Struck by a double whammy for buying a green car

Letter from Tan Kiam Heong, Straits Times Forum 25 Jul 08;

I WISH to highlight the implications of buying a vehicle using compressed natural gas (CNG).

Before booking a CNG-fitted car, I checked and was told there was a special tax exemption on such cars until December next year.

Since then, I have been told the special tax is six times more than the road tax of a petrol-driven car.

I bought the CNG vehicle because I wished to be environment friendly and cut the cost of owning a car.

But that is not the case.

A CNG car may be environment-friendly, but it is costlier.

That is not all.

The recent steep hikes in CNG prices, which stand at $1.80 per kilo currently, are also a significant dampener.

When December next year arrives, owners will either have to pay or un-install or deregister the CNG car.

To me, neither option makes sense.

But I will have to choose one when the time comes.

I hope the authorities can explain why there is such a heavy tax on vehicles that are environment-friendly, as well as the ridiculous hikes in CNG prices in recent weeks, if not months.

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New manta ray species discovered

Cheryl-Samantha Owen, The Independent 24 Jul 08;

A new species of manta ray has been identified for the first time.

After five years of study a marine biologist has confirmed that a larger and more elusive manta is in fact a distinct species. Until now it was thought that there was only one manta ray species.

The newly-discovered species leads a different lifestyle to its smaller cousin and is migratory rather than residential.

Andrea Marshall is a PhD marine biologist sponsored by the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) to advance scientific knowledge of the ray whose large triangular pectoral fins can span almost 8m in width and can weigh more than 2,000 kg.

She suspected the existence of a separate species and was able to confirm her theory through genetic and morphological analysis. There may even be a third manta species that exists across temperate, tropical and subtropical waters worldwide.

Marshall revealed her findings at the American Elasmobranch Symposium in Canada.

In 2003 she moved to a small coastal village in southern Mozambique, to become the first marine biologist to study manta rays off the African coast.

Her observations of the unique spot patterns on the ventral surface of each ray enabled the identification of more than 900 individuals on a single reef, and she believes that southern Mozambique may boast the largest known population of manta rays in the world.

The discovery of a new species is likely to affect conservation ideas and policies about rays.
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The two species of manta have overlapping distributions and prior to Marshall's research they were thought to be one and the same kind.

The manta now confirmed as a distinct species is the larger of the two and shys away from divers rather than seeking interaction.

Little is known about its lifestyle or migration patterns and Marshall has only ever witnessed it arriving at sea-mounts or at particularly productive areas along a coastline to feed on plankton before disappearing back into the deep ocean.

Unlike the more resident species the ray is defenceless and does not possess a sting in its tail.

Other differences between the two species lie in colour, skin texture and reproductive biology. The smaller of the two species is not migratory and is often encountered at coral reefs where they congregate to be cleaned by parasite-eating fish in locations such as Hawaii, the Maldives, Mozambique, Australia, Japan and the Island of Yap.

The more commonly known ray resides in the same areas year round making it particularly susceptible to fishing pressure. If resident rays continue to be fished unsustainably they face localised extinction.

The larger rays, migrants and ocean wanderers which makes conservation management difficult, are fished heavily particularly in southeast Asia, and thousands are killed each year.

Many fall victim to ghost nets and are killed alongside other marine creatures as by-catch. Rays are also threatened by habitat degradation, boat traffic and disturbance by divers.

Marshall has also uncovered some of the reproductive behaviour of these mysterious giants which are the largest of the ocean's 500 different species of rays and skates. Manta rays are now known to give birth to a single large offspring about 1.4m in size after a year of gestation and, once reaching maturity at about 4m across, typically produce a pup every other year.

They perform elaborate and sophisticated courtship displays, are highly social and inquisitive, and may communicate with one another using specific body posturing and possibly sound.

SOSF aims to learn more about the role of marine species, particularly sharks and rays, and through this knowledge it hopes to raise awareness and conserve the marine realm.

For more information visit www.saveourseas.com.

New Manta Ray Species Discovered, Expert Says
Brian Handwerk, National Geographic News 31 Jul 08;

What scientists call the manta ray is actually at least two distinct species with unique behaviors and lifestyles, a scientist announced recently.

The more commonly known manta ray is smaller and more easily seen, usually staying near coasts.

Little is known about a second, larger species that avoids contact with humans and seems to have wider migration patterns. It also has evolutionary remnants of a spine and a harmless, nonstinging barb on its tail.

The two types—which are not yet named—also appear visually distinct, exhibiting unique colors and textures.

Andrea Marshall, a Ph.D candidate at Australia's University of Queensland, presented the findings last week in Montreal at a first-ever symposium of ray experts.

Graceful Giants

Manta rays are graceful giants in the ray family that can weigh over 4,400 pounds (2,000 kilograms).

Mantas may have wingspans of almost 25 feet (8 meters). The fish are also harmless and do not possess the poisonous barb found in some of their cousins, including some stingray species.

Australian environmentalist Steve Irwin was killed by such a barb.

While both manta species roam all the oceans, they appear to have a different lifestyle.

The smaller rays—familiar to divers in Hawaii, the Maldives, Mozambique, Australia, and Japan—are year-round residents of certain marine spots, such as coral reefs.

Scientists suspect the larger, more mysterious, rays are highly migratory animals that wander the world's seas.

Lucky Site

The species discovery was the unexpected result of five years of hard work and a bit of good fortune, Marshall said.

"As luck would have it, it looks like here in Mozambique is the only [known] location where we see both species interacting on the same reef," said Marshall, whose effort was funded by the Switzerland-based Save Our Seas Foundation.

Though much of Marshall's time was spent underwater, she also logged long hours collecting data around the world in a search for proof that the species were distinct.

To build her case she pursued evidence from DNA labs and Indonesian fishing villages, where the migrating species is still commonly caught.

Rachel Graham of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Punta Gorda, Belize, was impressed by Marshall's work, one of the longest-running manta studies ever conducted.

"We were just incredibly excited about this," she said. "The work was very in-depth and I think [for the most part] the group was convinced."

Conservation Challenges

The new species discovery will add to challenges for those seeking to protect the vulnerable, slow-to-reproduce rays.

The smaller manta species is at risk because of their limited range.

"If someone comes into a coastline or island group and starts up a fishery, you could wipe out that population in a year or two," University of Queensland's Marshall said.

"That would [threaten] regional extinction like what may [be happening] in the Gulf of California."

The migratory mantas provide their own challenges, she added. They respect no borders, so protection efforts must involve a complicated cooperation between many nations and groups.

"Both species face independent issues in terms of conservation management," Marshall said. "We have to understand the threats to each."

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Valuable seagrass faces global warming threat

Reuters 24 Jul 08;

GENEVA (Reuters) - Seagrass meadows, which are vital for the survival of much marine life and a source of household materials in Europe and Africa, face a mounting threat from global warming, a report said on Friday.

The report, from the Swiss-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said the submerged meadows -- many around the Mediterranean -- could be saved through concerted action by governments and scientists.

"Seagrass habitats are already declining due to increasing water temperatures, algae (seaweed) growth and light reduction, which are all effects of global change," said IUCN specialist Mats Bjork, one of the authors of the report.

The report said the grass -- flowering plants found in shallow waters around the globe -- provides food and shelter for prawn and fish populations and is used traditionally as mattress filling, roof covering and for medicines.

If much of it were to disappear, a wide range of species -- including dugongs, sea turtles, sea urchins and seabirds who feed on it -- would also come under increased threat, according to the report.

The report said some of the healthiest seagrass areas known to exist today were off the North African coast of Libya and Tunisia in areas where there had been little industrial or tourism development.

Carl Gustaf Lundin, head of IUCN's Global Marine Program, said the meadows could be saved by making seagrass more resilient to climbing temperatures through mixing genetically more diverse populations.

The report, issued at a conference in Barcelona, said the introduction of protected areas and linking the underwater meadows to nearby mangrove plantations or coral reefs would also give a huge boost to their chances of survival.

Lundin said it was also vital to extend research into how seagrass can be protected -- a effort already promoted by IUCN that would require governments and scientific institutions to devote resources and time.

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Coral grief

Jacques Cousteau was a pioneer in the study of marine biology, but new research shows the ocean life he explored could be dead within a few years

Tim Radford, guardian.co.uk 24 Jul 08;

A climatologist who is trying to explain why even the most immediate and drastic steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions may not save the coral reefs, has embarked on a metaphor for climate change.

"The climate is like this big ship, right? We are all on this big ship and the problem is once you hit the brakes it takes a long time for the ship to actually slow down and stop," says Simon Donner of the University of British Columbia.

"In our case the ship is the Titanic and we are going to hit the iceberg. It is going to be almost impossible for us not to hit the iceberg at this point. What we need to do is everything we can to put the brakes on, to slow the ship down and – to hope for the corals to help us – move the iceberg a little bit. The time for emission reductions isn't so much now, it was 20 years ago."

Modern marine biology is roughly 50 years old and comfortable with the language of the media, perhaps because it flowered from a happy mix of adventure and show business. Before about 1950, marine biology was prosecuted by men in laboratories who studied the damaged and incomplete contents of deepwater trawls or made guesses about the migrations of pelagic fish or paddled around rock pools between the tides. Then a French naval officer called Jacques Yves-Cousteau designed the aqualung, hired a ship called the Calypso and recruited a young cinematographer called Louis Malle to help him make a 1956 documentary called The Silent World, and marine biology began looking up, in the metaphorical sense.

For the first time, ichthyologists could swim with the fishes; they could go with the flow, they could mingle with the millions of other creatures that colonise the huge high-rise submarine apartment blocks of coral reef, they could follow the tides and go with the turtles and sharks into tropical estuaries and mangrove forests, they could stay put with the crustaceans or spout with the cetaceans. The world was their oyster, and they could have a whale of a time.

Because of Cousteau and his contemporaries – among them the best-selling US writer Rachel Carson, for instance, and the television film-maker Hans Hass – ocean science underwent (to exploit another yet irresistible cliché) a sea change. For the first time ever, researchers could take a sustained look at a fraction of the intricate ecology of the blue planet.

More than 70 per cent of the surface area of the Earth is covered by saltwater. Terrestrial animals occupy only the first few metres above and below the topsoil. They may colonise forest canopies, soar in thermal currents, or burrow deep into the mud, but most, like the biologists that study them, are essentially flatlanders. Sea creatures conversely have the run of one huge open-plan living space, from the sunlit surface of the Sargasso Sea to the abyssal plains of the Atlantic or the 11,000 metre depths of the Marianas Trench in the Pacific, spanning the planet from the North Pole to the Antarctic coastline. Marine biologists had a new world to explore, new stories to tell.

Earlier this month, about 3,000 of them gathered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the 11th international coral reef symposium. They included Australians at ease in Perpignan, Germans at home in Queensland, Americans who knocked around eastern coasts of Africa. They were all ages, but more than half were young and many of them were women. They spoke matter-of-factly of faraway places – of Pago Pago and Palau and the Flower Garden, of the Marianas and Chagos and Key Biscayne, of the Great Barrier and Okinawa and Mozambique. They were at home in the world's oldest environment, but theirs was in effect the youngest science. And many of them understood two things very clearly: that there was no point amassing their knowledge unless they could share it, and that there was no point in having something important to say unless they said it in words that everybody could understand.

One of the great messages of the conference was that as sea temperatures warm, corals bleach. That is, the little polyps eject the algae with which they live in an intricate and mutually helpful partnership. It isn't the same as death – bleaching is a survival mechanism – but it weakens the corals. The fear is that such events will happen more and more often in future. Douglas Fenner, a biologist working at the department of marine and wildlife resources in American Samoa told the conference that the future had already arrived. For the past five years, he had been watching corals bleach every summer in the fringing reefs off Pago Pago.

"There is a little bit of a caveat: this is happening in restricted pools where the water gets hotter than the open ocean. It is not happening on the open ocean reefs. But it is happening, and it is a window into the future. And it is not a particularly good view that I see. There are corals – not all, but some of them – that every summer are very close to death. There is essentially no step between where they are at, and dying. In one section of the pool, they spend almost the entire year bleaching. There is a very short period when they recover, just before the next summer's bleaching," he says. "A very slight increase in temperature, and death will start overwhelming the growth."

One of the other great messages of the conference was that as carbon dioxide levels rose, the seas would become increasingly acidic, and under such circumstances, corals would find it harder and harder to make the skeletons that become, quite literally, the backbone of all reefs. All marine biologists can do is warn everybody, and try to persuade governments to protect reefs from other human exploitation, to give them a better chance of survival. Reefs are the habitat for around one quarter of all marine species. One third of all reef building corals could be at some risk of extinction already. Five studies had already reported a slowing in the growth rate of massive corals, said Joan Kleypas of the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research. She faces a prospect that Cousteau and Hans Hass could never have imagined: a day when the corals have died, and the fish that depend on them have gone.

She calls it a "there-goes-the-neighbourhood situation," and "osteoporosis of the reef". She is addressing her fellow scientists, but they understand the peculiar irony of this kind of research, that you can discover something astounding, fashioned over millions of years only a few metres below the enigmatic surface of the ocean, and discover at the same time that in a few decades it could all be gone; that Cousteau's silent world may indeed soon become silent forever. It's a moment for straight talking, in terse, uncompromising language, to as many people as possible.

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Invasion of the jellyfish

Mediterranean on alert as hundreds suffer from stings
Matthew Kay in Paris, Elizabeth Nash in Madrid and Peter Popham in Rome
The Independent 24 Jul 08;

As thousands of tourists head to the Mediterranean, the spectre of jellyfish ruining holidays looms large after French emergency services received more than 500 calls for help in a single day along a 10-mile stretch of coast from Nice to Cannes.

Paddlers suffered painful stings and wanted something to treat the pain while swimmers reported that they had found themselves totally surrounded by a species commonly known as the mauve stinger.

It is a pattern being repeated along the shores of Mediterranean. As well as the Côte d'Azur, the coast of Liguria on the west coast of Italy, the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, parts of the Adriatic on Italy's east coast, and much of the southern – and even northern – coastlines of Spain have been hit.

Jellyfish have no autonomy of movement and are swept around the oceans by wind and tide. In the past they came billowing into the beaches once every 10 or 12 years. They stayed for three or four years then disappeared as mysteriously as they arrived. But not any more. This is the eighth year straight that they have stormed the smartest resorts in the Mediterranean.

Spaniards hoping to avoid the invasion by heading north have had to think again. The Portuguese Man o' War (Physalia physalis), whose sting can be fatal, is marauding the coasts of Cantabria and Asturias, which until now have managed to escape the seasonal plague. Winds have blown the creatures ashore in recent days, prompting warning flags to be flown.

At Nice and Cannes, the jellyfish menace vanished as quickly as it arrived, but scientists are in no doubt that they will be back, perhaps before the end of the season. The species haunting this 10-mile stretch of coast is the Pelagia noctiluca, the mauve stinger. Its sting can cause severe burns, in some cases scarring their victims. Despite warnings to keep out of the water, many swimmers were caught out last week, prompting the flood of calls to the French emergency services.

Fearful of the effect on the tourist trade, Cannes and Monaco have installed booms and nets on several beaches. But hundreds slipped through and many more invaded unprotected beaches.

In Antibes a 30ft catamaran which has been described as a "jellyfish hoover" now patrols the coastline, ready to suck up any returning jellyfish.

"I can't say that the jellyfish will definitely return," said Jacqueline Goy, the leading jellyfish expert at the Institut d'Oceanographie in Paris. "At the moment the mistral has blown them offshore but a change in wind direction could well bring them back later this year."

The phenomenon is by no means a new one said Mme Goy, known to colleagues as la Dame aux Méduses ("Jellyfish Lady"). The earliest report of a "jellyfish soup" in the region dates back to 1802. In recent years, however, the frequency and persistence of the swarms has increased.

Marine biologists believe that overfishing has killed off both the fish that hunt jellyfish, and their young which compete with jellyfish for plankton.

Fabrizio Bulgarini, biodiversity expert with WWF Italy, said there was also another theory. "The rate of reproductivity of the jellyfish appears to be related to the heat of the water," he explained, and thanks to global warming the sea is getting hotter.

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Faroe whales show new pollutant spreads worldwide

Alister Doyle, Reuters 24 Jul 08;

OSLO (Reuters) - People who eat whale meat in the remote Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic have high levels of an industrial toxin in their blood in a worrying sign that the pollutant has spread worldwide, scientists said on Thursday.

"This pollution is a new health concern for the Faroese and many populations worldwide," said Philippe Grandjean, an environmental health expert at the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Southern Denmark.

"We know very little on the toxicity in humans so far, even less in regard to whales," he told Reuters of polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs), used in products such as water or grease repellents for textiles, fire-fighting foams, or some papers.

A study with scientists in the Faroe Islands, Denmark and the United States showed higher traces of PFCs in the blood of people who ate whales in the Faroes -- between Norway and Iceland -- comparable to those in people in industrial nations closer to the sources of the chemicals.

Pilot whales, a small species caught in the Faroe islands, are at the top of the marine food chain. PFCs apparently build up in their muscles and liver because they consume smaller fish which have in turn absorbed PFCs washed into the seas.

The children and mothers surveyed in the Faroes who did not eat much whale meat did not have such high concentrations.

For one of the nine types of PFCs known as PFOS, "a single dinner with whale meat every two weeks is associated with an increase of 25 percent in the blood concentration," he said.

Initially, widening PFC contamination was thought to come from everyday exposure to items such as textiles or furniture containing PFCs. "Now we are seeing evidence that they are widespread in the environment and building up," Grandjean said.

The study, issued online, would be in August edition of the journal Environmental Science & Technology. A separate study had also shown high levels of PFOS in polar bear livers.

A report by the European Food Safety Authority this week said that some PFCs have produced tumors in rats but do not seem to cause cancers in humans. It said more data was needed. One study has linked PFCs to lower human birth weights.

Grandjean said that a couple of the people in the Faroes survey had blood levels of PFOS that exceeded the safe limit implied by the Food Safety Authority report.

Worries about the dispersal of the chemicals in the environment led 3M Co to change the formula of its stain repellant Scotchgard in 2002 to eliminate use of PFOS.

(Editing by Mariam Karouny)

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Whale playground offers glimpse into Russia's melting Arctic

Conor Humphries, Yahoo News 24 Jul 08;

A young whale pokes its melon-shaped head into the cool morning air near this remote island, a sign its herd is thriving despite mounting threats in Russia's melting Arctic.

Cameras and microphones capture the whale's every move as scientists use the species' only shore-side breeding ground to see how they are coping as fleets of oil tankers replace melting ice in their traditional feeding grounds.

"Belugas are a bellwether species... what happens to them reflects the effects of pollution and global warming on the whole ecosystem," said Vsevolod Belkovich, a professor at the Russian Academy of Science who is leading the study.

Scientists have recorded a small drop in the whale population that they attribute in part to human activity in Arctic regions. "As global warming continues, the threats are going to grow dramatically," Belkovich said.

Since monitoring began scores of whales have traveled hundreds of miles (kilometres) each year to this White Sea sandbank to mate, frolic and train their young.

Distinctive markings on the whales' backs allow the researchers to track the population from year to year, monitoring their health, longevity and interactions with rival herds.

"It's the only place in the world they come so close to the shore," said Vladimir Baranov, a senior researcher with Moscow's Institute of Oceanology, who films the Belugas close up underwater in their natural setting.

-- The whales can play here because there is no danger --

"They can play here because there is no danger," said Olga Kirilova, a fellow researcher. "But in the winter they go north and face intensive shipping, the tankers and their pollution."

With the melting of ice sheets in the Arctic, the Russian government has set the development of rich oil and gas reserves in the region as a priority, including fields in the Barents Sea where many of the Belugas spend the winter.

The volume of oil transported through the Barents Sea -- part of the Arctic Ocean -- has soared in less than decade from almost zero to 10 million tonnes, according to a study by the Norwegian funded Barents Secretariat.

Within a decade it could hit 150 million tonnes, the study said.

While the noise of the tankers is recognized as a major problem for the whales, who use sound to navigate, the biggest danger is the threat of a spill that could take years to clear.

It took the White Sea ecosystem over five years to overcome the effects of a small spill in 2003, Belkovich said.

A five percent fall in the Beluga's White Sea population registered in recent years suggests the development is beginning to have an effect. But researchers fear much worse is to come.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which is financing the research, cites the example of the Harp seal, which like the Beluga migrates between the White Sea and the Barents Sea.

Global warming and increased ship traffic in the White Sea have together robbed the Harp seal of the ice sheets where pups are born, causing a collapse in its population from 300,000 in 2003 to just over 100,000 in 2008, IFAW said.

While the Belugas are less dependent on ice, they are very sensitive to any pollution that the oil industry brings, said researcher Vera Krasnova.

"In the Saint Lawrence River in Canada, pollution has been catastrophic for the Belugas," she said. "The same could happen here."

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Riches in the Arctic: the new oil race

The Independent 25 Jul 08;

New geological surveys show as much as a fifth of the world's undiscovered but exploitable gas and oil reserves lie under the Arctic ice. As the ice melts, the pristine wilderness could become 'the new Houston'. By Michael McCarthy

The future of the Arctic will be less white wilderness, more black gold, a new report on oil reserves in the High North has signalled this week. The first-comprehensive assessment of oil and gas resources north of the Arctic Circle, carried out by American geologists, reveals that underneath the ice, the region may contain as much as a fifth of the world's undiscovered yet recoverable oil and natural gas reserves.

This includes 90 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the world for three years at current consumption rates, or to supply America for 12, and 1,670 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, which is equal to about a third of the world's known gas reserves.

The significance of the report is that it puts firm figures for the first time on the hydrocarbon riches which the five countries surrounding the Arctic – the US, Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark (through its dependency, Greenland) – have been eyeing up for several years.

It is the increasingly rapid melting of the Arctic sea ice, which last September hit a new record summer low, and of land-based ice on Greenland, which is opening up the possibility of the once frozen wasteland providing a natural resources and minerals bonanza, not to mention a major new transport route – last year the fabled North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific along the top of Canada was navigable for the first time.

Scientists consider that global warming is responsible for the melting, with the high latitudes of the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the world.

Environmentalists see this as a massive danger, with the melting of Greenland's land-based ice adding to sea-level rise, while the melting of the sea ice uncovers a dark ocean surface that absorbs far more of the sun's heat than the ice did, and thus acts as a "positive feedback" reinforcing warming. The melting of Greenland's ice sheet has accelerated so dramatically that it is triggering earthquakes for the first time, with movements of gigantic pieces of ice creating shockwaves with a magnitude of up to three.

Conservationists are also concerned about the threat to the Arctic's unique ecosystems and wildlife.

The Arctic countries' governments, on the other hand, see it as a massive opportunity, and are already positioning themselves to claim stakes in the seabed of the Arctic Ocean, if – as many climate scientists now believe will happen – it becomes ice-free in summer within a couple of decades.

Just a year ago, to much media fanfare, the Russians planted a flag on the seabed some 2.5 miles beneath the ice at the North Pole, and dispatched a nuclear-powered icebreaker to map a subsea link between the Pole and Siberia, as part of an effort to circumvent a UN convention limiting resource claims beyond 200 miles offshore.

Canada said earlier this month that it plans to counter the Russian overture with "a very strong claim" to Arctic exploration rights.

This week's oil and gas study, carried out by the US Geological Survey, does not raise the national competitive stakes appreciably as it reveals that most of the reserves are lying close to the shore, within the territorial jurisdiction of the countries concerned. Much of the oil is off Alaska; much of the natural gas off the Russian coastline. There appear to be only small reserves under the unclaimed heart of the Arctic.

However, what the report does do is to indicate a very different future for one of the world's last remaining pristine and utterly unspoilt regions. If the oil is there, countries which own it will be very likely to seek to extract it, whatever the environmental cost.

"Before we can make decisions about our future use of oil and gas and related decisions about protecting endangered species, native communities and the health of our planet, we need to know what's out there," said the US Geological Survey's (USGS) director, Mark Myers, in releasing the report. "With this assessment, we're providing the same information to everyone in the world so the global community can make those difficult decisions," he said.

"Most of the Arctic, especially offshore, is essentially unexplored with respect to petroleum," said Donald Gautier, the project chief for the assessment. "The extensive Arctic continental shelves may constitute the geographically largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on Earth."

The geologists studied maps of subterranean rock formations across the 8.2 million square miles above the Arctic Circle to find areas with characteristics similar to oil and gas finds in other parts of the world. The study also took into account the age, depth and shape of rock formations in judging whether they are likely to contain oil.

More than half of the undiscovered oil resources are estimated to occur in just three geologic provinces: Arctic Alaska (30 billion barrels), the Amerasia Basin (9.7 billion barrels) and the East Greenland Rift Basins (8.9 billion barrels). More than 70 per cent of the undiscovered natural gas is likely to be in three provinces: the West Siberian Basin (651 tcf), the East Barents Basins (318 tcf) and Arctic Alaska (221 tcf), the USGS said. The study took in all areas north of latitude 66.56 degrees north, and included only reserves that could be tapped using existing techniques. Experimental or unconventional prospects such as oil shale, gas hydrates and coal-bed methane were not included in the assessment.

The 90 billion barrels of oil expected to be in the Arctic in total are more than all the known reserves of Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Mexico combined, and could meet current world oil demand of 86.4 million barrels a day for almost three years. But the Arctic's oil is not intended to replace all the supplies in the rest of world. It would last much longer by boosting available supplies and possibly reducing US reliance on imported crude, if America developed the resources.

The report did not include an estimate for how long it might take to bring the reserves to markets, but it would clearly be a substantial period. Offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico and west Africa can take a decade or longer to begin pumping oil. But clearly, the massive amount of industrial infrastructure necessary to find the oil, extract it, and transport it to where it is wanted will come with a very considerable environmental cost. Senior US oil executives are urging the relaxation of prohibitions against offshore drilling, including much of Alaska, although Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress rejected President George Bush's effort on 14 July to end a 25-year moratorium on drilling in most coastal waters. But change may well be coming now.

Frank O'Donnell, president of the US environmental group Clean Air Watch, said not only do polar bears and other wildlife within the Arctic Circle face losing their habitat due to global warming, they would be hurt by companies searching for oil. "On the one hand you may see this region more accessible [for getting energy supplies], but we're definitely going to pay a different kind of price... you may lose species," Mr O'Donnell said. "The oil industry goes up there and industrialises what has been a pristine area... suddenly it becomes the new Houston."

Staking a claim

United States

The last country to formally stake its claim will be the first to start large-scale drilling. Thanks to its vast Alaskan territory the US will be confident of a huge oil bonanza. The White House resisted giving endangered status to the polar bear as long as it could to keep freedom to drill.

Russia

Dramatically upped the stakes in the race for the Arctic last year by planting its flag on the seabed at the magnetic pole with the help of an experimental submarine. The country least likely to baulk at the environmental cost of drilling in the wilderness.

Greenland (Denmark)

The island is financially dependent on its mother country, Denmark. Oil could change all that. Its tiny population of 50,000 fears being over-run by outsiders in a future oil rush. Denmark was the first to stake its claim to the North Pole.

Canada

Canada was affronted by Danish claims to the North Pole and has conducted military exercises over its vast northern territories to strengthen its claim to the Arctic. Ottawa has sent naval vessels and specialist troops to the far north.

Norway

The country does not want to be left out of an Arctic carve-up. But it backs a UN treaty to demilitarise the region and protect its pristine environment.

Arctic's Oil Could Meet World Demand for 3 Years
Tom Doggett, PlanetArk 25 Jul 08;

WASHINGTON - The Arctic Circle holds an estimated 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil, enough supply to meet current world demand for almost three years, the US Geological Survey forecast on Wednesday.


The forecast comes as Russia is competing with Canada, Denmark, Norway and the United States to grab a chunk of the huge energy resources in the Arctic, an area growing more accessible due to global warming melting the ice.

The government agency also said the area could contain 1,670 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas.

"Before we can make decisions about our future use of oil and gas and related decisions about protecting endangered species, native communities and the health of our planet, we need to know what's out there," said USGS Director Mark Myers.

"With this assessment, we're providing the same information to everyone in the world so that the global community can make those difficult decisions," he said.

Frank O'Donnell, president of the nonprofit group Clean Air Watch, said not only do polar bears and other wildlife within the Arctic Circle face losing their habitat due to global warming, they would be hurt by companies searching for oil.

"On the one hand you may see this region more accessible (for getting energy supplies), but we're definitely going to pay a different kind of price...you may loose species," O'Donnell said. "The oil industry goes up there and industrializes what has been a pristine area...suddenly it becomes the new Houston."

The 90 billion barrels of oil expected to be in the Arctic could meet current world oil demand of 86.4 million barrels a day for almost three years.

But the Arctic's oil is not intended to replace all the supplies in the rest of world. It would last much longer by boosting available supplies and possibly reducing US reliance on imported crude in the future, if America developed the resources.

The Arctic accounts for about 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil, 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas and 20 percent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids, the agency said in the first publicly available petroleum resource estimate of the entire area north of the Arctic Circle.

More than half of the undiscovered oil resources are estimated to occur in just three geologic provinces: Arctic Alaska (30 billion barrels), the Amerasia Basin (9.7 billion barrels) and the East Greenland Rift Basins (8.9 billion barrels).

More than 70 percent of the undiscovered natural gas is likely to be in three provinces: the West Siberian Basin (651 Tcf), the East Barents Basins (318 Tcf) and Arctic Alaska (221 Tcf), the USGS said.

Technically recoverable resources are those energy supplies that can be put into the market using currently available technology and industry practices.

The USGS said it did not consider economic factors, such as the effects of permanent sea ice or water depths, in its assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources.

Energy companies have already found more than 400 oil and gas fields north of the Arctic Circle.

The discovered fields account for approximately 40 billion barrels of oil, more than 1,100 Tcf of gas and 8.5 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.

"Nevertheless, the Arctic, especially offshore, is essentially unexplored with respect to petroleum," the USGS said. (Editing by David Gregorio)

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Taiwan restaurant to cut down serving shark's fin after protests

EarthTimes 23 Jul 08;

Taipei - Taiwan's most exclusive restaurant on Wednesday gave in to protests from US and Taiwanese conservation groups and agreed to remove serving shark's fin from its banquet menus. "We plan to replace the shark's fin dish in our State Treasure Banquet and serve artificially-raised abalone and sea cucumber," Chang Yun, a spokeswoman of Silk Palace restaurant, said.

However, the Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) demands the restaurant remove shark's fin completely, not just from a special menu.

"What they are doing is to remove shark's fin from the State Treasure Banquet, but it will still be served to individual diners. We demand a total ban on shark's fin," EAST director Chen Yu-min said.

The Silk Palace, the most luxurious restaurant in Taiwan, agreed to the compromise after EAST and the US-based Humane Society International (HSI) urged government authorities to stop the banquet hall from serving shark's fin.

The newly opened luxury restaurant is affiliated with Taiwan's National Palace Museum.

In their petition to cabinet, the Council of Agriculture and the museum, HSI and EAST argued that Silk Palace was the venue for state banquets and drew many foreign tourists as well.

Out of the restaurant's four State Treasure banquet courses and five individual diner's set courses, eight include shark fin soup or shark fin dishes.

"Taiwan catches and imports a total of 600 tons of shark's fin each year. Shark's fin is a luxury food. Serving shark's fin at the Silk Palace damages Taiwan's international image," EAST said in a statement.

"Taiwan residents should boycott eating shark's fin and the government should launch a campaign to raise public awareness," EAST added.

EAST said harvesting shark's fin was very cruel because after cutting off shark's fin, fishermen throw sharks back into the sea, letting them bleed to death.

Killing sharks for their fin depletes the population and the disappearance of the predators has serious consequences for the marine environment, the statement said.

The Silk Palace banquet hall, outside the National Palace Museum on the outskirts of Taipei, was built for 400 million Taiwan dollars (13 million US dollars). It opened to the public in late June.

A 12-course State Treasure Banquet for 10 people costs about 20,000 Taiwan dollars, while an eight- or nine-course menu for one person costs from 1,000-3,000 Taiwan dollars.

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Gourmet Coffee Eats Into Panama Forest

Andrew Beatty, PlanetArk 25 Jul 08;

PANAMA CITY - Panama's gourmet coffees fetch record prices for their prized flavors but the strong demand is convincing some growers to clear land illegally and plant in one of the country's few protected highland forests.

Last month, Panama's Environmental Protection Agency discovered 40 acres (16 hectares) of clandestine coffee trees nestled deep in the Volcan Baru National Park, sparking fears that more forest could be cleared as prices rise.

The nature preserve is ringed with coffee farms growing the country's "geisha" beans, often described as the champagne of coffee for their subtle jasmine-like taste highly sought after by boutique roasters from North America, Europe and Japan.

Now, sky-high prices for geisha beans have lured some growers well inside the park's boundaries.

"There is a grave threat to the park. People do not respect laws and the (government) has not done its part to ensure compliance," said Ezequiel Miranda, head of an environmental group in the western Boquete region near Costa Rica.

Last year a batch of the famed coffee fetched a world record price of US$130 a pound in an international online auction.

While the coffee planted now only takes up a tiny fraction of Volcan Baru's thousands of acres, the invasion could disrupt the wildlife living around Panama's only volcano, including pumas, quetzal birds and rare orchids, environmentalists say.

"It was designated a national park to retain the biodiversity of the area. People know perfectly well where the limits of the park are," said Harmodio Santamaria, an official from the government environment agency.


BAD NAME

Many specialty coffee producers decry the practice of encroaching on park land, saying a few rogue growers are giving the geisha business a bad name.

Established growers in the region have built up reputations for running environmentally and socially responsible farms.

"This is certainly not what our organization or members are about. We really take care of the environment," said Ricardo Koyner, president of the Panamanian Specialty Coffee Association.

"Production is growing, but it is growing very cautiously to ensure that quality is retained," he said.

The Esmeralda Estate, run by Daniel Peterson, has coffee that consistently wins the highest auction prices, while being certified by the conservation group Rainforest Alliance as environmentally friendly.

Peterson says high-altitude land is becoming scarcer in traditional centers of geisha production, but expansion does not have to affect the national park.

"Around Boquete you might have difficulty expanding because of real estate developments (which have pushed up prices), but there is still a lot of suitable land between Volcan and the border," he said. (Editing by David Gregorio)

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Hypermiling: Driving Tricks Stretch Miles Per Gallon

Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 24 Jul 08;

Some days on her morning commute, Rani Cardona feels like the stars are aligned. With the green lights timed just right, and a slight tail wind at her back, her Honda Civic Hybrid can really fly. On fumes.

"When you see the gauge springing up toward 100 miles per gallon and you've got your foot just perfectly situated and you hold it there, you know, it's just a great feeling," she said. "It's an indescribable feeling, like your car is almost defying the laws of physics and you're just kind of floating on air."

Cardona, an engineer in the Los Angeles area, is a hypermiler. She is part of a community of drivers who devote themselves to squeezing every last mile out of a gallon of gas.

With gasoline prices sky high, and global warming fears on everyone's minds, fuel efficiency is an increasingly popular notion. But few drivers know what a difference their driving habits can make, and few take the challenge as seriously as hypermilers.

Trigger points

The term "hypermiling" was coined in 2004 by Wayne Gerdes, who started the Web site CleanMPG.com, which has become a hub for fuel efficiency enthusiasts.

"The day after 9/11, I began changing my habits for the better and ever since then I've looked for methods to improve fuel economy," Gerdes told LiveScience. "We all have our trigger points - mine was global security. It doesn't matter if you're concerned with global warming, or smog, or government debt, or if you're worried about putting money in your pocketbook. All those reasons are good reasons to become a hypermiler."

In recent years the movement has been growing at breakneck pace, though enthusiasts may call themselves by different names and congregate in various online and real-world communities. CleanMPG is certainly booming.

"We have well over 6,000 registered members worldwide," said the site's Canadian representative Manuel Santos. "From what we see in terms of response and activity on the Web, we suspect there may be many hundreds of thousands out there. The movement's been growing, gathering a lot of momentum, and there is a large pool of folks out there who use some of these techniques."

The basics

So how does one achieve these feats of mileage?

The core of the hypermiler's philosophy is to use both the gas pedal and the brakes as little as possible. Since every time you hit the gas, you're using fuel, and every time you brake, you're basically throwing that fuel away, the less either comes into play, the more gas you save.

"It sounds paradoxical because the accelerator and the brake are the two main features of your car," Cardona said. "But not speeding up to those red lights and not taking off like a jackrabbit at a green light can really add up at the gas pump."

So when hypermilers see a red light ahead, they'll take their foot off the gas and coast toward it. And they constantly scan far ahead for possible impediments so they don't waste gas getting to them, just to have to brake when they get close.

Hypermilers also pride themselves on driving at or below the speed limit, since the faster you drive, the more gasoline it takes to maintain momentum and get back up to speed every time you slow down. And wind resistance becomes a bigger problem the faster you go.

Some of their habits - such as driving around 50 to 55 mph on the highway and drifting up to red lights at a crawl - have earned hypermilers a few enemies on the road. Gerdes is used to the abuse.

"If there are five or six cars behind me coming into a red light and I can save all six of those from speeding to it, I have no problem taking a finger or a horn for that action," he said. "I'm going to save everybody fuel and make them safer."

Gerdes also recommends filling tires to the maximum safe pressure listed on them by their manufacturer, and using the lowest weight oil appropriate to a certain vehicle. And all hypermilers rave about using fuel consumption display devices. While these gauges come with hybrid vehicles, similar gadgets (a ScanGauge, for example) can be installed on most other cars, and allow a driver to see instantaneous changes in miles per gallon.

"This is the single most important step that the average driver can take," Santos said. "When they press the gas pedal they will see instantaneously what fuel they're requiring at the time. That little device pays for itself in no time. It's like weight loss. If you don't have a scale and are involved in a diet program you really don't have the means of gauging your progress."

Reckless driving

And then there are the more extreme techniques, such as turning off the car's engine during particularly long stoplights or while coasting down hills. This method has been criticized by many, including the American Automobile Association (AAA), as unsafe.

"These practices can put motorists in a treacherous situation where they could lose power steering and brakes or be unable to react to quickly changing traffic conditions," said Marshall L. Doney, AAA Automotive vice president.

But hypermilers insist it isn't dangerous when done by drivers who know what they're doing.

"Turning the engine off while the vehicle is moving is an advanced technique, it's not something for the average person to use," Santos said. "The hybrid vehicles that we currently have on the road today do that already. We do say to check with your dealership to make sure it's safe in your vehicle, and check to see if it's legal in your region."

Hypermilers have also been accused of rolling through stoplights and riding closely behind big trucks to take advantage of the wind buffer (called "drafting").

While these techniques can save gas, they are not officially condoned by CleanMPG or mainstream hypermilers.

"Drafting is not worth the risk," Santos said. "We certainly do not endorse that. We are appalled that that is associated with hypermiling."

Unearned reputation

Hypermilers resent being pinned with accusations of reckless driving. By obeying speed limits and maintaining vigilant awareness of their surroundings, they say they're actually the safest drivers around.

"You're driving with all your senses fully alert - you're hearing, you're seeing, you're watching, your radar is constantly twirling 360 degrees to see what situation is going to come up that I need to anticipate," Cardona said. "You'll never see one of us gabbing or putting on makeup."

Some hypermilers have come up with a name for the bad eggs: "renegade hypermilers."

"There are a lot of folks who call themselves hypermilers, but unfortunately they give mainstream hypermilers a very bad name," Santos said. "We try to tell them to cease promoting unsafe techniques. A good hypermiler will always be a safe driver."

Making a difference

A similar movement to hypermiling, but with somewhat of a different focus, is a practice called ecodriving.

"At one time, 'ecodriver' and 'hypermiler' were interchangeable terms," said Hilary Evans, who writes for the Web site EcoFriendlyDriver.com. "I still think most hypermilers are concerned with the environment, but not all eco-friendly drivers focus on getting the most miles per gallon."

Since these drivers prioritize limiting the environmental impact of their driving, they take a slightly different approach. Ecodriving involves driving at steady speeds in the highest gear possible, decelerating smoothly and anticipating traffic flow, all with the goals of reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Ecodriving is popular in Europe, and several European countries have even funded programs to get regular people to change their habits to save gas and cut down on carbon dioxide emissions.

"European governments have been very active in promoting fuel economy," said Santos. "They have smaller vehicles on their streets. In terms of average efficiency they are definitely way ahead of us."

Hypermilers say the U.S. government could do a lot of good by teaching the public some of the tricks they've figured out.

"It would be good to have governments focusing more on promoting safe and fuel-efficient driving techniques for the public to follow," Santos said. "Even having the DMV include ecodriving and hypermiling as part of driver's-ed may make people more aware of ways to minimize the pain at the pump."

In the meantime, hypermilers aren't waiting for governments or the auto industry to take a stand. Every time they get behind the wheel they're making a choice to change what they see as irresponsible habits.

"I want to make this small effort of my own," Cardona said. "It may not mean much in the whole macro scheme of things, but it's having an effect where I live and in my life. I see it as a positive thing and it does rub off on others."

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Marks & Spencer sees 80 per cent drop in carrier bag use

Richard Alleyne, The Telegraph 24 Jul 08;

Forcing customers to pay for plastic carrier bags has seen a drop of 80 per cent in the number handed out at Marks & Spencer.

The store chain made a landmark decision at the beginning of May to start charging 5p for the bags, to encourage a switch to green reusable alternatives.

Over the past ten weeks, 70million fewer have been handed out at its tills compared with the same period a year ago.

Profits from the M&S charges, which have topped £200,000, are going to the charity Groundwork - which runs projects to create new parks and play areas.

The Government has given the rest of the High Street, specifically the "big four" supermarkets, until next April to adopt the M&S regime voluntarily.

If they fail to do so, the Government will force stores to adopt charges under proposals included in the Climate Change Bill, now going through Parliament.

Shops in Britain hand out almost 13billion plastic bags every year. They are used for an average of just 20 minutes before being dumped in the bin.

Most end up in landfill sites where they can take up to 1,000 years to rot away, while others blight the landscape, harming wildlife and causing an eyesore.

Sir Stuart Rose, the M&S chairman, said: "It is fair to say that the M&S carrier bag charging policy has provoked a lot of debate.

"These figures show that the overwhelming majority of our customers support charging and are already helping us to make a huge difference by bringing their own bags in with them."

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