DeKruif, who represents Northfield, said one of his environmental concerns was the annual flooding that occurs on the Minnesota River from Mankato to the Twin Cities.

“In the spring of the year, nearly every year, we have a real problem with flooding in that area,” DeKruif said. He cited tornado damage around St. Peter, which felled trees. “Local folks wanted to go in and cut up those trees, and were told by the DNR, no they can’t because that’s habitat. I worked together with the LeSueur County Emergency Management Director Ann Traxler to pass legislation to allow cutting dead trees and cleaning up debris to help eliminate the logjam problems we have.”

It was similar debris that washed downstream and created a dangerous situation that ultimately took the life of MnDOT employee and Cleveland resident Michael Struck last March. Struck was swept away and drowned when the backhoe he was operating fell into floodwaters at Seven Mile Creek.

“This is a common-sense change that may prevent similar tragedies,” DeKruif said.

David Altshuler, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School: “When it comes to obesity, for the vast majority of people, there’s no one gene that makes a difference. There’s many, many genes, dozens, perhaps hundreds … each of which has a small effect on the obesity in the population, but which add up to a susceptibility when exposed to this environment we live in, for getting more overweight or not.

“There’s no doubt that genetics, the DNA that we inherit from our parents, affects how much we weigh. There’s also no doubt that the environment we live in affects how much we weigh. There’s no nature vs. nurture. There’s nature and nurture.

“When it comes to smoking or drinking, people generally have to go cold turkey. But fundamentally we have to eat. You know, people can’t stop eating. This calls for a somewhat lonely journey of self-control. We underestimate how hard it is to change your behavior, not once, not for a week or a month till you’re cured, but to change it every day for the rest of your life.”

Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “If you go with the flow in America today, you will end up overweight or obese, as two thirds of Americans do. The weight of the nation is not healthy. And to get it healthy, we’re all going to have to do our part.

“We are seeing changes. They’re not gonna be overnight, they’re not quick, but they’re happening. And they are going to help control the weight of the nation.

“Fifty years ago, tobacco was ubiquitous. And I think in 50 years we’ll see the ubiquity of unhealthy foods today in a similar light.”

Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University: “There’s this relentless and powerful marketing of foods. You’re basically taught that you can eat everywhere, you can eat every hour of the day and that there’s something gloriously wonderful about eating foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt.

“They (food companies) have so many billions of dollars at stake in their profits that they’ll do everything they can to fight the changes that are really necessary to help address the world’s obesity problem.

“You might despair at this and say, ‘Well, what can we do about it because these companies are so powerful?’ That’s what was said about the tobacco companies 30 and 40 years ago and look what happened to them. … So if the tobacco industry can be taken on successfully by the public health world, then I don’t see any reason why the food industry can’t be the same.”

Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health: “If we don’t now take this as a really serious, urgent national priority, we are all of us individually and as a nation gonna pay a really serious price.”

As Conservatives move to implement their jobs-and-growth plan, they’ve predict-ably attracted significant blow-back from environmentalists.

And activism by green-minded groups protesting giant resource-related projects such as Alberta’s oilsands and the Northern Gateway pipe-line in turn has prompted the government to introduce legislation and regulations in a bid to restrict the activists’ effectiveness.

The yin-yang interplay catapulted the environment into the forefront in Ottawa this week, as opposition parties lined up to condemn a 420-page omnibus budget bill, brimming – inappropriately, they contend – with environ-mental provisions.

And in the midst of that fuss, federal environment commissioner Scott Vaughan released a report Tuesday slamming Conservative inaction on climate change policy. The report also notes Ottawa is facing a $7.7-billion bill for the cleanup of some 13,000 contaminated federal sites such as abandoned mines and military installations.

The environment is a tricky issue and the Harper Conservatives are getting on the wrong side of it.

When the economy is iffy, most Canadians are prepared to look the other way when it comes to C02 levels and remote tailings ponds.

But, in inadvertently developing a reputation for being rabidly anti-green, the Harper government has done itself a disservice. It has left the broader public with an impression that absolutely no one is minding the federal environ-mental shop.

Folks who are not particularly environmentally activist but enjoy living in a country with clean air and unsoiled beaches are apt to become a little nervous.

Conservatives should have picked an environment minister who had some record of interest and activity in matters pertaining to his file – some-one who at least could do the necessary PR and offer verbal if not legislative reassurances.

Instead, Harper appointed Peter Kent, who on Tuesday dismissed Vaughan’s report as being out of date.

Kent is the same minister who mused recently about “laundered money” from off-shore making its way to green charities in Canada. He was not kidding.

That absurd statement was reminiscent of the so-called “bimbo eruptions” – extremist remarks by backbenchers relating to homosexuals or to abortion – that once so plagued the now-defunct Reform Party.

Then there was Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver who last January did yeoman service in helping create the government’s extremist image on the environment with his issuance of an open letter about the Northern Gateway pipeline through B.C.

The letter slagged “environ-mentalists and other radicals that would seek to block this opportunity to diversify our trade.”

Harper ministers have made much of the notion that foreign money is helping finance the operations of some Canadian charities.

But the public reasonably questions whether that’s any big deal, given that offshore corporate interests equally have a huge hand in domestic resource development.

Regardless, at a time of wide-spread spending cuts, the government has found $8 million in its budget for the Canada Revenue Agency to investigate and remove charitable status from groups dispersing more than 10 per cent of their budgets on political activism.

Indeed, about a third of the government’s omnibus budget bill deals with environmental measures that will speed up and streamline regulatory reviews of resource developments.

Packing so much into one bill obviously thwarts comprehensive scrutiny by MPs of any proposed legislation, giving less confidence to Canadians that the environment is being safeguarded.

As a policy issue, the environment is fast becoming the Conservatives’ bête noire.

The new study by researchers including Dr Motohiko Murakami from Japan’s Tohoku University, found that 93 per cent of the lower mantle is composed of a silicate perovskite mineral.

The work, reported in the journal Nature, answers a riddle which has blighted models of the Earth’s composition for years.

These models rely on the composition of chondritic meteorites, which are thought to have formed in the same region as the Earth more than four billion years ago.

However, samples of the upper mantle which have been brought to the surface mostly through tectonic or volcanic activity, show the Earth has much less silicon than the chondritic meteorites.

Pushing Sound Waves:

To try and solve the problem, Murakami and colleagues performed a series of laboratory measurements by replicating the lower mantle’s environment.

They pushed sound waves through different minerals at densities, pressures and temperatures matching the conditions that exist more than 660 kilometres below the surface.

After comparing their results with seismic data, they conclude that the lower mantle is far more highly enriched in silicon than the upper mantle.

Murakami and colleagues say their new data is consistent with the chondritic Earth model.

Their findings also show that there is little movement of materials between the lower and upper mantle.

They speculate this may have been caused by fractional crystallisation of the magma ocean extending into the lower mantle during Earth’s early history.

Murakami and colleagues conclude that this primordial chemical stratification may have been preserved until the present day.

Ground Breaking:

In an accompanying commentary in the same issue of Nature, Professor Ian Jackson from the Australian National University, says Murakami and colleagues’ work breaks new ground.

But he warns that the story is unlikely to be over yet.

“Inevitably in such pioneering work, there are still a few technical issues that need to be resolved,” says Jackson.

“These tests are done over extreme pressures to more than a million atmospheres, and so the issue of how the pressure is calibrated becomes a key factor.”

“What’s needed now is more follow up work that would allow these very high pressure and temperature results to be compared with the same tests carried out under more precisely known conditions found at lower to moderate pressures,” says Jackson.

“One line of attack would involve using new computer modelling of mineral properties. This is an increasingly powerful way of assessing the behaviour of rocks under extreme conditions.”

But Jackson says there is still the possibility the entire chondritic Earth model is wrong.

Some scientists believe the movement of planets during the early formation of the solar system, known as planetary migration, could have mchanged the distribution and mix of asteroids and meteors.

“I think we haven’t yet heard the final word,” says Jackson.

Over one billion people have pledged to Earth Day’s cause on their website, and that number is growing by the day. While it is observed on a single day, year-round this cause continues to grow in numbers and awareness. They have international factions operating worldwide dedicated to education, projects improving the environment, and revolutionizing the way we think about our planet.

The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970 and its original impact resulted in a unity never seen before in the United States. This initial effort was prompted after a massive Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969. In response, 20 million Americans took up the challenge to create a more sustainable world. Because of that first year, both Republican and Democratic politicians united and brought the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts into the books.

Gaylord Nelson, the monumental day’s founder, was a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin who was so outraged by the oil spill, he gathered forces and created Earth Day. The inclusion of people was not restricted by anything. Any man, woman, or child, it did not matter their class, age, or race, was able to participate if they wished.

On the Earth Day in 1990, the mission expanded beyond the United States and to the international scene. Worldwide, 200 million people from 141 countries joined in observation of the event, which sent a clear message to the rest of the world: we care about this world and the environment we are creating.

This year, the biggest projects involved rallies, environmental service, and a generally loud amount of noisemaking through all of the social media outlets. In the National Mall, 225,000 people rallied to show their support of the day and the launching of a project to plant one million trees are some of the more well known movements.

Over the last two decades, the group grew exponentially from year to year, but many fear it is not enough. Increasing urgency is conveyed by the organizers, the clock is running low as the years fly by. It is clear that global warming is affecting the environment on such a physical level that, in a few years, some of the lower elevated countries close to the coastline will be underwater. More than anything, the movement focuses on the need to be recognized on a microcosmic level, each individual needs to do his or her part to reduce waste worldwide.

Paris:

Designed to operate for only five years, Envisat was launched in March 2002, carrying 10 instruments to monitor the planet’s oceans, ice, land and atmosphere.

The giant 8.2-tonne, 10.5-metre (34.1-foot) craft carried on working for a decade, racking up a total of 2.25 billion kilometres (1.4 billion miles), or more than 50,000 orbits, ESA said.

The satellite failed to make a radio call on April 8 as it passed over a ground station at Kiruna in Sweden, the agency said.

It has assembled a “recovery team” of engineers, flight dynamics scientists and mission operators in the hope of restoring contact with Envisat, which remains in a stable orbit.

Envisat’s data has been used in 4,000 science projects in 70 countries, including landmark research into climate change.

Its study of ocean currents was used last year to simulate dispersal of nuclear pollution from the Fukushima accident, and it gained real-time images of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

It has also been an important tool in tackling illegal fishing.

ESA had hoped to keep Envisat going until its seven replacements, the so-called Sentinel satellites, start being launched in 2013.

Brown, 67, who once heckled U.S. President George W. Bush when the president addressed Australia’s parliament, said he was leaving politics to spend more time writing, taking photographs and bush walking in his home state of Tasmania.

However, his departure will not affect the Greens support for Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s minority government, or force a by-election, as his seat in the upper house Senate will be filled by another Greens member.

“It is prime time to hand over the reins,” Brown told reporters, adding he would leave parliament in June but would remain active in his party’s campaigns and causes.

“I will be a Green until the day I die, if not for a long time after that. Every breath I take will be as a Green.”

Brown entered the national parliament in 1996 after a stint in the Tasmanian parliament. He became a national figure in the early 1980s when he led a protest campaign to stop a dam project in Tasmanian wilderness.

Brown is the public face of the Greens, and he helped build the party from just one member in the national parliament a decade ago to nine senators and one lower house member after 2010 elections, where the party attracted a record of about 12 percent of the national vote.

He has been a strong advocate of putting a price on carbon pollution, and was a key figure in negotiating Australia’s carbon tax which starts in July and will force about 500 companies to pay A$23/tonne for carbon emissions.

He has also championed higher taxes for the mining industry, protection of old-growth native forests, human rights in China and gay marriage, making no secret of his homosexuality.

Brown has also been a strident critic of the war in Afghanistan and Australia’s close military ties with the United States, which prompted him to interrupt’s Bush’s speech to Australia’s parliament in 2003 by calling for Bush to release two Australians then being held in Guantanamo Bay.

Gillard praised Brown for his contribution to Australian politics over the past 30 years.

“Throughout his time in elected office, Bob Brown has been a figure of integrity with a deep love for this country and its environment,” Gillard said in a statement.

Brown’s deputy, Christine Milne, was elected to replace him as the party leader, and she said she would work to build on Brown’s legacy.

“For 25 years, Bob has been an inspiration to millions of Australians and a great force for good in our country,” Milne said, adding she would honour the agreement signed with Gillard to support her minority government.

eBooks had an 8 percent share of the book market in 2010, which rose to 15 percent by 2011. It is expected that in 2012, the market share of digital books will be around 20 percent. By 2025, eBooks are forecasted to comprise around 75 percent of the market.

The steady rise of eBooks should benefit the environment by reducing use of paper and ink, and by slashing transportation, warehouse, and shelf-space impacts.

The printed book not only uses paper, but also requires a lot of water and energy. There are also other environmental impacts when storing and shipping physical books. eReaders use resources, of course, but by displaying many books and newspapers, their overall footprint is lower.

The amount of paper used for books in one year was estimated at 1.5 million metric tons, and each book produced gave off an estimated 8.85 pounds of carbon dioxide. Study groups have found that the carbon released from eBooks is offset after people read more than 14 eBooks. For the life cycle of a device for reading books, the carbon emitted is offset after the first year. The savings in carbon emitted into the air is around 168 kilograms for the following years after the first year of use.

An avid reader, who will read more than 10 books a year, should consider buying a device and download ebooks to benefit our environment. Some eReaders will allow you to search the Web and answer e-mails, as well as read all the books you desire. Using a reading device could bring down a person’s overall carbon footprint.

The prediction is that eBooks will eventually take over the printed word completely. Going paperless has been a long-time goal, though we still have a ways to go.

We also need to make more progress in recycling spent tablets and eReaders.

It’s also true that one potential downside of the eBook revolution is the decline of local bookstores. But a number of other factors are also at play, including rising rents, competition from big box stores and major online retailers, and changing consumer habits.

ST. LOUIS

Naya, a brand of beautiful, comfortable women’s shoes that leave a softer footprint on the earth, will mark its two-year anniversary with the tree planting initiative. In the past two years the brand has planted 10,000 indigenous trees in the United States through the Plant-It 2020 program.

“The Naya brand is committed to helping preserve our earth through our partnership with Nordstrom for Earth Day. This gives our customers a way to give back by replenishing trees around the globe. We know women want beautiful, comfortable shoes that leave a softer footprint on our earth, and seek opportunities to do something good for the planet. With the selection of materials we use for Naya, this helps our mission of giving back,” said Marci Ranger, Vice President of Marketing for Naya Shoes.

The trees planted through Plant-It 2020 are placed in non-harvest locations on public land, and are protected by contract from being cut down. Plant-It 2020 selects trees with a high survival rate and if a maintenance plan is needed, one is set in place before the trees are planted.

Naya shoes utilize materials that are gentler on the planet, such as vegetable-tanned leathers and linings, natural cork, water-based cements and natural or recycled content fabrics. Naya shoes are packaged in boxes made with 80 percent recycled paper pulp and in reusable shoe bags and shoe forms. The footwear is available at Nordstrom and Nordstrom.com as well as many other retailers nationwide and in more than 20 countries within Asia, Australia and North America, including but not limited to: Canada, Germany, Greece, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

In honor of Earth Day 2012, we’re excited to announce Aromatic Health, in association with The Artisan Group, will participate in gifting a select group of high-profile, environmentally-conscious celebrities including Jeremy Piven, Tom Hanks, Bill Maher, Adrian Grenier, Kate Bosworth, Pink, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dave Matthews, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Daryl Hannah, Drew Barrymore, Ellen DeGeneres, Orlando Bloom, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Hartnett, Sting, Barbra Streisand, Alicia Silverstone, Courteney Cox, Cameron Diaz, KT Tunstall, Mark Ruffalo, and Edward Norton.

Each celebrity will receive our HeadBalm in their gift bag. Our HeadBalm roll-on is a safe alternative to conventional pain relievers, and contains a soothing blend of essential oils known to relieve headaches and migraines.

Michelle Reynolds founded Aromatic Health in 2003, after seeking alternatives to help heal common ailments and natural skin care products. Aromatic Health focuses on the benefits of clinical aromatherapy, or essential oil therapy. At Aromatic Health, all products are hand made, using only pure and organic essential oils and raw ingredients. All products are cruelty free and do not contain synthetic fragrances, parabens, petrochemicals or preservatives. Their product lines include Aromatherapeutic, Mother & Child, Skin Care and Gift Sets.