Yasuni National Park in Ecuador is at the center of what may be the most biodiverse ecosystem in the world.  One upland hectare of the area contains an average of 655 species of trees.  Added together, the continental United States and Canada don't have 655 species of trees.  There is a similar diversity of birds, amphibians and mammals.

Many of the nations in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans are located on relatively small islands.  Global warming is causing melting of the polar ice caps and a resultant rise in sea levels.  In the last century, the rise in sea levels was estimated at .7 inches per year.  In this century it is estimated that the rise is 1.2 inches per year.  This could mean disaster for small island nations that could be swallowed up by the rising oceans.

More than 50 years ago there was a movement call zero population growth which encouraged couples to have no more than two children.  It was recognized that humans, as a species, were simply too successful.  In the last 150 years, we have succeeded in eliminating many of the diseases and other threats which helped to keep our numbers under control.  The overpopulation of any species can lead to catastrophic changes in the environment.

Jellyfish populations are exploding all over the world.  Not only are the creatures increasing in numbers, they are increasing in size.  In many areas the increased population is annoying, as the stinging creatures invade beaches.  In the South Pacific it is dangerous as the box jellyfish, one of the worlds most venomous anmials, invades beaches in Fuji and Australia.  A sting from the box jellyfish can be fatal to humans and the venom is fast acting.  

The reason that human life is able to thrive on Earth is oxygen.  Oxygen wasn't present in the earliest days of life on Earth.  It was early life forms which produced oxygen.  These life forms breathed in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane and exhaled oxygen creating the atmosphere we know on earth today.  These life forms were microbes, or microscopic organisms like algae and bacteria.

Solar electric power is becoming more organic.  Scientists have found a way to harness the chloroplasts, the cells in spinach responsible for photosynthesis,  to produce electricity. Plants convert sunlight to energy in the process called photosynthesis.  Since plants are so efficient in converting sunlight to energy, scientists feel that organic solar electric cells may eventually be able to provide a more efficient way to convert solar power to electricity.  Spinach has proved to be an especially good source for the chloroplasts or photosynthetic cells.

As expected, the meeting of representatives of 192 countries to discuss climate change and formulate UN standards for greenhouse gas emissions, ended with no substantial agreement.  Countries with newly emerging industrial economies were loath to accept proposals that might slow their economic growth.  This problem was foreseen prior to the conference, but it was a roadblock that couldn't be overcome.

The proposal to join the east coast and west cost electrical grids with the Texas electrical grid may run into problems that are political, not technical.  The plan is to join the three grids with a superstation in Clovis, NM.  The new unified grid with be renewable energy friendly.  The problem is that Texas may not be as friendly to the plan.

The world conference on climate change in Copenhagen is drawing  close with no definitive agreement between the world's governments in place.  There are deep differences between leaders on the steps that should be taken to slow global warming.  The leaders have reached a fairly non specific politically binding agreement that mostly puts off any real decisions about policies to stop climate change.

There is a shortage of honey this year.  The weather and colony collapse disorder has caused a poor production year for both the United States and Canada this year.  Some regions has much higher rainfall and cooler temperatures than normal during the summer months and other regions had higher temperatures and lower rainfall.  Add to this losses from the as yet unexplained colony collapse disorder and it made for a bad year.

In prosperous countries like the US, UK, Western Europe and Australia, there is a lot of wasted food.  This may be due to preparing too much or forgetting the food was in the frig till it spoiled or food going out of date on supermarket shelves.  We tend to believe that organic waste is okay, it's the non-biodegradable stuff that's the problem.  It's not true.  All the waste we create is a problem.

The Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil met last week at kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The problem facing palm oil as a sustainable fuel is large scale deforestation to create the plantations for the palm oil. At the roundtable meeting every country except Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to stop deforestation and development of new plantations on peat lands.

Tree leaves are not magnetic, or are they? While you can't go around with a magnet testing for air pollution, it's been found the the metallic particulates that are expelled in automobile exhaust, particularly diesel exhaust, are attracted to the leaves on trees. According to Bernie Housen, a geophysicist at Western Washington University, it may be possible to test for areas with significant air pollution by checking leaves for magnetic properties.

There has been a great deal of criticism of the environmental movement stating that they only protect the cute and cuddly species, like giant pandas, or species with value, like the American alligator. Only pretty plants and insects get protection. The newest addition to the endangered species list should put all that talk to rest.