Whaling on trial (part 2)
This week our activists, Junichi and Toru, spent two very long and intense days in court, defending the honourable actions they took to expose the corruption within Japan’s whaling industry. As the prosecution fumbled its desperate attempt to cast the ‘Tokyo Two’ as criminals, it became obvious that whaling really is on trial in Aomori.
Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Switzerland stands strong against GE
The Swiss Parliament has just extended its ban on the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE) plants for three more years. Originally enacted in 2005, Switzerland will stay GE-free until at least 2013.
Publ.Date : Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Whaling on trial
The Tokyo Two trial continued today as a former whaler took to the stand and cast serious doubt on the veracity of the official investigation into our allegations of institutional embezzlement within Japan’s whaling industry. He further revealed how the whaling crew kept for themselves the meat from baby whales caught in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
Publ.Date : Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Last chance for bluefin tuna, too late for real conservation
So the world is finally waking up to the fact that the Bluefin tuna is in crisis. That’s nice. But decades of overfishing have pushed this majestic fish to the brink of extinction, which is not the point at which we should start thinking about conservation. The situation is so extreme that an international trade ban is now its only hope of survival.
Publ.Date : Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Calling out Samsung for toxic failure
Samsung still uses PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in all its products, except in a few models of mobile phone, MP3 players and some components, despite many promises to clean up. That’s why our activists stuck huge stickers on the Korean electronic giant’s Benelux headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday stating “Samsung = broken promises”.
Publ.Date : Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

GE food: COMING SOON!?!?! - to a supermarket near you?
Just when we thought the threat to our environment couldn’t get any worse after world leaders failed to secure a deal to save the climate in Copenhagen - we’re now stunned to discover that the EU Commission is exploiting a ‘backdoor’ loophole to get genetically manipulated crops onto the supermarket shelves in the EU - and into our mouths.
Publ.Date : Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Facebook update: Renewable energy now
Facebook recently announced it will build a massive data centre in Oregon, U.S., packed full of the latest energy efficient computers to serve the hundreds of millions of friends connecting on their near-addictive social networking website. But the company plans to run the place on electricity made by burning coal–Yes, the dirtiest source of energy and largest single source of global warming pollution in the world.
Publ.Date : Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Staying Young by Learning
An old proverb states that to stay young is to keep alert and active or: “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” University of California neurobiologists are providing the first visual evidence that learning promotes brain health — and, therefore, that mental stimulation could limit the debilitating effects of aging on memory and the mind. Using a novel visualization technique they devised to study memory, a research team found that everyday forms of learning animate neuron receptors that help keep brain cells functioning at optimum levels. These receptors are activated by a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which facilitates the growth and differentiation of the connections, or synapses, responsible for communication among neurons. BDNF is key in the formation of memories.

Hydrocarbon development threatens the Amazon
Because hydrocarbons are now being exploited at a rate 7 times higher than in 2003, the impacts of oil and gas activities need to be scientifically studied. These studies should rigorously identify and measure the effects on biodiversity, indigenous groups and wilderness areas in this region. This view was expressed to SciDev.Net by Martí Orta-Martinez from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) and co-author of a study on the predation of the Peruvian Amazon in this century by the granting of land for gas exploration and oil.

Attention Bikers - Google Maps is for you!
At long last, Google Maps has routes specifically for bikes. With the click of a mouse, the new feature allows you to plot the best (and flattest!) ride from Point A to Point B. Several cities, including New York, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, have bike-specific mapping sites. But Google is rolling it out in 150 cities nationwide and announcing it Wednesday at the 10th Annual Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. “This has been a top-requested feature from Google Maps users for the last couple years,” says Shannon Guymon, product manager for Google Maps. “There are over 50,000 signatures on a petition.”

Improved Wood Stoves could improve air quality and health
Two billion people worldwide do their cooking on open fires, producing sooty pollution that shortens millions of lives and exacerbates global warming. If widely adopted, a new generation of inexpensive, durable cook stoves could go a long way toward alleviating this problem. With a single, concerted initiative, says Lakshman Guruswami, the world could save millions of people in poor nations from respiratory ailments and early death, while dealing a big blow to global warming — and all at a surprisingly small cost.

China and India endorse Copenhagen Climate Accord
China and India joined almost all other major greenhouse gas emitters Tuesday in signing up to the climate accord struck in Copenhagen, boosting a deal strongly favored by the United States. More than 100 nations have now endorsed the Copenhagen Accord, a non-binding agreement reached after two weeks of tortuous wrangling at a 194-nation summit in December. The accord plans $100 billion a year in climate aid for developing nations from 2020 and seeks to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times, but produced no timetable of emission limits to reach that goal.

Gowanus Canal goes Superfund
Last week, the Gowanus Canal, a 1.8-mile, 100-foot wide waterway in northwest Brooklyn which empties into Upper New York Bay, was added to the National Priorities List (NPL) otherwise known Superfund by the Environmental Protection Agency. The new designation means that the EPA will now move ahead to clean up this derelict canal and to compel PRP’s (principal responsible parties) to perform the cleanup or reimburse the government for EPA-led action. The EPA is now locked in to what may be a tough and perhaps a long dragged-out process of restoring the Gowanus, while forcing cooperation from PRP’s and catering to often sensitive local community interests.

Amazon Droughts and Greening
The sensitivity of Amazon rain forests to dry season droughts is still poorly understood, with reports of enhanced tree mortality and forest fires on one hand, and excessive forest greening on the other. In a current story there is a report that previous conclusions of large scale greening of the Amazon as a result of drought are not reproducible. Approximately 11%-12% of these drought stricken forests display greening, while, 28%-20% show browning or no change, and for the rest, the data are not of sufficient quality to characterize any changes. These changes are also not unique; approximately similar changes are observed in non-drought years as well.