--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: EGU00000 Date: 12/24/97 From: PAUL DOBBS Time: 01:24pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Env Monitoring - Anyone tried this idea 13:24:0012/24/97 Along the lines of macroinvertebrate monitoring that I mentioned before, has anyone ever heard of using terrestrial insects as some sort of indicator of environmental health? Like, oh I don't know, off the top of my head, say collecting centipedes as a means to determine soil acidity or something? - Sysop, PDBBS- pdobbs@idirect.com ... "Nurse! I said, 'SLIP off his SPECtacles!'" --- xMail 1.00 * Origin: Paranormal Discussions Oshawa/Ontario (905)721-8960 (1:229/610) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: EGW00000 Date: 12/26/97 From: PAUL DOBBS Time: 03:19pm \/To: TERRY RICKS (Read 0 times) Subj: Taxonomy & Macroinvertebr TR> > For the life of us, we couldn't find a means to reduce this TR> > variability in sampling. Have you any methods in mind that TR> > could shed some helpful guidance on reducing such a variance? TR> I don't have any ideas at present but if I think of omething, or TR> come cross some literature on it I'll pass it on to you. TR>Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank-you! I hope that everyone there had a surprise-filled day. It certainly snuck up on us fast (and faster every year it seems). Thanks for the speedy reply (amazing, it arrive within a few hours of my original, but I didn't sit down to the mail yesterday as a promise to my better half ). - Sysop, PDBBS- pdobbs@idirect.com ... An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to cor --- xMail 1.00 * Origin: Paranormal Discussions Oshawa/Ontario (905)721-8960 (1:229/610) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: EG^00000 Date: 12/30/97 From: NANCY WOOD Time: 11:18am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: current events From: InfoBeat To: nanwood@juno.com Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 17:51:55 MST Subject: News - West Coast Edition @ 12/29/97 Message-ID: X-Status: Read West Coast Edition for Monday, December 29, 1997 ====== *** Australian nuclear veterans seek radiation study Australian veterans who monitored British nuclear tests in the Outback in the 1950s urged the Australian government on Monday to launch a study into birth defects and illnesses they say were caused by radiation. The call followed the publication here of a British study which found high rates of birth defects in the grandchildren of British veterans of nuclear tests in Australia and the South Pacific. Ric Johnstone, president of the Australian Nuclear Veterans Association, said many of the 12,000 to 15,000 Australian nuclear veterans had died from cancer and had deformed children. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6668851-d02 *** U.S. ornithologists find long-lost Indian owl Two American ornithologists have found living examples of a small Indian owl thought to have died out more than 100 years ago, the U.S. National Museum of Natural History said Monday. After a 12-day search in November, museum ornithologist Pamela Rasmussen and Asian bird expert Ben King came across two of the owls, presumably a couple, near the town of Shahada in Maharashtra province in India, the museum said in a statement. The species, known as the Forest Owlet or Athene blewitti, was last sighted in the wild in 1884. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6678883-ec3 The Environment *** El Nino a lion in '97, a pussycat in '98 Sydney police yelled evacuation orders while terrified residents ran for their lives clutching family albums and insurance papers as houses exploded in flames. This year Australia's bushfire season arrived early, on Dec. 2, just two days into summer. Up to 400 fires raged through much of the state of New South Wales, killing three firemen and destroying a dozen homes - just one small part of the El Nino story in 1997. Indonesia and Papua New Guinea were hardest hit by this year's manifestation of the Nino weather phenomenon, which scientists warned could create the climatic event of the century. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6676972-2b3 *** China to close polluting thermal power plants China plans to shut down hundreds of small thermal power stations, which are major air polluters, and develop clean hydropower resources, state media reported Monday. Separately, China signed a $3 billion deal for construction of a Russian-designed nuclear power facility as part of efforts to boost atomic energy production. The China Daily newspaper quoted the power industry minister, Shi Dazhen, as saying closures of thermal plants would start next year. A total of 10,860 megawatts of installed capacity would be eliminated over three years. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6672477-0ac *** Int'l Technology buys EPA contracts for $2M International Technology Corp said Monday it had bought two five-year Environmental Protection Agency contracts with an estimated value of $94 million for $2 million. The company acquired the contracts, which involve cleaning up hazardous waste sites, from Smith Technology Corp, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, and Riedel Environmental Technologies Inc. The transaction is contingent on EPA approval, which the company expects shortly. "These contracts will complement a $47 million EPA Region III remedial action contract recently awarded to International Technology in October 1997," Chief Executive Anthony DeLuca said. *** Indonesia sees El Nino impact lingering into 1998 Forestry Minister Djamaluddin Soeryohadikusumo said Monday drought induced by the El Nino weather pattern could linger in Indonesia next year. "In 1998, we must be cautious on whether the impact of El Nino is still there," Djamaluddin said. He said some experts predicted several areas would continue to feel the effects of the weather phenomenon into February. El Nino, an upswelling of warmer water in the Pacific Ocean that disrupts global climate, has been blamed for Indonesia's worst drought in decades and the spread of forest fires that sent choking smog across Southeast Asia this year. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6672303-fb1 *** Lebanon choking on its love affair with cars The only competitor in this year's 50 K bicycle race at the Pan-Arab Games to make it through the Lebanese traffic to the finish line arrived in a car. And that was in the Bekaa Valley, which Lebanese see as car-free. In Beirut, colossal traffic jams belch exhaust fumes, produce a deafening cacophony of horns and make all road movement into a seemingly endless ordeal. Lebanon is believed to have more than a million cars for a population of 3.5 million, most jammed into the narrow strip between the mountains and the Mediterranean. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6676605-5b8 *** Germany's Waigel branded dinosaur by nature group A nature conservation group named German Finance Minister Theo Waigel as its "dinosaur of the year" on Monday, accusing him of pursuing backward policies in the field of environmental protection. The annual award, billed as "the most embarrassing environmental prize," went to Waigel because of his policy of selling off parts of east German national parks to the private sector, the Nature Conservation Federation said. As winner of the award, the minister receives a small silver-colored dinosaur sculpture. ======= Nancy --- FMail 1.02 * Origin: Electronic Avenue BBS 210-533-5668 San Antonio, TX (1:387/510) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: EG^00001 Date: 12/30/97 From: NANCY WOOD Time: 11:19am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: current events (2) From: InfoBeat To: nanwood@juno.com Date: Tue, 30 Dec 1997 02:25:17 MST Subject: News - Morning Edition @ 12/30/97 Message-ID: X-Status: Read Morning Edition for Tuesday, December 30, 1997 ******************************************************************* The Environment *** Groups appeal ruling on U.S. wolf reintroductions Two environmental groups appealed Monday a Dec. 12 ruling by a federal judge who said a controversial program to reintroduce wolves to the Rocky Mountain region was illegal. Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Federation filed an appeal with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver and said they were bracing themselves for what could be a long legal battle about reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park and in central Idaho. U.S. District Court Judge William Downes earlier this month said under the U.S. Endangered Species Act the government was wrong to have experimentally introduced the wolves to an area where the animal was already found three years ago. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6683879-3d4 *** Calif. to start power deregulation by March 31 California's electric power market should be open to competition by March 31 after computer problems forced a delay from the original Jan. 1 start date, state officials said Monday. Despite speedier-than- expected progress earlier this year, officials announced last week California would not be able to meet its ambitious deregulation schedule. The delay means California customers - mostly large industrial and commercial end users - who had planned to buy power from suppliers other than their current utility, will have to wait, possibly until the end of March. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6683426-c3f ============================== If you'd like to subscribe to other InfoBeat products or modify your current settings, visit our web site at http://www.infobeat.com ================================================= -Nancy --- FMail 1.02 * Origin: Electronic Avenue BBS 210-533-5668 San Antonio, TX (1:387/510) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: F1100000 Date: 01/01/98 From: NANCY WOOD Time: 02:47am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Echo Rules ENVIRON Echo Rules and Guidelines. Moderator: Nancy Wood, (1:387/510) The ENVIRON Echo was created to bring together individuals interested in discussing environmental topics together in a controllable forum where ideas, theories or just plain discussions can take place without childish activity that plagues many other fidonet echos. The rules are very simple and extremely easy to follow. Gating will be allowed into other nets but prior permission must be obtained. The Rules: 1) All topics discussed MUST have some relationship to the environment in some manner. 2) There will be NO toleration of FLAMES in this echo. There is no need for flames and they must be taken elsewhere (email or netmail). No tolerance will be given. There was one incident where an individual tried to get around the rules because of his position in Fidonet. Unfortunately for this person, he has been banned forever from the echo and nearly lost his node number. *** If you can't "post nice", then don't post! 3) ANY and ALL complaints MUST be sent via NETMAIL to 1:387/510. 4) Anti-environmental discussions are allowed. This is to allow the full spectrum of the issues at hand to be seen and will allow for the downside of an argument to be discussed. Anti-environmentalism is discouraged as it is what got us in this mess. Debates are healthy, sometimes opening each side to new thoughts; but debates dosn't mean full-out verbal war! *** Again, post nice or don't post! 5) The moderator is the ULTIMATE authority in this echo. If you have a problem with the echo, do not go to the NEC or REC, come to me. That's why I'm here. 6) The ENVIRON Echo is the sole property of the moderator and not the property of its participants. Without participants, there is no echo. 7) The use of Pseudos or fake names is NOT ALLOWED. If you want to be excepted, netmail me and I'll make each decision on an individual basis. 8) Topics that are ILLEGAL or that could cause major political problems in the echo are not allowed. We do not need a rebirth of the arguments for drug legalization (which has nothing to do with the environment) or abortions etc (the same applies). Punishment Procedure The moderator has TOTAL discretion on punitive actions. Systems and participants that break the rule(s) may get a feed cut for 1 week - permanent depending on the rule(s) broken and to what extent. Thank you Nancy Wood 1:387/510 ENVIRON Echo Moderator rules posted by Nancy Wood, 1:387/510, nanwood@juno.com --- FMail 1.02 * Origin: Electronic Avenue-San Antonio,TX 210.533.5668 (1:387/510) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: F1A00000 Date: 01/05/98 From: JAMES ROOT Time: 02:26pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Savings in Sewage "There's savings in that sewage" The newspaper heading in a Toronto based newspaper The Toronto Sun, begins the following commentary on Canadian efforts to economize the sewage treatment plant process and produce what it refers to as an "unlikely source of power". Dated January 5,1998 "Ottawa(CP) An unlikely source of power is promising to turn the Canadian capitol into a model for the rest of the country. Sewage is the secret behind the extra two million watts of cheap electricity generated by burning methane gas in a method that helps the environment and makes a lot of money. The gas is free. It's produced in vaste quantities by the bacteria that digest and break down sewage." Bacteria utilization in sewage treatment facilities is a common method of breaking down the waste generated by a large population area such as Ottawa and Toronto. and the article continues... "And burning it does three good things. It saves millions of dollars on fuel. It reduces the risks of dangerous methane explosion. And it destroys methane, a powerful "greenhouse gas" blamed in part for global warming. "It saves us $1 million a year in electrical costs" says Dave McCartney, the region's (Ottawa/Carlton) manager of environmental projects. The project is eventually to be expanded into a second project which will utilize methane gas from garbage dumps, which is also produced by bacteria chewing up the organic waste. ...Experts estimate that the garbage dump could produce a steady stream of five to 10 megawatts." "Right now the Toronto dumps are pumping 60 megawatts into Ontario Hydro's "grid" of power lines across the province." Methanol a byproduct of methane is utilized for powering utility vehicles in some cities, and has been proposed as a means of replacing gasoline, for subsidizing the high costs of operating fleets of utility vehicles with savings being passed on to the taxpayers. ... Catch the Blue Wave! ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 --- Maximus 3.01 * Origin: Fun and Private Bbs (1:250/123) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: F1K00000 Date: 01/14/98 From: NANCY WOOD Time: 09:52pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: what's in the news From www.infobeat.com mailing list: The Environment *** Groups appeal ruling on U.S. wolf reintroductions Two environmental groups appealed Monday a Dec. 12 ruling by a federal judge who said a controversial program to reintroduce wolves to the Rocky Mountain region was illegal. Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Federation filed an appeal with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver and said they were bracing themselves for what could be a long legal battle about reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park and in central Idaho. U.S. District Court Judge William Downes earlier this month said under the U.S. Endangered Species Act the government was wrong to have experimentally introduced the wolves to an area where the animal was already found three years ago. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6683879-3d4 *** Calif. to start power deregulation by March 31 California's electric power market should be open to competition by March 31 after computer problems forced a delay from the original Jan. 1 start date, state officials said Monday. Despite speedier-than- expected progress earlier this year, officials announced last week California would not be able to meet its ambitious deregulation schedule. The delay means California customers - mostly large industrial and commercial end users - who had planned to buy power from suppliers other than their current utility, will have to wait, possibly until the end of March. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6683426-c3f Nancy --- FMail 1.02 * Origin: Electronic Avenue BBS 210-533-5668 San Antonio, TX (1:387/510) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: F1K00001 Date: 01/14/98 From: NANCY WOOD Time: 09:53pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Kiwi extinction From: InfoBeat The Environment *** NZ's kiwi heading for extinction, says expert The bird that symbolizes New Zealand around the world - the North Island brown kiwi - is headed for extinction, perhaps in 15 years, a scientist said Wednesday. In the past 15 years numbers of gawky, flightless birds with their distinctive long, rapier beaks, have plummeted from about 70,000 to 30,000. Landcare Research scientist John McLennan said the North Island brown was most threatened by predators, habitat loss and insufficient funding to ensure its survival, despite the efforts of the Department of Conservation and recovery programs. The future is brighter for other kiwi species. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6712112-b73 Nancy --- FMail 1.02 * Origin: Electronic Avenue BBS 210-533-5668 San Antonio, TX (1:387/510) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: F1K00002 Date: 01/14/98 From: NANCY WOOD Time: 09:54pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: news around the world From: InfoBeat Morning Edition for Friday, January 02, 1998 The Environment *** Calif. looks to gasoline engines to cut smog In its search for new ways to cut automobile pollution, California may be looking to the gasoline engine to help cure the smog it caused. Several automakers, such as Honda and Toyota, recently unveiled near-zero-pollution engines using gasoline or a combination of electric motors and gasoline engines known as "hybrid" technology. Honda has developed a gasoline-powered prototype Accord that can achieve tailpipe emissions nearly equal to the power plant emissions generated by recharging an electric car. Toyota Motor Corp. earlier this month launched Prius, which has a hybrid engine designed to sharply cut emissions and boost fuel economy. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6713298-f53 Automakers take multiple routes to cut emissions, see http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6713535-654 *** Mexican volcano erupts, rains ash on nearby city Mexico's majestic Popocatepetl volcano boomed out a loud eruption Thursday, spewing out a massive gas cloud and setting off a series of tremors reaching up to 3.3 on the Richter scale, local media reported. Television Azteca showed video of a giant cloud extending some four miles above the peak, which is 17,992 feet above sea level. A massive explosion of Popocatepetl would be a major disaster for the 500,000 people who live in its shadow, and could pose a threat to the 18 million people living in Mexico City, just 40 miles away. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6732239-ada *** Bulldozers move in to save endangered sparrow Bulldozers went to work in Florida's Everglades Wednesday in a bid to save the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, one of the endangered species that calls the river of grass home. Heavy equipment crews began to carve a 1,000-foot gap in an embankment in the Everglades west of Miami, part of an effort to lower water levels and save an important nesting spot for the seaside sparrow. There are believed to be only a few thousand of the sparrows left in the world, almost all of them nesting in the Everglades, the vast wetlands area that once covered most of southern Florida. The Everglades are home to at least 14 animal species classified as threatened or endangered. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6714343-02c *** Calif. restores license to redwood logger California will issue a conditional 1998 timber license to Pacific Lumber Co., ending threats to punish a company that has enraged environmentalists with its plans to log ancient redwoods. Officials at the state department of forestry said Wednesday the provisional license would be issued because the company had agreed to "extensive increases" in the supervision of its activities. California said last week that Pacific Lumber would not be allowed to log its estimated 200,000 acres of forest in 1998 because of three years of code violations, mostly involving erosion control measures. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6714796-c60 Nancy --- FMail 1.02 * Origin: Electronic Avenue BBS 210-533-5668 San Antonio, TX (1:387/510) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 211 ENVIRONMENT Ref: F1K00003 Date: 01/14/98 From: NANCY WOOD Time: 09:55pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Green car From: InfoBeat West Coast Edition for Friday, January 02, 1998 The Environment *** Detroit to show off its 'green car' technology The Big Three automakers, aiming to shake the perception they'd rather sell big trucks than help stop global warming, will show their green side next week at their hometown auto show. Chrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. plan to display various types of alternative propulsion technologies that save fuel and cut emissions at Detroit's North American International Auto Show. The show, one of the world's top 3 motor industry expos, opens to the media Sunday and to the public Jan. 10. The Big Three became determined to demonstrate their commitment to the environment amid public concern over global warming. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6744286-c74 *** Brazil bans ostrich imports to prevent exotic flu Brazil has declared a temporary ban on ostrich imports in a bid to protect its domestic poultry from exotic diseases such as Hong Kong's killer bird flu. The ban, which extends to all ornamental, tame and wild birds along with their fertilized eggs, sought to protect Brazilian poultry against 2 types of avian influenza. A notice published in the government's official gazette referred to Newcastle disease, a type of flu fatal to chickens, and the deadly bird flu which prompted Hong Kong authorities to slaughter more than 1 million chickens earlier this week. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6743268-403 *** Mexico reports important find of Mayan carvings Mexican archaeologists have made an important find of rare Mayan objects that prove the early settlement of the country's Caribbean coast, the government said Friday. About three hundred objects, many of them fine jade carvings, were found in two burial offerings at the Muyil archaeological site in the southern state of Quintana Roo, the National Institute of History and Archaeology said. "These document for the first time in a solid way the very early occupation by humans of a site on the coast of the state," the government institute said in a statement. The objects date from 200 to 600, it added. *** U.S. oceanography vessel visits Havana port Cubans living near the port of Havana woke up Friday to the unusual sight of a large oceangoing ship flying the U.S. flag moored right in front of Cuban navy headquarters. The ship was the R/V Seward Johnson, an oceanography exploration vessel equipped with a minisubmarine and registered in Fort Pierce, Fla. A crew member said the vessel, operated by the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution Inc., had been involved in filming underwater coral reefs on Cuba's southern coast with a television crew from the U.S. network Discovery Channel. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6742019-7fe Nancy --- FMail 1.02 * Origin: Electronic Avenue BBS 210-533-5668 San Antonio, TX (1:387/510)