China’s New Green Development Fund

August 2, 2020 / activist360 / Leave a comment

China’s first dedicated environmental fund, the National Green Development Fund, will mainly be used to invest in national strategic programs such as the green development of the Yangtze River region.

Chinas as already raised ¥88 billion, that’s $12.59 billion. The world’s biggest greenhouse gas producing country has been trying to diversify its funding sources for environmental programs; however, it has struggled to devise new financing systems to help pay the massive costs of cleaning up polluted soil and water.

As part of the Paris Climate Agreement, China pledged to cut the amount of CO2 emissions it produces per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 from 2005 to 2020. In its five-year plan, China also pledged to cut carbon intensity by 18 from 2015 to 2020.

Meadows in Yosemite National Park

June 12, 2020 / activist360 / Leave a comment

There are over 3,000 meadows in Yosemite National Park. Meadows are the epicenter of life in spring. Bears and deer use them for food, frogs use them as a breeding ground, and dragonflies and butterflies live abundantly in them. Many plants and animals that rely upon meadows for important habitat, for shelter, for breeding grounds, and food sources.

The native Ahwahneechee people from the Yosemite Valley would traditionally burn the meadows for hunting purposes and to help produce straight shoots for baskets.

When European-American settlers first arrived in the Yosemite Valley in the 1850s, they displaced the native people and changed the way that meadows were managed. Over the past 150 years, two-thirds of meadow extent has been lost in the Yosemite Valley, due to fire suppression and hydrologic changes such as ditching and filling of meadows.

The Yosemite Conservancy is restoring these places. They are bringing back the hydrology and native plants. That, in turn, brings back butterflies, dragonflies, bear, and deer.

Visitors can help protect meadows by staying on established trails
and respecting the wildlife by keeping a safe distance.

Marcus Maeder: The Language of Growth

June 10, 2020 / activist360 / Leave a comment

The strange synthetic sounds heard in the video are sonification of growth data that were measured in three places on a tree (Pinus sylvestris) by the ecophysiologist, Roman Zweifel, from Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL.

In data sonification, a series of numbers – for example from a measurement – are used to control sounds that are generated with a computer. The growth spurts of the tree control the pitch of sine tones, creating a tonality that is reminiscent of a language, a voice.

WSL researchers also discovered that trees grow especially at night – in the early hours of the morning.

Spring is the beginning of the vegetation phase: the forest awakes with more intense sunlight, the longer days, and the higher temperatures – flowering and growth begin.

The video sounds best with headphones!