agreement on climate action.
         It's by far his boldest statement of intent yet on the subject of climate change and follows on from his inaugural address to mark his second term as President; when he pledged to act, stating for the record that climate change was an immediate threat as last 15 years have been the 12 hottest years on record.

        Speaking at Georgetown University in Washington DC, President Obama said: "As a president, as a father and as an American, I am here to say we need to act." He then mocked climate change sceptics. "I don't have much patience for anyone who denies that this challenge is real," he said. "We don't have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society. While we may not live to see the full realisation of our ambition, we will have the satisfaction of knowing that the world we leave to our children will be better off for what we did."
         The plans may be aiming to cut CO2 by just 4 per cent (less than a fifth of the amount achieved in the EU), but at least it’s a step forward and many US environmental think-tanks are simply happy to be moving in the right direction.

To read the rest of this article please go to:

http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/blogs/president_obama_unveils_climate_action_plan_for_the_us/

Hey! why can't I read the full text here?

Duplication of a site’s content has a negative effect on its popularity with Search Engines. So in the drive to provide my clients with unique, original (and entertaining) content, even though I wrote this I don't even reproduce it fully myself.

 

OUCH!

      Strange though it may seem, one of my worst fears about living in a cloud forest hasn't been treading on a snake or being bitten on the neck by a mountain lion, it's always been getting stung in a sensitive and intimate place by a scorpion.

      The other day my worst fears were realized.

      It happened after an early morning shower, I grabbed a towel and began to dry myself vigorously around my nether region, which apparently the scorpion didn't appreciate - and it hit its intended target. Luckily it was only a small one, (the scorpion that is) but it didn't half make me hop around, long enough for the scorpion to make its exit. 
      Shortly after my neighbour came round and I told her I had been stung.

      "Donde? (Where?)"

      "Aqui (Here)" I said pointing downwards.

      She laughed so hard I thought she was going to have a fit.

TED TALK

Teacher:  "What are you drawing?"""

Child:  "A picture of god."

Teacher: "But no-one knows what god looks like."

Child: "They will in a minute!"

This priceless exchange is an excerpt from a TED talk called "Do schools kill creativity," where Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

If you haven't come across the TED talks yet, you're in for a treat.

http://www.ted.com TEDTalks shares the best ideas from the TED Conference with the world, for free: trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses, all giving the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.

GOOD, BAD, WHO KNOWS?

      

      The emperor loved to go hunting. Worried for his safety, his advisors insisted that he take his personal doctor with him at all times in case of an accident.

      One day the emperor cut his finger and summoned his doctor and asked if he thought it would be alright.

     The doctor replied,

     "Good, bad, who knows?

     The Emperor was a little put out, but he trusted his physician and carried on hunting. 

     The next day his finger was getting worse and had become infected, so again he called for his doctor. As the he was cleaning the wound, again the emperor asked him if he thought it was going to be alright, and again the doctor answered,

      "Good, bad, who knows?

      The emperor was a little put out, but he said nothing and dismissed the doctor.

      A few days later the finger had become badly infected and the doctor had to amputate it. The emperor was furious and had the doctor thrown into the palace dungeon.

      When his hand had healed, the emperor set off hunting again. Unfortunately he lost his way and was captured by a forest tribe who believed in human sacrifice, so they took him back to their village and called their high priest to make the sacrifice. But the priest noticed the emperor had a finger missing so he wasn't perfect and therefore unworthy of sacrifice to their gods, so they set him free.

     The emperor rode straight back to the palace and went down into the dungeons where the doctor was incarcerated. He released him from his cell, apologising profusely,

      "If it hadn't been for my missing finger I would be dead now. I did a very bad thing in having you locked up, please will you forgive me?"

      The doctor smiled at the emperor and replied

      "Good, bad, who knows? If you hadn't locked me up in the dungeon I would have been with you out hunting, I too would have been captured and I have all my fingers so I would have been sacrificed instead of you.

Adapted from a Youtube dhaama talk by Ajahn Brahm 'F' is for Forgiveness

Wild Futures: Joey's Story by Stephen Fry

CLIMATE ACTION

The featherweight battery that packs a heavyweight punch

 

  By Nick St Clair 

for 

climateactionprogramme.org

in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme

      While the search for sustainable energy solutions has gone global, some scientists are thinking small.
Imagine a battery just a few millimetres in size, yet so powerful that it could power a smartphone for weeks without recharging or even jump-start a flat car battery.

       Once again the world of science fiction has become reality, thanks to a team from University of Illinois which has developed a new type of battery that is set to revolutionise the way we power electronics and vehicles; the creation of microbatteries that are many times smaller than currently commercially available, yet many times more powerful...

To read the rest of this article please go to:

http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/blogs/energy_innovations_the_featherweight_battery_that_packs_a_superheavyweight/

Hey! why can't I read the full text here?

Duplication of a site’s content has a negative effect on its popularity with Search Engines. So in the drive to provide my clients with unique, original (and entertaining) content, even though I wrote this I don't even reproduce it fully myself.

 

Image courtesy of Ale Paiva

TOAD RIP

 The Golden Toad/Sapo Dorado R.I.P.

      A mission to discover whether any of 100 amphibian species believed to be extinct are still alive has ended with few successes to report.The five-month project took researchers to 21 countries; but only four of the targeted 100 were found. Researchers describe these as "glimmers of hope" in a group of animals severely threatened by changing land use, disease, pollution and climate change.

      Particularly galling was the failure to find the golden toad of Costa Rica, which was once so prevalent in Montverde. This beautiful and iconic animal is believed to have been killed off by the fungal disease chytridiomycosis and hasn't been seen for over 20 years.

       So I guess it's fair to say that it has probably croaked.

 

Polar Bear Politics

 

 by Nick St Clair for Earthtimes.org

       

      More disturbing news for environmentalists, with the announcement that the US Department of the Interior has granted Shell tentative approval to begin drilling exploratory wells in the Arctic Ocean starting next year.

     

      The move represents a major step forward in the oil giant's efforts to exploit the vast oil and gas resources under the Arctic Ocean which it claims holds 27 billion barrels of oil; sufficient to power 25 million cars for 35 years. It also confirms a willingness by the Obama administration to restart oil and gas exploration, a move which many claim has been fuelled by high petrol prices and high levels of unemployment. Not surprisingly, environmental groups have been dismayed by the announcement, especially as they have long warned the government that because the freezing waters of the Arctic are dark and inaccessible, a spill in the Arctic would be even more catastrophic than the Gulf of Mexico accident.

      To make matters worse there are worrying reports of political interference with the work of a leading government scientist. The scientist in question is one Dr Monnett who rose to prominence with his 2006 report on sightings of dead polar bears in Arctic waters which became a cause celebre for campaigners seeking to highlight the effects of climate change and the alarming retreat of sea ice.

      The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement placed Dr Monnett on "administrative leave", simply citing "integrity issues", but the documents posted by the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility suggests that the inquiry concentrates solely on the 2006 report.

Dr. Monnett's supporters suggest that a witch hunt is underway, especially as the government sent criminal investigators with absolutely no scientific credentials to grill him. After the reports of the drowned bears circulated, Dr. Monnett himself is quoted as saying that "we got blasted, you know, really hard, by the agency". At another point, he said of his superiors, "They don't want any impediment to, you know, what they view as their mission, which is to, you know, drill wells up there" and "put areas into production." 

 

      Support for Dr. Monnett has come in the shape of The Centre for Biological Diversity which has submitted a formal request for an independent investigation of Interior and a Freedom of Information Act request in order to get to the bottom of the story...

To read the rest of this article please go to:

http://www.earthtimes.org/politics/polar-bear-politics/1622/

Hey! why can't I read the full text here?

Duplication of a site’s content has a negative effect on its popularity with Search Engines. So in the drive to provide my clients with unique, original (and entertaining) content, even though I wrote this I don't even reproduce it fully myself.