Reducing black carbon could significantly slow polar ice melt.
Research by US-based Stanford University Professor Mark Jacobson has found that black carbon, or soot, which is generated from the incomplete burning of fuels and biomass such as felled trees, is one of the most significant factors in melting Arctic ice.

As the black carbon particles can be carried in the air for thousands of kilometers, they have been found deposited on glaciers and polar ice caps, where their heat-absorbing dark color speeds melt-rate.
In a study of the subject, Professor Heitor Evangelista and colleagues of Rio de Janeiro State University in Brazil found that around 50% of the black carbon in the most rapidly warming areas of Antarctica originates from biomass burning in the Amazon.

Environmental advocacy organizations Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (Amigos da Terra) estimate that 80% of deforestation in Brazil is directly linked to the livestock industry, indicating that 40% of black carbon in Antarctica originates from activities supporting meat production.

Professor Jacobson meanwhile has called for reductions in black carbon, affirming that it may be one of the best approaches for quickly helping halt ice melt.

He stated, “We have to start taking its effects into account in planning our mitigation efforts, and the sooner we start making changes, the better.” Thank you Drs. Jacobson and Evangelista as well as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth for these insights into yet another aspect of the dire effects of global warming.

Let us act swiftly on such new understanding to most effectively protect the Earth for ourselves and our children. In her concerned endeavors to safeguard our planetary welfare, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed the need to eliminate such grave dangers as those posed by the meat industry during an interview published in the July 12, 2009 edition of the Irish Sunday Independent.


http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Soot+second+leading+cause+climate+change+study/3349011
/story.html?cid=megadrop_story#ixzz0vekfEf8s
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cutting-soot-emissions-may-slow-climate-change-in-the-
arctic

British eco-athlete calls for radical shift in approaching climate change.
Pioneer swimmer and environmentalist Lewis Pugh has successfully completed many endurance water events and is the first person to accomplish a long-distance swim in every ocean in the world.
One of his most recent and highest altitude achievements was a one-kilometer water trek across Lake Imja, a glacial lake on Mount Everest. His hope was to bring attention to the dire condition of the Himalaya glaciers as a whole by swimming across a lake that had been formed entirely from the melting of the Imja Glacier.

Speaking of the wider impact of this evidence of global warming, Mr. Pugh said, “Glaciers are not just ice: they are a lifeline, they provide water to two billion people, and we need to protect them.” At a recent Technology Entertainment Design (TED) conference, Mr. Pugh shared his experience of taking on the highest swim ever performed as he crossed the ice-cold lake, which stands at 5300 meters above sea level.

Saying that he was only able to complete this event successfully because of his support team’s encouragement toward a radical shift in thinking, which included swimming with humility, Mr. Pugh urged the audience toward being willing to make similarly large changes in order to effectively address our current climate crisis.

Many thanks Mr. Lewis Pugh for sharing your talent and dedication to the message of preserving our Earth. May we all be inspired toward the environmental shift in consciousness needed to sustain our shared planetary home.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tedtalks/lewis-pughs-mind-shifting_b_665049.html
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/08/lewis_pughs_mind-shifting_ever.php
http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/40/50809.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/42c699da-95e8-11df-bbb4-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss

Extra News
China places a moratorium on licenses permitting endangered wild animals to be used for entertainment purposes, also requiring more reporting from zoos, wildlife safaris, circuses and so on to minimize maltreatment of animals.
http://www.china-daily.org/China-News/State-Forestry-Administration-stopped-the-abuse-of-wild-animals-
performing/

With the first six months of 2010 being the driest on record since 1929, the UK's Environment Agency states that even with plentiful rains in July, water levels are still low in one of every three rivers throughout England and Wales.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/7935259/Rivers-running-low-despite-rain.html


Thừa Thiên-Huế province is planting some 4,500 hectares of trees along the north central coast of Âu Lạc (Vietnam) each year along with a US$1.8 million program where more than 240,000 hectares of forested lands are being assigned to individuals and organizations to protect them.
http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/Agriculture/202302/Residents-enlisted-to-help-protect-forests.html
http://www.lookatvietnam.com/2010/08/residents-enlisted-to-help-protect-forests.html

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched a new online Global Fire Information Management System where fire spots are observed via satellite and transmitted in nearly real time with email alerts sent for quick response.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35590&Cr=Environment&Cr1=