An estimated 32 million acres (13 million hectares) of forest are lost to loggers, farmers and fires every year, according to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. Most of it is in the Amazon, in Southeast Asia and in West Africa.Trees, and especially the diverse vegetation of tropical rainforests, soak up and store carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. Decaying or burning trees releases carbon into the air. Scientists estimate that deforestation accounts for up to 20 percent of the carbon added by man to the atmosphere.

The goal of the conference is to foster “a science without secrets and without borders,” mixing disciplines and cultures, in the hopes of propelling breakthroughs.

"The pictures speak for themselves," said Jason Box, a glacier expert at the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University who spotted the changes while studying new satellite images."This crack is moving, and moving closer and closer to the front. It's just a matter of time till a much larger piece is going to break off."

Holding Out, to Last Isle, as Gulf Takes Cajun Land (NY Times)
The southeastern Louisiana coast is sinking fast into the Gulf of Mexico, still its lifeblood but now also its nemesis.

David Campbell is bringing Florida’s mandate to teach evolution to many students raised to take the biblical creation story as fact.

POLLUTION

Smoking is unhealthy, and movies can glamorize the habit. But how much censorship is too much?

CONSERVATION

The Bush administration is providing insufficient time for public comment as it seeks to loosen rules protecting endangered species, representatives of more than 100 conservation groups charged Friday.

Letter: In all but a small number of cases, consultation will continue as usual. And federal agencies will still face criminal and civil penalties if their actions harm endangered species. But where there is no direct harm, our biologists will be freed up -- so they can concentrate on conserving and recovering rare animals and plants. -- LYLE LAVERTY, Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Department of the Interior.

A planned removal of two of the three dams, and the building of a fish run around the third, will serve the goal of helping to restore the struggling Atlantic salmon population.

Those interested in protecting the Pacific salmon population say proposed mineral mining may endanger them.

Environmentalists say flooding caused by a new border security fence in southwestern Arizona shows the structure is being built too quickly and without regard for the environment.

The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency should challenge the Army Corps of Engineers on an environmentally disastrous project in the Mississippi Delta.

 It's been 18 years since the federal government decided to protect the shy, slow-moving Mojave desert tortoise, and wildlife officials fear little has been accomplished.''The biggest challenge and unanswered question is the effects of climate change,'' one said. ''That is the wild card for sure.''

WATER SUPPLY

"Once we thought about the amount of energy, oil and water that go into producing, shipping, and disposing of a product that is readily available by simply turning on your faucet, we knew it was the right decision," Lisa de Lima, a MOM's vice president, said.

OIL PRICES

With Oil Demand Down, Prices Are Leveling Off  (NY Times)
A combination of weak economic growth, slowing demand and shifting perceptions has sent oil prices down 21 percent from last month’s peak.

SUSTAINABILITY

A gym in Portland, Ore., will use exercise equipment to generate renewable energy.

In our traffic-plagued region, you'd think officials would encourage a little ride-sharing. Nope. Councilman Bill Rosendahl blew right past me and a City Hall security guard tried to arrest me.

Drilling Boom Revives Hopes for Natural Gas (NY Times)
New technology is pushing down prices and reversing conventional wisdom that U.S. fields were in decline.

Important legislation is still in committee despite broad support in the Legislature.

WORLD HUNGER

Half of young Indians are malnourished. In a nation seen as a rising power, combating the problem 'has not been a policy priority . . . for the last 40 years,' a U.N. expert says.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Letter: After staying with a local family on the Galápagos, I found that the most important political issue surrounding the Galápagos was not conservation but environmental justice. For the economically struggling Galápaguenos, conservation at the expense of the local population is both unrealistic and unjust.

About 40,000 protesters on Sunday surrounded an Indian factory ready to produce the world’s cheapest car, saying that land for the site had forcibly been taken from local farmers, the police said.

The pending deportation of an exemplary young woman raised in the town has outraged many residents and prompted questions about the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.

That’s 8 Out of 457,000 (NY Times)
America should require the hard-working undocumented workers to legalize and assimilate, and use enforcement power to catch and deport the criminals.

Immigrants seeking asylum in the United States have been disproportionately rejected by judges whom the Bush administration chose using a conservative political litmus test, according to an analysis of Justice Department data.

By publicly linking foreign aid to strategic and military objectives, the United States government has placed aid workers in the position where they may not be seen as neutral development professionals working solely for the benefit of the people in host countries, and has caused some people, especially in places where the United States military is involved, to see aid workers as representatives of an unpopular foreign policy or as part of an occupation administration, making them more vulnerable to attack.

Out of Africa (NY Times)
By ROGER COHEN
Race can be a means for Barack Obama to talk about reconciliation — of America with its past, its ideals and the world.

Eight years into a new millennium and nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the nation is poised to make a historic leap with its first African American at the top of a major political party's ticket. In the often strange brew of U.S. race relations and presidential politics, that fact sometimes has seemed to slip to the background, but not for millions of African Americans who for months have been riding a roller coaster of pride and hope and worry about a potential black first family. The symbolism of the moment will be elevated because Obama will accept the nomination Thursday, the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

AND FURTHERMORE...

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This news summary has been prepared for you by:

 Carole Ashkinaze
Editor / Writer / Communications Consultant

Washington, D.C.
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