Guest guest Posted March 30, 2008 Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 Today for you 38 new articles about earth's trees! (319th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com To Donate: Click Paypal link in the upper left corner of: http://www.peacefromtrees.org --British Columbia: 1) Largest rally since 1993 2) Barrie clearcuts for rich people playgrounds, 3) Environmentalists exercise right to Bear Mountain minerals, 4) Why cutting the last of the old growth is a good thing according to Ecotrust, --Oregon: 5) We need more wilderness, 6) Scientists sound out on WOPR, --California: 7) Desert forests are being graded & walled away, 8) Sign the Giant Sequoia petition, 9) Courts save Yosemite from development, 10) Bohemian Grove gives away acres to be able log the rest, --Colorado: 11) More campground closures for logging --Minnesota: 12) Stores are filled with Swedish pine --Pennsylvania: 13) Conservation Fund buys 2,500 acres --Virginia: 14) Conservation easements don't mind horse loggers? --Hawaii: 15) Scientists learn how to grow Koa trees as fast as possible --Canada: 16) Sears, Best Buy, Indigo Books, Toys " R " Us, Canadian Tire and Kleenex = Boreal Forest Destruction, 17) Boreal Forest Conservation Framework is a big disappointment, 18) Bird Treaty court case is a big one, --UK: 19) Honoring a fallen Cedar of Lebanon, 20) Transforming Low Burn Hall Farm, --Costa Rica: 21) " Sex for the forest " money spent in Costa Rica --Bolivia: 22) Fantasies of the most corrupt destroyers --Brazil: 23) the " savannization " of the Amazon --Argentina: 24) Putting a stop to deforestation in El Alamo --Asia: 25) 28,000 square kilometers (10,800 square miles) of forest every year --India: 26) 1/3 covered in trees by 2012? 27) High Court to review forest dweller law, --Papua New Guinea: 28) Tree kangaroos --Philippines: 29) 5,000 hectare areas available for communal forests --Malaysia: 30) " Tea for Trees " to create public awareness of Orangutan plight --Indonesia: 31) US$100 million in protection cash from international community --New Zealand: 32) Human rights protest at furniture store --World-wide: 33) Most comprehensive picture ever drawn of Earth's forests, 34) Measuring above-ground carbon storage, 35) Lovelock on deforestation doom and gloom, 36) 137 extinctions a day and pharmaceuticals can help save 'em? 37) STOP GE Trees, 38) Keeping an eye on the tree you planted, British Columbia: 1) Thank you to those of you who came out to the Wilderness Committee rally today to protect the remaining old-growth forests of Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland and to ban raw log exports! Over 1300 people showed up and we joined hands and encircled the Legislative Buildings two times around! It was the largest environmental protest in BC since the rallies for Clayoquot Sound in Vancouver and Victoria in 1993! The speakers were excellent and many of the major media showed up, including CTV, CHEK TV, and the Times Colonist. Today we sent an undeniably strong and decisive message to the BC Liberal government only one year before a provincial election that the fate of our ancient forests and foerstry jobs can bring out more determined advocates onto the streets than any other issue right now. Stay tuned as we ramp-up the campaign until the Campbell government sees the light! See today's media release at: http://www.wcwcvictoria.org 2) The first major developer to come sniffing around Highlands, in 1993, got nowhere. Barrie knew none of this as he crashed through the bush on his mountain bike one fall day in 2001. When his bike chain snapped, Barrie was left stranded on the steep western slope of the mountain. He looked southeast and caught his first glimpse of what would later become the site of the Bear Mountain resort. " The view over the ocean, Victoria, Esquimalt and Colwood was unbelievable, " remembers Barrie. Directly below him was an undulating canyon that ran for a couple of kilometres east to west. It was heavily treed and dotted with boulders and rock outcroppings, but Barrie could imagine a fairway running through it. He ditched his bike and hiked off the mountain with a head full of inspiration. He liked what his feet and golf sense told him, and was determined to buy the property, owned by Western Forest Products (WFP), a large, B.C.-based lumber producer. To his fans, Barrie is among the vanguard of Western Canada's brash and belligerent new bourgeoisie: Success is the only option; opposition be damned. To his opponents, he's the Beelzebub of Bear Mountain, a man bent on laying waste to the island's pristine wilderness, spreading the brimstone of condos, fairways and big-box plazas. " The bear has come over the mountain, and look what he has done, " says Vicky Husband, the grande dame of Canada's conservation movement and a 40-year resident of the tiny Highlands district into which Bear Mountain is expanding. Since 2002, when Barrie started knocking down trees in the hills northwest of Victoria, he has enraged environmentalists, town councillors, local residents and aboriginal groups–and done it with a certain amount of glee. Barrie never made much of a mark in the NHL. At 18, he was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the sixth round. He was a gritty but faceless journeyman, skating with the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, L.A. Kings and, finally, the Florida Panthers. In October, 2000, in a game against New Jersey, Barrie took a shot in the kidney that required surgery. Nonetheless, that season was Barrie's best: five goals and 18 assists in 60 games. But the injury had left him in pain and " pissing blood. " In 2001, at 32, he hung up his skates. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080328.ROB4BIGBEAR/TPStory/Bu\ siness 3) For about $400 and using the provincial government's mineral titles online service, Lee bought three tenures summing to more than 940 hectares. His subsurface ownership extends roughly from Goldstream Avenue in downtown Langford north over Skirt Mountain. Lee, a veteran tree-sit activist who has denounced Bear Mountain as " the worst urban sprawl, " was arrested Feb. 13 after laying in front of a feller-buncher machine, shortly after a large RCMP raid cleared an anti-interchange protest camp. With the tenures, Lee is now a free miner. His company, Bare Mountain Bonanza Corp., will exploit his claims, he said. " I think big bucks are to be made tapping into the Bear Mountain money gusher, " Lee deadpanned. " We are going to be as voracious and aggressive as anyone else at Bear Mountain. " If nothing else, Lee envisions an open-pit mine near the ninth hole at the resort's golf course, not far from Bear Mountain president Len Barrie's house. Skirt Mountain had copper mines operating at least near the turn of the century and beyond. Lee said he's had plenty of offers from people willing to buy shares in Bare Mountain Bonanza or pieces of the mountain itself. " They say Wrangellia (igneous rock) is worthless. I think it's a marketing deficiency, " he said. " People want chunks of Bear Mountain. We'll sell them at Sunday markets. " The provincial government changed mining regulations in 2002 by removing some protections of private land. In 2005 it introduced the online service, removing the need for prospectors to lay physical markers. The Mineral Tenure Act says free miners can't explore for minerals on land occupied by buildings, heritage land, orchards or land under cultivation. Otherwise, miners must notify landowners of the intent to explore and are liable for compensation for surface damage caused by entry, exploration or development. Lee expects to start prospecting as soon as possible, but is consulting with a lawyer to understand his rights as a free miner. He said any profits will go toward promoting tree-sits. " Our company policy is don't destroy anything that already isn't destroyed, " he said. editor 4) I've been following with interest the to-ing and fro-ing about the Rankin Cove logging in Clayoquot Sound. As you know, Ecotrust Canada has been working with Iisaak Forest Resources on its FSC-certified, Science Panel-sanctioned, EBM forestry operations in Clayoquot. The log barge photos tell part of the story. If you want to see more - and feel free to comment more - go to our blog: ecotrustcanada.blogspot.com In addition to the recent posting there, if you want to read an essay I wrote about what Ecotrust Canada is trying to achieve with our Iisaak partnership, go to the 2007 archive on the blog site, and there is a fullsome account there. In fact, I heartily recommend that everyone with an interest in EBM, FSC and old-growth logging (or not) read that piece; not to suggest that it is the last word on anything, but I think it frames the issues rather differently than I have seen them articulated on Landwatch. I also recommend that you go to our website and read the PDF of the 2007 Annual Report on Iisaak's operations, a report which has been widely circulated in Clayoquot Sound: http://www.ecotrustcan.org/pdf/Iisaak2007Report.pdf Finally, there is about 5 minutes of aerial footage of the operations on YouTube. Oregon: 5) Growing up as a kid in the Portland area, I did a lot of backpacking with my parents. We went on a week-long trip every summer. Some years I wasn't exactly enthusiastic; it was cold, my equipment was heavy and I was a teenager. But those experiences in wild places that only exist in Oregon instilled in me a lifelong appreciation for the beauty of our state's old growth forests. Nowadays I spend my free time backcountry skiing, climbing and hiking in Central Oregon, trading the Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce for juniper and Ponderosa Pine. But I still get my old growth fix from an annual camping trip on the Oregon Coast. Folks like me who have lived in Oregon for most of our lives have witnessed the ups and downs of living in a timber-dependent economy. We've also seen another path to prosperity when it comes to managing our public forest lands. Today, our trees are worth a lot more if they're left standing for recreational purposes. I've made my living in the outdoor industry, working for the past 20 years with equipment and clothing manufacturers and distributors. In that time I've watched as the economy of Oregon has shifted to create new business opportunities, for the timber industry among others, and moved away from the divisive, controversial practice of clear-cut logging. Outdoor recreation is a major economic contributor to local communities. Americans spent $120 billion hunting, fishing and bird watching in 2006. That's more than what was spent at casinos, theaters, golf courses, professional sports arenas and amusement parks combined. For our state, the big draw is old growth forests. It has become scarce— only about 5 percent of America's old growth remains, much of it found in Oregon. The many manufacturers and retailers of outdoor equipment based and doing business in Oregon depend on these public lands. Currently the Bush administration is trying to roll back protections for old growth forests, clean water, salmon and wildlife. On March 13, our representative in the Senate, Ron Wyden, convened a hearing on old growth forest management, continuing the important dialogue on how best to care for this rare resource. Congress should permanently protect what little remains of our irreplaceable old growth forests for current and future generations of Americans. I applaud Senator Wyden's efforts and those of the other lawmakers working to preserve the outdoor heritage of our country. http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/OPINION/8032\ 40316/1049 6) A new Bush administration proposal to accelerate logging in Oregon's Coast Range probably underestimates the detrimental environmental impacts of the proposal and may also exaggerate how much timber could actually be cut, according to a panel of state and federal scientists who reviewed the proposal. The scientists, who include experts on forests, fish, wildlife and economics, also said the proposal from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management did not consider the most recent and relevant science on subjects such as wildlife habitat and water quality. The proposal, known as the BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revisions, affects about 2.5 million acres of federally managed forest land rich in both timber and wildlife. Logging in the region dropped sharply amid increased protection for species such as the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet, and coastal counties have pressed to push logging levels back up. As part of a 2003 legal deal with the timber industry, the Bush administration agreed to look at eliminating permanent wildlife reserves on the land -- a move that would allow more logging. The BLM issued its draft version of the new logging blueprint last year, and asked the panel of state and federal scientists to review it. The opinion of the scientists, posted on a BLM website about a week ago, is very critical. It suggests that the BLM used simplistic models to project effects on fish and wildlife habitat, and generally ignored major environmental issues such as climate change, which could contribute to more wildfires that leave fewer trees to cut. The scientists also said the BLM may be overestimating the amount of timber that could be cut, as happened with the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan and the Oregon Department of Forestry's blueprint for the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests. Neither of those plans produced as much timber as expected. The scientists contributing to the comments included representatives of the U.S http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen/2008/03/_a_new_bush_administration.html California: 7) The ecosystem of the desert is even more fragile than that of those other forests. Developed in an environment of extreme temperature, low rainfall that often comes in torrential downpours which lead to flash flooding, and rooted in decomposed granite, the Joshua trees, along with other flora typical to this region, have an important position in the desert landscape. Retaining water and run-off from desert rainstorms is the most obvious function of these extraordinary trees. Another is deferring soil erosion from high winds which occur frequently in the desert. I think you will all agree that blowing sand is a menace in our town. It can destroy our vehicles' windshields and paint. More seriously, it destroys visibility and can lead to serious accidents on the road. It also is not pleasant to walk through a windstorm and be pelted with stinging sand. The entire ecosystem of the area is affected aversely when large areas are mass graded. Endangered species such as the desert tortoise are deprived of habitat necessary to their survival. Other unique species such as bobcat, coyote, snakes, quail, owls and roadrunners are forced out, perhaps surviving now, but they surely won't as more land is degraded and denuded. In any event, it will be difficult for these species to survive when a 6-foot-high wall blocks their migratory paths. The high density of homes that is being allowed on hillsides on the south side of Yucca Valley, close to Joshua Tree National Park, are instigating a 6-foot-high wall which will stretch for a distance of one-half mile, blocking the view-shed of hundreds of residents and passersby. Two similar walls are already in place on Acoma above Onaga. While I drive by I can no longer see the mountains in the distance; the expansive desert views are blocked and stolen from me forever. I feel like I am in a prison. And what about the people who live across the street from these eyesores? Their property is de-valued and their right to enjoy the view out their windows is gone forever. Go see for yourself. http://www.hidesertstar.com/articles/2008/03/29/editorial/opinion2.txt 8) Our fight to protect the majestic Giant Sequoias is not over. More than half of the remaining groves — located in Giant Sequoia National Monument — are in jeopardy because, despite being rebuked by the federal courts, the Bush Administration is refusing to back off its plan to log this irreplaceable ancient forest. Without these protections, loggers would be permitted to cut down trees of any species 30 " in diameter or larger — a size that normally takes two centuries or more to grow. In addition, timber companies would be entitled to take 7.5 million board feet of lumber from Giant Sequoia National Monument each year — enough trees to fill 2,500 logging trucks — that's a truck almost every three hours! Your signed petition to Abigail Kimbell will put the U.S. Forest Service on notice that the American people won't stand by as commercial logging damages this fragile ecosystem and threatens our remaining Giant Sequoia groves. And with your backing we will work to extend permanent protections to these magnificent and imperiled trees — by transferring management of the Giant Sequoia National Monument to the National Park Service. The future of our cherished Giant Sequoia National Monument is hanging in the balance — please sign our petition today - and help preserve these awe-inspiring trees for generations to come. https://secure2.convio.net/sierra/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage & page=UserActio\ n & id=211 & autol ogin=true & JServSessionIdr005=yplnm4im61.app24a 9) The ramifications of this case are enormous. The Court in effect ruled that the " Wild and Scenic Rivers Act " of 1968 (WSRA) has teeth and that the English language meaning of the words of this act can not be ignored. The law can not be ignored by the National Park Service in relation to the Merced River. The law can not be ignored by other land management agencies in relation to other designated Wild and Scenic rivers. Amongst other things the WSRA requires that the river corridor must be adequate protected, that the outstandingly remarkable values (ORVs) must be preserved, that a Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) be written and adhered to and that the kinds and amounts of public use that can be sustained without adversely impacting the resource be established, monitored and enforced. As I said, the ramifications are enormous. The wording of Circuit Judge Wardlaw's decision could not be more straight-forward and logically presented. Simply stated, Wardlaw ruled that land managers are required to follow the law. Then she went on to carefully explain the requirements of the law. Judge Wardlaw's decision can be read at: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/BCABDF4F5FB55684882574180082FA48\ /$file/0715124. pdf 10) The Bohemian Club's ambitious plan to log its famed Bohemian Grove on the Russian River hit a snag last year when opponents argued that the ritzy club's redwood holdings were too large to qualify for a streamlined permit from the state. In a new move, the all-male San Francisco club has offered to donate 160 acres as a conservation easement to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation of Missoula, Mont., effectively whittling down the size and making it eligible for a state exemption to log in perpetuity without extensive environmental review. Opponents of the plan, including the Sierra Club and some former Bohemian Club members, say the club's action is nothing more than a thinly veiled end-run around state law that offers the special permit to small, noncommercial holdings. At the heart of the controversy is the 2,700-acre redwood grove, where the club's secret membership, including U.S. presidents, kings of industry and celebrities, have gathered for spring and summer retreats for more than a century. It is Sonoma County's largest remnant of ancient redwood forests, most of which were clear-cut to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire. The grove's redwood stands, mixed with Douglas fir and hardwood trees, lie in Monte Rio in the watershed of the Russian River. They provide sanctuary for northern spotted owls, marbled murrelets and rare plants. The club wants to log about 1 million board-feet a year and argues that it deserves the streamlined permit, or " non-industrial timber management plan, " because logging would improve its forest and prevent wildfires. Its board of directors has submitted a 100-year plan that has been under review by the state Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention for the past two years. Some who oppose the plan say that amount of logging, enough to build 70 houses a year, would fragment the forest and, in the absence of full state and federal review, open the door to unchecked abuse. The club has been doing some logging since 1984, but in past years, it has filed conventional logging plans, which come under agency environmental review. The club's request for a streamlined permit is scheduled to be taken up April 10 in Santa Rosa by the state Department of Forestry and other agencies. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/28/BAC0VQV83.DTL Colorado: 11) Silverthorne — The pine beetle is at it again, as the U.S. Forest Service announce the Peak One Campground on the Frisco Peninsula will be closed starting Monday. The campground was previously closed last summer due to safety concerns caused by the beetle outbreak. " Getting the contractor in to do the work now will allow us to re-open the area to the public by early summer, " states Ken Waugh, Dillon Ranger District recreation staff officer. The district asks for public cooperation in staying out of the area during logging operations. A total public closure of the area will be in effect beginning Monday. The length of the closure is dependent on the time needed to do the logging. According to the forest service, the contractor hopes to only take two weeks. However, if the snow melts too quickly and soils become unstable, operations will be suspended until dry enough to resume. This removal project is part of the larger Wildernest Stewardship Project — the first implementation phase of the Dillon Reservoir Forest Health Project. http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20080329/NEWS/604046294 Minnesota: 12) A few weeks ago I went to a Home Depot in Minneapolis and noticed that all of the pine boards being sold were imported from Sweden. The boards were inexpensive, but there is no excuse for importing pine boards to Minnesota. The environmental cost associated with shipping those boards is enormous. Air pollution from ocean shipping is largely unregulated and is rapidly growing. Indeed, it is estimated that emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur and particulate matter from international shipping based out of the European Union will exceed all land-based sources of those pollutants in the European Union by the year 2020. Add to that the oil spills and the spread of invasive species due to ballast water discharges and all of us, especially environmentalists, should decry the shipment of pine boards to Minnesota. All of those boards at Home Depot should have been from trees grown in Minnesota, cut by Minnesota loggers and milled by Minnesota mills. Anything other than that is simply inexcusable from an environmental standpoint. It is unfortunate that any logger would believe that environmentalists are opposed to his industry. That perception is understandable, given the myriad of lawsuits and protests during the past 30 years over Minnesota and U.S. Forest Service logging plans. Some of those lawsuits may have been justified, others certainly were not, but for the future we all need to understand that the protection of our natural environment is intricately tied to the development of locally sustainable businesses. If we have to import pine boards from Sweden, or even from Canada, all of us will lose. Our natural environment will be further polluted and our communities will suffer, reducing the health and quality or our individual and collective lives. http://www.timberjay.com/current.php?article=4226 Pennsylvania: 13) A second batch of forestland is set to transfer from Glatfelter Pulp Wood Company to an area state forest. The Conservation Fund announced on Thursday it has purchased 2,500 acres in Hamiltonban Township, Adams County, between Michaux State Forest and Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve. The land -- a buffer to the Appalachian Trail corridor and in the view shed of Gettysburg National Military Park -- will become part of Michaux. The Conservation Fund provided $12.5 million in " bridge " financing for the 2,500 acres at Michaux and has agreed to hold the property until other money can be raised to transfer the land to the state. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry will manage and patrol the site during the Fund's interim ownership, but the property must remain closed to the public until it is transferred, according to a spokeswoman for the Fund, a national nonprofit conservation organization. Three months ago, the Conservation Fund announced its $9 million purchase from Glatfelter of 3,500 acres, including nearly 600 acres near Cowans Gap State Park in Fulton County. Those properties will become part of Buchanan State Forest. The Michaux property is known as the Mount Hope or Tree Farm No. 1 property, Glatfelter's flagship property among thousands of acres of holdings in the mid-Atlantic region. " In our 11 years, we have never heard more concern from citizens about the protection of a specific property than we have for these 2,500 acres, " said Dick Mountfort, president of the Land Conservancy of Adams County. Conservationists were concerned that the land, marketed in late 2007, would sell quickly. Current zoning allows for construction of about 500 homes. " The Fund borrowed money for this purchase, " said Todd McNew, Pennsylvania representative for the Fund. " Now we must work to recoup the cost of the project so that we have the ability to quickly purchase the next critically-endangered property, wherever it may be. " http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_8730776 Virginia: 14) Driving south on Virginia Route 17 into Fauquier County it dawns on you slowly that this entire countryside is as well tended as a European park. Not a board out of place in the endless white fences, hardly a blade of grass unmowed, " more stately mansions " set well back from the highway, tucked into hollows or near the crests of low hills. In the background are the scattered higher foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, largely covered with mature second- or third-growth forests. This area has the highest density per capita of conservation easements in the United States, almost a guarantee that these landowners have a long term view of their relationship to the land. There's clear wisdom, then, in Jason Rutledge's decision to set up the Northern Virginia office of the Healing Harvest Forest Foundation right here, among people who both care about their land and have the means to care for it well. Jason's game is modern horselogging, which implies a whole eco-philosophy. This isn't theoretical or arm-chair stuff. It's " boots-on-the-ground, " to borrow a happy phrase from the Pentagon. Jason applies horselogging as a means to implement what he calls restorative forestry, also known as worst-first single tree selection. What is left in the forest after he's finished is more important than what is taken. This is a radically different long term approach to the land, a complete departure from the all-too-common cut-and-run school. http://alleghenysc.org/?p=418 Hawaii: 15) Scientists involved in the study have published their findings in the April edition of Forest Ecology and Management. The article is entitled, " Understory Structure in a 23-Year-Old Acacia Koa Forest and Two-Year Growth Responses to Silvicultural Treatments. " Previous studies have shown that a lack of knowledge about koa tree production has hampered commercial forestry investment efforts in Hawaií. Scientists in this study began to fill this knowledge gap in 2002 when they started measuring how koa trees respond to the thinning of competing trees and the application of fertilizers. Theywere also concerned about how the trees and understory plants responded to chemical control of non-native grasses because about 20 percent of endangered plants in Hawaií are understory species found in koa forests. They found the potential koa crop trees in the test area on the eastern slope of Mauna Loa annually increased their stem diameter at chest height by nearly 120 percent. In addition, they found the treatments did not adversely affect the growth of native understory plants and non-native grasses did not grow more where tree thinning had occurred. Scientists even found fertilizers reduced the growth of these alien grasses when compared to unfertilized test plots. The study's findings also showed the treatments were either neutral or beneficial to forest bird habitat, an important consideration because many trees in koa forests bear fleshy fruits or provide habitat for insects eaten by many Hawaiían birds. " Our findings indicate the use of low-impact silvicultural treatments in young koa stands not only increases wood production, but also is compatible with maintenance of healthy, intact native understory vegetation, " said Paul Scowcroft, an Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry research ecologist and one of the study's authors. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327093626.htm Canada: 16) The message: " Sears, Best Buy, Indigo Books, Toys " R " Us, Canadian Tire and Kleenex = Boreal Forest Destruction. " The protest was aimed at the corporate customers of logging giants AbitibiBowater, Kruger, Buchanan and pulp manufacturer SFK Pulp. Their business supports destructive logging operations that are turning the 10,000 year old Boreal Forest into disposable products like tissue paper and junk mail. " Sears, Toys " R " Us, Talbots, Best Buy and others are paying for an ancient forest to be converted into throwaway flyers, romance novels and toilet paper, " said Kim Fry, a forests campaigner with Greenpeace Canada. " They should instead flex their financial muscle and demand that their suppliers end logging in intact forest areas. " Toronto Police intercepted and arrested activists Mark Goldsworthy, Roxanne Gadova, Naila Lalji and Vanessa Buttersworth before they could completely deploy the 3.1 x 34 metre banner. They are now being detained at Toronto Police's 52nd Division at 255 Dundas Street West. The customers, who also include Talbots and Harlequin Books, are financially supporting the logging of woodland caribou habitat despite the fact that caribou is a federally listed threatened species in Canada. Scientists predict woodland caribou will be extinct by mid-century in Ontario unless vast areas of forest are protected. Already, an area three times the size of France has been degraded and fragmented by logging the Boreal Forest region (175 million hectares) to make advertising flyers, magazines, catalogues, lumber and other products. Canada's Boreal Forest stretches across the north of the country, from Newfoundland to the Yukon. It represents a quarter of the world's remaining intact ancient forests and stores 186 billion tonnes of carbon in its soils and trees. Less than nine per cent of the forest in Ontario and five per cent in Quebec are protected from industrial development. http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2008/27/c7792.html 17) The purpose of this letter is to express my deep concern and disappointment with the proposed Boreal Forest Conservation Framework. As you know, the wildlife heritage of this continent and the stability of its climate depends in good part o¬n the forest cover, and particularly o¬n the cover provided by the boreal forest. Because of soil and climate, the growth cycle of this forest is very slow ? in the case of conifers, over 300 years. The boreal forest also absorbs carbon dioxide and emits oxygen. Canada has ratified an international convention linked with these functions of the boreal forest. In addition, the level of rivers and water flows are regulated by the presence of the forest and the role of its root system. Canada, because of the 1992 Convention o¬n Biodiversity and because of the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, has a particular interest in the boreal forest and its retention. o¬ne has also to assume that the aboriginal and m?tis people have a particular interest as well? retaining and protecting their way of life which depends o¬n the boreal forest. Finally, the boreal is o¬ne of the few frontier forests left, world-wide, as shown by the World Resources Institute in a study carried out in 2002. You will therefore understand the surprise and dismay o¬n the part of many when learning about the proposed Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, announced by WWF with three other NGOs and four forest companies, which would limit to 50% the conservation of the boreal forest. Some of my colleagues actively involved in environmental protection and natural resources are simply appalled at the proposed terms of the Framework. As you know, the Senate of Canada conducted a study o¬n the boreal forest three years ago. It recommended 20% for exploitation purposes and even that ? in my view ? is a high percentage given the role of the forest in protecting wildlife and the ecosystem. Mr. Monte Hummel, President, World Wildlife Fund Canada 18) The great blue heron is a majestic, quiet bird that rarely attracts much attention. But the heron is at the centre of a court case in New Brunswick that could change how Canada protects migratory birds and affect the operations of almost every forest products, energy and mining company in the country. " This is a case that will have implications in every corner of the country, " said Stewart Elgie, a professor of environmental law at the University of Ottawa. " It's one of the most significant environmental law cases to come down in years. " A spokesman for the Forest Products Association of Canada said the industry association is watching the case closely, but declined further comment. In November of 2006 Environment Canada officials filed charges against forestry giant J.D. Irving Ltd. under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. The act stems from a 92-year-old treaty between Canada and the United States designed to save migratory birds " from indiscriminate slaughter and ensure their preservation. " Officials alleged the company destroyed about eight blue heron nests during construction of a logging road on Irving-owned land near Cambridge Narrows, N.B. The maximum penalty under the act is a $1-million fine and three years in jail. The company pleaded not guilty. It also shut down the road and took steps to protect remaining nests. A trial on the charges was slated to begin in October, but this month, lawyers representing Irving filed a constitutional challenge, arguing the act was vague and beyond the power of the federal government. A hearing on the motion started this week in Burton, N.B. In court filings, Irving lawyers argued the law is so broad a homeowner could be prosecuted for removing a robin's nest. " 'Migratory bird' is defined so as to include hundreds of very common bird [species] from pigeons to robins to seagulls and many others, " the lawyers said. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080328.wbirds28/BNStory/Nat\ ional/home UK: 19) With the demise of Highgrove's majestic 200-year-old cedar of Lebanon, so beloved by the Prince of Wales, came the opportunity to raise above its roots a new building worthy of the tree's memory. The large hole in the roof of the pavilion will allow the seedling oak at the base of the cedar to grow unimpeded. The long lower bough has been retained to allow the Prince to continue to hang his oriental birdfeeders here. In his introduction to Highgrove, Portrait of an Estate, published 15 years ago, the Prince of Wales cited the trees and parkland around the house as one of the major reasons he was drawn to live here in Gloucestershire back in 1980. 'I also developed an instant passion for the 200-year-old cedar tree on the west side of the house.' On the Prince's evolving garden, this broad, tabular, 60ft-high cedar of Lebanon was almost as imposing a feature as the Jersey-cow-coloured mansion it partnered and part-obscured. It was the organic counterweight to the Georgian architecture. It gave summer shade to the sitting terrace, with its Mediterranean pots, self-sown tapestry of forget-me-nots, alchemillas and much else, and its bubble fountain and octagonal pond, into which the Prince flings stones collected on his travels. And it gave the arching frame to the garden's principal axis, down the cobble-patterned thyme walk, with its flanks of golden yew topiaries and palisades of pleached hornbeam, past a bronze of a gladiator and another low fountain pool, to a lime avenue crowned by a dovecote. But although trees seem as permanent a presence in the landscape as old stone buildings, most have a more limited lifespan. And for some years it was apparent that this venerable royal retainer was slowly dying. 'It began losing branches, and it became infected with a bracket fungus, ganoderma, which gradually eats the heart out of it. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/main.jhtml?xml=/gardening/2008/03/29/sm_pav\ ilion29.xml 20) The Woodland Trust wants to transform Low Burn Hall Farm, in Durham City, into a broadleaf forest, open to the public, featuring woodland trails and conservation projects. The trust, the UK's leading woodland conservation charity, revealed its plans for the site, three miles from the city centre, after it bought it at auction on Wednesday night. The 179-acre farm, which includes arable and pasture land, woodland, a four-bedroomed farmhouse, two cottages, a traditional farmstead and some modern buildings, sold for £2.4m - thought to be a record for public auctions in the North-East. More than 100 people attended the auction, at the Honest Lawyer Hotel, near Croxdale, County Durham. David Smith, head of property for the Woodland Trust, said the new forest would link areas of ancient woodland, giving them a better chance of survival. Mr Smith said the trust would seek to sell the farm buildings with small areas of land, but keep control of most of the site. Gary Haley, a Woodland Trust officer for County Durham, Teesside and Tyne and Wear, said the trust would seek to plant native trees such as oak, ash and hazel It is not known when the woods will be open to the public. http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/display.var.2153005.0.trust_reveals_woodland\ _plan.php Costa Rica: 21) Nearly four years ago, Lissa Harris wrote a titillating Grist profile of two European activists who were, as she put it, " raising cash to save the rainforest, one money shot at a time. " That story, " Norwegian Wood, " became one of Grist's all-time greatest hits. Recently, while researching another story, I discovered that the dynamic duo behind the none-too-subtly named Fuck for Forest was still .... well, going at it. And it appeared they'd even found a place to sink their hard-earned bucks, money that environmental groups were shying away from back in 2004. So I decided to get in touch and find out what they've been up to. Far removed from the bleak landscape of in flagrante income ingratitude that Harris had reported on, Tommy Hol Ellingsen and Leona Johansson have now found organizations in Central and South America that are happy for the helping hand. Over the last two years, they've spent about $90,000 in Costa Rica and $90,000 more in Ecuador on reforestation and ecology projects. They have a volunteer on the ground in Ecuador and an assistant at their Berlin base. And all the while, they continue to pimp the crunchy-sex website that raises their dough. An email from Johansson, 25, and Ellingsen, 31 -- who live together as " lovers and friends in an open relationship " -- feels something like a brief transcontinental ménage a trois. " Hello love! " they gush, and they sign off with xx's and oo's and exhortations to " change reality with love and sexuality! " But when I got ahold of them by phone, it was a different story: Johansson, who answered, handed the phone to her other half, who tackled my questions in nearly flawless, no-nonsense, rapid-fire English. A follow-up conversation by email revealed that these two are nothing if not serious about their life's work. http://www.grist.org/feature/2008/03/28/?source=daily Bolivia: 22) Bolivian forestry annual exports to some 60 countries could generate one billion dollars and up to 250,000 direct jobs, said Forestry Chamber President Pablo Antelo. Antelo said the sales currently yield some $200 million, including 58 percent from different wood products and 77 percent enjoying high added value like chestnuts and furniture. The official assured at Expoforest 2008 fair that forestry is second to oleaginous plants within Bolivian non traditional exports that reported sustained growth in 2007. Antelo assured they work now on social inclusion of indigenous and farming communities. http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BC8E25C55-92EE-4D36-A814-FBB90C04FF45%\ 7D & language=EN Brazil: 23) From his Cessna a mile above the southern Amazon, John Carter looks down on the destruction of the world's greatest ecological jewel. He watches men converting rain forest into cattle pastures and soybean fields with bulldozers and chains. He sees fires wiping out such gigantic swaths of jungle that scientists now debate the " savannization " of the Amazon. Brazil just announced that deforestation is on track to double this year; Carter, a Texas cowboy with all the subtlety of a chainsaw, says it's going to get worse fast. " It gives me goose bumps, " says Carter, who founded a nonprofit to promote sustainable ranching on the Amazon frontier. " It's like witnessing a rape. " The Amazon was the chic eco-cause of the 1990s, revered as an incomparable storehouse of biodiversity. It's been overshadowed lately by global warming, but the Amazon rain forest happens also to be an incomparable storehouse of carbon, the very carbon that heats up the planet when it's released into the atmosphere. Brazil now ranks fourth in the world in carbon emissions, and most of its emissions come from deforestation. Carter is not a man who gets easily spooked--he led a reconnaissance unit in Desert Storm, and I watched him grab a small anaconda with his bare hands in Brazil--but he can sound downright panicky about the future of the forest. " You can't protect it. There's too much money to be made tearing it down, " he says. " Out here on the frontier, you really see the market at work. " This land rush is being accelerated by an unlikely source: biofuels. An explosion in demand for farm-grown fuels has raised global crop prices to record highs, which is spurring a dramatic expansion of Brazilian agriculture, which is invading the Amazon at an increasingly alarming rate. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975,00.html Argentina: 24) The provincial government has today announced it has put a stop to deforestation on a large plot of land, known as El Alamo. Spanish readers click here to read a local newspaper article on the topic. Some of you will recall that ASOCIANA had been engaged in fighting this proposal, back in July 2007. The reason given for stopping the bulldozers in their tracks was that the deforestation is possibly affecting indigenous land-use rights. This is a major change in state policy, which has until now tended to downplay indigenous rights in favor of allowing the expansion of agriculture. The satellite image, taken from the work we do monitoring deforestation, shows that forest clearence had already been initiated on the El Alamo ranch, which is located within the ancestral territory if the indigenous community of Traslado (red dot). The action taken in El Alamo is one of the first clear indications that the new government in Salta may be taking a more rational approach towards the issue of deforestation. There is also encouraging noises being made with regards to issuing indigenous land rights in the region of the Pilcomayo. http://leake.blogspot.com/2008/03/some-encouraging-news.html Asia: 25) Parts of Asia are losing more than 28,000 square kilometers (10,800 square miles) of forest every year, a trend that must to be reversed immediately to fight climate change, a United Nations report said on Thursday. Deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of global greenhouse gases -- trees soak up carbon dioxide when they grow and release it when they rot or are burnt. A U.N. climate conference in Bali last year agreed to launch pilot projects to grant poor countries credits for slowing deforestation under a new long-term climate pact beyond 2012. " If these trends continue, land-use emissions are likely to increase until 2050; much damage will already have been done by the time they start to recede, " it said. " Reversing deforestation is thus critical. " Experts say reversing the trend would also help reduce the impact of soil erosion and drought, protect against floods and increase bio-diversity, and thus food security. The report said governments in Asia and the Pacific were likely to face " eco-refugees " from their own countries and elsewhere in the region, seeking shelter from short term and long term environmental catastrophes. " These refugees are likely to head to cities and towns, so government needs to plan for this influx both in the short term and long term. " it said. " A regional food bank is one measure that countries can adopt for mutual assistance. " The report said it was unfair to expect developing countries to sacrifice growth to cut emissions, but it was also imperative to include them in all mitigating efforts. " The solution is invest in carbon-reducing technologies, " it said. But the cost of returning greenhouse gas emissions to present levels by 2030 would be about $200 billion annually, the U.N says, through measures such as investing in energy efficiency and low-carbon renewable energy. http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2008/03/asia-must-reverse-massive-deforest\ ation.html India: 26) Is India unthinkingly denudes its own forest base, it's almost as if it clears the ground for a bout between 'doers' and 'sceptics'. A third of the country covered with trees by 2012 sounds like a comforting prospect. But the government lacks the resources to meet this stated goal. So the Union ministry of environment and forests proposes to set up a three-way intiative—a public-people-private partnership, involving the state, local dwellers and a private party—to help meet the aim. It will invite bids for areas with tree cover of less than 10 per cent, and the paper industry will be contracted to farm trees in return for making pulp. Sounds good on paper, you say? Well, environment activists are not so happy. While the government says local communities would be " equal partners " and contracts would have legal sanctity, Smitu Kothari, director of environment think tank Intercultural Resources, feels there is a deep disconnect between the interests of forest dwellers and private firms. " It's a very early stage for private interests to address the basic issues that forest dwellers have been concerned about for the past century-and-a-half, " he says. These include the root causes of deforestation, the role of traditional knowledge in forest management, the value of the forest beyond commodities and the rights of these communities to become primary agents of sustainable forest management. " Land is not just a subsistence issue, it is an integral part of their cultural identity, " adds Kothari. http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080407 & fname=HConserving+Water+(F\ ) & sid=2 27) The Supreme Court has decided to examine the constitutional validity of the Forests Rights Act, which provides for giving forest rights including right to land, to Scheduled Tribes (STs) and traditional forest dwellers. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia issued notices to the Centre and all the states on the petition challenging the validity of STs and other traditional forest dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights Act 2006), which seeks to recognise and give forest rights including forest land to tribals and the natives of the forests. The Act was notified by the Union Government in January this year after a prolonged legal battle between Wildlife experts and Tribal activists. According to the petitioners including Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), the main issue raised is whether Parliament can make laws in relation to forests which are a state subject. The petitoners have also pointed out several ambiguities in the Act which will create serious problems in its implementations. The petition filed by BNHS has also contended that the impugned Act also violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners to life and equality, and the Act is against the principles of sustainable development. Another petitioner Wildlife First, Nature, Conservation, Society and Tiger Research and Conservation Trust also contended that the Act invades the powers of Gram Sabha and phrases like customary boundary of the village are vague and cannot be defined. According to tribal groups, this is an attempt to sabotage the implementation of the Act, the sole aim of which is to deny the tribals, who mostly belong to the weaker and down-trodden segment of the society. The apex court also directed that the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries should not be disturbed until and unless it is extremely necessary. http://www.indlawnews.com/Newsdisplay.aspx?7a773690-f8e8-4881-8160-e40cc6f557ae Papua New Guinea: 28) Kangaroos in the trees may seem strange to many people; the common image of a kangaroo is the iconic image of the variety found in Australia. But tree kangaroos, of which there are about 10 species, inhabit the tall forest canopies of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Australia. Looking a bit like teddy bears with long tails, these elusive marsupials were becoming rare in PNG due to hunting and loss of habitat from logging. The Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) has been successful because it has been directly involving the indigenous land owners in decisions about how and what land can be used. Also, the program helps fund health care and nutrition projects for the villagers. They in turn aid the project by protecting the tree kangaroos and the forest areas they require. http://woodlandparkzblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/tree-kangaroo-conservation-program\ ..html Philippines: 29) Ponce de Leon said that under the provisions of the Local Government Code (LGC), the local government unit (LGU) can establish a 5,000 hectare area for communal forest that will cater the need for woods of their communities, especially after the permit for coco lumber was suspended. Although the matter remains a subject for deliberation, a resolution will be filed to the Council to ask the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to immediately facilitate the processing of permits to cut planted trees like mangiums and mahogany. The usual problem, he further claimed, is the delay in the processing of permit to cut at the DENR. " The problem is that it always takes long to get permits. This is what the committee will try to resolve through the resolution to be addressed to the Council so that it can ask the DENR to facilitate the cutting permits, " he said. Meanwhile, should the communal forest be approved, the trees to be planted are fast growing tree species. The other kinds will be subject for deliberation of the committee because some of those in the list are premium hardwoods which are banned. " In the list, there are premium hardwoods that are banned like Ipil and Narra. But the committee will discuss this to know what trees should be planted, " he added. The possible pilot area to become a communal forest is the municipality of San Vicente. The town, according to Ponce de Leon, has been ready since a long time ago. He explained that if the site for the communal forest would be determined and will prosper, island municipalities, such as Kalayaan, Cuyo, Magsaysay, Cagayancillo, Agutaya and others that have none can arrange or negotiate with the local executives in the pilot area for lumber supplies.The pilot area however, should not collect excessive amounts out of the trees because it will go against the total commercial log ban under the Strategic for Environmental Plan for Palawan. http://thepalawantimes.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/enrc-pcsd-pushes-for-the-establi\ shment-of-comm unal-forests-in-palawan/ Malaysia: 30) Boh Plantations Sdn Bhd (Boh) and WWF-Malaysia (WWF) have organised a campaign themed " Tea for Trees " to create public awareness towards restoring the Home of Orang-Utans. The campaign encourages public participation in the efforts to conserve this endangered species by symbolically adopting a tree. The tree adoption drive held at The Curve in Petaling Jaya last weekend drew strong interest from shoppers and environment enthusiasts with the many fun-filled educational activities organised to keep the public enthralled. " We believe that we are in a position to reach out to Malaysians and share the message of the need to protect the orang utans which are threatened due to destruction of their habitat, " said Boh Plantations chief executive officer Caroline Russell. Russell added that as a fervent supporter and advocate of wildlife and environmental conservation, Boh had initiated the " New Hope for Orang utans " project to highlight issues threatening the primates. Among other awareness initiatives, Boh collaborated with WWF on the orang-utan Habitat Restoration Project (HRP) in Sabah by sponsoring the replanting of tree saplings. Quantities of saplings are nurtured in a nursery in Kampung Bilit until they attain a particular size and then transported and replanted in specific areas in Kinabatangan to rehabilitate small pockets of degraded forest to enable the orang utans to roam freely and survive. " The orang utan is part of our national heritage as Malaysia is one of only two places in the world that remains home to these primates. The issues surrounding the survival of these animals and the destruction of the habitat are not well understood by the public, hence this campaign, " Russell explained. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/29/central/20746495 & sec=centra\ l Indonesia: 31) The government has reaped US$100 million cash in grants from the international community to implement forest protection projects in Indonesia in an effort to sink below producing a million tons of carbon emissions per year. Forestry minister MS Ka'ban said his ministry would issue a regulation to secure the implementation of Reduction Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) projects. " Just wait a few weeks and we will announce a regulation on REDD projects, " he said after the opening of a national working meeting on forestry at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Thursday. Ka'ban said the money would be distributed to regions eligible to perform pilot activities for REDD projects. He did not specify names of areas that would host the projects, although he included as possibilities Papua, Aceh, Kalimantan and Maluku provinces. http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20080328.H04 & irec=3 New Zealand: 32) Indonesia Human Rights Committee and supporters will carry out a demonstration close to the Harvey Norman furniture store in the Supa Centre, Manukau, Ronwood Ave: 12 Noon Saturday 29 March. At the conclusion of the demonstration the letter below will be delivered to the Manager to convey our strong message. The aim of the action - which will include street theatre featuring trees and native birds – is to highlight the devastating impact of the rainforest destruction and illegal logging on communities in West Papua. Most of the kwila in Auckland shops originated in West Papua. While some retailers are now turning away from kwila to other woods with independent certification of legality, Harvey Normans is yet to announce a change in direction away from the sale of kwila products. Meanwhile impoverished forest communities in West Papua pay the price. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0803/S00274.htm World-wide 33) In preparation for the most comprehensive picture ever drawn of the state of the Earth's forests, which cover 30% of its land and are a crucial factor in mitigating climate change, the United Nations agricultural agency has put out a call for accurate data. " Stronger support from countries and advances in communication technology will make the next Global Forest Resources Assessment the most comprehensive and reliable yet, " Jan Heino of the Forestry Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said of the assessment that will be published in 2010. The last survey was produced with the help of over 800 people in teams working in 172 countries and many more are likely to be involved this time around, with some 220 experts are attending a recent meeting at FAO to kick-start the process. Started over 60 years ago, the Global Forest Resources Assessment process provides information on how much forest exists, how it is being managed and how it is being lost, the FAO explains. Global forest cover currently amounts to just under 4,000 Mha. Although the rate of net loss of forest has decreased in recent years, the world is still losing about 200 km2/d of forest, FAO data indicates. According to published studies, the orang-utan has lost up to 80% of its natural habitat and it is estimated that there are fewer than 30,000 orang-utans left, of which only 1,300 are in Sarawak and 11,000 in Sabah. http://www.internationalforestindustries.com/2008/03/27/un-agency-appeals-for-da\ ta-on-world-for ests-for-most-detailed-study-yet/ 34) Forests are the world's main above-ground carbon store and are therefore critical in controlling the global carbon cycle. But estimating the amount of carbon stored in forests over a large scale is difficult. An American project is using the CSIRO-designed ECHIDNA® instrument, together with airborne sensors, to provide a practical technique for broad-scale structural mapping of forests. CSIRO carbon accounting expert, Dr Phil Polglase, says the project is important to international research efforts to provide improved estimates of carbon stored in forests. " Australia, along with other countries, reports on its greenhouse gas emissions from the land-use sector and this research offers a new method to improve our carbon estimates across large scales, " Dr Polglase says. The ECHIDNA® is a patented ground-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) instrument which CSIRO began developing in 2001. CSIRO later worked closely with Forest and Wood Products Australia during development and validation. The ECHIDNA® has been used extensively to assess the three-dimensional structure of tree trunks, branches and leaves. These forest structural variables can be used to help estimate forest biomass. The NASA project is extending this work by integrating the ECHIDNA® with other LiDAR technologies, says CSIRO Remote Sensing scientist, Dr Glenn Newnham. " We're meeting the challenge of providing reliable biomass estimates over large areas by combining the detail from the ECHIDNA® on the ground with the broad-scale airborne LiDAR data, " Dr Newnham says. " We're expecting that this method will lead to more accurate and efficient mapping and monitoring of forest biomass and, as a result, a better understanding of the influence of forest carbon stores on the global carbon cycle. " http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2008/03/26/new_approach_to_measuring_carbon_\ in_forests.html 35) The giant, inexpressibly subtle network of positive and negative feedbacks that keeps the Earth's climate in balance is seriously out of whack, derailed by pollution and deforestation. One of the most eminent scientists of our time says that global warming is irreversible — and that more than 6 billion people will perish by the end of the century. " But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting. " By 2100, Lovelock believes, the Earth's population will be culled from today's 6.6 billion to as few as 500 million, with most of the survivors living in the far latitudes — Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia, the Arctic Basin. Lovelock believes the planet itself will eventually recover its equilibrium, even if it takes millions of years. What's at stake, he says, is civilization. " The whole system, " he decided, " is in failure mode. " A few weeks later, he began work on his latest and gloomiest book, The Revenge of Gaia, which was published in the U.S. in 2006. But evidence from the real world suggests that the IPCC is far too conservative. For one thing, scientists know from the geological record that 3 million years ago, when temperatures increased to five degrees above today's level, the seas rose not by twenty-three inches but by more than eighty feet. http://publius2012.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/6-billion-will-die-in-this-century/ 36) Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists. Most rainforests are cleared by chainsaws, bulldozers and fires for its timber value and then are followed by farming and ranching operations, even by world giants like Mitsubishi Corporation, Georgia Pacific, Texaco and Unocal. One hectare (2.47 acres) may contain over 750 types of trees and 1500 species of higher plants. http://stopdeforestation2.blogspot.com/2008/03/help-stop-deforestation.html 37) If you represent an organization, we would like to issue an invitation to join us as a member organization of the STOP GE Trees Campaign. Industry is moving rapidly forward with plans to commercially release GE trees. The Campaign to stop them is building and we are going to the United Nations in May to demand a ban on the release of GE trees into the environment. It is critical that we show widespread support for the campaign to bolster this effort. Please join us in the fight to stop GE trees. We will list your organization on the STOP GE Trees Campaign website* with a link to your organization's own website. Press releases will include a link to the page on our website that lists all of the member groups of the STOP GE Trees Campaign. Simply reply to this email with your organization name and weblink. If you know of other organizations that might be interested, feel free to forward this invitation. Thanks, Anne Petermann & Orin Langelle Co-Directors http://www.globaljusticeecology.org 38) You can't say there's anything wrong with paying someone to plant a tree in some spoiled corner of the Earth. But it's not exactly the most rewarding thing. That tree, the buyer assumes, is out there...but it's quickly forgotten and impossible to actually imagine. But the World Wildlife Fund is hoping to chance that, with a little help from Google Earth. Your $5.50 donation will buy a tree, lifelong care and feeding, scientific study of the forest that it becomes a part of, and the exact coordinates of where that tree is on our big beautiful Earth. Linking that data with Google Earth shows the precise location (on the island of Borneo) of the tree, as well as all of its hundreds of neighbors. Unfortunately, the resolution of that corner of the the Earth is going to have to be increased significantly before you can actually see your tree, but even now the context is nice. You can buy trees that will be planted in Indonesia today at MyBabyTree.org. Think link provided takes you past the annoyingly long intro and straight into the site. PayPal integration makes the whole thing a breeze. I planted 2 of them myself (USD$11) and received the following message in my inbox: " Your baby tree will be planted in the next few days. Once that is done, we will mail you the exact location and you will be able to see your tree on Google Earth. " Hopefully they mean e-mail...and not paper mail...because that would be annoying. http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1473/75/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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