To my dear visitors and commenters

Hi, everybody! I've noticed with lots of joy and happiness, that thousands of comments have been written in my posts. It's wonderful that so may people around the world appreciate my work. Therefore, I want to thank you for that and ,at the same time I want to ask you to be this blog's followers. It's fast and easy! Make it be even more visited and spread all over the world! I'm a woman, a teacher of English in Portugal, and I've been away for quite a long time because of my father's health. Unfortunately he died from Covid19 a few months ago. Now I felt it was time to restart my activity in this and other blogs I owe. I've recently created a new one in a partnership with a street photographer, Mr. Daniel Antunes. He's fabulous! https://pandpbydandd.blogspot.com I'd like you to visit it and, who knows, become our followers. The poems, chronicles and thoughts are all mine. Thank you so much! Kisses :-)

Search This Blog

Friday, February 05, 2016

'Wrong type of trees' boost warming

The assumption that planting new forests helps limit climate change has been challenged by a new study.

oak tree
The replacement of broad leaf species like oak with conifers has increased warming say researchers
Researchers found that in Europe, trees grown since 1750 have actually increased global warming.
The scientists believe that replacing broadleaved species with conifers is a key reason for the negative climate impact.
Conifers like pines and spruce are generally darker and absorb more heat than species such as oak and birch.
The authors believe the work has implications for current efforts to limit rising temperatures through mass tree planting.

Management issues

Europe's green canopy was dramatically thinned between 1750 and 1850, when the forested area diminished by 190,000 sq km.
Ironically the greater use of fossil fuels, particularly coal, slowed the timber rush, and from 1850 to the present day, Europe's forests grew by some 386,000 sq km and now cover 10% more land than before the industrial revolution.
However, the form and content of these new woods differed considerably from what went before.
In the distant past, these forests ran wild - but in the modern world, some 85% of Europe's trees are managed by humans. And over the past 150 years, foresters have adopted a scientific approach to woodlands - planting faster growing, more commercially valuable trees such as a Scots pine and Norway spruce.
The rapid re-forestation of great swathes of European has generally been seen as a good thing due to the trees' ability to soak up carbon, something that has become particularly relevant in recent decades.
But the new study questions the positive impact of all these new trees on the climate.
The research team reconstructed 250 years of forest management history in Europe - and found that the way forests are controlled by humans can lead to far less carbon being stored than would have been the case when nature was in charge.
trees
Under human management, Europe's forests have expanded but store less carbon
Removing trees in an organised fashion tends to release carbon that would otherwise remain stored in forest litter, dead wood and soil.
Choosing conifers over broadleaved varieties also had significant impacts on the albedo - the amount of solar radiation reflected back into space.
"Even well managed forests today store less carbon than their natural counterparts in 1750," said Dr Kim Naudts who carried out the study while at the Laboratory of Climate Science and Environment in Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
Speaking to Science in Action on the BBC World Service, she said: "Due to the shift to conifer species, there was a warming over Europe of almost 0.12 degrees and that is caused because the conifers are darker and absorb more solar radiation."
The researchers say that the increase in temperature equates to 6% of the global warming attributed to the burning of fossil fuels. They say that is a significant amount and believe that similar impacts are likely in regions where the same type of afforestation has taken place.
Many governments have made planting trees a key part of their plans for dealing with climate change; China is building a "great green wall" of trees, set to cover around 400 million hectares when complete.
The authors suggest the world should look carefully at both the types trees that we are planting and the ways in which they are managed.
"We shouldn't put our hopes on forests to mitigate what is an emission problem," said Dr Naudts.
"Our results indicate that in large parts of Europe, a tree planting programme would offset the emissions but it would not cool the planet, especially not if the afforestation is done with conifers."
The researchers believe that consideration should be given to a programme of replacement. As the conifers are harvested, more broadleaved species could replace them.
The study has been published in the journal Science.
From BBC News

Wednesday, February 03, 2016

The town where people endure -50C

The iustrial Russian city of Norilsk, sitting on the permafrost above the Arctic Circle, is the seventh most polluted city in the world. Rich deposits of nickel, copper and palladium provide mining and smelting industries that create jobs and continue to draw people from other regions of Russia - despite the harsh conditions that can see the temperature drop to -50C.
Elena Chernyshova's stark and beautiful photographs of life in the city are featuring in a new exhibition, "Days of Night - Nights of Day" at the Half King in New York City.
The photographer spoke to Dan Damon. (BBC News)


Norilsk, a city of 201,000, topped the list of the 56 most polluted Russian cities with 1.924 million tons of pollutants last year, down from 1.958 million tons in 2009.
Norilsk has led the list every year since the statistics service began the rating in 1992. The city, home to metallurgical giant Norilsk Nickel, gets its severe pollution mainly from nickel smelting operations, which cause acid rain and smog.


The most polluted Russian cities in 2010:
1.Norilsk
2.Cherepovets
3.Novokuznetsk
4.Lipetsk
5.Magnitogorsk
6.Angarsk
7.Omsk
8.Krasnoyarsk
9.Ufa
10.Chelyabinsk
16.Moscow
20.St.Petersburg
54.Kyzyl
55.Vladimir
56.Stavropol
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/city-of-norilsk-still-tops-pollution-list/439413.html

Sunday, January 31, 2016

British helicopter pilot killed by poachers in Tanzania

A British helicopter pilot working for a wildlife charity in Tanzania has been shot dead by elephant poachers.
Mr Gower was originally from Birmingham and worked in London before moving to East Africa to work as a helicopter pilot.
His brother Max told the BBC: "He would not have gone anywhere near those poachers if he'd known that they were armed.
"As I understand it, he knew they were around but came across them by accident. He didn't really have enough time to evaluate the situation before they opened fire on him."
Roger Gower
Tropic Air Kenya
The Friedkin Conservation Fund said Roger Gower had been helping to find the criminals when they fired on his aircraft.
Tanzanian police have arrested three suspects over the death of the pilot working for a conservation fund .
Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Jumanne Maghembe told AFP news agency that those detained were co-operating.
"Soon more people making up the poaching gang will be netted and brought to justice," he said.
Roger Gower, 37, had been flying near an elephant killed by poachers when his helicopter came under fire.
The incident happened in Maswa Game Reserve, which borders the Serengeti National Park in northern Tanzania.
Mr Gower managed to land his helicopter, but died before he could be rescued, a Tanzanian MP and former minister for natural resources and tourism, Lazaro Nyalandu, said in a tweet.

Max Gower also said his brother would be remembered as "very much his own man".
"He had a very strong moral compass. He just loved having fun, he couldn't be with his friends without making sure that everybody had fun."
The Gower family have invited donations to a fund established in Roger's memory that will contribute towards anti-poaching efforts in Tanzania.
The Friedkin Conservation Fund, for which Mr Gower had been working, said the organisation had lost "a dear friend".
The charity's founder, Dan Friedkin, said: "We believe that Roger can best be honoured by redoubling our commitment to protect elephants and our priceless wildlife heritage.
"This tragic event again highlights the appalling risk and cost of protecting Tanzania's wildlife."

Map of Tanzania
From BBC News

Wikipedia

Search results