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Focus on environment
India’s dwindling tiger population will never recover and it will take a miracle to save those left from habitat destruction and poaching, a renowned expert said.Failure by authorities to understand the needs of tigers and provide protection has led to numbers falling to 1,300 now from around 3,700 in 2001/02, Valmik Thapar told Reuters.
“I believe that the government of the day failed the tigers of India and we cannot recover this population ever again,” said Thapar, who has spent the past three decades documenting the behaviour of tigers and crusading for their survival.
“A miracle is required to save the Indian tiger. But I don’t believe in miracles, as the commitment to save tigers is non-existent.”
India has half the world’s surviving tigers, but their populations have suffered, driven by a demand for tiger skins and bones in China for traditional medicines.
Thapar, 55, has written 15 books about tigers and presented around 20 documentaries for broadcasters and channels such as the BBC, National Geographic, Discovery and Animal Planet.—Reuters
At the third annual Clinton Global Initiative philanthropic soiree recently, actor Brad Pitt pledged $5 million in matching funds to build about 150 green homes in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward neighbourhood, one of the most troubled areas in the city.“We’re going to help make it right with 150 sustainable, affordable houses — houses that stand out for their design both aesthetically and structurally, so that these people can live in beautiful safe structures that respect their spirit and provide a good quality of life,” said Pitt.
Other funding pledged at the high-profile conference included money for education and health initiatives for especially needy areas around the world.
Green group Lights Out San Francisco is encouraging residents to turn off all unnecessary lights between 8:00pm and 9:00pm on Saturday, October 20, to raise awareness of energy use.
Nate Tyler, a former Google spokesperson who is spearheading the campaign, was inspired by a trip to Sydney during its annual light-extinguishing Earth Hour in March. He has printed up “Good Things Happen in the Dark” T-shirts and plans to give away 110,000 energy-efficient bulbs on the day of darkness.
Tiny particles of air pollution — less than one tenth the width of a human hair — can trigger clotting in the blood, US researchers said in a finding that helps explain how air pollution causes heart attacks and strokes.
Large population studies have shown pollution from the exhaust of trucks, buses and coal-burning factories increases the risk of fatal heart attacks and strokes.
But researchers have not understood how these microscopic particles actually kill people.
“We now know how the inflammation in the lungs caused by air pollutants leads to death from cardiovascular disease,” said Dr Gokhan Mutlu of Northwestern University in Chicago, who studied the effects of air pollution in mice.
Lungs inflamed by pollution secrete interleukin-6, an immune system compound that sparks inflammation and has been shown to make blood more likely to clot.
The research appears in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. It follows a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that found breathing diesel fumes interfered with heart attack survivors’ ability to break down blood clots.
The researchers now plan to study whether aspirin can counteract the clotting effect in mice. Low-dose aspirin helps thin the blood and is already recommended for people with heart problems.
Britain announced a voluntary initiative that will phase out traditional incandescent light bulbs in the country by 2011. Officials predict that phasing in compact fluorescent lights will keep up to 5.5 million tons of carbon dioxide a year out of the atmosphere.
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