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UN Urges Aviation Sector To Slash Carbon Emissions

September 16, 2010 by ·

A Boeing 737 leaves a vapour trail across the sky as it approaches Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 2006. UN climate chief Christiana Figueres has urged the air transport industry to press on with curbs on emissions, underlining that it held “critical keys” to tackling global warming.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres urged the air transport industry on Thursday to press on with curbs on emissions, underlining that it held “critical keys” to tackling global warming.

Aviation produces an estimated two percent of global emissions from human activity which “if left unchecked, will have further impacts on climate change,” Figueres told an industry conference on aviation and the environment. [Read more...]

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Passive Smoking Doing More Harm Than People May Think

August 21, 2010 by ·

In a discovery that supports public smoking bans, researchers have found that an infrequent smoke, or being exposed to secondhand smoke, may be doing more harm than people may think.

New research from physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, revealed that being exposed to even low-levels of cigarette smoke may put people at risk for future lung disease, such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Epidemiological studies have long shown that secondhand smoke is dangerous, but there have never been conclusive biological tests demonstrating what it does to the body at a gene function level, until now. [Read more...]

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China Anti-Tobacco Efforts Failing: Officials

August 20, 2010 by ·

Efforts to curb tobacco use in the world’s most populous nation have had no real impact and 301 million Chinese are still smoking, China’s Center for Disease Control said in a report.

A survey of more than 13,000 people earlier this year found no significant improvement in the country’s smoking rate since 2002, China’s CDC said in a joint statement released Tuesday with the World Health Organization and the United States CDC.

The survey also found that 72.4 percent of nonsmokers reported being exposed to secondhand smoke. Though China has pledged to make indoor public places, workplaces and public transport smoke-free by early next year, 63 percent of those surveyed said they had seen people smoking in public places or at work in the 30 days before they were interviewed. [Read more...]

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Green Turtles Return To Malaysia But Future Bleak

August 5, 2010 by ·

Residents carry an endangered green turtle to the shore near Puerto Princesa city in the western Palawan island of the Philippines in 2007. Green turtles are returning to Malaysia in their hundreds after being nearly wiped out, but experts warned Thursday that the species is still headed for oblivion if habitat loss is not stopped.

Green turtles are returning to Malaysia in their hundreds after being nearly wiped out, but experts warned Thursday that the species is still headed for oblivion if habitat loss is not stopped.

Thousands of turtles used to land every year on Malaysian beaches, but their numbers plummeted in the 1980s due to rampant coastal development and the plundering of eggs from their sandy nests. [Read more...]

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Project To Plant Trees In Western Ghats Initiated

August 4, 2010 by ·

Senior RSS leader N. Krishnappa said on Tuesday that Indian religious traditions and practices had a unique place in the world.

Speaking after planting saplings at Hosagunda in Sagar taluk at a function organised by the Uma Maheshwara Seva Trust as part of the tree-planting programme, he said the ancient temples represented the rich glory of Indian culture and heritage.

Expressing his concern over the wanton destruction of forests in the name of development, he said it was satisfying to note that the tree plantation initiative was being taken up in the name of temples.

Mr. Krishnappa lauded the initiative taken by the management of the Uma Maheshwara Seva Trust to take up plantation of herbal medicinal plants in the forest in and around the Uma Maheshwara temple at Hosagunda and urged the Government to declare the forest as a ‘devarakadu’. [Read more...]

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China Rushes To keep Oil From International Waters

July 20, 2010 by ·

China rushed to keep an oil spill from reaching international waters Tuesday, while an environmental group tried to assess if the country’s largest reported spill was worse than has been disclosed.

Crude oil started pouring into the Yellow Sea off a busy northeastern port after a pipeline exploded late last week, sparking a massive 15-hour fire. The government says the slick has spread across a 70-square-mile (180-square-kilometer) stretch of ocean.

Images of 100-foot-high (30-meter-high) flames shooting up near part of China’s strategic oil reserves drew the immediate attention of President Hu Jintao and other top leaders. Now the challenge is cleaning up the greasy brown plume floating off the shores of Dalian, once named China’s most livable city. [Read more...]

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