ox-plough blamed for declining soil fertility in Africa

Ox-plough blamed for declining soil fertility
an article by Benson Kathuri
from the East African Standard
posted september 28

Experts want the ox-plough, sub-Sahara Africa's most popular farming equipment, banned for causing soil degradation.

Speaking ahead of the third conservation agriculture congress, the experts urged farmers to revisit traditional farm practices to guard their land from further degradation. More...

tags: conservation tillage, soil conservation, Africa, soil fertility, plough, plow, Kathuri, farm, tools

image by suzy nees

tags: soil conservation, transportation, commute, router, traffic, loop, comic, routine, dust, prairie, dogsontrucks.net

shiitake mushrooms at a farmer's market.

tags: oak, land management, small scale farming, sustainability, crop, homestead

don't give up hope on global warming, says scientist

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Global warming poses a threat to the earth, but humans can probably ease the climate threats brought on by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, global climate specialist Richard Alley told an audience at the University of Vermont.

tags: carbon offset, carbon credits, carbon exchange, venture capital, venture capitalism, global warming, climate change, click on the change you wish to see in the world, guilt offset.

farm truck picture

photo by mack whatley. tags: agriculture, farm use, carbon, offset it & forget it, sequestration, land management, sprawl, Virginia, eminent domain

God bless these Heroes

here is a link to a Christian science monitor article about some of the brave souls who helped to rescue many of the victims of Hurricane Katrina...

Earth releasing more CO2 than originally thought

from newscientist.com via slashdot.

"A new study out of the UK suggests that terrestrial sinks across the planet are mopping up much less carbon than predicted, on balance, and so the planet may warm at an even faster rate than expected. The study focused on the carbon content in soil at 6000 sites in the UK between 1978 and 2003 and found that the soil released the equivalent of 8% of the UK's total 1990 carbon dioxide emissions. These emissions are more than the entire reduction in emissions the UK has achieved between 1990 and 2002 as part of its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. This would effectively cancel out the UK's recent successes in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and would have wider global implications as well."

tags: global warming, carbon emissions, soil science, carbon sequestration, ecology, Earth science

British soils losing carbon

from the Yahoo headlines this morning.

By MICHAEL McDONOUGH, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 7, 8:35 PM ET
LONDON - Rising temperatures resulting from climate change are likely causing soil in England and Wales to lose large amounts of carbon, possibly further contributing to the greenhouse gas effect, according to a new British study which suggests the same trend could be affecting other countries. More...

tags: soil science, soil fertility, climate change, carbon sequestration, greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide emissions, Nature

Katrina Help Wiki

Here is a link to the Katrina Help Wiki.

This page contains a wealth of information related to relief and rescue operations for victims of Hurricane Katrina. If you are looking to open up your home to hurricane evacuees, or you want to organize something in your community to help Katrina's victims, here is a good place to get started.

Many employment offers are also posted here for folks who have lost their jobs as a result of Katrina.

tags: New Orleans, housing, volunteer, employment, work, discussion board, forum

de-toxing New Orleans

Here is a post from Denny on what we should do to clean up the mess in New Orleans.

tags: ecology, bioremediation, ecology, shoreline conservation, Washington Post, Hurricane Katrina, Superfund, green design

Katrina survivor database

Here is a link to information on efforts to built a database of Katrina survivors.

tags: Katrina survivors, New Orleans diaspora, Hurricane victims

cries for help spread across New Orleans

from MSNBC.

NEW ORLEANS - Fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flood-stricken New Orleans slipped toward anarchy Thursday.

“This is a desperate SOS,” the mayor said. More...

tags: humanitarian crisis, rescue, superdome, hurricane Katrina