Amazon Jungle sees rise in deforestation: report

File photo showing an illegal deforestation
project for soy production, in Brazil's
State of Mato Grosso.

Amazon Jungle sees rise in deforestation: report
July 8, 2013 | Press TV

New data show an increase in the rate of deforestation of the Amazon Jungle, a trend nearing a full year’s reversal of progress in the fight against the destruction of the world's largest rainforest.

Satellite images showed 465 square kilometers (180 square miles) of deforestation taking place in May, an almost five-fold increase in forest loss relative to May 2012, Brazil's National Space Research Institute, INPE, stated in a report on Friday.

Brazil accounted for most of the clearing, with 59 percent of the loss in the southern state of Mato Grosso known for its industrial-sized farms and cattle ranching.

The study also revealed a 14-percent increase in deforestation compared to last year.

Scientists and environmentalists said the trend marks a reversal in gains against deforestation in Brazil, though other Amazon countries also witnessed a rise in deforestation since 2011.

The reason is unknown, but experts attribute the deforestation to government infrastructure projects, environmental policy, and a rise in demand for soybeans and other Brazilian farm exports, which encourage ranchers to clear private land in the Amazon.

The Amazon rainforest covers territory belonging to nine nations, with more than 60 percent located in Brazil, followed by Peru with 13 percent, Columbia with 10 percent, and minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

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Nanotechnology could reduce plant's ability to produce food

© John Dziekan/Chicago Tribune/MCT)
Fresh soybeans

Nanotechnology could reduce plant's ability to produce food
Nov 21, 2012 | Common Dreams

'There could be unintended consequences ... if we're not careful.'

Long term use of nanotechnology to affect everything from stain-resistant clothing to more efficient fuel could reduce a plant's ability to produce food, according to a study of soybeans at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

Scientists planted soybeans in soil doused with two kinds of metallic nanoparticles to determine whether the materials would become part of the plants.

In both cases, the substances became part of the plants. In ground spiked with zinc oxide nanoparticles, soybeans seemed to fare slightly better than normal. In soil treated with cerium oxide nanoparticles, the plants grew fewer leaves and punier bean pods," Scott Canon of The Kansas City Star reports. "That raises implications for the fields of Kansas, Missouri and the rest of the Grain Belt where, scientists presume, manufactured nanoparticles have been accumulating for a few decades now.

And nanotechnology could wreak havoc elsewhere, including in sewage plants, after chemicals wash off into local wastewater treatment facilities.

According to the study, "The results provide a clear, but unfortunate, view of what could arise over the long term (including that) plant growth and yield diminished ... Juxtaposed against widespread land application of wastewater treatment biosolids to food crops, these findings forewarn of agriculturally associated human and environmental risks from the accelerating use of (manufactured nanomaterial)."

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Chemical Revolution Beginning in 1940's Linked to Rise in Obesity, Autism, Mental Illness

© machinewrench.com

Chemical Revolution Beginning in 1940's Linked to Rise in Obesity, Autism, Mental Illness by Ryan Flynn

 The World War II generation may have passed down to their grandchildren the effects of chemical exposure in the 1940s, possibly explaining current rates of obesity, autism and mental illness, according to one researcher.

David Crews, professor of psychology and zoology at the University of Texas at Austin, theorized that the rise in these diseases may be linked to environmental effects passed on through generations. His research showed that descendants of rats exposed to a crop fungicide were less sociable, more obese and more anxious than offspring of the unexposed.

The results, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are part of a growing field of study that suggests environmental damage to cells can cause inherited changes and susceptibility to disease. Crews said his findings are applicable to humans.

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