Planetsave

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If anyone ever thought climate sciences were anything but complex, they obviously weren’t looking hard enough. Recent research from prominent UK and Brazilian climate scientists have found a link between reducing sulphur dioxide emissions from burning coal, and the increase in sea surface temperatures in the tropical north Atlantic, that heightens the risk of drought in the Amazon rainforest.

The Amazon is without a doubt one of the planet’s most valuable and important ecological resources; and not for logging. The rainforest contains approximately one tenth of the total carbon stored in land ecosystems, and recycles much of the rain that falls upon its leafy canopy.

Thus, any major change to its vegetation has massive implications for the global climate system.

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The four dams on the Klamath River in far Northern California are under relicensing, something that only occurs every 50 years. The dams are owned by billionaire Warren Buffett, who purchased Pacificorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States, three years ago. Many Californians were hopeful this purchase would mean the end to the dams, but their concerns for the salmon fell on deaf ears. Once again, Warren Buffett rebuffed salmon advocates.

On Saturday, May 3, 2008, American Indian tribes and salmon fisherman failed to gain a private audience with Buffett and were ignored at the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Protesters shouted, “Un-dam the Klamath! Bring the salmon home!“, while shareholders enjoyed complimentary cocktails Friday night. For two years, an unprecedented alliance of tribes, businesses, conservation groups and commercial/recreational fishermen has tried to reach an agreement with Buffett for dam removal. Buffett said that his company would not decide the fate of the Klamath dams, but Berkshire will defer to regulators in California and Oregon. Ironically, dam removal is cheaper than building the fish ladders regulators are recommending. Read the rest of this entry »

That fungus among us may be the answer to uranium-polluted soils eventually being brought back into use.

Researchers at Dundee Unversity in the UK have determined that fungi can block uranium from finding its way into plants, animals or the water supply.

Scientists have found that what they call free-living and plant fungi can, “colonise depleted uranium surfaces and transform the metal into uranyl phosphate minerals”. Read the rest of this entry »

Greenpeace, always good for stirring up trouble, have released a report entitled False Hope to coincide with the seventh annual Carbon Capture & Sequestration conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The report is said to be “…critically examining the status and promise of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.”

Needless to say, Greenpeace aren’t overly happy.

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There’s nothing quite as nice as a really catchy title that perfectly sums up your story. If you want to leave it at that, then you’ve probably got the whole of the story. However if you want to know just a bit more about how climate change is affecting our planet’s poles, then keep reading.

Speaking in a telephone briefing last Friday, Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said that the Arctic and Antarctic are exhibiting opposite effects to the climate change affecting our planet.

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If you’ve read any of my submissions about hemp, you know I’m a staunch supporter of legalizing industrial hemp in this country.

It has many uses, but I’d never thought of decorative until seeing the story about the “Pastie Lady”. You want to publicize hemp and other natural resources, take a cue from 32 year old Jennifer Moss of Ojai, California.

That’s her on the left, decked out in a g-string, skirt and pasties, all made of hemp. Now, who could turn down a better reason for letting our farmers grow hemp, and establishing an infrastructure to produce such interesting clothing items? Read the rest of this entry »

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have finally explained a mystery that fishermen in the California current of the Pacific Ocean have monitored over the past 70 years. Their discovery has resulted in the naming of a new climate pattern, one called the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO).

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Entering a grocery store for a socially and environmentally minded person can be quite a stressful and trying experience. Should you buy that organic, free-range, cage-free, grass-fed, non-GMO, natural, fair-trade beef? How do you know if those chickens really are free to roam in bucolic pastures? How often are the organic farms audited? How do you know if the apple from New Zealand produced less fossil fuels compared to the local one? When the seemingly more ethical products cost up to twice as much as conventional ones, we end up staring at the shelves in a daze with recycle symbols and cheery looking Peruvian coffee growers circling our heads. Read the rest of this entry »

It points up the urgency of Congressman Ron Paul’s latest legislation to decriminalize medical marijuana.

The latest case in point comes from Seattle, where a man was denied a liver transplant, after a University of Washington Medical Center committee denied him a place on the liver transplant list.

His crime? Using medical marijuana, even though it is authorized under Washington state law.

The victim, 56 year old Timothy Garon was authorized by his doctor to smoke pot to relieve abdominal pain, ease nausea and help him eat. Garon was suffering from hepatitis C, which he says he contracted as a teenager by sharing needles with what he called “speed freaks”.

He died one week after being denied a place on the transplant list.

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Earlier, I had written a story on Rep. Ron Paul’s new legislation that would make medical marijuana legal in states that wish to offer it to patients who are suffering extreme pain. As it stands, six states have legalized the use of marijuana for that reason, but the feds still believe people are using the law as a means to legally receive marijuana, without having an issue with pain.

As a result, federal agents have raided clinics and arrested physicians and patients.  Rep. Paul says his new legislation will stop the harassment of innocent people.

I thought you’d like to hear the Congressman talk about the legislation, in his own words.

ron-paul-statement.mp3

Image: www.goodwillhinton.com