Lecture!

HEAD OF NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION SPEAKING AT K-STATE FEB. 8 AS PART OF LOU DOUGLAS LECTURE SERIES

Source: Marcia Hornung, 785-539-8763, hornung@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, ebarcomb@k-state.edu

Monday, January 22, 2007

HEAD OF NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION SPEAKING AT K-STATE FEB. 8 AS PART OF LOU DOUGLAS LECTURE SERIES

MANHATTAN -- A leader in conservation whose focus is on global warming and protecting wildlife is bringing his message to Kansas State University as part of the Lou Douglas Lecture Series.

Larry J. Schweiger, president and chief executive officer of the National Wildlife Federation, will present "Global Warming: Good Planets are Hard to Find" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union. The lecture is free and open to the public. It is co-sponsored by the Kansas Wildlife Federation.

Schweiger joined the National Wildlife Federation in 2004 with a commitment to confront global warming and to protect wildlife. He also is co-chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection's governing council. He previously served as president and chief executive officer of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Among his accomplishments were expanding ecological research and contributing to public advocacy and community gardening and greening projects.

Schweiger also has worked for the National Wildlife Federation as a magazine publisher, senior vice president for constituent development and conservation action, and vice president of the federation's affiliate and regional programs department.

He has served on more than 40 governing boards, commissions and committees. Among Schweiger's awards are the Distinguished Service Award for Special Conservation Achievement from the National Wildlife Federation and the Conservation Service Award from the Christian Environmental Association. He also was Pennsylvania's Environmental Professional of the Year in 2002.

UFM Community Learning Center's Lou Douglas Lecture Series on Public Issues honors the memory of Douglas, a professor of political science at K-State who was known for inspiring students, faculty and citizens to instigate change. He was a longtime member of the UFM Community Learning Center board of directors until his death in 1979.

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Climate Change visible in trees.

Climate change affecting where certain trees thrive....could lead to changes in ecosystems.



By Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY
Rising temperatures are allowing Southern trees to thrive farther north and stressing trees used to colder weather, according to new national guidelines issued by planting experts.
The National Arbor Day Foundation last month updated the Agriculture Department's "hardiness zones" map, which was last issued in 1990. The group acted after noticing that some tree species were thriving where they had not before, while others were doing poorly in what had been a suitable region on previous maps.

The shift in zones may allow people in northern areas to experiment with flowering Southern trees such as apple and cherry where they used to plant only fir, spruce and pine, says group spokesman Woodrow Nelson.

The map divides the nation into 11 planting zones tied to average low temperatures. It shows significant boundary changes as the continent has warmed. For example, in southern Texas, the edge of one zone moved more than 200 miles north to the Panhandle. A few locations jumped two zones.

The map is based on 15 years of minimum temperatures from 5,000 observers used by the National Weather Service.

Last year was the warmest on record for the USA. Twelve of the top 25 warmest years have been since 1990.

The foundation cautions not to dig up gardens or cut down trees just because zones have shifted. The map is a guide for new plantings, especially for seedlings, which are more vulnerable to temperature change than mature trees.

The Agriculture Department has been reworking its map for several years using 30 years of data instead of 15 but has set no release date. The department's Kim Kaplan says the 1990s "were a very warm decade, but is that a weather cycle or is that a climate cycle? We think 30 years represents the best compromise, smoothing out the natural fluctuations of weather."

Nelson says the foundation will distribute 10 million seedlings this year. "Those need to be planted under the most up-to-date information."

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Gas Explosion in Nigeria

Fast Facts Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer, the world's seventh-biggest exporter and fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.
(AP)







Gasoline gushing from a ruptured pipeline exploded Friday as villagers scavenged for fuel, setting off an inferno that killed up to 200 and left charred bodies scattered around the site in this oil-rich country of mostly poor people. Grim-faced rescue workers swung corpses into a mass grave as dozens of other scorched bodies awaited collection. It appeared some victims tried to flee the unfolding disaster only to be overtaken by flames spreading across the fuel slick. The stark outlines of white skeletons lay against a beach charred black by fire. Other bodies floated alongside dozens of plastic jerrycans in the nearby waters of the coastal mangrove swamp. The jerrycans, which had contained pilfered gas, were twisted by the heat of the explosion. More than 1,000 people in Nigeria, Africa's oil giant, have died in recent years when fuel they were pilfering from pipelines caught fire — and officials said it would likely happen again. "Because this thing has happened many times before, we thought it would be a deterrent, but apparently it wasn't enough deterrent for these people who died," said Lagos State Health Commissioner Tola Kasali, surveying the scene near Ilado, about 30 miles east of the main city of Lagos. "Anywhere you have a pipeline in this country, you have this problem because people are greedy and they want quick money," Kasali said. It was not known what set off the fire. An FBI official in Washington said the bureau was working on the case but did not explain whether foul play was suspected. The FBI often gets involved in criminal investigations abroad when Americans are involved or when asked by the host country. Police and rescue workers said villagers were collecting the gushing gas when the fuel ignited, and Lagos Police Commissioner Emmanuel Adebayo said 150 to 200 people died. The Red Cross had said it was treating survivors, but no live victims were seen. By day's end, about 100 of the dead had been interred, and Kasali said cleanup efforts would resume Saturday. He said the uncollected bodies pose a health risk to the millions of inhabitants of Lagos, whose skyline could be seen on the horizon. "We just decided to give them a mass burial because no one can recognize them — even their family members can't identify them," he said. "We're concerned that if we don't do that, we'll create a health emergency in Lagos since it happened by the shore and the water will just flow back into the city." The blaze took place far from the center of the fishing village of Ilado, and it was unclear if there were witnesses. Boatsmen said they heard an explosion before dawn and saw the glow of flames. The pipeline was run by Nigeria's state oil company and was used to transport gasoline across the country for national consumption. The impoverished people of Nigeria often tap pipelines, seeking fuel for cooking or resale on the black market. The highly volatile gasoline can ignite, incinerating those collecting it. In 2004 a pipeline exploded near Lagos as thieves tried to siphon fuel, killing as many as 50 people. A 1998 pipeline blast killed more than 700 in southern Nigeria. Most of Nigeria's oil is pumped in the southern Niger Delta region, far from Lagos. Pipes carry the crude to refineries across the nation. Nigeria, which normally pumps 2.5 million barrels of crude per day, is Africa's largest producer and the fifth-largest source of imports to the United States. It was unlikely Friday's blast would affect exports. The pipeline explosion slowed a drop in crude oil futures as the International Energy Agency sharply cut its forecasts for world oil demand. Nigerian militants have kidnapped foreign oil workers to press their demands for local control of oil revenues by inhabitants of the oil-producing south, who feel cheated out of the wealth produced in their backyards. Other groups have used kidnappings as bargaining chips to prod oil companies to increase jobs or improve benefits. Hostages are usually released unharmed. Three captive foreign oil workers in the oil hub of Port Harcourt were released Friday, a day after they were snatched from a bus as they headed to work, regional police commander Samuel Adetuyi said. It was the second attack this week on foreigners in Port Harcourt, where many oil companies keep their main Nigerian operations. On Wednesday, a gunman on a motorcycle shot and killed an American worker for the U.S. drilling equipment maker Baker Hughes Inc. The FBI is helping with the investigation.

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