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India Plans Cloning to Revive Extinct Cheetah
BANGALORE, India (Reuters) - A leading Indian research institute has asked Iran to loan it a pair of cheetahs or offer some cells to clone an animal that has been extinct in India for about half a century, its chief said on Friday.
posted by Paul West 7:46 AM
New Map Helps Protect Ten Million Acres Of Rainforest
(Amazon Conservation Team, amazonteam.org)
An extraordinary map, created by rainforest Indians in red breechcloths carrying handheld GPS (geographic positioning systems) and demarcating ten million acres of pristine rainforest, is being unveiled at the Brazilian Embassy here on January 23rd. This map of the Tumucumaque region in the northeast Amazon is the product of an unusual collaboration by FUNAI (the Brazilian government Indian agency), PPTAL (a G7 funded initiative to demarcate indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon), the Amazon Conservation Team (a non-profit organization based in Arlington VA) and four Indian tribes living in the northeast Amazon. These tribes - the Tirios, Kaxuyana, Wayana, and Apalai - are small bands of forest dwellers that have in the past teetered on the edge of extinction. The participants believe this map will be the first and most important step in creating a management plan for the protection of the region's legendary forests and will serve as a blueprint for similar efforts in rainforests around the world. . . . �Based on their map, the four tribes of this reservation will be able to better organize and develop their resources. And they have prepared it wisely; the location of the widely coveted medicinal plants they know so much about - many of which have been illegally taken abroad from the Amazon rainforest - is not revealed in the map," declares the Honorable Rubens Antonio Barbosa, Brazil's Ambassador to the United States. . . . Over two years ago, a team of Brazilian cartographers, agency workers, and ACT�s Brazil team met with indigenous leaders deep in the jungles of the Tumucumaque in the remote village of Aldeia Bona to begin the training of indigenous map-makers. One of the first obstacles to the process was the concept of a map itself. �We thought at first the Tirios didn�t understand the process of identifying landmarks,� said Milton Alcover, lead cartographer on the project, �but we quickly learned that the Indians have detailed maps of their territories inside their heads. Their maps are three-dimensional, while ours are only two-dimensional drawings on paper. We simply weren�t speaking the same language.� . . . For the Tirios, a people so ancient their myths recall crossing the Bering Strait, the map is a way of making themselves visible to western cultures. And one of the most astonishing discoveries in the course of the project is that the Indians maintain a strictly protected, no-hunting zone in the middle of their lands. . . . "When the Indians say that the headwaters of a great river is sacred, and when the government of Brazil says they must protect their watersheds, they are essentially speaking the same language. We all have a stake in perpetuating these resources. The map is a win-win situation for everyone concerned.�
posted by Lorenzo 12:58 PM
Costa Rica Declares "Peace For Nature"
(Excerpt from the Inaugural Address of the President of the Republic of Costa Rica, the Dr. Abel Pacheco of the Espriella)
"Before becoming an oil enclave, before becoming a land of open pit mining, I plan to initiate a sustained effort to transform Costa Rica into an ecological power. . . .
The true fuel and the true gold of the future will be water and oxygen; they will be our aquifers and our forests. . . . Before we declare peace among ourselves and we declare peace among all nations; now we should declare a peace with Nature. . . . As part of this new Chapter in the Constitution, we will create the security of absolute protection for primary forests so that not a single tree there is cut; absolute protection for the aquifers and the rivers; the absolute protection for the coral ecosystems, of the mangroves and the wetlands; the absolute protection of wild fauna and flora. . . . At the same time we will incorporate in this new Chapter of the Constitution all that is necessary to ensure appropriate processes for treatment of solid waste; to begin a systematic process of recycling and to foster the vigorous development of organic agriculture. . . . Added to this, we will guarantee Costa Ricans that technological developments,
including the genetic advances, will have to be made in harmony with Nature. . . . I call on all Costa Ricans, especially the youngest, to help me with
this initiative, to contribute with their ideas, to reinforce with their proposals their right to make of this country a sanctuary for Nature and for humanity. Costa Rica has a future and we will assure it."
posted by Lorenzo 6:31 PM
The Detroit Project - by Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars
[note from Arianna Huffington] Welcome to Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars. The idea for this project came to me while watching -- for the umpteenth time -- one of those outrageous drug war ads the Bush administration has flooded the airwaves with. You know, the ones that try and link using drugs to financing terrorism. Instead of shaking my head in disgust and reaching for the Mute button like I usually do when I see these ads, I decided to channel my indignation. Why not turn the tables and adopt the same tactics the administration was using in the drug war to point out the much more credible link between driving SUVs and our national security? Thus began our campaign to create a series of TV ads designed to win the hearts and minds -- and change the driving habits -- of American consumers by asking them to connect the dots and think about the effect energy wastefulness is having not just on the environment, but on our foreign policy. . . . The amazing response we've received has enabled us to produce a pair of top-of-the-line ads, which are currently in post-production. . . . The TV ads have arrived: ... click on the above link to view them.
posted by Lorenzo 10:17 AM
Water is Becoming a Dangerous Drug
(Melissa Knopper, E Magazine, December 30, 2002)
Birth control pills, estrogen replacement drugs, ibuprofen, bug spray, sunscreen, mouthwash and antibacterial soap: all of these products could turn up in your next glass of tap water, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). . . . USGS researchers also turned up antibiotics in nearly half the streams that were sampled, raising other concerns about the nation's growing antibiotic resistance problem. . . . Colborn says she is worried about pharmaceutical estrogens mixing with chemicals already present in streams. "You can liken it to side effects you get with a prescription drug � you don't know how it's going to interact with the over-the-counter drugs you're taking," . . . Those superbugs typically are spread to consumers through contaminated meat, but people who drink from private wells also are vulnerable . . . Meanwhile, thousands of pounds of triclosan � the active ingredient in antibacterial soaps, deodorants, sponges and household cleaners � are also going down the drain into our waterways. . . . The Waterkeeper Alliance's Gray joins the WWF and other green groups in the call to enact stronger clean water laws. "This new report paints a scary picture of what's out there in our rivers and lakes," he says. . . . If you must buy bottled water, she adds, pour it into a glass container instead of leaving it in the plastic bottle. Other steps include: Use condoms instead of birth control pills; Choose natural menopause remedies instead of prescription hormone replacement therapy drugs; Return old prescriptions to the pharmacy rather than flushing them down the toilet; Avoid unnecessary use of antibiotic drugs, and try plain old soap and water unless your doctor recommends antibacterial soap for medical reasons; Switch to antibiotic-free meat or a vegetarian diet.
posted by Lorenzo 4:06 PM
