Indonesia's Biofuel Expansion on Rainforest Peatlands to Accelerate Climate Change

"Indonesia’s rainforests contain 60% of all the tropical peat in the world. Peatland rainforests are wet, swampy rainforests that when drained and cleared, their peat filled soils become highly susceptible to long burning, carbon and methane rich fires. Such rainforests on peat soils are one of the world’s most important carbon sinks and play a vital role in helping to regulate the global climate. They are also very rich in biodiversity and a refuge for species like orang-utans, since most of the non-peat lowland forests have already been cleared.

Rainforest peatlands are being destroyed fast; primarily by palm oil, timber, and paper and pulp companies. The Indonesian government has endorsed a massive biofuel program which foresees an increase in oil palm plantations from currently just over 6 million hectares to eventually over 26 million hectares...."

Read the rest at http://www.ecoearth.info/alerts/send.asp?id=indonesia_peatland --because I can't figure out how to get it to hide the rest of the post :)

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A River Reborn

River Reborn: The Restoration of Fossil Creek
The inspiring rebirth of a biologically critical river in Arizona is recounted in A River Reborn: The Restoration of Fossil Creek. The one-hour documentary examines the ecological effects of a dam and hydroelectric facility on the waterway and chronicles the 15-year effort that led to decommissioning.



A River Reborn is a powerful case study in environmental restoration. It is emblematic of a broad reassessment of rivers and dams globally, as well as the growing effort to balance fulfillment of human needs with protection of the natural systems that support human life. This includes the safeguarding of precious water resources and the protection of threatened and endangered species. As a focal point for this reassessment, Fossil Creek reveals both challenges and opportunities associated with riparian restoration...

This documentary will be air on PBS at KTWU Topeka and KTPS Wichita, but the air date has not been determined yet.

Audio News Story Link

A planning strategy for Kansas watersheds has been developed and is called "Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies" or "WRAPS." Numerous projects are on the ground across the state including several in our back yard: Tuttle Creek, Milford and the Middle Kansas are a few examples (there are lots of others too). The projects exist in various phases from planning and development to assessment and implementation.

If interested in more info, here's a link for ya: Kansas WRAPS

Or if you want to know how to get involved, I'd love to chat with you about it.

One thing that is missing from many of these projects is grassroots, and especially, student involvement. I think students would bring a fresh and creative perspective to our water quality and quantity problems.

Also, here is a link to three service learning projects in which K-State students got involved with water-related issues in local communities: Dr. Nancy Muturi's student project and Dr. Alok Bhandari's student projects at Ft. Scott and Manhattan.

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the Da Versity Code :)

To lighten things up a bit :).. From the maker's of the Meatrix... check out the Da Versity Code



A parody of the DaVinci Code.

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