MEDIA RELEASE

More than 99 percent of the biomass that remains after harvesting, processing, roasting and brewing coffee is discarded. An estimated 12 million tons of agricultural waste from worldwide coffee production rots and generates millions of tons of methane gas, contributing to climate change.

Professor Gunter Pauli, founder of Zero Emissions Research & Initiatives (ZERI) and author of “The Blue Economy” shares his third of 100 innovations, that coffee biomass provides the ideal medium to stimulate the growth of mycelium – mushroom spawns.

According to one of Hong Kong’s leading fungi scientists, Professor Shuting Chang, the world market for mushrooms surpassed $17 billion in 2008. Demand, especially for tropical varieties such as shiitake, maietake and ganoderma, has seen double digit growth for decades. Pauli sees potential for tropical fungi to outpace coffee and metals as a world commodity within a generation.

Quality tropical mushrooms are farmed on hardwoods like oak. Hardwood trees are harvested, ground, and converted into artificial logs. It takes up to nine months to fruit shiitake or ganoderma. In coffee production, prunings, husks, pulp, and after brewing, grounds are by-products. All are enriched with caffeine.

This biochemical has been proven to stimulate the growth of mycelium and mushrooms pop out as quickly as three months after seeding. This generates more rapid cash flow and offers a competitive alternative to traditional mushroom farming techniques.

Moreover, the leftovers after harvesting mushrooms are enriched with essential amino acids, including lysine which can be converted into quality animal feed for farm cattle or pets at home.

In 2009, more than 100 companies in the Colombian coffee region of El Huila began taking coffee waste and converting methane-producing biomass into revenue generating fungi.

According to the Hawaii Coffee Association, there are 6,500 acres planted in coffee statewide from small family farms to large mechanized estates. Annual production is 6 to 7 million pounds green bean. Among the growers is Doutor Coffee, the “Starbucks of Japan,” with a large growing operation on Big Island.

Pauli projects that such companies may be delighted to have their reputation for quality extended to the quality of mushrooms farmed from their coffee waste while generating new product and jobs. There is potential added value generated for all partners since restaurants and cafes would pay for disposing of the raw material (coffee grounds) while paying to offer mushroom delicacies on their menus.

—

The World Congress on Zero Emissions Initiatives – Launching “The Blue Economy” is slated Sept. 13-17, 2010 at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu. The Congress will focus on design of an economic system driven by innovations, generating jobs and building social capital.

The Blue Economy is based upon 100 plus breakthroughs in businesses that have proven their competitiveness. The innovations being addressed at the World Congress are related to Energy, Food, Health, Housing, Transportation, Waste and Water, and how these innovations integrate and provide new job opportunities in today’s changing world. Concrete case studies from around the world will inspire entrepreneurs to follow suit.

An added aspect of this particular World Congress and its location in Hawaii is the opportunity to integrate protocols of the host Hawaiian culture and the opportunity for delegates to learn from a prosperity model of ancient Hawaii known as the ahupuaa system.

Furthermore, this Congress will set new levels of close to zero waste at the Hawaii Convention Center while establishing best practices and standards for future conferences, conventions and meetings including locally-sourced food offerings during the Congress dates. Pre and post World Congress opportunities on all Hawaiian Islands will allow delegates to experience actual innovations while also enjoying much of what Hawaii has to offer.

Sponsors of The World Congress on Zero Emissions Initiatives – Launching “The Blue Economy” include CT & T America, the world’s largest producer of electrical vehicles; First Wind, focused exclusively on the development, ownership and operation of wind energy projects; Blue Planet Foundation, seeking to foster systemic change in how Hawaii generates and uses energy; Hawaiian Electric Company, committed to meeting the long-term energy needs of Hawaii; Puna Geothermal Venture, the only commercial producer of geothermal energy in Hawaii; and SOPOGY, focused at developing the new sector of solar known as Micro-Scaled Concentrating Solar Power or “MicroCSP.”

Early registration is open until April 15. Register online at: zeroemissionshawaii.org/

MEDIA RELEASE


In 1986, Father Godfrey Nzamujo initiated the Songhia Center in Porto Novo, the capital city of Benin. The Nigeria-born priest established a food production center cascading nutrients and energy following the Chinese traditional farming model known as integrated biosystems (IBS).

As examples, waste plant biomass is a substrate for mushrooms, waste water is converted into biogas, leftovers from food processing are feed for animals and the slaughter house waste is used to farm maggots.

Flies create an unhealthy environment. Offal, like any decomposing waste, attracts flies.

Nzamujo turned this challenge into an opportunity, creating “a fly hotel” where all offal is carefully spread over small square open containers with nets blocking birds out. The flies lay eggs and produce up to one ton of maggots each week. The maggots, rich in protein, are harvested and served as feed for fish and quails.

The process generates low cost protein and concentrates all flies into one area while eliminating a major nuisance for the farm. 

In parallel Professor Stephen Britland built his career at Bradford University (UK) around the study of the health benefits of maggots. The use of maggots for wound care has been practiced by the Mayas and the Aboriginal tribes.

Britland went on to create with partners Advanced Gel Technologies, innovations in gel research with the active ingredients from maggots.

The present hypothesis is that the maggot enzymes not only cleanse wounds, but produce an electro-magnetic environment that stimulates cell growth. 

While there are issues to be resolved around the sterilization of this biologically active compound, the volume from Benin permits a broad market entry at considerably lower costs.

If all of the waste from abattoirs were used to produce maggots for wound care, fish and bird feed, then the 3,000 recognized slaughterhouses could generate an additional 500,000 jobs, while manufacturing local treatments, reducing the cost of wound care, and limiting the social marginalization caused by lack of health services.  


—

The World Congress on Zero Emissions Initiatives – Launching “The Blue Economy” is slated Sept. 13 through 17, 2010 at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu. The Congress will focus on design of an economic system driven by innovations, generating jobs and building social capital.

The Blue Economy is based upon 100 plus breakthroughs in businesses that have proven their competitiveness. The innovations being addressed at the World Congress are related to Energy, Food, Health, Housing, Transportation, Waste and Water, and how these innovations integrate and provide new job opportunities in today’s changing world. Concrete case studies from around the world will inspire entrepreneurs to follow suit.
 
An added aspect of this particular World Congress and its location in Hawaii is the opportunity to integrate protocols of the host Hawaiian culture and the opportunity for delegates to learn from a prosperity model of ancient Hawaii known as the ahupuaa system.

Furthermore, this Congress will set new levels of close to zero waste at the Hawaii Convention Center while establishing best practices and standards for future conferences, conventions and meetings including locally-sourced food offerings during the Congress dates. Pre and post World Congress opportunities on all Hawaiian Islands will allow delegates to experience actual innovations while also enjoying much of what Hawaii has to offer.
 
Sponsors of The World Congress on Zero Emissions Initiatives – Launching “The Blue Economy” include CT & T America, the world’s largest producer of electrical vehicles; First Wind, focused exclusively on the development, ownership and operation of wind energy projects; Blue Planet Foundation, seeking to foster systemic change in how Hawaii generates and uses energy; Hawaiian Electric Company, committed to meeting the long-term energy needs of Hawaii; Puna Geothermal Venture, the only commercial producer of geothermal energy in Hawaii; and SOPOGY, focused at developing the new sector of solar known as Micro-Scaled Concentrating Solar Power or “MicroCSP.”
 
Early registration is open until April 15. Register online at: zeroemissionshawaii.org/

By NASA Earth Observatory

The west coast of South America is a subduction zone, where the Nazca Plate is plowing under the South America Plate at an average rate of 80 millimeters (3 inches) per year. Their collision gives rise to the spectacular Andes Mountains as well as to devastating earthquakes, such as the 8.8-magnitude quake that struck offshore to the north-northeast of Concepción on February 27, 2010.

This map of topography and water depth reveals subduction’s influence on the landscape. Lighter colors indicate higher elevation on land and shallower depth in the water. Quake locations and magnitudes are indicated by black circles. The topography is based on radar data collected during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, which flew onboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in mid-February 2002.

The boundary where the two plates converge is marked by a red line, but even without the line, its location would be revealed by the trench located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) offshore. The trench occurs where the Nazca Plate begins its descent beneath the South America Plate. The trench is most sharply defined on the eastern (continental) side: depth plunges rapidly from a few hundred meters (light blue) to several thousand meters (deep blue).

In places along their boundary, the two plates may slide easily past each other, but in other locations, they become locked together for a time. Eventually the pressure is too great for the rocks to withstand, and they break. The plates lurch past each other violently: an earthquake. When large quakes occur underwater, the seafloor may heave or sink. The ground movement is what triggers a tsunami.

The Chilean coast has a long history of very large earthquakes. In fact, the February 27 quake occurred about 230 kilometers (140 miles) north of the strongest earthquake ever measured: a magnitude 9.5 event that occurred in 1960. A magnitude 8.5 quake occurred about 870 kilometers (540 miles) farther north in 1922.

MEDIA RELEASE

Aloha All.

Please Read this Request for Volunteers from Mr. Dana Riddle…..and join us again this year for coral spawning observations!

Dana is preparing for observations of the Pocillopora meandrina (cauliflower coral) , P. eydouxi (antler coral) and Leptastrea bewickensis ( an encrusting coral) spawnings. He is hoping that the ReefWatchers and other interested folks will join in the hunt for spawning corals again this year. His articles on spawnings in 2007 and 2008 have highlighted the value of volunteers making observations and reporting their information. Together we have documented information on cauliflower coral, antler coral and lobe or mound corals. None of this work had been done before. The ReefWatchers have made themselves a place in marine science history.

This year, there is a full moon near the end of March, possibly triggering a coral spawning in late March/early April. In addition, the full moon in April is near the end of the month. It is possible we could see two spawnings in April (with earliest spawning occurring in late March).

No spawning was observed in March or April 2009. It is thought that unusually low water temperature delayed spawning until May (when a massive spawning was observed by the ReefWatchers).

We again have an opportunity to advance our knowledge and understanding of coral reproductive behavior. I am hopeful that volunteers will again come forward this year and report any coral spawnings. In particular, water temperature is an important environmental cue and should be included with any report. Time of spawning is also critical in advancing our understanding of the impacts of lunar light and solar light.

These are the hypotheses/theories in place: Timing of Pocillopora meandrina spawning is triggered by sunset time the evening before spawning. We have seen spawnings fall into this timing pattern here in Kona.

Temperature plays an important part in promoting or delaying spawning. Unfortunately, our data is not sufficient to establish any trends related to temperature.

Dana will provide each participating person with a data logging temperature ‘button’ about the size of a nickel, made of stainless steel which contains micorelectronics that record time and temperature. It can be carried in a mesh bag, tied onto a snorkeler’s wetsuit or belt. He must hear from folks who want the temperature loggers no later than March 14th to order them and have them available by the possible late March/early April spawning.

Interested folks call Dana at 936- 5509 or email him at the riddlelabs@aol.com to order a thermometer. Please also notify Sara Peck peck@hawaii.edu that you are planning to observe. In March, Sara Peck will send out an observation form and explain how to make your own small wateproof information recording card.

Dana’s focus this year will concern identifying chemical cues that induce coral spat settlement, as well the temporal impacts of spawning on water chemistries. He thanks you for your help!

Dana Riddle and Sara Peck

What: The Globe at Night Campaign
When: 8pm to 10pm local time, March 3-16, 2010
Where: Everywhere
Who: You! (Everyone!)
How: See www.globeatnight.org
Why:

With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. This loss, caused by light pollution, is a concern on many fronts: safety, energy conservation, cost, health and effects on wildlife, as well as our ability to view the stars. Even though light pollution is a serious and growing global concern, it is one of the easiest environmental problems you can address on local levels.

Globe at Night is an annual 2-week campaign in March that helps to address the light pollution issue locally as well as globally. This year the campaign is March 3-16, 2010. You are invited along with everyone all over the world to record the brightness of your night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with star maps of progressively fainter stars found at www.globeatnight.org/observe_magnitude.html

You then submit your measurements on-line at www.globeatnight.org/report.html with your date, time and location. A few weeks later, organizers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide. Over the last four 2-week Globe at Night campaigns, volunteers from over 100 nations have contributed 35,000 measurements.

To learn the five easy steps to participate in the Globe at Night program, see the Globe at Night website at http:// www.globeatnight.org. You can listen to our 10-minute audio podcast on light pollution and Globe at Night at 365daysofastronomy.org/2010/02/03/february-3rd-the-globe-at-night-campaign-our-light-or-starlight/

For activities that have children explore what light pollution is, what its effects are on wildlife and how to prepare for participating in the Globe at Night campaign, see the new activities at www.darkskiesawareness.org/DarkSkiesRangers

Monitoring our environment will allow us as citizen-scientists to identify and preserve the dark sky oases in cities and locate areas where light pollution is increasing. All it takes is a few minutes during the March 2010 campaign to measure sky brightness and contribute those observations on-line. Help us exceed the 15,000 observations contributed last year. Your measurements will make a world of difference.

(Activity updates are written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.) 

Surface flows have been active on Pulama pali within the Royal Gardens subdivision and on the coastal plain west of the subdivision. There has been little forward advancement toward the ocean, however, due to last week’s disruption in lava supply caused by a deflation/inflation (DI) event at Kilauea’s summit.

Rapid deflation at Kilauea’s summit started again on Thursday and will probably lead to a slow-down in surface activity. When the volcano reinflates, there will likely be a corresponding increase in surface activity on the pali as the system recovers.

At Kilauea’s summit, a spattering and roiling lava surface, deep within the collapse pit inset within the floor of Halemaumau Crater, was visible via Webcam. For much of the week, the lava surface was seen to cyclically rise and fall.

This behavior may stop as the lava surface lowers in response to the ongoing DI deflation, and may start again when the volcano reinflates. Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated, resulting in high concentrations of sulfur dioxide downwind.

One earthquake beneath Hawaii Island was reported felt during the past week.

A magnitude-3.4 earthquake occurred at 10:41 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, and was located 8 km (5 miles) southeast and offshore of Kalapana at a depth of 44 km (28 miles).

Visit the HVO Web site (hvo.wr.usgs.gov) for detailed Kilauea and Mauna Loa activity updates, recent volcano photos, recent earthquakes, and more; call 967-8862 for a Kilauea summary; e-mail questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.

(Volcano Watch is a weekly article written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.)

Alert observers of Kilauea’s ongoing summit eruption often note the changing character of the ever-present plume emerging from Halemaumau. Sometimes it’s energetic, sometimes its color is a visibly ash-rich grey or brown, and at other times the plume appears translucent, even wispy. What causes these variations?

Several factors affect the plume’s appearance. Changes in physical conditions at the vent, meteorology, and even chemical reactions occurring as gas boils out of the melt can conspire or act alone to produce the variably visible plume.

The summit plume is principally composed of water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), all of which are clear and colorless gases. The visible part of the plume includes a minor amount of ash, along with a suspended mixture of tiny droplets and particles, called aerosol. Volcanic ash consists of rock dust and glass particles less than 2 mm (0.08 inches) in diameter.

The aerosol in the plume is even smaller, less than 0.0025 mm (0.0001 inch) in diameter — about one-tenth the diameter of a strand of human hair. Aerosol is composed chiefly of dilute sulfuric acid (H2SO4), formed when SO2 reacts in the presence of oxygen and water vapor.

Physical changes occur intermittently at Halemaumau as the unstable rim crumbles and releases rocks and debris into the vent. These rockfalls disturb the top of the magma column and sometimes result in the production of brief ash-rich plumes, ranging from gray to brown, before returning to their prior appearance.

Meteorological variations, including relative humidity, temperature, cloud cover, and wind speed also affect plume appearance. Because the plume is visible, owing partly to the presence of water-laden droplets, air temperature and relative humidity work in concert to changing the plume’s visibility. Higher humidity and lower temperature conditions cause moisture condensation, producing a more visible plume.

The converse temperature/humidity story is true, as well. Increasing wind speed tends to make the plume more compact, and usually more opaque, except at very high wind speeds.

Cloud cover diffuses the sun’s rays; diffuse sunlight is scattered in a way that appears different to our eyes than does direct sunlight. The result of this effect can be that a plume appearing blue and translucent in bright sun light, turns milkier and denser under heavy cloud cover.

Chemical transformations occurring with the plume are of great interest with respect to their effects on plume appearance. These same changes also provide clues about processes occurring at the top of the summit magma column, a place often not directly visible from the surface.

As noted earlier, the visible aerosol is comprised of H2SO4, formed by chemical oxidation of SO2. A primary factor accounting for variability in the amount of H2SO4 produced is obviously the amount of SO2 bubbling out of the magma to start with, but the temperature of the vent has a strong effect, as well. Higher temperatures within the vent tend to oxidize more SO2.

A useful lesson showing the complex effects of temperature and chemistry on the visibility of SO2- and H2SO4-bearing plumes occurred at coal-fired power plants on the mainland in the 1990s. Power companies worked hard to clean up sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions by installing chemical scrubbers.

The scrubbers reached their goal of effectively decreasing the amount of clear, colorless and noxiously polluting SO2 in their exhaust gases, but, partly because of gas temperature and humidity effects, had the unintended consequence of producing dense blue plumes containing light-scattering H2SO4.

The experience of the power stations underscores the importance of temperature and humidity on plume visibility. It also demonstrates how decreases in SO2 emissions do not always result in a less visible plume. Conversely, a more dense plume doesn’t necessarily mean more SO2, either.

At Kilauea, we confirmed this lesson by using ultraviolet spectrometers to measure SO2 emission rates of dense white plumes and thin, wispy blue ones. We’ve found that plumes appearing thin and wispy often contain as much or more SO2 then dense white ones.

A substantial and valuable part of the science of volcanology is based on simple but careful observations. Combining these direct observations with instrumental ones has helped volcanologists answer numerous questions about how volcanoes work. As our toolbox of high-tech methods bulges, we remind ourselves of the value and place of simple human-based observations.

MEDIA RELEASE

Diverse dryland forests once thrived in many low rainfall areas of Hawaii Island, including on the leeward slopes of Hualalai. These forests played a vital role in the life of the Hawaiian people.

Less than 100 years ago, broad expanses of healthy forest stretched across the landscape of West Hawaii. However, once-common native trees have undergone an astounding decline in their populations and experts estimate that only 5 percent to 10 percent of dryland forest habitats in Hawaii and worldwide now remain. Only a few scattered remnant dry forest ecosystems survive today. These dryland forests are home to some of the world’s rarest native Hawaiian plants.

On Friday, Feb. 26, the 2010 Nahelehele Dryland Forest Symposium will highlight dryland forest ecology and restoration efforts in Hawaii. The symposium will be held at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort from 9 am to 5 pm. This year the conference will emphasize managing human impacts on Hawaiian dry forests.

The Nahelehele Dryland Forest Symposium features presentations by community stewards, educators, researchers, and conservationists. This year’s symposium will include talks about scientific and cultural perspectives on dry forest plants and ecosystems; climate change and its effects on Hawaiian dry forest; and backyard preservation as insurance for endangered plant recovery.

There will be other talks about growing the right plant in the right place, invasive weed management, non-native grasses and native plants, restoration efforts at Laiopua and the Pelekane Watershed Management Project on the Big Island and an update on insect threats to Hawaiian plants.

On Thursday, Feb. 25, there will be hands-on workshops including: 1) native plant propagation, 2) invasive weeds, and 3) fire mitigation relative to native plants.

The Nahelehele Symposium is a project of Kaahahui o ka Nahelehele, a non-profit organization dedicated to dry forest advocacy and partnerships. Sponsors of this symposium include Bishop Museum’s Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, The Kohala Center, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kamehameha Schools-LAD, Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort, Leonard Bisel Associates, LLC, Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, Hawaii Forestry Industry Association and Hawaii Forest Institute.

— Find out more:
www.kohalacenter.org/nahele10.html

MEDIA RELEASE

The World Congress on Zero Emissions Initiatives – Launching “The Blue Economy” is slated Sept. 13-17, 2010 at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu. The Congress will focus on design of an economic system driven by innovations, generating jobs and building social capital.

The Blue Economy is based upon one hundred plus breakthroughs in businesses that have proven their competitiveness. The innovations being addressed at the World Congress are related to Energy, Food, Health, Housing, Transportation, Waste and Water, and how these innovations integrate and provide new job opportunities in today’s changing world. Concrete case studies from around the world will inspire entrepreneurs to follow suit.

In attendance will be world renowned leaders and entrepreneurs including Professor Gunter Pauli, founder of Zero Emissions Research Initiatives (ZERI) and author of “The Blue Economy.”

Beginning this week and for the next 100 weeks, Pauli, together with Enterprise Honolulu, will publish one innovation per week to stimulate entrepreneurship, competitiveness and employment. Pauli forecasts the 100 innovations could generate 100 million jobs during the next decade.

“Our challenge today is to respond to the basic needs of all with what we have, to build upon indigenous cultures as in Hawaii, learning from the ancient systems of the past, while drawing upon concrete innovations and examples from around the world,” he said.

Here is a snap shot of the first of 100 innovations featured by Pauli:

“The Vortex” projects to save energy, eliminate chemicals, and generate 250,000 jobs within a decade in the water treatment and water production industries using the process of reverse osmosis. Internationally, countries such as Spain and France are investing heavily in reverse osmosis plants to stem a water shortage.

It is within the context of the world market for water that we have to assess the arrival of an extraordinary simple innovation: the vortex. The vortex has the capacity to dramatically increase efficiency in water treatment, cutting costs while generating local jobs. This natural phenomenon could one day replace chemicals and membranes, and upset the existing cash flows of traditional suppliers that have looked safe.

The technology platform of the vortex is inspired by the observation that dirty water cleanses itself as a river moves downstream. The continuous swirling movement forces air in and out of the water, discouraging and stimulating beneficial micro-organisms.

Two Swedish inventors, the development engineer Curt Hallberg and his colleague Morten Oveson, translated their observations into a mathematical model and then created a simple device that emulates the movement of water in a vortex with predictable results. They continued their venture to create Watreco AB based in Malmo.

Watreco AB was elected the Swedish GreenTech company of the year in 2009. This company is more than green – it changes the business model of water. The power of the vortex rests in the predictability of the laws of physics, where air particles are dragged to the center, from where air is sucked out.

The energy source for this process may be simply gravity, which is guaranteed to power the device 24 hours per day! Gone are chemicals, gone are membranes, and energy consumption is minute.

RO Plants in Hawaii such as the five operating at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) on the Big Island have been bottling desalinated deep seawater for years, there are new lessons to be learned by water purification and desalination operators from the system design described by Pauli. The full case study, The Vortex, can be viewed online at www.zeroemissionshawaii.org

Hawaii is one of the most isolated archipelagoes and among the most diverse places in the world with respect to the number of life zones in a geographically unique area. The location provides an excellent venue for modeling applications. Hawaii is also one of the most vulnerable places on the planet, heavily dependent on importation of most commodities, especially foreign oil and food.

However, given these challenges, Hawaii has already become a viable location for global companies to validate pilot projects to market and export intellectual property and expertise worldwide.

In addition to Pauli, keynote speakers also include businesswoman Tomoyo Nonaka, Chairwoman GAIA Initiative, Japan. She was the former CEO of Sanyo Electric from 2005 to 2007. Upon taking the position, she created a new corporate vision, ‘Think Gaia.’ Nonaka started to restructure many business divisions under the new vision for Sanyo to become a leading company to solve environmental problems with its technology through a three-year Evolution Plan.

An added aspect of this particular World Congress and its location in Hawaii is the opportunity to integrate protocols of the host Hawaiian culture and the opportunity for delegates to learn from a prosperity model of ancient Hawaii known as the ahupua’a system.

Furthermore, this Congress will set new levels of close to zero waste at the Hawaii Convention Center while establishing best practices and standards for future conferences, conventions and meetings including locally-sourced food offerings during the Congress dates. Pre and post World Congress opportunities on all Hawaiian Islands will allow delegates to experience actual innovations while also enjoying much of what Hawaii has to offer.

Sponsors of The World Congress on Zero Emissions Initiatives – Launching “The Blue Economy” include CT & T America, the world’s largest producer of electrical vehicles; First Wind, focused exclusively on the development, ownership and operation of wind energy projects; Blue Planet Foundation, seeking to foster systemic change in how Hawaii generates and uses energy; and Hawaiian Electric Company, committed to meeting the long-term energy needs of Hawaii.

Early Bird Registration is now open until April 15, 2010
Register online at: zeroemissionshawaii.org/

MEDIA RELEASE

WASHINGTON — Will 2010 be the warmest year on record? How do the recent U.S. “Snowmageddon” winter storms and record low temperatures in Europe fit into the bigger picture of long-term global warming? NASA has launched a new web page to help people better understand the causes and effects of Earth’s changing climate.

The new “A Warming World” page hosts a series of new articles, videos, data visualizations, space-based imagery and interactive visuals that provide unique NASA perspectives on this topic of global importance.

The page includes feature articles that explore the recent Arctic winter weather that has gripped the United States, Europe and Asia, and how El Nino and other longer-term ocean-atmosphere phenomena may affect global temperatures this year and in the future. A new video, “Piecing Together the Temperature Puzzle,” illustrates how NASA satellites monitor climate change and help scientists better understand how our complex planet works.

The new web page is available on NASA’s Global Climate Change Web site at:

climate.nasa.gov/warmingworld

(Editor’s note: In 2006, President Bush created the world’s largest marine protected area. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands became the United States’ 75th national monument — covering 84 million acres and home to 7,000 species of birds, fish and marine mammals, at least a quarter of which are unique to Hawaii.)

MEDIA RELEASE / Newswise

A new worldwide study shows marine protected areas (MPAs), underwater parks where fishing and other potentially harmful activities are regulated, provide an added bonus – helping coral reef ecosystems ward off and recover from threats to their health.

Researchers also found the protective effects of MPAs generally strengthen over time.

The findings, published in the Feb. 17, 2010, issue of the journal PLoS One, are the first comprehensive global study to gauge the impact of marine protected areas on the health of corals.

Such havens have proved successful in protecting fish, leading to optimism among researchers that they may also indirectly help corals by restoring reef-based food webs. Previous studies also suggested such conservation zones can directly protect reefs from problems such as overfishing, anchor damage and sediment and nutrient runoff pollution from adjacent land.

Marine scientists Elizabeth Selig, Ph.D., and John Bruno, Ph.D., from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, analyzed a global database of 8,534 live coral cover surveys conducted between 1969 and 2006.

They compared changes in coral cover in 310 marine protected areas to those in nearby unprotected areas, looking at 4,456 reefs in 83 countries. Coral cover, or the percentage of the ocean floor covered by living coral tissue, is a key measure of the health of coral ecosystems.

“We found that, on average, coral cover in protected areas remained constant, but declined on unprotected reefs,” said Selig, the study’s lead author, who completed the work for her doctoral dissertation at UNC. She is now a researcher with Conservation International.

Bruno, associate professor of marine sciences in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, said the results also suggest the protective benefits of such areas increase with time. Initially, coral cover continued to decrease after protections were put in place. However, several years later, rates of decline slowed and then stopped.

For example, in the Caribbean, coral cover declined for about 14 years after protection began – possibly due to the time it took for fisheries to rebound – but then stopped falling and began to increase. In the Indo-Pacific, cover kept declining for the first five years after protections were established, then began to improve, eventually reaching growth rates of two percent yearly after two decades.

“Given the time it takes to maximize these benefits, it makes sense to establish more marine protected areas. Authorities also need to strengthen efforts to enforce the rules in existing areas,” Bruno said.

From 2004 to 2005, the most recent complete year in the database, coral cover within protected areas increased by 0.05 percent in the Caribbean and 0.08 percent in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In contrast, coral cover on unprotected reefs declined by an average of 0.27 percent in the Caribbean, and 0.41 percent and 0.43 percent in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, respectively.

The paper noted that the results may even be a conservative estimate of the benefits because regulations aimed at controlling fishing, poaching and other activities in many MPAs in the tropics are poorly enforced. In addition, most areas have only recently been established (almost 60 percent of the surveys in the analysis were from areas less than 15 years old).

“Although the year-to-year changes in coral cover may seem trivial over the short term, the cumulative effects could be substantial over several decades,” Selig said.

However, Selig and Bruno said it remains to be seen whether the observed benefits of MPAs are sufficient to offset coral losses from major disease outbreaks and bleaching events, both of which are predicted to increase due to climate change.

That concern is backed by their finding that widespread warming events like the strong El Nino climatic event of 1998 drastically reduced the positive effects of protective zones.

“Marine protected areas are clearly a key tool for coral reef conservation, but we will still have to focus on implementing policies that will reduce climate change,” they said.

The research was supported by funding from UNC, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation.

MEDIA RELEASE

The Hawaii Forest Institute (HFI) has been awarded an $8,000 grant from the Arthur Lawrence Mullaly Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation for the Kaupulehu Dryland Forest Restoration and Education project.

This volunteer outreach project provides dryland forest restoration and forest stewardship opportunities at Kaupulehu Dryland Forest Preserve in North Kona.

HFI, in conjunction with community partners, is working to sustain fragile endangered dry forest ecosystems and share their unique historical, cultural, restoration, and scientific aspects to benefit Hawaii residents and visitors. Volunteers will receive a hands-on, land-based, learning experience to effect positive change in the areas of responsibility, stewardship, and interdependency of all living things.

In 2010, 150 volunteers will participate in stewardship learning events at Kaupulehu Dryland Preserve. Site stewardship activities will include planting seedlings, collecting and distributing seeds, building trails, and pulling weeds. The project also includes invasive weed control and creating Web pages and news articles documenting stories and photographs of the stewardship events.

A portion of this grant will help sponsor the Mauka-Makai Kaupulehu “Connection Not Forgotten” talk story evening, which is planned for Feb. 25 at the Kalaemao Cultural Center in North Kona.

Speakers Kuulei Keakealani, Yvonne Yarber Carter, Keoki Apokolani Carter, and Wilds Pihanui Brawner will address ahupuaa perspectives connecting land and people, mauka-makai, through a cultural ecology partnership. Restoration, science, cultural history, and contemporary relationships to the land are vital components to the perpetuation of a dynamic Kaupulehu dryland forest and coastal ecosystem.

A grant from the county Department of Research and Development is also assisting with sponsorship. Call HFI at 808-933-9411 to RVSP for this free informal talk story by Feb. 19.

Other project supporters include: Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Museum, Kukio Resort, and Hawaii Forest Industry Association.

HFI’s mission is to improve and promote the health and productivity of Hawaii’s forests through educational programs, information dissemination, scientific research, and other scientific and educational endeavors related to forestry.

Established in 2003, HFI is a nonprofit organization founded by and for people committed to managing and maintaining healthy and productive forests.

— Find out more:
www.hawaiiforestinstitute.org