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globalbriefs News and resources to inspire concerned citizens to work together in building a healthier, stronger society that benefits all. Preventing Extinction Buying Time for Threatened Species How long does it take a species to disappear forever? It turns out that habitat destruction drives species to extinction more slowly than previously thought, according to a new model described in the journal Nature. The pace at which plants and animals are vanishing from the planet as their habitats shrink may be overstated by as much as 160 percent or more. An approach widely used to estimate extinctions from habitat loss is conceptually flawed, says a study in the publication. Researchers say that their new method more accurately reflects the interplay of shrinking habitats and the populations that rely on them. The new study is one of at least two that highlight scientists’ efforts to sharpen the tools needed to track the scope of the species-extinction problem and to design better approaches for dealing with it. The development of a new tool for estimating extinctions, “... is welcome news, in the sense that we have bought a little time for saving species,” says Stephen Hubbell, an ecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and one of two scientists who performed the analysis. “But it’s [also] unwelcome news,” he adds, “because we have to redo a whole bunch of research performed using the previous method.” Source: The Christian Science Monitor GPS Biking Mapnificent Will Show the Way Want to know how far it’s possible to travel by biking or using public transit in under 15 minutes? There’s a map for that. Mapnificent shows the areas one can reach from any point in a city at any given time. Stefan Wehrmeyer, a Berlinbased software architect, has developed a tool that uses public transit data to help users decide on where to live, work or meet up. Using data from the GTFS Data Exchange and overlaying the extracted information on a Google map, Mapnificent visualizes the reach of public transport in the selected city. This becomes especially useful for decision-making purposes, rather than trip planning. “Let’s say you found a job in San Francisco and want to move there,” Wehrmeyer explains. “Where can you live so that you need less than 30 minutes to go to your work place? Mapnificent is able to answer that question.” Mapnificent is available in public beta and can be used for major cities in the United States. Source: TheCityFix.com 16 Chicago North & North Shore www.NAChicagoNorth.com Appliance Awareness Home Electronics Getting Greener Greenpeace has compiled their third annual survey of the “greenest” home electronics products from 18 companies in seven categories—desktops, laptops, netbooks, mobile phones, televisions, monitors and smart phones— based on their environmental impact (tinyurl.com/23pxpsc). Considerations included hazardous substances, power consumption, product lifecycle (recycling potential) and innovation in marketing (carbon footprint). The survey found a significant overall reduction in the use of hazardous chemicals since last year, with more products made without toxic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated fire retardant (BFR). The use of phthalates, beryllium and antimony (heavy metals) and their associated compounds also went down in every category. Almost all products submitted for the survey met or exceeded the current Energy Star standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. However, one conclusion of the report is that companies seemed to put more effort into improving the overall energy efficiency of operating their products rather than reducing the embedded energy, or carbon footprint, involved in manufacturing them. Lifecycle management continues to be the weakest eco-link when it comes to electronics production. The researchers found little use of recycled plastic, take-back practices, and marketing efforts aimed to prevent rapid obsolescence. Source: Greenpeace
Inappropriate Eats Fish Consume Plastic from Human Trash The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as dubbed by scientists, is a region of floating trash in the ocean that is twice the size of Texas. It comprises plastic debris that includes toys, cups, wrappers and bottles that slowly degrade from the sun’s rays and wave action into ever-smaller fragments C until fish often mistake them for food. This finding, from a new study by the Scripps M Institution of Oceanography, could have Y serious implications for the food chain. CM Scientists examined 141 fish across 27 species and estimated that small fish MY were eating as much as 24,000 tons of plastic waste each year, mostly tidbits smaller than a fingernail, and that nearly one in 10 fish in the region had plastic in its stomach. Most fish in the study were lantern fish, which dwell at depths of 650 CMY to 3,200 feet during the day, but then swim near the surface at night to feed on K plankton, where they often gulp plastic by mistake. Small fragments of plastic could leach toxins into the fish, stunt their growth, alter reproduction or even kill them. It is unclear what impact that small, plastic-affected fish have upon larger fish that eat them, and ultimately on human fish-eaters. Water Wiz Science Project Saves a Gusher Out of the mouths of babes sometimes comes great wisdom. Seven-year-old Mason Perez won a school science fair in Reno, Nevada, for his project addressing water usage efficiency. Now, two years later, the principles he outlined have been used to save his city tens of thousands of gallons of water. The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that the boy’s inspiration came from an experience in a baseball field restroom, where he found the pressure of the sink’s faucet excessive. He turned it down and it still worked fine. For the project, Perez used a bucket and a stopwatch to measure water flow at several residences. By reducing the pressure while maintaining usability, he recorded savings of up to 24 percent. He repeated his experiments at several local businesses with the same positive results. Because the default position for valves in new construction is often 100 percent open, it is a simple procedure to adjust them to achieve a more efficient rate. Perez convinced the ballpark’s manager to try it, resulting in a 20 percent water savings for the municipal facility. The local utility, Truckee Meadows Water Authority, is now assessing whether the idea can be implemented in other parks, public schools, casinos and private homes. Source: Treehugger.com CY FT_NA_Ad_03_09_11blue.pdf 1 3/9/11 1: Not Just Clean – but Healthy Clean! 4 Our cleaners are triple certified non-toxic by Green Seal, SEGC114 and EPA 4 Commercial grade HEPA vacuums clean the air - endorsed by the American Lung Association (ALA) 4 Our Cleaning Technicians are among the most trusted and well trained 1-847-392-0888 We Earn Your Trust One Cleaning at a Time…Every Time! natural awakenings October 2011 17
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