January 2012 Blog Posts (10)

Industry needs to see the benefits of ecology initiatives a new report suggests. Industrial ecology initiatives seek to reduce environmental impact by reducing the use of virgin materials and energy consumption by reusing waste products, by products and by producing energy from waste. New research suggests that the main driver for these initiatives is financial gain (e.g. reduced costs), with regulation playing a smaller role.

see:…

Up to 84% of species in grasslands provide essential services, highlighting the importance of biodiversity. New research shows for the first time that almost every species (both common and rare) in an ecosystem contributed at least once to the functioning of that ecosystem and their contributions were context dependent, making it hard to predict the effects of losing even a single species.Conservationists argue that since we do not necessarily know which species are important, all should be…

UNEP/GRID-Arendal has produced a report on migratory species.

Through the air, over land and in water, over ten thousand species numbering millions of animals travel around the world in a network of migratory pathways. The very foundation of these migratory species is their connection to places and corridors across the planet. The loss of a single point in their migration can jeopardize the entire population, while their concentrations make them highly vulnerable to overharvesting and…

It’s a biologist’s dream — a rock band that’s named after plankton and makes conservation cool.

Navicula means small ship in Latin. It is the name shared by an estimated 10,000 species of microscopic algae that are part of the larger group called diatoms that forms the basis of freshwater and marine food chains.

These tiny plankton produce about a quarter of all the oxygen we breathe. They feed the tiny…

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUWqVKvYKWs&context=C3657397ADOEgsToPDskL7w9RQTm6nbyXLcnduu04v

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.

Many of us are thinking about the changes we want to make this year. For some, these changes will be financial; for others, physical or spiritual. But for all of us, there are important resolutions we can make to “green” our lives. Although this is often a subject focused on by industrialized nations, people in…

If the ground beneath my feet last week could talk, it could tell a long story of land and logging, crime and conservation — the kind of story that defines rainforest politics.

I had come to Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia to learn about its potential to protect the Bornean orang-utan, a species whose total population is so small it could not fill all the seats at a World Cup football stadium.

The park is immense. It covers…

There were 50 ape experts in a room and a quick game to play to break the ice. “If you agree with the statement, go to the left side of the room,” said the facilitator. “If you disagree go to the right.”

She then unveiled eight simple words that split the room in two: “Local poverty is the main threat to apes.”…

INTRO

The Just Concluded United Nation Summit on Climate Change which took place in Durban South Africa between the 28th of November and 9th of December 2011 resulted in an extension of the Kyoto Protocol that is meant to elapse at the end of 2012.

This resolution and other modalities reached such as the green climate fund and further negotiation on a legal binding agreement that would help reduce global emission, portend a lots for Africa and Nigeria in particular.

The…

I’m not religious but I was moved by the force of what Bishop Geoff Davies said as his gentle voice of faith stormed into a thunder that rolled across the room and bounced off its walls.

“It’s extreme heresy,” he boomed. “And it must be proclaimed as such.”

Read the rest of this post at Under the Banyan