Earthworms 'marry' in Taiwan ceremony

Seventy "lucky earthworms" have been married off in an elaborate wedding ritual in south Taiwan in a bid to raise awareness about the environment and the problem of soil erosion, organisers said Monday.

The worms arrived Sunday at Takang Park in Tainan city inside a traditional wedding sedan draped in red cloth to "tie the knot with the soil of the park", Takang Community Development Association said.

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‘Coral Triangle’ Under Threat From People

More than 85 percent of reefs in the “Coral Triangle,” encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste, are highly threatened by local human activities, a new report revealed.

The Coral Triangle features immense biodiversity – it contains nearly 30 percent of the world’s coral reefs and more than 3,000 species of fish – twice the number found anywhere else in the world.

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Lights Out At 8:30-9:30 p.m.

Millions of Filipinos are expected to participate in Earth Hour, the event that encourages the simultaneous switching off of lights and other electrical appliances to raise global awareness on climate change, at 8:30-9:30 p.m. today in the Philippines.

Malacañang joined the call yesterday for the public to actively participate in the simultaneous "lights off" event initiated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to be a global movement uniting people to protect the planet.

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Fetuses Use In Food Banned

An Oklahoma lawmaker has proposed legislation to ban any use of fetuses in food in one of the more bizarre twists in the emotive US battle over abortion.

The bill comes after wild rumors began circulating online and among anti-abortion groups that soft drink giant, Pepsi, was using aborted fetuses in its products. The company has denounced the urban legend as completely false.

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Busted Fluorescent Lamps' Dangers Cited

Environment-health advocates on Monday warned the public against improper disposal of busted fluorescent lamps as it releases toxic mercury into the environment that endangers the health of the people.

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Philippines Tops Natural Disasters List

The Philippines is on top of the list of countries in the world in terms of the occurrence of natural disasters in 2011, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction said Friday.

In a press conference held in Pasig City, Margareta Wahlstrom, who heads the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, said a total of 33 natural disasters ravaged various parts of the country last year that resulted in the death of scores of people and the destruction of millions of pesos worth of agricultural produce, infrastructure projects, and properties.

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The 10 Most Air-Polluted Cities in the World

Environmentalists in the U.S. are not happy with President Obama, in part because he pulled back on a promise to tighten ground-level ozone and smog standards for air pollution. But American greens should remember: much of the rest of the world has it far, far, far worse.

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Avoiding Air Pollution

Air pollution in simple terminology is bad for the environment and one of the main problems currently ruining the planet. The annoying facts however are that it could be reduced dramatically by making some changes to everyday activities and lifestyles. Look at dust for example, its extremely common, dangerous, and can be avoided by cleaning and being more cautious.

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Paint Made from Recycled Plastic Bottles

This is actually quite a wonderful color and it’s perfect for the summer. And the great thing about it? Lots of reasons.

This paint is made from recycled plastic bottles. It has made good use of waste that would have supposedly filled out landfills, for one thing. And its paint formulation and its use actually bring about less air pollution than regular paints, where its mostly oil based.

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The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 minutes

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Million Trees Planting Program

The Province of Davao Oriental through Gov. Corazon Malanyaon has launched a tree planting campaign on June 22, 2009, 6:30am - 7:00am. Under the Million Trees Planting Campaign, people, communities, business and industry, civil society organizations and government employees of Davao Oriental participated in the said activity with the objective of planting trees along the highway from the boundary of Comval Province and Davao Oriental to the province of Boston, Davao Oriental. The campaign strongly encourages the planting of indigenous trees and trees that are appropriate to the local environment.

Trees help conserve soil and water , control avalanches , prevent desertification , protect coastal areas and stabilize sand dunes. They also house up to 90 percent of known terrestrial species. In addition they absorb carbon dioxide and store nearly 300 Gigatonnes of carbon in their biomass alone.

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World Not Ending Soon

Two scientists in the United States say life on Earth may go on much longer than some now believe. Ken Caldeira and James Kasting believe that life on Earth has up to 1,500 million more years to go. Much longer than the British scientists proposed ten years ago. James Lovelock and M. Whitfield said that life on Earth will end in 100 million years.

Mr. Lovelock and Mr. Whitfield said that in about 5,000 million years the sun would burst into a giant red star. But long before that, the sun will get brighter, warming the Earth. As the Earth warms, silicate rocks would remove carbon dioxide from the air.

They said that in about 100 million years so little carbon dioxide would be left that plants would starve. If the plants starve, all other forms of life on Earth would die. Finally, they said, Earth would become like Venus. On Venus, the air is hot enough to melt lead.

The new study by Mr. Caldeira and Mr. Kasting appeared in the British publication, Nature. They do not dispute that the sun is getting hotter. But they believe that the temperature od the Earth's atmosphere will not rise much for 900 million years.

Mr. Caldeira and Mr. Kastings say that newer forms of plants, including corn, need less carbon dioxide in the air to survive. They say plants and trees will survive 500 millions more years. Grasslands and cornfields will survive almost 1,000 million years before the planet becomes like Venus.

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Earth Day Extravaganza

Earth Day falls on Wednesday, April 22, 2009. The best Earth Day projects help children stretch their awareness of environmental issues while encouraging them to replace old habits with new, earth-sensitive practices. The ecology minded-project below is specifically designed to do just that. It's a great time to learn about our planet and how to take care of it!

Air Pollution and Pennies

Copper pennies can be used to demonstrate the presence and effects of air pollution on the environment. While copper would oxidize and tarnish in even a pollution-free environment, polluted air accelerates the process. Cleaning dirty pennies dramatically demonstrates how we are exposed to pollution in our air.

Equipment: pennies, salt, lemon jiuce, a glass of bowl, a tablespoon measure

Procedure: Place one tablespoon of salt in the glass bowl. Place one penny on the salt and cover it with another tablespoon of salt. Sprinkle with two or three tablespoons of lemon juice and let sit for five minutes. Remove penny and rub clean. Repeat if any dirt remains on penny.

Observations: Have kids describe how the penny looked before, during, and after the experiment. How did the salt and lemon juice help to clean the penny?

Discussion: How did air pollution affect the pennies? How does it affect plants? Animals? Humans? What creates air pollution? Do you contribute to air pollution? Follow up by having children brainstorm ways to reduce air pollution.

More ecology-minded projects at Teacher's and Student's Corner.

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