Ecological Homeostasis

Are We Short of Water and Food ??

http://www.lovinghut.com/
Since the vegetarian diet is the most effective solution to global warming, under Supreme Master Ching Hai's guidance, members of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association recently opened a chain of Loving Hut vegetarian restaurants around the world, in the United States, Japan, Indonesia, Au Lac and Formosa. These places provide affordable and high-quality vegetarian delicacies to the public, bringing a positive impact on the food and beverage industry...
Meat or vegetables? Independent online (SA)
A recent study has revealed that giving up meat could drastically reduce one's carbon footprint. A diet with meat is responsible for producing in a year (as many) greenhouse gases as driving a mid-sized car for 4,758 km, the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOeW) said last week. But the food a vegetarian consumes in (the same period of time) is responsible for generating (gases only) as driving for 2,427km, the IOeW said in a study commissioned by independent consumer protection group Foodwatch...
Vegetarian Shoes And Bags
The term pleather ("plastic leather") is a slang term for synthetic leather made out of plastic, a portmanteau of plastic and leather, the term can be either descriptive, or derogatory, depending upon the user (the derogatory use implies use as a substitute for genuine animal hide leather to cut costs)...

From All Corners of the Galaxy

Which Stars Are You From?
  • Galactic Highway - The Wormhole

    • Wormholes are a valid consequence of Einstein's general relativity view on the universe. A wormhole, in theory, acts as a shortcut or tunnel through space and time. There are several versions on the same theme (i.e. wormholes may link different universes; they may link the two separate locations in the same universe; they may even link black and white holes together), but the physics is similar, wormholes create a link two locations in space-time, bypassing normal three dimensional travel through space. Also, it is theorized, that matter can travel through some wormholes fuelling sci-fi stories like in the film Stargate or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

    If wormholes do exist however, it is highly unlikely that you'll find a handy key to open the mouth of a wormhole in your back yard, they are likely to be very elusive and you'll probably need some specialist equipment to travel through them (although this will be virtually impossible).

    Alexander Shatskiy, from the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow, has an idea how these wormholes may be observed. For a start, they can be distinguished from black holes, as wormhole mouths do not have an event horizon.

    Secondly, if matter could possibly travel through wormholes, light certainly can, but the light emitted will have a characteristic angular intensity distribution. If we were viewing a wormhole's mouth, we would be witness to a circle, resembling a bubble, with intense light radiating from the inside "rim". Looking toward the center, we would notice the light sharply dim. At the center we would notice no light, but we would see right through the mouth of the wormhole and see stars (from our side of the universe) shining straight through.

    Source:http://www.universetoday.com/

  • Stream of Time

    • Plato argued that time is constant - it's life that's the illusion. Galileo shrugged over the philosophy of time and figured out how to plot it on a graph so he could get on with the important physics.

    Albert Einstein said that time is just another dimension, a fourth one to go along with the up-down, side-side, forward-back we move through every day. Our understanding of time, Einstein said, is based on its relationship to our environment.

    Weirdly, the faster you travel, the slower time moves. (Is it truely weird? Not quite!!) The most radical interpretation of his theory: Past, present, and future are merely figments of our imagination, constructs built by our brains so that everything doesn't seem to happen at once.

    Source: http://www.socialtext.net/

2008-08-15

Panda couple Soon In Taipei Mucha Zoo

Tuantuan and Yuanyuan
(Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/)

Two giant pandas, gifted by the mainland to Taiwan in 2005, will travel to the island after its agricultural body gave permission to the Taipei zoo to accept them.

The announcement by the island's agricultural council clears the way for Tuantuan and Yuanyuan, which mean reunion in Chinese, to travel to Taiwan.

The "agricultural council" said a panel of experts chose the Mucha Zoo in Taipei to house the pandas over the Leofoo Safari Park in Hsinchu after a field inspection on their qualifications and ability to feed them.

The Mucha Zoo could now apply for import and quarantine licenses from Taiwan authorities and then discuss the acceptance issue with the mainland.


(Source: http://www.taipeitimes.com/) By Meggie Lu
Chinese pandas may arrive in Taipei by October

HOME, SWEET HOME:: The two pandas, whose names together mean 'to reunite,' have stirred political controversy since they were first offered to Lien Chan in 2005.

Giant pandas "Tuan-tuan" and "Yuan-yuan" may begin their new lives at the Taipei City Zoo as early as October, after the Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday ruled that the zoo was equipped to care for them.

The decision came after the Forestry Bureau Panda Case Review Committee inspected two contending zoos yesterday morning — the Taipei Zoo as well as the Leofoo Wild Animal Park in Hsinchu County — to determine whether their facilities and personnel would be able to accommodate the animals.

"The committee, which consisted of seven experts in the fields of veterinary medicine, educational displays, wildlife conservation and animal care, inspected the zoos based on three major concerns — animal pens, medical care and educational and research plans — and decided that the Taipei City Zoo had passed qualifications in all three areas," Forestry Bureau Deputy Director-General Lee Tao-sheng  told a press conference.

The Leofoo facility failed because of unsatisfactory medical care capabilities and educational &research plans, he said.

The two pandas, whose names together mean "to reunite," have stirred controversy because of the political implications they have carried since 2005, when they were offered to former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan during his landmark visit to Beijing.

Beijing repeatedly accused the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of rejecting the animals for political reasons.

On Wednesday, animal rights groups, including the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), the Taiwan Academy of Ecology and the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, lambasted the [current] government for its "closed-door decision" to import the pandas, saying that it employed political manipulation in the matter.

Pandas are listed as an appendix I animal in CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) — an agreement between governments to ensure that the trading of wild animals and plants do not hurt their prospects for survival.

Animals and plants listed in Appendix I are those under the threat of extinction, and are prohibited from being traded commercially.

After the committee's announcement yesterday, the Taipei Zoo would be allowed to apply for the pandas, Lee said.

Asked by the media whether on the CITES documents China would be listed as the "export country," instead of the trade being treated as "within the country," Lee said the documents would be filed according to the Wildlife Protection Act Article 26, section 2, without elaborating what the article entailed.

"The committee's job today was to review whether the zoos were fit to host the pandas. We did not discuss the [export] matter," he said.

However, the article states that the animals would be traded by "filing applications to the export countries."

Lee also did not say why animal right activists were not included in the committee, but he said the makeup of the committee was in accordance with the law.

Regulations state that the zoo can now begin its application process to import Tuan-tuan and Yuan-yuan, with 30 days of quarantine for both before and after their transportation. Taiwanese may see them in Taipei as early as October, many Chinese-language media said.

Taipei City Government spokesman Yang Hsiao-tung yesterday expressed the city government's joy over the choice of the Taipei Zoo as the pandas' new home.

"We are thrilled to hear the news. Taipei Zoo has been ready to house Tuan-tuan and Yuan-yuan, and we believe the two pandas will be well cared for in the zoo," Yang said at Taipei City Hall.

The city government has been hoping to receive the pandas since President Ma Ying-jeou was mayor.

The zoo has spent $9.9 millions to build a three-story panda exhibition hall, and sent 17 zookeepers to the panda-breeding base in Sichuan, China, the San Diego Zoo in California and Ueno Zoo in Tokyo to learn how to raise and breed giant pandas.

Additional Reporting By Mo Yan-Chih
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