Welcome to ENVIRO-BEAT
The international interactive environmental forum for youth!
Dear Friends,
We are the members of the environmental club SAVE (SAVE A VITAL EARTH) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
We extend our friendship across the globe to YOU, the school and university students of Sri Lanka to join us in this unique partnership effort, to make this a useful interactive site where we can share information on environmental protection and sustainable living.
We see a world which is increasingly being polluted and callously treated. Yes, there is blame to be laid all around and we could sit for the next hundred years and argue about it. But, this is OUR FUTURE and WE MUST TAKE THE INITIATIVE! We can build bridges of friendship and partnerships that span the globe, working together to create a sustainable world for ourselves and for the future generations.
Let us make this a youth effort to make use of local knowledge that has global application. Let us learn from one another how we can live sustainably and harmoniously. Let us share information that can increase our knowledge and awareness of environmental issues and sustainable living.
Let us make this a partnership that will help us ‘THINK GLOBALLY AS WE ACT LOCALLY’ to protect our common environment – that would INSPIRE, MOTIVATE, AND LEAD US to study environmental issues from a more global perspective.
We at SAVE will let you know the types of activities and action we are taking on this side of the globe to make our environment safe, clean and livable. We will share information on current news, pressing issues, research and technological efforts, human-interest stories and our personal views. You can share the same with us and thousands of others who would be able to read your responses on the Internet and in the Enviro-Beat section of the Sunday Island.
We invite you to share local environmental news, projects and activities comments, ideas.
Please send us letters, essays, articles, poems, art work.
This forum is open to All school and university students. On an individual basis or through organizations, clubs, and associations.
What you need to do
Please send your submission to the following address or email:
Address: SAVE, W20-401, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.
Email: Save-sl@ mit.edu save-sl @ mit.edu
Please provide the following details along with your submission:
Name:
School or Organization:
Age:
Address :
Email:
Photograph (optional):Each week we will publish selected responses in this feature. We will also communicate with you personally whenever possible.
We look forward to a lively forum.
Your friends at SAVE
web.mit.edu/save/srilanka
Share A Vital Earth S.A.V.E.
Greetings from S.A.V.E., a group of MIT students dedicated to increasing environmental awareness on our campus and in our community. We gather weekly to discuss environmental problems and their solutions, and to plan actions and events which will help us realize our goals of living in harmony with the earth.
Here’s a little bit about what SAVE: does:
We work cooperatively with our school’s administration on recycling and waste reduction, resource conservation, and building design. We meet regularly with them and have been successful in instituting recycling and promoting the use of environmentally friendly products.
We share knowledge with our peers about environmental problems and about living in harmony with the earth. We do this primarily by hosting events during Earth Week, in mid April. We distribute information, organize lectures and discussions, and hold workshops on reducing environmental impact.
Finally, we network with students at other universities to share ideas and to work together towards environmental goals.
We are very excited to work with you, our peers across the oceans, to exchange knowledge and ideas, and to strive together towards our environmental goals.
We look forward to being in contact with you,
The Students of S.A.V.E.
Molina and co-Nobelists discuss atmospheric pollution
By Deborah Halber,
Tech Talk (MIT)Institute Professor Mario J. Molina described how, in an effort to cut down on the air pollution that plagues Mexico City, local officials enacted regulations that forced residents to leave their cars at home one day per week. Traffic congestion was eased. The plan seemed to be working. Then officials realized that to circumvent the law, which was based on license plate numbers, people had started buying second cars, often even older and more polluting than their first.
Reality doesn’t always pan out the way scientists would like it to, said Professor Molina, who described the project at the third Rosenblith Lecture in Science and Technology sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences on March 10 in Wong Auditorium. That’s why an MIT project aimed at improving air quality in Mexico City is taking a multidisciplinary approach that involves several American institutions, Mexican academies and agencies and a handful of departments at MIT.
"We need not just expertise on chemistry or meteorology or pollution science," Professor Molina said. "We also need experts on mobility, land use and the health and economic aspects of the problem."
The topic of last week’s Rosenblith lecture was atmospheric chemistry in the 21st century. The three scientists who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry were reunited at the podium. In addition to Professor Molina, the speakers were Paul J. Crutzen, director of the atmospheric chemistry division of the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry in Germany; and F. Sherwood Rowland, the Donald Bren Research Professor of Chemistry and Earth System Science at the University of California at Irvine.
Professor Molina said the Mexico City project, conducted by the MIT Consortium on Environmental Challenges (CEC), is an initial case study. The researchers hope to develop an approach that will apply globally. The project, which will span several years and may take decades to see significant improvement, will provide a neutral discussion forum for decision makers.
"We [the scientists] have no political baggage," Professor Molina said.
"This allows us to work closely with government officials to create new policy that integrates science and technology."
A personal connection
Professor Molina recalled that when he was a student in Mexico City many years ago, he was able to see the volcanoes that fringed the city "most days of the year. Now you’re lucky to see them."
Mexico City has a unique set of conditions that make it one of the most polluted cities in the world. It has a high altitude and low latitude. Surrounded by mountains, industrial and automobile contaminants are trapped over the city and "cook" under the sun. The metropolitan area’s 5,000 square kilometers are home to 18 million inhabitants and 3.5 million vehicles, many of which are older and do not have pollution control devices such as catalytic converters. Cooling and heating systems tend to be inefficient and plagued with leaks.
The air over Mexico City is brown. "We would like to solve this problem," Professor Molina said.
Mexico City has some similarities to Los Angeles, which Professor Molina called the "best-studied city for urban pollution." But while LA’s air pollution has been diminished by regulations banning older cars, Mexico City is far poorer and most residents cannot afford new cars. Regulations phasing out leaded gasoline, however, have had a positive impact.
A catalyst for change
The CEC’s partners from corporate, government and non-governmental organizations will work together to assess global environmental challenges and their impact on ecosystems, economic development and health; identify and contribute to the knowledge needed to meet environmental challenges; and promote the use of unbiased scientific, technological and socioeconomic knowledge to improve policy making.
As an affiliate of MIT’s Center for Environmental Initiatives, the CEC seeks to improve understanding of existing and emerging global environmental problems through assessments of the state of scientific and technological knowledge. To promote the use of that knowledge in the policy-making process, the CEC provides the infrastructure to enable the stakeholder community to work toward a credible, informed and data-driven process for assessing the nature of major environmental problems and identifying emerging issues.
The CEC’s multidisciplinary research programs also will provide participants with information to help develop long-term strategies to meet environmental challenges. The consortium is supporting research on the decision-making process and is creating research modules within existing initiatives to assess and identify knowledge gaps in specific sectors.
Current research modules include studies in energy choices, mobility, megacities and chemicals in society. The consortium’s director is Professor David H. Marks. Provost Lawrence Bacow and Professor Molina are associate directors.
As part of the Rosenblith lecture, Dr. Crutzen spoke about "The Antarctic (and Arctic?) Ozone Hole: a Man-Caused Chemical Instability in the Stratosphere — What to Learn From It?" Dr. Rowland spoke on "Global Smog in the Cities and Over the Ocean."
The Rosenblith International Lecture Series was established by family and friends of Institute Professor Emeritus and former Provost Walter A. Rosenblith. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.
Mediterranean tourism takes its toll
by Robinson Shaw, ENNIncreasing tourism along the Mediterranean coast is taking its toll on the area’s fragile ecosystem, according to a report published by the European Environment Agency.
The open waters of the Mediterranean Sea are generally in good condition and most of the diverse ecosystems appear to be healthy, according to the report. The Mediterranean is home to a great diversity of marine species and is recognized as one of the world’s richest biomes, supporting about 8 to 9 percent of all sea species.
However, population growth and tourism along the Mediterranean coast is putting more pressure on the riparian ecosystem, and only a small percentage of the coastline is in good condition. An even a smaller part is adequately protected, according to the report, State and pressures of the marine and coastal Mediterranean environment
(http://themes.eea.eu.int/binary/e/enviasses05.pdf), compiled by the EEA in cooperation with the Mediterranean Action Plan.
The population of Mediterranean countries continues to grow, from 450 million people in 1997 to a projected 520 to 570 million by 2030. Tourism and population create strong competition between man and nature for space, territory and resources.
The Mediterranean has attracted tourists for hundreds of years. Tourism in the area flourished in the 1930s and especially after World War II.
Today, the area is the world’s leading holiday destination, accounting for 30 percent of the world’s tourism. In 1990 alone, 135 million vacationers flocked to the Mediterranean coast. By 2025, the annual crowd will soar to anywhere from 235 to 350 million tourists, according to the EEA.
The impact of tourism on the Mediterranean environment includes land degradation, water shortages, pollution and waste. Coastal tourism reduces natural sites and open space, substantially alters the landscape and promotes conflicts over the use of land, water and other resources, the report notes.
Tourism could contribute to the protection, management and best use of the very sites it exploits, the report suggests. Solutions to the exploitation include eco-tourism implemented by individual countries; taxes for environmental causes; reinvestment of tourists’ dollars in ecological initiatives; and penalties for noncompliance with environmental regulations.
Scientists chart a century of biodiversity
by Margot Higgins, ENNLand use is one of five primary influences on biodiversity, according to researchers.
Five "drivers" - atmospheric carbon dioxide, climate, exotic species, nitrogen deposition and land use - hold the greatest sway on biodiversity, scientists say. And knowing what part they play in specific areas of the world is the key to protecting that diversity.
These findings are part of a study published in the March 15 issue of Science Magazine. The research effort marks the first time an international cast of scientists has collaborated to weigh all of the human factors that contribute to biodiversity loss.
"The study shows that within certain regions of the world, particular drivers are important," said Leroy Poff, a specialist in freshwater ecosystems and co-author of the study. "For the first time, research demonstrates what people should focus on to protect biodiversity."
"Global Biodiversity Scenarios for the Year 2100," co-authored by 19 scientists, examines what factors affect biodiversity, what kinds of habitat are susceptible to those factors and what may happen to biodiversity between now and 2100.
"This is the first study that attempts to deduce a global pattern of threats to biodiversity," said David Wilcove, a senior ecologist for Environmental Defense.
The researchers identified the five drivers of global change. They then identified 10 terrestrial biological communities, or "biomes," and tried to assess how sensitive each was to a particular human influence.
A global computer model developed in the Netherlands was used to examine the different effects within each biological community, from alpine ranges to boreal forests to arid deserts to freshwater ecosystems.
Mediterranean and grassland ecosystems are likely to experience the greatest proportional change in biodiversity in this century because all five drivers affect them, the researchers note.
Northern temperate ecosystems have already been extensively altered by humans and therefore are likely to experience the least change in the next 100 years.
Land use is expected to have the greatest effect on biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems. In freshwater ecosystems, invasive species pose the greatest threat.
Human "drivers" of biodiversity loss will have less impact on areas such as Mt. Erebus, an active volcano on Ross Island in Antarctica, according to researchers.
Climate change is expected to affect high latitudes the most and the tropics the least. Nitrogen deposition poses the greatest danger to biodiversity near northern cities in temperate zones and the smallest threat in the Arctic and southern temperate forests.
Poff points out that some drivers, such as invasive species and habitat, are easier to control than others. "We could certainly manage our rivers in a way that would offset the projected negative effects of climate change," he said.
"The study shows the immediacy of all of these factors and bolsters arguments for people working on any of the major issues," Wilcove said. "This is a call to scientists to pursue as much of an interdisciplinary approach to answer the threats of biodiversity loss as possible."
Avoiding a disastrous decline in biodiversity will require an integrated approach by climatologists, ecologists, social scientists and policymakers, said Brian Walker, an Australian researcher who contributed to the study.
"The next step is to take the broad scenarios developed in this analysis and apply the approach at a more detailed level in each country," he said.
"This is a call to scientists to pursue as much of an interdisciplinary approach to answer the threats of biodiversity loss as possible." David Wilcove, senior ecologist, Environmental Defense.
Water conference addresses global crisis
by Otti Thomas, ReutersThe world in 2025 - a world where there is clean, safe, abundant water for everyone. A world where there is enough water for drinking, bathing and growing crops. That is the vision experts, politicians and interest groups are discussing at an international conference that opened recently in The Hague.
The opening session of the conference began rather immodestly when protesters took off their clothes in the middle of a speech to protest a Spanish dam project.
Egyptian Water Minister Mahmoud Abu Zeid and others stared in disbelief as a man and woman shed their clothes in front of the speaker’s podium to reveal the name of the controversial dam painted on their backs and buttocks. After a brief delay, business went on as usual.
The six-day Second World Water Forum will outline an official plan of action for the next quarter century to prevent millions dying every year as a direct result of unsanitary water.
"This special conference aims to mobilize political support with an eye to countering our global water predicaments with concrete action," the organizers said.
"The vision will project a scenario of how the world could look 25 years from now - if we take action today."
Since the first World Water Forum in Morocco in 1997, when governments pledged a "new water ethic" to combat water scarcity around the globe, the Paris-based World Commission on Water for the 21st Century has been established to put ideas into action.
This week, the Commission, a U.N.-backed body, urged a doubling of investments in global water supplies to $180 billion a year and said the private sector should provide the lion’s share of the money needed.
Today the conference is focusing on water supplies and distribution in the Middle East and Africa, regions where acute droughts as well as floods cause huge loss of life.
"Africa is plagued with extreme variations in weather. In places like the Congo, water (supply) is increasing, while in other areas it is decreasing - places like Angola, Mozambique, Namibia," Albert Wright, a civil engineering and sanitation specialist, said this week.
Wright, who helped draft Africa’s presentation at the forum, said the main goal was to raise awareness of the problem and stress the need for help.
Middle East experts forecast a worsening crisis as high population growth is compounded by a neglect of water resources.
According to a study last year from the Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain, the per capita share of water in the Arab world has halved in the past two decades to 1,100 cubic meters (38,850 cubic feet) a year, perilously close to the accepted 1,000-cubic-meter (35,310 cubic feet) benchmark, below which human health is harmed.
A NOTE ABOUT ENN: These and other stories can be found at http:// www.enn.com, the Environmental News Network website; Thanks to ENN and the staff for granting special permission to reprint this material.