Wanna be Stinking Rich? Try Flogging Panda Poo

A radical new idea to profit from panda poo has been proposed by a Chinese wildlife research centre. The idea suggests that Olympic souvenirs could be made from the material.

Apparently, state media said on Tuesday that researchers at the centre in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province, had created, bookmarks, photo frames, fans and panda statues out of the 300 tonnes of faeces produced by roughly 60 giant pandas each year.

Jing Shimin, assistant to the director of the base, proudly declared that the souvenirs would be relatively odour-free.

“They don’t smell too bad because 70 percent of the dung is just remains of the bamboo that the pandas are unable to digest,” he told Xinhua news agency.

“We used to spend at least 6,000 yuan ($770) a month to get rid of the droppings, but now they can prove lucrative as half of them will be sold as souvenirs.”

Not wishing to miss out on Olympic-inspired profits, the base is currently working on moulding the poop into statues of athletic pandas performing various Olympic sports to sell as 2008 Olympic Games souvenirs.

A Thai zoo already sells multicoloured paper made from the excrement of its two resident pandas.

Source: Reuters

Underwater Vacuum Stops Exotic Algae from Smothering Coral Reefs in Hawaii

Coral reefs are under threat. They are being suffocated by an exotic seaweed by the name of gorilla ogo, which is invading reefs, smothering grass beds and fouling the most picturesque of beaches in Hawaii.

The algae - a foreign export, has thrived in Hawaii’s coral-rich beds. It now out-competes the native population, with the effect of reducing the diversity of species

“The algae invasion poses the largest current threat to the health of reefs in Hawaii,” said Cynthia Hunter, a marine biologist at the University of Hawaii.
Hunter added that a number of species have been particularly affected, including a species of rice coral that is now vanishing rapidly. The reason is linked to thick coatings of algae. These can kill corals by blocking them from sunlight and flows of fresh seawater.

Algae also fill in the cracks and crevices that make coral reefs a safe haven for fish and other forms of marine life. Even larger animals such as sea turtles may be excluded from their normal resting areas.

Removing the algae recreates the three-dimensional nature of the coral reef, and recreates homes used by all types of fish and invertebrates,” said Brian Hauk, a director of the Super Sucker project with Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.

So…what’s the solution?

Apparently they call them Super Suckers, which are, unsurprisingly, large underwater vacuum cleaners.

Each Super Sucker has a powerful pump and a tube for removing algae from beneath the ocean to the surface.

National Geographic reported that

“Divers in the water operate the 100-foot-long (30-meter-long) suction hose, feeding in gobs of algae by hand after first shaking loose any marine organisms that may be attached.

“They literally suck the algae off the reef,” Hauk said.

“Workers on the barge further screen the collected algae for any accidentally collected marine life. The nutrient-rich algae are then packed into bags for use as fertilizer. The Super Suckers can remove up to 800 pounds of algae per hour and restore hundreds of square feet of reef in a day, Hauk said.
“When you pull the algae off, there is often live coral underneath that is fighting to survive,” Hauk said.

“You feel like you are saving the reef one [coral] colony at a time.”

The Super Sucker project is a joint effort by The Nature Conservancy, the University of Hawaii, and the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources. Let’s all hope it has the desired effect!

Ten Quick Questions With Colin Challen, MP About Climate Change

As the damaging effects of the floods become clearer, a question resonates among people’s minds. “Should there be legislation to tackle climate change?”

Today the Environmental Audit Committee’s Report, ‘Beyond Stern: From the Climate Change Programme Review to the Draft Climate Change Bill’ was published, so we thought we’d like probe it a bit more and get it from the “horse’s mouth”, so to speak.

Colin Challen MP sits on the Environmental Audit Committee’s board and is the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group. He has been the Labour MP for Morley and Rothwell since 2001 and has been described as the Labour Party’s ‘lead green thinker’. So we thought we’d ask him a few questions…

Why do we need legislation to act against Climate Change?

To set binding targets and to give a clear indication of our direction of travel over a longer period, to provide stability in people’s expectations

What is your opinion on the current Climate Change Bill? Do the 60% reduction figures for carbon emissions by 2050 go far enough?

60% in my view is not enough – what the bill needs to do is state the formula at which we arrive at the correct target so that everyone can see what our methodology is – Contraction and Convergence is the framework that makes sense

If the 26-32% reduction figures of carbon emissions by 2020 are legally binding and the targets are not achieved, who will face legal action? Will the tax-payer have to foot the bill?

Nobody and b) the taxpayer, either as a payer of taxes or as a consumer always pays the bill! In any case, we have to find ways of sharing the responsibility – there’s no get out of climate change free card for anybody

Is there any point having emissions targets, when countries such as China, India and the United States have not signed up to any reduction targets?

If we don’t set a lead, because of our historic responsibilities, why should we expect them to do anything? We must set an example

Business leaders have voiced concern about the potential economic damage that emissions targets might yield. Is there a danger that big business could relocate abroad?

Energy costs are not a significant issue for most companies – the relocation of business has more to do with cheap labour.

What is your view on the government introducing enabling powers to create new trading schemes? Are these powers sufficient?

Yes, and lets use them – e.g. personal carbon trading

The Bill addresses carbon emissions in sufficient detail, but what about other greenhouse gases such as methane produced by agriculture and landfill?

All GHGs should be included

A recent poll by Ipsos Mori of 2,032 adults found 56% believed scientists were still questioning climate change. What would be you approach to tackling this misconception?

We have to continually improve the science and show that the climate change models are being borne out by the evidence, sometimes the models were too cautious

Should there be more tax incentives to go green?

Yes, every kind of incentive should be used, paid for by taxes on polluting behaviour, rewarding non-polluting behaviour

Is nuclear power the solution to our energy needs?

No.

Giant Pandas Make a Comeback!

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Conservation efforts appear to be helping China’s endangered giant panda expand its habitat in parts of western China, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The animal’s droppings were recently discovered in areas beyond its known habitat in the bamboo forests of the 220,000 hectare (550,000 acre) Baishuijiang Nature Reserve, on the border of Gansu and Sichuan provinces.

“This indicates an expansion of the giant panda’s habitat — and probably of its population too,” Huang Huali, vice director of the Baishuijiang Nature Reserve Administration, was quoted as saying.

The pandas have been helped by efforts to curb insect pests, which have restored the bamboo forests since 2002, Huang said.

China’s State Forestry Administration has estimated 1,590 pandas live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan, although a study by Chinese and British scientists released last year calculated there could be as many as 3,000.

Let’s all Oppose BAA’s Injunction

Heathrow airport is going to court next week in an attempt to ban environmental campaigners from the airport, parts of the rail network and sections of the M25 and M4 motorways. The ban aims to shut down a planned peaceful protest against the expansion of Heathrow airport from 14-21 August 2007.

Heathrow Airport Ltd (part of BAA) have applied for an incredibly broad injunction under the Protection from Harassment Act, which aims to ban members and supporters of the umbrella organisation AirportWatch from setting foot on named locations in and around London if they are intending to take part in the Climate Camp protest. AirportWatch is a coalition of groups including Friends of the Earth, the National Trust, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Woodland Trust.

There will be a hearing on Wednesday 1 August 2007. Friends of the Earth’s Rights & Justice Centre is acting for AirportWatch and other campaign groups in relation to this application for an injunction.

It is an important legal case because of the effect that it could have on legitimate protest in relation to aviation and climate change.

Friends of the Earth’s Director Tony Juniper said:

“This heavy handed attempt to stifle protest shows how out of touch they are about people’s concerns about climate change. The application for an injunction should be stopped and the aviation industry should scale down its proposals for airport expansion at Heathrow and across the UK. A strong climate change law which includes aviation would help address these concerns.”

Deluge Kills Its Next Victim: Teenager Mitchell Taylor

A huge mass of water overwhelmed the picturesque Gloucestershire town of Tewkesbury. Mitchell Taylor, a 19 year old teenager was last seen leaving a bar in the town. One week later, no trace of him could be found. His family said his disappearance was “totally out of character.” Everyone feared he was dead. Their worst nightmares were confirmed when his body was found in a submerged field near his home.

The macabre discovery was made by a team of Italian volunteers who had flown in to help with the relief efforts. The three, who work for the Protezione Nazionale agency, came to the UK with a hovercraft they use for flood searches.

Above you can see the extent of the flooding. At least nine other adults have died since intense rainstorms struck the country. One man died trying to unblock a storm drain in Hull, another was swept up in the River Leen near Nottingham, and a man in his sixties was found drowned in Lincolnshire. In Sheffield, a 14-year-old boy died after being swept away when the River Sheaf burst its banks.

In the more recent flooding, a father and son lost their lives as they were pumping water from a submerged room at Tewkesbury Rugby Club. In addition, twins born prematurely in a flood-stranded area of the town failed to survive, despite having been airlifted to hospital by an RAF rescue crew.
Some 130,000 homes in Gloucestershire were still without fresh water yesterday, and the Met Office warned of further heavy rain last night and this morning, threatening to undo last week’s salvage and rescue work. The Environment Agency, facing criticism for its response to the earlier floods, announced it was working to clear grills and unblock drains, as well as ‘checking sandbag and pump availability’.

You can see some previous footage of the floods here

Campaign of Terror Hits Berlin’s Gas Guzzlers

Gas guzzlers beware! German eco-militants have implemented a campaign of terror against drivers of 4×4s, SUVs and sports cars.

In less than a week more than 80 high emission vehicles have had their tyres slashed across Berlin. Attacking at night, the perpetrators leave handwritten notes, explaining to the cars’ owners the dangers of global warming.

Similar attacks have been carried out in France and Belgium in recent months, with manure spreading a favourite tactic.

Okay Punk, so you want to recycle your rubbish?

By DAVID NEWNHAM

I am as green as the next person. In fact, on a good day, in the right light and with a warm southwesterly breeze behind me, I am probably greener. See that man at the bottle bank, feeding in more empties than he cares to count? That’s yours truly, doing his bit for the planet. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Who sluiced stinking terry nappies rather than buy disposables? Who scratches his nose sneezing into harsh recycled tissues? Who said he thought wind turbines were actually rather elegant and nearly got himself barred from the Nimby Arms? Me, me and me.

But I have begun to wonder whether my local council is having a joke with me with regard to refuse collections. Never known for its pioneering spirit, Beetlands District Council came late to environmentalism. Very late. And now, it seems it’s determined to show us pinkos the error of our do-gooding ways.

“So you want us to recycle your rubbish, do you? Okay, punks. You just made our day! From now on, your ‘normal’ rubbish bin — the one containing a turkey carcass and half an undressed lobster — will be emptied every other week. Yes, it will become foul and loathsome in the summer, and yes, your house will be full of
bluebottles. But you people like insects, don’t you? Look on it as biodiversity.

“And on alternate weeks, while your nasty bin is putrefying, we will empty your new recycling bin, into which you may place only the following items: paper (not shredded) and cardboard, food and drink cans (rinsed out), aerosol cans, plastic bottles and, er… that’s it.”

What, no carrier bags, yoghurt pots or margarine tubs? No packaging at all, in fact, if it involves polystyrene foam, or polythene, or that impenetrable transparent stuff they use to protect light-bulbs, screws and drinking straws, and any one of a thousand items the shops want you to look at but not touch – until you’ve got them home and taken an oxyacetylene cutting torch to the
wrapper.

Don’t get me wrong, despite injury, and the fact that it’s only a question of time before I sever something essential to life, I don’t have a problem with rinsing jagged tin cans so they can be chucked back into the smelter. It has a heroic, wartime ring to it, like collecting milk
bottle tops for Spitfires.

Likewise junk mail. What joy it is to toss an envelope marked ‘Important Documents Enclosed’ unopened into the new recycling bin in the almost certain knowledge that person or persons unknown will be wiping their bottoms on it a month from now.

But this business with fruit juice cartons is doing my head in. Like clouds in Disneyland, every carton has a plastic lining. And because it is written in the Guidance To Householders that cardboard and plastic are two materials which, once joined together, no man may put asunder, juice cartons must also go into a landfill site.

Such are the problems caused by Mixed Materials that at Christmas, Beetlanders were banned from recycling wrapping paper that still had sticky tape attached. Even charity begging envelopes must be separated and sorted, since these frequently contain both a direct debit form and a ball-point pen for the convenient signing thereof. The council, you see, cannot recycle hard plastics.

Never mind that every other item I buy now boasts a label explaining how every part of its structure has been fashioned from fully recyclable materials. Not in Beetland, they aren’t. Our council doesn’t have the technology, or any intention of acquiring it.

But that doesn’t stop them talking to us as if we were naughty schoolchildren who have been on the food colouring all break time (“REMEMBER: Items for Recycling MUST be placed LOOSE in your black bin – not in bags”). There are so many hoops to jump through. In Beetland, one false move and you wind up with some teabags, the junk mail and three plastic pens, some brochures you never asked for, and six and a half cubic metres of unsorted packaging.

What’s that? The council reckons I should be composting the teabags? Now listen. I’ve had about as much of this as I can take…

David Newnham is a writer for Greener Living Magazine an awesome bi-monthly green lifestyle mag - no tree-hugging required!

Everest Highway Going Nowhere Fast

The Chinese government has seen sense and decided not to run a tarmac highway halfway up Mount Everest.

The road, replacing an older dirt track, was to have reached 17,000 ft up the world’s tallest mountain. The authorities had argued that the road was necessary in order to allow the Olympic Torch procession to reach the summit of the mountain in 2012.

However, scientists were concerned about the environmental impact of the road. The ecosystem on the mountain is already fragile, with glaciers receding at an alarming rate. The road would also have ruined one of the world’s most spectacular landscapes.

The Magic Sponge: Soaks up Pollution!

American scientists have created a new porous substance that can soak up heavy metals. The material could potentially be used to remove pollutants such as mercury or lead from water.

The compound, developed by a team at the University of Illinois, is a new type of aerogel. Aerogels, which are a rigid foam in which the water has been replaced with air, are usually used to make superconductors. This areogel, however, was made using chalcogenides rather than silica or carbon.

It works in a similar way to sponge, removing heavy metals from a solution. It ‘soaks up’ the larger (and very toxic) heavy metal ions by allowing them to bond with sulphur particles on the surface of the material. Scientists hope it will be useful in heavy industry.

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