Peninsular Pronghorn Conservation: Too Many Paradigms, too few indicators

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is the only member of the Antilocapridae family, and differs from bovids, cervids and other ruminants. It is found in North American deserts and grasslands (Fig. 1). Pronghorn is the second fastest land animal but can run for much longer than cheetah. Antilocapridae evolved in North America and were a successful family thanks to digestive and temperature regulation evolutions. These evolutions probably were a response to climate becoming highly seasonal about 34 million years ago, with glaciations alternating every 41-100 thousand years with temperatures slightly warmer than today, and millennial cycles of 2oC local cooling (Maslin, 2009). Lacking equivalent temperature regulation equus including horses came close to extinction (Mitchell and Lust, 2008; Kulemzina et al., 2014)

Bioenergy Principles and Applications

The following can be credited to Gibbs and Helmholtz: the internal energy of a system is made up by reactants, where H is the energy contained by the number of chemical bonds in a given volume; G is the available energy to do work (movement, growth, maintenance, reproduction); S is entropy (energy loss); and T is temperature of a reaction (Gaudy and Gaudy, 1980). When a biochemical reaction takes place

Pollution: The Pathogenic and Xenobiotic Exposome of Humans and the need for Technological Change

The available dominant water, energy, and food (WEF) technologies are responsible for the expansion of pathogenic exposure via climate change and land change at the global scale: there are 1415 known pathogens and 175 are emerging ones, described in the last 40 years. Expansion of xenobiotic exposure is occurring due to the production of 250,000 compounds and an average of 4400 new ones each year. Avariety of pathogenic and WEF xenobiotic agents affecting the human species is charted here. The basal pathogenic human exposome (or lifelong exposure) and the anthropogenic exposome expansion are related to the human bodily systems, to highlight concurrent damages. Foremost among interactions are cancers, which most often result from several mutations after exposure to pathogens or xenobiotics. Of particular interest are emerging pathogens with different bodily effects, and pathogen–xenobiotic interactions, which affect the reproductive/ endocrine/developmental systems: these systems are under anthropogenic evolutionary pressure. WEF technologies form an intertwined nexus such that phaseout of a few dominant but obsolete technologies can effect crucial changes in current human health trends. Prevention is of essence, which means that already available, sustainable, technologies have to be implemented

Water appropriation and ecosystem stewardship in the Baja Desert

The UNESCO San Francisco Rock Paintings polygon within El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in the Baja California Peninsula derives its moisture from the North American monsoon. There, ranchers have depended on the desert since the 18th century. More recently, the desert has depended on the environmental stewardship of the ranchers who have allayed mining exploitation and archaeological looting. Using a Rapid Assessment Procedure (RAP), climate data, and geographical information, sustainability was assessed and foreseeable risks identified, on behalf of the Reserve. The results showed that the costs of stewardship were in terms of water appropriation and livestock herbivory. The socio-ecological system also faced hydrological risks derived from runoff, high evaporation rates and climate change. Additional risks stemmed from the increasing global demand for minerals, including hydrocarbons, found in the Reserve. These external drivers could substantially alter the attitudes of the ranchers or the land tenure. Land abandonment might become possible as children and women seemed to out-migrate from the polygon. Solutions were identified based on the supply and demand for water and should enhance resilience via watershed management and in-ranch water appropriate technologies

Solar and Geothermal Energies Are Sustainable; Nuclear Power Is Not

Nuclear fusion taking place in the sun is safe to use directly as photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated thermal energy or indirectly as wind, wave, or tide energy. Nuclear decay in the Earth’s interior is also harnessed, with Iceland setting the pace for reliable whole-country supply of geothermal energy. Conversely, nuclear fission is an ill-understood process making nuclear technologies’ failures surprisingly regular. This chapter addresses the sustainability of the foregoing types of radiation energy sources. It first highlights the supply of incident solar energy that can power the geosphere and biosphere and cater to the needs of a thriving future human civilization. Second, the technological conditions for sustainable geothermal energy (SGE) are examined. Third, while discounting weak antinuclear arguments (public perceptions), it shows the absence of technical conditions for sustainable fission nuclear power

USO DEL FUEGO: IMPACTOS ATMOSFÉRICOS GLOBALES E INTRAMUROS EN BRASIL Y MÉXICO

La alimentación humana afecta tanto el ambiente como la salud humana. Al analizar el proceso de producción de alimentos, se deduce que el uso de fuego en la agricultura y la cocina producen riesgos conjugados laborales e intramuros, apuntando a una magnitud hasta ahora desconocida de la contaminación atmosférica en el medio rural. Las exposiciones a partículas atmosféricas son tanto agudas como crónicas, y permiten conjeturar una asociación con la primera causa de mortalidad en niños (neumonía), y con la supervivencia en edades avanzadas en el medio rural. En cuanto a gases de combustión, tienen los efectos invernadero ya conocidos a nivel global (dióxido de carbono), pero a nivel intramuros, los efectos asfixiantes del CO y del CO2 se agregan. La globalización es un factor del uso continuado del fuego en el medio rural en América tropical, tanto en la agricultura y ganadería de exportación (ejemplificadas en la Amazonia brasileña) como en la producción de subsistencia (ilustrada por los estados del sur de México).La alimentación humana afecta tanto el ambiente como la salud humana. Al analizar el proceso de producción de alimentos, se deduce que el uso de fuego en la agricultura y la cocina producen riesgos conjugados laborales e intramuros, apuntando a una magnitud hasta ahora desconocida de la contaminación atmosférica en el medio rural. Las exposiciones a partículas atmosféricas son tanto agudas como crónicas, y permiten conjeturar una asociación con la primera causa de mortalidad en niños (neumonía), y con la supervivencia en edades avanzadas en el medio rural. En cuanto a gases de combustión, tienen los efectos invernadero ya conocidos a nivel global (dióxido de carbono), pero a nivel intramuros, los efectos asfixiantes del CO y del CO2 se agregan. La globalización es un factor del uso continuado del fuego en el medio rural en América tropical, tanto en la agricultura y ganadería de exportación (ejemplificadas en la Amazonia brasileña) como en la producción de subsistencia (ilustrada por los estados del sur de México)

Peninsular Pronghorn Conservation: Too Many Paradigms, too few indicators

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is the only member of the Antilocapridae family, and differs from bovids, cervids and other ruminants. It is found in North American deserts and grasslands (Fig. 1). Pronghorn is the second fastest land animal but can run for much longer than cheetah. Antilocapridae evolved in North America and were a successful family thanks to digestive and temperature regulation evolutions. These evolutions probably were a response to climate becoming highly seasonal about 34 million years ago, with glaciations alternating every 41-100 thousand years with temperatures slightly warmer than today, and millennial cycles of 2oC local cooling (Maslin, 2009). Lacking equivalent temperature regulation equus including horses came close to extinction (Mitchell and Lust, 2008; Kulemzina et al., 2014)

Anaerobic cometabolism of fruit and vegetable wastes using mammalian fecal inoculums: Fast assessment of biomethane production

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biological process which produces biomethane as energy source, using waste as substrate. Cometabolism is a novel way to enhance liquid AD, via augmenting the biodiversity of inoculums, especially in the hitherto little-studied 96-h initiation period critical to AD startup. Dog, horse and sheep feces were used as sources of inoculum and mixed with fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) and water. Thermophilic (55 C), mesophilic (39 ) and psychrophilic (25 C) AD conditions were tested. As inoculum and water quantities alter the abundance and diversity of the anaerobic communities, 1:1 and 1:4 ratios of FVW feedstock to inoculum solutions were compared. Live Saccharomyces cerevisiae was supplemented as probiotic in the anaerobic reactors. Biogas, CO2 and CH4 were measured as well as digestion of FVW. Results showed consistently more CH4 production under cometabolism, higher inoculum density and thermophilic conditions; higher CH4, pH and digestion simultaneously occurred in the mixed-inoculum reactors. A strong relationship between biogas and its CO2 and CH4 main components was found. Horse inoculum in the mixed reactors enhanced CH4 production; sheep inoculums improved digestibility; and the dog inoculum seemed to neutralize pH. S. cerevisiae may have improved cellulolytic activity in FVW digestion at 25 and 39 C, and provided an energy and nutrient source at 55 C

Uso del fuego: impactos atmosféricos globales e intramuros en Brasil y México

Food affects both the environment and human health. In analyzing the process of food production, it appears that the use of fire in agriculture and cooking produce combined risks labor and intramural, pointing to an unknown magnitude of air pollution in rural areas. The exposure to atmospheric particles are both acute and chronic, and they allow to guess a partnership between the leading cause of mortality in children (pneumonia), and the survival among the elderly in rural areas. What concerns to combustion gases, greenhouse effects are already known globally (carbon dioxide), for an intramural level, the impactasphyxiant effects of CO and CO2 are added.Globalization is a factor of the continuing use of fire in the rural areas in tropical America, both in agriculture and livestock exports (exemplified in the Brazilian Amazon) and as well as subsistence production (illustrated by the southern states of Mexico).La alimentación humana afecta tanto el ambiente como la salud humana. Al analizar el proceso de producción de alimentos, se deduce que el uso de fuego en la agricultura y la cocina producen riesgos conjugados laborales e intramuros, apuntando a una magnitud hasta ahora desconocida de la contaminación atmosférica en el medio rural. Las exposiciones a partículas atmosféricas son tanto agudas como crónicas, y permiten conjeturar una asociación con la primera causa de mortalidad en niños (neumonía), y con la supervivencia en edades avanzadas en el medio rural. En cuanto a gases de combustión,tienen los efectos invernadero ya conocidos a nivel global (dióxido de carbono), pero a nivel intramuros, los efectos asfixiantes del CO y del CO2 se agregan.La globalización es un factor del uso continuado del fuego en el medio rural en América tropical, tanto en la agricultura y ganadería de exportación (ejemplificadas en la Amazonia brasileña) como en la producción de subsistencia (ilustrada por los estados del sur de México)

Water appropriation and ecosystem stewardship in the Baja desert

The UNESCO San Francisco Rock Paintings polygon within El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in the Baja California Peninsula derives its moisture from the North American monsoon. There, ranchers have depended on the desert since the 18th century. More recently, the desert has depended on the environmental stewardship of the ranchers who have allayed mining exploitation and archaeological looting. Using a Rapid Assessment Procedure (RAP), climate data, and geographical information, sustainability was assessed and foreseeable risks identified, on behalf of the Reserve. The results showed that the costs of stewardship were in terms of water appropriation and livestock herbivory. The socio-ecological system also faced hydrological risks derived from runoff, high evaporation rates and climate change. Additional risks stemmed from the increasing global demand for minerals, including hydrocarbons, found in the Reserve. These external drivers could substantially alter the attitudes of the ranchers or the land tenure. Land abandonment might become possible as children and women seemed to out-migrate from the polygon. Solutions were identified based on the supply and demand for water and should enhance resilience via watershed management and in-ranch water appropriate technologies