Back to 1969 - a year in the rainforest (thread 69)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060322/hl_nm/fluoride_dc_2

Too much fluoride in water endangers bones

By Deborah Zabarenko
Wed Mar 22, 3:24 PM ET



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fluoride in drinking water -- long controversial in the United States when it is deliberately added to strengthen teeth -- can damage bones and teeth, and federal standards fail to guard against this, the National Academy of Sciences reported on Wednesday.

http://www.livescience.com/environment/060126_ethanol_better.html

"Ethanol Fuel More Advantageous Than Thought

By Bjorn Carey
LiveScience Staff Writer


Producing a gallon of ethanol gas from corn requires 95 percent less petroleum than producing a gallon from fossil fuels, a new study finds.

This method might also slightly reduce the production of greenhouse gases that speed up global warming, but the results on that point are not certain.

"It is better to use various inputs to grow corn and make ethanol and use that in your cars than it is to use the gasoline and fossil fuels directly," said Daniel Kammen of the University of California, Berkeley.

Ethanol could be even more energy efficient and 95 percent free of greenhouse gas emissions, Kammen said, if produced from woody plants instead of corn.

The study is detailed in the Jan. 27 issue of the journal Science."

Today in the school garden- the first real sign of spring

Ah, snowdrops.

aktbird57 - You and your 293 friends have supported 2,296,714.6 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 104,156.9 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 293 friends have supported: (104,156.9)

American Prairie habitat supported: 49,508.9 square feet.
You have supported: (11,939.1)
Your 293 friends have supported: (37,569.7)

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,143,048.9 square feet.
You have supported: (169,316.0)
Your 293 friends have supported: (1,973,732.9)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2296714.6 square feet is equal to 52.73 acres

this photo was taken a couple of years after 1969 - but it's the same car hamburger was driving in 1969





My friend Marie and I were setting off that morning on a 32 mile walk to raise funds for some charity.

That's fantastic ehBeth...... I had an earlier model of the exact same VW when I attended the University of Tampa in 1973 to 75. Mine was the exact same color except it didn't have the head rest on the seat backs. Neat little autos.

ul,
Beautiful photo. It looks like Spring is springing in Wien........... Such a nice place.

Hmmmm, 32 mile walk, huh? That took dedication. Oh, and - hey kid, you look like a flower child straight out of the '60's........ That was a really good time to live.

sumac,

Thanks so much for clicking for me next Tuesday.

I have PM'd you the info re names and passwords that I click for each day....

Thanks again.

32 miles is a long walk - for anyone. Did you make it?

I would love to have an old bug right now.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060324/ap_on_sc/forest_beetles

"Beetle 'Epidemic' Rends Northwest Forests
Thu Mar 23, 7:51 PM ET



COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - The region's largest infestation of mountain pine beetles in 20 years has hit more than a million acres of forests in northern Idaho and Montana, while 2.5 million acres in Washington face disease and insect problems.

Recent flight surveys by the U.S. Forest Service and state forest management agencies found that years of drought have left forests in the Northwest vulnerable."

Yup, we made it. We did a 30+ mile each year for 4 or 5 years at least - it was "the thing to do".

Thank goodness for Google helping me find out more about the history of those walks ...

the first one was in 1967 ...

http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/chronology1967.htm

That is very impressive, ehBeth. My hat (if I wore one) is off to you.

All clicked here.

ehBeth,
great. 30 miles- that's more than a horse was asked to do.
Someone in a little town in Canada explained how this town was founded:

...Note that towns were set up about 12-14 km. apart on the railroad line. They were set at that distance because that was how far it was determined that a horse could travel in a day loaded with packages. Of course we don't use horses to transport our goods now so the need for towns 12-14 km. apart has diminished...

Susan,
the coyote story was in our news too- reminding us of the wildlife in our city. Badgers, foxes, and weasels are roaming in the gardens and parks near by. It is good to live in a green city.

Can't help wondering if someone didn't bring the coyote into the park. There is an awful lot of urban landscape surrounding Central Park on all sides.

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060323_mouse_mates.html

"One Female Mouse to Another: May I Cut In?
By Bjorn Carey
LiveScience Staff Writer

When it comes to choosing a mate, female mice are copycats. They prefer a male that's already spoken for over a single guy.

A new study indicates that males doused in another female's scent just smell better.

"Our data suggest that female mice may use, or even copy, the interests of other females based on olfactory cues," said Donald Pfaff of Rockefeller University. "It could also be seen as a female trusting the mate choice of another female."

Examples of a female's mate choice being swayed by another female are well documented in birds and fish, but this is the first time the copycat effect has been observed in mammals, the researchers said."

That's good info re the railroads ul. Here in the lower 48 states - the railroads created stopping points about that exact distance apart because during the early days the steam engines required fresh water and fuel at about 13 to 15 km. Then the small "whistle stop" towns sprung up around the water tanks. Most of them are still there. When I was a child I grew up living on the tracks and the trains were driven by steam engines. I would watch the big engines stop to load water and coal. It was fun - and all my school friends wanted to come to my house to play.

all clicked.........................

aktbird57 - You and your 293 friends have supported 2,298,423.8 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 104,297.3 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 293 friends have supported: (104,297.3)

American Prairie habitat supported: 49,555.7 square feet.
You have supported: (11,962.6)
Your 293 friends have supported: (37,593.2)

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,144,570.7 square feet.
You have supported: (169,339.4)
Your 293 friends have supported: (1,975,231.4)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2298423.8 square feet is equal to 52.76 acres

Wouldn't it be great if people in bushco read this and changed their minds?

Editorial from today's NYT:


March 25, 2006
Editorial

"Selling the Forests

It's rarely a good idea to sell off assets to pay normal operating expenses. It's an even worse idea when the assets are chunks of national forest. But that's exactly what the Bush administration wants to do.

Washington has long sent money to isolated local communities surrounded by national forests. The communities cannot tax federal property, so the money helps pay for schools. The grants were calculated as a percentage of timber sales. When the annual harvest declined, partly as a result of court rulings in favor of various endangered species, the money was taken from general revenues.

President Bush's 2007 budget proposes to raise the money by auctioning off about 300,000 acres of federal forest in 41 states, at an anticipated price of $800 million. The administration recently sent a bill to Congress that would give the Forest Service the authority to conduct the sales. The bill has many defects, especially a provision that would sharply limit the public's opportunity to comment on the sales, short of embarking on expensive litigation. But its most glaring defect is its underlying strategy of trading long-term assets for short-term gain.

Gov. Mike Easley of North Carolina, which would lose 9,828 acres, or nearly 1 percent of its national forest acreage, put the matter eloquently in a letter to Mark Rey, the under secretary of agriculture who helped concoct this scheme. The plan, he said, would blatantly contradict North Carolina's efforts to preserve open space for future generations by removing priceless resources "from public access for all time in order to provide temporary funding."

This page has objected on many occasions to the administration's efforts to roll back protections for the national forests, chiefly its decision to rescind President Bill Clinton's "roadless rule," which would have shielded nearly 60 million acres of national forest from further commercial intrusions. Though it involves much less acreage, the proposal to sell forest land reflects the same insensitivity to environmental values, not to mention misplaced budget priorities. In addition to the forest sale, the administration also proposes to sell a half-million acres managed by the Interior Department, not for any purposes related to stewardship of the public lands, but simply to reduce a national deficit already bloated by tax cuts.

Congress should reject both ideas out of hand."

This is a great site to look at because it contains a photo gallery of 'before and after' photos, clearly showing glaciers disappearing. And, within the text of the article itself, key words link to interesting other stuff.

http://www.livescience.com/environment/060324_glacier_melt.html


"Glaciers Disappear in Before & After Photos

By Bjorn Carey
LiveScience Staff Writer


Glacier National Park might soon need a new name.

The Montana park has 26 named glaciers today, down from 150 in 1850. Those that remain are typically mere remnants of their former frozen selves, a new gallery of before and after images reveals.

All arguments about global warming aside, now is a time of clear retreat by age-old ice packs in many locations around the world. Some retreat just a few inches or feet per year, but others are melting faster than a snow cone in Texas."

Clicked in.

Autos in 1969 and the way of travelling 1769.
I am working right now on this. Imagine going to London by coach in winter...