New Mapping Website Tracks Changes and Threats to Southern U.S. Forests

SeeSouthernForests.org provides a new way to learn about, and protect, the forests of the southern United States.



Changes over a large area are often hard to see. This can be especially true when it comes to forests where incremental forest loss often goes unnoticed until it is too late. A new website and report by the World Resources Institute seek to change this and allow people to visualize the trends and drivers of change affecting southern forests.

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Focus on Carbon Sequestration

Carbon sequestration is a family of methods for capturing and permanently isolating gases that otherwise could contribute to global climate change. Affordable and environmentally safe sequestration approaches could offer a way to stabilize atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide.

Educational Resources

The U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) answers FAQs about carbon sequestration.

Demonstrating Carbon Sequestration – This Geotimes feature reports on two projects that have been burying 2 million metric tons per year of man-made carbon dioxide instead of sending it into the atmosphere.

Climate Status Investigations (CSI) – NETL has developed a 10-day interdisciplinary curriculum module for middle-level students on the topic of Global Climate Change. The curriculum explores the science of Global Climate Change, the primary sources of greenhouse gases, and potential solutions, such as sequestration, through hands-on inquiry.

Carbon Sinks and Sources – Through questioning and partnering, students gain an understanding of the complex system of carbon cycling that works to balance the levels of carbon in our atmosphere.

Climate Discovery Teacher’s Guide from NCAR This teacher’s guide was produced by the National Center for Atmospheric Research as a companion to the Climate Discovery exhibit at their Boulder, Colorado laboratory. View the unit on carbon cycles.

EPA’s FAQs – These FAQs address carbon sequestration in Agriculture and Forestry.

The Center for Carbon Management at Columbia University – is working to control atmospheric carbon dioxide and to prevent its disruptive effects on global climate.

Sanitation: Access and Health

Human waste may be a topic that people generally do not or prefer not to think about. However, its capture and disposal (often referred to in terms of sanitation) play a vital role in human health and development. The importance of sanitation as a basic human need has made it an international development priority and a key target in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Even though since 1990 the percent of the global population with access to improved sanitation has increased (see Figure 1.), lack of improved sanitation still threatens human health and development particularly in developing regions of the world.

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Piracy and Governance in the Gulf of Aden

The number of piracy attacks reported this year have already far exceeded those of last year. According to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), as of September 23, 2009, 294 piratical incidents have been reported, with 97 occurring in the Gulf of Aden and 47 off of the remaining coasts of Somalia. Figure 1 shows the placements of pirate attacks within the Gulf of Aden from July to September, 2009.read more