News in the Environment
Quiz:
Please take out a piece of paper and a pencil
or pen.
Make sure to write your name and student
number at the top of your paper.
#1. Where did the recent oil-spill take
place?
•
•
•
•
A. In the Gulf of Mexico
B. Off the coast of Shanghai
C. Saudi Arabia
D. Near Melbourne, Australia
#2. In this article, “WWF” stands for
what?
•
•
•
•
A. World Wrestling Federation
B. World Wildlife Fund
C. World Women’s Fundamentalists
D. World Walrus Foundation
#3. What does "euthanizing" mean?
•
•
•
•
A. To make younger
B. To clean an animal
C. To kill
D. To remove oil
#4. What is the argument for killing
the birds?
• A. The birds pose a threat to the world’s oil
supply.
• B. It is impossible to remove oil from a bird’s
feathers.
• C. This particular species of birds carries a
deadly avian flu virus.
• D. It is too difficult to clean the birds and they
might die anyway.
#5. What is the argument for cleaning
the birds?
• A. Studies show that cleaning the birds
increases their chances of survival.
• B. Clean birds are more beautiful than dirty
birds.
• C. Cleaning birds is 100% effective.
• D. Barack Obama would approve of cleaning
the birds.
#6. What kind of birds were pictured in
this article?
•
•
•
•
A. Ostriches
B. Pelicans
C. Eagles
D. Crows
#7. Who is Silvia Gaus?
•
•
•
•
A. a politician
B. an oil refiner
C. a biologist
D. a veterinarian
#8. People who oppose cleaning the
birds suggest using time and money to
do what instead?
• A. Build more fuel efficient cars to reduce the
need for oil.
• B. Shoot all birds on sight because they had it
coming anyway.
• C. Impose larger taxes on crude oil so oil
tankers will be more careful in the future.
• D. Rebuild the tarnished environment left
behind by an oil spill.
#9. Which three groups mentioned in
the article are helping to clean up the
oil spill?
• A. Greenpeace, The WWF, U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service
• B. Greenpeace, The U.S. Department of
Agriculture, The United Arab Emirates
• C. Greenpeace, Pepto Bismal, Exxon Valdez
• D. The United Arab Emirates, the WWF, The
Association for Saving Birds of America
#10. In 1998, how many birds were
killed in the North Sea oil spill?
•
•
•
•
A. Only 39
B. Approximately 13,000
C. 12% of all the birds in Europe
D. exactly 594
Chinese Dog Owners dye pets to make
them look like wild animals:
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article1284646/Meet-Tiger-Dog-Chinese-ownersdye-pets-look-like-wild-animals.html
Revolutionary toothbrush may signal
end of toothpaste
Monday, 6 September 2010
Japanese scientists are collaborating with an
oral health company on a revolutionary
toothbrush that uses electricity to make teeth
pearly white and does away with the need for
toothpaste.
First dreamed up 15 years ago by Dr. Kunio
Komiyama, who is now a professor of
dentistry at Canada's University of
Saskatchewan, the Soladey-J3X has a solar
panel at its base that requires minimal
amounts of light to transmit electrons to the
head of the toothbrush through a titanium
dioxide semiconductor embedded in the body.
• Once there, the electrons react with acid that occurs naturally in the
mouth, creating a chemical reaction that breaks down plaque and
kills bacteria, according to Dr. Komiyama and his colleague, Dr.
Gerry Uswak, dean of the university's College of Dentistry.
Prototypes of the cutting-edge device have been developed by
Shiken Inc. - "shi ken" translates as "dental health" in Japanese - and
research is underway.
To date, according to the Osaka-based company, tests in cultures of
bacteria that cause periodontal disease have shown that the process
brought about the "complete destruction of bacterial cells," as well
as breaking down the plaque.
• A study on 120 teenagers is presently underway to
determine how they rate it in comparison with a regular
toothbrush.
The gadget has already received the recognition of the oral
care industry, winning first prize at the recent annual FDI
World Dental Conference in Dubai, fighting off 170 other
entrants.
Patents on the toothbrush have already been taken out in
nine countries, including Japan, although the company says
the product will not be released onto the market until the
early months of next year. Price should be around 40 euros
(4300 Japanese yen).
Fisherman Gets 20 Days in Jail for
Pelican Attack
•
NEWPORT BEACH -- A fisherman who attacked a
pelican at the Newport Pier after the bird tried to
steal his catch has been sentenced to jail time and
probation.
Daniel Richard Moreno, 19, pleaded guilty on
Tuesday to misdemeanor animal cruelty. He was
sentenced in Orange County Superior Court to 20
days in jail and three years probation.
Moreno was given the option to serve his remaining
jail time doing community service.
Police say that Moreno was fishing on the pier
around 3:30 p.m. on March 14 when he set one of
the fish he caught on the ground next to him. The
pelican, which was standing nearby, swooped down
and tried to grab the fish, authorities said. Cont..
• Moreno stomped on the pelican's beak, according to police,
and reportedly kicked the bird in the head.
The bird suffered a hairline fracture to its beak, according to
Debbie McGuire, director for the Wetlands & Wildlife Care
Center in Huntington Beach, where the pelican was treated.
The fracture drew blood, police said.
• Moreno left the area after the attack, but witnesses who
reported it pointed him out to police, officials said.
Wildlife experts say a fractured beak is a life-threatening
injury for a pelican because they dive into the water from
up to 60 feet in the air to catch fish.
UK Launches Eco-Friendly Car
Fueled by Human Waste
•
•
•
First we had the car fueled by coffee beans, now we have
a car fueled by something far less pleasant but just as
effective — human sewage.
It might sound gross but the team behind the Volkswagen
Beetle Bio-Bug believe it will overtake the electric car
and pave the way for a green motoring revolution, thanks
to its reliability and the fact that it looks and drives like a
regular car.
As reported by BBC News, the car was developed by
Mohammed Saddiq from the sustainable energy firm
GENeco, to make use of the extra biogas they had at
Wessex Water's sewage plant in Bristol. "We decided to
power a vehicle on the gas offering a sustainable
alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely
on in the UK," said Saddiq. The convertible car can run
for a whole year, using the human waste from just 70
homes. "It is probably the most sustainable car around,"
adds Saddiq with pride. Cont…
• The cool looking car, which has a top speed of 114mph, uses unleaded
petrol but automatically switches to methane when the engine gets warm
enough. Should the methane tank run out, it reverts back to petrol
automatically. There are no stinky exhaust fumes and while humans exist,
there's no chance of running out of fuel — ever.
• Built by the Greenfuel Company, which specializes in converting gas cars
to run on liquefied petroleum gas, GENeco are so pleased with their BioBug, they plan to convert their own fleet of company cars to run on the
biofuel and plans are already in place to start using food waste in addition
to human waste.
• Jonathon Porritt, founder of Forum for the Future, a British nonprofit
organization specializing in sustainable development, said the car is leading
the way for eco-motoring, saying in a statement: "On first hearing of the
Bio-Bug, some people will smile, and some people will go 'yuck'! Either
way, what I hope they realize is that this is exactly the kind of innovation
we now need for a more sustainable world."
How Big Oil will stop my children
from driving electric cars
• By Sam Arie
guardian.co.uk,
Friday 10 September 2010
12.09 BST
A lot of money is at
stake: if we all
switched to electric,
oil companies
would stand to lose
everything
• I would like an electric car. It would be quieter, nicer to drive and cheaper
to run than my petrol car, and it could produce up to 75% less CO2. But the
chances are I am not going to get one, and nor will my children when they
grow up.
• One reason is that the Department for Transport can no longer afford to
help me buy one. The government has allocated £43m to subsidise ultralow-carbon cars, but at £5,000 a car that's only enough to help the first
few thousand of us who switch over. So whether or not I end up with an
electric car doesn't have a great deal to do with consumer subsidies.
• Instead, the issue for the government to think about is refuelling. Not how
to refuel an electric car, as the standards are already emerging for that,
but where? At present, we fill up our cars at petrol stations where we are
customers of the oil industry. But with electric cars, we would charge our
batteries at home, probably on a low-cost, overnight rate. We would pay
through our existing utility bills, and we might never go to petrol stations
again.
• A lot of money is at stake. In the UK alone, filling up cars
with petrol is worth over £1bn in annual, after-tax profits to
the oil industry, or about £450 a car over a 10-year lifetime.
In contrast, BMW last year made about £150 after tax on
each new car it sold. So for the time being at least there is
more money in filling up cars than in building them, even at
the top end of the market.
• This is where the problem lies. For electric cars to become a
reality, large parts of the refuelling market will have to
change hands – and if we all switch to electric cars, the oil
companies stand to lose everything. So as their
shareholders would expect, they are investing heavily to
avoid this outcome.
• The focus is on technologies which compete with
electrification, especially biofuels. BP has spent $100m
this year acquiring a North American ethanol business,
and will spend another $250m on a production plant.
Exxon Mobil has a budget of $600m to make motor
fuel from algae and Shell is making "biogasoline", a
direct replacement for petrol, from sugar beet. Many
experts believe biofuels are a second best solution,
environmentally, but that is not the point: biofuels are
attractive to oil companies because ultimately they will
be sold at petrol stations. So they help the industry
hold on to its relationship with the driving public, and
its role in the refuelling market.
• A similar logic applies to hydrogen cars, and even to hybrids. Most
of today's hybrids can't actually be plugged in to a power outlet, so
are really just very efficient petrol cars. Even the next generation of
hybrids (which do plug in and charge up like an electric car) will still
run on petrol much of the time: the plug-in version of the Toyota
Prius, for example, has an electric range of about 13 miles, and 3040% of the miles we drive are outside this range. So hybrid
technologies are attracting some investment from the oil industry
too.
• The effect of these investments is subtle: they weaken the case for
electric cars, by slightly improving the outlook for the alternatives.
And this is all the industry needs to achieve, because contrary to
popular imagination the goal is not to kill the electric car – just to
slow it down a bit.
• Peter Voser, the chief executive of Shell, has explained the logic: he
believes that 40% of vehicles will be electric in 40 years' time, but over the
same period the global vehicle park will grow from 1 to 2bn cars in total.
So there will still be 200m more petrol cars (and hybrids) in 2050 than
there are today. In this scenario the oil companies have plenty of time to
diversify their interests – but, as is also obvious, there will be no reduction
in total carbon emissions.
• Of course, the outcome could be different if government were to play its
hand more strategically. Instead of throwing money at consumers, and at
the manufacturing industry, legislation could be used to introduce a
supplier obligation for petrol retailers, requiring anyone with a traditional
filling station also to offer a free, fast charging or battery switching service.
A supplier obligation of this type already exists for the energy utilities,
called the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, and funds around £1bn of
residential energy-saving projects every year. So the model exists and the
government knows how to implement it.
• Yet to introduce this kind of legislation, ministers would have to go
into the ring with Big Oil, and there is only one country in the world
where politicians are sufficiently motivated to take on that
challenge. In Israel, where energy independence is a matter of
national security rather than environmentalism, a charging
infrastructure is already under development and electric vehicles
will be a reality within five to 10 years, not within 30 or 40 years as
the oil industry would like.
• What the Israeli project shows is that the technology for electric
cars is available now, if the political will can be found to match it.
But in the UK, as we embark on an era of coalition politics, some
kind of compromise seems somehow more likely. So I expect that
when my children grow up, they will be driving compromise cars –
and the other word for compromise, of course, is hybrid.
Booming big bird populations pose
problems
• By Naomi Snyder, USA TODAY
• The massive growth in the
population of some big birds,
such as Canada geese and
vultures, is leading to
conflicts with people and
challenging wildlife officials
to develop solutions.
• Although the most publicized problems with large birds
have involved airplanes — notably when US Airways Flight
1549 was forced to ditch into New York's Hudson River in
2009 after geese were sucked into its engines — there are
other problems, too. Vultures are short-circuiting power
lines and damaging cars and homes, and cormorants are
destroying land with their waste, according to state and
federal wildlife officials.
• Many of these birds thrive in human habitats such as golf
courses, says Greg Butcher of the National Audubon Society.
• "There is a consensus in the bird conservation community
that some of these species are really overpopulated," he
says. "The biggest question is what to do with these birds."
• The non-migratory population of Canada geese along
the eastern U.S. and Canada has more than tripled
since 1990 to nearly 1 million, according to the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service. Since 1980, the black vulture
population has grown 2.5% per year nationally,
according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey.
• In Tennessee, where the survey puts the annual growth
of black vultures at 11%, the Tennessee Valley
Authority is trying to keep the birds off transmission
towers so they don't short-circuit power lines. It is
equipping the towers with plastic strips, which the
birds find uncomfortable for perching, says bird
scientist Charles Nicholson.
• In Florida's Everglades National Park, officials plan to
use an arsenal of water guns, laser lights and
noisemakers to scare off native vultures around
parking lots. The birds rip the rubber off windshield
wipers and sunroof seals, says David Hallac, chief of
biological resources for the park.
• Dave Sherman, a wildlife biologist with the Ohio
Department of Natural Resources, says the waste of
the double-crested cormorant kills off trees and
vegetation on islands and can reduce fish populations.
Ohio has been shooting them since 2006, he says, and
"the islands look a lot greener."
• Killing birds to reduce populations can be
controversial.
• In July, 350 to 400 resident Canada geese were
captured and killed in Brooklyn's Prospect Park,
says Carol Bannerman, a spokeswoman for the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, citing problems
with birds hitting aircraft.
• "Anytime there is a conflict between animals and
people, the animals lose," says New York resident
Patty Adjamine, who attended a memorial
service for the birds.
National Grid DID kill Kay Phaneuf
by NICK ROSEN on
SEPTEMBER 8, 2010
The Rockingham County
Attorney report on the death
of Kay Phaneuf, who
suffocated after National
Grid cut off power to her
oxygen machine, says Ms
Phaneuf, of Salem NH, died
because the power was
turned off.
• A National Grid spokesman speaking to Off-grid.net last month
denied the death was the direct result of the disconnection for nonpayment of their utility bill.
• But Rockingham County Attorney James Reams wrote:”The
termination of the electrical service resulted in Kay Phaneuf no
longer being able to breathe.” The report says: “She collapsed in the
residence and was later discovered by her husband. She died later
that same day.”
• Phaneuf, 56 was a long-term medical case who was reprieved from
disconnection as she had a medical letter. But the letters had to be
renewed every 60 days, and when Phaneuf failed to renew her
waiver, the company cut her off.
• Reams concluded the company was not criminally negligent,
according to a report in the Union Leader.
Homework Reading Assignment
• “Human trafficking second only to drugs in
Mexico”