Archive for April, 2008
April 24th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
“Throughout the world we encounter seeds that represent the beginning of parasite growths that must sooner or later be the ruin of our culture … (O) ne of the most powerful principles of the rule of nature: the interior of segregation of all species living beings on this earth. “- Adolph Hitler, 1943
“Now more than ever, it’s time to be vigilant, and for all of us to play a role in protecting those things that define us as a quintessential country-these things make our country and our spirit unique and special in the world.” — Biosecurity New Zealand, 2004
In 2006, the legislature of the State of Hawaii passed a law which defines officially introduced the coqui tree frog as “parasites” species. The frog, loved in his native Puerto Rico, has a distinctive chirp night that disturbs some Hawaii residents. While other residents and owners appreciate the coqui and its sound, those who want to silence the frogs are agitated for a “war Frog”, and have pushed through legislation to allow the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to force his way on private property spraying poisons to kill coquis owner without consent. The official “plague” designation gives the government of this right, trumping the rights of private property. And Hawaii is not the only place this is happening. The attack on non-native species is demanding property rights worldwide, and poses a serious threat to life and freedom.
Because of human relationship around the planet, species of animals and plants are being introduced, intentionally and unintentionally, in environments that they are not currently found. Some of these introductions may lead to environmental changes and a shift in natural balance. Governments worldwide are developing methods for controlling the spread of species, including programs to exclude imports, exports prevent and eradicate undesirable “foreigners” who “do not belong.”
That the introduction of species can change the environment in which they immigrate is undeniable and can be scientifically and objectively assessed. Or if these changes are not desirable or benefits, however, is a subjective matter, based on value judgments and politics, and not on science.
There are many cases where the introduction of a species is clearly against the interests of human health. For example, none of the values that human life would encourage the introduction of a disease carrying mosquitoes in areas where they are not currently found. However, the issue is not that mosquitoes are “alien” to the new environment, but are dangerous, regardless of their “Nativity”. In fact, the eradication campaigns against these mosquitoes would take place even if they were a “native” species. The same goes for other harmful pests that pose a threat to human health.
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April 24th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
Water pollution could result in four types of diseases: borne water, water washed, basic water and water related.
Diseases borne water could rise or fecally transmitted orally. Some are caused by bacteria, these include cholera and typhoid. Some others are caused by viruses or bacteriophages phage. Jaundice and infectious hepatitis are among them. Still others are the hands of protozoan. Meningo amoebic and amoebic dissentery are the first of these examples.
Water borne diseases can be prevented or improve the quality of drinking water, or to prevent the use of water from unhygienic sources.
There are also some diseases that can be classified as water washed diseases, because it is spread from person to person, using water as the medium. Skin diseases, leprosy and conjunctivitis are among them. To prevent the spread of diseases water washed, should improve access to a reliable domestic water supply, and also increase the amount of water available for washing, cleaning, etc., in order to prevent sharing the same water for many people.
Trematode liver and Guinea worm disease which are among the diseases water-based. Control of snail populations, filtering the water with a fine mesh cloth, so as to eliminate the larvae, Cyclops or snails will help prevent these diseases, apart from the disinfection of contaminated water.
Diseases associated with water refer to those vector of spreading bodies. Malaria, dengue and filaria are among these. These can be prevented to destroy breeding sites of insects. In addition, we should seek to diminish the need to visit these sites, and use mosquito nets while sleeping at night.
Diseases of biological origin arising from polluted water include Dracunculiasi, which is a guinea worm infestation.
The disease affects humans, adult, when the freshwater crustaceans Cyclops are in larval stage.
The symptoms of the disease include a stinging or burning sensation to hear the person afflicted, before he or she perceives the appearance of a blister. Blisters then breaking and forms an ulcer, when the affected area of skin becomes wet. This happens when the female worm larvae is about to exhaust on the surface of the skin. Nausea and vomiting could also coincide with the first appearance of the blister.
Other diseases of biological origin caused by polluted water are schistosomiasis, Giardiasis, Cryptosporidiosis, Cyclospora, Naegleria, the disease caused due to cyanobacteria, cholera and other vibrios, Typhus and PARATYPHOID, Shigellosis (bacillany dysentery), Campylobacterios, Escherichia coli, Yersinia infections, Plesiomonas infections, Aeromonas infections, Pseudomonas infections, (aerobics, nonspore forming, Gram negative bacilli), melioidosis, Legionnaire’s disease, leptospirosis, mycobacterial disease, Tularaemia, Helicobacter infections, hepatitis, viral gastroenteritis, enterovirus infections , Including polio and infections Adenoviral.
Of these schistosomiasis can be fatal if occasionally Katayama fever, occurs within 4 to 6 weeks of infection.
Symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and anorexia, flatulence and swelling. In some cases, as with disease caused due to cyanobacteria, rashes are common. In cholera, kidney and heart failure occurs due to dehydration. Della tuberculosis and leprosy can result mycobacterial disease. Hepatitis occurs with jaundice.
April 24th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
With an ever growing demand for energy used, composed almost every imaginable was designed to be used as a substitute for petroleum products. How are the wars of oil unleashed worldwide and greenhouse gases threaten to destroy the ozone layer, once and for all, but is now high time that we diverted our attention towards sustainable, renewable and safe Security sources of usable energy. No substance may have more potential towards fulfilling our need for a clean renewable still a source of energy than ethanol.
What exactly is ethanol? If you have never heard of the term, probably inadvertently have yet seen on a store shelf or in a cooler. Why? Why ethanol is the common scientific name for alcohol. What is right, alcohol which is the portion of alcohol all alcoholic beverages is ethanol. Ethanol is also known as alcohol or grain alcohol. There is talk of wheat grain alcohol, because that is what is typically used to make ethanol. Wheat is not the only thing that can be used to make ethanol, and this is why has such a huge potential.
Ethanol is the byproduct of the breakdown of sugars microorganisms. Sugars can be found in every type of starch grains, potatoes, or even cellulose. And ‘it really makes that scientists hope that ethanol could revolutionize the energy industry as we know it. In essence, ethanol is a usable form of energy derived from energy bonds that are in starch and sugar. Ethanol since it comes from vegetable sources, when burned has a neutral carbon dioxide balance.
Carbon dioxide refers to the net balance of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere burning of a given fuel. Since the facilities are used to make ethanol sequestration of carbon dioxide during their development, it is this same carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere when ethanol is burned. This means that no new carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when ethanol is used, and this fact means that using ethanol as opposed to fossil fuels that we are saving our ozone layer and the environment.
Before the explosive increase in the price of fuel, the production of ethanol for fuel was too expensive. The time progresses and oil becomes scarce and prohibitively expensive, ethanol will continue to become a pole of attraction for alternative fuels. A key development that could absolutely revolutionize the production of ethanol is bacteria. Scientists are working on developing a method of producing ethanol using strains of bacteria that can convert any kind of sugar-including-in cellulose ethanol.
If we could turn the cellulose into ethanol in a cost effective manner, ethanol would be extremely cheap and eco-efficient, because bury tonnes out tons of pulp annually in the form of plant by-products such as pine needles and husks of corn. Even straw could be used to produce ethanol if the scientists managed to make a cost effective method for the conversion of cellulose into ethanol.
One of the main attributes that make ethanol a viable alternative to fossil fuels is the fact that it can be used in gasoline engines. This means that the current fleet of vehicles powered by gasoline could be converted into ethanol vehicles with a few simple changes cheap, and many times without changes at all. This means that cars, boats, trains, planes and that run on gasoline could run on ethanol. Ethanol could replace gasoline perhaps permanently if good governance and basic initiative was formed to defend its use.
Ethanol has the potential to be the future of petrol. As our society becomes increasingly dependent on declining supplies of oil, and masses wake up to the horrible effects pollution is having on our environment there will be a mass movement for change. There is a good chance that ethanol will embody the struggle for eco-renewable energy.
April 24th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
In today’s world you can find very difficult to come across examples of living fossil. Fossil living is a term used by scientists means that live animals and plants that are substantially unchanged from the fossilized remains of their predecessors. Some examples are currently being tested are those of alligator and crocodile which were presumably for about 200 million years. There is, however, that exceeds the crocodile and alligator, and that comes in the form of a species of tree called the Ginko Biloba, which says it has been for about 270 million years. What if it `s not surprising herself, would not have existed for 1000` s of years if it were not for human intervention.
Scientists Europeans believe that like the rest of the family Ginko, Ginko Biloba was also extinct. But all this was to change when Englebert Kaempfer, a German scientist and explorer traveled to Japan in 1691. For its shipment would often visit monasteries, and here in the gardens would discover Ginko Biloba trees have been grown for their medicinal properties. In 1693 Englebert Kaempfer left Japan to return to Europe and gave a number of seeds of the trees in Utrecht Ginko the botanical garden.
An important factor that has Ginko biloba tree, which has undoubtedly contributed to the fact that it is highly resistant to disease, and that because it was said that some trees have lived for over 2500 years. The Ginko Biloba is unknown in most parts of the world and more so in the wild. However, it has recently been found growing in the wild in Zhejiang, a province in China, but is now considers that there they were planted because of limited diversity in Zhejiang population.
The Ginko biloba tree is a hard and you can not really imagine how a tree so strong has to rely on humans to help make success. Even more-so if one considers the fact that there are four Ginko Biloba trees Hiroshima who survived the atomic bomb blast but only two kilometers away from the area of explosion.
One of the main factors that have enabled the Ginko biloba tree to be successful is that it is widely used in traditional oriental medicines. The future also looks good for the Ginko biloba tree as there are now claims that helps with the central nervous system, with research under way to assess its usefulness for Alzheimer `s sick.
April 17th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
Have you noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of unwanted e-mail in your box: ads, coupons, credit card 'pre-approval' announcements, and what is not? I can hardly my legitimate mail in most of the lake. In my community mail center, there is a conveniently placed trash that is perpetually overloaded with discarded mail. Not only is the mail slightly intimidating, but it is also an extraordinary waste of paper, and it is not recycled. In our age of Greenpeace and Al Gore inspired quests for the preservation of the Earth, why nobody has spoken up about this growing atrocity? Perhaps someone, somewhere, but I have not heard of any measures taken to stop this abuse of our diminishing resources.
My theory is that these marketing vehicle has led, after the 'not do' lists that we have, to protect ourselves from the intimidation of the telemarketers. Telemarketing has disappeared paper, and they are relentless in their pursuits through the post office. Call me a tree hugger, but not call me indifferent to the various efforts for the preservation of the Earth.
“What should we do?” Was the question of Billy Kwan to Guy Hamilton in the 1983 film “The Year of Living Dangerously”, and this question comes from my thoughts on a variety of ethical issues and political policies. What should we do? To begin, we must first acknowledge the problems. However small, however seemingly unattainable, we can not just, 'Do Nothing'.
In the scheme of things, an end to the waste of valuable trees, may seem absurd narrow. But small things that go unnoticed, it can build into larger things in the blink of an eye in the modern era. And maybe this article is not really about trees. Awareness is the key. But action is the only way to enforce change. Look around you and ask yourself, “What can I do?” We certainly used to a society of demonstrators.
April 17th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
Earth Day 2008 on April 22 will take place during Turnoff Week (April 21-27) this year, provided the ultimate opportunity to think about our connection with nature. Children and adults spend too much time watching screens. This takes away from other important activities, such as reading, fitness and most significantly with the natural environment. The enthusiasm from these coinciding events is an excellent opportunity for the current routines again to us and our children with nature and the renewal of respect for the values of our world and its inhabitants.
Turnoff Week 2008 (April 21 – 27) is a national effort to raise awareness of the public about the consequences of excessive screen time and its correlation with the children. It is estimated that more than 20 million people participate each year. “American young people spend more time watching television, recreational use of computers and playing video games than anything else,” says Robert Kesten, director of The Center for SCREEN TIME-Awareness. “If we are looking for a world with a future, then we have to maintain the human interaction with others and the environment.”
There are currently two celebrated Earth Day: The United Nations Earth Day was introduced as a UNESCO conference on the environment in 1969 and was the first event on the equinox in March 1970. The April 22 event was first proposed by the US senator Gaylord Nelson as a nationwide grassroots environmental demonstration in which 20 million Americans demonstrated for a sustainable environment. According to the Earth Day Network, this annual event is now regarded as the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated by more than half a billion people a year.
“The purpose of Earth Day is to help people make simple changes in their daily lives that reducing fuel consumption, saving water, generating less waste, and lead to sustainable buying habits. Simple things , as the disabling of the TV on a daily basis, can lead to a positive change without prejudice to our lifestyle “stated Keith Treffry, Director of Communications for Earth Day Canada. “It may seem small, but when your neighbor has their part, and their neighbours, then suddenly small actions will be something big and important.”
One big change we can make is to turn off all of our screens and spending more time outside. You can not connect with the beauty of nature by the meeting on a screen. Children should be excluded, with all their senses to the natural world. They need to feel the heat of the sun or the coolness of the wind, the smell of the flowers, hear the sound of the leaves whispering and feel the dew drops on a leaf. This hands-on encounters, can not be found on a screen. Exploring the beauty of nature helps build respect for our planet and all its inhabitants.
You can reconnect with nature by many non-screen activities for both children and adults:
* Start A weekly walking or eco-club to share your interest with other families.
* Schedule in a daily walk or run.
* Keep a diary nature.
* Introduction of a small organic garden and plant some vegetables.
* Plant or adopt a tree.
* Study in detail a local ecosystem, like an old log of a pond.
* Keep the details of an everyday object in nature.
* Experience the beauty of nature by focusing on the different senses.
* Listen slowly toward nature and write what you hear. *
sit under a tree and write a poem or a song.
* Draw or paint images of a landscape or objects in nature.
* Look for patterns in nature (such as fractals, the golden ratio and Fibonacci numbers).
April 17th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
Going green is really going back to many of the ways we use to live for the world went crazy. In our human and technological efforts to increase the convenience factors in our lives, we have destroyed our available natural resources. We went through them as they were unable to ever exhausted, and now we are suffering the consequences. The people of the past lived closer to nature and respected the fragile natural balance that dictate our survival. When we decide to “Go Green”, we are simply admit that we have abused what Mother Nature has given to us and it is up to us to try to restore those gifts. We destroyed them – now we have to build them again, even if we can.
Here are some simplistic effective methods that each of us can employ in our lives to help restore biodiversity and the environment vibrance on our planet. If you have heard it all, then perhaps it's time to ask yourself why you have not done:
Set your thermostat 2 degrees lower in the winter and 2 degrees higher in the summer. It can save you money and help save the planet.
Put some $ 5 water-efficient shower heads on your shower water. Why have problems with the water leakage just when you can take the pressure of the water from your shower with cheap shower heads and save?
Wash your clothes in cold water and use a line to dry. Most people do not really your clothes dirty that unless they are employed in the construction or something similar. Line drying your clothes indicates that smell of fresh that all of the dryer sheets are chemically tries to imitate.
unsubscribe from the mailing list for the many directories that you receive each year. Most of these are just thrown and fill our landfills with an unnecessary waste. This can only save the United States billions of dollars of wasted resources and contribute to the creation of a green spiritual shift for the entire society.
Replace your incandescent light bulbs burned out with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps. The light is better and they last much longer – plus they look cool.
Energy conservation is a great way to go green, and a good feeling about the pro-active direction of responsibility for the environment! Inform
regularly And encourage your local utility providers provide you with green alternatives. Renewable energy sources eliminate the emission of greenhouse gases and many other toxic substances in our air, soil and water. Oh yes, they cost less too!
Buy a filter for your tap water instead of bottled water from the store. Plastic bottles are ecological disasters. They are expensive and a major source of landfill waste container and thus abuse.
Embrace the concept of meat. Our human bodies are not designed to assimilate constant metabolize and animal muscles. We are designed to operate at optimal water-rich foods – such as vegetables. If you just can not commit to a life of meat, how about just to do one day a week? Two? Gecommercialiseerd meat production not only terribly mistreats the animal stock, unleashes immense quantities of pollutants in our environment, consumed excessive amounts of energy and water and spreads diseases such as avian flu.
Finally you can just speak up. In those many times when you hate to talk about the weather – again, the issue of conservation and environmental responsibility. It makes for engrossing conversations and may actually encourage some pro-active involvement of your fellow man.
Remember, we are really all in this together. The warming of the earth, destroyed natural resources and environmental indifferent kills us all. We can all prosper together or we all die together.
April 17th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
Environmental conservation is the responsibility of every human being on this planet. It is time for all of us to wake up and realize that the protection and preservation of our beloved Earth must be dealt with on a personal basis. We can not continue to wait for irresponsible and non-governmental organisations to save our planet, they are the main reason it is in its current state. We can not continue to hope that the large (and small) companies will voluntarily become active in their positions for the preservation of resources and minimize pollution, they never will. We can not continue to sit idly by and watch our fellow humans irresponsible act towards our home, they wipe us with their continued ignorance and careless actions.
Each of us must act – and act with the preconceived intention to help reverse the destruction that has been unleashed on this planet!
Every day, we here in the news about how the forests disappear, how the ozone layer is put; how the rivers are poisoned with pollution; How the animals are changing and how time is running out rapidly for some hope to restore our natural gifts given to us by Mother Nature. This is not just something on television! This is the sad state of our world. Our population is not environmentally responsible – and should be!
The highly competitive mode of the capitalist society gives us too little time to the fact that we are all from nature. It was not so long ago. A short 150 years ago, mankind had to develop and much closer relationship with the natural world. We were a part of it every day. Our great grandparents knew no other way, except for the exercise of responsibility for the environment. Today, we are hidden away from nature in our cities – hardly ever with time to consider the conservation, let alone an active pursuit. We always have a lot of “good” reasons to offer for our lack of concern as well. It has to stop.
Everyone can make simplistic and healthy changes in the ways in which they lead their lives, in an attempt to embrace our natural environment and make positive, life-preserving differences. More and more ecologically sound is not difficult, it's natural. Let's take a look at a few changes that we can make every effort to improve all of our lives:
We can only spend little time and effort to recycle:
It Is that more than half of the entire planet's forests have already disappeared. More than 95% of the original wooded areas in the US have gone. Without our individualistic intervention, the governments of the world will continue to allow deforestation to prevent unlimited proportions. Governments and companies care only about money and profit. They take care of the animals nothing habitats and biodiversity. When we make it a point to use only recycled products, we eliminate much of the demand for products made from raw resources and hence the need to harvest them for that production.
We can easily and continuously inform our elected officials responsibility for the environment must be addressed in the forefront of any political meeting:
to retrieve the phone. Write a letter. Send an e-mail. Visit the official websites and commentary. Indicate environmentally inclined charities. There are an unlimited number of different ways you can create your brand. Put a sign in your garden or in the windshield of your car. Instead of talking about the weather to strangers to the concept of conservation. Do anything and everything that you care about this issue of the utmost importance in the immediate attention of every person you meet. The power of positive word-of-mouth has always been and remains the most effective advertising medium. Contributors to help save our planet. Environment is responsible for all to embrace.
Start your personal campaign for the case of the responsibility for the environment today!
April 17th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
The Yellow Pages should be turned into green Savings! As long as anyone can remember, we received from thick telephone books at least once a year at least form a company. In the big cities, these books are oversized 1500 + pages of information that is easily accessible on the Internet now. The cost to the environment of these directories are devastating. In July 2007, the population of the United States was estimated at 301130947. There were more than 540 million telephone directories delivered in the whole country. That is more than 1.7 per person, and not forget that millions of children, the handicapped, prisoners and the like have no need for these books.
Even some local governments are jumping on the green wagon when it comes to people who accessed the ability to opt out of receiving these books worthless. They are concerned for the overcrowded landfills and the destruction of natural resources that are needed to constantly improve the production of the directories. The average phone book weighs 3.6 pounds. This is heavy – especially when you multiply by 540 million!
Here are some facts regarding unwanted telephone:
The telephone industry in the United States alone generates $ 13.58 billion (with a “B”) a year. Worldwide, the revenues top $ 26 billion.
In the United States alone, the weight of directories annually more than 18 billion 900 million pounds! It takes 24 fully grown trees and 380 litres of oil to produce one ton (2000 pounds) of paper.
same wasted tons of paper that all these trees and oil take up to 3 cubic metres of landfill space.
The planet of the water supply is consistently increasingly polluted and less rich. It takes more than 7000 litres of water to produce one tonne of paper.
4000 kilowatts of energy needed to produce a ton of paper.
Can you not see that is far past time to stop this madness? We, as individual residents of this planet, have to stand up and demand change. The government will never occur without our dedicated pressure. The directory companies will not voluntarily abandon their multi-billion dollar industry. Why should we continue to allow the exploitation and destruction of our forests, wetlands, rivers, lakes and streams simply so that we can continue to receive voluminous, worthless directories that nobody uses anyway?
There is great news! There is a website called YellowPagesGoesGreen.org that offers a free and revolutionary service to opt out of receiving telephone directories. It's easy to use, just a minute; helps save the world; proactivity governmental influences the direction of responsibility for the environment and make you feel great for a green component of positive world change! You just sign up and they contact the phone companies to choose you from their mailing lists for telephone directories. There is nothing more to it than that.
Why should millions of people continue to have telephone directories wasteful against their door steps each year (several times), when they do not even use the books? Of course, they should not. The only advantages seen by the supply of these directories is considered useless by the telephone companies that generate billions of dollars of profits from them. It is time to become pro-active!
Join us to stop the madness today. Visit YellowPagesGoesGreen.org today and opt out of our limited wastage of natural resources!
April 17th, 2008 -- Posted in Environment |
People are now asking more and more questions about the way in which companies are manufacturing their products, as well as wishing to know where the materials come from. Potential clients are now more likely to go with a supplier that has taken on board the social responsibility of companies.
Scientific studies have shown that a company that operates directly with the social responsibility are probably better than in the business world who don 'T.
“A 1997 DePaul University study found that companies with a clearly defined corporate commitment to ethical principles better financial (based on annual sales / turnover) than firms that do not.”
Corporate Social Responsibility is still voluntary, but if more people are aware, they are only interested in the purchase of products and supplies with companies active in practicing CSR.
The unfortunate is that a large percentage of the companies believe that the integration of their businesses with CSR in mind would be too costly. However, this is a misconception.
Being aware of how we are affecting the environment, such as using too much water, lights, windows that open, non recycling or the use of non-recycled materials infact cost businesses more than if they meet practice corporate social responsibility.
CSR is not a legal obligation, but the benefits.
Taking responsibility of a company for the environment shows credibility and can help a company's reputation and the confidence of their customers. Although this is not the main reason for social responsibility, these are the benefits that are given to companies that have not environmentally friendly.
To give an example of how CSR can affect a company, as a large company was looking for a company that sells stationary to be their own provider, but they were only interested in recycled products, immediately, all those who have missed no recycled products on a potentially large customer.
CSR gives a positive image of potential customers who consider business relationships. Social Responsibility shows that you are aware of the changes in the environment and its positive steps to help the economy.
CSR is not just something that companies should take on board for their customers, but also for their employees. Human rights and CRS hand in hand.
All employees have the right to work in a safe and friendly environment. Managers and administrators must take the responsibility to ensure the safety of their employees. People do not need to work in an environment that leads to risk.
A recent study by the Cherenson Group showed that 78% of employees would prefer to work for an ethical and reputable company would receive a higher salary.
creating a safe working environment attracts workers and increase productivity as taking responsibility for the environment encourages the credibility and trust among staff.
Intigrating Corporate Social Responsibility in your business life helps your business, productivity and image Like leaving your competitors behind that is not currently practicing CSR.
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