Vivendi Universal has signed a deal to make its music catalogue available on a free legal downloads service. Under the agreement, Spiralfrog will offer Universal’s songs online in the US and Canada, and make its money by carrying advertisements on the site. "Offering young consumers an easy-to-use alternative to pirated music sites will be compelling," Spiralfrog CEO Robin Kent said. (BBC)
Compact fluorescent lightbulbs have come as far as cell phones since the mid 80’s while still maintaining their high efficiency. What that means is:
If every one of 110 million American households bought just one CFL bulb, like this dimmable CF Warm Glow
Lightbulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island …
While bulldozers clear land to create a flood basin, Barb Agnew races to collect monarch eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves, and brings them to an enclosure in the back of her flower shop. She estimates that she’ll rescue about 1,000 monarchs this year. (Seattle P-I)
Researchers studying coral reefs in the Arabian Gulf have found encouraging signs that corals in Abu Dhabi and Qatar are regenerating and the entire range species may be re-established within a decade…
According to the World Wildlife Fund-sponsored coral reef study, at least 18 out of an original 36 species of coral found in the region have recovered from damage suffered due to past climatic events. In particular, Halul in Qatar and Ras Ghanda in Abu Dhabi are two areas where the most vigorous coral regeneration is taking place. Yasat and Dalma islands in Abu Dhabi also recorded good coral growth and high coral cover.
“We are encouraged by the results of the coral reef project,” said Razan Al Mubarak, Director of the World Wildlife Fund office in the United Arab Emirates.
“Assuming no further disturbances to their reef habitat occur, the rate of regeneration suggests that the entire range of the region’s coral species would be re-established within a decade.”
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today hailed the agreement reached late Friday on the text of a treaty to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, urging all Member States to ratify the convention and implement it quickly.
Nests of the endangered Great Indian Bustard were sighted in the Kutch region of India — after none were spotted last year — providing a ray of hope that the population could rise. (The Hindu)
Healthy cells have a built-in process (to) commit suicide if something is wrong, a process which fails in cancer cells. A University of Illinois team created a synthetic molecule which caused cancer cells to self-destruct.
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The study, in Nature Chemical Biology, offers "exciting possibilities" for new ways of treating Cancer. (BBC)
Sony has teamed up with US researchers to provide the spare processing power of Sony’s PlayStation 3 video game system to harness gamers in helping to understand the cause of diseases like Alzheimer’s. "A network of PS3’s will allow performance similar to supercomputers." (BBC)
From Treehugger comes a report about a yo-yo powered MP3 player. "The inventors estimate that between 10-12 tosses per hour are sufficient for continuous music play. A wireless headset allows the user to listen to music while yo-yoing." Cool.
A massive tree-planting campaign in the Philippines set a world record of a half million simultaneous plantings along highways. AP reports the participation was phenomenal proving citizen’s interest in cutting air pollution and beautifying the islands…
I am the director of The Natural Child Project , a psychologist, and author of The Natural Child: Parenting From the Heart. I envision a world where all children are treated with dignity, understanding, and compassion.
When asked about the notorious teen years I am often interrupted midway through my statement, "My son is 15 and has brought me nothing but …"
A federal judge in Seattle yesterday overturned new Bush administration rules that weaken the governing of pesticide use and their effect on endangered plants and animals. The court struck down the EPA’s new rules and restored prior standards that provided greater protection to protected wildlife. The judge determined that the rules were “arbitrary and capricious” because they ignored the risks to species and because EPA political appointees ignored the unanimous concerns of its own scientists.
Black rhino numbers are on the rise in Kenya after years of decline from poaching and habitat loss.
According to officials, the country’s black rhino population has increased 20 percent, from 428 animals in 2003, to 539 animals at the end of 2005…
“This shows a healthy increase that surpassed our targets,” said Dr Taye Teferi, a Conservation Programme Director with the World Wildlife Fund, based in Nairobi. “Considering the intense poaching pressure and the demand for rhino horn, this is no mean achievement.”
The population growth is attributed to improved rhino protection, particularly through managing existing populations and ensuring that their habitats are suitable for foraging and reproducing.
WWF, through its black rhino project, is working with the Kenya Wildlife Service to increase Kenya’s black rhino population to 1,000 by 2020 through the expansion of existing rhino sanctuaries and through the establishment of new protected areas that can accommodate future population growth.
“With increased improvement in wildlife management and monitoring, the black rhino population can continue to show a healthy growth rate for many years to come,” added Dr Teferi. (WWF)
To boost populations of white rhinos in their native Uganda, Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida sent two of the huge animals on a four-day journey to Africa where they walked on ancesteral soil for the first time. It is hoped the two will breed within a year in their new home, the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. (AP via Washington Post)
Photo by Renaud Fulconis, rhinos-irf.org
"Environmentalists who worked for 30 years to restore a massive California wetland area, watched as the ocean flowed into historic tidal basin Thursday for the first time in more than a century." Not many wetlands have been restored in the world, or in California, "where 95 percent of saltwater marshes have been given over to development." (AP via CBS News)
In the state of Washington, colleges are now competing to see which school can become a better friend to the environment. By composting in cafeterias, using solar energy and recycling, faculties at universities are leading the way to a greener future. UW students are even "exploring how to use cooking oil from campus eateries to fuel university cars." (Seattle P-I)
Despite dire forecasts that Gulf Coast governors would have to slash state budgets in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita one year ago, a new report finds that booming "hurricane economies" have fueled state revenue surpluses across the region. State revenues in hardest-hit Louisiana and Mississippi swelled since the storms…
(Aug 22) More than 500 Iraqi men have joined the police in Anbar province — the most violent area of the Sunni Arab insurgency — in what military leaders called the most successful recruiting drive in the region ever by U.S. and Iraqi forces…
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Monday to expand his Solar Roofs initiative:
My ‘Million Solar Roofs Plan’ will provide 3,000 megawatts of additional clean energy and reduce the output of greenhouse gasses by three million tons, which is like taking one million cars off the road. (Central Valley Business Times)
Hempstead, NY – If you were invited to sit down with your enemy for a cup of tea and discuss your conflicting views, would you do it? … More than 2,500 Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, Pakistani and Indian kids, among others, have done just that. In fact, they spent three weeks with their “enemies†at a summer camp in the United States arguing, understanding, and ultimately coming to respect the humanity behind every face – even the humanity of their enemies. The programme that makes this happen calls these youth, Seeds of Peace.
