Trans-frontier poaching decimating elephant herds in Camaroon...

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  Poachers, believed to be armed groups from Chad and Sudan, have been blamed for an unprecedented spate of elephant deaths in Bouba Ndjida national park in Cameroon. The demand for ivory in Asia is thought to be the reason for more than 200 elephants being killed within the park in a six-week period.
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  As a result of this outbreak of poaching by heavily armed gangs, the elephant population within Bouba Ndjida national park in the far north of Cameroon has now been severely depleted
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  “We are talking about a very serious case of trans-frontier poaching, involving well-armed poachers with modern weapons from Sudan and Chad who are decimating this wildlife species to make quick money from the international ivory trade,” says Gambo Haman, governor of Cameroon’s northern region.
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  Read more: http://blog.arkive.org/2012/02/elephant-slaughter-in-cameroon/
  http://www.theprovince.com/news/Cameroon+elephants+slaughtered+hundreds/6175134/story.html
  http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/news/blog/shark-finning-fines-add-to-spotlight-on-taiwa/blog/39109/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gpnzblog+%28Greenpeace+New+Zealand+Weblog%29

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Building with bamboo - the Green School in Bali...

Bali : Sanur Beach Painter : (Photo credit: zoompict)

GREEN SCHOOL BUILDS SUSTAINABLE RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY...

BALI, Indonesia :  Set within a river valley landscape along Bali’s sacred Ayung River, a master-planned community located within walking distance to the Green Schoohttp://greenvillagebali.com/l is being designed and constructed based on the architectural concepts of sustainable principles and artisan craftsmanship that helped create the world famous campus.

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According to Elora Hardy, CEO and lead designer for the Bali-based bamboo design and construction company honored as a finalist of the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, “Even sustainable timber can’t begin to compare with bamboo as a conscientious building material. With very few resources or attention a bamboo shoot can become a structural column within three years, and that house could stand strong for a lifetime.”

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Born in Bali and educated in the U.S., Hardy honed her design skills as sole print designer for fashion icon, Donna Karan, in New York City before moving back home in 2010.

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“We are committed to changing people’s perspective on the infinite potential of bamboo,” she says. “Creating spaces where people can feel connected to nature without disrupting it is a thrilling design challenge for me.”

Located twenty-five minutes to Bali’s cultural center of Ubud, 35 minutes to Bali’s surfing beaches and within walking distance to the Green School campus, currently home to 280 day and boarding students, the Green Village community has attracted homeowners from all over the world including South America, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia as well as prominent visitors including entrepreneur, Richard Branson, and former Prime Minister of England, Tony Blair’s family.

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Claire Burgess, a New Zealand native who is based in Vietnam as Regional Director of a Swiss-based corporation, says she found Green Village while in the market for a property in Ubud. “I fell in love with Green School and the concept of living in a home totally made out of bamboo.”

Read more:  http://greenvillagebali.com/

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Giants of NZ forest predict future weather extremes...

Scientists using the rings on kauri trees to look at climate patterns are tipping global warming to bring more big weather extremes in the coming years.

The Auckland University study, published in the monthly journal Nature Climate Change, identifies that growth rings from the trees in Northland provide an insight into climate variations over centuries.
The El Nino weather pattern, which brings cool southwesterly winds and droughts is linked to wide tree rings as the trees grow rapidly, while La Nina, which brings wetter, warmer conditions is shown in narrow, slower-growing, rings.

http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8414489/giants-of-the-forest-give-climate-clues

http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-plants/kauri/

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New Zealand's Tasman Glacier has lost a 30 million tonne section of ice...

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Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

DENIS CALLESEN/Supplied

IN PERSPECTIVE: Tourists get an up-close look at a 40-metre-high iceberg which calved from the Tasman Glacier.

A huge section of ice, estimated to weigh about 30 million tonnes, has broken off the Tasman Glacier.
Denis Callesen, general manager tourism for Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Village, said the event about daybreak yesterday would have been "absolutely magnificent".
"A huge chunk of ice has literally broken away from the terminal face, and then fractured into dozens of icebergs. This is the first time that a calving has occurred across the whole 650-metre wide terminal face."
Photographers had several hours to capture images of the crystal-clear so-called blue ice on the base of an iceberg, which had been hidden beneath the surface for more than 300 years.
While the blue ice oxidized on exposure to air and turned white, it was expected visitors would be able to see some for several months, with one or two of the dozens of new icebergs rolling over every day. They did that as they maintained their equilibrium of 10 per cent above and 90 per cent below the water surface.
The section of ice that calved into the terminal lake was about 40 metres high above the water and went down below the surface by between 230 and 250 metres. An underwater tongue that was up to 120m high above the bottom of the glacier, and up to 400 metres out from the face also broke away.
Callesen said the 30 million tonnes of ice that moved was similar to the amount that moved in a calving triggered by last February's Christchurch earthquake.
The latest calving was "much prettier". It had left two large icebergs on the lake, one measuring about 150 metres by 75 metres, and the other about 100 metres by 50 metres. Both were about 40 metres above the lake surface at their highest point.
The glacier had been retreating by 100 to 300 metres each year, with about 120 metres lost yesterday.  
- Acknowledgements:  © Fairfax NZ News

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http://www.changeofaddress.org/blog/2012/10-ways-to-learn-how-to-type/

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The flightless New Zealand pukeko have attacked two people recently...

Image by Scoro via Flickr

Image by cheetah100 via Flickr

Image via Wikipedia

Image by cheetah100 via Flickr

Image by cheetah100 via Flickr

MANDY HAGUE/Whakatane Beacon

BIRD OF WARNING: Pukeko living at the pond beside the entrance at the top of the Bird Walk, like this one, have attacked at least two people this week.

SAMANTHA MOTION/Whakatane Beacon

BIRD OF WARNING: Pukeko living at the pond beside the entrance at the top of the Bird Walk, like this one, have attacked at least two people this week

Pukeko attacks have left at least two users of Whakatane's popular Bird Walk bleeding this week.

Whakatane man Peter Walker was attacked by three pukeko about 2pm on Monday.

He was just beginning his walk through Mokoroa Bush Scenic Reserve from the top of the Bird Walk at Whitehorse Drive, when some fluffy black pukeko chicks crossed his path.

"Next minute the mother was attacking me, she was calling out and then two other birds came flying and kicked me in the back and down my arm."

He threw the birds off and took off down the path, bleeding from shallow cuts to his arms from the birds' claws.

"That's the fastest I've ever done that track."

He arrived home, "looking like I'd been through a meat cleaver", and told his family he had been attacked.

"They all laughed when I told them it was by pukekos."

Such attacks can be laughed off later on - but at the time they created some painful wounds. You take your  life in your hands along the Bird Walk. More on this story below:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/6251572/Pukeko-attack-bird-walkers

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A car's glass roof by day and heating by night - Ole Oleds...

The photos above are a bit of Rorschach test, in part because many of us have never seen anything quite like it. Depending on your view, it might appear to be a futuristic dentist’s chair, or perhaps even a new millennium toilet (we’ve been known here at SmartPlanet to provide such visual treats).
Or mabye you’re seeing it for what it is. According to German chemical giant BASF, the image shows what the inside of your car might look like one day.

Focus on the roof. The glass-effect, hexagonal openings allow a clear view upwards by day. Open the car door or push a button come night time, and they provide interior illumination - having been charged up by solar cells, nonetheless. BASF developed the dimples in partnership with Holland’s Philips Lighting, using OLED, or organic light emitting diode, technology. Read more about this real 'green technology' here:
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/cars-8216glass-roof-by-day-becomes-interior-light-at-night-oh-oleds/12253?tag=nl.e660

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Agapanthus - flowering lily plant from South Africa or a NZ weed...

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Image by Jonathan Gill via Flickr

Is Agapanthus a flowering lily plant from South Africa, or a New Zealand weed? Opinions differ it seems. http://www.botany.com/agapanthus.html

Weedbusters in New Zealand is calling for Agapanthus to be added to the National Plant register(NPAA). Agapanthus is allegedly a prolific seeder and can crowd out native plants.
http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8401404/call-to-ban-popular-agapanthus-plant

Gardening experts and bio-diversity advocates are at odds over one of New Zealand's most popular plants.

The Agapanthus is loved by Kiwi gardeners because it is a low maintenance, hardy, fast growing plant.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/home-garden/6239495/Battle-lines-on-agapanthus

The Green Planet will keep a watching brief over future developments and will post again if any official action is to be taken against this beautiful South African introduced plant.

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