Wildfires Article, Forest Fires Information, Wildland Fires Facts -- National Geographic - test Uncontrolled blazes fueled by weather, wind, and dry underbrush, wildfires can burn acres of land—and consume everything in their paths—in mere minutes. On average, more than 100,000 wildfires, also called wildland fires or forest fires, clear 4 million to 5 million acres (1.6 million to 2 million hectares) of land in the U.S. every year. In recent years, wildfires have burned up to 9 million acres (3.6 million hectares) of land. A wildfire moves at speeds of up to 14 miles an hour (23 kilometers an hour), consuming everything—trees, brush, homes, even humans—in its path. There are three conditions that need to be present in order for a wildfire to burn, which firefighters refer to as the fire triangle: fuel, oxygen, and a heat source. Although four out of five wildfires are started by people, nature is usually more than happy to help fan the flames. These violent infernos occur around the world and in most of the 50 states, but they are most common in the U.S.
Our Sustainable Planet » Wildlife • The ocean is immense but not a reservoir of unlimited life, and it is concentrated in coastal zones teeming with diversity. These coastal zones are subject to commercial exploitation, the polluting refuse of our rivers and rising sea levels from melting glaciers due to global warming. • The coastal zones are the source of 80% of marine species and these wetlands and mangrove forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate through violent storms, erosion from human encroachment and agricultural expansion, pollution and global warming. • Coral reefs are reservoirs of biodiversity with 4,000 species of fish and they are rapidly disappearing. 70% of the coral on the earth is threatened by global warming, pollution and human activity. Most coral lies in shallow water that is easily warmed by rising temperatures from global warming. • The ocean floor is becoming littered with debris (plastic, non-biodegradable materials), which drowns birds, turtles and seals who ingest the material.
Deforestation Intro - Revolution Discover the threats, causes and impacts, and how you can help. The Lungs of Our Earth in Jeopardy Inspired from the movie Revolution and narrated by Rob Stewart, our Educational Video gives you more content on Deforestation. Trees are a vital organ of our planet and our survival. Deforestation, the loss of forests around the world, is occurring at an astounding rate of one football field per second. Forests are the lungs of the earth Tree evolution has changed little in the last 70 million years. The more trees we lose, the less oxygen we have to breathe. Learn more about our beautiful forests and the devastation deforestation is causing by reading on and sharing this information with everyone you know. Ethiopia: Deforestation and monoculture plantations behind the fires Ethiopia: Deforestation and monoculture plantations behind the fires A mountainous tropical country with altitudes of over 4,000 metres, Ethiopia has many regions which were once rich in vegetation and are now rocky, desert areas. Desertification and erosion have further increased within the past decade. Almost all the forests in Ethiopia have been destroyed in the last 40 years, according to a study by the United Nations. Less than 3% of the entire country is now covered with trees, compared to the 40% of a century ago and 16% in the early 1950s, prompting fears of an impending environmental disaster in this country which is home to coffee and one of the biodiversity hotspots of the world, now with large areas exposed to heavy soil erosion. The most threatened vegetation zones of the country are not found in the wildlife designated areas; these are the moist evergreen forests and the dry evergreen forests, the most extensive and most widely used forest resources. top
A Walk in the Woods Univeristy of Illinois Extension Index Teacher's Guide Nature Notes Getting Ready Fun Place Resources Credits A Walk in the Woods Back The Health of the Earth & Its People The wholesale industrialized exploitation of nature for short-term gain cannot be sustained; it is a major component of what we have termed agricide. The crime of agricide is perpetrated on a variety of fronts, and it's far-reaching consequences show that the health of earth and its inhabitants cannot be separated. EROSION & DEPLETION OF RESOURCES Agricide includes escalating soil erosion; the impoverishment and poisoning of the soil; the pollution of lakes, rivers, and oceans from the runoff of topsoil contaminated with chemicals; the destruction of groundwater sources from pollution and overuse; the use of nitrogenous fertilizers that are also implicated in the destruction of the earth's ozone layer; and the development of fast growing, high yield hybrid strains of crops and animals that are more susceptible to disease. The USDA estimates that cropland erosion is occurring in the United States at a rate of two billion tons of soil a year. According to Dr. H.
Rain Forest Facts and Information Found in the tropical climate near the equator, rain forests make up six percent of the earth's land surface, but produce 40 percent of its oxygen. The rain forest is made up of four layers: emergent, upper canopy, understory, and forest floor. Emergent trees grow far apart and tall, their branches reaching above the canopy. Deforestation Recently, deforestation has reduced the amount of rain forest present around the globe. In Brazil, which houses about a third of the remaining tropical rain forests on Earth, more than 19 percent of the Amazonian rain forests were lost to deforestation since 1970, when only 2.4 percent of the rain forests there had been cleared. Biologists worry about the long-term consequences. Efforts to discourage deforestation, mainly through sustainable-logging initiatives, are underway on a very limited basis but have had a negligible impact so far. Why "Rain" Forests? The rain forest is nearly self-watering. Benefits of Rain Forest Plants
Search results for palm oil deforestation on news.mongabay.com Malaysian palm oil chief claims oil palm plantations help orangutans (06/18/2009) Dr. Yusof Basiron, CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, the government-backed marketing arm of the Malaysian palm oil industry, claims on his blog that endangered orangutans benefit from living in proximity to oil palm plantations. Environmentalists scoff at the notion, maintaining that oil palm expansion is one of the greatest threats to orangutans. Forest fires burn in Sumatra (06/15/2009) Fires set by developers in Sumatra are causing a choking haze to spread across the island and over to Malaysia, reducing visibility and raising health concerns, reports Reuters. World Bank revokes loan to Brazilian cattle giant accused of Amazon deforestation Wal-Mart bans beef illegally produced in the Amazon rainforest (06/12/2009) Brazil's three largest supermarket chains, Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar, will suspend contracts with suppliers found to be involved in Amazon deforestation, reports O Globo.
Sustainable development is the only way forward | Jonathan Glennie | Global development Brazil's environment minister Izabella Teixeira at the launch of the Vision 2050 report ahead of the Rio +20 conference on sustainable development. Photograph: Reuters The term "sustainable development" emerged in the 1970s and 80s as awareness grew of the natural limits within which human development takes place. Despite near-universal recognition that it is a powerful unifying concept, bringing together social, economic and environmental factors, it has spent the 20 years since the first Rio Earth summit languishing in environment ministries. But it now appears possible, even probable, that sustainable development will emerge as the main framework for development practice in the coming decades, replacing or rebalancing the poverty eradication focus of recent years. What might such a transition to sustainable development mean for development co-operation? The most important change would be the involvement of rich countries as well as poor. But finance will still play an important role.