There might not be much hope for the Goose Creek milkvetch, but at least you can now heat your home with an ethanol fireplace. Read on for that and weightier topics like sunspots, the Peruvian Amazon conflict and REDD (one of the most important strategies in fighting climate change, says Conservancy president Mark Tercek).

1. Goose Creek milkvetch (pictured above) is a rare plant found in a small area on the border of Utah, Nevada and Idaho. After five years gathering data and debating, the USFWS recently decided that while the plant deserves protection, it won’t be added to the endangered species list because of other priorities.
2. Heat your home with biofuel? Ethanol fireplaces are the latest in green heating… Treehugger questions whether they’re really green or not.
3. The dispute between indigenous tribes and the Peruvian government continues. In the latest development, Ecopolitology reports that the government has incorporated some communities into a new national reserve without their consent – and tribal members fear this will limit their rights to natural resources there.
4. Climate change skeptics like to point to sunspots as a possible explanation for global warming… now The Economist raises the question again: could sunspots have an influence — good or bad — on Earth’s temperature?
5. Marc meets Mark… journalist and author Marc Gunther talks with The Nature Conservancy’s president and CEO Mark Tercek about REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation) — potentially the most effective strategy in dealing with global climate change.

(Image: Goose Creek milkvetch. Credit: Jody Fraser/USFWS. Source: Nevada Natural Heritage Program.)

Posted: September 15th, 2009 under Climate Change, Climate Science & Research, Conservation Issues, Cool Green Morning, Green Living, Green Technology, Indigenous Communities, Interviews, Media, North America, Rainforests, Science, South America, Sustainable Livelihoods, The Nature Conservancy, United States.
Tags: Ecopolitology, endangered species, environmental conflict, ethanol fireplace, global climate change, Goose Creek milkvetch, indigenous tribes, Marc Gunther, Mark Tercek, Peruvian Amazon, rainforest, rare plant, REDD, reducing emissions from deforestation, sunspots, The Economist, The Nature Conservancy, Treehugger, USFWS

Comments

Comment from Changes
Time September 16, 2009 at 6:28 am

@ #4 I read this story a while ago here

It certainly makes sense. It backs up why there has been a slowing in warming over the past few years despite increases in emission levels. If it is the case then we are sure in for a shocker when it starts to warm up again.