Factoids

Factoids

Recently added factoids

We’re in trouble…the price of greed

People and population

Water

Trees, forests and vegetation

Soil

Predators

Energy

Oceans

Pollution

Politics and development

Recycling

Climate change

Birds

Disease control

Miscellaneous

Recently added factoids

GLOBAL WARMING MAY BE SUFFOCATING TREES. There is evidence that high temperatures and increase CO2 in the air cause plants to close the stomata, or openings in their leaves. This reduces recycling of water through the vegetation. Transpiration has fallen 3-4 percent since 1950 and this alone could be enough to make weather drier. (SOURCE: Teach Yourself Biology, by Morton Jenkins, Teach Yourself Books, 2001, page 46)

GLOBAL WARMING MAKES BEARS GO HUNGRY. Now follow this closely because it is a classic case of how complex ecological interactions can get. Whitebark pine is called the “nut pine,” and brown bears love the seeds. Moreover, because the pines grow at high elevation, bears can fatten up in areas safe from human encounters. But whitebark pines in Montana are faring poorly, because the mountain pine beetle — which used to live at lower elevations and feed on other pines — is now thriving at whitebark level. And the beetles are killing those critical bear-food trees because the whitebarks, having never met many mountain pine beetles before, have never evolved the defenses the other pine species have. The reason the beetles are living higher up in the mountains: warmer temperatures and drier conditions due to global warming. Dead whitebarks are seen all over the Greater Yellowstone and southwest Montana, and wildlife experts fear a major impact on grizzly populations and more human conflicts as bears seek food lower down. (SOURCE: Keystone Conservation annual report, 2007.)

CLIMATE CHANGE TO IMPACT WORST POSSIBLE PLACES. Experts say global warming will hit hardest in lands that already have poor soil and short growing seasons. (SOURCE: World Hunger Year, quoted in Heifer International’s World Ark newsletter, September-October 2006.)

GLOBAL WATER SHORTAGES LOOMING. The world will need 20 percent more fresh water than is currently available to take care of 3 billion more people who will be alive in 2025. In that year as many as two thirds of all the humans on Earth will be “water-stressed.” Already aquifers are being mined (drained faster than they can be replenished), 450 million people in 29 nations face severe water shortages, and half the world’s rivers are badly polluted. (SOURCE: World Hunger Year, quoted in Heifer International’s World Ark newsletter, September-October 2006.)

FORESTS MAY HELP FIGHT CANCER. Research in Japan suggests walking in forests can boost immune systems. A dozen stressed males were put to walking in the woods. Two days later their Natural Killer cells counts were up 52.6 percent. So reported the Arbor Day Foundation newsletter.

TEXAS MAKES MONEY OFF PARKS BUT DOES ITS BEST NOT TO. Tourism is one of the top contributors to the Texas economy and parks are a big part of that. Ten million park visitors a year generate close to a billion dollars in sales and support over 10,000 jobs. Yet Texas ranks 49th among states in per capita expenditures on parks, investing less than one-fifth of 1 percent of the state budget on these money makers. Think it doesn’t matter? A few years ago, Boeing chose Chicago over Dallas-Fort Worth despite bigger financial incentives in DFW. Why? Chicago had more parks for company employees.

MANGROVE SWAMPS PRODUCE FOOD. One acre of mangrove swamp is the birthplace of creatures that grow into 1,500 pounds of ocean-caught seafood. Not to mention protecting shorelines against tidal waves and storm surges. But all over the world reckless seacoast development and shrimp farming have massacred mangrove forests. Only recently have governments realized what a foolish trade-off that was and begun to restore mangrove wetlands. (Ducks Unlimited magazine, May-June 2007)

CLIMATE CHANGE CAUSES HUMAN VIOLENCE. Violence in Darfur started in response to worsening drought conditions that caused water and food shortages, says the Population Connection newsletter The Reporter (Fall 2007). The rainfall decline was caused by manmade global warming, wrote UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in a newspaper editorial.

MANGROVES AT RISK. Coastal mangrove forests may be the planet’s champion carbon-sequesterers. But never question the ability of humans to screw up a good thing. In South America and Southeast Asia, mangrove forests are being destroyed to make room for shrimp farms, etc. (Population Connection newsletter The Reporter, Fall 2007)

BLAME TO SHARE. Deforestation is responsible for nearly 20 percent of global greenhouse emissions. (Population Connection newsletter The Reporter, Fall 2007) Still, cities emit 75 percent of global-warming pollution. (Environmental Defense newsletter Solutions, August 2007)

THE PUBLIC BELIEVES IN THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT. While some political extremists portray the Endangered Species Act as an un-American assault on private property rights, most Americans in fact recognize that it actually protects the public’s property rights by saving our common heritage of wildlife. Ninety percent of voters consider it important that the ESA offers a safety net for plants and animals in trouble; 95 percent of voters agree that protecting wildlife habitat is one of the most important ways to protect the wildlife; and 86 percent of voters support the ESA despite the drumbeat of propaganda against it. (Fact sheet from Endangered Species Coalition.)

THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT WORKS. Another propaganda myth about the ESA is that it has failed because so few species have recovered enough to be removed from the endangered list. This is disingenuous to say the least, given the concerted efforts by ESA foes to make it fail. But more important, it overlooks a key fact: 99.3 percent of species that were ever on the list are still alive. Without the Act, many of those species would by now be extinct. (Fact sheet from Endangered Species Coalition.) If not the highest level of success, that is certainly a success. When ESA opponents stop sabotaging the law and legislators appropriate money to do recovery right, perhaps more species can be removed. (A few years ago, the U.S. spent $35 million on species recovery, while Americans spent $1.5 billion on popcorn in movie theaters.)

VEGETATION HELPS MENTAL-HEALTH, TOO. Research by horticultural therapist Sheila Taft found that as little as four minutes in a garden will start to reduce stress, improve mood and stabilize vital signs. Cited in The Arbor Day Foundation newsletter, May-June 2007.

We’re in trouble…the price of greed

HUNGER. Worldwide 800 million people are malnourished. It will likely get worse, as little new farmland is available and existing land is deteriorating. Meanwhile, fish catches and aquaculture have fallen behind the population growth rate, making the main protein of the poor less available. More than half of India's children under age 5 suffer from stunted growth and are under-weight, a UNICEF report said. One out of five children in the world lives in India, including a third of all malnourished children.

GRAIN HARVESTS PLUNGE. The record 2004 heat wave in Europe — you

know, the one that cannot possibly happen because there is no such thing as global warming — caused the U.S. Department of Agriculture to drop its 2003 grain forecast by 32 million tons, equal to half the total U.S. harvest, says the Earth Policy Institute. Not to mention the thousands of humans who died.

HUMAN FOOTPRINT IS HUGE. Humans take up 83 percent of the Earth's land surface to live on, farm, mine or fish, leaving just a few areas pristine for wildlife, according to a report by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network. People also have taken advantage of 98 percent of the

land that can be farmed for rice, wheat or corn. The scientists' map, published at http:/www.wcs.org/humanfootprint, adds together influences from population density, access from roads and waterways, electrical power infrastructure, and areas used by cities and farms. The few remaining wild areas include the northern forests of Alaska, Canada and Russia; the high plateaus of Tibet and Mongolia; and much of the Amazon River Basin. Antarctica and a few Arctic land patches were not included in the study.

People and population

IT'S THE POPULATION, STUPID. "Seven out of 10 biologists believe that a mass extinction of the world's plant and animal life is now occurring, and virtually all think that this mass extinction is mainly a result of human activity," states the esecutive summary of a survey by the American Museum of Natural History. "A substantial majority also believe that this loss of plant and animal species and their habitats will pose a major threat to the welfare of the human race in the next century. Although they consider human population growth the single most serious environmental threat, biologists on the whole believe that loss of biodiversity is a bigger problem than either depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, or pollution and contamination." Sadly, the survey also found, "the public is less likely than scientists to think that a mass extinction is now occurring, less likely to think that the current loss of species is mainly due to human activity, less likely to appreciate the negative impact of overpopulation and resource consumption, and less likely to think that the loss of biodiversity will pose a major threat to the human race...."

FAMILY PLANNING. About 150 million married women in the world want family planning but cannot get it. Over 80 percent of Americans support international family planning. How come the U.S. government, including the politicians most worried about immigration to the U.S., oppose family planning programs?

TAKING CARE OF PEOPLE. Sometimes taking care of people is part of the environmental equation. Studies suggest that poor nutrition (especially lack of selenium) enables viruses from the environment to mutate into more virulent forms in human bodies. So while diseases like AIDS and Ebola are environmental diseases — having gotten into humans from people going into areas and eating things they should have left alone — poor nutrition might be why they became so deadly.

NOWADAYS IS DIFFERENT! It is estimated that 5 percent of all the humans who ever lived are alive today. At current growth rates, that could be 10 Percent by the middle of the 21st century. The U.S. represents only 4.6 percent of that population but creates 24 percent of the world's carbon dioxide output. If the rest of the world consumed as much as Americans, it would take three planets Earth to meet the resource demands.

WE’RE STILL GROWING! Due to population momentum, world population is now growing slightly faster than it did in 1967, despite advances in family planning and education. So says Population Connection president John Seager in Summer 2006 issue of organization newsletter The Reporter.

OVERPOPULATION = OVERCONSUMPTION. Overconsumption has led to an estimated 33 percent decline in the natural wealth of the world's ecosystems over the past 30 years, according to a report released by the World Wildlife Fund. If current patterns continue, humans would need an additional two planets in order to survive, WWF said. The group measured the "ecological footprint" of various countries — their per capita consumption of food, materials, and energy — and found, not surprisingly, that the footprints of rich nations are about four times larger than those of poor nations. The

United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and the U.S. have the biggest footprints, while Namibia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Eritrea have the smallest. "It is the consumers of the rich nations of the temperate northern regions of the world who are primarily responsible for the ongoing loss of natural wealth in the tropics," said Jonathan Loh, editor of the report.

Water

Trees, forests and vegetation

NOTICE TO BUSINESS DEVELOPERS. In case you haven’t noticed, shoppers will go out of their way to park under a tree if business owners have brains enough to leave any standing. But research now shows that trees help cool entire parking lots, reduce gasoline evaporation from cars (thus cutting air pollution) and even prolong the life of pavement. (Arbor Day, Jan-Feb 2005)

DRUNKEN FOREST. In northern Canada and Alaska, many trees look “drunk,” tilting every which way. This is caused by melting of the permafrost below the surface. This is caused by human activities. In some cases, removal of unsulating vegetation and soil compaction are to blame. In most areas the culprit is global warming. (Source: Arbor Day, Jan-Feb 2005)

ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED. If you love classical music, support rainforest preservation. It seems the best wood for musical bows comes from pau-brasil trees, now imperiled by Brazilian deforestation. The music community has banded together to help save the tree. (Source: Arbor Day, Jan-Feb 2005)

LOSS OF TREES. Urban areas in the U.S. are experiencing tree losses costing billions of dollars in added costs for storm-water removal, air pollution controls and energy, according to an analysis by American Forests. The study used Landsat satellite data from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s to assess tree cover in 448 U.S. urban areas. Extrapolations from more recent Landsat data over 40 of those areas suggest the urban tree canopy has shrunk 10 percent to 17 percent over the past decade — a loss of 1.7 billion trees. In fact, the "urban tree deficit" has grown even faster than that, because urban areas have been spreading out even as tree canopy has decreased. Altogether, urban areas have 21 percent less tree cover than a decade ago. Tree loss carries many costs. Storm-water runoff is significantly increased, requiring construction of larger storm pipes and other structures. Trees also clean the air and keep ground and air temperatures down, reducing summer energy costs for air conditioning. American Forests recommends that cities maintain a 35 percent tree cover. Visit http://www.americanforests.org.

ILLEGAL LOGGING BLAMED IN INDONESIAN FLOOD DISASTER. According to Associated Press, a devastating 2003 flood in Indonesia that left more than 200 people dead and destroyed land around a well-known orangutan reserve was caused by rampant illegal logging in Sumatra's forests. The floods that began at the end of October sent thousands of logs and rocks crashing through the heart of Bukit Lawang, Indonesia. The water leveled dozens of

houses and restaurants, piling debris two stories high. In addition, hundreds of thousands of logs came crashing down into the valley from the mountains. The flood follows a spate of similar disasters elsewhere in Indonesia that some blame on widespread illegal logging. Unchecked logging disrupts the natural absorption and flow of rainwater from the highlands, triggering floods and landslides that sweep into the valleys.

SAME STORY, SECOND VERSE. Clearcut logging in 2003 killed 200 people in the Central Philippines. The logging led to violent flooding. (At least the logging was illegal. In the U.S., such irresponsible selfishness is encouraged by government policy.)

REPLANTING NO PANACEA. Clearcut old-growth forest cannot be replaced simply by planting young trees. It takes centuries for a true forest ecosystem to redevelop, IF key species don't become extinct after clearcutting. Scientists working in the temperate rainforests of the U.S. Northwest have learned that nitrogen-fixing lichens are critical to forest health, but those lichens do not do well in new-growth forests. So, as loggers wipe out old forest, the very lichens needed to provide nitrogen to replacement trees are in decline. Also, studies of canopy microhabitats in those old-growth forests are revealing hundreds of new species of arthropods, many of which cannot adapt to second-growth forests and will become extinct if logging continues unabated.

HALF LOST ALREADY. The world has already lost half its total forests to farms, pastures, industry, commerce and human habitations. Rainforests in particular are endangered, while harboring two thirds of all wildlife species. Less than 5 percent of tropical forests enjoy any kind of protection at all.

CLEANING AIR. One tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the

air each year.

TREE TIPS. For maximum household heating and cooling savings, plant one deciduous trees on the east side, and two on the west side of your house, about 15' away from the building. For fastest growth, a young tree should be watered twice a week, 2 gallons for every 1" trunk diameter. Lawn grown in full shade requires up to 95 percent less water than lawn in full sun.

YOU CAN’T PLANT THEM FAST ENOUGH! Each of us would have to plant 60 trees a year and keep them all alive to absorb the 20 tons of carbon dioxide a year that the average American creates annually.

Soil

NOT JUST MINERALS. Healthy soil isn’t just crunched up rocks. An acre of topsoil can contain 900 pounds of earthworms, 2,400 pounds of fungi, 1,500 pounds of bacteria, 133 pounds of protozoa and 890 pounds of insects and other arthropods. (Source: Arbor Day, Jan-Feb 2005)

Predators

MEAT EATERS SAVE TREES. Once upon a time, many kinds of trees in Yellowstone National Park – aspens, cottonwoods and willows – were in serious trouble. They were being beaten up by excessive numbers of excessively bold elk and deer. Now they are thriving again, thanks to wolves. The 1995-1996 reintroduction of wolves has rescued the trees and made a much healthier ecosystem, not so much by killing herbivores but by changing their behavior. The leaf munchers spend more time on higher land now, where they are safer from the wolves and further from the riparian forest.

Energy

HOW MANY TREES DOES YOUR CAR EAT? A news release from the

University of Utah reports that it took 98 tons of plants to make the petroleum for each gallon of gasoline we use. For a fairly efficient, 25-mile-per-gallon car, this translates to four tons of prehistoric plants per mile. The research paper also mentions that every day, our cars use the fossil-fuel equivalent of all the plants growing during a whole year.

GOOD/BAD NEWS. Good news: From 1992-1996, before widespread Internet use, the U.S. economy grew 3.2 percent a year while energy use grew 2.4 percent. Since the Internet boom, 1996-2000, the economy grew 4 percent and energy demand only 1 percent. Bad news: each generation of computer chips consume more electricity than previous generations, so in areas where high-tech is concentrated, energy use has skyrocketed. Silicon Valley energy demand soars 6 percent a year while Los Angeles demand is flat. Server farms use 85-100 watts per square foot, compared to 5 for a typical office. An environmental group campaigned against approval of a San Jose server farm that would consume as much electricity as 180,000 homes.

EVEN FEDS SAY ANWR AT RISK. The federal government's own scientists say caribou and other wildlife may face major risks if oil is developed in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to a study by biologists in the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Interior. The report did say risks could be reduced by extremely tight regulation of drilling and collection of oil.

UNPLUG MACHINES! Household gadgets and appliances suck power even when they're shut off, constituting 10 percent of electricity use in some areas, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Studies in Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands have found the same. A solution: unplug the machines when not in use. Another is to convince manufacturers to use more efficient technology that will cut down on standby energy use.

The oceans

VITAL REEFS. Coral reefs cover only about 1 percent of the Earth’s surface, yet they are home to more than 25 percent of all marine life, sats National Wildlife Federation. And they are suffering serious damage globally from human action, from global warming to overfishing to water pollution.

DESTROYING OUR COASTS. Two thirds of U.S. coastal bays and estuaries are degraded by nitrogen pollution, including Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and San Francisco Bay. It is the worst threat to coastal waters. (Source: Environmental Defense newsletter, April 2006)

Pollution

FREEWAY POLLUTION THE WORST. Scientists have determined that residents near the San Diego Freeway through the San Fernando Valley are twice as likely to develop cancer as people living near industrial areas. Freeways are the one of largest sources of cancer-causing contaminants in the Los Angeles Basin.

WE ARE THE WORST. Emissions from American power plants alone exceed total combined emissions of 146 other nations representing 75 percent of the world's population. The excuse that our emissions are in proportion to our share of the world’s economy don't wash. The British, Germans and Japanese produce less than their economic share of emissions by being more energy-efficient than we are.

ACID RAIN REDUCTION PLAN REALLY WORKS. According to an Environ-mental Defense report, the U.S. acid-rain reduction program has resulted in 30 percent less pollution than the law allows, at a fraction of the projected price. The program uses a market mechanism called emissions trading and may offer a model for solving other large-scale pollution problems.

DIRTY AIR IN PARKS. Big Bend National Park frequently has the dirtiest air of any of the western parks. Big Bend is one of the few national parks in the country that has a significant degrading trend in visibility -- the worst days are getting worse. Many days we have visibility of 10 miles or less. Texas has stalled and now leads the nation in dangerous air days.

POLLUTION KILLS. Soot pollution from U.S. power plants shortens the lives of more than 30,000 people each year, according to a study by Clean the Air. That's more than die from drunk driving or homicide. Coal-fired power plants have the most significant impact. Among the states with the greatest number of deaths are Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Florida, Illinois, Tennessee, and Texas. Health effects from soot pollution include asthma attacks, cardiac problems and upper and lower respiratory problems. The EPA approved the study methodology.

Politics and development

WHAT DOES GROWTH REALLY COST? Traditionally Texans viewed new growth as new wealth for struggling counties. And Bandera County is growing. Its location in the Hill Country west of San Antonio, 10th largest city in the nation, makes Bandera County an ideal refuge for commuters and tourists. But new growth hasn't brought new wealth to Bandera County. Residential lands demand even more in service costs, including schools, road maintenance, water and wastewater, courts and public safety, than they provide in revenue. http://www.farmland.org/texas/cocs_bandera.htm

SHARPER THAN A SERPENT’S TOOTH. The Republicans for Environmental Protection, in Albuquerque, N.M., (yes, there IS still such a group, protecting the honor of the party that producedTeddy Roosevelt), recently rated President George W. Bush's environmental record. They gave him a "D."

BUSH JUST HATES IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS. Sometimes you just cannot kill the science no matter how hard you try. Even a recent White House study -- from the Office of Management and Budget in the most anti-environmental administration in memory – concluded that environmental regulations are worth the costs they impose on industry and consumers, resulting in signifi-cant public health improvements and other benefits to society. The findings overturn a previous report that officials now say was defective. The report found the health and social benefits of tough new clean-air regulations during the past decade were five to seven times greater in economic terms than the costs of complying with the rules. Reductions in hospital costs, premature deaths and lost workdays resulting from improved air quality were estimated between $120 and $193 billion from October 1992 to September 2002. By comparison, industry, states and municipalities spent an estimated $23 to $26 billion to retrofit plants and facilities and make other changes to comply with new clean-air standards. Of course, an industry official said the report may have understated the costs. If you believe that, how about some Enron stock?

THE PUBLIC DOES CARE. Polls in 2006 showed that 52 percent of American respondents believed environmental protection should be a priority even at the risk of curbing economic growth and 86 percent (that’s right, an eight followed by a six) wanted to see “a lot” of action in 2007 to help the environment. U.S. News and World Report, April 24, 2006.

Recycling

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT PAPER RECYCLING. Every Sunday, the United States wastes nearly 90 percent of the recyclable newspapers, equal to about 500,000 trees! Every day Americans buy 62 million newspapers and throw out

44 million. That's like dumping 500,000 trees into a landfill every week. American's throw away enough office and writing paper annually to build a wall 12 feet high stretching from Los Angeles to New York City. If everyone in the U.S. recycled just 1/10 of their newsprint, we would save the estimated equivalent of about 25 million trees a year. It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of the New York Times. It’s not just trees. One ton of recycled paper saves 3,700 pounds of lumber but it saves 24,000 gallons of water and oodles of electricity. One ton of recycled paper uses: 64 percent less energy, 50 percent less water, 74 percent less air pollution, saves 17 trees and creates 5 times more jobs than one ton of paper products from virgin wood pulp.

COMPUTER RECYCLING. Europe has effective computer recycling programs. American industry is resisting the concept, reports pro-business USNWR.

Climate change

GLOBAL WARMING. Where shall we begin?...the frequency of category 4 and 5 hurricanes has doubled in the past three decades; sea level rose 4-8 inches in the 20th century (ten times the average rate for the past 3,000 years); recent severe droughts, heat waves in Europe (27,000 dead in 2003), mass coral reef bleaching, and disruption of animal migration patterns have all been at least partly linked to global warming; Arctic sea ice has shrunk by 400,000 square miles (equal to Texas and California combined) in the past 30 years; the Gulf Stream that warms Europe is weakening, causing already a 90 percent drop in American eel migrations since the mid-1980s; fish and seabirds are starving off the California coast because warmer water is blocking the annual upswelling of nutrients. Experts say we have maybe 10 years to cut our emissions or face irreversible warming effects. (Source: Environmental Defense newsletter, April 2006)

OZONE AGAIN? Within 20 years, a new ozone hole could develop over the

North Pole like the one over the South Pole. An Arctic hole could affect far more people than the Antarctic one.

Birds

BIRDS IN TROUBLE. John Fitzpatrick, director of Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology, says the world's birds are having trouble coping

with humans. Out of 10,000 species, about 2,000 are believed to have gone extinct in the past 1,000 years. Life expectancy of a species should be about a million years. And today the rate of extinctions at least 1,000 times bigger. Especially vulnerable are island birds. Clearcutting forests is a threat, but a

University of Georgia researcher has found that even clearing isolated patches in a forest can have a devastating impact on birds. Forest fragmentatation concentrates birds in fewer areas, making their eggs more vulnerable to predators, who are also concentrated by fragmentation.

GRASSLANDS DECLINE. Grasslands birds, as a group, have suffered a steeper and more widespread decline than any other North American bird group, says The Nature Conservancy. Biggest threat: destruction of the

short- and mixed-grass prairie due to plowing, urban sprawl, unsustainable grazing practices, and toxic chemicals from industrial farming practices.

PAINTED BUNTING DECLINE. Painted bunting populations are falling due to development-caused habitat loss and cowbird nest parasitism. Protecting

remaining breeding habitat and trapping cowbirds are experts' suggestions.

BIRD WATCHING POPULARITY. Bird watching outpaces golf and rivals gardening in terms of the number of participants. In 1996, more than 63 million people went bird watching, fed birds, or went on trips to watch birds

and other wildlife. They directly spent an estimated $29 billion on these activities, generating almost $85 billion in related economic activity, creating more than one million jobs and producing $5.2 billion in federal and state tax revenues. Overall, ecotourism is the fastest-growing segment of the tourism

industry, worth more than $200 billion a year.

Disease control

INSTINCT TO KILL SELF-DEFEATING. Killing animals isn't always a smart way to control disease. A Cambridge University study finds killing infected rats can make a plague outbreak worse, by forcing germ-carrying fleas to find

new homes...on people. Presumably, the same logic applies to killing prairie dogs. Scientists say eliminating the plague is impractical, if not impossible, in animals. Because the bacteria show signs of resistance to antibiotics, it is crucial to monitor rodent populations to avoid outbreaks. The disease can circulate in relatively small populations of rodents without killing them off completely. Some 10 to 20 cases of bubonic plague occur each year in the U.S., mostly in rural areas west of the Mississippi. Health officials recommend staying away from animals that are lethargic or appear sick. Don't put a sleeping bag just anywhere in the woods, says a Texas Department of Health expert. Abandoned prairie-dog holes could mean the plague has killed off the colony and infected fleas could be around. If infected rodents are

found, officials spray the area to kill fleas and post signs.

ROACHES INNOCENT! Believe it or not, the National Wildlife Federation reports roaches have never been proven to transmit human disease. But if

you can't stand them anyway, try boric acid. It's one of the few pesticides roaches aren't resistant to and it is one of the least toxic chemical pesticides. Boric acid works on ants, too, but scientists say ants should be seen as friends: they clean up crumbs and kill real pests like flea larvae and termites.

Miscellaneous

CAR TROUBLE AGAIN. Each U.S. car requires over 7,800 square feet of pavement (roads and parking). For every additional five cars sold, a

football-field--sized area must be paved.

INVASIVE SPECIES. Just by moving around and shipping things, people cause trouble. (1) The African tortoise tick, identified in Florida, is

a threat to deer and livestock. The pet trade is bringing the tick into the U.S. on snakes and tortoises. (2) Huge numbers of large jellyfish dubbed "terminators" are attacking sea creatures and clogging nets along the Gulf east of Texas. They got to the Caribbean from Australia on ship hulls or in ballast water. (3) A Frankenstein algae that has wiped out seashore habitats in the Mediterranean has been found in near San Diego. Caulerpa taxifola was introduced to aquariums in Europe, Japan and South Africa within the past two decades. Escaping somehow, the fast-growing algae -- it is believed to

have mutated from its natural form due to aquarium ultraviolet lights -- has ruined scuba diving and fishing in 10,000 acres of Mediterranean habitat. The San Diego patch may have started when a private aquarium owner dumped it into a storm drain. It was caught soon enough to be destroyed. The algae is now banned in the U.S. (4) Just when you thought it was safe to garden...an

alien earthworm is thriving in northern forests, damaging the non-worm-adapted ecosystems (native earthworms failed to spread since the end of the last Ice Age) by eating the vital duff layer (the decomposing leaf litter). The worms arrived here in potted plants, ships' ballast and animal hooves and have been spread by fishermen who lose/release bait at remote forest sites.

MORE JELLYFISH. Speaking of jellyish, a voracious species is wiping out

Iran's shellfish and caviar sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. Iranian environmental officials say the jellyfish thrives on conditions created by manmade pollution of the Caspian.

BACKFIRE! The computer age appears to have increased rather than

decreased the use of paper. Computer manufacturers see printers as one of their main income sources. Recycled paper is rarely used for printers. You can help by asking: do I really, really need a paper copy of this item?