Ten years after a storm felled 15 million trees in England in 1987, it was found that woodland areas undisturbed by human intervention had experienced the most prolific regrowth, reports The Daily Telegraph. Where trees had been blown down, more light reached the ground. This caused saplings and shrubs to grow to a height of six meters, and insects, birds, and plants have also proliferated. Many fallen oak and yew trees did not rot as expected, and their timber, now seasoned, has tripled in value. Says conservationist Peter Raine: "More damage was done by well-intentioned cleaning up [by humans] than by the storm itself. Many of the trees planted that autumn were planted hurriedly, badly, and they died."
Awake! May 22, 1998
what might a post office do with 500 tonnes a month of undeliverable junk mail, including catalogs and other advertisements? The Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, post office has begun sending much of it to be turned into compost. The compost is being used to grow tomatoes and marigolds, reports The New York Times, and the results have been promising. The bacteria that convert the shredded junk mail into compost are fed stale beer and soft drinks, waste products of beverage manufacturers. The beer and soda contain sugar, on which the bacteria thrive. Says Joel Simpson, vice president of the composting company conducting the experiment: "The same things that make us fat make those bacteria fat an happy."
Awake! May 22, 1998
When you are traveling less than eight kilometers in an urban setting, a bicycle may be faster than a car, reports The Island, of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The international environmental group Friends of the Earth call the bicycle "the most efficient form of transportation on Earth." They point out that a bicycle can cover as many as 2,400 pollution-free kilometers on the food energy equivalent of just 4.5 liters of gasoline, notes the report. It adds that bicycle use also provides health benefits.
Awake! May 22, 1998
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