http://www.physorg.com/space-news/environment/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. (PhysOrg.com) -- Many ornamental nursery growers test to see if their plants need water by sticking a finger in the soil to see if it`s dry. Or, they just water them whether they need it or not. University of Georgia horticulturists have found a better way, one that requires less water, less fertilizer, less money and fewer dirty fingers. http://www.physorg.com/news179155240.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:10:03 EST news179155240 (AP) -- The United Nations will conduct its own investigation into e-mails leaked from a leading British climate science center in addition to the probe by the University of East Anglia, a senior U.N. climate official said Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news179148525.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:32:27 EST news179148525 The rising level of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be fueling more than climate change. It could also be making some trees grow like crazy. http://www.physorg.com/news179118204.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:04:32 EST news179118204 (AP) -- With the world losing the battle against global warming so far, experts are warning that humans need to follow nature's example: Adapt or die. http://www.physorg.com/news179076522.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:00:02 EST news179076522 A new article in the December 4 issue of Science addresses how the combined efforts of government commitments and market transition could save forest and reduce carbon emissions in Brazil. The Policy Forum brief, entitled "The End of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon" was authored by contributors from the Woods Hole Research Center, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia (IPAM), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Aliança da Terra, Environmental Defense Fund, University of Florida, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and the Universidade Federal do Pará. http://www.physorg.com/news179088334.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:47:00 EST news179088334 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research conducted by University of Wyoming Professor Paul Johnson and others demonstrates that genetically modified tadpoles work well as sensitive monitors for rapidly detecting water pollution. http://www.physorg.com/news179084594.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:30:02 EST news179084594 Rising levels of carbon dioxide may overheat the planet and cause other environmental problems, but fears that rising CO2 levels could directly reduce plant biodiversity can be allayed, according to a new study by a University of Minnesota scientist Peter Reich. In fact, rising CO2 may actually help counteract losses of diversity from another environmental villain: the global rain of nitrogen from fertilizers and exhaust fumes. http://www.physorg.com/news179074615.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:30:03 EST news179074615 A new strategy for saving tropical forest species was published in the leading journal Science on the eve of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, by a team of researchers, including William Laurance, senior staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and distinguished professor at James Cook University. The authors state that wealthy countries should adopt a carbon-payment system that explicitly incorporates biodiversity values. http://www.physorg.com/news179073146.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:50:06 EST news179073146 Forest dwellers must be included in the design of the upcoming forest deal at Copenhagen in order to avoid a humanitarian crisis, according to a scientist at the University of Leeds. http://www.physorg.com/news179067868.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:20:01 EST news179067868 As snow begins to blanket Lake Tahoe, the region finds itself facing a new kind of development battle: green vs. green. http://www.physorg.com/news179059177.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:00:02 EST news179059177 (PhysOrg.com) -- Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are testing out alternative ways of tilling the soil and rotating crops to see if they can help wheat farmers in Oregon sequester more carbon in the soil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. http://www.physorg.com/news179058963.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:50:01 EST news179058963 (AP) -- A British university said Thursday it would investigate whether scientists at its prestigious Climatic Research Unit fudged data on global warming. http://www.physorg.com/news179059257.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:41:16 EST news179059257 (AP) -- Fears that giant, voracious species of carp will get into the Great Lakes and wipe out other fish have led to rising demands that the government close the waterway connecting the lakes to the Mississippi River - an unprecedented step that could disrupt the movement of millions of tons of iron ore, coal, grain and other goods. http://www.physorg.com/news179002734.html Space & Earth - Environment Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:50:05 EST news179002734 A Smoky Mountain forest's woodland herb population has shown that climate may play a role in how forest understories recover from logging, according to Purdue University research. http://www.physorg.com/news178983040.html Space & Earth - Environment Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:31:06 EST news178983040 Scientists are reporting the first identification of substances involved in the Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation that changes harmless marine bacteria into killers that cause "coral bleaching." Their study appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology. http://www.physorg.com/news178979141.html Space & Earth - Environment Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:26:10 EST news178979141 It is a crisp fall day on Emory Knoll Farms as John Shepley stops at a raspberry bush, picks a few berries and pops them into his mouth on his walk to the greenhouses. http://www.physorg.com/news178963358.html Space & Earth - Environment Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:40:02 EST news178963358 San Francisco and Amsterdam set an online stage for an environmental rivalry regarding which city is more nature-friendly. http://www.physorg.com/news178952100.html Space & Earth - Environment Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:55:55 EST news178952100 (AP) -- Australia's plans for an emissions trading system to combat global warming were scuttled Wednesday in Parliament, handing a defeat to a government that had hoped to set an example at international climate change talks next week. http://www.physorg.com/news178951562.html Space & Earth - Environment Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:46:47 EST news178951562 (AP) -- The chief of a prestigious British research center caught in a storm of controversy over claims that he and others suppressed data about climate change has stepped down pending an investigation, the University of East Anglia said Tuesday. http://www.physorg.com/news178919012.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:43:49 EST news178919012 (PhysOrg.com) -- Climate projections for the next 50 to 100 years forecast increasingly frequent severe droughts and heat waves across the American Southwest, sinking available water levels even as rising mercury drives up demand for it. http://www.physorg.com/news178913021.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:04:13 EST news178913021 Much of the historic Italian city of Venice, including St. Mark's Square, was underwater Monday following a meteorological depression combined with natural tide waters, officials said. http://www.physorg.com/news178826195.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:20:09 EST news178826195 Waste management is increasingly gaining the recognition that it deserves as a major contributor to mitigating climate change. But with at least four different methods of accounting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions currently in play, it is vitally important to ensure that all stakeholders are counting emissions accurately and transparently. A study released this week in a special issue of the journal Waste Management & Research published by SAGE describes methods currently used to quantify GHG emissions in waste management, and proposes a new framework that enables stakeholders to use consistently and transparently core emission data, which can then be implemented in any accounting procedure. http://www.physorg.com/news178813071.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:20:02 EST news178813071 A new scientific organisation is needed to monitor the commitments that will be made by developing countries at Copenhagen to cut their deforestation rates, according to research at the University of Leeds. http://www.physorg.com/news178811477.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:52:38 EST news178811477 Peatlands, especially those in tropical regions, sequester gigantic amounts of organic carbon. Human activities are now having a considerable impact on these wetlands. For example, drainage projects, in combination with the effects of periodic droughts, can lead to large-scale fires, which release enormous amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, and thus contribute to global warming. http://www.physorg.com/news178803752.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:43:01 EST news178803752 Plant roots can shrink as a result of water deficit and lose contact with the surrounding soil. This effect has been suspected for a long time, but has only now been demonstrated for a fact with the help of x-ray tomography. The formation of an air gap could initially help plants prevent impending water losses when the soil dries out, say scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) writing in the Vadose Zone Journal. http://www.physorg.com/news178803514.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:39:53 EST news178803514 (AP) -- Leaders of the Commonwealth countries called Saturday for a legally binding international agreement on climate change and a global fund with billions of dollars to help poor countries meet its mandates. http://www.physorg.com/news178721196.html Space & Earth - Environment Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:00:01 EST news178721196 (AP) -- A school district near Cincinnati is suing a plastics plant, accusing it of continuing to release chemicals in the air that exceed government safety standards. http://www.physorg.com/news178654038.html Space & Earth - Environment Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:50:01 EST news178654038 (AP) -- Gert Ignatiussen returns to this fjord-front Inuit town with the spoils of his hunting trip. Six seals, all killed with a single shot to the head. http://www.physorg.com/news178530519.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:30:01 EST news178530519 (AP) -- Americans' day-to-day lives won't change noticeably if President Barack Obama achieves his newly announced goal of slashing carbon dioxide pollution by one-sixth in the next decade, experts say. http://www.physorg.com/news178530693.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:52:01 EST news178530693 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first-ever Australian benchmark of climate change impacts on marine ecosystems and options for adaptation is being released in Brisbane today. http://www.physorg.com/news178529108.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:50:01 EST news178529108