Wednesday, 19 June, 2013

Latest Updates

Lizard named after Obama was wiped out by climate change

Well it was just a matter of time before some commie scientists named an extinct animal after the 44th president of the United States. Obamadon gracilis is the name, and the foot-long creature — which was discovered in a fossil bed in Montana — has been extinct for about 65 million years. And ironically, its extinction may indicate that paleolithic changes in climate affected animals differently than previously believed. Paleontologist Nicholas Longrich explains that scientists are now rethinking the idea that the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs spared smaller lizards like Obamadon:....

Ten Years of the Biological Diversity Act

India’s Biological Diversity (BD) Act was enacted in 2002. There is now a decade of its existence to reflect on.The genesis of the law can be traced to the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD), which was signed at the Rio Summit in 1992. While assessing the 10 years of the Act, one has to be mindful of how India itself has undergone change in these years. By the time the Act came into force, trade imperatives had begun to influence environmental law and policy making both at the national and global level. The final shape of the Act and the manner of its implementation through the BD rules issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests....

Endow-Bio, Inc., the First National Endowment for Biodiversity

This is the birth announcement of Endow-Bio, Inc., the First National Endowment for Biodiversity. Please help us to publicize our brand new, all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) public charity. Endow-Bio, Inc. operates wholly within the U.S. Our current crises of nature, conservation and culture call for an audaciously hopeful response in the form of this new public charity. Our mission is to further conservation of biodiversity of native species and their habitats in the U.S., to expose the full breadth of our environmental problems, to show there are good-hearted people working to solve these problems who would ....

Protecting Livestock and Wildlife through Transfrontier Conservation Areas: An Interview with Steve Osofsky

“We are looking to make wildlife and livestock more compatible by dealing with diseases, by dealing with human/wildlife conflict, and at the same time seeking economic opportunity in both of these arenas.” Steve Osofsky, director of wildlife health policy for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), developed the Animal & Human Health for the Environment And Development (AHEAD) program at WCS and served as the first wildlife veterinary officer for the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks. In an interview with Worldwatch Research Fellow Molly Theobald, Dr. Osofsky discusses how farmers can both help and benefit from wildlife c....

Headlines

Using algae to turn carbon dioxide to fuel

Dow and a start –up firm to test process expected to harvest hydrocarbons:Dow Chemical and Algenol Biofuels, a U.S. start-up company, were set to announce Monday that they would build a demonstration plant that, if successful, would use algae to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol for use as a vehicle fuel or an ingredient in plastics....
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Monday,29 June, 2009 | Hits: 107

India to be hit with carbon tax?

Should the industrialized world be allowed to put an import tax on goods from India because it has a ‘high carbon content'? In what is bound to stir the hornet's nest in days to come, the US House of Representatives has passed a Bill that demands additional tariffs on goods from countries that do not take on commitments to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. ...
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Monday,29 June, 2009 | Hits: 102

Green tribunal to deal with environmental violations

The authority will have technical experts on it: To deal with thousands of environmental cases in various courts all over the country in an orderly fashion, the Centre has proposed to create a National Green Tribunal to adjudicate cases related to violation of the Environmental Protection Act.The quasi-judicial body will have judicial and technical members and hear disputes related to environmental abuse and violation of the Environmental Protection Act.Examples of Environmental Protection Act violation cases include destruction of the environment, polluting river and lake waters, cutting down forests and allowing illegal mining. A cabinet note on the formation of the National Green Tribunal is being discussed by various ministries, environment minister Jairam Ramesh said on Friday. It will go to Parliament after the Cabinet approval as a new law would be needed to set up a tribunal.On the lines of CATThe National Green Tribunal would function in the same line as the Central Administrative Tribunal and its decisions could be challenged only in the Supreme Court, said Jairam Ramesh.Only civil matters will come under the ambit of the NGT. The criminal cases, if there are any, will be tried in regular courts.However, environmental clearances given to various projects by the union ministry cannot be challenged in the NGT. For that, a separate body – national environment appellate authority – is already in place.Additional powersThe new tribunal will have more power and authority as compared to an existing tribunal which deals only with hazardous substances. The ministry is in the process of creating a new environment protection authority to strictly monitor violation of environmental laws. A national Ganga river basin authority with Rs1, 000 crore corpuses is also in the offing....
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Sunday,28 June, 2009 | Hits: 88

India, turning on the heat

Nostalgic about good ol’ times when the climes were cooler, the variations more moderate and the temperatures less searing? Now that nostalgia comes with statistical backing. ...
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Saturday,27 June, 2009 | Hits: 58

Scarred by dirt and decay

Lazy roads meander their way to one of India’s most-famous hill stations. The roads are good, the frequent fencing painted, and every sharp turn marked by advice on safe driving. For any traveller escaping the baking plains, the vacation seems to start off just right. Barely an hour’s drive from Dehradun, Mussoorie promises a cool time. ...
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Saturday,27 June, 2009 | Hits: 89

Obama looks forward to work on climate change

US President Barack Obama looks forward to working with India and other representatives of the 17-member Major Economies Forum (MEF) on the issue of climate change during its meeting on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Italy next month, the White House has said. ...
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Saturday,27 June, 2009 | Hits: 100

Teri: Climate change may aid terrorists

Mountain passes in J&K have usually been blocked with show in the winter months, freezing the flow of terrorists into the state. Climate change could lead to further melting of snow on mountain passes which could further open up these routes to infiltrating terrorists, The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) has told the Army....
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Saturday,27 June, 2009 | Hits: 88

Jairam for more transparency

The Environment Ministry today specified conditions before promoters lay down foundation stones for projects. ...
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Friday,26 June, 2009 | Hits: 65

Grain bowl is weather-proof

A below-normal monsoon of 93 per cent of the long-period average rainfall (LPAR) predicted by the Indian meteorological department will not affect kharif production this year. ...
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Thursday,25 June, 2009 | Hits: 81

Will it flow to its glory again

WHAT CAN BE DONE: Maximise utilization of the existing treatment facilities and ensure reuse of treated effluents Treatment facilities need to be construction close to the source of sewage generation. Centralized STPs cannot be the only option as the cost of transporting waste to the treatment facility and transporting treated effluent back to the point of reuse makes them too expensive to run. Steps should be taken to achieve dilution the in the river-mainly by reducing the city’s demand for freshwater A concerted efforts needs to be made to revive the water bodies and their catchment areas to store maximum run-off, which could than be used for local water needs of could be released into the river for dilution. The river bed needs to be defined properly any a river law like costal laws needs to be devised in order to avoid encroachments. Over Rs 2,800 crore have been spent to clean it up but Yamuna is nowhere close to being the river again. The need of the hour is to take urgent measures devoid of politics and red tape or else we should be ready to write the river’s obituary, says ASRP Mukesh ...
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Thursday,25 June, 2009 | Hits: 123

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