some environmental news, 3.25.09

How Big Is That Widening Gyre of Floating Plastic? via the Wall Street Journal

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as it has been called, has become a symbol of what some say is a looming crisis over trash. But this floating mass of plastic in the Pacific Ocean is hard to measure, and few agree on how big it is or how much plastic it holds. That makes it difficult to determine what to do about it.

What is still true, no matter how big the size, the marine life is eating, and as a result dying from, this plastic.  And what is also true… we are putting it there and it will be our job to get it out.

Rise in malaria rates, drug resistance tied to climate, via the Daily Climate

 

The malaria parasite is highly sensitive to changes in temperature, and even subtle warming can dramatically increase populations of the mosquitoes that transmit the disease, said ecologist Mercedes Pascual.

Some scientists have argued that climate is not involved in the increasing highland epidemics. Instead, they say, adaptations in the parasite that make it resistant to anti-malarial drugs are the key drivers.

But Pascual said that this “either-or” view is misguided and improperly lets global warming off the hook.

 

‘Flawed’ Red List putting species at risk, via The New Scientist

 IS probably the most influential barometer of extinction risk, yet the Red List is unscientific and frequently wrong. So claim a growing number of conservation scientists, including several who help compile it. While no one wants to see an end to the Red List, which covers 45,000 species, many fear that the sometimes shaky methods behind the creation of the listings are downplayed, meaning time, money and effort can be misdirected trying to save “safe” species while others creep towards extinction.

10 Easy Ways to be Labeled a “Terrorist” by the Government, via PlanetSave

8.) Attend VEGAN potlucks!!!:  While Al-Qaeda continues to release video communiques threatening Americans, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces are using anti-terrorism resources to attempt to infiltrate vegan potlucks.