http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/epa-gallery/
Wired has a piece running right documenting the documentation of pollution in the 70′s when Nixon started the EPA. Some great photos are up, I’ll post a few here but check out the link above for the rest of them as well as going here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/collections/72157620729903309/
Forests that spread across 100 million hectares (247 million acres) in 1900 have dwindled to 33.19 million hectares (82 million acres), officials said.
“In 100 years, we have lost between 60 and 70 percent of our forest heritage,” Environmental Undersecretary Sergio La Rocca told reporters on Friday.
Forest destruction has accelerated in the past 10 years with the boom of soy crops, a major motor of growth in Argentina, the top exporter of soy flour and oil and the third-largest exporter of soy seeds.
The northern province of Salta alone lost 26 percent of its forests in the past 30 years, according to a study by the College of Agronomics at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).
The UBA study found that in 2007, “the highest rate was reached: 2.1 percent of forests destroyed in a single year.”
Faced with the breadth of the devastation in the province, the Supreme Court ordered a halt to deforestation in natural forests, following an appeal by indigenous populations.
The move ran counter to the provincial authorities, which had authorized forest exploitation.
La Rocca spoke at the ninth session of the conference of parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCDD) in Buenos Aires.
The scourge of desertification directly affects 200 million people, according to UN figures.
Buenos Aires will host the 23rd World Forestry Congress October 18-23, a forum where governments, civil society and the private sector exchange views to formulate forestry policy.
(c) 2009 AFP
Check out more of the original article here: http://www.earthzine.org/2009/05/07/forest-watch-science-and-education-strive-to-halt-climate-change/
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| Eastern White Pine – Pinus strobus L. USDA photo |
The state of New Hampshire, one of the most densely forested in the United States, takes its Eastern white pines very seriously. In Colonial times, the tree’s enormous height (one ancient tree was recorded to be 220 feet tall), straight trunk and flexibility made it the preferred source of masts for the British Royal Navy and the subject of one of the Colonies’ first laws, the Mast Preservation Clause of 1691. That was the cause of the nation’s first revolt against Great Britain in 1772 in Goffstown and Weare, N.H.
In the early years of the nation, millions of acres of Eastern white pine – Pinus strobus L. – stretched across southern Canada, the northeastern U.S., and as far west as northeastern Iowa, and as far south as northern Georgia. But by the 1800s most of the New World’s vast virgin forests had been logged out. Yet the Eastern white pine is a fast-growing conifer, upright with long five-needled polystelic shoots and it still abounds, second only to the sugar maple in numbers.
The neighboring state of Maine holds the title of “The Pine Tree State” and boasts the tallest Eastern white pine now standing at 132 feet (National Register of Big Trees), but New Hampshire’s harvest of Eastern white pine and hardwoods is still the state’s largest industry at $134 million for the wood alone. Emblematic of the dominance of trees in New Hampshire’s culture and economy are the University of New Hampshire’s academic and cooperative extension forestry programs for landowners, conservationists, students, researchers, policy planners and the lumber industry.
Yet industrial and automobile pollution concentrated around the state’s cities had taken their toll on the Eastern white pine. Residents didn’t need a forestry degree to see that the trees looked unhealthy—stunted with rust-colored needles. Congress passed the Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990 to reduce the volume and size of air particulates and their damage to human health (death included) and vegetation. Subsequent amendments went even further. But when the smog cleared, there still was no systematic, scientific evidence to measure how much the Clean Air Act was helping the trees.
Nalini Nadkarni takes us up into the Canopy and opens ours eyes of the precious marvels that exist above our heads. Marvels which most of the world have no idea about nor why it is so important to protect them. A unique ecosystem of plants, birds and monkeys thrives in the treetops of the rainforest. Nalini Nadkarni explores these canopy worlds — and shares her findings with the world below, through dance, art and bold partnerships.
The secondtalk is from Willie Smits, who’s one man mission has culminated into the revival of a rainforest. By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans — and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.
Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares astonishing images of the ocean — and shocking stats about its rapid decline — as she makes her TED Prize wish: that we will join her in protecting the vital blue heart of the planet.
Sylvia Earle has been at the frontier of deep ocean exploration for four decades. She’s led more than 50 undersea expeditions, and she’s been an equally tireless advocate for our oceans and… Full bio and more links
