ECOLOGY

SEARCHING FOR CROPS THAT CAN WITHSTAND CLIMATE CHANGE

DAVID ADAM, GUARDIAN, UK - An unprecedented effort to protect the
world's food supplies from the ravages of climate change will be
launched today by an international consortium of scientists. The move
marks a growing recognition that serious changes in weather patterns are
inevitable over the coming decades, and that society must begin to
adapt.

Some L200m a year will be poured into the research by governments across
the world to help agricultural experts develop crops that can withstand
heat and drought, find more efficient farming techniques and make better
use of increasingly fragile soil and scarce water supplies.. . .

The initiative will be launched in Washington DC by the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research, an umbrella group for 15
agricultural research centres across the world.

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,1963449,00.html

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XEROX WORKING ON REUSABLE PAPER

TREE HUGGER - Almost half of the paper used in American offices is for
daily use. It is for display, not storage and, at the end of the day,
it's in the trash can. All of the energy that was put into harvesting,
processing, and shipping that paper was, in the end, for less than a
day's use. . .

Recently, Xerox unleashed a prototype printing system with printed
sheets that erase themselves in preparation for their next day's work.
Beyond the obvious uses in the top-secret, mission impossible sector,
Xerox is hoping that the system will decrease the consumption of paper,
and thus the cost of running an office.

Of course, the system isn't without its disadvantages. Offices would
need to buy special paper and special printers to be used specifically
for day-use projects. The sheets are automatically blank 16 hours after
printing, so if you want that information again, you'll have to reprint.
Also, the ink is light purple and the paper is yellow, making for less
than ideal reading conditions.

The system is based on 'paper' that contains light sensitive materials.
When exposed to certain wavelengths of light, the paper changes to a
darker that then slowly fades.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/xeroxs_reusable.php#perma

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Climate Scientist Says "Kyoto" Barred
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/121106EA.shtml
A federal climate scientist in Boulder says his boss told him never to utter the
word Kyoto and tried to bar him from using the phrase climate change at a
conference. The allegations come as federal investigators probe whether Bush
administration officials tried to block government scientists from speaking
freely about global warming and attempted to censor their research.

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Congress OKs Drilling off Florida
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/121106EB.shtml
Congress gave final approval this morning to legislation to open 8.3 million
acres of federal waters west of the Florida coast to oil and gas drilling, a
victory for business interests who lobbied for the bill and four Gulf Coast
states that would receive billions in new oil and gas royalties. But even
drilling supporters admitted it was just a tiny fraction of the publicly owned
area they had hoped to open during 12 years of Republican rule of Congress.

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LIFE IN AMERICA'S GREENEST CITY

PLANET ARK - Nestled between the Willamette and McKenzie rivers in
central Oregon, [Eugene OR] has adopted aggressive environmental
policies aimed at conserving energy, using alternative fuels and
fostering an industry of green businesses. Nonetheless, Eugene struggles
with many of the same problems facing other growing US cities: urban
sprawl, congested roadways and limited public transportation.

"If you compare us to many communities, we're ahead of the game. But we
know that it's just baby steps compared to what is possible," said
Eugene City Manager Dennis Taylor.

By 2020, Eugene aims to be carbon neutral in its buildings and
operations, by which the city means it will offset its carbon dioxide
emissions with conservation, energy efficiency or spending on a form of
renewable energy. . .

Promoting high-density housing and less automobile use is not an easy
political move, but city officials hope to appeal to the environmental
passions of its 146,000 residents, a fervor once described by the Los
Angeles Times as "virtually a religion."

The Green Guide, an environmental newsletter, ranked Eugene at the top
of its survey of America's most eco-friendly cities in 2006, based on
criteria like air quality, recycling, green space and transportation.
Austin, Texas, was runner up and Portland, Oregon, came third. . .

Eugene's vision is to transform the city's downtown into a more vibrant
area with mixed commercial- and residential-use buildings to stem city
sprawl, while buying up land for new parks and bike paths.

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/39415/story.htm

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LIFE IN BRITAIN'S GREENEST TOWN

PATRICK BARKHAM, GUARDIAN - [Norfolk] has just been named the country's
greenest community, boasting the highest concentration of eco-friendly
businesses in the nation, according to a survey by online listings
people Locallife. . . Norwich is a pleasant place with an attractive
medieval centre, and out of all Britain's cities has one of highest
ratios of green space per resident. But how environmentally friendly is
it? And how has it gone green?

Shoppers in the Green Grocers, a smart organic supermarket wedged
between charity shops in the city suburbs, have no doubt that the Green
party has played a major part. "We've got the biggest [local] Green
party and I think that's what has made things change around here," says
Julie Dean, an optometrist, who is on her way to donate belongings to a
charity shop.

The May elections gave Norwich city council nine Green councilors, more
than on any other council in the country. Although it is controlled by a
minority Labour group, the Greens hold the balance of power and claim to
have helped improve recycling, designate Norwich an official fair-trade
city, find funding for a cycling officer to improve cycle routes, and
block cuts to rural railway finances. . .

Green businesses appear to have reached a critical mass in Norwich.
Residents can find a local, eco-friendly version of almost anything,
from Living Clean, an environmentally friendly cleaners that devises its
own cleaning products, to permaculture landscape gardeners Roots to
Fruits and Booja Booja chocolate, which is vegan and organic. There are
ethical investment companies and ethical builders. . .


Some believe its eco-awareness sprang from green radicals who moved from
the big conurbations to settle in Norfolk in the 70s; others point to
the influence of the University of East Anglia, home of the
internationally renowned Climatic Research Unit and other green
initiatives such as CRed, a carbon-reduction project. . .

There is still no home collection for plastics or compost in Norwich,
while the Conservative-run county council wants to remove waste by
burning it in a controversial incinerator proposed for the edge of the
city. "The city council aren't doing that brilliant a job in recycling
from people's houses," says local resident Vanessa Lockwood.

Traffic congestion is a growing problem and the county council wants to
solve it with a northern bypass, which would deposit traffic in the
suburbs if it does not plough through the beautiful Wensum valley. Bus
services are poor, say some locals. "It's very difficult to be green in
the evening," says Lockwood, who must use a car if she wants to have
dinner with a friend across the city because so few bus routes operate
late.

Clearly, there is a long way to go, particularly in tackling traffic and
developmental pressures. "If Norwich is the greenest city in Britain,
that says some problematic things about other places, because if you
compare it with continental cities, it is far short of where we would
want to be," says Rupert Read, the Greens' transport spokesman. But then
again, as he says, "If we can have this greening happening in Norwich,
you can have it all over Britain".

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/story/0,,1966256,00.html

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LAKE VICTORIA DROPS SIX FEET IN PAST THREE YEARS

CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP - At 27,000 square miles, the size of Ireland,
Victoria is the greatest of Africa's Great Lakes ­ the biggest
freshwater body after Lake Superior. And it has dropped fast, at least
six feet in the past three years, and by as much as a half-inch a day
this year before November rains stabilized things.

The outflow through two hydroelectric dams at Jinja is part of the
problem ­ a tiny part, says the Uganda government, or half the problem,
say environmentalists. But much of what is happening to Victoria and
other lakes across the heart of Africa is attributable to years of
drought and rising temperatures, conditions that starve the lakes of
inflowing water and evaporate more of the water they have.

An extreme example lies 1,500 miles northwest of here, deeper in the
drought zone, where Lake Chad, once the world's sixth-largest, has
shrunk to 2 percent of its 1960s size. And the African map abounds with
other, less startling examples, from Lake Turkana in northern Kenya,
getting half the inflow it once did, to the great Lake Tanganyika south
of here, whose level dropped over five feet in five years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061209/ap_on_sc/warmer_world_african_lakes&printer=1


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