|
Post by moabiter on Apr 8, 2010 20:05:00 GMT -8
Revolutionary new theory overturns modern meteorology with claim that forests move rain Jeremy Hance mongabay.com April 01, 2009 Largely ignored by scientific community, new theory could change how future generations view forests Two Russian scientists, Victor Gorshkov and Anastassia Makarieva of the St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics, have published a revolutionary theory that turns modern meteorology on its head, positing that forests—and their capacity for condensation—are actually the main driver of winds rather than temperature. While this model has widespread implications for numerous sciences, none of them are larger than the importance of conserving forests, which are shown to be crucial to 'pumping' precipitation from one place to another. The theory explains, among other mysteries, why deforestation around coastal regions tends to lead to drying in the interior. Although the theory has garnered a wide contrast of reactions—from dismissal to accolades—it has so far been mostly ignored by the greater scientific community since first published in a small journal in 2007. A new paper in Bioscience by Douglas Sheil and Daniel Murdiyarso attempts to remedy this by introducing (or re-introducing) the theory to scientists of all fields, many of whom have probably never heard of the theory despite its radical and widespread implications. Dr. Sheil says that the theory was generally ignored "because it was just too radical for anyone to accept", adding that the original papers also included difficult math and language. Conventional ideas about rainfall production and forests has long seen a link between forests and rainfall but the theories had yet to adequately describe the nature of this link and the reasons behind it. Large-scale deforestation has been observed to cause a drop in precipitation, cloud formations, and more extreme seasons. news.mongabay.com/2009/0401-hance_revolutionarytheory.html
|
|
|
Post by moabiter on Apr 8, 2010 20:11:02 GMT -8
so, no law of thermodynamics? hmm. Have to say, when I consider arid prairies, hardly one tree, bush - drought, year after year, ... it seems kind of self-evident, in a way. Water is not drawn to it, a polar covalent ... nothing. The wetlands in Alberta were filled in, presumably to increase farm land acres. It kind of backfired. The province set it out in its recommendations to farmers. Wetland Management in the Settled Area of Alberta (1993) www.edmonton.ca/environmental/documents/provincial_wetland_policy.pdfUp to 70 percent of Canadian prairie wetlands have been drained and filled in, mainly to facilitate agriculture... Wetlands are nature’s kidneys, functioning on a broad scale to filter and clean water and to recharge surface and underground water supplies. albertawilderness.ca/issues/wildwater/wetlandschemical bonds:staff.jccc.net/pdecell/chemistry/bonds.htmlwww.sciencegateway.org/resources/biologytext/chem/review.htmlAnd water is all over jungles.
|
|
|
Post by anubis on Apr 26, 2010 20:22:13 GMT -8
money has so turned us so far around from the way we should be living and sustaining ourselves it makes one wonder if there is any going back. Not only are/have we damaged our farmland but genetic modification and patenting of plants is only now coming to light that it causes organ damage and who knows what else down the line. not to mention the poor farmer down the road who didn't get with the program and was unfortunate enough to have some of this copyrighted crop "blown" into his fields, and then sued in court. its crazy.
Big business big corp big pharma will destroy us eventually. we need to get back to local. local production of food, local manufacturing etc...
|
|
|
Post by lawyer4food on May 11, 2010 23:44:55 GMT -8
GMO ... 2003 A consumer study : Globe and Mail, December 4, 2003... Poll shows huge support for GMO labelling OTTAWA -- Nearly nine out of 10 Canadians want Ottawa to force companies to disclose whether any food they sell contains genetically modified ingredients, a new poll suggests. The survey results show Ottawa, which has refused to make labelling of genetically engineered foods mandatory, is out of step with Canadians, says the Consumers Association of Canada, which paid Decima Research to conduct the poll. www.healthcoalition.ca/cac-dec2003.pdf (4pp) So who's the hold-up ? Also, no-till farming. No-Till Farming Improves Soil Stability By Don Comis, May 11, 2010 No-till stores more soil carbon, which helps bind or glue soil particles together, making the first inch of topsoil two to seven times less vulnerable to the destructive force of raindrops than plowed soil. The structure of these aggregates in the first inch of topsoil is the first line of defense against soil erosion by water or wind. Understanding the resistance of these aggregates to the erosive forces of wind and rain is critical to evaluating soil erodibility. This is especially important in semiarid regions such as the Great Plains, where low precipitation, high evaporation, and yield variability can interact with intensive tillage to alter aggregate properties and soil organic matter content. www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2010/100511.htm
|
|
|
Post by anubis on May 13, 2010 21:28:31 GMT -8
i would definitely want to see GMO labeling on products. i think we would be shocked.
|
|
|
Post by clone on Dec 2, 2010 8:35:06 GMT -8
Weird weather leaves Amazon forest thirsty 'Once in a century' drought followed one just five years ago updated 12/1/2010 7:30:20 AM ET CAAPIRANGA, Brazil — The river loops low past its bleached-white banks, where caimans bask in the fierce morning sun and stranded houseboats tilt precariously. Nearby sits a beached barge with its load of eight trucks and a crane. Its owners were caught out long ago by the speed of the river's decline. A boat stands stranded at a dried-up area of Lake Caapiranga in Brazil's Amazonas state on Nov. 4.www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40420039/ns/us_news-environment/
|
|
|
Post by clone on Feb 17, 2011 17:12:40 GMT -8
Plants 'Can Think And Remember' 14 July 2010 Last updated at 07:20 ET Plants are able to "remember" and "react" to information contained in light, according to researchers.Plants, scientists say, transmit information about light intensity and quality from leaf to leaf in a very similar way to our own nervous systems. These "electro-chemical signals" are carried by cells that act as "nerves" of the plants. In their experiment, the scientists showed that light shone on to one leaf caused the whole plant to respond. And the response, which took the form of light-induced chemical reactions in the leaves, continued in the dark. This showed, they said, that the plant "remembered" the information encoded in light... In previous work, Professor Karpinski found that chemical signals could be passed throughout whole plants - allowing them to respond to and survive changes and stresses in their environment. But in this new study, he and his colleagues discovered that when light stimulated a chemical reaction in one leaf cell, this caused a "cascade" of events and that this was immediately signalled to the rest of the plant via a specific type of cell called a "bundle sheath cell". The scientists measured the electrical signals from these cells, which are present in every leaf. They likened the discovery to finding the plants' "nervous system". www.bbc.co.uk/news/10598926
|
|
|
Post by clone on Jun 28, 2011 10:23:13 GMT -8
Tropical Deforestation Would Alter Storm Paths, Reduce U.S. Rainfall Robert Roy Britt Date: 27 September 2005 Rainfall in parts of the United States would be reduced significantly by total deforestation in other parts of the world as the paths of storms are altered, new research shows. The study, led by researchers at Duke University using a NASA computer model, is among the first to reveal potential global effects of localized changes in the land. Among the findings: Deforestation in the Amazon region of South America would reduce rainfall in Texas by 25 percent from March to September. Deforestation in Central Africa would affect precipitation in the U.S. Midwest. Deforestation in Southeast Asia would alter rainfall in China and the Balkan Peninsula. www.livescience.com/9339-tropical-deforestation-alter-storm-paths-reduce-rainfall.html
|
|
|
Post by bacteria on Mar 2, 2012 20:43:48 GMT -8
Evidence Of 'Rain-Making' Bacteria Discovered In Atmosphere And Snow ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2008) — Brent Christner, LSU professor of biological sciences, in partnership with colleagues in Montana and France, recently found evidence that rain-making bacteria are widely distributed in the atmosphere. These biological particles could factor heavily into the precipitation cycle, affecting climate, agricultural productivity and even global warming. Christner and his colleagues published their results on Feb 29 in the journal Science. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228174801.htm
|
|
green wall of china
Guest
|
Post by green wall of china on Mar 2, 2012 20:57:18 GMT -8
To Fight Noxious Dust Storms at Home, Koreans Plant Trees in Mongolia March 1, 2012 To Dong Kyun Park, the best strategy for fighting these dust storms is to try to keep the soil from leaving Mongolia in the first place. So a few years ago, he raised money in Korea to plant trees—living windbreaks—here in Mongolia’s southern Gobi, near China. At the time, Park was head of the Northeast Asia Forest Forum, and he and his colleague Jamsram Tsogtbaatar, a forestry scientist and an official at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, wanted to prove that they could grow a forest in this unforgiving region... Native salt cedars now reach to Park’s waist, while slender Siberian elm branches wave just above his head. To a reporter from verdant New England, the trees look pitifully small and fragile. But Park says they’ll soon grow to about 16 feet high, and that their canopies will weave into an umbrella of dappled shade. www.theworld.org/2012/03/dust-storms-korea-mongolia/________________________ The Green Wall Of China Issue 11.04 | April 2003 The Chinese call it "yellow dragon." Koreans, "the fifth season." Each spring, the dust from China's northern deserts is swept up by the wind and whipped eastward, blasting into Beijing. www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.04/greenwall.html
|
|
|
Post by clone on Oct 5, 2012 21:17:24 GMT -8
Life in earth: the impact of GM plants on soil ecology? TRENDS in Biotechnology Vol.24 No.1 January 2006 A recent comprehensive review [22] has been made of studies of the effects of GM plants on soil systems (http://www.defra.gov.uk/ environment/gm/research/epg-1-5-214.htm). This highlights 25 peerreviewed studies involving nine plant species (alfalfa, bird’s-foot trefoil, black nightshade, potato, rice, maize, cotton, tobacco and oilseed rape) genetically modified in ten distinct ways for the expression of: a-amylase; lignin peroxidase; an organic acid (malate dehydrogenase); T4-lysozyme (anti-pathogenic); cecropin b (an antibacterial lytic peptide); Bt toxin; insect resistance (proteinase inhibitor I); herbicide tolerance; opines; and lignin production. Effects on the soil community or soil system were noted in 16 of the studies.- Soils are home to a diverse range of life. The microbial components (bacteria, fungi, protists and nematodes) are dominant, although their diversity is not well classified (Figure 1). - Farmers and growers continually monitor their soil in terms of nutritional status and pH, structure (i.e. does it become waterlogged or compacted), and function (do crop residues fail to decompose, are there problems with pests and pathogens). These practical observations are related to wider issues of oil quality and provide a set of workable indicators related to essential services. Slowly accumulating effects, effects that become apparent when land-use conditions change, and effects detected only at commercial scales make it important that long-term monitoring is undertaken and data collected, both of which can improve the science of risk assessment. Long-term studies and post-commercialization monitoring might not, however, be best served by using the standard approach of comparison with non-transgenic controls but will instead require a different choice of keystone indicators and soil parameters. - The GM controversy seems likely to continue to rekindle questions and research into the impact of agriculture and other human activities on soil ecology – a serious but neglected topic, albeit of fundamental importance to life on, and in, Earth. homepage.agron.ntu.edu.tw/~menchi/%A5%CD%A7%DE%A7%EF%B3y%B4%D3%AA%AB%A4%A7%BA%DE%B2z/GMO%20related%20paper/GM3.pdf
|
|
|
Post by hpv on Oct 5, 2012 21:27:52 GMT -8
Black nightshade
Chinese experiments confirm that the plant inhibits growth of cervical carcinoma.[37]
|
|