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Widespread use of a damaging conservation technique has seen many of Italy's Renaissance frescoes darken and crumble. That degradation can now be stopped in its tracks. In the 1960s conservators began coating frescoes in clear acrylic polymers to preserve them, but the treatment has had the opposite effect. "The acrylic makes the fresco look brilliant and well preserved initially," says Piero Baglioni, a chemist at the University of Florence. "But as the plaster can no longer breathe, degradation beneath the coating actually speeds up, due to calcium salt and humidity build-up."

BOSTON - The Boston City Council is lining up support for a proposed ban on plastic bags at supermarkets, pharmacies and other retail stores. Councilor Robert Consalvo has sponsored the measure, which has already been endorsed by nine of 12 council members. He said that littered bags dot trees, lots and sidewalks across the city and pose an environmental hazard. "They end up everywhere," Consalvo said. "They blow in trees, they’re floating in Boston Harbor. They’re an environmental nightmare. We need to rid our city of these plastic bags." Consalvo’s measure also proposes increased recycling for grocery bags. Mayor Thomas...

Singer Sheryl Crow and environmentalist Laurie David have been traveling across America on a two-week Stop Global Warming College Tour, which winds up today at George Washington University. Crow and David (co-producer of the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" and wife of "Curb Your Enthusiasm's" Larry David) have been touting their cause and chronicling their travels in a rather idiosyncratic blog. Here, on Earth Day, are a few excerpts: David (4/10, Dallas): I am jogging outside in 40 degree freezing cold . . . 70 degrees in January and 40 degrees in April. That is exactly why Sheryl Crow and I...

As if our governor wasn’t already having a bad hair day last week, just as the Weekly was putting to bed its latest story on the Trans-Texas Corridor (“Brake Lights,” March 7, 2007), rookie State Sen. Robert Nichols, a former state transportation commissioner, was introducing two bills that should have made that famous coif turn white. The first would prohibit any non-toll road or bridge from being converted to a toll facility and stipulates that if toll lanes are added to a non-toll road, the number of free lanes cannot be reduced. The second would put a two-year moratorium on...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Change a light bulb and stop a war. Build smarter homes and keep the seas from rising. These are the kinds of arguments U.S. environmentalists use to promote their cause. Others say forget "save the planet," Americans respond better to "save some money." Regardless of the sales pitch, energy efficiency is an opportunity that Americans shun, as less than 5 percent of the world's population consumes almost 25 percent of global oil production. While gas-guzzling vehicles draw the most criticism, homes and businesses consume even more energy -- 40 percent of the U.S. total in 2005...

The Australia Government will use industry and product standards to force a phase out of incandescent light bulbs in prefence of new low watt compact fluorescent lights that can cut the typical lighting load of a house by 75% - even with all the house lights on at the same time. The step was announced by the Australian federal Environment minister Malcolm Turnbull MP who claims Australia's greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 4 million tonnes through to 2012. The reduction in emissions will increase as the phase out progresses and the annual average reduction between 2008-2012 is estimated...

AUSTIN — Carrying signs with slogans of "Stop the Coal Rush" and "Shame on Texas," about 1,000 people rallied at the state Capitol on Sunday to call for lawmakers to slow down a plan to build up to 18 new coal-fired power plants. Environmentalists fear the new plants, with 11 proposed by energy giant TXU Corp., will pump millions of tons of pollutants into the air every year. "Coal plants seem so archaic," said Stacy Foss, an Austin teacher who brought her two young children to the rally in the 50-degree weather. "Texas is so environmentally incorrect." Organized by about...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It may soon be lights out for the traditional light bulb in California. Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, is proposing that the Golden State become the first to ban sales of incandescent light bulbs, by 2012. In their place, Californians could purchase more energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps. Those are the spiral-shaped bulbs that cost more upfront but save money and energy over the long haul. Switching light bulbs is an idea that environmentalists have long supported. But getting consumers to embrace change has been slow going. Banning energy-intensive incandescents "saves consumers money, saves the state money and...

Democrats in the state Senate on Thursday said California does not need to build new reservoirs as it tries to cope with the expected consequences of global warming. Instead, the state should rely on conservation, underground storage and boosting the height of existing dams. Their plan, outlined in a series bills, runs counter to Republicans' desire for new reservoirs to help California address the changes anticipated from global climate change. It sets up a potential clash in the coming months with Republicans and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who proposed $4.5 billion for two new reservoirs and underground water storage in his...

Environmentalists called Monday for a radical overhaul of fishing practices to prevent a worldwide collapse in tuna stocks as international conservation bodies opened their first joint meeting on the species. The five-day meeting in the western Japanese city of Kobe will look at ways to share information among regions to monitor tuna numbers and control illegal fishing vessels, officials said. Environmentalists called on participants to come up with substantive measures to protect the fish, which are highly prized in Japan. Greenpeace said it was "high time" for governments to recognize the seriousness of the tuna issue. Governments "must acknowledge that...

Conservation Group, Unions Joining Forces Saving Habitat, Ensuring Access Sought By Blaine Harden Washington Post Staff Writer SEATTLE -- In a first-of-its-kind alliance that could fundamentally reshape the environmental movement, 20 labor unions with nearly 5 million members are joining forces with a Republican-leaning umbrella group of conservationists -- the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership -- to put pressure on Congress and the Bush administration. The Union Sportsman's Alliance, to be rolled out in Washington on Tuesday after nearly three years of quiet negotiations, is to be a dues-based organization ($25 a year). Its primary goal is to increase federal funding...

TOKYO, Jan. 5 — In many countries, higher oil prices have hurt pocketbooks and led to worries about economic slowdowns. But here in Japan, Kiminobu Kimura, an architect, says he has not felt the pinch. In fact, his monthly energy bill is lower than a year ago. A reason is his new home fuel cell, a machine as large and quiet as a filing cabinet that sits in front of his house and turns hydrogen into electricity and cold water into hot — at a fraction of regular utility costs. But even with the futuristic device, which is available for...

The multibillion-dollar cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay, which government officials had pledged would succeed by 2010, will likely miss that deadline by a wide margin -- and, at the current pace, might drag on for decades more, an Environmental Protection Agency official acknowledged yesterday. ... Bay cleanup has a history of broken deadlines. In 1987, local and federal officials pledged to clean up the estuary by 2000. The current agreement, written after the first one failed, was signed by the governors of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, the mayor of Washington and the administrator of the EPA. The officials pledged to...

Jerry Bagby is typical of the oil men who are prospecting for a fortune in the Midwestern biofuels boom. He's convinced there's oil in these hills — and he's found a well that no one else is using. Bagby and a longtime friend have cobbled together $5 million to build a new biodiesel plant on the lonely croplands outside this southeast Missouri town. They're betting they can hit paydirt by exploiting a generally overlooked natural resource that's abundant in these parts — chicken fat. There's a virtual gusher of the stuff at a nearby Tyson Foods Inc. poultry plant. Currently,...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (NZ Catholic) – A director of a Catholic family group has called a proposal to limit families to two children "almost laughable." The suggestion, from Sustainable Wellington Net, was one of several from “green” groups that want to ensure natural resources are used responsibly. Lynn Hill, co-director of the Passionist Family Group Movement in the North Island, said it would be sad for parents to lose the right to decide how many children they have. "Mothers and fathers of large families, or those who have grown up in large families, know it is a very rich way...

Fort Meade beekeeper David Adams is facing a mysterious plight shared by his counterparts in Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and elsewhere: Their bee colonies are being decimated at an alarming rate, and the cause is unknown. Starting in mid-August, Adams lost a third of his 900 hives within the course of a few weeks. The seemingly healthy colonies just disappeared, he said, echoing reports from beekeepers across the country. "It's become a serious problem for beekeepers, myself included," said Adams of Adams Honey & Pollination. "We're on the ropes." The phenomenon, termed "Fall Dwindle Disease," is discussed in a preliminary...

WASHINGTON - House Democrats in the first weeks of the new Congress plan to establish a dedicated fund to promote renewable energy and conservation, using money from oil companies. That's only one legislative hit the oil industry is expected to take next year as a Congress run by Democrats is likely to show little sympathy to the cash-rich, high-profile business. Whether the issue is rolling back tax breaks — some approved by Congress only 18 months ago — pushing for more use of ethanol and other biofuels instead of gasoline, or investigations into shortfalls in royalty payments to the government,...

Energy ministers from China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United States – which, collectively, account for nearly half of the world's oil consumption – met in Beijing last Friday to see if they could agree on a coordinated response to high petroleum prices. On Saturday, the ministers reported that they will henceforth work together when engaged in the project of picking winners in energy markets, redouble their efforts to subsidize and mandate energy conservation and efficiency, cooperate in the management of their respective government-owned oil stockpiles, and improve flow of oil market data between their respective economies. Let's hope...

Prince Charles launched his 'green revolution' with a stark warning that we are all 'living on borrowed time' if we don't stop eating up the world's resources. In a forthright speech in front of leading figures, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Prince said: 'We are consuming the resources of our planet at such a rate that we are, in effect, living off credit and living on borrowed time. 'It is our children and grandchildren who will have to pay off this debt and we owe it to them and ourselves to do something about it before it is too...

Prior to Tuesday's vote, Republicans for Environmental Protection announced its slate of endorsed candidates for U.S. Congress. “Each of these candidates is a conservation-minded Republican dedicated to responsible environmental stewardship,” said REP President Martha Marks. “While our party as a whole is not where it should be when it comes to environmental stewardship, electing this slate of Republican candidates would represent a giant stride toward changing that.” Thought it might be interesting to see how they did in the election. Did being green garner them any turn-out-the-vote support?Here’s how things shaped up. Incumbents are denoted with an asterisk. Info in [...

The conservation status of fish and crustaceans in the world's oceans is "unacceptable" but dire predictions published Friday in the US magazine Science are "unlikely", according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. "To state that all exploited taxa will have collapsed by 2048, the authors have made a simple extrapolation of their results across the next 40 years. This is statistically dangerous," said Serge Michel Garcia, director of the FAO's Fishery Resources Division. He added: "Such a massive collapse ... would require reckless behaviour of all industries and governments for four decades, and an incredible level of apathy of all...

Wednesday October 25, 2006 By TOM KRISHER AP Business Writer DETROIT (AP) -- From July to September, GM, Ford and Chrysler racked up losses as large as the entire annual gross domestic product of Africa's Malawi. That's $7.5 billion. Despite the massive losses, company officials and some industry analysts say the Big Three can do little more than wait for drastic cost cuts to kick in and new products to take hold before they can staunch the bleeding. All three reported third-quarter losses this week, with General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group joining the misery Wednesday. A $1.5...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Humans are stripping nature at an unprecedented rate and will need two planets' worth of natural resources every year by 2050 on current trends, the WWF conservation group said on Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT Populations of many species, from fish to mammals, had fallen by about a third from 1970 to 2003 largely because of human threats such as pollution, clearing of forests and overfishing, the group also said in a two-yearly report. "For more than 20 years we have exceeded the earth's ability to support a consumptive lifestyle that is unsustainable and we cannot afford to continue down...

Coastal pollution from land development may be obstructing the recovery of coral reefs damaged by rising sea temperatures, the United Nations said Thursday, warning of new threats to the world's oceans. The UN Environment Programme said in a report that "land-based pollution, reclamation, clearing of coastal vegetation and poor sewage control can damage reefs." "More importantly," it said, "they demonstrate that protection of coastal land area around marine protected areas is essential for reducing local pollution and facilitating re-colonization of corals." Coral reefs sustained widespread damage in the late 1990s due to higher than normal surface temperatures caused by global...

That is what the New York Times’ editors did in their editorial this morning. They led off Roller Coaster at the Pump with: It seems a little too convenient. As the stretch run to the midterm Congressional election approaches, gasoline prices fall precipitously. The sudden shifts in prices seem to come out of the blue. And unlike copper or pork bellies, oil is a commodity always charged with political significance. And added weight to their insinuation in the next paragraph: It only sets the bloggers typing faster and the pundits chattering louder when a key player in the price swing...

EVANSTON, Ill. -- It was one of the most famous discoveries of the 20th century. Shrouded in mystery since its recognition as a new species in 1937, the kouprey -- an ox with dramatic, curving horns -- has been an icon of Southeast Asian conservation. Feared extinct, it's been the object of perilous expeditions to the region's jungles by adventurers, scientists and journalists. Now, in a paper published by the Journal of Zoology (London), Northwestern University biologists and a Cambodian conservationist present compelling genetic evidence that the kouprey may never have existed as a wild, natural species. The researchers compared...

While this new world of corporate governance/ lobbyists/ privatization of the commons etc; seems difficult to understand (disguised as it is with buzz words – and meaningless jibberish), it’s really not as complex as one might think. After you learn how to ignore the superficial banalities, and get to the meat (if there is any) of the message being given. Most times you’ll hear just fluff and nutter talk – sounds important but isn’t. While we naturally focus upon local issues and concerns such as community development, roads, tons of garbage, forest access, tourism, sportsmen’s rights, lack of snow, no...

The idea that there is something fundamentally unconservative about protecting the environment is, of course, a canard. At the very core of British conservatism since the time of Benjamin Disraeli has been a romantic reverence for the land and a desire to mitigate the damage done by industrialization. It was Marx and Engels who sneered at "the idiocy of rural life." It was Lenin and Stalin whose mania for smoke-belching steelworks turned huge tracts of Russia into toxic wastelands. Conservatives do not expect problems to be solved by some kind of world government; on the contrary, they prefer local solutions...

The world's future wars will be fought not over oil but water: an ominous prediction made by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the British ministry of defence and even by some officials of the World Bank. But experts and academics meeting at an international conference on water management in the Swedish capital are dismissing this prediction as unrealistic, far-fetched and nonsensical."Water wars make good newspaper headlines but cooperation (agreements) don't," says Arunabha Ghosh, co-author of the upcoming Human Development Report 2006 themed on water management. The annual report, commissioned by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), is to be released...

An innovative solution for the man-made carbon dioxide fouling our skies could rest far beneath the surface of the ocean, say scientists at Harvard University. They've found that deep-sea sediments could provide a virtually unlimited and permanent reservoir for this gas that has been a primary driver of global climate change in recent decades, and estimate that seafloor sediments within U.S. territory are vast enough to store the nation's carbon dioxide emissions for thousands of years to come. Harvard's Kurt Zenz House and Daniel P. Schrag, along with colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University, detail the...

One in three people is enduring one form or another of water scarcity, according to new findings released by the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture at World Water Week in Stockholm. These alarming findings totally overrun predictions that this situation would come to pass in 2025. "Worrisome predictions in 2000 had forecast that one third of the world population would be affected by water scarcity by 2025. our findings from the just-concluded research show the situation to be even worse," says Frank Rijsberman, Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). "Already in 2005, more than a...

Washington, D.C.-Nearly one year after the U.S. Supreme Court's shocking Kelo v. New London decision touched off a firestorm of bipartisan support for stronger property rights protections, some anti-property rights groups are receiving support from a surprising source: Senator George Allen (R-VA).Senator Allen is the chief sponsor of legislation that would create a massive federal "National Heritage Area" that would stretch from Charlottesville, VA, through Frederick County, MD, and end in Gettysburg, PA. Such areas are best described as heavily regulated corridors where property rights may be strictly curtailed.

WASHINGTON, DC, August 7, 2006 (ENS) – The federal government is failing to respond to alarming evidence that the oceans are in crisis, ocean experts told a Senate panel last week. Two years after a federal commission called on the Bush administration and Congress to aggressively overhaul the nation's ocean policy, key recommendations have not been implemented and critical ocean research efforts face deep funding cuts. The state of the oceans is not good and "is getting worse," said Leon Panetta, a former California Congressman and cochair of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative. Pollution, overfishing and coastal runoff are damaging...

<p>Dear Etta: I need your help to let the Jacksboro area squirrel hunters know Mepps still buys squirrel tails. Every year it gets tougher to get the tails we need to dress our spinners, but we know from experience a little ink or air time is always a big help. Details are below. Any assistance you can offer, Etta would be sincerely appreciated. Should you need additional information please contact me.</p>

denver & the west | legistature 2006 As more oil and gas wells spring up throughout the Rocky Mountain West, moderate Democrats are telling hunters and ang lers worried about open space that they feel their pain. Hoping to capitalize on the frustration of outdoorsmen and women watching the mechanization of their playgrounds, Democrats are talking about responsible land policy that balances industrial and recreational needs. The approach has created some strange bedfellows. Sportsmen, traditionally leery of Democrats because of their pro gun-control stance, are coming to the table to talk about how to protect the land. And environmentalists, who...

Wyoming may soon get own conservation corps By Jennifer Frazer rep8@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - The Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s was famous for its use of the nation's youth to rejuvenate forests and public lands. Soon Wyoming may have a modern-day version of the corps, which would join corps in Utah, Montana and Colorado. The corps in all three of those states have worked in Wyoming in the past. The Wyoming Conservation Corps would provide youth 18-24 with an opportunity to learn skills and work with government agencies while improving Wyoming's public lands. The project...

Volunteer Update: Lake Pleasant gets a pick up Last Friday, we gladly reported on the outdoors community in and around Maricopa County, Arizona, gathering for their annual Lake Pleasant area cleanup. Having not put a lot of thought into the whole issue, we simply felt we were giving the outdoor community the opportunity to help clean up a heavily traveled outdoor area. After receiving a follow-up message from Linda Dightmon of Arizona Outdoorsman, it appears "heavily trafficked" might be a more precise usage of the language. What the clean-up teams discovered during their Saturday spent in the 104-degree heat was...

I would challenge you democtatic underground lurkers (or a freeper with a DU account) to post this over there and see what sort of repsonses come from the left... I keep hearing how oil dependent we are and how higher consumption is driving up prices... I hear how it is adversely affecting 75% of americans, It seems like if that was the case, 75% of americans would cut the amount they use! I know I cant be the only person in america that has drastically cut the amount of fuel I use over the past year. I want to know...

Sierra Club Director Resigns to Protest Hunting Prize posted April 17, 2006 Sierra Club Director Paul Watson, one of the 15 National Directors of the Sierra Club, has resigned today from the National Board of the Sierra Club. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 2003 for a three year term. His term ends May 17th, 2006. Saying, “I won’t fade quietly into the night,” Watson tendered his resignation on April 17th, which is a month before his term expires to protest the use of Club resources to finance a sport hunting trip to encourage hunting. Watson was...

Department of the Interior For Immediate Release: March 23, 2006 Contact: Hugh Vickery (202 )208-6416 Norton Names 12 To New Sporting Conservation Council; Will Advise Interior On Hunting, Wildlife Resource Issues (COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton today announced the creation of a new Sporting Conservation Council that will advise the Department of the Interior on resource conservation issues of interest to the hunting community. Norton also named the initial members who will represent various parts of the community. The council will provide important input in the areas of habitat restoration and protection; the impact of energy development...

Putting ethanol instead of gasoline in your tank saves oil and is probably no worse for the environment than burning gasoline, according to a new analysis by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The researchers note, however, that new technologies now in development promise to make ethanol a truly "green" fuel with significantly less environmental impact than gasoline. The analysis, appearing in this week's issue of Science, attempts to settle the ongoing debate over whether ethanol is a good substitute for gasoline and thus can help lessen the country's reliance on foreign oil and support farmers in the bargain....

The year 2005 was likely the hottest year in more than a century. According to a study by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) examining temperatures around the world, 2005 was either the warmest or tied for the warmest ever recorded. According to the GISS team, global warming is now 0.6°C (about 1°F) over the past 30 years, and 0.8°C (about 1.4°F) over the past 100 years. The GISS team measured temperatures using records from land-based weather stations, and ship and satellite measurements of sea-surface temperature. This image shows temperature anomalies relative to the 1951-1980 mean. Areas of...

A Lesson in Conservation 0.0105% (2,000/19,000,000) In this number, we see Environmentalism clash with Conservation once again. In the Environmentalist world, mankind is not worth 0.0105%, whereas in the world of Conservation, 0.0105% actually is conservation, and damn good conservation, too. 0.0105% The question of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge comes down to this number - the 2000 acres out of 19,000,000 that make up ANWR proposed for oil exploration. Very much like our inability to grasp the budgetary billions that are tossed around in congressional appropriation subcommittees, our minds have difficulty grasping how small 0.0105% really is....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A hunting lodge with antler chandeliers and stuffed ducks on the walls seems a strange place to celebrate the comeback of the ivory-billed woodpecker, but wildlife officials are doing exactly that. They credit hunters in particular with helping bring the rare bird back from presumed extinction in the Big Woods section of Arkansas.

Tony Blair is believed to be convinced over the need for nuclear power to tackle the UK energy crisis.The government is to announce a review of energy policy, including nuclear power, after being urged by business leaders to tackle the UK energy crisis. Concerns have been growing over future power supplies and rising gas costs. The BBC's Nick Robinson said despite the prime minister's support, no decision has yet been made on Britain's nuclear future. Tony Blair's spokesman said: "The prime minister's view is that we need to look at all the options and everybody knows that is what we...

As elk hunting concludes for the year, controversy lives on. Hunters and outfitters in south central Montana continue to bemoan the dramatic—possibly as much as 50 percent—decline of the famous northern Yellowstone elk herd. They blame the wolf, which has greatly expanded its numbers since its historic re-introduction back in 1995. From the original dozen wolves introduced, the population has grown to 171 in the park, 106 of which live on the northern range. In a November 21 article in USA Today Dan Vergano quotes several biologists debating the cause of the reduction. These scientific opinions weren’t music to the...

Brazilian environmentalist dies in protest Monday, November 14, 2005 Posted at 2:06 PM EST Associated Press Rio de Janeiro — A crusading defender of Brazil's Pantanal wetlands died of his burns after setting himself on fire to protest a proposed sugarcane alcohol plant in the environmentally fragile region, hospital officials said Monday. Francisco Anselmo de Barros, 65, wrapped himself in an alcohol-soaked blanket and set it on fire during a protest Saturday in Campo Grande, 1,200 kilometres northwest of Rio de Janeiro, according to officials at the Santa Casa hospital. Fellow protesters smothered the fire with blankets and sprayed it...

Shepherdstown, W.Va. The American conservationist may be an endangered species, both in numbers and public influence. That's the bleak news suggested by some attendees at the National Conservation Learning Summit, held this weekend at the sprawling woodland campus of the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia. Some estimates indicate that as many as 60 percent of the most senior federal employees are eligible to retire in 2007. Many of those are in conservation and natural resource fields. Over one-half of the senior executives at the Department of the Interior, USDA Forest Service and Environmental Protection Agency will retire by...

President George W. Bush wants to kill the last wildlife sanctuary in the United States. He is more than happy to sink his claws into it, tear it apart and plunder it for his own uses. Environment? What environment? If it’s got oil, it’s ours. Who cares about some stupid animals? According to a Nov. 4 article on CNN.com, the Senate on Thursday approved a measure that would compel the Department of the Interior “to begin selling oil leases for the coastal plain of the Alaska refuge within two years.” Yes, you heard correctly. The refuge. The place where we...

A century and a half ago, California's red-legged frog graced the menus of gourmet restaurants in San Francisco and helped launch a young American writer named Mark Twain, who immortalized the leaping Gold Rush wonder in his first published short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Humans have not repaid the favor since, gobbling up not just the long-legged amphibian but nearly all of its wetland habitat for crops and homes, threatening it with extinction. On Thursday, as part of a continued, far-reaching rollback of protected landscapes for scores of imperiled species around the country, federal officials proposed...