Wednesday, 02 Nov 2005

You Make Me Wanna Spout

Conservation agreement will help protect gray-whale lagoon in Mexico

OK, stay calm. We don't want to freak you out or anything, but we've got some ... good news. Seems American and Mexican conservationists have united with local Mexican landholders to preserve a pristine gray-whale calving ground. The Laguna San Ignacio, an area of bird-friendly wetlands and fish-rich mangroves on the northwestern Mexican coast, hosts the giant cetaceans during their yearly 6,000-mile migration along the Pacific coast. Now a new cross-border conservation pact guarantees a communal landholding group, Ejido Luis Echeverria, $25,000 a year in perpetuity for limiting development on 110,000 acres of coastal land. Mexican conservation group Pronatura will help administer the funds in ways that promote ecologically sound development and tourism. "If we hadn't signed this agreement, we could have been forced to sell some of our land," says landholder Raul Lopez, but with the financial assistance, "we can open small business and strengthen the economy of our communities."


Diesel vehicles can get many more miles to the gallon than their regular ol' counterparts, so do they really deserve their dirty rep? A reader in the market for a used car wonders. After all, Europeans loooove diesels, so how bad can they be? Advice maven Umbra Fisk weighs in on the debate, giving tanks where tanks is due.

Char and Away

Salvage logging after fires harms forests, new report claims

The Bush administration has oft trumpeted the benefits of postfire salvage logging -- coincidentally, a practice of great financial benefit to timber companies. But a recent report by the American Lands Alliance claims salvage logging is harming national forests. Fire experts and other scientists analyzed historical data and concluded that logging after a fire degrades soils, impairs critter habitat, hurts water quality, and increases the risk of future fires. If left alone, fires revitalize forests, they say, creating mineral-rich ash that enriches the soil, supporting the regrowth of diverse flora and the restoration of wildlife habitat. The timber industry sees it a tad differently, claiming that hauling charred logs out and replanting trees is a way to restore a burned forest and prevent future wildfires and increase profits ... oops, did we say increase profits?

Have Your Lake and Deplete it Too

U.N. urges decisive action to save Africa's lakes

Africa's 650-plus lakes are degrading at an astonishing rate, says the U.N., and protecting them is crucial to restoring the continent's health and boosting its prosperity. The U.N. Environment Program's new "Africa's Lakes: An Atlas of Environmental Change" compares recent and past satellite images of the water bodies, revealing massive changes. Lake Victoria, Africa's largest freshwater lake, has dropped by over three feet in the past decade; Lake Chad has diminished nearly 90 percent. The report blames climate change, deforestation, population growth, and poor irrigation practices -- up to 90 percent of Africa's water is used in farming, with 40 to 60 percent of that lost to seepage and evaporation -- as well as natural rainfall cycles. The images should "ring a warning around the world that, if we are to overcome poverty and meet internationally agreed development goals by 2015, the sustainable management of Africa's lakes must be part of the equation," says UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer.

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na -- Batwing!

Radical design might help curb greenhouse-gas emissions from aircraft

Under pressure to reduce fuel use and greenhouse-gas emissions, the airline industry may turn to a futuristic airplane design sketched by Sir Frederick Handley Page in the 1960s. The delightfully dubbed "batwing" would be built of plastic rather than today's heavy aluminum, and would be covered in tiny, laser-drilled holes to reduce fuel-consuming drag. Industry group Greener by Design is using the batwing design in its plans for jets that would consume two-thirds less fuel than current aircraft, which combined with other changes in flying practices could bring total aircraft emissions below current levels by 2025, says industry, even if the number of flights keeps growing. Airlines are hoping that the unveiling of their plans will convince the U.K. government there's no need for taxes on aviation fuel. But some eco-advocates are skeptical. "They are trying to imagine their way out of the problem with artists' impressions that are worthy of Walt Disney," says Jeff Gazzard of the Greenskies Alliance. "The only realistic solution is to fly less."