Why are British Fish Eating Plastics?

Scientists have found tiny fragments of plastic in the digestive systems of fish pulled from the English Channel. 

The discovery, by a team from Plymouth University and the UK Marine Biological Association, highlights the growing problem of plastic contamination of marine environments.

Of 504 fish examined, more than a third was found to contain small pieces of plastic less than one millimetre in size, referred to by scientists as microplastics.

'We have previously shown that on shorelines worldwide and on the sea bed and in the water column around the UK, these tiny fragments of plastic are widespread,' says Professor Richard Thompson.

'Our recent reseach has shown that such fragments are also being ingested by fish. Laboratory studies on mussels have shown that some organisms can retain plastic after ingestion, hence microplastic debris could also accumulate in natural populations.'

This, say researchers, could carry serious physical consequences for fish, creating blockages in their digestive systems or giving them a false sense of being full.

It could also make it easier for pollutants in surrounding waters to make their way into organisms, as chemicals latch on to the plastic fragments.

In the News: West African lions nearing extinction

The report, by conservation group LionAid, says that as few as 645 lions may now remain in the wild in western and central Africa, following a worrying decline in recent years. This decline has been mirrored across Africa, with estimates suggesting that only around 15,000 wild lions remain across the whole continent, compared to about 200,000 a few decades ago. This iconic species is now extinct in 25 African countries, and virtually extinct in another 10.

"There has been a catastrophic decline in the populations of lions in Africa, and particularly west Africa," said Dr Pieter Kat, LionAid Trustee. "These lions have been neglected for a very long time and do not have adequate protection programmes. They are in real danger of extinction."

Lions under threat

The report follows a series of studies that have raised concern about the future of African lions. In one study, researchers found that about three-quarters of Africa's savanna habitats had disappeared over the last fifty years, and used this information to estimate the number of remaining lions, which they put at around 32,000. LionAid suggests that the real number of lions left in the wild is actually far lower, although calculating the species' exact population size is difficult.

"We put the figure... at around 25,000 lions, but whether you use these figures, the LionAid report or the Duke study, there is common agreement among everyone involved in conservation of African lions that the situation is extremely serious," said Will Travers, CEO of the Born Free Foundation.

Come With Me on a Plastic Carpet Ride!

Cities are often littered with trash and plastics on every street corner. The haphazard candy wrapper, bottle, or plastic bag blowing in the wind creates eyesores for locals and tourists alike. But what is the litter situation in the desert? You won't find too much garbage where there aren't any people, that is unless it's a piece of plastic artwork.

Dutch collective, WE MAKE CARPETS, was recently commissioned by the Taragalte Festival in southern Morocco to turn ordinary plastics into a magic carpet piece of artwork. The Taragalte Festival is a yearly event that brings together the cultural exchange and sustainable development through tourism in the region. The focus of this year's November program was women's creativity and everyday life in the desert.

Moroccan carpets date back centuries and these tapestries that were once used for protection against cold weather are now also used for conveying local folklore, symbolism, and weaving techniques in their design. However, one temporary, contemporary "rug" on display this year was made out of a different kind of material: plastics.

Made of plastic bottles of different colors, shapes, and sizes, the bottle carpet is exquisitely designed into intricate patterns allowing viewers to see the waste in a different light.

In a modern society where plastic bags and bottles are gaining more attention to become more environmentally friendly, the festival made an attempt to show patrons that while some Moroccans are beginning to understand the importance of proper waste management, the lack of recycling infrastructure and proper education has left much of North African behind the times.

Plastic bottles not only clog waterways but can leaching harmful toxins into the ground and endangering wildlife. They also make up a large percentage of the litter and pollution we see along roadways and rivers.

Turning plastic trash into a treasure that looks like a carpet helps to convey the notion that all materials are both precious and valuable, especially when every carpet has a story to tell about one particular aspect of Morocco culture and her people. In a nation with nomadic desert people, the plastic art installation is sure to inspire patrons and create discussion over the abundance of plastics and what can be done to minimize plastic waste

For more  visit:http://www.wemakecarpets.nl/Bottle-Carpet.

Christmas Trees Absorb Greenhouse Gasses

Your Christmas tree and its brethren are absorbing methane, a super greenhouse gas that they were previously suspected of emitting. In fact, previous studies put the global methane output by plants at between 62 and 236 teragrams each year. That's not small potatoes (if you will pardon the vegetable pun), but 10 to 30 percent of all methane entering the atmosphere.

I refer to methane as a "super" greenhouse gas because it does what carbon dioxide does, but packs about 25 times the punch, which is bad. However, methane does not last very as long in Earth's atmosphere, which is good. Then again, one of the things methane degrades into is carbon dioxide. Bad again.

The discovery that some trees are absorbing methane comes from Elin Sundqvist and colleagues at Lund University and Stockholm University in Sweden. They did some very number-heavy forest and laboratory measurements and analysis of the gases being exchanged by tree branches of pine, spruce and birch trees under a variety of conditions.

"In contrast to earlier studies of CH4 (methane) exchange by plants, we find a net consumption by all plants studied both in situ and in the laboratory," they conclude in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

The discovery could offer a new explanation to an observed leveling off of methane concentrations in Earth's atmosphere, the researchers say. Earlier work they cite suggested that the methane levels were slowing as a result of less fossil fuel burning (huh?). Another bit of research suggested that maybe there were fewer microbes making methane in the Northern hemisphere

We Must Worry About Our Future

Yes our mother nature is in danger..... 

Slowing Deforestation Rates May Net Billions

(NaturalNews) If the deforestation process that is occurring from the Amazon to the Congo basin were to be slowed, it could generate billions of dollars each year that could then be used to aid developing nations as a part of a United Nations (UN) plan to fight climate change.

The burning of these forests by farmers who are clearing their land makes up 20 percent of our world's greenhouse gas emissions.

These reductions would represent approximately 300 million tones of unreleased carbon dioxide emissions each year. This is roughly the same amount of heat-trapping gases that are emitted by a country the size of Turkey in one year.

A UN climate conference held in December and attended by 190 nations agreed to work on ways to motivate and reward countries for decreasing deforestation. Even small improvements can generate large amounts of revenue and can also create effective emission reductions.

A ten percent reduction in the rate of tropical forest loss could create annual carbon finance for many nations at an estimated amount of between $2.4 and $14.3 billion.

The UN is pushing for reduced emissions from deforestations to be a part of a new climate treaty that is being formulated to go beyond 2012. The purpose of this treaty is to help avert and avoid more droughts, heat waves, rising oceans, and future disease outbreaks.

A part of the plan would be for credits awarded for avoiding deforestation to be matched by more difficult restrictions in other areas. Perhaps coal-fired power plants or cement factories might have to begin to pay to emit carbon dioxide.

At this point, the most attention in the UN debate has been on rewarding countries with historically high deforestation rates (such as Brazil and Ecuador) for slowing their rates of deforestation.

One of the most challenging aspects of the plan is to design a fair system. Nations like Guyana or Suriname, for example, have been quite successful in maintaining their forest cover and nations like Costa Rica and Chile, have been diligent to slow or altogether stop deforestation. Obviously nations like these would stand to gain little from this proposal.

There were other issues like how to judge the rate of deforestation or how to create controls to ensure that protecting one forest does not lead to clearing another different one. There are also some poor countries that would benefit from this proposal but that lack the necessary controls needed to regulate their land use.

Because of increased public awareness of these issues, the UN is optimistic that a system can be created that will address and improve the deforestation rates around the world.

The study has been published in the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

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