Forests and grasslands in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands receive legal protections from the federal government so that their land area will not be destroyed for industry or urban development. (Six states do not currently have a national forest or grassland: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.) These protections ensure that plant and animal life in these ecosystems
survive for generations, but also ensure that people can visit and enjoy these environments. The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has the legal authority to manage the nation’s forests and grasslands. Currently the U.S. Forest Service’s authority covers 44 states plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, including 193 million acres (777,000 km2) and the following management categories:
» minerals, mining, rangeland, timber, wilderness, wildlife, and recreation management
» cultural resources
» water resources
» trails
» wild and scenic rivers
» fire service roads
» international forestry
» business administration
Laws alone cannot protect forests if government leaders or industries try to revise them in order to aid free commerce. For example, in 2006 the White House removed forest management from the NEPA so that forest officials would no longer be required to prepare environmental impact reports before changing forest management plans. As a consequence, management plans do not receive scientific review or public comment. A few years earlier, the federal government exempted the Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Rule. Both of these changes presumably give oil exploration, logging, and other industries easier access to forests.
Presidential adviser Karl Rove summarized the intent of weakening forest protections to National Review in 2007: “On energy, the environment, and climate change, he [President George W. Bush] is developing a new paradigm. Emphasizing technology, increased energy-efficiency partnerships, and resource diversification, his policies are improving energy security and slowing the growth of greenhouse gases without economy-breaking mandates and regulation.” Shortly before the changes to the NEPA went into effect, the Wilderness Society president Bill Meadows remarked, “It is a shame that this administration refuses to recognize that public participation in major decisions about projects like timber sales should not be feared and fought, but should be a welcome and helpful part of making informed and thorough decisions.” Almost every person holds a different vision of what should be done to protect the nation’s forests and also ensure the nation’s economic well-being.
One of this country’s first conservationists, John Muir, described the difficulty of finding common ground in managing forests: “God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.” The sidebar “John Muir” provides more insight on this environmentalist.
Source of Information : Green Technology Conservation Protecting Our Plant Resources
2012-2-17
2012-2-14
Forest Fire Management
Forest fires are caused by natural actions such as lightning
strikes, or may result from human activities. In either case, good fire
management and periodic natural forest fires help restore the vitality of
forest ecosystems.
Three types of fires occur in forests: (1) surface fires
that burn leaves, dense vegetation, and small immature trees; (2) ground fires
fed by peat and decayed matter that spread to underground fuels; and (3) crown
fires that burn up from the ground’s surface and travel across the treetops.
Surface fires help ecosystems by clearing out constrictive dense shrubbery and
leaf litter. Though these fires harm some immature trees, surface fires do not
cause significant damage to mature trees, and they travel at a speed that
allows wildlife to escape. Ground fires and crown fires present bigger problems.
Ground fires smolder for weeks undetected and can suddenly flare into a
potentially hazardous situation. Crown fires burn hot, fast, and uncontrolled,
and in doing so they destroy trees, surface vegetation, habitat, and wildlife
that do not escape. Crown fires have also caused the loss of homes and human
lives in forested areas.
Fire management refers to the control of unexpected or
planned fires for the purpose of improving the forest. By periodically burning
dense growth, managed fires prevent the explosion of dangerous crown fires. Forest
officials have two options on how best to manage fire. The first method
involves what are called prescribed burns, in which ecologists set small,
contained surface fires to thin out dense growth and so reduce the chances of
crown fires. Fire crews surround the burn area to assure the flames do not
escape and go from a controlled to an uncontrolled situation. The second
strategy involves letting natural fires burn uncontrolled as they have for
hundreds of years. These uncontrolled fires can seem cataclysmic in news
reports, leading to disagreement on whether these fires are better or worse
than prescribed fires. The New Mexico ecologist Craig Allen explained to Audubon
magazine in 2001, “It’s not that Smokey was all wrong, but he sure as heck
wasn’t all right either. Fire’s effects are variable, just as landscapes are
variable.” Allen’s comment correctly points out that even the best fire
management cannot predict how fires will behave with 100 percent accuracy.
Because prescribed fires and natural uncontrolled fires can
behave in unexpected ways, good fire management also includes safety measures for
houses and other buildings in the forest. Homeowners or work crews should clear
all vegetation from a zone of about 200 feet (46 m) from the building. This
helps prevent flames from approaching the structure. Safety zones in
combination with firefighting have saved many buildings that were almost
completely surrounded by fire.
Forest fire suppression that took place for decades in the
United States—encouraged by the Smokey Bear campaign—may have hurt forest ecosystems.
A community of organisms depends on fire to reestablish their populations.
Though wildfires have been difficult to study, scientists have gathered the
following facts on the effect of fire activity on forest biota:
» Some species appear only in postburn habitat.
» Certain conifers require intense heat to open cones and
release seeds, a process called serotiny.
» Fire clears the ground for new seed germination.
» Some insects seek burned areas, gathering for mating and enhancing
genetic diversity.
» Insect species use burned bark as nesting sites.
» Reptiles and amphibians escape fire by hiding in
subsurface soils.
» Bats that roost in trees seem unaffected by the fire, and
sometimes populations increase due to higher insect numbers.
» Elk, deer, and sheep numbers may decrease slightly;
mountain lions and wolves generally escape fire.
The study of fire entails fire science, which covers topics
such as how fires burn and travel through different types of trees (tropical
versus deciduous, for example), the best use of fire retardants, and postfire rehabilitation
techniques. Fire management also contains the following specialties: fire crew
safety and clothing; firefighting techniques; fire road planning; aircraft
firefighting; and development of new fire suppression chemicals.
In 2003 Congress passed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act,
which allows timber companies to burn dense overgrowth in return for taking commercially
valuable trees from forests. The companies need not open their plans for
environmental review or public comment, which has raised the ire of
environmental organizations. The Wilderness Society has stated that the act
“poses a major threat to environmental protection and public involvement in
federal land management. Furthermore, the bill does virtually nothing to
protect homes and communities from wildfire.” On the contrary, President George
W. Bush felt the bill represented “good, common-sense environmental policy.
During seasonal droughts, these small trees act as ladders for fires to reach
to the top of our oldest and tallest trees.” Much of the disagreement arises
from the many unknowns regarding forest fires. Ecologist Allen put it simply,
“This is a story we don’t know the answer to yet.” Like many aspects of natural
resource management, fire management involves differing viewpoints and many
questions for the future.
Source of Information : Green Technology Conservation Protecting Our Plant Resources
2012-2-12
Silk from the sea - No sow's ear
A species of crustacean makes silk underwater
SPIDER silk is impressive stuff. Stronger than steel, flexible and exceedingly light. Barnacle glue is equally special. It holds an animal whose ancestors swam freely in the sea to rocks that are often battered by powerful waves. What, then, might a combination of the two achieve? Fritz Vollrath, of Oxford University, hopes to find out. As he describes in Naturwissenschaften, he and his colleagues have found that a small marine crustacean called Crassicorophium bonellii produces a material which has the adhesive characteristics of barnacle glue and the structural properties of spidersilk fibres. It is water-resistant and flexible, but also somewhat sticky, and is employed by the animals to construct tubular homes in the sediments of the sea bed.
Dr Vollrath's examination of Crassicorophium showed that the material is secreted by glands similar to those used by barnacles to make their cement. Given that Crassicorophium and barnacles are both crustaceans, albeit ones whose common ancestor lived 1oom years ago, that suggests a single origin for the ability to make this type of goo. Indeed, it might explain the mystery of how barnacles settled down in first place. Possibly, a Crassicorophium-like ancestor used the material to anchor itself to rocks and feed on passing titbits by catching them with its legs, as modern barnacles do. (The protective plates presumably came later.)
To examine the relationship between the newly discovered goo and barnacle glue, Dr Vollrath's colleagues, Katrin Kronenberger and Cedric Dicko, took a look at the chemical composition of both. The proteins of barnacle glue, they discovered, are dominated by amino acids called proline and isoleucine. These like to form cross-links between protein molecules, and thus tend to hold such molecules together. Crassicorophium goo, by contrast, is dominated by lysine, glycine and aspartic acid. These encourage protein molecules to stretch out and form fibres.
In addition, whereas barnacles just ooze out their cement, Crassicorophium processes its material in a spider-like spinning duct. The goo emerges from holes in the crustacean's legs and is spun into gossamer filaments by being stuck to a surface and then pulled out as threads. This way of spinning silk is remarkably similar to that used by spiders, which pull the material from their bodies using their legs. That similarity, though, is almost certainly the result of convergent evolution rather than a common origin, since the last joint ancestor of Crassicorophium and spiders lived way longer ago than the ancestor of Crassicorophium and barnacles.
Beyond its curiosity value, the discovery of Crassicorophium silk could have practical benefits. There is great interest, in biotechnological circles, in using silk more extensively as an industrial material. Its lightness, flexibility and strength would make it widely deployable. Adding Crassicorophium silk-or, at least, knowledge derived from its analysis-to the mix would extend that range. Dr Vollrath, for example, suggests that Crassicorophium silk's tolerance of salt water means it might find uses in medical applications where it would come into contact with salty bodily fluids. Thus, with luck, can curiosity-driven research of the most esoteric kind lead to good, solid human benefits.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
SPIDER silk is impressive stuff. Stronger than steel, flexible and exceedingly light. Barnacle glue is equally special. It holds an animal whose ancestors swam freely in the sea to rocks that are often battered by powerful waves. What, then, might a combination of the two achieve? Fritz Vollrath, of Oxford University, hopes to find out. As he describes in Naturwissenschaften, he and his colleagues have found that a small marine crustacean called Crassicorophium bonellii produces a material which has the adhesive characteristics of barnacle glue and the structural properties of spidersilk fibres. It is water-resistant and flexible, but also somewhat sticky, and is employed by the animals to construct tubular homes in the sediments of the sea bed.
Dr Vollrath's examination of Crassicorophium showed that the material is secreted by glands similar to those used by barnacles to make their cement. Given that Crassicorophium and barnacles are both crustaceans, albeit ones whose common ancestor lived 1oom years ago, that suggests a single origin for the ability to make this type of goo. Indeed, it might explain the mystery of how barnacles settled down in first place. Possibly, a Crassicorophium-like ancestor used the material to anchor itself to rocks and feed on passing titbits by catching them with its legs, as modern barnacles do. (The protective plates presumably came later.)
To examine the relationship between the newly discovered goo and barnacle glue, Dr Vollrath's colleagues, Katrin Kronenberger and Cedric Dicko, took a look at the chemical composition of both. The proteins of barnacle glue, they discovered, are dominated by amino acids called proline and isoleucine. These like to form cross-links between protein molecules, and thus tend to hold such molecules together. Crassicorophium goo, by contrast, is dominated by lysine, glycine and aspartic acid. These encourage protein molecules to stretch out and form fibres.
In addition, whereas barnacles just ooze out their cement, Crassicorophium processes its material in a spider-like spinning duct. The goo emerges from holes in the crustacean's legs and is spun into gossamer filaments by being stuck to a surface and then pulled out as threads. This way of spinning silk is remarkably similar to that used by spiders, which pull the material from their bodies using their legs. That similarity, though, is almost certainly the result of convergent evolution rather than a common origin, since the last joint ancestor of Crassicorophium and spiders lived way longer ago than the ancestor of Crassicorophium and barnacles.
Beyond its curiosity value, the discovery of Crassicorophium silk could have practical benefits. There is great interest, in biotechnological circles, in using silk more extensively as an industrial material. Its lightness, flexibility and strength would make it widely deployable. Adding Crassicorophium silk-or, at least, knowledge derived from its analysis-to the mix would extend that range. Dr Vollrath, for example, suggests that Crassicorophium silk's tolerance of salt water means it might find uses in medical applications where it would come into contact with salty bodily fluids. Thus, with luck, can curiosity-driven research of the most esoteric kind lead to good, solid human benefits.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
2012-2-8
Chinese jewellers - Beijing bling
The world's largest jeweller goes public AT FIRST blush, Chow Tai Fook (CTF) 1""\.may seem to be in a spot of bother. The secretive Hong Kong-based chain of jewellery stores, which on some measures is the world's largest, has long wanted to float shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Alas, this week it was forced to scale back both the valuation and the size of its planned offering. Market rumours now suggest it will float about $3 billion-$4 billion-worth of shares next month.
That may be less lucrative than it hoped for, but do not shed any tears for Cheng Yutung, the firm's billionaire boss. The weakness of this deal (which would still rank as one of the bigger placements this year) has more to do with market turmoil than any specific snags confronting CTF. Though almost unknown in the West, the firm is a goliath, with a reported $4.5 billion in sales
last year, leaping ahead at a rate of over so% a year. It is already more than twice the size of Tiffany & Co, a posh American jeweller. A recent analysis by George Washington University and L2, a thinktank, found the brand is better known in China than Rolex, Bulgari or Tiffany. Considering the booming market in China, where most of the firm's 1,500 or so outlets are located, the future positively glisters for CTF. On some estimates, China's jewellery market is already a 250 billion yuan ($39 billion) business, growing at perhaps 15% a year. Part of the growth comes from the surge in wealth among the very richest.
The firm's real strength, however, lies in its ability to reach the rising middle classes who live outside the biggest cities and who are also splashing out to buy gems and gold (CTF can claim credit for getting mainland Chinese to embrace the more lucrative 24-carat variety). The World Gold Council reckons that China is the world's fastest-growing market for gold jewellery and the second-biggest after India. There are now signs that Chinese consumers, confronted with rising inflation, are buying gold as a hedge.
It is true that CTF has rivals, but it seems better positioned to conquer China. Luk Fook, for example, is another Hong Kong jeweller expanding rapidly on the mainland- but its strategy relies chiefly on using franchisees, whereas CTF ensures high quality and branding by directly controlling its far-flung outlets. Foreign firms are also expanding-Prada had a $2.5 billion stock placement in Hong Kong earlier this year, and Cartier has more than no bustling stores on the mainland-but they rarely stray outside the big cities.
Indeed, CTF could even profit by offering global rivals a distribution channel in remote regions. Local knowledge matters, for tastes differ widely: jade is popular in interior provinces, for example, while coastal regions prefer simple designs. CTF has just struck a deal with De Beers to market one of the diamond company's brands in its outlet in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. Global markets may be punishing CTF today, but the heartland of China looks likely to reward its investors for years to come.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
That may be less lucrative than it hoped for, but do not shed any tears for Cheng Yutung, the firm's billionaire boss. The weakness of this deal (which would still rank as one of the bigger placements this year) has more to do with market turmoil than any specific snags confronting CTF. Though almost unknown in the West, the firm is a goliath, with a reported $4.5 billion in sales
last year, leaping ahead at a rate of over so% a year. It is already more than twice the size of Tiffany & Co, a posh American jeweller. A recent analysis by George Washington University and L2, a thinktank, found the brand is better known in China than Rolex, Bulgari or Tiffany. Considering the booming market in China, where most of the firm's 1,500 or so outlets are located, the future positively glisters for CTF. On some estimates, China's jewellery market is already a 250 billion yuan ($39 billion) business, growing at perhaps 15% a year. Part of the growth comes from the surge in wealth among the very richest.
The firm's real strength, however, lies in its ability to reach the rising middle classes who live outside the biggest cities and who are also splashing out to buy gems and gold (CTF can claim credit for getting mainland Chinese to embrace the more lucrative 24-carat variety). The World Gold Council reckons that China is the world's fastest-growing market for gold jewellery and the second-biggest after India. There are now signs that Chinese consumers, confronted with rising inflation, are buying gold as a hedge.
It is true that CTF has rivals, but it seems better positioned to conquer China. Luk Fook, for example, is another Hong Kong jeweller expanding rapidly on the mainland- but its strategy relies chiefly on using franchisees, whereas CTF ensures high quality and branding by directly controlling its far-flung outlets. Foreign firms are also expanding-Prada had a $2.5 billion stock placement in Hong Kong earlier this year, and Cartier has more than no bustling stores on the mainland-but they rarely stray outside the big cities.
Indeed, CTF could even profit by offering global rivals a distribution channel in remote regions. Local knowledge matters, for tastes differ widely: jade is popular in interior provinces, for example, while coastal regions prefer simple designs. CTF has just struck a deal with De Beers to market one of the diamond company's brands in its outlet in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. Global markets may be punishing CTF today, but the heartland of China looks likely to reward its investors for years to come.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
2012-2-3
A guide to goodness - Values for money
Want to know if a product is virtuous? There's an a pp for that
AS HE applied sunscreen to his young ./"\.daughter's face, Dara O'Rourke, a professor of environmental and labour policy at the University of California, Berkeley, found himself wondering if the lotion was safe. He realised there was no readily available answer. The result-two years, a team of chemists, lots of testing and a chunk of venture capital later-is GoodGuide.com. Launched in 2008, this is a website and smartphone a pp that rates 140,000 consumer products (currently only in America) according to their safety, environmental sustainability and the ethics of the firms that make them. Now Good Guide has created a new "purchase analyser" a pp designed to inform consumers not just about the values embedded in products, but also about whether they are the virtuous shoppers they say they want to be. Using the new a pp requires selecting a series of characteristics, which can range from whether the user favours organic products to buying only from firms with a good human-rights record. (It also rates how competitively things are priced, via a partnership with Price Grabber) The consumer then scans the bar code on a product with the camera in their smartphone. The a pp identifies it and checks in a database to score how it shapes up. Much therefore depends on the quality of the data, which Good Guide gathers from various sources, including government reports and scientific studies, and research by its own staff. If the product scores badly, the a pp will recommend an alternative item which is rated more highly. The a pp also tracks a consumer's purchases to see how well they fit with their selected values, giving a sort of personal virtue (or hypocrisy) rating. So far, Good Guide has mostly been used by shoppers who are already keen to know about any issues connected with products they buy. They are mothers concerned about a child's health, older people facing a chronic illness or supporters of a cause, such as animal rights. The hope behind the a pp is that the idea of finding out about a product's background will become mainstream. Consumers rarely change their buying habits, even when confronted with scientific and other data, says Mr O'Rourke. So he has drawn on insights from behavioural economics, which show shoppers can be greatly influenced by peer pressure and by information passed on to them by people they know. The a pp tries to take advantage of these pressures. The virtue rating will inform a consumer how well they are doing according to the values which they espouse. That measurement gives an incentive to do better. Soon, the rating will be able to be shared with others on social-media sites such as Facebook, which could inspire (or pressurise) a shopper to consume more thoughtfully. It might even, believes Mr O'Rourke, turn being a good shopper into an online game.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
AS HE applied sunscreen to his young ./"\.daughter's face, Dara O'Rourke, a professor of environmental and labour policy at the University of California, Berkeley, found himself wondering if the lotion was safe. He realised there was no readily available answer. The result-two years, a team of chemists, lots of testing and a chunk of venture capital later-is GoodGuide.com. Launched in 2008, this is a website and smartphone a pp that rates 140,000 consumer products (currently only in America) according to their safety, environmental sustainability and the ethics of the firms that make them. Now Good Guide has created a new "purchase analyser" a pp designed to inform consumers not just about the values embedded in products, but also about whether they are the virtuous shoppers they say they want to be. Using the new a pp requires selecting a series of characteristics, which can range from whether the user favours organic products to buying only from firms with a good human-rights record. (It also rates how competitively things are priced, via a partnership with Price Grabber) The consumer then scans the bar code on a product with the camera in their smartphone. The a pp identifies it and checks in a database to score how it shapes up. Much therefore depends on the quality of the data, which Good Guide gathers from various sources, including government reports and scientific studies, and research by its own staff. If the product scores badly, the a pp will recommend an alternative item which is rated more highly. The a pp also tracks a consumer's purchases to see how well they fit with their selected values, giving a sort of personal virtue (or hypocrisy) rating. So far, Good Guide has mostly been used by shoppers who are already keen to know about any issues connected with products they buy. They are mothers concerned about a child's health, older people facing a chronic illness or supporters of a cause, such as animal rights. The hope behind the a pp is that the idea of finding out about a product's background will become mainstream. Consumers rarely change their buying habits, even when confronted with scientific and other data, says Mr O'Rourke. So he has drawn on insights from behavioural economics, which show shoppers can be greatly influenced by peer pressure and by information passed on to them by people they know. The a pp tries to take advantage of these pressures. The virtue rating will inform a consumer how well they are doing according to the values which they espouse. That measurement gives an incentive to do better. Soon, the rating will be able to be shared with others on social-media sites such as Facebook, which could inspire (or pressurise) a shopper to consume more thoughtfully. It might even, believes Mr O'Rourke, turn being a good shopper into an online game.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
2012-1-31
Neo-Nazi crimes in Germany - A horror from the past
Angst over a ten-year killing spree by a neo-Nazi group THE murderers' boasts are as chilling as their crimes. From 2000 to 2006 the "National Socialist Underground", an unknown group with just three core members, apparently killed nine people, eight of them of Turkish origin. In 2007 they shot a policewoman in the head. They claim credit for a 2004 bombing in Cologne that injured 22 people, mostly Turkish. A mocking video celebrates all this but has little to say about the group's goals, promising "deeds, not words".
The end came on November 4th when Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Bohnhardt staged the last of some 14 bank robberies in Eisenach, in Thuringia. They set their mobile home on fire and apparently shot themselves as the police closed in. Be ate Zschape, their female comrade, turned herself in after torching the group's house in Zwickau in Saxony. Yet this was no triumph for the law enforcers. The far-right trio were long known to Thuringia's intelligence agency. They disappeared in 1998 on the point of being arrested. Nobody linked them to the "doner murders", so called because two victims worked in kebab shops.
The authorities "trivialise" right-wing violence, says Hajo Funke, who studies it. Today's violent right is the offspring of unification in 1990, which disrupted the eastern economy and traumatised families. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the domestic intelligence service, thinks 25,000 people belong to far-right groups, of whom 9,500 could be violent. Mr Funke says they have committed more than 100 murders since 1990. Yet the authorities worry more about Islamist terrorists, who have done less damage.
The don er killers may force a reassessment. Their decade-long career exposes weaknesses in detection and prevention. Undercover informants can be more useful to the groups they monitor
than to their paymasters. The interior ministry now plans a new centre to co-ordinate work on far-right violence by Germany's many police forces and intelligence agencies. The ruling Christian Democratic Union is reconsidering its opposition to a ban on the far-right National Democratic Party, which is said to have links to more extreme groups. The Thuringian gang which made video jokes about its victims was itself no joke.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
The end came on November 4th when Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Bohnhardt staged the last of some 14 bank robberies in Eisenach, in Thuringia. They set their mobile home on fire and apparently shot themselves as the police closed in. Be ate Zschape, their female comrade, turned herself in after torching the group's house in Zwickau in Saxony. Yet this was no triumph for the law enforcers. The far-right trio were long known to Thuringia's intelligence agency. They disappeared in 1998 on the point of being arrested. Nobody linked them to the "doner murders", so called because two victims worked in kebab shops.
The authorities "trivialise" right-wing violence, says Hajo Funke, who studies it. Today's violent right is the offspring of unification in 1990, which disrupted the eastern economy and traumatised families. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the domestic intelligence service, thinks 25,000 people belong to far-right groups, of whom 9,500 could be violent. Mr Funke says they have committed more than 100 murders since 1990. Yet the authorities worry more about Islamist terrorists, who have done less damage.
The don er killers may force a reassessment. Their decade-long career exposes weaknesses in detection and prevention. Undercover informants can be more useful to the groups they monitor
than to their paymasters. The interior ministry now plans a new centre to co-ordinate work on far-right violence by Germany's many police forces and intelligence agencies. The ruling Christian Democratic Union is reconsidering its opposition to a ban on the far-right National Democratic Party, which is said to have links to more extreme groups. The Thuringian gang which made video jokes about its victims was itself no joke.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
2012-1-28
Russia and NATO - An absence of trust
Why Russia is no closer to working with NATO on missile defence
THE hopes at NATO'S 2010 Lisbon summit that Russia might be a partner in the missile-defence system meant to protect Europe from a nuclear-armed "rogue" state are looking increasingly forlorn. NATO governments had promised "to explore opportunities for missiledefence co-operation with Russia in a spirit of reciprocity, maximum transparency and mutual confidence." But at his Valdai dinner on N ovembernth, Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, claimed that the Russian ambassador toN ATO, Dmitry Rogozin, had been told by an American senator that missile defence was aimed at Russia's nuclear deterrent. Mr Putin even drew a diagram on a napkin to make his point.
At this week's meeting of the NATORussia Council, a body meant to improve relations, Russia's deputy defence minister, Anatoly Antonov, was equally blunt. He complained that NATO was pressing ahead even though Russia's conditions for co-operation had not been met. Chief among his gripes was America's refusal to give Russia a legal guarantee- in effect a treaty-thatNATo's missile shield would never be used to protect Europe or America from Russian nuclear weapons. He suggested that Russia might take "military-technical measures".
The heart of the problem is a lack of trust, made worse by what Russia sees as NATO'S cynically broad interpretation of the UN Security Council resolution on Libya-a "betrayal", say some Russians.
Russian leaders cannot bring themselves to believe repeated Western assurances that plans to defend Europe against nuclear missiles are aimed solely at irrational states with a handful of weapons (diplomat-speak for Iran), and are not meant to blunt the effectiveness of Russia's array of nuclear weapons.
Russian military analysts concede that the phased approach to European missile defence adopted by the Obama administration is less threatening than George Bush's plans for a shield based on long-range interceptors and radars in Poland and the Czech Republic. They also accept that, even in its final phase of deployment, the system would be overwhelmed by any Russian attack. But they persist in seeing missile defence as part of a long-term American plot to undermine Russia's nuclear arsenal.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
THE hopes at NATO'S 2010 Lisbon summit that Russia might be a partner in the missile-defence system meant to protect Europe from a nuclear-armed "rogue" state are looking increasingly forlorn. NATO governments had promised "to explore opportunities for missiledefence co-operation with Russia in a spirit of reciprocity, maximum transparency and mutual confidence." But at his Valdai dinner on N ovembernth, Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, claimed that the Russian ambassador toN ATO, Dmitry Rogozin, had been told by an American senator that missile defence was aimed at Russia's nuclear deterrent. Mr Putin even drew a diagram on a napkin to make his point.
At this week's meeting of the NATORussia Council, a body meant to improve relations, Russia's deputy defence minister, Anatoly Antonov, was equally blunt. He complained that NATO was pressing ahead even though Russia's conditions for co-operation had not been met. Chief among his gripes was America's refusal to give Russia a legal guarantee- in effect a treaty-thatNATo's missile shield would never be used to protect Europe or America from Russian nuclear weapons. He suggested that Russia might take "military-technical measures".
The heart of the problem is a lack of trust, made worse by what Russia sees as NATO'S cynically broad interpretation of the UN Security Council resolution on Libya-a "betrayal", say some Russians.
Russian leaders cannot bring themselves to believe repeated Western assurances that plans to defend Europe against nuclear missiles are aimed solely at irrational states with a handful of weapons (diplomat-speak for Iran), and are not meant to blunt the effectiveness of Russia's array of nuclear weapons.
Russian military analysts concede that the phased approach to European missile defence adopted by the Obama administration is less threatening than George Bush's plans for a shield based on long-range interceptors and radars in Poland and the Czech Republic. They also accept that, even in its final phase of deployment, the system would be overwhelmed by any Russian attack. But they persist in seeing missile defence as part of a long-term American plot to undermine Russia's nuclear arsenal.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
2012-1-25
A self-sufficient Isle of Wight - Green and pleasant island
The Isle of Wight wants to become self -sufficient in energy
ECOISLAND is a group so green that the invitations it sent to an event at Britain's House of Commons were printed on recycled paper embedded with meadow-flower seeds Gust plant, water and watch them grow). Its aim is to make the Isle of Wight, off Britain's south coast, energy-independent by 2020. The island is often viewed as a quaint place a decade or so behind the times. But if the project, launched on November 15th, comes off, the Isle of Wight could be in the vanguard of an environmentally friendlier future. Ecoisland plans to install solar panels on roofs (the island is one of the sunniest places in England), insulate houses better, make greater use of geothermal, wind and tidal energy, and generate power from waste. There are also plans for electric vehicles that residents and visitors alike can hire. Locally grown food would be delivered through island-wide supply hubs. A concerted effort is under way to reduce water use and capture more rainwater (about one-third of the island's fresh water at present is pumped from the mainland). This all seems very cosy, but what gives Ecoisland an edge-apart from its
energetic and auspiciously named chief executive, David Green-is the array of national and international companies which have agreed to take part. These include IBM, Cable &Wireless and Silver Spring Networks, which together with Toshiba, will be working on smart-grid technology and energy-storage systems. Toshiba is doing similar work for the
Japanese island of Miyako.
British partners include Southern Water, a utility, SSE, an electricity supplier, and ITM Power, which makes electrolysis systems that generate hydrogen from water. The hydrogen can be used as an energy store and to power cars and vans. Graham Cooley, ITM's chief executive, says an island provides a natural boundary within which the benefits of integrating sustainable services can be more easily explored. Mr Green says that the partnership has already raised £2oom ($315m) in private funding. Ultimately, he hopes, the acquired eco know-how can be exported to other places. By then his business cards, which are also meadow-seeded, could be blooming all over the place.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
ECOISLAND is a group so green that the invitations it sent to an event at Britain's House of Commons were printed on recycled paper embedded with meadow-flower seeds Gust plant, water and watch them grow). Its aim is to make the Isle of Wight, off Britain's south coast, energy-independent by 2020. The island is often viewed as a quaint place a decade or so behind the times. But if the project, launched on November 15th, comes off, the Isle of Wight could be in the vanguard of an environmentally friendlier future. Ecoisland plans to install solar panels on roofs (the island is one of the sunniest places in England), insulate houses better, make greater use of geothermal, wind and tidal energy, and generate power from waste. There are also plans for electric vehicles that residents and visitors alike can hire. Locally grown food would be delivered through island-wide supply hubs. A concerted effort is under way to reduce water use and capture more rainwater (about one-third of the island's fresh water at present is pumped from the mainland). This all seems very cosy, but what gives Ecoisland an edge-apart from its
energetic and auspiciously named chief executive, David Green-is the array of national and international companies which have agreed to take part. These include IBM, Cable &Wireless and Silver Spring Networks, which together with Toshiba, will be working on smart-grid technology and energy-storage systems. Toshiba is doing similar work for the
Japanese island of Miyako.
British partners include Southern Water, a utility, SSE, an electricity supplier, and ITM Power, which makes electrolysis systems that generate hydrogen from water. The hydrogen can be used as an energy store and to power cars and vans. Graham Cooley, ITM's chief executive, says an island provides a natural boundary within which the benefits of integrating sustainable services can be more easily explored. Mr Green says that the partnership has already raised £2oom ($315m) in private funding. Ultimately, he hopes, the acquired eco know-how can be exported to other places. By then his business cards, which are also meadow-seeded, could be blooming all over the place.
Source of Information : [The Economist] Volume 401 Number 8760 Nov 19th - Nov 25th 2011
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