Human hunting of large mammals may have triggered cold period.
A team of US researchers have newly theorized that when 80% of the population of large-bodied mammals in the Americas was hunted to extinction following the arrival of humans some 13,000 years ago, the resulting sudden decrease in methane emitted naturally by the animals may have been the primary catalyst for the dramatic Younger Dryas event, a sudden planetary cooling that lasted for at least 1,000 years.

Until now, the onset of the Younger Dryas “cold snap” was known to be sudden, but its cause has long been a mystery. Supreme Master Television spoke with one of the study’s authors, Dr. S. Kathleen Lyons, a paleobiologist at the Smithsonian Institution in the USA.

Dr. S. Kathleen Lyons – Resident Research Associate, Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution (F): Approximately 13,500 years ago was when humans arrived in North America, and within 2,500-3,000 years, by 10,000 years ago, the last of these large mammals had gone extinct.

My co-authors and I all believe that human hunting was primarily responsible, because if you look at the pattern and the timing of the extinctions across the globe, what you find is that on every continent where there was an extinction of these large mammals, it’s coincident with the arrival of humans, but not necessarily coincident with climate change.

VOICE: Dr. Lyons and her colleagues’ findings suggests that the decrease in atmospheric methane as the populations of giant hunted mammals declined was significant enough at that time to disrupt the planet’s temperature and cause a relatively short ice age.

Dr. Kathleen Lyons (F): The extinct mammals could have been producing anywhere between 9 and 25 teragrams of methane each year. Corresponding to the time that mammals went extinct, we do record, from ice cores, a drop in methane that’s then coincident with the Younger Dryas cold snap.
And what we found was that the rate of the change in methane at the Younger Dryas is significantly higher than at any other time over the last 500,000 years.

VOICE: Our appreciation Dr. Lyons and colleagues for your research showing how such drastic human actions could have far-reaching tragic consequences. At this fragile time on our planet, when raising livestock for killing is creating a similar ecological imbalance, may we turn to virtuous lifestyles in harmony with other species to preserve all lives on Earth. 

In various discussions, Supreme Master Ching Hai has connected past human behavior with current times to urge for fast and proper environmental action.

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v3/n6/full/ngeo877.html

Rare Chinese tree sees its first bloom in 91 years.
The Goat Horn tree, in Northern Ireland’s Rowallane Gardens, named for its curved spindle-shaped fruits, has flowered for the first time since its arrival from China in 1919. 

The tree has since been tended in the hope that one day it would present its famed white flower. Recently, head gardener Averill Milligan discovered the first-ever bud and bloom.

She stated, “Last weekend saw the first buds opening into a pale white flower … It has a lovely light scent and the tree has hundreds still waiting... so we think it’s time to celebrate with our garden visitors and supporters. ”
Many thanks, Rowallane Gardens and all the devoted staff who have tended the unique Goat Horn tree across the years so that we could witness this miraculous bloom.

May we be renewed in wonder of the myriad gifts of nature bestowed on our world by the Divine.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/northern_ireland/10551223.stm
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/OddSpot/2010/07/09/Rare_trees_first_bloom_after_90_years_482518.html

Extra News
A new Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency opens in Praia, Cape Verde, acting in partnership with several governments through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to develop sustainable energy markets in West Africa.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35241&Cr=&Cr1=
http://climate-l.org/2010/07/07/renewable-energy-and-energy-efficiency-centre-opens-in-west-africa/

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of Pakistan announces plans to restructure the Indus River System Authority to help resolve differences over water distribution between different provinces.  
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/July
/international_July289.xml§ion=international&col=
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\07\09\story_9-7-2010_pg1_1

In a recent issue of the science journal “Nature,” renowned primatologist Dame Dr. Jane Goodall calls for continued urgency in actions to save chimpanzees from extinction, which some conservationists estimate could occur within the coming three decades.  
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7303/full/466180a.html