"The Wild Iris"

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by Louise Gluck

At the end of my suffering
there was a door.

Hear me out: that which you call death
I remember.

Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting.
Then nothing. The weak sun
flickered over the dry surface.

It is terrible to survive
as consciousness
buried in the dark earth.

Then it was over: that which you fear, being
a soul and unable
to speak, ending abruptly, the stiff earth
bending a little. And what I took to be
birds darting in low shrubs.

You who do not remember
passage from the other world
I tell you I could speak again: whatever
returns from oblivion returns
to find a voice:

from the center of my life came
a great fountain, deep blue
shadows on azure seawater.

Easter

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Vanessa Sterbenz in her Easter hat, at the 5th Avenue Easter Day Parade. (AP photo)
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Ostara, Goddess of Spring and the Dawn (Oestre / Eastre)

Easter is named for a Saxon goddess who was known by the names of Oestre or Eastre, and in Germany by the name of Ostara. She is a goddess of the dawn and the spring, and her name derives from words for dawn, the shining light arising from the east. Our words for the "female hormone" estrogen derives from her name.

Ostara was, of course, a fertility goddess. Bringing in the end of winter, with the days brighter and growing longer after the vernal equinox, Ostara had a passion for new life. Her presence was felt in the flowering of plants and the birth of babies, both animal and human. The rabbit (well known for its propensity for rapid reproduction) was her sacred animal.

Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny both featured in the spring festivals of Ostara, which were initially held during the feasts of the goddess Ishtar | Inanna. Eggs are an obvious symbol of fertility, and the newborn chicks an adorable representation of new growth. Brightly colored eggs, chicks, and bunnies were all used at festival time to express appreciation for Ostara's gift of abundance...

Feeling guilty about arriving late one spring, the Goddess Ostara saved the life of a poor bird whose wings had been frozen by the snow. She made him her pet or, as some versions have it, her lover. Filled with compassion for him since he could no longer fly (in some versions, it was because she wished to amuse a group of young children), Ostara turned him into a snow hare, named him Lepus, and gave him the gift of being able to run with incredible speed so he could protect himself from hunters. In remembrance of his earlier form as a bird, she also gave him the ability to lay eggs (in all the colors of the rainbow, no less), but only on one day out of each year.

Eventually Lepus managed to anger the goddess Ostara, and she cast him into the skies where he would remain as the constellation Lepus (The Hare) forever positioned under the feet of the constellation Orion (the Hunter). He was allowed to return to earth once each year, but only to give away his eggs to the children attending the Ostara festivals that were held each spring.

The Hare was sacred in many ancient traditions and was associated with the moon goddesses and the various deities of the hunt. In ancient times eating the Hare was prohibited except at Beltane (Celts) and the festival of Ostara (Anglo-Saxons), when a ritual hare-hunt would take place.

In many cultures rabbits, like eggs, were considered to be potent remedies for fertility problems. The ancient philosopher-physician Pliny the Elder prescribed rabbit meat as a cure for female sterility, and in some cultures the genitals of a hare were carried to avert barrenness...

Ishtar, Goddess of Love, and the First Resurrection

Ishtar, goddess of romance, procreation, and war in ancient Babylon, was also worshipped as the Sumerian goddess Inanna. One of the great goddesses, or "mother goddesses", stories of her descent to the Underworld and the resurrection that follows are contained in the oldest writings that have ever been discovered. . . the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish and the story of Gilgamesh. Scholars believed that they were based on the oral mythology of the region and were recorded about 2,100 B.C.E...

Silicon Valley's "Best Brains" Work on Energy

Venture capitalists in Silicon Valley have been searching for the next big thing in high-tech for years, but now many have switched to greener pursuits -- finding technology to help cut global warming.

Although commercial success could take years, venture capitalists are pouring cash into solar power, fuel cells, wind energy, biofuels, new lighting microchips, "smart" power grids, and other innovative energies.

"The best brains in the country are no longer working on the next pharmaceutical drug or the next Silicon Revolution. They want to work on energy," said Vinod Khosla, a top venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.

While there is competition from Canada, Germany, China, India and other nations, traditional energy companies have been relatively quiet.

"It is under-researched. There are easy pluckings. Oil companies spend no money on research, especially outside of how you discover more oil. All their efforts are token or nominal. The same is true of the coal business," Khosla said...

"We have yet to see any major successes. A lot happening right now is sort of a research-and-development wave for individual technologies, Silicon Valley and industry itself," said Regis McKenna, a veteran marketing strategist who helped launch Apple Inc., Electronic Arts, and Genentech, among others.

McKenna recalled that the microprocessor, the brain of computers, was developed in 1971 but it took another 10 years before pioneer Intel found a market for the device in personal computers.

More than two-thirds, or US$883.6 million, of all clean technology investments last year were made by US investors.

Cleantech Venture Network, an industry trade group, estimates that clean energy investment in Silicon Valley topped US$500 million last year, including not just venture capital but also corporate and some debt financing. The group estimates US$3.6 billion was invested across the United States and Europe.

Among the largest clean tech investments were US$75 million in solar cell maker NanoSolar of Palo Alto, California, and US$50 million for Los Angeles-based renewable biofuels producer Altra Inc.

Biofuels, wind power, solar photovoltaics and fuel cells are likely to pace new energy growth, according to Clean Edge.

While new spending on clean technology is growing far faster than classic venture capital sectors such as computers, health care or retail start-ups, it remains a tiny fraction -- only 3.7 percent -- of the overall market.

A growing sense of urgency to reduce the use of carbon-based fuels, which scientists blame for global warming, is driving the move in Silicon Valley.

"We're not debating whether climate change is occurring. We know it is and we have the capabilities to do something about it and move toward a cleaner energy future," said Ron Pernick, co-founder of the Clean Edge Inc., a research and consulting firm.

Australia moves to militarise Antarctic

From Stuff.co.nz:

The prospect of a militarised Antarctica has been raised with Australia being urged to sharply increase military capability there so as to head off competition from other countries.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute says Australia could need a war-fighting capability to prevent nations staking claims on its Antarctic territory and to address disputes on oil, fisheries and other resources.

In New Zealand, the proposal won support from Peter Cozens, director of Victoria University's centre for strategic studies, who said we should also consider boosting our military presence in Antarctica.

"New Zealand has already taken a tentative step toward recognising resource competition with the new naval vessels being ice-strengthened," he said. "(But) the Government should think in terms of increasing New Zealand's military presence in the Antarctic."...

Turmoil Over Great Lakes Water Pact

The governors of the eight Great Lakes states worked for four years to write a plan that would protect their abundant water from being piped south to regions where booming populations face dwindling water supplies.

But the sharpest attacks on the proposed regional compact are coming not from the distant Sun Belt but from within the Great Lakes states themselves as the plan is submitted to legislators for ratification.

Some communities in the eight states say the compact's strict limits on water diversion could leave them high and dry....

The longer the delay, they say, the greater the risk of losing control over the lakes - which, with their connecting channels and the St. Lawrence River, hold nearly 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water.

"It's OK to take a year or two to sort this out, but then they'd better buckle down and get on the same page," said Noah Hall, an environmental law professor at Wayne State University. "The real attacks are going to come in Congress, from states outside the region who don't want to see the Great Lakes locked up."

Skeptics doubt the supposed threat from the thirsty Sun Belt, saying shipping or piping water over such distances would have staggering costs and engineering challenges.

Still, "the time to put in place good water management is when you don't have a problem," said George Kuper, president of the Council of Great Lakes Industries, which represents companies such as Dow Chemical Co. and U.S. Steel Corp.

Despite the difficulties, grandiose diversion schemes have surfaced, including one entrepreneur's 1998 proposal to send tankers of Lake Superior water to Asia.

That idea quickly evaporated. But it inspired the governors to devise the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, which treats the lakes and associated groundwater as one shared system.

It outlaws new or increased diversions, with limited exceptions, and also requires each state to adopt a conservation plan and regulate its own water use in keeping with common standards.

The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec weren't included because U.S. states can't make treaties with foreign nations, but they signed a similar, nonbinding agreement....

Among the issues facing lawmakers is the status of communities inside a Great Lakes state but outside the lakes' natural watershed.

Waukesha, Wis., a Milwaukee suburb, wants to draw water from Lake Michigan, only 15 miles away, but is just outside the lake's drainage area. The compact might allow the city to get its water because it's within a county that straddles the basin boundary, but that would require unanimous consent of the eight states' governors.

The Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce wants the deal amended so one state can't veto diversions to straddling counties. "Our argument is not to eliminate the compact. Our argument is to make sure it's fair," chamber spokesman Brian Nemoir said.

The pact appeared headed for approval in Ohio last year. But state Sen. Tim Grendell raised enough concerns to stall it. The Cleveland Republican particularly distrusts a declaration that Great Lakes water is held in public trust, saying that provision would void private ownership of farm ponds and even well water.

"The government is being encouraged to take people's property without paying for it. That is flat-out un-American," Grendell said.

Compact supporters say it honors existing rights. The public trust doctrine has been settled law since the late 1800s and balances needs of individuals and society, said Hall, the Wayne State professor...

Total, Shell Chief Executives Say `Easy Oil' Is Gone

The days of so-called ``easy oil'' are over, making it harder to meet demand without complicated and expensive projects, the heads of two of Europe's largest oil companies said today.

The International Energy Agency, an adviser to energy importing nations, estimates oil supply will have to rise 39 percent to 116 million barrels of oil a day by 2030 from about 86 million barrels a day now to meet world demand.

Meeting such targets with conventional oil sources will be ``extremely difficult,'' Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive officer of Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company and its largest refiner, said at a conference in Paris today. New supply will be based on ``huge high-tech'' projects.

Jeroen van der Veer, the chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil company, said countries no longer seek Shell's help with conventional reserves, such as onshore oil or gas that's cheaper to develop than offshore fields.

``We can't expect profits in easy oil,'' Van der Veer said at the same conference. ``If there is easy onshore oil, people don't need Shell.'' He said there are enough opportunities for international oil companies to invest in complex, large oil and gas projects using new technology.

Explorers are pushing further offshore as technology improves and fields onshore and in shallow water run dry. Oil companies are expected to increase exploration spending by 9 percent worldwide this year, according to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Spending on exploration in deep water will rise 44 percent to $18 billion by 2011 from $12 billion this year, a report by consultants Douglas- Westwood Ltd. said yesterday.

Paris-based Total said today it would be pumping 240,000 barrels a day by mid-April from a new field in Angola called Dalia, about 135 kilometers (83 miles) offshore in waters as deep as 1,500 meters, or nearly a mile down.

Developing that field cost $4.6 billion, an increase of 53 percent from the $3 billion spent to develop another offshore Angolan field called Girassol, de Margerie said today. By comparison, costs for Usan, a 160,000-barrel-a-day project off Nigeria, will cost $7 billion, he said...

Quake lifts Solomons island metres from the sea

The force of this week's Solomons earthquake has lifted an island in the South Pacific archipelago and pushed out its shoreline by tens of metres, exposing surrounding reefs.

The remote island of Ranongga in the western Solomon Islands used to have submerged coral reefs that attracted scuba divers from around the world.

But since Monday's massive earthquake in the Solomon Islands, the reefs are now exposed above the water and are dying, an AFP reporter and photographer have seen.

The AFP team, which travelled to Ranongga on a chartered outboard after the quake, saw exposed reefs bleaching in the sun, and covered with dead fish, eels, clams and other marine life.

The 8.0-magnitude quake, caused by a shift in the Earth's tectonic plates, triggered a tsunami that killed at least 34 people in the remote western Solomons and left 5,500 homeless.

Aid agencies have yet to reach Ranongga, but the AFP team saw the devastation that has permanently altered the geography of the island, 32-kilometres (20-miles) long and 8-kilometres wide.

Although Ranongga escaped the fury of the tsunami, the seismic upheaval from the quake pushed out the shoreline by up to 70 metres, local resident Hendrik Kegala also said.

"Plenty big noise," he told AFP in the local pidgin dialect.

"Water go back and not come back again," he added, saying the whooshing sound of the receding water and the shaking from the quake occurred simultaneously.

Mystery of Red Space Glow Solved

Scientists have solved a decades-long mystery of a red glow that permeates our Milky Way Galaxy and other galaxies.

The red glow is most prominent in a strange, dying star called the Red Rectangle, named for the bizarre structure that surrounds it.

The red light, astronomers now say, radiates from invisibly small clusters of dust that are now believed to glow because of newly described molecular forces that oppose each other on very small scales.

The glow, called the Extended Red Emission (conveniently ERE for short) has been known but inexplicable for more than 30 years. Researchers suspected carbon-rich molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were the culprit. These clusters of molecules form a structure that looks like chicken wire; they are measured on a scale of billionths of a meter, far too small to see.

Thing is, for PAHs to create the red glow, they would have to be bombarded by ultraviolet radiation so harsh that it would destroy all known forms of these structures.

"Although I had results that strongly supported the idea that PAHs had something to do with the ERE, the experimental results made it clear that if PAHs were involved, they were present in some as-yet unknown exotic form," said Murthy Gudipati, a NASA researcher also at the University of Maryland. So exotic, indeed, that they can't be recreated in a lab. In fact, the red glow seen in space doesn't occur on Earth because the nano-sized PAH clusters are very reactive and don't last long.

So Gudipati and colleagues, led by Louis Allamandola at NASA's Ames Research Center, employed some fancy theoretical chemistry calculations to the problem. The glow comes from unusual clusters of PAHs that are charged and highly reactive but, at the same time, "have a stable, closed-shell electron configuration as does any stable molecule on Earth," the researchers said in a statement.

"Our simulation shows that this type of charged PAH cluster can account for the ERE while satisfying the physical requirements necessary to survive the harsh interstellar conditions," said team member Young Min Rhee, postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

"UN issues bleakest warning on climate"

Billions of people in Asia will be at risk of flooding as the effects of climate change take hold in the next few decades, the world's leading climate scientists said on Friday.

The poor will be worst hit, as climate change is expected to bring some benefits to richer countries such as north America and northern Europe in the form of longer crop growing seasons, but countries that are already hot will suffer. Diseases borne by mosquitoes, such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever will also greatly extend their range, overburdening already stretched health services in poor parts of the world.

But the residents of the southern coastal states of the US will also be at much greater risk of hurricanes and tropical storms.

The scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change delivered their verdict in Brussels after a four-day meeting that stretched to 10am on Friday. They stayed up all night because of disagreements over the exact wording of their summary, which provides a guide to the second section of the IPCC report.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, said disagreements had been resolved. All of the countries involved had to agree the wording before it could be published.

The report is the biggest and most authoritative ever produced on climate change and will form the basis of international policy on the issue for years to come, including the effort to extend the UN's Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol binds 35 rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions but has been undercut by a 2001 pullout by the United States, the top emitting nation. US President George W. Bush says Kyoto would cost US jobs and wrongly excludes developing nations such as China.

Martin Parry, co-chair of the IPCC and a scientist from the UK's Met Office, said governments should take careful note of the report, which details the dramatic effects climate change is likely to have, and is already having.

Spring is occurring earlier all around the world, and glaciers are melting. The polar ice caps are also melting, sea levels are gradually rising, and wildlife are migrating.

Mr Pachauri said one of the most important aspects of the report was the "equity dimension" – that poor countries, which are least able to cope with climate change and which are least responsible for past emissions, are likely to be most affected by it....

He (Gary Yohe, one of the report's lead authors) said China, Russia and Saudi Arabia had raised most objections during the night to a 21-page summary which makes clear that the poor will suffer most. Other participants also said the United States had toned down some passages.

Some scientists objected, for instance, after China tried to eliminate a note saying that there was "very high confidence" that climate change was already affecting "many natural systems, on all continents and in some oceans".

China, the second largest source of greenhouse gases after the United States and ahead of Russia, wanted no mention of the level of confidence....

Friday's report is the second by the IPCC this year. In February, the first said it was more than 90 percent probable that mankind was to blame for most global warming since 1950.

Update:

Several scientists objected to the editing of the final draft by government negotiators, the Associated Press reported, but in the end agreed to compromises. However, some scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change vowed never to take part in the process again, the AP reported....

The climax of five days of negotiations was reached when the delegates removed parts of key charts highlighting devastating effects of climate change that kick in with every rise of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, and in a tussle over the level of confidence attached to key statements.

The charts have been called a "highway to extinction" because they show that with every degree of warming, the condition of much of the world worsens — with starvation, floods and the disappearance of species...

Impacts of Climate Change

An overview of impacts of global warming outlined in a draft UN climate report due to be released in Brussels on April 6:

AFRICA

-- Reductions in the area suitable for agriculture, and in length of growing seasons and yield potential, are likely to lead to increased risk of hunger.

-- An increase of 5-8 percent (60-90 million hectares) of arid and semi-arid land in Africa is projected by the 2080s under various climate change scenarios.

-- Current stress on water in many areas of Africa is likely to increase, with floods and droughts.

-- Any changes in the productivity of large lakes are likely to affect local food supplies.

-- Ecosystems in Africa are likely to experience dramatic changes with some species facing possible extinctions.

-- Major delta regions with large populations, such as the Nile and Niger rivers, are threatened by sea level rises.


EUROPE

-- The percentage of river basin areas with severe water stress is expected to increase from 19 percent to 34-36 percent by the 2070s.

-- Millions of people are likely to live in watersheds with shortages in western Europe.

-- Under scenarios of a fast rise in global temperatures, an extra 2.5 million people a year will be affected by coastal flooding by the 2080s.

-- By the 2070s, hydropower potential for Europe is expected to decline overall by 6 percent, ranging from a 20-50 percent decrease in the Mediterranean region to a 15-30 percent increase in Northern and Eastern Europe.

-- A large percentage of European flora could become vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered or extinct under a range of scenarios.

-- By 2050, crops are expected to show a northward expansion. In northern Europe, wheat yields may gain by 8 to 25 percent by 2050. But in the south, yields may range from a fall of 8 percent to a gain of 22 percent by 2050.

-- Forested area is likely to increase in the north and decrease in the south, with a redistribution of species. Forest fire risk is virtually certain to increase greatly in southern Europe.

-- Small alpine glaciers will disappear, while larger glaciers will suffer a volume reduction of between 30 to 70 percent by 2050.

-- Tourism to the Mediterranean might fall in summer and increase in spring and autumn.

-- A rapid shutdown of the Gulf Stream bringing warm waters northwards across the Atlantic to Europe -- viewed as a low probability -- could have severe impacts such as cutting crop production, more cold-related deaths, and a shift in populations south.


NORTH AMERICA

-- Population growth, rising property values and continued investment increase the vulnerability of coastal regions. Any rise in destructiveness of coastal storms is very likely to bring "dramatic increases" in losses from severe weather and storm surges.

-- Sea level rises and tidal surges and flooding have the "potential to severely affect transportation and infrastructure along the Gulf, Atlantic and northern coasts."

-- Severe heatwaves are likely to worsen over parts of the United States and Canada.

-- Ozone related deaths are projected to increase by 4.5 percent from the 1990s to the 2050s.

-- Projected warming in the western mountains is likely to cause large decreases in snowpack, earlier snowmelt, more winter rains by mid-century.

-- Climate change is likely to increase forest production. But by the second half of the century, the dominant impacts will be disruptions from pests and fires. Forest areas burnt each summer in Canada could rise by between 74 and 118 percent by 2100 compared to now.

-- Vulnerability to climate change is likely to be concentrated in specific groups and regions, such as indigenous peoples and the poor and elderly in cities.


LATIN AMERICA

-- Glaciers in the tropical Andes are very likely to disappear over the next 15 years, reducing water availability and hydropower generation in Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.

-- Any decline in rainfall in semi-arid regions of Argentina, Brazil and Chile is likely to lead to severe water shortages.

-- By the 2020s, between 7 and 77 million people are likely to suffer from a lack of adequate water supplies.

-- A rise in sea level, weather and climatic variability are very likely to have impacts on low-lying areas, buildings and tourism, mangroves, coral reefs and the location of fish stocks off Peru and Chile.

-- Temperature increases of 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) and decreases in soil water would turn eastern parts of Amazonia to savannah from tropical forest. In turn, that could threaten many species.

-- The frequency and intensity of hurricanes in the Caribbean might increase.

-- Rice yields are expected to fall after 2020, but soybean yields in south eastern parts of South America may increase.


POLAR REGIONS

-- The extent of annually averaged Arctic sea-ice is projected to contract by between 22 to 33 percent by 2100. In Antarctica, projections range from a slight increase to an almost complete loss of summer sea ice.

-- There will be "important reductions" in the thickness and extent of Arctic glaciers and ice caps, and the Greenland ice sheet this century. Losses from glaciers on the Antarctic peninsula will continue, along with a thinning in part of the West Antarctic ice sheet. The melt will raise sea levels.

-- Northern hemisphere permafrost is projected to decrease by 20-35 percent by 2050.

-- In one scenario of rapid change, 10 percent of Arctic tundra will be replaced by forest by 2100 and 15-25 percent of polar desert will be replaced by tundra.

-- In both polar regions, climate change will mean decreases in habitat for migratory birds and mammals, with "major implications" for predators such as seals and polar bears.

-- Reductions in lake and river ice cover are expected in both polar regions. Warming will affect distribution of fish stocks.

-- In Siberia and North America, there may be an increase in agriculture and forestry as the limits for both shift northwards by several hundred km (miles) by 2050. Major forest fires and outbreaks of tree-killing insect pests are likely to increase.

-- Warming will cut the number of human deaths in winter from cold. But more pests and diseases in wildlife, such as tick-borne encephalitis, could affect humans.

-- More frequent and severe floods, erosion, droughts, and destruction of permafrost "threaten community, public health, and industrial infrastructure and water supply".

-- "The resilience of indigenous populations is being severely challenged," because of climate changes, along with economic and social shifts.


SMALL ISLAND STATES

-- "Sea level rise and increased sea water temperature are projected to accelerate beach erosion, and cause degradation of natural coastal defences such as mangroves and coral reefs".

-- That could curb tourism. Studies in some islands indicate that up to 80 percent of tourists would be unwilling to return for the same price if corals and beaches were damaged.

-- Ports, as well as roads and international airports which are also often by the coast, are likely to be at risk from rising seas.

-- Reductions in rainfall would have a big impact in cutting the size of underground freshwater stocks in islands such as Tarawa Atoll, Kiribati. Some small islands states are investing in desalination to offset projected water shortages.

-- Rising temperatures and decreasing water availability is likely to increase diarrhoea and other infectious diseases in some small island states.

-- Without measures to adapt to change, agriculture economic losses are likely to reach between 2 and 18 percent of 2002 gross domestic product by 2050 for both higher islands such as Fiji and low-lying islands such as Kiribati.

-- New microbes, fungi, plants and animals are already causing changes to wildlife on sub-Antarctic islands.

-- Costs of adapting to change may be high, and options limited.


AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

-- Many ecosystems are likely to be altered by 2020. Among the most vulnerable are the Great Barrier Reef, south-western Australia, Kakadu wetlands, rainforests and mountain areas.

-- Water security problems are very likely to increase by 2030 in southern and eastern Australia, and parts of eastern New Zealand away from major rivers. In Australia, there could be a 10-25 percent reduction in river flow in the Murray-Darling basin by 2050.

-- Development of coastal regions could lead to property coming under threat from rising sea levels. By 2050 there is likely to be loss of high-value land, faster road deterioration and degraded beaches.

-- In southeast Australia, the frequency of of days when bush fires threaten is likely to rise by between 4 and 25 percent by 2020.

-- Increased temperatures and demographic changes are likely to increase peak energy demand in summer which could lead to black-outs.

-- Farm production is likely to decline over much of southern and eastern Australia and parts of eastern New Zealand due to increased drought and fire. If enough water is available, longer growing seasons and less risk of frost are likely to aid farming in much of New Zealand and parts of southern Australia.

-- In south and west New Zealand, growth rates of economically important plantation crops are likely to increase.

-- The elderly will be at risk from heatwaves, with an extra 3,200-5,200 deaths on average per year by 2050.

Planting 300+ Trees

I bought app. 340 trees from the Vallonia Nursery run by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

The Vallonia Nursery grows and sells (for app. 53 cents each) about 5 million trees a year. Indiana residents can buy packets of 100 of the same tree and/or get the Wildlife Packet with 10 of 12 tree/shrub types or the Woodland Packet, or the Outdoor Lab Packet where you get 3 of 40 different tree types (that they choose - app. half were various types of Oaks). I got a Wildlife Packet, an Outdoor Lab Packet, and 100 Red Pines. If I had ordered the trees last fall - I would have had more of a selection - I ordered them a couple weeks ago and I am happy with what I got.

I've planted trees from the Nursery before - I think it works best to till the soil first - and get rid of the grass (for the areas where there is grass). I enjoy figuring out which type of plant to put where based on eventual size, type, etc. Designing a forest to be - or at least getting it started.

The areas I planted were next to forest areas - we reclaimed app. an acre or more for forest. So that's an acre that won't be mowed - that will eventually have trees and plants that are more suitable for local wildlife.

Next, I have an area of grass to plant in wildflowers. And then - what will be a big project - getting rid of the grass that is around the orchard and replacing it with either clover or wood chips.

I read that for every hour of lawn mowing is like driving 350 miles in ones car - pollution-wise. Besides a huge waste of time and energy.

Deadly jellyfish halt Hollywood production

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A deadly species of jellyfish, translucent and the size of a thumbnail, is spreading along Australia’s coastline as a result of global warming, scientists warned today.

Irukandji jellyfish are among the world’s most toxic creatures – all but impossible to detect in the water but packing a potentially lethal punch belying their tiny size.

Until recently it was thought that they were confined to Australia’s northern tropical waters, but marine biologists have now found them off Queensland’s Fraser Island — a popular tourist spot about 400 miles south of their previously assumed range.

Their discovery has halted production of a Hollywood film, Fool’s Gold, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, who were originally due to be filmed swimming in the sea. Dr Jamie Seymour, from James Cook University, said he had found five of the animals off the island.

“You can’t now say the waters around Fraser Island are jellyfish safe. I mean, these animals have the potential to kill you,” he told ABC radio.

“The ones we were catching weren’t any bigger than your thumbnail. They’ve got tentacles that are probably a half to three quarters of a metre long, and pretty much transparent. So unless you really know what you’re looking for, you’re not going to see them in the water.”

If they migrate south in sufficient numbers, irukandji would threaten the safety of swimmers, surfers and snorkellers along southern Queensland’s Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast holiday destinations.

Little is known about their biology but their toxicity is legendary. One of the tiny jellyfish was blamed for killing a 58-year-old British tourist, Richard Jordan, in the Whitsunday Islands of Queensland in 2002. A few months later, a 44-year-old American tourist was stung and also died...

Global Warming Driving Australian Fish South

Global warming is starting to have a significant impact on Australian marine life, driving fish and seabirds south and threatening coral reefs, Australia's premier science organisation said on Wednesday.

But much more severe impacts could occur in coming decades, affecting sea life, fishing communities and tourism.

In particular, warmer oceans, changes in currents, disruption of reproductive cycles and mass migration of species would affect Australia's marine life, particularly in the southeast.

Already, nesting sea turtles, yellow-fin tuna, dugongs and stinging jellyfish are examples of marine life moving south as seas warm, said the report by the government-backed Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
"It's not a disaster for the ones that can move south. It is for the ones that can't move south," lead author of the report, Dr Alistair Hobday, told Reuters.

"If you're at the tip of Tasmania, you've got nowhere else to go," he said, referring to Australia's southern island state, the last major part of Australia before the Antarctic.

Atlantic salmon, which are farmed in Tasmania, face a bleak future. Salmon farming businesses would become largely unviable as the ocean warmed the predicted one to two degrees over the next 30 years, Hobday said...

Turtles are especially vulnerable to warming, with warm weather causing increased female hatchlings, the report said.
Changing ocean food production because of warming could also affect other species already battling low numbers by restricting their food supply, the CSIRO report, which was prepared for the Australian government, said.

Its release comes two days before the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change adopts a major report on the impacts of global warming.

Australia's southeast will be hit hardest, with the Tasman Sea suffering the greatest ocean warming in the southern hemisphere, the CSIRO report, citing the U.N. climate panel, said.

The result is likely to be a decline in fish along Australia's eastern seaboard...

South Africa: Lives Threatened by Cyclone

"More Than a Million Lives Threatened as Cyclones, Heavy Rains Pummel Southern Africa"

Southern African communities, local authorities and humanitarian partners are finding their resources stretched to the limit with the early arrival of the rainy season and relentless precipitation as well as an unprecedented series of cyclones and tropical storms, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

Despite recent improvements in the capacities for disaster and emergency preparedness and response, areas of Angola, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia are working to rebuild their homes and recover their livelihoods after months of heavy rains, OCHA said in a press release.

“It seems either we have too much or too little rain,” said Kelly David, who heads OCHA’s Southern African regional office, underscoring the region’s vulnerabilities to natural disasters and food insecurity. “Building the capacity to respond quickly to rapid onset emergencies goes hand in hand with other sustained efforts by national governments and humanitarian partners to improve the lives of millions.”

Madagascar, an island nation off the African coast, has been battered by six cyclones and tropical storms since last December, affecting almost half a million people. The cyclones left widespread flooding, displacement and crop damage in their wake. Most recently, Cyclone Jaya this month pounded the northeastern portion of the country with high winds, heavy rains and flooding.

Meanwhile, southern Madagascar which is more arid saw its own share of the problems caused by drought, food insecurity and malnutrition.

The combined effects of the natural disasters have exhausted the country’s resources, and less than half of a $9.6 million appeal issued in last month has been funded so far. OCHA anticipates that humanitarian needs will increase after the most recent cyclone, but without additional assistance, “the Malagasy people will continue to struggle to obtain shelter, food, potable water, and health care.”...

Loss of Tropical Coral Reefs

From the Independent:

More than half of the tropical coral reefs in the world where governments collect data on fishing levels are being degraded beyond repair, according to a global survey of reef fisheries.

The findings suggest that it would take an additional area of tropical coral four times the size of the Great Barrier Reef - the biggest reef system in the world - to sustain current fishing levels.

If the commercial exploitation of tropical corals continues at present rates, many reefs will be irreversibly degraded and millions of people will have to look for other sources of food, scientists said. "Millions of people are dependent on coral reef fisheries. We are facing a global crisis among communities which have limited alternative livelihoods or major food sources," said Katie Newton of the University of East Anglia in Norwich.

"We're facing a food-security crisis - 30 million people on the planet depend entirely on coral reefs for their income and for their food," Ms Newton said.

The study found that 55 per cent of the 49 island nations who register their fish catch are fishing unsustainably by taking more fish, molluscs and crustaceans than the reefs are able to replace....

The study, published in the online journal Current Biology, suggests that the threat to tropical corals will lead to many inhabited island atolls being abandoned during the 21st century....

t is estimated that 284,300 sq km of tropical coral exist globally and that about 20 per cent have been irreversibly lost in recent decades. Another 26 per cent is at risk. Small-scale fishing can be sustainable but population growth and the spread of unsustainable methods of fishing - such as the use of dynamite - is damaging many reefs beyond repair.

"Once [large fish] are removed, you get various cascade effects such as a proliferation in sea urchins, which are indiscriminate grazers," Ms Newton said.