Book Excerpt: ‘Intelligent Tinkering’ By Robert Cabin
Categories:* Animals * Birds * Nature * Plants * Reviews * Travel * Wildlife
By Alisa Opar
05/31/2011Hawaii is home to one of the world’s last dry tropical forests. In their prime, these magnificent ecosystems were bastions of biodiversity. Now, only 10 percent of the state’s original dry forests survive. In Intelligent Tinkering, Robin Cabin, an associate professor of ecology and environmental science at Brevard College and a former restoration ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service, draws on his own experience in doing restoration work in the few remaining Hawai’ian dry forests.
Below is the excerpted first chapter from Intelligent Tinkering, by Robert Cabin. August 2011, Island Press.
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Philippines files charges over smuggled corals
MANILA » Philippine officials have filed criminal charges against several people linked to a huge shipment of endangered sea turtles and rare black corals.
The shipment’s seizure last month has raised alarm that the archipelago’s rich marine life is being devastated by the illegal trade.
Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez filed the case Friday at the Justice Department against the owner, consignee, shippers and haulers of the $808,000 cargo. They are facing charges of violating the ban on coral exploitation and exportation and related offenses.
Exequiel Navarro, who is listed in the shipment’s manifest as the consignee, has denied the charges saying he was not aware what was in the cargo.
Philippines files charges over smuggled corals – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com
U.S. farmers, processors not required to test for deadly E. coli strain
TU.S. farmers, processors not required to test for deadly E. coli strain
By Lyndsey Layton, Thursday, June 2, 8:28 AMThe bacterium that has killed more than a dozen Europeans, sickened nearly 2,000 more and raised international alarms would be legal if it were found on meat or poultry in the United States.
If the bacterium were to contaminate fruits or vegetables grown here, there would be no way to prevent an outbreak, because farmers and processors are not required to test for the pathogen before the food heads to supermarkets.
“If somehow this strain got into that same environment and spread rapidly, it would represent a major disaster in terms of the U.S. food industry and risk to humans,” said J. Glenn Morris, a former official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture who directs the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida. “The regulatory framework is a couple of steps behind.”
The strain that has emerged in Europe is a particularly virulent version of E. coli 0104 and, in the outbreak that began in early May, has been linked to more than 1,600 illnesses and 18 deaths. About 500 people — an unusually large percentage of those who have been sickened — have developed a life-threatening kidney complication known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, for which there is no treatment.
Japan restricts green tea over radiation fears
TOKYO – JAPAN banned the shipment of green tea leaves grown in four prefectures around Tokyo on Thursday after radioactive caesium above legal levels was found in samples, a media report said.
It was the latest produce shipment ban since the massive March 11 seabed quake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima nuclear plant northeast of Tokyo, which has since leaked radiation into the ground, air and sea.
The ban covers tea leaves from parts of the Tochigi, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures and all of Ibaraki prefecture, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said, Kyodo News agency reported.
Kanagawa, southwest of Tokyo, said in early May it had detected radiation above the legal limit in tea grown there and blamed it on the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, which suffered partial meltdowns.
Kanagawa prefecture then started a recall of the tea after measuring about 570 becquerels of caesium per kg in leaves grown in the city of Minamiashigara. The legal limit is 500 Bq/kg.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant is located some 220km north-east of Tokyo and 280km from Minamiashigara. — AFP
India joins forces with Minemakers for Northern Territory phospate deposit
THE fertiliser story just keeps getting stronger.
Just a week after New York-based Global X Funds launched the world’s first fertiliser exchange-traded fund – in which Australia’s Incitec Pivot (ICP) is the third largest investment – now an Indian state-owned company has signed the initial agreements to participate in a Northern Territory phosphate deposit.
National Minerals Development Corp will, as had been rumoured, work with Minemakers (MAK) to conduct a feasibility study into the latter’s Wonarah project which has a resource of 1.26 billion tonnes at 12 per cent phosphate.
India and China between them account for 40 per cent of world fertiliser use, but India’s grain yields are still less than half those of crops in the US. Recent figures issued by the Indian government show the demand for fertiliser in the country is higher than ever.
However, Indian newspapers have been reporting in recent weeks there could be a fertiliser shortfall ahead of the summer sowing season. The product most affected by world demand and disruptions in North Africa, diammonium phosphate, is also likely to keep growing in price.
India therefore faces more food price rises, a growing problem in the country. The country’s food price inflation is now running at 8.55 per cent.
Molokai Anti-Wind Group Forms
I Aloha Molokai (IAM) News Release
The acronym IAM represents “I Aloha Molokai,” a newly formed working group comprised of Molokai residents opposed to the proposal to develop a 200 megawatt industrial scale wind power plant to serve the energy needs of Oahu. IAM’s mission is to share information, as well as educate the general public to the potential impacts of the project. This is a grassroots effort to raise awareness and provide balance as the developer and proponents of the project move forward in their attempt to persuade the island community to support the project.
IAM is fortunate and pleased to announce that on June 2 at 6 p.m. at the Kulana `Oiwi Halau, Robin Kaye from Friends of Lanai (FOL) will be sharing the “Lanai Wind Fall Out” video and their experience with the Big Wind and undersea cable project. IAM invites the public to join us to talk story and learn how others are proactively engaged in mitigating efforts to challenge the Big Wind and Undersea Cable project.
Numerous testimonies, letters printed in the local paper and a recent voting survey reveal major concerns and opposition to the proposed project. IAM stands firm on the position that the cultural, social, economic and environmental impacts far outweigh the benefits and opportunities of the project. “NO DEAL” is worth sacrificing our integrity and island for.