Climate Change, Human Rights Top Sustainability Priorities for Business Leaders at BSR Conference
From EthicalMarkets.com:
Climate change and human rights are the most significant priorities for business’ sustainability efforts in the year ahead, according to the “BSR/GlobeScan State of Sumarcstainable Business Poll 2009” of 274 business leaders from 15 countries who attended the BSR Conference 2009 in San Francisco.
What Are Coral Reef Services Worth?
Between $130,000 and $1.2 million per hectacre, according to ScienceDaily:
Experts have revealed jaw-dropping dollar values of the “ecosystem services” of biomes like forests and coral reefs — including food, pollution treatment and climate regulation.
Multiyear Arctic Ice Is Effectively Gone
PlanetArk:
Vast sheets of impenetrable multiyear ice, which can reach up to 80 meters (260 feet) thick, have for centuries blocked the path of ships seeking a quick short cut through the fabled Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific…
But David Barber, Canada’s Research Chair in Arctic System Science at the University of Manitoba, said the ice was melting at an extraordinarily fast rate. “We are almost out of multiyear sea ice in the northern hemisphere,” he said in a presentation in Parliament…
Scientists link higher Arctic temperatures and melting sea ice to the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
US Water Use Declines Despite Population Increase
The nation is using less water now than it did in 1975 and 1980, when water use peaked, reports Oregon Environmental News:
That figure is based on the U.S. Geological Survey’s estimate for U.S. water use in 2005, and the drop comes despite a 30 percent increase in population in the past 25 years.
“The declines are attributed to the increased use of more efficient irrigation systems and alternative technologies at power plants,” the U.S. Department of Interior said today.
Junk Food as Addictive as Heroin
Science News:
Junk food elicits addictive behavior in rats similar to the behaviors of rats addicted to heroin, a new study finds. Pleasure centers in the brains of rats addicted to high-fat, high-calorie diets became less responsive as the binging wore on, making the rats consume more and more food. The results, presented October 20 at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting, may help explain the changes in the brain that lead people to overeat.
Are Online Shoppers Less Enticed by Junk Food?
Jonah Lehrer at Frontal Cortex notes that the temptations that often lead us astray in the grocery store are less powerful when we see pictures of the same items.
Fun with the Unimaginably Small
How small is a water molecule compared to a common cold virus? Or an red blood cell to a grain of rice?
The Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah has an interactive tool that lets you zoom from a coffee bean to carbon atom. Just drag the scroll button at the bottom of the diagram.
