Diversity is the presence of a wide range of variation in the qualities or attributes under discussion.

Human context

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More on [ Diversity ]

BBC News | Science & Environment | World Edition

Whale deal falls at last minute
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:01:44 -0000
Hope for consensus between environmentalists and whalers in Barcelona is derailed by a last-minute Australian intervention.
Call for ban on primates as pets
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:44:06 -0000
A loophole in UK animal welfare laws that allows primates to be kept as household pets needs to be closed, an MP urges.
US tourist set for space station
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:19:17 -0000
US space tourist Richard Garriott follows in the footsteps of his astronaut father as he blasts off into space.

NYT > Environment

Race Starts With Little Fuel, and Goes Uphill From There
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:51:04 -0000
Escape From Berkeley could be the world’s most eco-friendly race, in which alternative-fuel-burning vehicles compete with the goal of completing the race using no petroleum.
Encounter: A Green Revolution for Africa?
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:11:18 -0000
Rajiv Shah is helping the Gates Foundation donate hundreds of millions of dollars to improve agriculture on the continent. But is technological change enough?
Maritime Organization Seeks to Cut Air Pollution From Oceangoing Ships
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 06:37:42 -0000
The new rules would cut the sulfur content of the fuels ships use in controlled areas along coasts by 63 percent as of July 2010.

ENN: Climate

Global warming getting political cold shoulder in U.S. amid economic woes
The global economic crisis has thrown a political chill over one of the main initiatives under consideration in the United States to combat global warming: the so-called cap-and-trade plan.
Cutting air pollution in cities may raise global temps, says scientist
Cleaning air in Beijing and in other large cities suffering from pollution problems by limiting car and power-plant emissions may raise global temperatures instead of lowering them, a German scientist warns.
Carbon tax seen as best way to slow global warming
Climate taxes, not cap and trade markets alone, will lead to the vast technological changes the world's energy system needs to fight global warming, a top U.S. economist said on Thursday. Cap and trade has emerged as the dominant attempt to slow global warming. Global deals in permits to emit greenhouse gas emissions have hit nearly $65 billion a year.

L.A. Times - Environment

China also suffers from indoor air pollution
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Because of stoves and smoking, the air inside lower-class homes is up to 10 times worse than the gloom outside, researchers say. China is already home to 16 of the planet's 20 most heavily polluted cities -- a noxious consequence of its double-digit economic growth. Now researchers have worse news for the nation's beleaguered lower classes: The air inside their homes is up to 10 times worse than the prevailing gloom outside.
System acts as wildlife crossing guard
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Colorado tries a new way of ensuring safe passage across a notorious highway that bisects an animal migration route. On a quiet sage- and pine-dotted stretch of highway in southwest Colorado, deer and elk wander into the paths of oncoming cars so often that they account for 70% of the crashes that occur there.
Plans for major overhaul of Whittier Narrows nature preserve stir passions
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Foes say the proposed interpretive center is too big and would require destruction of too many trees. Backers see a way to introduce working-class families to nature. Even those who love the Whittier Narrows wildlife sanctuary concede that it suffers from a down-at-the-heels look. Invasive plants have elbowed out native species and, as one county official observed, the interpretive center resembles a Depression-era shack.

National Geographic News

Chimps 90 Percent Gone in a "Final Stronghold"
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0000
West African chimpanzees have declined by 90 percent in the last 18 years in an African country that is one of the subspecies' "final strongholds," a new study stays.
"Loving" Bonobos Seen Killing, Eating Other Primates
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0000
The chimpanzee subspecies known for resolving conflict with sex has been observed hunting and killing other primates, according to new research that challenges the bonobo's peacenik reputation.
FIRST PHOTO: "Lost" Deer Species Rediscovered in Trap
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0000
The first ever photo of a live Sumatran muntjac is also the first record of the species in 80 years and establishes the muntjac as a "new" species, exerts say.

USDA - Natural Resources

Forest Service Maps and General Guides.
Topographic maps, specialty maps and brochures, national trails, roadless areas.
Plants Database
Classification, characteristics, invasive and noxious plants, alternative crops, distribution maps, fact sheets.
National Water Management Center
Direct assistance, information, and technology on water-related issues for natural resources conservation.

The Economist: The environment

Paper usage: A greener office
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:21:06 -0000
How much paper does an American office worker generate?THE notion of the “paperless office” was first mooted in the 1960s, when it seemed that computers and hard disks would do away with the need to print out everything in triplicate. What actually happened was that global consumption of office paper more than doubled in the last two decades of the 20th century, as digital technology made printing cheaper and easier. Yet the prediction may be coming true at last. America's white-collar workers have been generating less paper since 2001, and that trend is likely to continue, according to InfoTrends, a consultancy. The explanation seems to be sociological: younger workers, who have grown up with electronic communication, feel less need to print documents than their older colleagues. ...
China’s water-diversion scheme: A shortage of capital flows
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:48:13 -0000
Going thirsty so Beijing can drinkTHE water level at Wangkuai Reservoir, one of the biggest in Hebei province, is close to an historic high—in a region gripped by drought. This has been achieved by hoarding the water. Local farmers say they have received none for two years. A hydroelectric plant by the huge dam is idle. Wangkuai is preparing for what officials call a “major political task”—channelling its water to Beijing, to help boost the city’s severely depleted supplies. On September 28th, after more than four years’ work on a 307km-long (191-mile) waterway costing more than $2 billion, Beijing began receiving its top-up. Two other large Hebei reservoirs, Gangnan and Huangbizhuang (see map), were the first to feed the new channel. Wangkuai is due to open its sluices in December, says a dam supervisor. Oddly for such a large and supposedly vital project, the launch was low key. Yet the channel’s inauguration was the most notable achievement so far of what, in the coming years, is intended to become a far more grandiose diversion scheme: bringing water from the Yangzi basin to the parched north, along channels stretching more than 1,000km. ...
Argentina: Fishy business
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:48:13 -0000
Patagonia’s troubled watersIT IS the conventional image of a grizzled gaucho lassoing cattle on the endless pampas that conjures up the notion of a still untamed frontier in Argentina. But if anywhere in the country resembles the wild west it is the waters off its long eastern shore, especially the windswept Patagonian coast, where fishermen prowl for squid, shrimp and hake. A combination of overfishing, weak regulation and belligerent unions has left the industry floundering, incidentally dealing a blow to Argentina’s decades-long effort to populate and develop its desolate southern steppes.The country’s biggest fishing fleet is based at Mar del Plata, in Buenos Aires province. Much of its workforce is employed informally, without legal contracts. The problems are of a different order at Puerto Madryn, the Patagonian home of the second-biggest commercial fishing fleet. Fishing businesses received subsidies in the 1980s and 1990s to set up there, as part of a government effort to develop Patagonia. These companies flourished after Argentina’s big devaluation of 2002, because they export all of their catch but most of their costs are in pesos. Catches were plump and so were profits. ...

Reuters: Environment

Pollution may hit Himalayan monsoon clouds
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:09:08 -0400
OSLO (Reuters) - Higher levels of pollution in Asia may affect the formation of clouds high in the Himalayas, perhaps disrupting monsoons and speeding a thaw of glaciers, according to a study on Monday.
Exotic climate study sees refugees in Antarctica
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:02:23 -0400
OSLO (Reuters) - Refugees are moving to Antarctica by 2030, the Olympics are held only in cyberspace and central Australia has been abandoned as too dry, according to exotic scenarios for climate change on Monday.
Warmer climate to dry up peatlands: study
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:00:43 -0400
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Warmer temperatures in the years ahead will dry up peatlands, release more carbon dioxide into the world's atmosphere and aggravate global warming, a study in Japan has found.

NPR Topics: Environment

Videos Released Of Deepest Fish Ever Filmed
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:01:00 -0400
Scientists from Japan and Britain have released the first photos and videos of the liparid, or snail fish, the deepest-living fish ever filmed. Groups were found nearly five miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
For Next President, An Array Of Science Challenges
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:09:00 -0400
According to a report issued by the Center for the Study of the President, the incoming president will need to confront a host of policy issues related to science and technology — including climate change, food and water scarcity, energy shortages and weapons of mass destruction.
Newly Discovered Ecosystem Of One Bacterium
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:49:00 -0400
Deep in a South African gold mine, three kilometers below the Earth's surface, scientists have discovered a tiny ecosystem in which there is only one organism.

UN News Centre - Environment, Shelter

More chemicals to be added to UN-backed pact banning hazardous substances
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Scientists today started reviewing some everyday and industrial chemicals used in such products as carpets and medical equipment to determine whether they should be added to a United Nations-backed major treaty banning hazardous chemicals.
Financial turmoil could usher in new ‘green' era, says top UN climate official
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
The current global market crisis could provide an opportunity for the world financial system to reconstruct itself to promote "green" growth, the top United Nations climate change official said today in New York.
Do more, invest more in mitigating impact of natural disasters, Ban tells world
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Much more needs to be done and much greater funding made available to mitigate the devastating toll of natural disasters in an age when climate change threatens to increase both their frequency and severity, according to a United Nations report released today.

Environment

Challenges and Opportunities UNIDOs Cleaner Production Program
B-SPAN Washington D.C.—On July 22nd, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) hosted a roundtable on the United Nations Industrial Development Organizations (UNIDO) Cleaner Production (CP) program. The program and network aims at building capacity for CP in participating countries, providing a place for dialogue between industry and government. The program allows UNIDO to address the gap that exists between competitive industrial production and environmental concerns.
The Release of Environmental Sustainability An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support
B-SPAN Washington D.C. – On July 22nd, 2008, the World Bank presented a panel discussion to recognize the release of Environmental Sustainability An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support, written by John Redwood, Jouni Eerikainen, and Ethel Tarazona. Event Chair Vinod Thomas, Director General of the World Banks Independent Evaluation Group, opened the panel by explaining the importance of the report regarding the broader implications for both the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
2. Global Tiger Conservation Initiative Symposium
B-SPAN On June 9 2008, the World Bank launched the Global Tiger Conservation Initiative with a thematic symposium held at the World Banks headquarters in Washington D.C. The event, entitled Tiger Conservation Moving Lessons Learnt Towards a Winning Strategy, brought together tiger conservation experts to discuss lessons in trade, governance and finance, as well as steps going forward in this important effort.

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