Environment & Sustainability

Neonicotinoids are a class of pesticide including clothianidin and thiamithoxam. The US( EPA ) seems to be taking the same approach to this as it did to global warming several years ago. Clothianidin was approved by the EPA in 2003 against the warnings of its own scientists Although it hasn't reached the nation as a "hot topic" yet, there has been reaction from the scientific community for several years/

Charles Slane

so says the following article! reminds me of a song, "losing my religion!" btw, the devil made me post this:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/twenty-year-hiatus-in-risi...

to get out of hand. I've been freezing my Tukis off this winter too, as Al basks in his low-carbon-footprint 10K SqFt Malibu mansion.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/18/16582570-snow-trapped-hundred...

Al supposedly has more money now than Mitt Romney, all earned from his Chicken Little efforts (with a few bucks thrown in from the Nobel Prize people.

PT Barnum is beaming with pride -where ever he might be.

The recent volcanic excitement in Nicaragua has got me thinking about something I read some time ago about volcanos and global warming. It was not the usual volcanos spew CO2 thus increasing global warming message.

The article had two specific points:

1. Volcanic eruptions increase when the planet heats up.
2. The eruptions decrease, rather than increase, temperatures.

Some people continue to deny climate change. While those numbers are decreasing, many just don't want to hear what is obviously bad news. The most common way we deny that such a thing is happening is by picking some statistics that show, in a particular place on the planet, everything is "functioning within normal parameters". (An expression of Lt. Commander Data of ST:TNG.)

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/other-world/japan-toilet-maker-unveils-po...

I can vouch for the quality of the Toto product; they were into water saving toilets -- that actually flushed -- early on.

This seems like a logical solution to all that wasted time spent commuting.

The house was swaying pretty strong here in Jinotepe around 9:45 this morning. I have been waiting on USGS to post something but the only thing that shows up is a 4.2 up around Puerto Rico. I don't think we would feel that here. Anyone else have some data?

This is from the IADB website and was produced for an upcoming Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. It's almost 5 minutes of amazing wildlife cinematography.

My question about fishing in Lake Managua led to some discussion on pollution. This is a good article I found, from 2009, shortly after the new waste water treatment plant was inaugurated. Cleaning Up World's Biggest Toilet

I live in Jinotepe and have several dozen empty Flor De Cana bottles I would like to recycle. No place in town will take them with the promise they will not end up in the landfill. Does anyone know a place in Carazo of Managua I can take them?

WeatherSpark: http://weatherspark.com/

WeatherSpark is a website that has changed how I look at the weather. Like most other weather sites it provides a local forecast based on a variety of data sources including NOAA (there are international data sources for those outside the US). Unlike some other sites, like Weather Underground or Weather.com, WeatherSpark is built on the idea that the user should control what data is displayed using either real-time data or historical trends.

Does anyone know where I can purchase a greenhouse in NIC? It can be small or large - no matter. I'll be in Masaya, so the closer to there the better.

For a change from the border conflict, this article also talks about the many threats to the San Juan River, including the Brito project, Crucitas, African oil palm crops, agro-chemicals and waste water. And it appears to state just fact without taking sides. Here, the river is the victim.

Full Article

A 30 year time series of satellite imagery dating from 1979 was reviewed for significant morphological and environmental changes in Costa Rica along the San Juan River area focusing on the areas of Isla Portillos and Isla Calero. Particular focus was made on identifying and analyzing important morphological and environmental changes since October 2010 over the area between the San Juan River and Laguna Los Portillos. Significant areas of recent tree cover removal, river dredging and new river channel creation were identified as

Found this rather nice bi-lingual report while looking for a water project in Rivas, seems a shame not to share it.

http://www.gwpcentroamerica.org/uploaded/content/category/1991586596.pdf