| Eco-Volunteerism: How You Can Get Involved Dear EarthTalk: Where can I locate directories of environmental groups, businesses and jobs so that I can get involved in making a difference? -- Jeanette, Carle Place, NY [More] rss.sciam.com |
A Clunker of a Climate Policy The Cash for Clunkers program offers a cautionarytale for the future of climate change control. The federal program paid individuals up to $4,500 to replace their “clunker” automobiles with new, higher-mileage vehicles. Part of the purpose was to give a lift to the ailing auto industry. Another part, at least it was claimed, was to mitigate climate change by getting old high-carbon-emissions vehicles off the road. But billions of dollars were spent quickly without clear answers on what we were getting for our money.The broad principle of climate change mitigation is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the combustion of fossil fuels, to target levels at the minimum net cost to society. There are many ways to reduce emissions: drive more efficient or electrically powered vehicles; produce electricity with renewable energy sources; capture CO 2 from power plants and store it geologically; restart the nuclear power sector; weatherproof homes to reduce energy for heating and cooling.... The list is long, with different time horizons, costs and uncertainties. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Is Coal Ash Hazardous? More than a year after 1 billion or so gallons of water polluted by ash spilled from a coal-burning power plant in Tennessee , the Obama administration is struggling to decide whether to declare such waste "hazardous."Slapping a hazardous label on coal ash and other coal byproducts would trigger the writing of a federal disposal standard to replace a patchwork of state regulations. The standard could outright ban wet storage ponds -- such as the one that ruptured in December 2008 in Kingston, Tenn. -- and require landfill liners, leak controls and groundwater monitoring at ash dumps. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Ayurveda out of balance: 93 percent of medicinal plants threatened with extinction Traditional Ayurvedic medicine could face an uncertain future as 93 percent of the wild plants used in the practice are threatened with extinction due to overexploitation, the Times of India reports.The Botanical Survey of India recently prioritized 359 wild medicinal plant species and conducted an assessment throughout the country to determine their health. The news wasn't good. Of the 359 species, 335 were categorized as critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable or near-threatened. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Toxic avenger: One man's desperate idea to save the rhinos--poison their horns With rhinoceros poaching in Africa approaching an all-time high , one nature preserve owner has had enough. Ed Hern, owner of the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve near Johannesburg, South Africa, is experimenting with injecting cyanide into his rhinos' horns. He believes the poison will not harm the rhinos, because there are no blood vessels in the horn to carry the poison the rest of the rhino's body. But if anyone kills the animals and sells the horns for use in traditional Asian medicine, the end-consumer could pay the ultimate price. [More] South Africa - Africa - Poaching - Rhinoceros - Medicine rss.sciam.com |