We get food, medicine, wood and shelter from trees. Trees beautify the environment. We get the most needed rain because of the trees. Trees have a great influence upon climate. Trees preserve moisture. The leaves of a tree are always giving off moisture and this constant evaporation cools the surrounding atmosphere. Trees on hill sides stop the soil erosion and prevent destructive earth slips. The soil becomes fertile because of the trees.

We know that plants existed on earth before human beings. This fact proves that trees do not need man for their existence. But man cannot exist without trees.

Trees produce oxygen which is essential for life. Trees purify the air by taking in carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen. Some people have not realized the value of trees. They cut down trees for their needs. Sometimes we need to cut down trees. But we should plant another tree in that place. If we cut down trees in this manner, our country will become a desert before long.

The government has set up a separate department called “Forest conservation department” in order to protect our jungle resources. The department alone cannot stop the felling of trees. Everybody should extend his or her co – operation towards the department in this connection.

The extent of forest cover in Sri Lanka has been reduced drastically during the past two decades. This situation has been arisen due to several reasons. Vast stretches of jungles are cleared for development projects. Some forest reserves have become barren lands due to illegal felling of trees. As result of this almost all the water fountains have been dried up.

Re – a forestation programmers are implemented by the forest conservation department annually with the assistance of several non – governmental organizations various kinds of valuable plants are distributed free of charge. Seminars and workshops are conducted on forest conservation.

We should realize at least now the value of trees and try to preserve them.
[gallery]
My web blog      :-  http://.Jayanath.wordpress.com
Home page         :- www.oasisdamahana.org / Student
E-mail                  :-  lasanthajp@yahoo.com   
                                 lasanthalaayanath@esrilanka.lk

Megaphone diplomacy broke out here today and it effectively brought the Bishops of the Anglican Communion to a common place and to facing the same way.   The conference photos of the staff, the spouses and then the bishops were remarkable pieces of organisation - akin to herding cats.  But the organisers were adept in getting us all into place and before you could say "Indaba" the moment was recorded for posterity.

In my bible study we engaged in a vigorous discussion of sin, sickness, healing and the human condition.  Almost inevitably this developed into an engagement about the nature of homosexuality and a sharing of our attitude to this issue.  Even though we have been together for over a week we encountered some surprising insights being offered by members of the group. This will all undoubtedly be continued during our times together next week.  There are levels to the whole debate - human, theological, mission, church order, cultural and social - simple responses or understanding will not help in the long term.

The Indaba later in the morning was far less driven by process and, whilst we agreed to keep with the theme, we broke down into our Bible study groups to address issues around our ministry in the face of environmental concerns and global warming.  We heard penetrating accounts of the changes being already experienced in parts of Africa and of the environmental damaged impacting on people's lives.

We recognised how small projects such a planting trees, recycling and changes in our lifestyles are important - but ultimately it needs fundamental changes in the way in which economies work and in what we understand by ‘economic growth'.  My take is that this is a fundamental gospel issue and cannot be sidelined as a secondary concern for enthusiasts - the Good News has to be for all creation - which from the outset has resonated with the phrase from Genesis - "and it was good".

Thank you to all who have been saying that they want to be a positive 1/650^th about how good this conference is and how much they are valuing their time here.  Next week we start to look at how we take the Communion forward and how we deal with diversity and disagreement - I suspect that those who have found listening and talking not to their liking, will be far more comfortable with such processes.

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State and Local Solutions to Solid Waste Management Problems

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New York City

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Type of Program

A leaf collection program that teams up the Department of Sanitation (DOS) and the Parks Department to restore degraded parklands and restore wildlife habitat.

Community Overview

New York City’s five boroughs generate 26,000 tons per day of combined commercial, residential, and institutional waste. Compostable materials make up approximately 20% of this total (or 5,000 tons per day).

Background

The need to increase composting became crucial with the announcement in 1996 of the closure of the Fresh Kills landfill at the end of 2001. Since then, the DOS has developed several composting programs. In one such program, DOS partnered with the Parks Department to develop composting sites on a decentralized basis.

Program Description

The DOS and Parks Department are working together to create composting sites that also improve parkland. Although the sites are officially classified as parkland, they are not usable parks. Sites are filled with household garbage, construction debris, sand dredged from the harbor, and rubble removed from postwar London and used as ballast on trans-Atlantic ships.

According to Marc Matsil, director of the Natural Resources Group of the Parks Department, “Improving the soil with compost will allow the seeding of native flora, which will provide improved wildlife habitat and restore the visual integrity of the sites.”

The Parks Department provides the site, and DOS provides the compost through leaf collection. As of the fall of 1997, DOS is collecting leaves in Staten Island (3,000 tons/year) and in the Bronx (1,500 tons/year). By 1999, Brooklyn and Queens will be added to the program, with projected collections of 8,000 tons and 13,500 tons, respectively.

What Makes New York City’s Program Unique?

By teaming with the Parks Department, DOS can create composting sites throughout the city. This helps to reduce transportation costs because leaves collected in one borough do not need to be transferred to a composting site in another borough.

Obstacles Overcome

When a partnership such as this is proposed, there is often concern that the problem will simply be transferred from one department to another. It was important for DOS to assuage any concerns the Parks Department might have. In developing the memorandum of understanding, DOS included several provisions to reassure the Parks Department that the arrangement would serve both departments’ interests. In addition, when the city first began to undertake this program, funding had not been secured—not when the request for proposals (RFP) went out, not when the vendor was selected, and not when the contract was signed. (The contract stipulated that the arrangement was subject to available funding.) The advantage with undertaking these efforts early was that, when the funds became available

about a year after the contract was signed, DOS could go forward with the program immediately. Because RFP, vendor selection, and contract processes can take up to 2 years, DOS’s early legwork clearly paid off.

Program Contact

For further information about the New York City’s program, contact

Robert Lange at (212) 837-8156

or write to:

Robert Lange Director, Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse, and Recycling Department of Sanitation City of New York

44 Beaver Street, 6th floor

New York, NY 10004

Cost effective devices expected on market soon

Imagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of. MIT engineers report a new approach to harnessing the sun's energy that could allow just that.

The work, to be reported in the July 11 issue of Science, involves the creation of a novel "solar concentrator." "Light is collected over a large area [like a window] and gathered, or concentrated, at the edges," explains Marc A. Baldo, leader of the work and the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.

As a result, rather than covering a roof with expensive solar cells (the semiconductor devices that transform sunlight into electricity), the cells only need to be around the edges of a flat glass panel. In addition, the focused light increases the electrical power obtained from each solar cell "by a factor of over 40," Baldo says.

Because the system is simple to manufacture, the team believes that it could be implemented within three years--even added onto existing solar-panel systems to increase their efficiency by 50 percent for minimal additional cost. That, in turn, would substantially reduce the cost of solar electricity.

...

LINK

> http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/solarcells-0710.html

WIRED SCIENCE: See-Through Solar Hack Could Double Panel Efficiency:

LINK> blog.wired.com

Global warning. The most ignorant pun ever made. All it does is make the situation a marketable tag. Though they don't comprehend there major marketing flaw: false advertising. There is no more warning. This, as of a year ago, is the act of warming. There's no time to drink from "eco-friendly" plastic bottles or shop for cute "save the earth" totes because we've waited to long. I'm not the perfect activist but I know when a group of people are being stupid! 

We can't stop it but if my generation were to raise there children with different values then things might stay stable for a while longer.  We may stop it, but we've done to much damage to reverse it. 

Treat your planet as your body. Sooth it's aches. Remove it's discomforts. Love it's abilities. You only get one body. You only get one Earth.

-Taylor

"A German environmental activist has won backing from the European Union's top court to force local authorities in the home city of BMW to tackle car pollution.

Dieter Janecek, a Green Party member who lives near Munich's central ring road, complained to the city authorities that the level of particles in the air linked to car exhaust had breached the legal limit on more than the 35 days allowed in a year.

But his request to the local authority to draw up an action plan with short-term measures such as traffic bans to curb pollution was turned down and he took his case to the European Court of Justice.

"Where there is a risk that the limit values for particulate matter may be exceeded, persons directly concerned can require the competent authorities to draw up an action plan," the court said in a statement on Friday.

However EU states would be obliged only to take short-term measures capable of reducing to a minimum the risk that pollution thresholds may be exceeded and of ensuring a gradual return to a level below that threshold, the court said.

The German courts said there was no obligation under German law for an authority to draw up an anti-pollution action plan but the Luxembourg court said EU environmental rules did allow for such measures.

An ECJ ruling is applicable across the EU"

Not ever having helped at a tree planting site before, I didn’t really know what to expect.

Brett and I helped today at the Sydney Park site for National Tree Day.  A Planet Ark’s incentive to encourage people to plant trees in their local area.  Today in Australia there were hundreds of sites, thousand of volunteers and twelve million trees planted.

I am sure the fact that the sun was shining in the middle of winter helped with the over all enjoyment of the day.  However it was not the cause of my joy.

Watching couples, families, friends and individuals all come together  with a local community spirit of doing something positive to help our environment, was a warming experience.

I feel honoured to be apart of it.  My only disappointment was we ran out of trees early.  However, in a way this too was positive as I think Sydney City local government (who was in charge of this particular site) under estimated how many people would show up.  I over heard a council worker sharing "we never know how many people will turn up”.

I hope the popularity for these tree planting days will continue.  If you get the chance in the future to join a community tree planting day, grab the opportunity with both hands.  Not only was the experience warming but also fun.

LAHORE: The government has appointed a number of volunteers at various public places in the city, under a programme to create awareness among citizens to keep the environment clean, in accordance with international standards.

The move can be made a law to maintain cleanliness in the city and the people caught throwing garbage could be fined, as practiced in developed countries.

A number of volunteers carrying dustbins and literature highlighting the hazards of throwing garbage in public places have been deployed at different places especially on The Mall. The volunteers have been trained to convince citizens not to throw all kinds of garbage such as polythene bags on roads. The volunteers have been trained to offer dustbins to people so that they may dispose of garbage. The volunteers wear grey and yellow uniforms and are paid Rs 6,000 every month and remain on duty at their assigned spots till night.

DCO: District Co-ordination Officer (DCO) Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta told Daily Times that the campaign aimed at educating people about the hazards of throwing waste on roads and public places, which affected people’s health and the environment. He said the volunteers were initially going to be deployed on The Mall on a trial basis and if they were found making a difference, similar teams would be deployed at other public places across the city, such as the Racecourse Park, Model Town Park, National Park and Kalma Chowk.

Bhutta said the establishment of a clean and hygienic environment in the city was not possible without the participation of the people. He said that citizens of developed countries were not only aware of the importance of a clean environment but were also fined if they threw garbage at public places. He said the government was also planning to increase the number of waste-bins at public places. He added that the government might also start imposing a fine on those who dispose of their garbage unhygenically instead of throwing it in the bins.

A volunteer, Muhammad Imran told Daily Times, “It is a difficult job to convince people not to throw waste on the roads as it has become a habit, and no one cares about keeping the environment clean anymore. Sometimes we have to face resistance from people as they don’t consider it harmful to throw garbage on roads and claim that it is the government’s responsibility to keep the roads clean, and the government should hire sweepers for the job.”

Imran said that people do not hesitate in spitting on the roads, in parks, near bus stops and other public places without thinking that this could spread germs. He said that it was a part of their job to stop people from doing this.

Volunteers deployed near Panorama Centre on The Mall said that it was a challenge changing the mindset of the people who have gotten used to polluting the environment. They added that garbage at public places not only affected the beauty of the city but also spread diseases. The volunteers said, “Most garbage is thrown in gutters and drains, which ultimately leads to overflow of drain water, and becomes a headache for the locality.”

Sateellite imageries can be useful for monitoring Global Warming. On the basis of satellite data Climate scientists  issued a warning on global warming, prompting a UN demand for politicians to tackle the global warming crisis. Global average surface temperatures could rise by between 1.1 °C (1.98 °F) and 6.4 °C (11.52 °F) compared to 1980-99 levels. Sea levels will rise by at least 18 centimeters (7.2 inches). Heat waves, rainstorms, tropical cyclones and surges in sea level are among the events expected to become more frequent, more widespread or more intense this century.

The extent of these changes has prompted concern about the possible effects on the global physical, chemical and biological systems. Large-scale changes in land use at rates unprecedented in human history are provoking considerable concern. Land use change is frequently accompanied by alterations or changes in land cover, which may possibly contribute to subsequent environmental change. Evaluation of static attributes (types, amount and arrangement) and the dynamic attributes (types and rates of change) on satellite images may allow the types of change to be regionalized and the proximate sources of change to be identified or inferred. This information, combined with results of case studies or surveys, can provide helpful input to informed evaluations of interactions among the various driving forces.

In these Imageries the shrinking of Greenland Ice Sheet is visible.

Source

Amory Lovins is cofounder of the Rocky Mountain Institute. Here in an interview with Charlie Rose, Lovins gives leveled headed information and statistics about energy ideas and solutions.
July 15, 2008, www.charlierose.com

WHAT: Robert Kennedy, Jr. keynote address at Forecastle Festival
WHEN: Sunday, July 27 @ 2:30pm
WHERE: The Belvedere in downtown Louisville (5th and Main)
HOW MUCH: $21

Alot of people (myself included) have talked about Barack Obama being the most inspiring politician since Bobby Kennedy in 1968. Because I wasn't around to see it for myself, I'll never know whether or not Obama is or will be as inspiring as Kennedy was before his untimely death. Kennedy's son, however, carries on in the legacy of his father. RFK, Jr. is best known as one of the nation's leading environmental lawyers, and is currently on faculty at the Pace University School of Law in New York State. Following the theme of Forecastle Fest's commitment to sustainability and environmental activism, Kennedy will give this year's keynote address on Sunday at 2:30. In addition to Kennedy's lecture, be sure to check out all of the activist organizations from Kentucky and the surrounding states while you're down there.

for more info, check out RFK, Jr. and Forecastle Fest

About a month ago, before Tim Russert died, he hosted his usual Sunday morning show on oil prices and supply. During the debate, Edward Markey, MA Senator, denounced the oil companies for not drilling on some 70 some million acres of leases the oil companies already held. He repeated a couple of times that Exxon-Mobil, probably the largest US oil company, had made record profits of any US company in history and that rather than spend those profits on exploration of existing leases, the company had chosen to buy back its stock shares.

In response, an executive from the oil industry trade association stated two very important facts. First, that not all leases held oil. Of the leases in the Gulf of Mexico, only part of the leases had been explored, and that few of those leases explored had produced oil. Second, and more importantly, he said unequivocally that the reason the oil companies had not done more exploring of the leases already held was because not enough equipment existed to permit expanded exploration.

How can giving the oil industry more leases change the apparent (lack of) supply of equipment, which the industry has told Congress, required to explore those additional leases being discussed? In other words, if not enough equipment currently exists to explore the leases already held, where and how are the oil companies supposed to acquire the equipment to explore new leases?

So my question is why has the media and members of Congress debating the issue of oil supply not referred to what the gentleman from the oil industry trade association said? What is going on? Is no one listening?

I continually feel like I’m being bamboozled!

The environment

About a week ago a news report stated that the Bush Administration (namely Cheney) had severely edited a report on Climate change. They took out a large portion of the EPA report, as they previously had done, that discussed the current and future consequences of pollution as a result of the continued use of carbon-based (oil) fuels.

One of the greatest protesters of the Bush Administration policies regarding climate change is a scientist with Jet Propulsion Labs. He has been censured by the government and by JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratories).

JPL is the leading laboratory for space exploration. Located in Pasadena, CA, this laboratory has been at the forefront of space exploration. In the late ‘70s when the US first sent an unmanned rocket to Saturn, JPL led the way in rocket design and photography of Saturn. It monitored the mission and the cameras, taking amazing photographs that were reproduced around the world. The work of JPL brought prominence to the US space program, overshadowing everything the Soviet Union had thought of. Today, it continues its cutting edge research and discovery in space research and exploration, employing only the best and most qualified scientists in its mission to discover the truth about our planet and the solar system surrounding us.

I worked for JPL’s ad agency during the late 70s and remember going to their Pasadena facility shortly after the Saturn pictures had been received. Everyone at the plant was so excited that they pushed on me a complete set of pictures they had received. Their excitement couldn’t have been higher. And I have never been more honored than to meet them and receive those pictures.

While that moment is still one of highlights of my career, I will never forget the true honesty of the scientists and military officers who worked there. They were true professionals, dedicated to their science. I sincerely believe that lying or misconstruing the facts was anathema to them.

That is why when I hear JPL scientists stating unequivocally that the world is in serious trouble as a result of human accelerated global climate warming, I believe them. These guys don’t have any reason to lie!

JPL scientists don’t have any stakes in the political game. They won’t lose anything by telling the truth, other than their jobs as a result of being honest with the American public to the chagrin of the Bush Administration. Their only hope is that the world will continue to be habitable by their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. These guys are scientists, for heavens sake, not politicians!

Maybe because I come from a military family, I was extremely proud of them all those years ago, and I am still extremely proud of them now. They were and continue to be amazing scientists. That is why when one or more of their number states what he believes to be fact, I listen. I know he is not playing political games with me. He’s telling me the truth, based on his exhaustive research.

I cannot say the same for the White House. As an US citizen, I deserve the truth from my government, not some made up story to fit a particular political agenda.

If the testimony from JPL scientists is not enough to sway the populace, perhaps the new suits brought against oil companies by the indigenous peoples of Alaska is. These people are seeing their livelihoods disappear along with the Alaskan snows. How are they to live when the snow completely melts from their homeland? Should they be relegated to history along with the forgotten Eskimos who were taken a hundred or more years ago from their homeland to die a long way from home? Or perhaps is this a new age of political hegemony that causes the destruction of yet another indigenous peoples as happened in the 1800s to the many Native American tribes? What about the melting permafrost? It’s already become a mushy peat bog. So, how is a drilling rig or a pipeline supposed to be stable when the ground below below becomes a mushy, soft bog?

Yet, this is not what Americans are being told. We’re not being given the facts in order to make an educated decision. Instead, we’re being lied to.

The American people deserve better from the White House. We deserve honesty!

Iraq

Today when I head Republican presidential nominee John McCain speak on Iraq and Afghanistan, the tone of his voice reminded me of a loving father reprimanding his wayward child for not thinking and behaving as he though was right. Maybe I’m overly sensitive, having had a military father, but I don’t think I want a President speaking to me as though I was a dissident teenager. I know the facts on Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ve listened to all the reporters and all the Middle East specialists and historians.

Yes, the surge has worked. But what too many politicians refuse to admit is that the country is severely segregated as a result of the extreme sectarian violence. Sunnis have left the largely Shite areas of southern Iraq. Shites have left the largely Sunni areas of middle Iraq. Neither is permitted in the Kurd areas of northern Iraq. In Baghdad, the neighborhoods are segregated with walls and militias, keeping each sectarian group apart from each other. And the US military, in keeping with its primary mission to reduce violence, has added and abetted the militia-enforced segregation. But what is going to happen when the US forces leave? Is the current Iraqi government going to have the courage to stand up against the sectarian militias?

It is very important to remember that following WWII, the British were in much the same situation as we are in now. The British wanted to control Iraq the oil fields following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire during the war. But after years of fighting against sectarian violence, the British government pulled its troops out of Iraq. The British people demanded an end of their occupation…and the loss of their troops. Immediately violence swelled. But it did not take long before Iraqis chose to end the violence and put together a democratic government. That government would have lasted had it not been for a few choice assassinations which eventually brought Saddam Hussein to power.

This war has already cost the US taxpayer over three trillion dollars. How many more millions or trillions of US dollars need to be spent in Iraq to insure peace…and how many generations of Americans will have to serve in Iraq until the Iraqis forget their sectarian animosity? Only Iraqis can solve their own sectarian problems, as history has shown.

President Malaki told the US government that his government wants a time-table for the exodus of US troops from Iraq before his government continues to negotiate any further treaty with the US. If the Iraqi government feels itself ready to take on the responsibility for its own security, then why is the US government standing in the way? Is the current US Administration hoping to work out a deal to control Iraqi oil fields as the British hoped? Or is it hoping to build a strategic bases from which to control the politics of the Middle East? If that is the case, then the US may be in for an extremely long occupation in Iraq. Iraqi citizens will never allow the US to become permanent occupiers as the British hoped to become following WWII.

Malaki is out in the streets handing out cash to Iraqi citizens, thanks to extraordinarily high oil revenues, while US citizens are losing their homes, their health insurance, and their incomes.

What is wrong with this picture? Am I the only one who sees the weirdness of current US policy?

The mess in Afghanistan

Afghanistan used to be called the bread-basket of the Middle East. Today is still exists as the most arable land in the Middle East. Moreover, it has the highest natural resources outside of the oil countries.

When the British Army took over India, they sought to subdue the Afghans to make Afghanistan another part of the British Empire, but Afghans fought back. Afghanistan, in its history, has never been dominated by a foreign power. But it’s a country that lead the Middle East out of its tribal dominated 6th Century existence should it choose to do so. Right now we have a major fight on our hands, tearing apart ancient tribal dominance, to help build a modern society. The fact that Al Qaida and the Taliban supports and works against a modern Afghanistan doesn’t help. At every turn, the foes of a modern Afghan state attempt to wreck progress. Even the most moderate progress.

If the US is to win over the major forces of terror, tribalism, hatred and fear, we have to win in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is the poster child for freedom and democracy and civil rights.

Just back from the Kerferd Oration at Latrobe Uni in Beechworth. Tim Flannery gave a talk, which I recorded and hope to transcribe in the near future. His basic theme was:

Global warming is an air pollution crisis.

Humanity has dealt with two air pollution crisis' before, Acid Rain caused by burning sulfar intensive coal, and the hole in the Ozone layer caused by the release of CFCs into the atmosphere. Both were successfully dealt with.

This crisis is even more urgent than the last IPCC predictions foresaw. All the indicators are much worse now in 2008 than the IPCC thought they would be.

One of these key indicators is the rapid decline in Arctic Ice.

Only by dealing with carbon releases from the coal industry will we remove enough carbon from the atmosphere to avert catastrophic global warming. We've already passed the so-called tipping point, now it's a matter of ensuring the climate doesn't go beyond the "point of no return", sending us into a situation that no amount of carbon emission reduction can fix.

Dealing with the coal industry means embracing clean coal. "It's the only alternative".

Agriculture will benefit from Carbon pricing. The best thing people can do today is keep the political pressure on government to make sure the Emissions Trading Scheme is not eroded.

A couple of things I noticed about Flannery's lecture were

• the prevalence of Gaia theory, he really does see the earth as an organism that can heal itself in time.
• The belief in a solution within the current economic paradigm, ie. he only touched on the issue of consumption most briefly, didn't mention the need to live with less or how to achieve this, and even said he couldn't see us as a species agreeing to use less energy.
• His reliance on technological fixes, in particular clean coal coupled with technologies to draw carbon from the atmosphere.

I hope to have a rough transcript online in the next couple of days. Flannery will also be writing Septembers' Quarterly Essay.

************************************************************************

Thousands more die in Indonesia. Earthquake strikes once again. Poor Iran, Indonesia, these countries lie on the fault line. Historically most of the earthquakes happened on the fault lines. California is also situated on a tectonic plate border, the fault line. And all the structures in California are built earthquake safe.

Here is a map of all the major and monor tectonic plates of the world.

If you can locate Bangladesh in the world map, you will see two plate bounderies, i.e. two fault lines cross Bangladesh. On the noth, the Indian plate clashes with the Eurasian plate and on the east, Indian plate borders Australian plate and continues to Burma plate.

I am not a geology student and won't pretend to know or understand the basics of the importance of these plate bounderies and earthquake possibilities.

Different newspaper reports inform us that many scientists have been warning about the probability of a devastating 8-9 richter scale catastrophic earthquake in the northeastern and southeastern parts of Bangladesh.

So, major earthquake is also possible in Bangladesh. Are we ready?

Can the authority in Bangladesh speak out with certainty that at least one, only one single rsidential apartment in Bangladesh have been bult to withstand a7.0- 9.0 richter scale earthquake?

We we talk about issues, a variety of issues. There is a word in english dictionery, 'Priority'. Should we, as a nation, relearn the meaning and implication of the word?