Replicating virus
Researchers create a near replica of the Hepatitis C virus
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Airborne pollutants
Aerosols from Asia are poisoning the environs of the Pacific Ocean, say researchers
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Airways and bloodways
At Brazil's main airports leaflets will be distributed warning passengers of the danger of contracting potentially fatal blood clots on long-haul flights. The threat of suffering deep-vein thrombosis
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Perils of eco-anxiety
If the proliferation of diseases and afflictions to do with lifestyles wasn't enough to give you palpitations at night, here's one more. It's called eco-anxiety. Al Gore has no idea of the havoc he has wreaked upon an unsuspecting world. His heart-stopping warning in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth that only 10 years remain to avoid an environmental catastrophe has only added to the growing number of people worrying themselves sick over issues like global warming, pesticides in food, nuclear waste, vehicle emissions and carbon footprints. In fact, eco-anxiety has even created a new breed of professionals: eco-therapists who counsel patients on making environmentally friendly lifestyle changes. The fears of the eco-anxious are fuelled by excessive and often hysterical media coverage of doomsday scenarios like the one outlined by Gore. In fact, we have a new phrase to describe such coverage: climate porn! The word was created after the US-based Institute for Policy Research analysed hundreds of media articles, news clips and TV ads on the issue. Climate porn refers to the use of apocalyptic language to describe the challenges posed by climate change. Pornography or not, what it has achieved is to give most people on the planet a serious complex about their contribution to global warming and the inevitable retribution that the environmental gods will hurl down on them from above. Image As a socially conscious citizen, my ecoangst has really changed a lot of things I took for granted. I work for a widely circulated weekly newsmagazine that prints on paper made from trees cut down in a forest somewhere. Am I committing a mortal sin each time I write? Should I petition the publisher to reduce the number of pages? It's a Catch-22 situation, similar to the feeling I get when I climb into my gas-guzzling car every morning. Shouldn't I be cycling to work instead? Actually, considering distance and time, that would mean waking up at 4 a.m. and getting home at 9 p.m. which is hardly conducive to good health and quality time at home. I also turn pale when I look at the greens sold by my local vegetable vendor. What foul pesticides have gone into their preservation and why do they look so unnaturally green, or yellow, or red? So, would it be better to reduce my living space and plant a vegetable garden even if it means sacrificing a much-loved and much used balcony? My best friend's apartment is on the 17th floor. Could I reduce electricity consumption by taking the stairs or would I be inviting a seizure? Going green and saving the planet is all very laudable but the anxiety is killing.
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Global warming in an unequal world: a case of environmental colonialism
The idea that developing countries like India and China must share the blame for heating up the earth and destablising its climate, as espoused in a recent study published in the United States by the WRI in collaboration with the UN, is an excellent example of environmental colonialism. The report of the WRI is based less on science and more on politically motivated and mathematical jugglery.
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Double standards
In a surprise move, the Australian government, which vociferously opposes whaling at all international fora, has decided to not support a lawsuit filed by an Australian animal rights group against a
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Hugo s hugely popular step
Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez has made a momentous move towards justice and prosperity for the country's rural poor. He recently signed a new rule on land reform that aims to do away with giant
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In 1 yrs, organisms will turn CO2 into fuel
A scientist who mapped his genome and the genetic diversity of the oceans said on Thursday that he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel. Geneticist Craig Venter disclosed his potentially worldchanging "fourth-generation fuel' project at an elite Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California. "We have modest goals of replacing the whole petrochemical industry and becoming a major source of energy,' Venter told an audience that included global warming fighter Al Gore and Google co-founder Larry Page. "We think we will have fourth-generation fuels in about 18 months, with CO2 as the fuel stock.' Simple organisms can be genetically re-engineered to produce vaccines or octane-based fuels as waste, according to Venter. Biofuel alternatives to oil are third-generation. The next step is life forms that feed on CO2 and give off fuel such as methane gas as waste, according to Venter. "We have 20 million genes which I call the design components of the future,' Venter said. "We are limited here only by our imagination.' His team is using synthetic chromosomes to modify organisms that already exist, not making new life, he said. Organisms already exist that produce octane, but not in amounts needed to be a fuel supply. "If they could produce things on the scale we need, this would be a methane planet,' Venter said. "The scale is what is critical; which is why we need to genetically design them.' The genetics of octane-producing organisms can be tinkered with to increase the amount of CO2 they eat and octane they excrete, according to Venter. The limiting part of the equation isn't designing an organism, it's the difficulty of extracting high concentrations of CO2 from the air to feed the organisms, the scientist said in answer to a question from Page. Scientists put "suicide genes' into their living creations so that if they escape the lab, they can be triggered to kill themselves. Venter said he is also working on organisms that make vaccines for the flu and other illnesses. "We will see an exponential change in the pace of the sophistication of organisms and what they can do,' Venter said. "We are a ways away from designing people. Our goal is just to make sure they survive long enough to do that.' But, if two scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States are correct, people will still be on gasoline even 50 years from now, churning out climate changing pollutants in the process, and yet not be accelerating an ecological disaster. With crude at nearly $100 a barrel
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Victim of changes
High carbon dioxide levels may bring about some unpleasant surprises
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The conveyor belt
Earth s life sustaining system may be in peril
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Mercury zooming
Europe is facing its worst heat wave in decades. While the scorching sun has come as a blessing for holidaymakers, widespread crop failure and forest fires have got farmers and the administration
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Springing a surprise
Global warming has led to the early rejuvenation of vegetation in spring, a phenomenon that is causing a change in the annual carbon dioxide cycle. The northern hemisphere in particular, welcomes spring earlier now
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Folk wisdom on locust breeding challenged
ARCHI RASTOGI it is said that locusts thrive in warm weather. Folk wisdom has it that the outbreaks of the oriental migratory locust (Locusta migratoria manilensis) follow either droughts or
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The great rush
Bush hurries to give industry a parting gift: licence to pollute By the time Barack Obama takes charge as US president on January 20, his predecessor George W Bush would have weakened a number of environmental rules. Bush is known for his anti-environment policies, and his team is working overtime to unbound industry of environmental regulations. According to The Washington Post, 90 new rules
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News Snippets
• Environmental and development groups in London boycotted a World Bank financial consultation meet on November 1, 2004. The groups have taken umbrage at the way the Bank is carrying out
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Oily Mess
The Indian government subsidises certain petroleum products like diesel This encourages consumers to switch from expensive petrol to cheap diesel Diesel emissions are more harmful than
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The road ahead
If vehicular emissions are to come down, governments will have to provide incentives to develop and promote the use of cleaner alternatives. In 1999, global passenger car production reached a record
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International Conference on Climate Change Innovation and Resilience for Sustainable Livelihood, 12-14 January 2015, Nepal
The International conference on Climate Change Innovation and Resilience for Sustainable Livelihood is going to be held on 12-14 January in Kathmandu, Nepal.The conference will focus on innovative approaches
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Perilous pesticides
Despite international restrictions on its extensive use, pesticide trade has touched a new high. In 1998, world exports stood at US $11.4 billion, an increase of 5.4 per cent over 1997. Around
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Managing the woods
Sustainable forest management is a concept hostage to many global players