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Land deal may save endangered B.C. caribou herd

Posted by Shemuses from CBC

The federal government and Nature Conservancy Canada have announced a plan to preserve 550 square kilometres of remote valleys, mountains and lakes in the southern interior of British Columbia that may save an endangered herd of mountain caribou. The acquisition of the property, known as Darkwoods, is one of the largest single private conservation project ever undertaken by a Canadian non-profit organization, the Nature Conservancy said in a statement released Thursday. Craig Pettitt of the Valhalla Wilderness Society said the plan is superior to the one put forth by the B.C. government last fall because it gives the 45 members of the South Selkirk mountain caribou herd a decent shot at survival.

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Scientists solve riddle of toxic algae blooms

Posted by garrettmoon from Canada

After a remarkable 37-year experiment, University of Alberta scientist David Schindler and his colleagues have finally nailed down the chemical triggers for a problem that plagues thousands of freshwater and coastal ecosystems around the world.

By pumping various pollutants into Lake 227, a small pristine lake in the Experimental Lakes region of northern Ontario, they were able to pin down which chemical nutrients were key to triggering the blooms.

"Phosphorous really is the key," says Schindler, whose study is highlighted in the U.S.-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

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A dash of lime -- a new twist that may cut CO2 levels back to pre-industrial levels

Posted by garrettmoon from PhysOrg.com

Scientists say they have found a workable way of reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere by adding lime to seawater. And they think it has the potential to dramatically reverse CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere, reports Cath O'Driscoll in SCI's Chemistry & Industry magazine published today.

Adding lime to seawater increases alkalinity, boosting seawater's ability to absorb CO2 from air and reducing the tendency to release it back again.

81 votes | 4 comments

Canada: This is the dirtiest oil in the world

Posted by Jeff from therealnews.com

The Guardian: What happens when the world's biggest oil companies target a northern wilderness?

81 votes | Post comment »

The Brick Works - nature in the heart of the city

Posted by dragonden from

The old Toronto Brick Works factory has been turned into a nature preserve. It\\\\\\\'s a great place to spend a few hours hiking the trails and looking at scenery. Here\\\\\\\'s some photos and information about our recent visit.

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Weyerhauser: Logging and landslides - What went wrong?

Posted by Jeff from Seattle Times

Those fears came true last December when a monster storm barreled in from the Pacific, drenching the mountains around the Chehalis River basin and touching off hundreds of landslides. Little Mill Creek, filled with mud and debris, turned dark like chocolate syrup. More than three months passed before nearly 3,000 valley residents could drink from their taps again.

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Local Nestlé water plant? Not in our town, Enumclaw says

Posted by Jeff from Seattle Times

For now, Nestle has taken its show down the road to Orting. There, Mayor Cheryl Temple is keeping an open mind. In her humble opinion, Enumclaw jumped the gun. "I always believe that if someone comes to town to do business, we should at least give them the respect of letting them pitch to us, and see where we go from there," she said. Her town of 6,000 needs all the jobs it can get. As for Nestle sucking it dry, and staining its landscape, Temple is not having any of that. There are laws in place to prevent that from happening. And what's this resistance to the idea of a big corporation, as if the very word were dirty to say? "Multinational?" she said. "Starbucks is multinational."

40 votes | Post comment »

Boeing, SkyHook to build 'blimp on steroids' - for remote resource extraction

Posted by Jeff from Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Under the plan announced Tuesday by Boeing, based in Chicago, and Skyhook, a privately held business in Calgary, the Jess Heavy Lifter, or JHL-40, a helium-filled dirigible powered by four large helicopter-style rotors, would be designed to carry up to 40 metric tons of steel, trucks and other goods nearly 200 miles without refueling. Earth-moving equipment, steel and other cargo would be slung from the belly of the blimp-like device, intended for use in roadless areas such as northern Canada for use in petroleum, gas, diamond and metal exploration and development.

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Ecuador Constitutional Assembly Votes to Approve Rights of Nature In New Constitution

Posted by Jeff from Idealog.US

On July 7, 2008, the Ecuador Constitutional Assembly - composed of one hundred and thirty (130) delegates elected countrywide to rewrite the country's Constitution - voted to approve articles for the new constitution recognizing rights for nature and ecosystems. "If adopted in the final constitution by the people, Ecuador would become the first country in the world to codify a new system of environmental protection based on rights," stated Thomas Linzey, Executive Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.

51 votes | 6 comments

Utah is going to a 4-day workweek to save energy

Posted by Jon from CNN

Shorter workweeks save energy.

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Beijing Turns Green Before the Olympics

Posted by Shemuses from

From shopping to driving to eating, Beijing residents are rearranging their lives to help save the environment just in time for the Olympics Games this August.

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Chinese Pollution = Increase in Cancer

Posted by bugaloo from

In attempting to increase its economic development, the Chinese regime has managed to increase its mortality rates. China is one of the most polluted countries in the world, if not the most polluted.

Statistics furnished by the World Bank are astonishing: 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are located in China; 90% of urban groundwater in China is contaminated; it is estimated that circa 900,000 people die every year from air and water pollution.

Highly toxic heavy metals such as lead and mercury contaminate cultivable terrain thus poisoning the food, while the number of Chinese citizens who die due to lung cancer and other serious respiratory diseases is constantly increasing....

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