As prairies get plowed for biofuels, green groups demand EPA act

• More than a dozen environmental and conservation groups filed a petition last week alleging that the EPA is illegally looking the other way as farmers plow over prairies and wetlands to grow corn needed to satisfy a U.S. biofuel mandate.
• Millions of acres of previously uncultivated land have been converted to cropland” to satisfy the biofuel mandate “with far-reaching, deleterious environmental impacts,” the environmentalists say in their filing. “Our air, water, land and wildlife are all suffering as a result.”
• It wasn’t supposed to be this way. When Congress expanded the Renewable Fuel Standard as part of broad energy legislation in 2007, environmentalists pushed for safeguards designed to prevent land conversion, including a requirement that biofuels accepted under the program only come from previously farmed tracts. But instead of verifying that biofuel comes from crops grown on eligible, already cultivated land, the EPA chose to assess agricultural land use in aggregate.
• The activists say the EPA’s broad approach of only looking at national cropland totals obscures the real picture on the ground, because net acreage can remain the same nationwide if native grasses are plowed to grow corn for ethanol while existing farms are turned into subdivisions and shopping malls. The EPA approach also violates the Renewable Fuel Standard’s “clear and unambiguous restriction” on land conversion, while undermining the measure’s intended climate and environmental objectives, they argue.

Fungi eats plastics and benefits environment

• Fungi that eats plastic seems like a plot-twist right out of a sci-fi book or movie; however, this particular species of fungus which was found at a landfill site in Pakistan could be the real life solution to the ever growing plastic waste problem.
• The Asperjillus tubingensis, is the species of fungus that researchers have found to feed off of plastic, breaking it down in weeks rather than years.
• This is the not the first time finding organisms that feed off of plastic waste, as there were discoveries of bacteria that could break down plastic as well as the wax worm which can naturally degrade plastic due to its similar structure to that of its natural food, beeswax.
• One of the reasons plastic had ballooned into the human substance of choice was because it was inert and therefore sterile. This meant that it could be used as ubiquitous as needed around the planet from food packaging to pacemakers to aviation.
• However, the problem with plastics was the fact that they did not degrade easily , leading to  billions of tons of plastic still hanging around in landfills, and in the oceans , with more being added massive amounts of plastics in continue to be in production globally.
• The fact that there are organisms ‘evolving‘ to exploit this new plastic –filled environment, has caused some researchers both a sense of excitement to study how they are doing so, but also some alarm  as well.
• Scientists at London’s Kew Botanical Gardens reported that these organisms are an important advance in a world where momentum is building to reverse the toxic tide of plastic that is killing marine life and polluting the ocean.
• Senior Kew Gardens Scientist Ilia Leitch, said that they are exploring these organisms for their potential to degenerate different types of plastic, explaining that “by understanding how the fungi break down these bonds and what the optimal conditions are, you can then increase the speed at which they do it.”
• There are also other uses of fungi, including using it to feed on pollutants such as oil spills, toxic chemicals like sarin nerve gas, TNT and even radioactive waste. 

Plastic-busting fungi may help tackle pollution, climate change: UN Environment

• According to the first-ever State of the World’s Fungi report, Scientists at London’s Kew Botanical Gardens reported that these organisms have the potential to break down waste plastic – an important advance in a world where momentum is building to reverse the toxic tide of plastic that is killing marine life and polluting the ocean.
• Every year, at least eight million metric tonnes of plastic end up in the sea, sometimes decomposing into tiny microplastics that make their way into our food chain.
• Senior Kew Gardens Scientist Ilia Leitch, said that other fungi and microorganisms are also being explored for their potential to degenerate different types of plastic, explaining that “by understanding how the fungi break down these bonds and what the optimal conditions are, you can then increase the speed at which they do it.”
• In the meantime, the Kew Gardens report showcases the kind of pioneering thought that will be at the heart of the fourth UN Environment Assembly next March, on “innovative solutions for environmental challenges and sustainable consumption and production.”
• Noting that there may be as many as 3.8 million fungal species, with only 144,000 named, the authors – a team of some 100 scientists from 18 countries – argue that further research into these organisms could provide answers to some of humanity’s greatest challenges.
• The report spells out that advances in their agricultural applications could translate into improved food security, environmental sustainability and increased production revenues.
• In addition to recycling nutrients and helping crops to grow efficiently, fungi also provide compounds that produce antibiotics, immune-suppressants and statins that block cholesterol-producing liver enzyme action.
• According to UN Environment (UNEP), there is mounting evidence that climate change is affecting the ranges of species and biodiversity in ways that are still not comprehendible. Fungi themselves are also under threat, particularly in high latitudes areas where average temperatures continue to rise, such as the Arctic. These changes are already affecting fungi reproduction, geographic distributions and activity, with possible knock-on effects for our ecosystems.

Labor to propose new environmental laws to enforce biodiversity and conservation

• A Labor government would bring in new federal environment laws and strong independent agencies including a national environment protection authority (EPA) to enforce them, under a draft policy platform signed off by the ALP national executive.
• Developed by a 60-member policy forum chaired by the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, and the outgoing party president, Mark Butler, the platform is the basis for debate at Labor’s national conference in Adelaide next month.
• The central environmental proposals include a new environment act, a science-based EPA to oversee development decisions and a national environment commission to develop legally binding plans and standards for protection.
• Clean Energy Finance Corporation signals it may accelerate reinvestment
• The platform document says the new laws and institutions would allow a comprehensive approach to biodiversity and conservation, replacing a regime that fails to protect the health of the environment.
• “It will reflect Australians’ expectations that environmental protection is essential and ensure an effective and efficient national approach to the management of matters of national environmental significance,” it says.
• While not everything in the platform is guaranteed to become legislation, the draft document is a significant win for the Labor environment action network (Lean), an internal advocacy group that has run a 15-month campaign for reforms to protect nature.
• As revealed by Guardian Australia as part of the Our Wide Brown Land series, ALP branches from every state and territory backed a Lean motion calling for strong national environment laws and an independent agency akin to a “Reserve Bank for environmental management”. By January, 250 party branches had passed the motion. Lean says it has since increased to 456.
• The draft platform rejects handing development approval powers to states and territories, a Coalition push Labor has in the past supported. It says any existing agreements in the area would be cancelled.

Singapore must do more to protect environment, guard against climate change: PM Lee

• Singapore must do more to protect the environment as the threat of climate change becomes increasingly serious both locally and globally, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday (Nov 3). 
• Speaking at the launch of Clean and Green Singapore Carnival at Wisma Geylang Serai, Mr Lee said Singapore must take steps to protect itself against the adverse effects of global warming.
• Singapore has already felt the effects of extreme weather, from recording the warmest year on record last year, to a cold spell where temperatures dropped to 21 degrees Celsius earlier in January.
• In his speech, Mr Lee cited a recent United Nations report which warned that temperatures could increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels in the next 12 years.
• "We must do our part to contribute to global efforts such as the Paris Agreement to slow down climate change and at the same time we must take timely and concrete steps to protect ourselves against the adverse effects of climate change."
• Many countries in the region, including Singapore, are also vulnerable to rising sea levels due to long coastlines and low-lying areas.
• Mr Lee said the authorities have raised low-lying roads near coastal areas at East Coast and Katong. He added that the upcoming Changi Airport Terminal 5 will be built on a higher platform than the existing terminals.

Equip small farmers for sustainable growth,rubber industry told

Equip small farmers for sustainable growth,rubber industry told, Source-The hindu

• Small holders are resource poor and passing through hard times.
• As the global value chain is towards sustainable future,the biggest challenge is to equip smallholders.
• Economic viability of rubber cultivaton is under threat.
• The small farmers may be forced to look for alternative livelihood.
• Low rate of replanting, retention of uneconomic old trees, abandonment of mature trees, technology stagnation etc are signs of stress for farmers.
• This will result in low yields.
• A decline in average yield increases the cost of production of natural rubber.

'Test tube trees':An insurance policy against extinction.

'Test tube trees':An insurance policy against extinction. Source-BBC news

• A tiny oak trees emerges from test tube in the laboratory.
• Raised using technique pioneered in fertility labs, it is the product of new effort to preserve the seeds of wild plants.
• This has been stored in bomb proof,flood proof and radiation proof vaults.
• It aims to save world's plants from extinction.
• The goal is to store atleast 75% of threatened plant seeds by 2020.
• This technique is know as cyropreservation.
• Cryopreservation involves removing the plant embryo from the rest of the seed, then freezing it at very low temperatures in liquid nitrogen. 
• This is invention is done in Kew's Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst in West Sussex.