Day: 09/03/2007

Environmental Changes Wiped Out 170 Amphibian Species Over Past 20 years

Stephen CLIMATE CHANGE/GLOBAL WARMING, ECOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT, News, WILDLIFE

Frogs Fading Into Silence

By Stephen Leahy

The extinction of amphibians in Latin America has reached alarming proportions: 209 species in Colombia and 198 in Mexico alone are in danger of disappearing forever

Mar 5 (Tierramérica) – Frogs and other amphibians are rapidly becoming extinct around the world and in Latin American countries in particular. In the Caribbean as many as 80 percent of these species are endangered, while in Colombia there are 209 and in Mexico 198 amphibians may soon disappear.

Environmental degradation along with habitat loss, ultraviolet radiation, disease and climate change are all factors involved in these unprecedented losses.

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Tackling the E-waste Pollution Monster

Stephen developing world, ENVIRONMENT, News, Pollution and Toxics

Copyright EMPA, SwitzerlandParaphrase for the day:

One tonne of discarded mobile phones has about 7000 euros worth of precious metals.

— Ruediger Kuehr of the United Nations University

Story about a global public-private initiative is now available see 40 Million Tonnes of Electronic Waste. Describes global effort to reduce the toxic mountains of electronic waste and recycle increasingly valuable metals and components.

My related articles:

Is Your Old TV Poisoning a Child in China? Where Your e-waste Goes

Greener Cell Phones Thanks to European Laws

30 Million Lead-laden TVs Dumped on Poor Countries

Top Ten Worst Pollution Problems That Kill Millions – Including Ones You’ve Never Heard Of

International Women’s Day: 500,000 Women Die Needlessly

Stephen Global Issues and Perspectives, Health

U.S. Gag Rule Killing Women, Experts SayCopyright 2004 Renate Leahy
Stephen Leahy

[Written last Dec, I’m posting this article for the first time because of International Women’s Day]


Dec 7 (IPS) – While world attention has focused on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, public health experts say that U.S. political interference and declining financial support for family planning, abortion and prevention of other sexually transmitted infections has contributed to shockingly high death and disability rates in developing countries.

Approximately 500,000 women die each year of causes related to pregnancy, abortion and childbirth, 99 percent of them in developing countries, according to the World Health Organisation.
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