By the year 2150, over 50% of schools in the USA or Western Europe will require classes in defending against robot attacks.
More recently, scientists around the world have recognized that wetlands play a significant role in climate regulation because their lush plant life takes up carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. "Since beavers work for free," Brown said, "promoting and protecting beaver wetlands can be a cost-effective way to alleviate global warming and other serious environmental problems, such as the quantity and quality of available water."
Beavers are native to North America, Europe and Asia, including China, where they are considered "vulnerable" with only an estimated 800 animals surviving in the far West. Beaver populations worldwide were hunted to near extinction in the past, because of the value of their fur. Today sixteen countries are actively working to restore healthy beaver populations due to growing awareness that this species' greatest value is not its lustrous pelt, but instead, its ability to restore vital wetlands.
"For decades beavers have been relocated to arid states in the U.S. West to restore wetlands, raise water tables and create fish habitat," Brown said. Because there are many dry areas in China too, she suggested studying that country's beaver population to see whether relocation of beaver pairs to huge areas reforested with hybrid poplar might be feasible to improve the local water quality and quantity. Beaver cutting of poplar is called sustainable harvesting as it stimulates new growth from the trees' roots.
Live Earth's First Green Test: Clean Up Own Mess:Live Earth concerts on Saturday meant to spur action to fight global warming must first tackle another environmental hazard -- mountains of trash and thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gases caused by the events.
DEVELOPMENT: THE POOR NEED BETTER CONTRACEPTION:… The use of contraceptives in poor countries needs to be actively promoted, the Dutch minister for development assistance has said. Bert Koenders, who recently marked his first 100 days as a member of the Dutch government, claimed that an “ideological campaign against condoms is sabotaging the fight against AIDS.” …
Aids cash could be switched to climate change fight : Billions of dollars currently targeted at fighting Aids could in a few years be redirected to tackling climate change - increasing the urgency for bigger steps soon against the killer disease, the world's largest Aids foundation has warned.
Malaysia Seizes 900 Monkeys from Wildlife Poachers : Malaysia has smashed a ring of wildlife smugglers and seized more than 900 poached monkeys destined for China or the Netherlands in what officials called their biggest seizure involving the animals so far, media said. "We believe the monkeys would end up as food in China, where they are said to be an aphrodisiac, and for laboratory studies in Holland," wildlife official Celescoriano Razond, who led the raid, told reporters.
Trial set for banana workers claiming pesticide left them sterile : The pesticide was designed to kill worms infesting the roots of banana trees on Latin American plantations.But at least 5,000 agricultural workers from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama have filed five lawsuits in this country claiming they were left sterile after being exposed in the 1970s to the pesticide known as DBCP.
Alternative Energy Hurt - By a Windmill Shortage : The race to build new sources of alternative energy from the wind is running into a formidable obstacle: not enough windmills.In recent years, improved technology has made it possible to build bigger, more efficient windmills. That, combined with surging political support for renewable energy, has driven up demand. Now, makers can't keep up -- mostly because they can't get the parts they need fast enough.
One of the criticisms made of the private sector is that it is short-termist. But often people make the mistake of believing that governments, bombarded by newspaper headlines and 24-hour television news, are somehow wonderfully long-termist. So I was both pleased and surprised to see Al Gore, father of An Inconvenient Truth, pointing out that:
In 2005, a group of local misfits won a costume contest at an 80's tv convention. These men promptly returned home and drank some beer. Today, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem and if no else can help and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-TEAM.