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From a cardinal splashing in a birdbath to a leopard lurking in the delta, the winning images of the 38th annual National Wildlife Photo Contest are as varied as the planet’s species
While scientists debate the future of tropical forests in a warmer world, there’s no question that protecting these biologically rich habitats is key to combating climate change
With help from NWF, a Conservation Photographer of the Year is using an innovative approach to teach young children about global warming
A photographer documents the fascinating life of Central America’s flashy red-eyed tree frog
The Steller’s sea eagle, one of the world’s largest raptors, leads a shadowy existence in the remote reaches of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula
New Mexico is setting an environmental example while putting a new twist on the nation’s Christmas tree this holiday season.
In the past, Christmas trees displayed at the U.S. Capitol have all been cut. But this year, New Mexico carefully removed a 60-foot spruce tree for transport to Washington, D.C. — complete with a 50-ton root ball. It will be the Capitol’s first living Christmas tree.
Each year, a different national forest is given the privilege of providing a Christmas tree for the nation’s capital. The honor this year went to New Mexico’s Carson National Forest.
After the holidays, this tree won’t be shredded for composting or hauled to a landfill like most Christmas trees. It will be putting down roots in its new home on the East Coast.
“We’re trying to encourage individuals and communities to switch from cut Christmas trees to living trees,” said Jim Freeman, New Mexico’s Urban Forestry Coordinator. “In New Mexico alone, 250,000 Christmas trees are cut every year, and many of them end up in landfills.”
To create a statewide event, most communities in New Mexico will decorate living Christmas trees this year and transplant them after the holidays, Freeman said. With the help of an Albuquerque radio station, all of these communities will coordinate their lighting ceremonies with the lighting of the national Christmas tree in Washington, D.C. New Mexico also hopes many of its residents will add momentum to the program by using living trees at home.
By following a few simple precautions, anyone can successfully use and then transplant a living Christmas tree. The tree should not be brought inside and left for a long period of time, Freeman said, because it will break its dormancy and could possibly freeze when taken back outside for planting.
“It’s best to keep the tree outside or in the garage for as long as possible, and then bring it in and decorate it right before Christmas,” he said.
Ideally, the tree should be planted as soon as possible after the holidays. If the ground is frozen, keep the tree in the cold and occasionally water its root ball until the ground thaws, Freeman said. But make sure the roots don’t freeze by adding a layer of burlap cloth or surrounding the root ball with wood chips.
However, if a living Christmas tree doesn’t appeal to you, be sure to find out if your cut tree can be mulched through a community program instead of being hauled to a landfill.
Tip/Stat — The United States has only seven percent of the world’s forests, but about 23 percent of the world’s industrial wood is harvested in this country.
Technorati Tags: Christmas trees, living trees, green holiday tips, green Christmas, forestry
Where did Henry Ford go wrong? When he first designed the Model T, he wanted it to run on an agriculture-based fuel — ethanol. But it wasn’t long before those plans were switched to use a petroleum-based fuel — gasoline.
As anyone who drives a gasoline-powered vehicle knows, the rest is history. Americans have since accepted the economic and environmental consequences.
Had Ford’s plan to use ethanol been realized, America might have looked very different today. However, ethanol still has many benefits and its not to late for America to take advantage of them, said Mark Dunn, director of the Northwest Ethanol Fuel Association.
“Ethanol is fermented and distilled from agricultural products like corn, wheat, barley and potatoes,” he said. “This makes it a renewable resource — unlike fossil fuels.”
By combining gasoline with 10 percent ethanol, the new mix will actually gain a higher octane rating and burn more efficiently, Dunn said. Equally important, however, vehicles burning this fuel called “gasahol” will emit about 25 percent less carbon monoxide.
Since roughly 60 percent of all carbon monoxide pollution is created by vehicles, these reductions can be significant. Several U.S. cities already have started “gasahol” programs and have noticed the benefits of ethanol in dealing with air pollution problems.
Ethanol has other environmental advantages, as well. Some production methods can use agricultural waste like potato skins. Sending these wastes to an ethanol manufacturer can keep them from contributing to America’s solid waste problem.
Ethanol also has some impressive economic advantages. In Bend, Ore., the Oregon Ethanol Co. is building a small refinery that will employ more than 40 people.
“From our workforce, even more jobs will be created,” said Terry Lynch, president of the company. “For every job we create, another seven will be created indirectly.”
A study by the Illinois Corn Growers Association revealed that for every 100 million bushels of corn used for the production of ethanol, 2,250 new rural jobs would be created. Additionally, the ethanol industry could put 50 million idle farming acres back into production.
Last year alone, 34 states sold more than eight billion gallons of ethanol, which was blended into only eight percent of the gasoline burned in the United States.
Perhaps it’s time to put Henry Ford’s original plans back on track.
Tip/Stat — For more information on ethanol or other alternative fuels, call the Renewable Fuels Association at 1 (800) 543-3802.
Technorati Tags: fuel efficiency, ethanol, ethanol industry, environmental consequences, renewable fuels, renewable energy, gasahol, carbon monoxide pollution
It’s possible to save money while saving the environment — that’s the message the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promoting through its innovative Green Lights program.
By encouraging U.S. corporations to install state-of-the-art lighting in their facilities, the EPA is promoting both energy efficiency and pollution prevention. Companies that join the program will profit by lowering their energy bills and improving lighting quality. As a byproduct, these companies also will help reduce the air pollution caused in the generation of electricity.
Lighting consumes nearly 25 percent of the electricity used each year in the United States. And commercial and industrial lighting represents 80 to 90 percent of that electrical demand.
By installing “green lighting,” companies can reduce the electrical power required for their lighting systems by 50 to 75 percent, said Maria Tikoff, manager of the Green Lights program for the California EPA. This in turn reduces the amount of pollution produced at power plants.
“One of the misunderstandings we need to overcome is that energy efficiency means a sacrifice of some sort,” Tikoff said. “When it comes to lighting, that’s just not the case. In most instances, the quality of lighting is improved.”
Since the voluntary Green Lights program started last January, more than 125 corporations and five state governments have joined the effort. This means more than one billion square feet of building space has already been dedicated to energy efficient lighting, she said.
Under the program, participants sign an agreement committing their organization to survey all of its facilities and install new lighting systems that maximize energy savings and do not compromise lighting quality.
To simplify the process, the EPA has a computer program to help participants quickly survey their lighting systems. The program assesses various options and can even make final recommendations. The EPA also offers product information and can help organizations find grants or low-interest loans for the new lighting.
California was the first state government to join the Green Lights program. The state estimates that by installing “green lighting” in its buildings, taxpayers eventually will save $255 million in annual energy costs, Tikoff said.
Along with the monetary savings, the new lights also will keep more than two billion pounds of carbon dioxide, two million pounds of sulfur dioxide and six million pounds of nitrogen oxide out of California’s air.
Not a bad gain for changing a few light bulbs.
Tip/Stat — One compact fluorescent light bulb can last as long as 13 incandescent bulbs, while saving about $57 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.
Technorati Tags: saving the environment, environmental protection, pollution prevention, energy efficiency, green lighting, green lighting systems
Business must play a key role in improving the environment in the future. But is the corporate world up to the task?
The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) is working hard to make sure the answer is “yes.” Formed in 1990, GEMI now has 21 corporate members focused on improving the business world’s environmental performance.
“The public is demanding that corporations improve their environmental practices,” says Andrew Mastrandonas, a project manager with GEMI. “Our hope is that business — by taking control of its environmental destiny — can spur change from within and create a forum for sharing solutions among industries worldwide.”
Already some big names have joined: IBM, AT&T, Boeing, Duke Power, Eastman Kodak, General Electric and Procter & Gamble. And GEMI is confident its list of member companies will continue to grow, Mastrandonas says.
The nonprofit organization is geared to help businesses improve their environmental management practices by sharing information and successful programs on the subject.
“The biggest polluter has historically been business, but companies are now getting together and starting to reduce that problem,” explains Mastrandonas. “By sharing information and the latest technologies, this effort is going to foster environmental excellence.”
GEMI does not hold fund raising activities — it is funded through member fees of $25,000 a year. The organization also does not take stands on public policy, he said, and is not an advocacy group.
Through research, workshops, conferences and discussion groups, GEMI is developing a large body of knowledge on environmental management practices. One of the issues being emphasized involves total quality management (TQM).
TQM aims at continuous improvement, Mastrandonas said, with an end point never being reached. Under this thinking, companies work to continually improve their environmental quality.
“First, companies have to figure out what they need to do to improve their performance,” he explained. “Then they need to track it and eventually communicate their results to employees, investors, environmentalists and other important groups.”
Because many of its member companies have operations scattered around the globe, GEMI plans to establish an international network and expand world thinking about sound environmental management.
“GEMI can provide a way for companies to tackle their own problems,” Mastrandonas said. “Through effective management, companies can take responsibility for their own actions and improve their environmental performance.”
Tip/Stat — For every ton of paper recycled by business, 7,000 gallons of water are saved during production.
Technorati Tags: environmental groups, environmental management, environmental business, environmental workshops
By getting thousands of residents excited about using their green thumbs, Newark, N.J., is turning its vacant lots into prosperous, blooming gardens.
Because the city’s urban gardening program is coupled with a leaf composting project, it helps reduce landfill costs while beautifying plots of land that were once eyesores, said Frank Sudol, manager of the city’s Division of Engineering.
“We had an ongoing problem with maintaining these vacant lots because of illegal dumping,” he said. “Through the program, we’ve stopped the dumping, cut maintenance costs and put the lots to productive use.”
Nearly 4,000 once-vacant lots are now being used. Resident adopt the lots, Sudol said, then plant gardens and maintain them as a community project.
The leaf composting project is essential to the success of the community gardens because New Jersey’s rocky soil makes growing gardens difficult. Each fall, the city asks residents to rake their leaves to the curb. Bagging the leaves is discouraged to save residents money and the city disposal costs of the plastic, he said.
Once the leaves arrive at Newark’s composting site, they are screened, watered and composted in long windrows. Eventually, the finished product is hauled back into the urban area where it helps gardens bloom on the vacant lots.
“Rather than just hauling all that material to the landfill, we use it internally to enrich the soil and improve the value of our neighborhoods,” Sudol said.
As an added benefit, more and more residents are now composting on their own and hauling the material to their community gardens, he said.
An annual dinner is held each fall as part of the urban gardening program to honor the efforts of Newark’s community gardeners. A bus tour is conducted to visit the now-prosperous vacant lots before the event, and a panel of judges chooses winners in various categories.
Slides of the winning gardens are shown at the dinner as schools and neighborhoods celebrate their efforts, while making plans for another growing season.
“We’re talking about a significant amount of acreage being gardened that would otherwise sit unused,” Sudol said. “The program has helped raise community spirit and involvement.”
Tip/Stat — An estimated $750,000 worth of produce is grown on Newark’s vacant lots each year, through its urban gardening project.
Technorati Tags: composting, gardening, landfills, community gardeners, leaf composting project, urban gardening
Senators John McCain and Barack Obama state their positions on some of the key conservation and environmental issues facing the United States today
An open letter to the next president from a Colorado journalist
A tribal program on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana is among several efforts to reintroduce this diminutive canine to habitat where it has been wiped out
Just as science begins to solve the mysteries of their seasonal comings and goings, many of the world’s migratory species are in sharp decline
After being hunted to the edge of extinction, the American crocodile’s U.S. population has rebounded to its highest level in more than a century
In Bavaria, a team of industrious scientists uses high-tech tools to study the secret lives of honeybees—work that could shed light on the pollinators’ mysterious disappearances
An African elephant strolls through the lobby of the Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park
Only in New Zealand can you find parrots at home in the snow and penguins thriving in forests
The telephone always has had the potential to be a powerful environmental tool. Like many things, it’s up to the user to realize all of the possible benefits.
Just one phone call can save plenty of time, energy and pollution when the alternative is jumping in the car. And with little effort, the telephone can be used to mobilize and inform people. But these options have been at our fingertips for years.
However, the environmental power of the telephone is starting to emerge in some new and different ways. Cellular One, a Seattle-based mobile phone company, has created several new regional programs aimed at helping the environment.
In southern Florida, Cellular One customers can use their car phones to access an Environmental Destruction Hotline. All calls are toll-free and are routed directly to the Florida Department of Environmental Regulations.
“We started this program in September 1990, in an effort to get the community more involved with environmental protection,” said Cellular One’s Jacqueline Stewart. “Our callers can either report hazardous situations or get advice on topics such as oil disposal.”
In November 1990, Cellular One started a different program in Colorado, called Air Line. Under this program, the company’s customers are encouraged to use their car phones to report vehicles that are emitting excessive amounts of smoke.
The toll-free telephone calls are routed directly to a local pollution prevention agency, Clean Air for Colorado, where the offending vehicle’s license plate and car model are recorded. The office also makes note of the date and location of the incident.
After the vehicle is reported, the Colorado Department of Health sends a letter to the vehicle’s owner, warning that a citation may be issued if the problem is not corrected.
“The Air Line handled more than 500 calls between November and March last winter,” said Dick Abels, with Cellular One in Colorado. “And these are Colorado’s worst air pollution months because of cold-air inversions.”
Cellular telephones do have great potential in terms of environmental protection. They’re adding eyes and ears to the movement, and they’re saving precious response time.
(Tip/Stat) Use your telephone to find out more about possible radon contamination in your home. Call the Radon Hotline at 1 (800) SOS-RADON.
Technorati Tags: environmental protection, environmental tools, helping the environment, energy, pollution, waste reduction, cell phones, pollution prevention
Anyone in pursuit of job security should take a look at the oil spill cleanup business. With about 10,000 spills on America’s waterways every year — or one spill every 53 minutes — there’s plenty of work. And if you count chemical spills, the numbers triple.
Dr. Roy Hann, Jr. has been leading the fight against these disasters for more than twenty years. Applying his hands-on experience with tanker, pipeline and facility spills, Hann started the world’s first oil spill cleanup school at Texas A&M University in 1974. He also has directed oil spill courses for the United Nations, Brazil, Chile and India.
“The job market for our graduates is booming,” he said. “Since the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, our enrollment has doubled. We’ve even got a backlog of students trying to get into the program.”
Like most problems, it’s easier to prevent a spill than clean one up, Hann said. Prevention saves both time and money in the long run, as well as the environment.
“Most companies know what ought to be done,” he said, “but don’t actually do it.”
That’s why he stresses a system called the “prevention cycle” — a thought process that starts with ship and facility design and considers all aspects of the business, including construction, maintenance and training.
Since Texas A&M’s campus at College Station is landlocked, only research work is done at that site. The actual school is conducted through an extension program on the Texas coast at Galveston.
Many of the school’s graduates find jobs in the oil industry or government, working on both prevention and cleanup issues. Hann’s graduates earn either a Master’s or Doctor’s degree in civil engineering, with an emphasis on environmental engineering.
“In many cases, they’re going to companies we never would have expected,” Hann said. “McDonald’s, banks…..it’s almost unlimited.”
Currently the school is limited to 40 or 50 new students each year. Expanding the program is being considered, Hann said, but will depend on funding and grants.
Still, Texas A&M’s popular program remains one of the few oil spill clean-up schools in the world.
(Tip/Stat) The world’s worst oil spill occurred off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago on July 1, 1979, and was nearly ten times worse than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.
Technorati Tags: oil spill, oil spills, oil spill cleanup business, chemical spills, oil industry, environmental issues, environmental schools
Turning the fruits of a recycling program into tangible results has proven hugely successful for the Chicago Park District and the city’s residents.
Chicago’s 563 parks are now being covered in garbage. But it is in the form benches, playground barriers and other items composed completely of plastic donated by residents in the city’s Plastic On Parks (POP) program.
At the start of the two-year-old project, 400 pounds of plastic was being collected each week, said Fred White, director of recycling for the park district. Now, more than 40,000 pounds of plastic are brought to the city’s 260 recreation centers every week.
“When you contribute to a project and can see what your efforts are creating, it’s a lot easier to get excited about it,” White said. “They know their plastic bottles are becoming useful items.”
Under the program, residents bring their empty plastic milk, water and pop containers to their local city recreation center. Because of the volume, the park district has dedicated a truck solely to collecting the bottles, and must stop at some of the centers every day.
The bottles are then sorted and bailed before being shipped to Hammers Plastic Recycling in Iowa Falls, Iowa. This company creates plastic lumber out of the plastic and returns it to Chicago.
“Our contract says the company must return the plastic we give them,” White said. “This is why people do it — they can see what is being done with the plastic.”
A majority of the plastic wood received so far has been used to refurbish some of the city’s 630 playgrounds. A 12-inch-high perimeter wall is built around each playground using the lumber, and the inner area then filled with a soft material like wood chips or sand, he said. The unique lumber also has been used to build park benches and floating docks.
“Our carpenters have no problem with the plastic,” he said. “It cuts like wood, saws like wood and nails like wood.”
But the plastic lumber doesn’t deteriorate like wood, and children don’t have to worry about splinters. Also, the plastic is graffiti resistant because it is non-porous and can easily be cleaned, White added.
“We’ve collected more than 2 million pounds of plastic since we started,” he said. “If we’ve diverted that much material from landfills, then we’ve helped lengthen the lives of those landfills and benefited everyone here.”
The park district has received many inquiries from other cities regarding the POP program, White said, and has offered lend whatever assistance it can to help establish similar recycling programs in other communities.
(Tip/Stat) Approximately 350,000 plastic bottles are used to refurbish one playground
under Chicago’s POP program.
Technorati Tags: recycling programs, recycling, landfills, plastic, green stories, environmental heroes, green communities
Earth News Media is a pioneer in the field of environmental news and information. The company was founded in 1991 as an international news service. Its efforts have led to a syndicated environmental news column being published around the world.
Incorporating such diverse items as coffee filters, old tires and plastic left over from the production of disposable diapers, an Oregon company has created a walking shoe made entirely of recycled materials.
Julie Lewis, founder of DejaShoes, says the shoe meets all the technical qualifications of a good walking shoe, including a beveled heel, arch support and padding in the tongue and collar for comfort.
While researching an article for a local recycling group, Lewis learned of a woman who wove plastic bags into braided throw rugs. That concept got her thinking about using a similar weave as the upper portion of a revolutionary new shoe — a recycled shoe.
However, Lewis said when she contacted several textile mills in the South about using recycled plastic, they told her to forget it. Undaunted, she looked up one of the founders of Nike athletic shoes in the Portland phone book and called him at home.
Nike’s Bill Bowerman agreed to meet and discuss the idea with her, she said. Soon, help was on the way. He had Lewis call one of the Nike’s fabric distributors, who then contacted the textile mills. This time, the mills got excited about the idea.
Lewis proceeded to research which recycled materials could be used for each component of her shoe. DejaShoe’s fabric uses trim waste from the manufacture of hospital gowns and disposable diapers — material that would eventually end up filling landfills. The inner soles are made from recycled coffee filters and paper bags.
Cushioning in the shoe’s arch, collar and tongue consists of recycled foam rubber. The soles, which don’t mark up floors, come from reclaimed tire rubber and last much longer than other types of soling material, she said. The eyelets, as well, are made from scrap metals.
Even the box the shoes are packaged in follows the theme. Made from recycled material, the box reverses — revealing pictures of endangered animals — so it can be reused as a gift box or storage container.
“I’m helping to set an example for industry by showing them that with a little creativity, they can reuse some of their waste materials and lessen their impact on the environment,” Lewis said. “And I’m also proving that consumers want them to do this and are interested in these kinds of products.”
The first run of DejaShoes has come off the production line, and a second run is being prepared. Lewis has enlisted the help of several ex-executives of the Avia shoe company as her business continues to grow. Nordstroms, a retail store chain based in the Northwest, wants to start a men’s line of DejaShoes, she added.
For more information or to order a pair of DejaShoes, write to P.O. Box 830, Lake Oswego, OR 97034. Or call (503) 636-1887.
(Tip/Stat) The Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail, running through Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, attracts more than 10 million hikers each year.
Technorati Tags: recycling, recycled shoe, green business, green ideas, save planet earth
Earth News Media is a nationally syndicated environmental news service profiling the positive environmental efforts of individuals, organizations and corporations around the world.
New science is helping biologists understand how some bobcats can thrive in landscapes heavily altered by humans
Off the U.S. West Coast, several seabird species are suffering, and biologists suspect that global warming’s impact on the Pacific is to blame
Conservationists are seeking to safeguard 26 million acres of little known federal lands ideal for watching wildlife
A special NWF program is helping to restore Gulf Coast marshes and woodlands damaged by the 2005 hurricanes
During countless hours spent observing Africa’s Nile crocodile, a pair of photographers have documented the reptile’s strength, speed and surprising gentleness
Rain forest trees growing anew on Central American farmland are helping scientists find ways for monkeys and agriculture to benefit one another
With razor-sharp teeth, powerful jaws and remarkable agility in the water, the leopard seal is one of Antarctica’s premier predators
The first ever “tree clause” in a book contract allows environmentally minded authors to symbolically replace the trees used in the printing of their works.
Harper & Row in San Francisco developed the clause at the request of Mickey Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead music group, for his book, Drumming at the Edge of Magic. To research the book — a history of ancient musical and rhythmic customs — Hart traveled extensively and became concerned about the environment — rain forests in particular.
Hart approached Harper’s, asking if the publisher would be willing to plant as many trees as were felled to produce the paper for his book. Harper’s not only agreed, but also offered to double the number of trees.
The first printing of 50,000 copies of the book represented 45 tons of paper. Quick calculations revealed that 765 trees would meet their demise. With additional printings of the book, the number of trees planted is now well over 2,000.
Harper’s does not actually plant the trees, but donates the funds to the Rainforest Action Network, which has tree-planting programs in place in the rain forests of Central and South America.
“Although the paper used for book production obviously does not come from rain forest trees, we see this action as a powerful symbol of the responsibility we all share for replenishing resources for the sake of future generations,” said Clayton Carlson, senior vice president and publisher at Harper’s in San Francisco.
Since the publishing of Hart’s book last year, Harper’s has made an optional “tree clause” available to all authors entering into book contracts. The provision states the company will plant one tree in the rain forest for every tree the author agrees to fund, based on the number of trees used in the production of the book.
More than a dozen authors already have taken the publisher up on the offer. Hart’s next book, Planet Drum, due out this fall, also will take advantage of the new clause.
Carlson, calling the effort more of an earnest attempt to make a statement than an economic investment, said he hopes this author/publisher concept will catch on in the industry.
(Tip/Stat) Approximately one acre of healthy, fast-growing forest can absorb 1.4 tons of carbon dioxide each year.
Technorati Tags: book production, rainforest action, tree-planting programs, save the trees, eco-friendly business, green business, green writing
