November 24, 2009

Hundreds of Antarctic icebergs floating towards New Zealand

Global warming has melted a large number of ice in the arctic and Antarctic. Last news said that as the effect of global warming, hundreds of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning.
An Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist said the ice chunks, spotted by satellite photography, had passed the Auckland Islands and was heading towards the main South Island, about 450 kilometers or about 280 miles northeast.

Scientist Neal Young told AFP that more than 100 icebergs, some measuring more than 200 meters (650 feet) across, were seen in just one cluster, indicating there could be hundreds more. They were the remains of a massive ice floe which split from the Antarctic as sea and air temperatures rise due to global warming.
All of the icebergs have come from a larger one that was probably 30 square kilometers (11.6 square miles) in size when it left Antarctica

The icebergs make a long circuit around Antarctica and the bigger parts of it are breaking up and producing smaller ones. Large numbers of icebergs never floated close to New Zealand since 2006. The first sighting was in 1931 when a number came within 25 kilometers of the coastline.

New Zealand has already issued coastal navigation warnings for the area in the Southern Ocean where the icebergs have been seen. Maritime New Zealand spokesman Ross Henderson say that It is a general warning for shipping in that area to be on the alert for icebergs.

The icebergs are smaller remnants of the giant chunks seen off Australia's Macquarie Island this month, including one estimated at two kilometers (1.2 miles) and another twice the size of Beijing's "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium.

More and more icebergs will seen in the area if the Earth's temperature continues to increase and the current trends in global warming were continue.
When icebergs last neared New Zealand in 2006, a sheep was taken by helicopter out to be shorn on one of the floes in publicity stunt by the country's wool industry.

If we let this continued without do something soon we will loose numbers of islands, as the impact of sea level rising. Even a small reduce of the carbon emition could help us to see that islands for longer time.

Antarctic ice has melted!

So far, global warming has been known to melt ice in the polar north. Actually, Global warming also make a similar result to the layer of ice in the Antarctic. If this continues, we might soon lose the land where we stand today.

Results of recent studies published in Nature Geoscience mention that ice sheets in East Antarctica, once seen mostly unaffected by global warming, has lost billions of tons of ice since 2006 and could push sea water level rise in the future.

The study also shows that the smaller but less stable ice in the West Antarctic mass loss in a very large number. Global warming is also feared could spark rapid division of West Antarctica, melt the ice that will pushing the global ocean surface as high as five meters.

In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel for the UN climate change (IPCC) predicts sea levels will rise 18 to 59 centimeters in 2100 at the latest, by not entering the impact of ice began to crack in Greenland and Antarctica. Greater impact would have happened if they were taken into account.

Many scientists say that even if the emission of CO2, one of the causes of global warming is limited, the surface of the ocean water may be increased by about three feet. This is enough to make some small island countries and could also damage the habitable and fertile delta of the habitat of hundreds of millions of living beings.

More than 190 countries will gather in Copenhagen, in December, to design a climate change agreement to curb greenhouse gases and help poor countries cope with the consequences

November 19, 2009

Mobile phone increased risk of brain tumors

Mobile phone users have more risk for brain tumors.
In the U.S. study, the scientists had found a relationship between mobile phone and brain tumors. DrDeepa Subramaniam, director of the Brain Tumor Center at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC says that there is no link between hand phone and brain tumors. But Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health says there are obvious risks.
"I'm not going to let the children to use cell phones, or I would at least require them to use a separate headset," said Moskowitz.

The researchers found that using the phone for over a decade or more resulted in 18 percent increased risk of brain tumors tend to appear on the side where the phone is used, Moskowitz said. But Moskowitz sure also potentially harmful to other areas of the body - the genitals, for example - when the phone is carried in a pocket.

"We need to do more research because the stakes are very high and there seemed to be suggestive evidence that you are more careful about this, especially in children, who have developed networks and smaller brain size and skull," Moskowitz warned.

Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking for more research into the risks posed by long-term cell phone use, rather than the more frequently studied short-term risk. It's urgent that research has focused on the health of children, pregnant women and fetuses as well as workers who use mobile phones in the long term.
See also:AntaraNews

November 15, 2009

APEC fails to agree on details in battle against climate change

Every body, every country has to make effort to battle against climate change. APEC may be not a forum to discuss about the climate change. A good story is there are good efforts about it, because climate changes will impacts many things, even economic. But there isn’t any detailed commitment to the battle against climate change.

Antara news reporting that As their two-day summit closed in Singapore, the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum apparently revealed a serious gap between developed and developing countries over how they could share the burden of cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The result is feared to affect a key U.N. climate change conference next month in Copenhagen.

November 10, 2009

Will we loose the islands?

Global Warming is one of the most talked issues of the 21st century. We know that, the pollution is increasing even in a larger ratio when the world population is increase. Many countries should implemented “Green” policies, to protect the environment and future of the earth. These policies are increasingly being implemented in Central Europe in countries such as Germany. Recycling garbage, plastic, and even old appliances belongs to the strict regimen. Other policies such as fines imposed on littering, burning of waste or leaves, and even the encouragement of collective transportation have been imposed.
In the Philippines a Waste Management Act has been implemented. But some say that in our everyday lives; the sad reality comes crushing down on Filipinos that barely care for the environment. People burning their garbage in their home and on the streets, shower with the abundance of fresh water. All of these plays a big role as a contributor in global warming.


Let us see and analyze the facts about what caused of global warming. Many people believe (which is also true) that so called greenhouse gases that emit CO into the atmosphere which causes the rays of the sun to be kept within the earth atmosphere for a longer time, since it bounces back. This causes an increase of temperature, which in turn causes more natural catastrophes. Although this is the main cause of global warming, there is yet another cause, which has something to do with the cycle of our Sun. Every ten to twelve years, the sun is in its peak and vice versa. The peak is the solar maximum, which means that this is when the sun is the hottest and emits more solar storms than ever. This period should be the solar maximum of the sun, since the last was in the 90s. This is also an important factor that contributes to global warming.


Some people think that global warming does not really affected their life. Let’s see it again. Because of global warming Dengue fever is spreading much farther and faster around the country due to increased humidity. Global warming make the shores will soon move closer by a meter or more each year as impact of the icecaps melting. Global warming caused more and more floods on the islands and surrounding regions. Global warming make people hunger because their crops were destroyed in natural disasters such as storms, floods, or heat/dryness. Global warming threatens to submerge parts of Manila, Philippine and wipe out the entire islands. Global warming caused the increased of sea level, we will lose islands because of it.

November 5, 2009

Impacts of deforestation

Deforestation not just impacted the forest biodiversity. Deforestation also impacted the soil. Forest soil layer was have high nutrition that created by natural composting activity. When the vegetation on the area not exists anymore, soils will disable to receive the rain that will make erosion and flood. Deforestation will removed this fertile layer, soils then become very thin and poor in nutrients. When an area is completely deforested for farming, the farmer typically burns the trees and vegetation to create a fertilizing layer of ash. After this slash-and-burn deforestation, the nutrient reservoir is lost, flooding and erosion rates are high, and soils often become unable to support crops in just a few years. If the area is then turned into cattle pasture, the ground may become compacted as well, slowing down or preventing forest recovery.


people make their livings through subsistence agriculture, hunting and gathering, or through low-impact harvesting of forest products like rubber or nuts. Deforestation large scale by loggers or “outside people” could make social conflict. People will lose their land that will affect their live.


Forest make important rule to the water cycle. The forest will receive the rain well. Water evaporates from the soil and vegetation, condenses into clouds, and falls again as rain in a perpetual self-watering cycle. The evaporation also cools the Earth’s surface. Deforestation will remove this cycle and increased the earth temperature.

November 3, 2009

Global Warming and carbon cycle


In the Amazon alone, scientists estimate that the trees contain more carbon than 10 years worth of human-produced greenhouse gases. When people clear the forests, usually with fire, carbon stored in the wood returns to the atmosphere, enhancing the greenhouse effect and global warming. Once the forest is cleared for crop or grazing land, the soils can become a large source of carbon emissions, depending on how farmers and ranchers manage the land. In places such as Indonesia, the soils of swampy lowland forests are rich in partially decayed organic matter, known as peat. During extended droughts, such as during El NiƱo events, the forests and the peat become flammable, especially if they have been degraded by logging or accidental fire. When they burn, they release huge volumes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

It is not certain whether intact tropical forests are a net source or sink of carbon. Certainly, the trunks of trees are a large, stable pool of carbon that grows as forests mature or regenerate on previously cleared land. But trees, plants, and microorganisms in the soil also respire, releasing carbon dioxide as they break down carbohydrates for energy. In the Amazon, huge volumes of carbon dioxide escape from decaying leaves and other organic matter in rivers and streams that flood large areas of forest during the rainy season. Undisturbed tropical forests may be nearly neutral with respect to carbon, but deforestation and degradation are currently a source of carbon to the atmosphere and have the potential to turn the tropics into an even greater source in coming decades.

That's way we should keep the forest because it will help to stabilize the earth climate. Deforestation will impacts many factor in environment. see alsoImpact of deforestation in tropical forest biodiversity

November 2, 2009

10 simple things you can do to save the earth.

Love the earth for a better life for all. We live on it, so we should take care of it. You can read '10 ways to maintain love' to keep your relationship. But if you do not know how to keep the earth, you may follow these.

1. Use your light efficiently. When you don’t need it, turn it off. That decreased heating and energy you use, good for environment and save your money too.

2. Use energy saver fluorescent lamp. If you have a regular incandescent bulb at your house, you should change it to a compact fluorescent bulb. It is good to the environment, and save a lot of your money. Although a fluorescent bulb may seem expensive, energy experts confirm that you will save more money with a fluorescent bulb long term. Even though incandescent bulb may be cheaper, it will burn out often. Furthermore, fluorescent bulb will only use a quarter of energy to generate the same amount of light.


3. Pay attention to your water. Turn off the running faucet when you brush your teeth. If you leave the water running for two minutes, you waste up to ten gallons of water. Try drinking tap water instead of bottled water, so you aren't wasting all that packaging as well.


4. Turn down the heater. If you must turn on the heater in the winter, you should set it at 135 degrees. Try to put on thicker blanket or jacket when you go to bed. You may not even need your heater. Wash your clothes in cold water when you can. Make your home more energy efficient (and save money). Clean your air filters so your system doesn't have to work overtime. Get a programmable thermostat so you aren't wasting energy when you aren't home.


5. Carry cloth shopping bags. Cloth shopping bags are better than plastic shopping bags for the environment. Used paper box will be a good choice too.


6. Recycle: Recycle newspapers, plastic, cans, or glass. Learn about your local recycling facilities. Recycle whenever you can. If you're trying to choose between two products, pick the one with the least packaging.


7. Alert your family about the environment: If you have children, you should teach them about recycling. Teach them to love the environment.


8. Leave your car at home. If you can stay off the road just two days a week, you'll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds per year. Combine your errands -- hit the post office, grocery store and shoe repair place in one trip. It will save you gas and time.


9. Walk or ride your bike to work, school and anywhere you can. You can reduce greenhouse gases while burning some calories and improving your health. If you can't walk or bike, use mass transit or carpool. Every car not on the road makes a difference.


10. Compost. Think about how much trash you make in a year. Reducing the amount of solid waste you produce in a year means taking up less space in landfills. Plus, compost makes a great natural fertilizer.

November 1, 2009

Impact of deforestation on tropical forest biodiversity.



Although tropical forests cover only about 7 percent of the Earth’s dry land, they probably harbor about half of all species on Earth. Many species are so specialized to microhabitats within the forest that they can only be found in small areas. Their specialization makes them vulnerable to extinction. In addition to the species lost when an area is totally deforested, the plants and animals in the fragments of forest that remain also become increasingly vulnerable, sometimes even committed, to extinction. The edges of the fragments dry out and are buffeted by hot winds; mature rainforest trees often die standing at the margins. Cascading changes in the types of trees, plants, and insects that can survive in the fragments rapidly reduces biodiversity in the forest that remains. People may disagree about whether the extinction of other species through human action is an ethical issue, but there is little doubt about the practical problems that extinction poses.



First, global markets consume rainforest products that depend on sustainable harvesting: latex, cork, fruit, nuts, timber, fibers, spices, natural oils and resins, and medicines. In addition, the genetic diversity of tropical forests is basically the deepest end of the planetary gene pool. Hidden in the genes of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria that have not even been discovered yet may be cures for cancer and other diseases or the key to improving the yield and nutritional quality of foods—which the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says will be crucial for feeding the nearly ten billion people the Earth will likely need to support in coming decades. Finally, genetic diversity in the planetary gene pool is crucial for the resilience of all life on Earth to rare but catastrophic environmental events, such as meteor impacts or massive, sustained volcanism(Lindsay,R).



Deforestation results in declines in biodiversity. The removal or destruction of areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity. Forests support biodiversity, providing habitat for wildlife moreover, forests foster medicinal conservation. With forest biotopes being irreplaceable source of new drugs (such as taxol), deforestation can destroy genetic variations (such as crop resistance) irretrievably.
Since the tropical rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on Earth and about 80% of the world's known biodiversity could be found in tropical rainforests, removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity.



Scientific understanding of the process of extinction is insufficient to accurately make predictions about the impact of deforestation on biodiversity. Most predictions of forestry related biodiversity loss are based on species-area models, with an underlying assumption that as forest are declines species diversity will decline similarly. However, many such models have been proven to be wrong and loss of habitat does not necessarily lead to large scale loss of species. Species-area models are known to overpredict the number of species known to be threatened in areas where actual deforestation is ongoing, and greatly overpredict the number of threatened species that are widespread.



It has been estimated that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation, which equates to 50,000 species a year Others state that tropical rainforest deforestation is contributing to the ongoing Holocene mass extinctionThe known extinction rates from deforestation rates are very low, approximately 1 species per year from mammals and birds which extrapolates to approximately 23,000 species per year for all species. Predictions have been made that more than 40% of the animal and plant species inSoutheast Asiacould be wiped out in the 21st century. Such predictions were called into question by 1995 data that show that within regions of Southeast Asia much of the original forest has been converted to monospecific plantations, but that potentially endangered species are few and tree flora remains widespread and stable(wikipedia)



At the amazon, various bird species from the lower mountain slopes have colonised the new dry areas upslope, and many herptile species have declined in abundance or vanished. Three frog mortality events coincided with the three annual peaks in dry day frequency. There is circumstantial evidence that these declines are linked to increased activity of parasitic flies following frog concentrations around water sources. These changes serve to highlight the complex relationships between local climate, land use and species survival (Miles,L.J)



References:
Lindsay,Rebecca. Tropical deforestation. Nasa earth observatory; http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Miles,L.J. The impact of global climate change on tropical forest biodiversity in amazonia. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/16/1/LJM_thesis_complete_text.pdf

Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation