News of note.* Pittsburgh's Ninth Street Bridge is now the Rachel Carson Bridge Rachel Carson Bridge, also known as the Ninth Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Named for the naturalist Rachel Carson, a Pittsburgh native, it is one of three parallel bridges called The Three Sisters, the others being , an Earth Day tribute to one of southeastern Pennsylvania's most famous natives and an ecologist known worldwide for her environmental classic Silent Spring. Carson grew up in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and spent her childhood playing alongside the Allegheny River. "Pittsburgh's air, water, and land are much cleaner today because of her efforts and the efforts of those she inspired," Dan Onorato, Allegheny County chief executive, said in a release. * Another reason to fear global warming: poison ivy poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac, woody vines and trailing or erect shrubs of the family Anacardiaceae (sumac family), native to North America. . A Reuters story warns that when carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. levels were increased to expected mid-century amounts, poison ivy--that viney, woods-loving scourge of campers everywhere--grew more than twice as fast and emitted more of the substance that causes us to itch. Study lead author Jacqueline E. Mohan of The Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biology and ecology. Founded in 1888, the MBL is the oldest independent marine laboratory in the Americas, taking advantage of a coastal setting in the Cape Cod village of Woods Hole, in Woods Hole, Massachusetts Woods Hole is a census-designated place and village within the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. , warns no one is safe. "Poison ivy is a remarkable plant. It can grow just about anywhere." * With hundreds of acres of forests disappearing each day, the world would do well to follow France's example. According to Reuters News Service, France's forests have increased in area by a third over the last five decades, due in large part to reforestation Reforestation The reestablishment of forest cover either naturally or artificially. Given enough time, natural regeneration will usually occur in areas where temperatures and rainfall are adequate and when grazing and wildfires are not too frequent. programs funded by private investors. Investors receive tax breaks and are rewarded with forested land that can pass from generation to generation. As a result, 138 million tons of carbon dioxide are absorbed per year, providing France with 3 percent of its energy consumption. * Members of the Augusta National Golf Club Augusta National Golf Club, located in the American city of Augusta, Georgia, is one of the most famous and exclusive golf clubs in the world. Founded by Bobby Jones on the site of a former tree nursery, the club opened for play in January 1933. can retreat to the shade of what some say may be golf's most famous tree. The graceful 150-year-old oak rises between the Georgia clubhouse and the first hole, and its mighty boughs can shade hundreds of people on a hot summer day. The tree serves as a meeting place for members, a rest stop for caddies, or a destination for celebrities or onlookers. Golfer Tim Herron told the New York Times, "All the other trees out there look the same, but this one is different." |
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