Science News

Collaborations with various media allow us to create a bank of science news of relevance to the Puerto Rican and Hispanic communities and give a venue that our scientific members can use to keep their communities informed and engaged with science.

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In this section you can find: news written by members of the CienciaPR team and written by other news media and which are reproduced with permission from the original source.

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Under the microscope the government's consideration of global warming

Submitted on 15 March 2007 - 3:06pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

The ex-director of the Office for Land Use Planning, Carlos Maysonet, said yesterday that no government agency takes into consideration for its projects or programs, global warming and its effects in Puerto Rico. The professor of Planning called the attention to the fact that the government says that there is a public policy for sustainable development, but that however, in the practice, this public policy is not implemented and it is just in the papers.

Time to learn about El Yunque

Submitted on 15 March 2007 - 11:43am

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Next week, from March 18-24, the Institute of Tropical Forestry will celebrate a series of activities so the public learns about the results of decades of research in El Yunque tropical rain forest. The International Earth Day, celebrated on the spring equinox (March 21), will be the opportunity to share all the scientific findings, result of the hard and patient work of many researchers. All the activities next week will be free. Most of them will be held in the Institute’s conference room from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in the University of Puerto Rico’s Botanical Garden South. A guided tour of El Yunque will be on March 24, from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm.

Garbage is taking over the country

Submitted on 15 March 2007 - 11:24am

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Puerto Rico has to increase recycling of solid waste, from the actual 13% to a 35%, to be able to manage the volume the Island will be producing and avoid millionaire fees. It is imperative that the government, municipalities and private sector work together to develop at least 26 solid waste management projects for year 2025, when only 10 garbage dumps are expected to be left operating in all of Puerto Rico. Currently, the solid waste generation in the Island is 5.56 pounds per person, and it is expected to reach 3.75 million pounds a day for 2010.

Awareness about conservation

Submitted on 15 March 2007 - 11:16am

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Educating about the high ecological value of Las Salinas sector in Cabo Rojo, a natural reserve that is the habitat for endemic and migratory bird species, is the main goal of the Las Salinas Center. This center receives more than 15,000 visitants a year, to whom it teaches about the biodiversity of the ecosystem and the importance of preserving it. The preservation of almost 1,200 hectares that make up the natural reserve, and the center itself, are the contribution of the committee Caborrojeños for Health and the Environment –that administers the center- to international efforts to stop global warming.

Puerto Rico's endemic warblers

Submitted on 15 March 2007 - 10:53am

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Adelaide's Warbler is a small endemic bird of Puerto Rico, with grey and yellow feathers and white lines in its wings, that feeds off caterpillars and butterflies, hence its name in Spanish. It also eats grasshoppers, beetles, flies, spiders and occasionally, coquies. Besides the Adelaide's Warbler, Puerto Rico has two other endemic warblers: the Yellow Warbler and the Elfin Woods Warbler.

Where is the government?

Submitted on 13 March 2007 - 4:46pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Most countries in the World, including some without sovereignty like ours, and some of the main transnational corporations have discussed and taken action to take care of the consequence of global warming and to avoid they get worse. However, Puerto Rico lacks a public policy to deal with global warming. Although in multiple occasions and for the last 20 years, academics and environmental groups have presented the government with the facts about global warming and have proposed solutions to be implemented in the Island, Puerto Rico doesn’t have a coordinated effort to take action towards this.

A local initiative

Submitted on 13 March 2007 - 4:43pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

The Caribbean Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (CCVEU in Spanish) is an educational non-profit organization that promotes the design and construction of “green” buildings in the region. CCVEU is the most important coalition in the promotion of ecological, lucrative and healthy living and working places. This organization counts with architects, engineers, planners, contractors, educators, students, administrators and public and private institutions, among others. They also champion ideas, law projects and provides advice to the government to promote and increase the construction of “green” buildings.

Green future?

Submitted on 13 March 2007 - 4:39pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Green architecture is sustainable architecture which, at the same time, is the one that respects and in occasions improves the environment (natural and urban), attending the current need of the population without compromising the capability of future generations to attend theirs. Green architecture is a real option to make buildings –in which we live and work- environmentally friendly. It is estimated that in the United States building consume close to 68% of the electricity and 37% of all the energy in the country. These buildings generate 30% of the total gas emissions that produce the greenhouse effect and 40% of the global use of raw materials. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, green architecture consists of practices that largely reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings to the environment.

The cataclysm is here

Submitted on 13 March 2007 - 4:33pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Coastal erosion, caused mainly due to poor management, is accelerated with the increase in frequency and intensity of hurricanes, as well as by the rising of the sea level. The sea level in Puerto Rico should rise after the arrival of the new century, because it went up during the nineties (up to 2.2 millimeters a year), and each decade occurs the opposite of the previous one, according to the tendencies registered since 1955. But from 2000 to 2006 the sea level has increased, up to 6.1 millimeters each year, which represents a significant change. For each meter (3 feet) that the sea level rises up to 30 meters (90 feet) of sandy beach are lost. All of these not only has an impact on our beautiful beaches and its ecosystem, but it has a potentially devastating effect of houses and coastal infrastructure and should be a key factor to be considered when planning and granting permits to build in these zones.

The earth will live, we will die

Submitted on 13 March 2007 - 4:29pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

The Earth, throughout its history, has gone through glacial cycles, in which the poles freeze and melt, making the sea level go down and rise. In the past these changes have been very slow, giving our planet time to develop “defense mechanisms” to cushion these temperature changes and keep the balance, and living organisms to migrate to more suitable latitudes and to evolve to survive. But this time, due to a global warming that scientists agree is due largely to human activity, the changes will be too drastic and will happen too fast.

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