Why did the Harrapans die out?

Actually they didn’t – they moved on. Why? Because the regular rains they depended on, the monsoon,  did not create the floods they depended on. The places they had cultivated and produced enough to feed the farmers and their large towns just stopped.

The Harrapan civilization that existed about 4000 years ago, with its sophisticated plumbing, measuring and weighing system, was not even discovered until about 100 years ago. It has always been assumed that they had been wiped out in battle by invading tribes. But now new information shows that climate change was the root of the problem – nothing new there!

For more information http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/07/27/climate-change-to-blame-for-fall-of-indus-civilisation-finds-study-91466-31481833/

Guatemala’s Fuego Volcano Erupts

Published at 12:30 am EST, June 11, 2012

The Fuego volcano, located about 50 kilometers south of this capital, on Sunday spewed a column of ash up to a kilometre high. Fuego rises 3,763 meters and is a composite volcano.

The volcano’s activity presently consists of emissions of red hot lava being hurled from the crater to a height of some 500 meters. There are three rivers of lava were emerging from the crater and moving down the sides of the mountain, in addition to the ash. The possibility exists that in the coming hours the volcano’s activity will increase to a pyroclastic flow of the kind experienced on May 19 and May 25. A pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving current of superheated gas, which can reach temperatures of about 1,000 C , and rock, which reaches speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700 km/h. The flow normally hugs the ground and travels downhill, or spreads laterally under gravity, and is quite devastating to virtually anything in its path.

It is currently (12 June) under an orange preventive alert near the mountain until the volcanic activity lessens. Civilian air traffic is being warned to take precautions because  of the ash cloud.  But so far, civil protection authorities do not think that the eruption represents a danger for nearby towns, but it is recommending that residents in the region be on alert to take whatever measures CONRED ( the emergency protection agency) may announce.

But watch the news – it could get more serious

The Amazon in the News

The worst floods on the records

The Negro River in Brazil’s Amazonas state in the Amazon Rainforest region is suffering the worst flood ever registered in the region, local authorities said Wednesday.

According to Brazil’s Geological Service, the Negro River’s water level had reached 29.78 metres on Tuesday, the highest record in a century, Xinhua news agency reported.

It forecast water level will continue to rise and remain above 29 metres for more than two months.

The flood has affected 75,000 families and has prompted 53 out of 62 municipalities in Amazonas state including state capital Manaus to declare a state of emergency.

Amazing fungus can consume discarded plastic

Researchers have discovered a fungus in the Amazon rainforest that can break down the common plastic polyurethane, used in billions of discarded plastic bottles.

Their pile-up, amounting to one billion tonnes since 1950s, is threatening to choke many of the eco systems so vital for survival of life. The synthetic material, derived from petrochemicals, degrades very slowly because of its complex chemical bonds.

Endophytes are fungi were found in plant stems collected in the Ecuadorian rainforest.

In plants they do not cause any noticeable disease symptoms in their hosts but they often play a key role in the decomposition of the plants after death. However, never before have they been tested for their ability to degrade synthetic materials.

Update on Otzi

Those of you who studied the the unit Weapons and Warfare may remember Otzi the Iceman. He was a Mummy found buried high in the Alps, between Austria and Italy and was OVER 5000 YEAR OLD. When we looked at him, there were all sorts of questions about how he died, what he was doing there and so on. Well, the archaeologists have carried on their work, and other experts like geneticists have been helping them, and they are still finding out new things about him. Here is an update.

Jan 2009:  Arrow wound was inflicted just hours before his death and the wound

Arrow wound was inflicted within hours of his death and the wound on his back even closer to death. This would was made with a blunt instrument. In contrast the wound to his hand was days old. It would seem he was attacked twice in the last 2 days of his life and murder is still a strong possibility.

Summary of other information: His copper axe, for example, reveals that metalworking was already much more advanced in that era than was previously assumed.

October 2011

Otzi was no herder taking his flock into the mountains. There is no evidence that this was happening 5000 years ago, in fact, the first evidence does not occur in that area until 2500 years ago.
About half an hour before he died, he had a hearty meal of goat, corns, leaves and apples. Associated with the food was pollen that indicated time of death was in the spring.
It was after the meal that he was wounded by the arrow, which may or may not have been the only causes of death, as there is evidence of a head would, which could have occurred as a result of hitting his head after the arrow would or may perhaps have been caused by a further attack.

Feb 2012

His full genetic makeup has now been analyzed and from this certain interesting facts have been discovered. He was subject to heart disease. Further examination shows that he already had hardening of the arteries. It is thought that people who are over weight and lack exercise are most likely to develop heart disease, but as Otzi did neither of these things, it shows that some people are predisposed to it, no matter how healthy their lifestyle. He also carried ticks and lime disease both of which are found in the modern day environment, but this is earliest evidence of it.
They could also tell that his ancestors came from the Middle East to live in the Mountains of northern Italy. They can also say he had brown eyes, brown hair and was allergic to milk products!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120502141132.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128074826.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081030123829.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100727065647.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111025091533.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120228123847.htm

McDonald’s launches new sourcing policy for palm oil, paper, beef to reduce global environmental impact

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0310-mcdonalds.html

March 11, 2011

McDonald’s announced a far-reaching sourcing policy that could significantly reduce the fast-food giant’s impact on the environment, including global forests. Yesterday McDonald’s unveiled its Sustainable Land Management Commitment (SLMC), a policy that requires its suppliers to use “agricultural raw materials for the company’s food and packaging that originate from sustainably-managed land”. The commitment will be monitored via an independent evaluation process, according to the company. The policy will initially focus on five commodities: beef, poultry, coffee, palm oil, and packaging. McDonald’s target commodities are based on analysis conducted in partnership with environmental group WWF’s Market Transformation initiative led by Jason Clay.

Under SLMC, McDonald’s is working with the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef to improve the environmental performance of beef production and is sponsoring a three-year study to assess carbon emissions on 350 ranches in the U.K. and Ireland. The company said it plans to join the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) this year and will source only RSPO-certified palm oil by 2015. McDonald’s has also joined the Sustainability Consortium, a group working to build tools to assess the environmental impacts of consumer products over their life-cycle.

McDonald’s said it is introducing the policy as a response to consumer concerns. “We know that our customers care about where their food comes from,” said Francesca DeBiase, McDonald’s vice president for Strategic Sourcing, in a statement.

The announcement comes amid a broader emphasis on sustainability by consumer-facing retailers worldwide. As corporations have increased the share of resources they consume in meeting global demand for their products, they have found themselves increasingly under pressure to become better stewards of the environment. Accordingly, a number of major retailers in recent years have announced new sourcing policies that improve traceability of raw materials in their supply chains. Suppliers have either had to meet these criteria or find new customers.

McDonald’s experienced this first-hand in 2006 when the activist group Greenpeace launched a campaign targeting animal feed used to fatten chickens used for McNuggets in Europe. Greenpeace spent a year tracking soy as it moved through the supply chain from farms in the southern Amazon to ports on the Amazon River, across the Atlantic, and eventually to poultry facilities in Britain and Ireland.

The response was immediate. McDonalds—stung by the McLibel case of the 1990s and other activist campaigns—immediately demanded its suppliers provide deforestation-free soy, presenting the industry was presented with a daunting dilemma: move towards environmental respectability or off its biggest, and most influential, customers. The largest soy players—whose vast portfolio of commodities are sold globally—chose the former, agreeing to a moratorium on soy grown on newly deforested lands that has changed the way commodities are produced in the Amazon. The moratorium has been extended every year since and through monitoring, which has continually improved, has shown to be effective at reducing direct forest clearing for soy production.

In a sign of the campaign’s success, John Sauven, a Greenpeace campaign director at the time—issued a statement congratulating McDonald’s for using “its might to push a multi-million dollar industry towards a more sustainable future. I cannot say it came naturally to Greenpeace to jump into bed with the world’s largest fast food company!” Sauven said in the statement.

McDonald’s, which says it has 32,000 locations that serve approximately 64 million customers in 117 countries each day, acknowledged its global environmental responsibility in making its latest announcement.

“McDonald’s serves customers around the world, and we accept the responsibility that comes with our global presence,” said McDonald’s Chief Executive Officer Jim Skinner. “We will continue to focus our energy on developing sustainable sourcing practices and broadening our menu choices.”

 

Sustainable energy access critical for development in Africa | Helen Clark

29 Dec 2011

http://www.beta.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourperspective/ourperspectivearticles/2011/12/29/sustainable-energy-access-critical-for-development-in-africa-helen-clark.html

Almost 45 per cent of those who lack access to energy live in Sub-Saharan Africa, making up 69 per cent of the region’s population. They number 585 million people. Seventy eight per cent of those living in Sub-Saharan Africa use traditional biomass for cooking and heating (650 million).

Energy needs extend well beyond having electricity available in homes. In Africa, where so many depend on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihood, expanding access to energy for irrigation, food production, and processing is vital. It can boost agricultural productivity and rural incomes, and empower women who make up a significant proportion of the continent’s farmers.

For UNDP, access to sustainable energy is critical for making societies more equitable and inclusive, and for encouraging green growth and sustainable development overall. We advocate for equity, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability to be the guiding principles for efforts to achieve universal energy access.

We recognize that different groups have different energy needs. Therefore, governments need to balance the financing of large-scale energy projects with support for the off-grid, decentralized energy solutions which will help meet the needs of the poorest and most marginalised people. Cleaner cooking and heating fuels and motor power for productive activities are also needed.

If Africa’s abundant sources of renewable energy can be harnessed to help provide universal energy access, then poverty can be reduced and growth stimulated without damaging our climate ecosystems further. The International Energy Agency estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa will need cumulative investments of $US 389 billion to achieve universal electricity access by 2030 and of $US 22 billion for clean fuels and devices for cooking and heating by 2030.

Public funding alone will not be enough to cover the costs, African countries need to be able to attract and access different sources of finance.

The UN Secretary General’s initiative on Sustainable Energy for All is building a coalition of support for energy access which can help establish enabling conditions and give confidence to investors to support ambitious energy expansion and make energy poverty history.

Achieving sustainable energy for all will reduce energy poverty, and help combat climate change.

A strong outcome on sustainable energy is needed at Rio +20. It is highly relevant to all three pillars of sustainable development – the economic, social and environmental. UNDP is fully committed to play its part to make sustainable energy for all possible.

Year 9: The UN has attached equitably access to clean energy as part of which MDV?

 

Plant Eating Dinosaur Discovered in Antarctica

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111219102054.htm

Dec. 19, 2011

For the first time, the presence of large bodied herbivorous dinosaurs in Antarctica has been recorded. Until now, remains of sauropoda — one of the most diverse and geographically widespread species of herbivorous dinosaurs — had been recovered from all continental landmasses, except Antarctica. Dr. Ignacio Alejandro Cerda, from CONICET in Argentina, and his team’s identification of the remains of the sauropod dinosaur suggests that advanced titanosaurs (plant-eating, sauropod dinosaurs) achieved a global distribution at least by the Late Cretaceous. (The Cretaceous Period spanned 99.6-65.5 million years ago, and ended with the extinction of the dinosaurs).

Sauropoda is the second most diverse group of dinosaurs, with more than 150 recognized species. It includes the largest terrestrial vertebrates that ever existed.

Climate change will be good for Britain’s growers says Met Office but not for everyone else

From an article by Louise Gray

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8935793/Climate-change-will-be-good-for-Britains-growers-says-Met-Office.html

05 Dec 2011

The report, which brings together for the first time climate change projections for 24 different countries, found that farmers in the UK, Germany and Canada could all benefit from global warming.  In these temperate climates, the increase in temperature will not kill plants but can make it easier to grow crops like wheat. The UK could benefit the most with an estimated 96 per cent of agricultural land becoming more suitable for crops by 2100.

However Australia, Spain and South Africa will all see their crop production fall as the plants die in the hotter climate. More than 90 per cent of the land in these countries will become less suitable for agriculture. The report estimated that the production of staple food crops will decrease in parts of Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India Russia, Turkey and the USA. A recent Oxfam have warned that food prices are already rising as a result of reduced crop yield around the world due to climate change and warned the problem could drive malnutrition in future.

The report also estimated the likelihood of water shortages and floods in different countries across the world. In the UK the number of households under ‘water stress’ will increase to almost a quarter of the population as the average temperature rises by up to 3C in the south. This means that by 2100 18 million people will be at risk of ‘not having enough water to meet their daily needs’.

Water stress will be worse in South and South East, where there is already a problem providing the growing population with enough water. This winter water companies in Anglia, South East Water and Severn Trent have declared themselves in drought and are asking consumers to limit water use. It is expected the South East and Midlands will face a hosepipe ban next summer following the driest 12 months on record in some areas.

At the other end of the scale the risk of costal and river flooding will also increase because of rising sea levels and more heavy bursts of rainfall. The Met Office estimated that there will be a “general increase in flood risk for the UK”, although this will not apply everywhere. The projections ranged from a three and a half times greater risk of flooding to a decrease in flooding by a fifth.

A really neat way to look at things

Earthquake hits eastern Turkey update 10.11.11

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/09/earthquake-hits-eastern-turkey

For video of quake follow this link

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake has caused a six-storey hotel and other buildings to collapse in eastern Turkey, trapping people inside, according to media reports, two weeks after a strong quake in the region killed around 600 people.

State-run TRT television said the quake brought down the hotel as well as some buildings that had been damaged in the earlier quake in the province of Van. TV footage showed residents and rescuers trying to lift debris to evacuate people believed to be trapped under the hotel in Van’s provincial capital.

Sky Turk television said the hotel was being used by journalists and aid workers who were in the city. It was not known how many people were trapped inside. At least one person was brought out of the building alive, NTV television said.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 5.7-magnitude. NTV television said rescue teams were being sent to the region from the capital Ankara and other areas, a week after workers had begun clearing debris from the earlier quake.

About 1,400 aftershocks have rocked the region since the 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the province on 23 October. Many residents had been living in tents, despite the cold, too afraid to return to their homes. At least 2,000 buildings were destroyed in the stronger quake and authorities declared another 3,700 buildings unfit for habitation.