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Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Bolivian farmers urge rethink on Mother Earth law
Written By Unknown on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 | 8:21 PM
The Andean nation is a small producer of soybeans compared with its giant agricultural neighbors, Brazil and Argentina, but output and exports of the oilseed have jumped in recent years due to improved crop yields and bigger plantings.
Production should reach 2.4 million metric tons (2.6 million tons) this year, of which about 80 percent would be exported, industry groups say.
Virtually all Bolivian soy uses GM seeds and the law signed by Morales earlier this month has rattled growers in the lowland east, historically a bastion of opposition to the Aymara Indian president -- a vocal advocate of organic farming methods and Pachamama, which means Mother Earth in the Andes.
The legislation, which former coca farmer Morales has called a means "to live in equilibrium and harmony with Mother Earth," also calls for limits on the expansion of farming into new areas and assigns a spiritual value to land beyond its social and economic function.
Soy plantings are due to start in earnest in Bolivia's lush lowland plains in the next few weeks, but some industry figures say uncertainty over the new rules could affect farmers' plans.
"It's possible with this uncertainty that some people will avoid sowing or sow less using any non-GM seeds they can get hold of," said Fernando Asturizaga, an advisor from the Anapo farming association based in the eastern city of Santa Cruz.
Agricultural leaders are holding talks with the government to call for changes to the GM ban and express broader concerns about the legislation. A second meeting between farm groups and officials was due to take place on Wednesday.
"We want them to understand the potential consequences of the measures contained in the Mother Earth legislation and to make changes or clarifications either in the implementation of this law or through a new law," Asturizaga said.
Soy exports brought in about $800 million last year, making the oilseed the country's third-biggest foreign currency earner after minerals and natural gas, according to the Bolivian Foreign Trade Institute (IBCE).
Most of the shipments went to Venezuela and other Andean countries in the form of soyoil and soymeal.
Growers say the new regulations may also threaten the production of other crops such as corn, sugar, rice and sorghum which farmers use in rotation with soybeans. They say that could drive up food costs in South America's poorest country.
The GM ban, which would take effect gradually under the law, could also compound the impact of high transport costs in the landlocked country that make it harder to compete, critics say.
"It's like running the 100-meters but shooting ourselves in the foot first. We're giving our neighbors too many advantages," said Marcelo Traverso, president of the APIA agricultural suppliers' association.
"It's a big step backwards that's going to have serious economic repercussions for the Bolivian farmer."
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
By Helen Popper, www.reuters.com
Hurricane Sandy Seen From Space - Video - Space.com
Written By Unknown on Monday, October 29, 2012 | 2:31 PM
The hurricane that is threatening the east coast of the United States was seen by the crew aboard the International Space Station. Meteorologists are worried this storm and a winter storm coming from the west will form a devastating "Frankenstorm".Credit: NASA
The ice is melting
Witness a small part of the polar icecap decay
Video from Discovery Voyages trip in Prince William Sound, Alaska.
DiscoveryVoyages.com
Fresh Water in the Arctic - Changing Planet
Scientists are concerned that melting Arctic sea ice will increase the amount of fresh water in the Beaufort Gyre, which could spill out into the Atlantic and cause major climate shifts in North America and Western Europe.
The Changing Planet series explores the impact that climate change is having on our planet, and is provided by the National Science Foundation (http://science360.gov/series/Changing+Planet/) & NBC Learn (http://www.nbclearn.com/changingplanet)
Quang Ngai’s people flee into forest because of underground explosion
VietNamNet Bridge – More than 50 people in the village of Ta Ba in Son Thuong commune, Son Ha district, Quang Ngai province left their home to the jungle after the quake on October 22.
On October 25, three day after the tremor, these people did not dare to go home. They carried baskets of rice and salt into the forest and cut bamboo to build tents at the foot of Ca Tu Mount.
Mr. Dinh Van Lieu, resident of Ta Ba village, said on the evening of October 22, local people suddenly heard explosions from the Pa O mountain, behind the village while their houses crunched. Being so scared, the whole village fled into the forest at night.
“This was the first time we witnessed underground explosions like that so all of us were terrified. Now we do not dare to return home,” he said.
Ms. Dinh Thi Ba Lang said she has lived here for more than 70 years, but she has been scared like that night. “Hearing the explosion from the mountain, we thought that the mountain had collapsed so we stampeded out of the house. I’ve lived in this tent with my children for several days. It is so cold hear,” said Mr. Lang.
Many missions of Son Ha district went to the forest to encourage people to return to their villages but they were determined to stay there.
“It is difficult to mobilize people to return to their village. If incident occurs and affect people’s lives, no one can bear the responsibility. Therefore we have to find a new safe home for them,” said the district’s Party Chief Dinh Van Dep.
Dr. Cao Dinh Trieu from the Geophysics Institute said the vibration in Quang Ngai on the evening of October 22 was caused by the 4.6-magnitude earthquake occurred at the Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant, in Quang Nam province.
Early next week, the Institute of Geophysics will send a working group to Quang Ngai to examine and assess the impact of the earthquake in Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant on Quang Ngai province.
talkvietnam.com
Sea change
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| The scene during high tide in Ngoc Hien District in the southernmost province of Ca Mau. With sea levels, and tides, rising every year and land sinking in the Mekong Delta residents are fearful and keep raising their house levels to remain above water. |
Rising sea levels and land sinkage are proving to be a double-whammy in the Mekong Delta, where residents are constantly forced to raise their homes to remain above water.
Residents in Dat Mui Commune, Ngoc Hien District, in the southernmost province of Ca Mau said tides flood the area twice a month for three days at a time.
The Ca Mau Province Irrigation Bureau said the sea level has gradually risen by 70 centimeters since 2007-08. As a result, high tides, which peaked at 1.5 meters in 2007, rose to 2.1 meters last year.
Around 20,000 hectares of farmland are submerged during high tide now, twice the 2007 level.
Locals, whose houses are regularly flooded, have no option but to raise their homes.
Vo Cong Truong, deputy chairman of the Dat Mui People’s Committee, said commune authorities are planning to build a new administrative office on stilts since the existing office is often flooded.
Scientists also fear that sinkage of land in many places in the delta and severe erosion of river banks and coastal lands are worsening the flooding in the Mekong Delta.
Le Anh Tuan of the Can Tho University said a study found that the Ca Mau peninsula had sunk by 45 millimeters in just eight months from June 2011, but that it had nothing to do with construction works.
“It means the Mekong Delta is facing danger caused by rising sea levels combined with depression,” he said.
Le Xuan Thuyen of the University of Natural Sciences said he and other partners are working on a climate change project, and early results showed signs of sinkage in the delta.
This could be caused by many factors, he said. It could be a natural phenomenon since the delta’s land surface is weak, but it could also be due to over-exploitation of groundwater and changes in the quantity of alluvium, he added.
www.thanhniennews.com
Earth's magnetic field is weakening, suggesting possible pole shift
Life on Earth would not be possible without the magnetic field that protects our planet, but Euronews and the European Space Agency report that research shows that it is weakening fast. In the coming centuries, Earth's magnetic field is expected to go through unprecedented changes.
The field is generated deep within the core of the planet and acts as shield that protects the Earth from solar winds and charged particles.
Many living organisms – from bacteria to insects or birds – seem to rely on Earth's magnetic field to navigate. Man has been doing so for a thousand years since the invention of the compass.
Currently, about 100 observatories around the world measure the magnetic field. Because ground observatories fail to grasp the whole picture, magnetometers are sent into orbit to try to measure the magnitude and the direction of the magnetic field. The European Space Agency is developing sophisticated satellite/magnetometer systems that will capture more detailed data.
Scientists are trying to understand why the magnetic field is weakening. Some believe it signals a pole reversal in progress, not an uncommon phenomenon in the history of our planet. Each reversal takes hundreds of thousands of years to complete. Scientists estimate that the last reversal was 800,000 years ago. Generally, however, the geologic record indicates that the pole reversal occurs every 200,000 to 300,000 years.
The rapid melting of Arctic ice is also being studied in the context of climate change and the weakening of the magnetic field.
For those who fear that a pole shift will occur in the near future, spelling doomsday on December 21, 2012, NASA has good news: "The science shows that magnetic pole reversal is – in terms of geologic time scales – a common occurrence that happens gradually over millennia. While the conditions that cause polarity reversals are not entirely predictable – the north pole's movement could subtly change direction, for instance – there is nothing in the millions of years of geologic record to suggest that any of the 2012 doomsday scenarios connected to a pole reversal should be taken seriously. A reversal might, however, be good business for magnetic compass manufacturers."
D. Beeksma, www.goddiscussion.com
Odd “Sombrero” Uplift Observed In Andean Mountains Due To Magma Chamber
Radar data from ERS-1, -2 and Envisat show a central uplift of about 10 mm per year near the Uturuncu volcano (dark red). The surrounding region shows a slower subsidence at a rate of about 2 mm per year (blue). Data were acquired 1992–2010. Scientists refer to the deformation pattern as the ‘sombrero uplift’. Credit: Y. Fialko, SIO/UCSD
Geophysicists at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have identified a unique phenomenon in Altiplano-Puna plateau, located in the central Andes near the borders of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
Magma underneath the Earth’s crust is forcing the ground up in one spot, and at the same time sinking the ground around it. The result is something the researchers have described as the “sombrero uplift,” after the popular Mexican hat.
According to their report on the phenomenon, published in the journal Science, the two UC San Diego scientists recorded uplift in the crust that measured about 0.4 inches per year for 20 years across an area 62 miles wide; the surrounding area sunk at a lower rate—about eight-hundredths of an inch.
“It’s a subtle motion, pushing up little by little every day, but it’s this persistence that makes this uplift unusual. Most other magmatic systems that we know about show episodes of inflation and deflation,” said Yuri Fialko, a professor of geophysics at UCSD and Planetary Physics at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
Fialko and co-author Jill Pearse said the phenomenon was the result of a diapir, or a blob of magma, that rises to Earth’s crust like heated wax inside a lava lamp.
Using satellite data from European Remote Sensing (ERS) and Envisat missions, the geophysicists were able to study the uplift in great detail. In 2006, the team asked for the satellites to gather more data from their orbits over Altiplano-Puna.
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| Altiplano-Puna |
“Back in 2006, it looked like the satellites stopped acquiring data from the ascending orbits over the area of interest. Fortunately, ESA was very responsive to our requests, and generated an excellent dataset that made our study possible.”
“Satellite data and computer models allowed us to make the important link between what’s observed at the surface and what’s happening with the magma body at depth,” he added.
Fialko said the study’s findings could fuel future research around magmatic events, including the formation of large calderas. Although this diapir in the Altiplano-Puna plateau appears unlikely to cause such a phenomenon—the creation of large calderas, “supervolcanoes,” are highly destructive events that spew thousands of cubic kilometers of magma into the atmosphere. An event of this type would dwarf the Icelandic volcano eruption in 2011 that ejected large amounts of ash into the atmosphere and disrupted global air travel, Fialko said.
Diapirs have been known to exist before, but this new study is the first to recognize an active diapir currently rising through the crust. Fialko said a less prominent uplift phenomenon is taking place near Socorro, New Mexico.
The Altiplano-Puna plateau is a highly active area for magma and is part of a South American volcanic arc that extends along the northwest side of the continent. Experts have described the area as the largest known active magma body in Earth’s continental crust.
Source: Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online
redOrbit (http://s.tt/1pVLE)
