Terms: trees
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- Trees, Water, and Soil (Journey to Forever)
Shows how loss of trees destroys the topsoil and how the topsoil can be built again. 12-00
- Tree Production of Oxygen - Ancient Trees Changed the Atmosphere (Spacer.com)
Provides the result of research that found trees to be the cause of a large change in the Earth's atmosphere by increasing the oxygen. 12-00
- Saving Soil and Trees While Fighting Hunger (Washington Post)
"Dr. Pedro Sanchez loves dirt. The prize-winning soil scientist says that poor quality soil is the cause of many of the evils that plague poor countries, from hunger and poverty to environmental devastation caused by slash-and-burn farming."
"...Sanchez has helped teach 150,000 small-scale African farmers how to boost grain production by bettering their dirt — that is, by replenishing soil nutrients with nitrogen from native vegetation and phosphates from rocks."
"As a result, those farmers can feed their families without having to burn more forests to get fertile land." 8-02
- Trees Save San Antonio Millions of Dollars (Environment News Service)
"Tree cover around San Antonio is saving the city about $70 million a year in ecological services, shows a study released today by conservation group American Forests." "The study revealed the value of the area's tree cover for storm water management, air quality and energy conservation." 11-02
- -01-02-06 Study: Where We Plant Trees Is Important (ScienceDaily.com)
"The researchers found that while tropical forests help keep Earth cool by evaporating a great deal of water, northern forests tend to warm the Earth because they absorb a lot of sunlight without losing much moisture." 01-06
- Plant the Right Trees for Better Carbon Sequestration (ABC News)
""Syracuse researchers found that if they could replant their city with trees that are great at sequestering carbon compounds, especially carbon dioxide, they could increase the removal of carbon by more than 300 percent. But they also found that air quality would actually suffer from an increase in volatile compounds."
"So they looked at mixing the forest, emphasizing trees that are good performers when it comes to carbon sequestration and don't emit a lot of junk. They came up with a list of 31 species, including American basswood, dogwood, Eastern white pine, Eastern red cedar, gray birch, red maple and river birch. That combination, they found, would increase carbon sequestration by 86 percent, and reduce the emission of volatile compounds by 88 percent."
Editor's Note: Trees also increase oxygen in the air, of course. 02-07
- Arguments for Caution When Using Trees for Carbon Sequestration (Mongabay.com)
"Overall, about 20 percent more of the water provided by precipitation was removed by current tree farming, the study estimated. And additional planting of trees for carbon mitigation will likely have large impacts on water resources of many nations that net less than 30 percent of what precipitation provides for their total annual supplies of fresh water, the authors predicted." 07-08
- Genealogy Best Links (Rand)
Provides three search tools, tips, historical information, ethnic resources, reference information, and specific surname family trees.
- Giraffes (African Wildlife Foundation)
Provides facts and a picture. "They occasionally eat grass and fruits of various trees and shrubs, but their principal food source is the acacia tree. The tree's sharp horns do not seem to stop the giraffe, which has a long, muscular tongue specially adapted to select, gather and pluck foliage." 1-01
- Leopards (African Wildlife Foundation)
Provides facts and a picture. "Both lions and hyenas will take away a leopard's kill if they can. To prevent this leopards store their larger kills in trees where they can feed on them in relative safety." 1-01
- Kyoto Protocol Meeting Fails (CNN)
Describes the failure of nations to agree on limits on greenhouse gases to reduce global warming, a condition that is likely to result in catastrophic weather changes for the planet. The United States was regarded as a barrier to an agreement because it demanded the right to plant trees to offset its rate of pollution. 11-00
- Tree Planting (American Forests)
Provides information on tree planting. Research suggests that urban areas need at least 40 percent coverage of trees for good quality of life. Trees reduce pollution, keep water in the soil, provide oxygen to the air, and provide shade from the sun during the summer to reduce air conditioning costs. 9-01
- Tree Planting (Times of India)
Describes a program to increase the number of trees available in Mumbai, India. Gives information on how much trees provide oxygen to the air. 12-00
- Tree Care in Cities (TreeLink.org - TreePeople)
Provides instructions on the care of trees in cities. 12-00
- Tree Production of Oxygen (Captain Jack Communications)
Claims that an acre of Christmas trees produce oxygen for 18 people. Does not provide the source for the claim. 12-00
- Tools for Problem Solving (Mind Tools)
Provides a sequence of tools, including critical path analysis, brainstorming, decision trees, force field analysis, PMI, and SWOT analysis. 1-01
- Benefits of Recycling (FunnyGreetings.com)
Provides clear examples of the benefits of various kinds of recycling, such as how many trees are saved. 3-01
- Reduce Global Warming - Ten Things You Can Do (Sierra Club)
Provides 10 suggestions for reducing use of fossil fuels and increasing the number of trees to reduce global warming. 2-01
- Tree Destruction - Asian Longhorned Beetle (American Forests)
Describes one of the most destructive insects (for trees). 9-01
- Jihad and Biological or Chemical Warfare (Mercury News - Scheinin)
Provides results of an interview with Hamza Yusuf, an Islamic scholar. "The Prophet Muhammad said, 'Do not cut down fruit-bearing trees and do not poison the wells of your enemies.'" 10-01
- Adopt a Tree (ILoveThatTeachingIdea.com)
Provides a project to help children appreciate trees through getting to know one tree well. 2-02
- Second Oldest Hominids - Six Million Years Old (Origins of Humankind - McKie)
Discusses the reason that the [second] oldest hominid fossil, Orrorin tugenensis, was bipedal or walked on two legs. "So they must have learnt to walk in the trees, using branches to help them adopt an upright manner. As the team point out, Orrorin had curved hand and arm bones, typical of a creature that used to hang on to vines and creepers as it moved about." 5-02
- 05-15-02 China Starts World's Largest Reforestation Effort (Guardian Unlimited)
"After decades of logging that has left large swathes of the country looking like a desert wasteland, China embarked Tuesday on a $12 billion, 10-year program to plant 170,000 square miles of trees - an area roughly the size of California."
"It is the largest reforestation project ever, forestry officials said, suggesting only an unprecedented effort can stop the expanding deserts, chronic droughts and deadly flooding blamed on wholesale logging."
- Tree Planting - Climate Change Calculator (American Forests)
Shows how many trees are needed to counterbalance your use of fossil fuel energy. 7-02
- Gravity Shielding Experiments Explained (PopularMechanics.com - Wilson)
"Isaac Newton, the first physicist, described gravity as an attraction between two masses (see illustration at top of page). Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity suggests mass actually causes space-time to warp around it. Imagine, for instance, the indentation created by placing a bowling ball on a soft bed.
Both theories explain why apples fall from trees. Scientists consider Einstein's theory superior because it explains also why light–which has no mass–appears to bend in strong gravitational fields."
"Most physicists believe that when NASA flips the switch on its gravity modification experiment, absolutely nothing will happen. Then again, it could start the countdown to a bold new era in space exploration." Editor's Note - The article is dated December, 1997. In August, 2002, Boeing Aircraft announced that it is building an anti-gravity device for NASA. 8-02
- Fires - National Fire Plan (Washington Post - Llanos and Johnson)
"The administration, which has promoted a variety of land policies that have antagonized environmentalists, is hoping to capitalize on the heightened anxiety that has spread this season, along with the fires, across the western United States."
"Specifically, the administration official and White House documents released tonight said that Congress should change land laws so government agencies could permit long-term 'stewardship contracts' with private companies, which would be permitted to keep wood products in exchange for thinning trees and removing brush and dead wood."
"Environmentalists immediately characterized Bush’s proposals as misguided and unnecessary, because western governors have worked with conservation groups to finalize a new 10-year strategy to prevent wildfires and reduce the threat they pose to people and property near the edge of forests." 8-02
- Fires - National Fire Plan (Washington Post - Goldstein)
"The administration, which has promoted a variety of land policies that have antagonized environmentalists, is hoping to capitalize on the heightened anxiety that has spread this season, along with the fires, across the western United States."
"Specifically, the administration official and White House documents released tonight said that Congress should change land laws so government agencies could permit long-term 'stewardship contracts' with private companies, which would be permitted to keep wood products in exchange for thinning trees and removing brush and dead wood."
"Environmentalists immediately characterized Bush’s proposals as misguided and unnecessary, because western governors have worked with conservation groups to finalize a new 10-year strategy to prevent wildfires and reduce the threat they pose to people and property near the edge of forests." 8-02
- 12-03-03 Bush Signs Bill for Thinning Forests (CNN News)
"Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colorado, who sponsored the House version of the legislation, compared the measure to President Theodore Roosevelt's call for the establishment of the National Forest system 99 years ago this week."
"Critics, however, decried it as a payback to the timber industry, which will get greater access to pristine stands of old-growth trees." 12-03
- Bald Cypress Forests (MSNBC News)
"A tree can inspire awe better than any man-made structure, particularly one that has eclipsed its brethren and thumbed its 'knees' at man’s efforts to turn it into something useful. On Day 12 of our two-week journey down the Mississippi River, we came face-to-trunk with one such forest monarch and met some locals who, while they have very different perspectives on the best uses for trees, share a deep love for a special piece of Louisiana swamp." 8-04
- Solar Cooking Boxes (JourneytoForever.org)
Shows how to build a solar cooker using a cardboard box. "Research has found that 36% of the world's fuelwood needs (or 350 million tonnes of wood per year, according to UNICEF) could be replaced by solar box cookers, saving 500 kg of wood per family per year, equalling millions of trees." 10-04
- -04-10-05 Homeland Security Fund Abused (CBS News)
"Cox says the bulk of the anti-terrorism money should have gone to protecting high risk targets, instead of being doled out to every local community in the country, whether they need it or not. 'In some cases, the money just arrives," he says. "It's as if you've won the Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes.' "
"Converse, Texas, first used its new homeland security trailer to transport riding lawn mowers to the annual lawnmower races."
"Newark, N.J., spent a quarter of a million dollars on air-conditioned garbage trucks. In Columbus, Ohio, the fire department is buying bulletproof dog vests for its canine corps. And Mason County, Wash., famous mostly for its Christmas trees, spent $63,000 for a decontamination unit that no one’s been trained to use. It’s been sitting in boxes in a warehouse for a year." 4-05
- Theistic Evolutionism (NCSEWeb.org)
"At the end of the Middle Ages, European tradition held that all of the Earth´s inhabitants had been created by God in one place, the Garden of Eden, soon after the formation of the earth. But as the scientific revolution began to unfold some 400 years ago, naturalists started to catalog fossils according to the layers in which they were found. Soon a very unexpected and troubling pattern emerged.”
"The deepest (and oldest) layers showed mostly unfamiliar species, but higher (younger) layers contained fossilized remains that resembled living organisms. If what naturalists found had been consistent with traditional beliefs, fossils found in every layer should not have looked different from those that living species would leave if fossilized. Elephants, tigers, palm trees, and people should have left a record of their presences even in the most deeply buried layers, but they didn´t. Clearly, traditional belief had to be modified to explain the succession of fossil types seen in the fossil record.”
"What, then, is the position of the majority of religious Americans about 'creation'? Anglicans, Catholics, most Protestant Christians, and Conservative and Reformed Jews believe that God is the Creator, but that he works through the process of evolution, as revealed through modern science. This position is known as theistic evolutionism, and is widespread among modern theologians. It is a little-known fact that Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, the United Church of Christ and many other denominations do not believe that Creation occurred literally as described in Genesis. In fact, the majority of Christian seminaries do not teach a Biblical literalist creation." 9-05
- Terraforming Mars - Short Description (NASA - Quest)
"First, greenhouse gases, like chlorofluorocarbons that contribute to the growing ozone layer on Earth, will be released into the atmosphere. This traps the heat from the Sun and raises the surface temperature by an average of 4 degrees Celsius."
"The increasing temperature would vaporize some of the carbon dioxide in the south polar cap. Introducing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would produce additional warming, melting more of the polar cap until it has been vaporized completely. This would produce an average temperature rise of 70 degrees Celsius."
"With the temperature this high, ice will start melting, providing the water needed to sustain life. This water would raise the atmospheric pressure to the equivalent of some mountaintops. While this would be a survivable level, it may still require the use of an oxygen mask. The next step, which may take up to several centuries, would be to plant trees that thrive on carbon dioxide and produce oxygen." 02-06
- Study: Arctic Was Once Tropical (Washington Times)
"First-of-its-kind core samples dug up from deep beneath the Arctic Ocean floor show that 55 million years ago an area near the North Pole was practically a subtropical paradise, three new studies show."
"Millions of years ago the Earth experienced an extended period of natural global warming. But about 55 million years ago there was a sudden supercharged spike of carbon dioxide that accelerated the greenhouse effect."
"Scientists already knew this 'thermal event' happened but are not sure what caused it. Perhaps massive releases of methane from the ocean, the continent-sized burning of trees, numerous volcanic eruptions." 05-06
- Starting the "Dark Ages" (Wikipedia.org)
"In the years 535 and 536, several remarkable aberrations in world climate took place. The Byzantine historian Procopius recorded of 536, "during this year a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness… and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear." Tree ring analysis by dendrochronologist Mike Baillie, of the Queen's University of Belfast, shows abnormally little growth in Irish oak in 536 and another sharp drop in 542, after a partial recovery. Similar patterns are recorded in tree rings from Sweden and Finland, in California's Sierra Nevada and in rings from Chilean Alerce trees." 10-06
- -04-30-07 Cancer-Fighting Drug Found in Soil (Live Science)
"The bark of certain yew trees can yield a medicine that fights cancer. Now scientists find the dirt that yew trees grow in can supply the drug as well, suggesting a new way to commercially harvest the medicine."
"Scientists originally isolated the drug paclitaxel—now commonly known as Taxol—in 1967 from the bark of Pacific yew trees (Taxus brevifolia) in a forest near the Mount St. Helens in Washington. This yew also yields related compounds known as taxanes that can be converted to paclitaxel. Research since then has revealed other yew species generate paclitaxel and taxanes as well, as do some fungi and certain hazelnut varieties." 04-07
- Climate Change Basics (BBC News)
"Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main greenhouse gas of concern. A finite amount of carbon is stored in fossil fuels, the sea, living matter and the atmosphere."
"Without human influence, transfers between these stores roughly balance each other – for example, plants absorb carbon as they grow, but release it as they decay."
"But when humans cut down trees or burn fossil fuels, they release extra carbon into the atmosphere, increasing the greenhouse effect." 05-07
- Carbon Offsets a Solution? (ABC News)
"People worried about global warming increasingly are trying to 'offset' the carbon dioxide the leading greenhouse gas they spew into the atmosphere when they drive, fly or flick on a light. One idea popular with the eco-conscious is to have trees planted for them. You get to keep driving and flying, but those trees are supposed to suck in your trail of carbon." 05-07
- -Editorial: What Live Earth Really Meant (Time Magazine)
"Live Earth's success will be measured not by the number of trees the initiative plants or the number of energy-efficient light-bulbs sold as a result, but by whether it motivates concertgoers to make climate-change their generation's political priority, and press their leaders to act on it." 07-07
- Cisterns (University of Florida)
"Gutters and downspouts should be easy to clean and inspect. Rainwater picks up dust, soot, bird droppings, leaves and other foreign materials that add objectionable organisms, color and odor to the water. Do not collect water under overhanging trees. Gutter guards and roof washers can improve the quality of the collected water."
"Gutter guards made of 1/4" to 1/2" mesh hardware cloth placed over the gutters keep out leaves and other large objects. Sand, gravel or charcoal filters are sometimes used to filter water before it enters the cistern but they require frequent maintenance to prevent contamination."
"Roof washers are cheaper to construct and need less maintenance than filters. A roof washer traps the first flow from the roof and channels this dirty water away from the cistern. After the first flow, the water from the rest of the rainfall flows to the cistern. The roof washer should have a capacity of about 10 gallons for each 1000 square feet of roof area." 08-07
- Algae for Biofuel and Ethanol (Popular Mechanics.com)
"Given the right conditions, algae can double its volume overnight. Unlike other biofuel feedstocks, such as soy or corn, it can be harvested day after day. Up to 50 percent of an alga’s body weight is comprised of oil, whereas oil-palm trees—currently the largest producer of oil to make biofuels—yield just about 20 percent of their weight in oil."
GreenFuel hopes its pilot plant will see initial yields of 8000 gallons of biodiesel and 5000 gallons of ethanol per acre of algae."
Editor's Note: A reader made this comment: "The articvle is incorrect on many points. The Algae that reproduces 100%, or doubles, in 24 hours or less, does not manufacture the oil stock of biodiesel. The algae that produces hydrocarbons is botryococcus braunii China Strain 1 or 2. This particular algae produces hydrocarbons of up to 60% of its DRY WEIGHT. It doubles itself every 2 to 4 days, considerably slower than the articles noted rate. This algae also has a life cycle that slows down even under the best of conditions." 07-08
- Reduce Wasted Paper Printing (GreenPrinter.com)
GreenPrint eliminates wasteful pages in any printout automatically, saving you time and money, and maybe more importantly, saving trees, reducing greenhouse gasses, and decreasing waste."
"GreenPrint's patent-pending technology does this by analyzing each page of every document sent to the printer and looking for typical waste characteristics (like that last page with just a URL, banner ad, logo, or legal jargon)." 11-08
- Aye Aye (A-Z Animals)
"The aye aye has rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger that fills the same ecological niche as a woodpecker. The aye aye taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood and inserts its long middle finger into the hole to pull the grubs out." 01-09
- Bears (A-Z Animals)
"Most bears are nocturnal, solitary animals only really congregating during the bears mating season. The mother bear will then raise her cubs until they too, are old enough to live on their own. Bears generally have an excellent sense of smell and are also fantastic at climbing trees, swimming and are able to run at speeds of up to 35 mph for short periods of time."
The sub-species of bears include: Asian Black Bear, Black Bear, Brown Bear, Giant Panda Bear, Grizzly Bear, Polar Bear, Spectacled Bear, and Sun Bear. 01-09
- Biochar for Long-Term Carbon Sequestration (Guardian.co.uk)
"Biochar is a type of charcoal produced by heating crop wastes, wood or other biomass in a simple kiln designed to limit the presence of oxygen. This process, known as pyrolysis, creates rather than consumes energy, as more combustible gases are released than are needed to heat up the kiln."
"Biochar is made largely of carbon, which the crops or trees previously sucked out of the air in the form of CO2. Unlike crop wastes and wood, it's an extremely stable substance, which if mixed into soil will safely lock up its carbon content for hundreds or even thousands of years – a biological form of carbon capture and storage."
"If biochar is mixed with poor-quality tropical soils, it has an important added benefit: it can significantly boost crop productivity, reduce nitrous oxide and methane emissions and improve soil structures." 08-09
- -02-23-09 NASA To Launch Its First Carbon-Testing Satellite (PBS News)
"The mission's purpose is to map global CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, which scientists can use to pinpoint sources of CO2 emissions and areas where CO2 is being removed from the air through absorption, called 'sinks.' "
"In the earth's natural carbon cycle, trees, land plants and oceans can act as carbon sinks. Scientists know that humans emit approximately 8 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year, mostly through burning fossil fuels. But of those 8 billion tons of carbon, less than 4 billion tons remain in the atmosphere. Scientists know that the oceans absorb about 2 billion tons but that leaves more than 2 billion tons of carbon being absorbed somewhere on land. And scientists working on land haven't been able to find evidence that trees and plants absorb that much CO2."
"According to Crisp, there's another intriguing layer to the mystery of the missing sink. 'The bigger puzzle is that the amount of CO2 that stays in the atmosphere from one year to the next changes dramatically,' he said. 'Some years the earth absorbs almost all of the CO2 that humans emit, and other years it absorbs almost none. We don't know why.' "
"While NASA's satellite will measure CO2 sinks, Ibuki will concentrate on CO2 sources. Crisp says the teams are looking forward to sharing data and results, both with each other and the global scientific community."
Editor's Note: The rocket launch failed and the satellite was destroyed. 02-09
- Carbon Capture and Storage (Wikipedia.org)
"Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an approach to mitigating the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to global warming, based on capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from large point sources such as fossil fuel power plants. It can also be used to describe the scrubbing of CO2 from ambient air as a geoengineering technique. The carbon dioxide can then be permanently stored away from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide capture and storage can also be used to describe biological techniques such as biochar burial, which use trees, plankton, etc. to capture CO2 from the air. However, it is more conventional to use the term 'carbon capture and storage' to describe non-biological processes." 03-09
- -04-26-09 California Regulators Push for Low Carbon Intensity Fuels (SciTech.com)
"The California Air Resources Board (CARB) late Thursday approved the controversial Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which would force fuel producers to lower their 'carbon intensity' of their products by 10 percent by 2020."
"Makers of ethanol said the rating system unfairly ties their U.S.-made corn-based fuel to mass deforestation – not in the United States – but in developing nations. Ethanol critics say the entire biofuel industry should bear global responsibility for clearing of trees to make farmland to grow crops that will be used to make the fuel." 04-09
- Mycorrhizal Fungus (CleanAirGardening.com)
"Mycorrhizal fungi are tiny, harmless critters that attach themselves to plant roots and actually help plants to make use of water and organic nutrients in the soil. They live on the roots of roughly 95% of all earth’s plant species. In exchange for what they provide the plant, the plant offers the fungi a meal of sugars (fixed carbon) produced by the photosynthesis process."
"Mycorrhizal fungi populate the area around a plant’s roots and form very thin filaments, adding to the length and efficiency of a plant’s roots. This is like having a second set of roots for the plants. Thus, plants, trees, and shrubs with a well established mycorrhizal fungal root system are better able to survive droughts and transplant shock. They also absorb more nutrients from the soil."
"Plants with mycorrhizal fungi can survive better in their non-native environments, or that is to say, environments that don’t necessarily reflect the ideal environments for their survival, such as urban areas and home gardens. Mycorrhizal fungi also boost a plant’s immune system, making them resistant to soil-borne pathogens. In addition, they help to keep parasitic nematodes away." 05-09
- -05-29-09 Schwarzenegger Plan to Close 220 California Parks (ABC News)
"California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed closing up to 220 state parks to help cut the state's $24.3 billion deficit, including popular attractions for millions of visitors each year, such as a park that is home to some of the tallest trees on Earth."
" 'When you cut that much, you have to let go highly trained teams of biologists that you can't get back in a year or two,' Huffman said of the park cuts. 'It's a myth to think you can mothball the entire system. These cuts will cripple the park system for a decade or more.' " 05-09
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[Dr. Jerry Adams at jadams@awesomelibrary.org.]
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