By John Waters
Publisher, The Big Bend Gazette
February 20, 2007
As part of a major push to increase recreational opportunities at Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) officials have released a Public Use Plan and conducted public meetings in Marfa and Austin seeking input.
“I’m pretty impressed,” said Jeff Renfrow of the Big Bend Trails Alliance who attended the Austin meeting. “The plan is very ambitious. If it comes to fruition it will be fantastic.”
Continue Reading Big Bend Ranch State Park to increase recreation, offer largest park hiking trail system in Texas
Posted by Paul on March 28, 2007
By Simon Romero
The New York Times
March 21, 2007
SAN FERNANDO DE APURE, Venezuela, March 17 — As dusk fell on the tropical wetland crawling with iguanas and small crocodilian caimans, José Ismael Jiménez pointed his harpoon at a rodent about the size of a Labrador retriever. With aim that comes from years of practice, he landed his spear on the back of its head.
But this hunt was not about ridding the country’s southern plains of varmints. It was about what’s for dinner.
The hunter’s only goal was the meat of the capybara, reputed to be the world’s largest rodent. Unlike other South American countries, including Argentina and Brazil, where capybaras are raised mainly for their hides, here the rodent’s meat is a sought-after delicacy, fetching prices almost double those for beef.
“This job is harder than cattle,” Mr. Jiménez said while on a nighttime hunt on Hato Santa Luisa, a ranch spread over more than 40,000 acres on Venezuela’s plains. “But it’s just as rewarding.”
Continue Reading In Venezuela, Rodents Can Be a Delicacy
Posted by Paul on March 20, 2007
Reuters
March 13, 2007
PARIS - Environmental group Greenpeace launched a fresh attack on genetically modified maize developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto, saying on Tuesday that rats fed on one version developed liver and kidney problems.
Greenpeace said a study it had commissioned that was published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Technology showed rats fed for 90 days on Monsanto’s MON863 maize showed “signs of toxicity” in the liver and kidneys.
“It is the first time that independent research, published in a peer-reviewed journal, has proved that a GMO authorized for human consumption presents signs of toxicity,” Arnaud Apoteker, a spokesman for Greenpeace France said in a statement.
Continue Reading GMO corn causes liver, kidney problems in rats: study
Posted by Paul on March 15, 2007
By Blake Schmidt
Tico Times Staff
March 09 - March 15, 2007
SIQUIRRES, Limón — It’s changing the lives of women like Isabel Granja, a Costa Rican bone cancer amputee who hobbles from house to house along the dusty streets, selling clothes and tamales.
And women like Guisella Quirós, a taciturn Tica mother of seven who sweats and smiles amid Caribbean heat in the pulpería she made out of half of her home.
And like Gloria Portillo, a Salvadoran war refugee and single mom whose late diabetic husband inspired her to become a shoemaker. She turned her dining table into a shoe display case.
“My idea is to add another room and make a little workshop,” said the aspiring cobbler, standing in her living room that is also her office and shoe store. “It’s my dream.”
Continue Reading Microcredits Help Women in Limón
Posted by Paul on March 12, 2007
By Clifford Krauss
The New York Times
March 7, 2007
NILAND, Calif. — The idea of replacing crude oil with algae may seem like a harebrained way to clean up the planet and bolster national security.
But Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones and her husband, David Jones, are betting their careers and personal fortunes that they can grow masses of the slimy organism and use its natural photosynthesis process to produce a plentiful supply of biofuel.
A few companies are in a race to be first to convert algae to fuel on a commercial scale, and it will require not a small amount of money, luck and biotech tweaking.
Continue Reading Venture Capitalists Want to Put Some Algae in Your Tank
Posted by Paul on March 07, 2007
Global warming concerns are pushing bulbmakers and environmentalists to talk about phasing out the common light bulb.
By Mark Clayton
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
February 28, 2007
Is Thomas Edison’s most famous invention, the incandescent light bulb, about to fizzle into obscurity?
Thanks to global warming, the ban-the-bulb movement is gaining strength. Australian officials and European lighting manufacturers have announced phaseouts of the energy-draining bulb. A California legislator has proposed a ban. Now, in a move that could speed the move away from the 128-year-old invention, some of the world’s largest bulbmakers have joined environmental groups and the California Energy Commission in talks that could lead to a phaseout in the US within a decade, sources say.
Continue Reading Bye-bye, incandescent bulb?
Posted by Paul on March 04, 2007
