Green watchdogs warn I.Coast's tropical forests at risk

Ivory Coast's rare tropical forests risk vanishing due to excessive exploitation by timber logging firms, environmental watchdogs warned Thursday.

"Of the 123 companies in timber exploitation, only two respect the forestry regulations," Jacob N'Zi, head of Ecological Group of Ivory Coast (Geci), told AFP.



Geci accused the firms of ignoring a 2,000 to 10,000 cubic metre annual quota imposed by authorities for timber harvesting.

"If we are not careful, at this rate Ivory Coast forests will disappear in 10 years," N'Zi said.



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NASA Administrator Not Sure Global Warming A Problem

Michael Griffin NASA Administrator has told America's National Public Radio that while he has no doubt a trend of global warming exists "I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with." In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep that will air in Thursday's edition of NPR News' Morning Edition, Administrator Griffin explains: "I guess I would ask which human beings - where and when - are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take."

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Source:terradaily.com

Native Australian shrubs

• myrtle wattle
• spike wattle
• hedge wattle
• golden wattle
• hop wattle
• sweet wattle
• prickly moses
• swamp sheoak
• silver banksia
• hairpin banksia
• showy bossiaea
• sweet bursaria
• common cassinia
• drooping cassinia
• prickly currant-bush
• common correa
• smooth parrot-pea
• sticky hop-bush
• common heath
• hop goodenia
• golden tip
• mountain grevillea
• yellow hakea
• furze hakea
• prickly guinea-flower
• erect guinea-flower
• austral-indigo
• prickly tea-tree
• heath tea-tree
• swamp paperbark
• scented paperbark
• snowy daisy-bush
• tree everlasting
• boolace bush
• common rice-flower
• handsome flat-pea
• elderberry panax
• hazel pomaderris
• victorian christmas bush
• rough bush-pea
• golden spray
• pink-bells
• dusty miller
• large kangaroo-apple
• mutton-wood

New energy rules could unleash an economic boom and help quash climate change

In 1997, as the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change was being negotiated, the U.S. Senate voted, 95-0, to reject any agreement that "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States." The senators were acting on the widespread fear that the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy would hurt American businesses and cost millions of jobs. Those were the beliefs and the politics of the times.

Ten years later, it's increasingly clear that it will be more costly not to act on global warming than to act. Clean, renewable, efficient energy will not be a burden but a boon -- the next in a series of revolutions, beginning with telecom and digital that have invigorated our economy with new ideas, new industries, and new jobs.

Voters, investors, activists, business leaders, and policy experts are pushing for clean energy to create jobs, limit climate change, and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. And yet, progress is slow: oil imports and carbon emissions continue to rise. Why?

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Carbon emissions have sped up since 2000

World emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide increased three times faster after 2000 than in the 1990s, putting them at the high end of a range of forecasts by an international climate change panel, scientists report. Carbon emissions grew at a 3.1% annual rate between 2000 and 2004, compared to 1.1% per year in the previous decade, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Lead author Dr Mike Raupach, from Australia's CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research and the Global Carbon Project, says that nearly 8 billion tonnes of carbon were emitted globally into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide in 2005 compared with 6 billion tonnes in 1995.

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Cyclones may blast turtles to extinction

Full story: Cyclones may blast turtles to extinction

Source: http://www.turtles.org/atlgrnd.htm

More severe tropical cyclones expected as a result of climate change may lead to the extinction of the green sea turtle in some areas within 100 years, researchers say.The cyclones are expected to threaten how well the turtles nest and hatch eggs, placing pressure on already endangered populations, some of which are also threatened by fish trawling.Researchers including PhD candidate David Pike, from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney, report their findings online in the journal Oecologia.

Full story: Cyclones may blast turtles to extinction

Southern Ocean carbon sink filling up fast

Click here to read the full story: Southern Ocean carbon sink filling up fast

The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is so loaded with carbon dioxide that it can barely absorb any more, so more of the gas will stay in the atmosphere to warm up the planet, scientists report.

Human activity is the main culprit, says researcher Dr Corinne Le Quéré, who calls the finding very alarming.The phenomenon wasn't expected to be apparent for decades, says Le Quere, from the UK's University of East Anglia. "We thought we would be able to detect this only in the second half of this century, say 2050 or so," she says.



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Aquarium fish 'threaten biodiversity'

Read the full story Aquarium fish 'threaten biodiversity'



The millions of exotic fish imported each year to fill Australia's aquaria and ornamental ponds are a ticking time bomb for the continent's biodiversity, say some experts.

And they say Australia will find it hard to protect itself unless international trade laws are reformed.

"There is no doubt that aquarium fish that are being imported into Australia every week carry pathogens that have the potential to cause severe ecological impacts," says the University of Sydney's Professor Richard Whittington, a specialist in the health of aquatic animals.


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Antarctic reveals treasure trove of life

Carnivorous sponges, 585 new species of crustaceans and hundreds of new worms have been discovered in the dark waters around Antarctica, suggesting these depths may have been the source of much marine life, European researchers report.




Read more:Antarctic reveals treasure trove of life

Xericaping Favourite!

Please support our xeriscaping competition that is aimed at encouraging waterwise landscape designs.

click on the link to be redirected: Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping competition: vote for your favourite

Australians have learnt how to live with drought conditions. Click on the link to see some amazing xeriscaping transformations and vote for your favourite:
Xeriscaping competition

online directory for australian enviro-friendly products

Green Pages is the new mecca for envirofriendly products in Australia.

this is the online directory of business that we might need on an everyday basis, but with a twist: it only features enviro-friendly products.

"Green Pages Business is the vehicle that will put big business in touch with the innovators working in environmental sustainability, The Green Pages Business directory lists companies involved in energy, finance, consulting, architecture, construction, office supplies, recycling, media, packaging, transport and water, who are leaders in sustainability."
"We believe Green Pages will dramatically increase the market share of sustainable business. We've created a first in Australia, if not the world." says Katie Patrick , the founder of Green Pages.

click on this link to explore:green pages

From drought-stricken to drought-tolerant

If you live in Australia, you know how hard it has been lately, and it is not going to get better. Everything around us is dying as we prepare for an uncertain future. And then something inspiring happens.



living WITH drought

DecoR Pebble Garden Beauty Contest

DécoR Pebble Garden Bauty Contest

Water-wise garden designs play a crucial role in making our communities beautiful, and most of all, sustainable.
DécoR Pebble, Australia's leading supplier to decorative pebbles and stones, decided to run the 'garden beauty contest' to reward their customers who used pebbles from the Australian Natural Stone range to create a garden that displays water-wise garden principles.

To vote for your favourite garden, simply click on the picture below and you will be redirected to the page containing the TOP 5 etnries.





You can vote 05-May-2007 until 24-May-2007 5pm!