ecoComputing Update Center

New Scientist writes about a UK report that reads against the conventional wisdom that planting more trees helps water conservation efforts.

The findings - which may come as heresy to tree-lovers and most environmentalists - is an emerging new consensus among forest and water professionals.

“Common but misguided views about water management,” says the report, are resulting in the waste of tens of millions of pounds every year across the world. Forests planted with the intention of trapping moisture are instead depleting reservoirs and drying out soils.

The report summarises studies commissioned over the past four years by the Forestry Research Programme, funded by the UK government’s Department for International Development.

It agrees that, in some places, the environmental nostrum works: trees trap moisture from the air and bind soils that prevent floods, store water and nourish the environment. But it says that in other places, trees suck up moisture from the soil, evaporate water from their leaves, lower water tables, empty rivers and create deserts.

The Arizona Republic reports that environmentalists are disappointed in the outcome of the recently passed energy bill and outlines reactions from Arizona Senator John Kyl (R), Grand Canyon Sierra Club director Sandy Bahr, and Arizona PIRG director Diane Brown. Sandy Bahr’s reaction:

THE BAD: “It’s a sad day for the United States. At a time when [...]

600 children gathered at the UNEP World Summit for the environment in Japan to challenge world leaders on the environment, according to the UN.

“We commit ourselves to saving energy and using renewable energy sources” the children said in their statement. They also challenge the leaders in a petition, asking them to “create and enforce laws to improve efficiency in production, consumption and conservation of energy.” They demand that the leaders set examples also on the issues of biodiversity, water and waste processing.

The world summit for children, held in Aichi, Japan, was organized by the United Nations Environment Programme, with Prince Akishino of Japan as the honorary president.

At the closing of the four-day summit on Friday, UNEP Deputy Executive Director Shafquat Kakahel promised that the children’s message would be delivered to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He also assured the children that their message, included on a 14 metre long canvas, will have a prominent place in front of the UN Headquarters in New York to remind the world’s presidents and prime ministers of the hope of the children for a better environment.

The UN’s full press dispatch can be found here.

The Daily Review reports on a trip to the U.S. by Russian environmental activists for training from American activisits.

Sierra Club conservation director Mike Daley contrasts American environmental problems with Russia’s. “We had Three Mile Island,” he said, referring to a partial nuclear power plant meltdown in Pennsylvania in 1979. “They had Chernobyl. Their problems are huge compared to ours.”

The whole story can be read here.

In the L.A. Times, California Senator Diane Feinstein outlines her opinion that that U.S. has become “an environmental slacker.”

For too long, the Bush administration has led people to believe that this isn’t happening, and, if it was, the remedies would only hurt our economy. The administration’s inaction on global warming ignores the findings of scientists throughout the world, and could imperil both our nation and the rest of the globe.

The Senate also recently missed an opportunity to take real steps to reduce global warming, although it did finally acknowledge for the first time that human activity is to blame for climate change and we, as a nation, should do something about it. Last week, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee finally held a hearing on climate change and its economic effects — one hopes it will lead to progress. The truth is that investing in new technologies that are more environmentally friendly provides a huge opportunity for job creation and economic growth. If the government invested as heavily in alternative energy efforts as it does in the old fossil fuel industries, enormous savings could be achieved in both greenhouse gas emissions and economic costs to recover from global warming.

It is bad enough that the United States, the world’s largest contributor to climate change, refuses to acknowledge this growing problem, but earlier this month at the Group of 8 summit, we pushed our fellow major industrial nations to water down their commitment to reducing greenhouse gases.

It is also significant to note that the U.S. is the only G-8 nation that did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, one of the best examples of international cooperation to sustain the world’s environment. More than 140 nations, including Russia, China and all 25 members of the European Union, have ratified this agreement, which sets specific goals to reduce man-made emissions of greenhouse gases.

Feinstein suggests that individual cities and states have picked up some of the federal government’s environmental slack in the editorial, which can be found here.

The Salt Lake Tribune tells the story of Tyler Lyon, Daniel Winegar, and Chad Thornley, who invented a more efficient and environmentally sustainable air conditioning system for cars as a high school project.

Today, the young inventors say, U.S. drivers use about 7.9 billion gallons of fuel each year to run their air-conditioners, which draw power from the engine. By adopting their contraption - which taps into the electrical system, using fans to blow hot air through five Peltier chips and then releasing cold air - they say the country stands to save 3.9 billion gallons of fuel annually, or about $10 billion based on current gas prices.

Furthermore, the product would free drivers from Freon - which despite improvements, remains an ozone-depleting chemical in current air-conditioners. The Peltier chips, which they purchased on eBay for $9.99 each, have a life span of 20 to 30 years and an unfaltering cooling capacity. And like every component in the Space Beast, which can be minimized in size to about 2 inches in width, the chips are recyclable.

As a young boy, Lyon’s parents said he tore apart and reassembled household electronics - CD players, clocks, an old stereo that didn’t work until he fixed it. And while Daniel’s mom, LouAnn Winegar, was grateful her son was “not a take-apart-person,” she said her boy’s love for science, engineering and computers has been consistent.

The full feature is available here.

The San Jose Mercury-News has a story about California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s low approval rating with regard to the environment, striking because his policies are generally far more environmentally focused than those of many fellow Repulicans.

Just 32 percent of Californians approve of the way Schwarzenegger is handling the environment, according to a new survey from the Public Policy Institute of California, a non-partisan research center in San Francisco.

Strikingly, that’s the same approval rating on the environment that Californians give President Bush, despite the fact that Schwarzenegger has worked hard to establish himself as a moderate “green Republican” who has disagreed with the Bush administration on a host of eco-issues, including global warming, smog rules, ethanol mandates and offshore oil drilling.

“People agree with a lot of Schwarzenegger’s policy decisions on the environment, but they are not giving him credit because they are generally down on his leadership,” said Mark Baldassare, who conducted the poll for the Public Policy Institute.

The Mercury-News article can be found here.

Voice of America reports on an agreement by the U.S. to resume sales of civilian nuclear technology to India.

The recent nuclear energy accord signed by President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington has been warmly welcomed in India. Not only is the deal seen as enabling India to meet its growing energy needs, but also as a major political achievement.

The Bush administration’s decision to resume sales of civilian nuclear technology to India - if approved by Congress - will allow India to buy nuclear fuel and reactor components to expand its nuclear energy program.

For more than 30 years, India has been barred from access to international civilian nuclear technology because it has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and has conducted nuclear weapons tests. As a result, less than three percent of India’s energy needs are met by nuclear power.

Also of interest is a Washington Post interview with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Singh: . . . Our peaceful nuclear program . . . was not built up by stealing other people’s technology.

We had this dream that it was better to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons and we had this dream of universal nuclear disarmament. . . . We have been proved wrong and the result is we have seen in our neighborhood reckless proliferation in disregard of all the international obligations. But although we have nuclear assets, our program is totally under civilian control. We are a democracy, there are enough checks and balances in our country and we have an impeccable record of not contributing in any way to nuclear proliferation. . . .

The Voice of America article can be found here. The Post interview is here.

The Myrtle Beach Sun News reports on severe environmental problems in the wake of China’s economic boom.

Choking on vile air, sickened by toxic water, citizens in some corners of this vast nation are rising up to protest the high environmental cost of China’s economic boom.
In one recent incident, villagers in this hilly coastal region grew [...]

Environmental activist Robert Kennedy, Jr. is appearing on Comedy Central’s Daily Show this evening, 7/20/05, at 11:00 p.m. EST. The show will replay throughout the day tomorrow, 7/21/05, at 1:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 8:00 p.m., and 11:30 p.m.