ECOLOGY

WARMING SEAS DRIVING WATER CREATURES NORTH

ALOK JHA, GUARDIAN,UK - Climate change has forced seashore creatures
around Britain to relocate, with warming seas pushing many species of
barnacles, snails and limpets north in search of cooler areas of coast,
according to a new study. . . By comparing their new data with 1950s
records from the same areas, researchers found that some marine species
adapted to cold water were migrating away from warming seas, and were
moving faster than their terrestrial counterparts. They include toothed
and flat topshells, acorn barnacles, China limpets and small
periwinkles. . .

Increased global temperatures have also confused birds this winter:
robins, thrushes and ducks that would normally fly south from
Scandinavia have only been turning up in Britain in December - long
after snow usually drives them south. According to ornithologists,
Bewick's swans, which usually arrive in Britain from Siberia in October,
seemed to have stopped for longer than usual in countries such as
Estonia or the Netherlands because of plentiful food there. . .

Sea surface temperatures around Britain have increased in line with
global warming, in some places by more than the global average: the
western English Channel has seen a 1C rise since 1990, bigger than any
changes since records began. There have been similar changes in the
eastern Channel.

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1975720,00.html

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THE GERMAN TOWN THAT THREW AWAY THE CAR KEYS

ISABELLE DE POMMEREAU, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR - It's pickup time at
the Vauban kindergarten here at the edge of the Black Forest, but
there's not a single minivan waiting for the kids. Instead, a convoy of
helmet-donning moms - bicycle trailers in tow - pedal up to the
entrance. Welcome to Germany's best-known environmentally friendly
neighborhood and a successful experiment in green urban living. The
Vauban development - 2,000 new homes on a former military base 10
minutes by bike from the heart of Freiburg - has put into practice many
ideas that were once dismissed as eco-fantasy but which are now moving
to the center of public policy. . .

The car-ownership rate in Vauban is only 150 per 1,000 inhabitants,
compared with 430 per 1,000 inhabitants in Freiburg proper. In contrast,
the US average is 640 household vehicles per 1,000 residents. But some
cities - such as Davis, Calif., where 17 percent of residents commute by
bike - have pioneered a car-free lifestyle that is similar to Vauban's
model. . .

Rows of individually designed, brightly painted buildings line streets
that are designed to be too narrow for cars. There are four
kindergartens, a Waldorf school, and plenty of playgrounds - a good
thing, because a third of Vauban's residents are under age 18, bucking
the trend in a graying country. . .

But what makes Vauban unique, say experts, is that "it's as much a
grass-roots initiative as it is pursued by the city council," says Mr.
Scheurer. "It brings together the community, the government, and the
private sector at every state of the game."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1220/p01s03-woeu.html?s=hns

WHAT VAUBAN DOES & HOW IT DOES IT
http://www.vauban.de/info/abstract.html

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NEW BACKPACK EASES LOAD AND DISCOMFORT

NEW SCIENTIST - A backpack that reduces the forces on your body when
carrying heavy loads could help prevent injury, allow soldiers to carry
more equipment and even speed up the response time of emergency
services, its designer claims. When people walk, they tend to raise and
lower their bodies by between 5 centimeters and 7 cm with each step. If
they are carrying a backpack, the extra load must also be raised by the
same amount and this puts extra strain on the body.

Now Larry Rome, a muscle physiologist at the University of Pennsylvania
in Philadelphia, US, has worked out a way to reduce these forces by
fundamentally changing the design of the backpack.

His new design consists of a frame which a person wears like an ordinary
backpack. However, the load is suspended from the frame by elasticated
bungee cords which lengthen as the wearer takes a stride, thereby
keeping the load at a constant height.. . .

Rome says being able to run comfortably while carrying a heavy load
could make life easier for many groups of people. He points out that
children often suffer bone and muscle injuries from carrying heavy
schoolbooks and believes his backpack could help. And first responders
in the emergency services also often have to carry heavy loads.

The backpack also reduces the total energy needed to carry heavy loads
by around 40%. That may make it possible for people such as soldiers to
carry heavier loads. "You can carry 60 lbs in our backpack for the same
metabolic cost as 48 lbs in a normal backpack, hence you can carry 12
lbs for free," he says.

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10835-bouncy-backpack-
seriously-lightens-load.html

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This Rocks Our Sox Off
Boston will require new large buildings to meet green building standards

Hooray, Boston: The city is soon expected to require that all new construction projects of 50,000 square feet or more meet green building standards. Projects will be required to follow at least 26 of about 70 suggestions for green design and construction, similar to the U.S. Green Building Council's minimum LEED standards. Buildings will not be required to be LEED-certified -- "The LEED process can be lengthy, onerous in documentation, and costly," says James W. Hunt III, Boston's chief of environmental and energy services -- but the city will have its own certification process, and will revise its building code to adhere to the standards. "We'll be the first city to implement green building requirements," says Hunt. Um, not quite: Pasadena, Calif., requires much of its private construction to meet green standards, New Mexico requires compliance for all buildings over 15,000 square feet, and many other locales, including 18 states, have green standards for new public buildings. But a big pat on the back for Boston nonetheless.

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straight to the source: The Boston Globe, Thomas C. Palmer Jr., 19 Dec 2006

straight to the source: The New York Times, Katie Zezima, 20 Dec 2006

see also, in Grist: Top green-building system is in desperate need of repair

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