Cambium Global Timberland Share Discussion Threads

[mr ashley james] 28/10/2006 05:54

What a stupid Patronising Idea by the Illuminati, I planted many trees and will continue doing so with People/Kids Worldwide!

I Reckon several Million Squirrels might help me as well every Autumn/Winter!

It is afterall A PLANET not YOURS!

This kind of stuff makes me PUKE!

May The TEN CROWNS on the SIX HEADS of the Beast Of Revelations ROT in HELL!

Juddaism is NOT Zionism!

Le Chaim

Yahhuddah/Ben Yamin, friends of Southern Simeon, and Napthali to Join Us!

To Armageddon We Go!

[mr ashley james] 28/10/2006 04:52

Waldron,

Sorry to pee on your Parade, after all Urea is essential to all plant life (Fertilizer)

Studying Intrinsic Value.

Cheers

Ash:) AKA Acorn

PS Growing Trees I can Do For Free!

[waldron] 10/10/2006 17:43

Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 09:38 GMT 10:38 UK

E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Walnuts 'combat unhealthy fats'

The new superfood?
Eating walnuts at the end of a meal may help cut the damage that fatty food can do to the arteries, research suggests.
It is thought that the nuts are rich in compounds that reduce hardening of the arteries, and keep them flexible.

A team from Barcelona's Hospital Clinico recommend eating an ounce (28g) of walnuts a day.

The study, which appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, also showed walnuts had more health benefits than olive oil.

The protective fat from walnuts actually undoes some of the detrimental effects of a high-saturated-fat diet

Professor Robert Vogel

The researchers recruited 24 adults, half with normal cholesterol levels, and half with levels that were moderately high to the research, which was partly funded by the California Walnut Commission.

Each was given two high-fat salami and cheese meals, eaten one week apart.

For one meal, the researchers added five teaspoons of olive oil. For the other, they added eight shelled walnuts.

Tests showed that both the olive oil and the walnuts helped to reduce the sudden onset of harmful inflammation and oxidation in arteries that follows a meal high in saturated fat.

Over time, this is thought to cause the arteries to start to harden - and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

However, unlike olive oil, adding walnuts also helped preserve the elasticity and flexibility of the arteries, regardless of cholesterol level.

Arteries that are elastic can expand when needed to increase blood flow.

Lead researcher Dr Emilio Ros said eating high fat meals disrupted production of nitric oxide by the inner lining of the arteries, a chemical needed to keep blood vessels flexible.

Key chemical

Walnuts contain arginine, an amino acid used by the body to produce nitric oxide.

The nuts also contain antioxidants and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a plant-based omega-3 fatty acid with health giving properties.

Dr Ros is starting a new trial to see whether the ALA in walnuts can help people with abnormal heart rhythms.

He warned against people assuming they can eat what they like so long as they accompany it with walnuts.

"Instead, they should consider making walnuts part of a healthy diet that limits saturated fats."

Professor Robert Vogel, of Maryland University in Baltimore, said: "This demonstrates that the protective fat from walnuts actually undoes some of the detrimental effects of a high-saturated-fat diet, whereas a neutral fat, such as olive oil, does not have as much protective ability.

"This raises a very interesting issue because many people who eat a Mediterranean diet believe the olive oil is providing the benefits.

"But this research and other data indicate that's not true.

"There are probably other factors in the diet, including that it is a relatively rich source of nuts.

"This is not to say that olive oil is bad, but it's not the key protective factor in the Mediterranean diet."

[waldron] 27/9/2006 19:10

Last Updated: Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 09:42 GMT 10:42 UK

E-mail this to a friend Printable version

New trees to reclaim Amazon lands
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website, Rio Branco



Seedlings of mahogany abound at the Rio Branco nursery
A Brazilian state intends to make cattle ranchers reforest land which they have cleared for grazing.

The government of Acre in the Amazon has established a nursery growing seedlings of species such as mahogany which they will issue to ranchers.

Ranchers may be made to reforest up to 30% of their land.

The government sees this as a vital component of its longterm aim to develop sustainable forestry as a key income generator for the state.

We see this as a model for other Amazonian states where logging is unsustainable

Governor Jorge Viana
Until a decade ago, private landowners were allowed to deforest 50% of their land. Now legislation has amended the figure to 80%; but many ranchers have not replanted at all.

Luis Menezes from the environmental group WWF, based in the Acre capital Rio Branco, says the impact of deforestation is being felt locally.

"Acre is only about 11% deforested, but most of that is around the capital," he told the BBC's One Planet programme, "so there are municipalities which have already lost more than half of their forest cover.


"Already they are seeing a decrease of the available water supply."

Earlier this year, the Acre government inaugurated a nursery on the outskirts of Rio Branco.

There, row upon row of mahogany, acai, Brazil nut, palms and other trees are cultivated, the majority of seedlings as yet less than half a metre high.

"We are planning a big project here," said Acre's governor Jorge Viana, a former forest engineer.

"In this nursery we will produce about four million plants each year."

Pioneering plants




Bumpy road to sustainability
"I believe this is the first time that any Brazilian state has embarked on reforestation as a public policy," commented Mr Menezes.

"There have been some research projects, and the federal government runs a programme called ProAmbiente which rewards small landowners for tree planting; but there have been some problems with that."

Whether Acre's plans will be problem-free is yet to be determined. Cattle ranching has a history of non-conformism here, the most notable incident being the murder of rubber tapper and social activist Chico Mendes in 1988.

Mendes remains a towering figure in Acre, and his concept of sustainable forestry is the inspiration for Jorge Viana's government as it seeks to move away from a model of economic development based on burning forest and grazing cattle to one where the local economy rests largely on forest products.


Chico Mendes remains a huge figure 18 years after his murder
Sustainably logged timber, Brazil nuts, berries, rubber and medicinal plants would all be developed, with as much processing done inside the state to enhance the economic return.

"We see this as a model for what can happen in other Amazonian states where logging is unsustainable," said Mr Viana.

Last year a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization found that although deforestation is decreasing globally, in Latin America the area logged each year is rising, and now accounts for more than half the global total.

One Planet from Acre, Brazil, is broadcast on the BBC World Service from Wednesday 27 to Friday 29 September

[waldron] 06/5/2006 20:47

Deodar Cedar
Cedrus deodara

Classification
The deodar cedar (also known as Indian cedar or Himalayan cedar) is a gymnosperm, which means the seeds it bears are naked, as opposed to being completely covered with a fleshy fruit like an apple. The most common group of gymnosperms is conifers, which are in the pine family Pinaceae. Mostly evergreen and cone bearing, conifer trees and shrubs can be male, female or both.


Cedrus deodara is in the Pinaceae family and is a true cedar unlike some trees we are familiar with, such as western red cedars, which are not actually cedars. The term "true cedar" refers to the fact that the deodar cedar, along with a few other closely related trees, was classified as cedar long ago. Later, when more of the world was explored, certain trees, such as our native red cedar, reminded people of what they knew as cedar trees. They gave them that same common name but anatomically they are quite different trees. To this day our Thuja plicata, also a member of the Pinaceae family, is referred to by its common name of western red cedar but it is no more closely related to cedars than to pines or redwoods.
The pine family includes 10 genera and about 200 species mostly distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. Members of this family that naturally occur in the Pacific Northwest are Abies, true fir; Psuedotsuga, Douglas fir; Picea, spruce; Pinus, pine. The true cedar, Cedrus, is commonly planted here for ornamental purposes.

Habitat & Range
Deodar cedars are native to the Himalaya mountains from Tibet to Afghanistan. They often grow at high altitudes in India.

Size
Deodar cedars grow in the typical pyramid shape of conifer trees. Most deodar cedar trees we see in cultivation are around 70-80 feet (21.2-24.2 m) tall, but they have the potential to reach 250 feet (76 m). They are also a very broad tree and can easily spread to 50 feet (15 m).

Life Span
Deodar cedars can live 1,000 years

The Answer is Blowing in the Wind
We are all familiar with the important role animals, such as bees and butterflies, play in pollinating plants. Flowers attract animals through bright colors or by aroma. Conifers, however, evolved long before flowering plants and this complex relationship between plants and animals. But conifers still need to get pollen from male cones to female cones. For this they rely on wind. Conifers make up for the unpredictable and unreliable nature of wind by replacing efficiency with sheer volume. There are two kinds of cones on conifers, male and female. The cones we are most familiar with that are hard and fall to the ground are the female cones, which contain seeds. The male cones are small and produce large quantities of pollen. This is evident at certain times of the year when the ground, as well as sidewalks and cars, are covered with a fine yellow-green powder. Male cones are lower on the tree to prevent their pollen from fertilizing the female cones on the same tree. Cross breeding is important in almost all organisms.

Where to Find Them at the Zoo
There are many deodar cedars growing on the zoo grounds. A particularly majestic example grows in front of the Seattle Rotary Education Center in the South Gate Plaza. Children find climbing the massive, low swooping branches irresistible.

Another excellent example can be seen from the boardwalk of the outdoor orangutan forest in the zoo's Trail of Vines. Several large deodar cedars can be viewed from 20 feet (6 m) off the ground. This provides the visitor a good look at the cones developing in an upright fashion along the mature branches.



Fascinating Facts

The name Cedrus comes from Kedros, the ancient Greek word given to a resinous tree. Its Sanskrit name, Devadaru, can be translated to mean "tree of the gods!"
The wood of deodar cedar is stronger than most conifers. Entire forests were cut down when the British built the railroads across India, using the wood for everything from railroad ties and furniture to bridges and firewood!
In India, there is an oleoresin derived from the wood of the deodar cedar that is used to cure skin disease!






Conifers are the world's tallest, oldest and most massive trees. However, most of these trees no longer exist. The rate of cutting old growth forests (trees more than 250 years old) has left us with a very small fraction of what was on the earth only a few decades ago. In addition to wood products, conifers are used for turpentine, rosin, pine straw mulch, garland, wreaths, Christmas trees and urban plantings. Our reliance on these wood products makes conifers the most important and most exploited timber and pulp source.

How You Can Help!
Old growth forests are quickly disappearing. They are a reservoir of biological diversity that we have yet to totally understand. Many species of animals, plants and fungi are totally dependent on old growth forests for survival. Preservation of the few old growth forests that still remain is essential if we are interested in preserving the overall diversity of life. Using our natural resources wisely needs to be part of our everyday lives. Look for wood products that are certified to have not been old growth, and have been removed from the forest without undue destruction. Join and become active in Woodland Park Zoo and other conservation organizations of your choice. Let your elected officials know your views on protecting old growth forests and wild habitats.

Contact the Woodland Park Zoological Society at 206.684.4880 to find out ways you can support conservation programs at the zoo. Learn other ways you can help conserve wildlife and the habitats they require for survival by calling the zoo's Education Center at [phone].

Sources and Suggested Reading
Van Gelderen, D.M.; Van Hoey Smith, J.R.P. 1996. Conifers: The Illustrated Encyclopedia (two volume set). Timber Press, Portland OR. 706 p.

Elbert L., Jr. Little; Lomeo, Angelo. 1980. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Western Region. Knopf. 639 p.

Arno, Stephen F.; Hammerly, Ramona P. 1978. Northwest Trees. Mountaineers Books. 222 p.

Pojar, Jim; MacKinnon, Andy. 1994. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Alaska. Lone Pine Publishing. 528 p.

For Kids!
Fowler, Allan. 1999. Our Living Forests (Rookie Read-About Science). Children's Press. 32 p. Reading level: ages 4-8.

Gamlin, Linda. 1997. Eyewitness Explorers: Trees. Dk Pub Merchandise. 64 p. Reading level: ages 4-8.

[waldron] 26/3/2006 11:38

Hurrah! It's Spring



It's been a long winter but - finally - the clocks are going forward and the seasons are changing. From the taste of purple-sprouting broccoli to the smell of freshly mown grass, Michael McCarthy rejoices in nature's reawakening

Published: 25 March 2006

It is a month late. Until this week, everything's been locked up tight. Look at the big fat buds on the magnolia trees, more and more common in people's gardens: shut fast. And last year they burst open in the first week of March.

But it will not be long now, the spring, it cannot be held back much more; and soon, very soon, the world will be full of flowerings, full of nestings, full of blossomings and burstings forth and singing and rushing about.

Since it has been such a long time coming this year - or so it has felt in the arctic east wind, under the grey skies - perhaps we can cheer ourselves up by anticipating some of the pleasures just around the corner. Let us start with flowers. Daffodils and crocuses are obvious and welcome, but familiar; some people prefer spotting something a little less well-known.

Look out now for the bright yellow stars of the lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), a member of the buttercup family: for Wordsworth, it was such a telling sign of the spring it was his favourite flower. And you thought that was the daffodil?

But Wordsworth wrote only one daffodil poem ("I wandered lonely as a cloud"), and three celandine ones. And here is a piece of celandine trivia: on Wordsworth's grave at Grasmere there is a likeness of a celandine, but it is actually the wrong one, the greater celandine (Chelidonium majus), which belongs to a different family (the poppy); lesser celandines have attractive heart-shaped leaves.

Let us go on with trees. Here are two worth waiting for: the horse chestnut, and the hawthorn. Why are they special? Because in spring they both do green like nothing else. When the horse chestnuts - the trees that bear conkers - come into full leaf, for about 10 days they are of a brilliant, iridescent emerald that takes the breath away. And with hawthorns, especially hawthorn hedges, there is a short period of just a couple of days when the tiny opening leaves look like a green mist being held in place by the branches; you see it and cannot quite believe it.

Both trees are even lovelier for their blossoms. Those of the horse chestnut are known as roman candles: they are huge waxy-white things, standing up all over the branches like the decorations on a giant Christmas tree. The hawthorn flowers are known as May blossom and they turn hedges creamy, and sweet-smelling with their soft scent.

But the best blossom of all, many would contend, is from yet another tree: the bulging snow-white blooms of the cherry. A E Housman immortalised it in a short lyric ("Loveliest of trees, the cherry, now/Is hung with bloom along the bough"). He was looking at cherry trees in woodlands, but there are many spectacular displays in towns, especially when the trees are planted all the way along a road.

The approach to Twickenham bridge in west London is a good example; if you are heading from the capital to the M3 motorway, you will encounter it. And if you are lucky enough to be in the US capital at the right time, the blossoming cherry trees of Washington are even more special.

Staying with the plant world, let us go from admiring to consuming, and think of the first spring vegetables; tender, fresh and full of flavour, as they say in the ads. You might fancy new potatoes, a hint of salads to come, and you might be partial to the crunchiness of purple sprouting broccoli, but the champion is surely asparagus.

What is it that makes it so special? It is the simplicity, somehow, is it not? Here you have just a plain green (or greeny-white) shoot on your plate, and it has been steamed for only a few minutes, but what a delicate, subtle flavour: sweet with just the beginnings of bitterness, and crying out to be dipped in melted butter or hollandaise.

And what about the animal world? Think spring and everyone thinks lambs. Spring lambs are charming, especially in hill farms: their bleating is the true spring sound of north Wales and the Lake District. But everyone knows lambs. What is a bit more distinctive?

Hares. March hares, mad March hares, that square up to each other and start boxing. It used to be thought it was two male animals fighting over females, but now we know that a fighting couple is actually an unresponsive female fighting off an ardent male. That is something most people know about but few people have seen, yet it is a sight visible in the countryside now if you look hard enough, for example, on the army training ranges of Salisbury Plain, where a new public footpath has just been established.

It is easier, though, to enjoy the new season with birds. Spring migrants which have wintered in Africa are among the highlights of the natural world in Britain as it warms, led by the cuckoo with its unmistakable call, and the swallow with its dashing flight.

Many people would list other spring birds as their favourites: chiffchaffs, willow warblers, nightingales, swifts. But here are a couple that are a little less familiar, and really special. (They are also declining in numbers for reasons which are not yet well understood).

The first is the wood warbler, a tiny bird, greeny-yellow above and bright yellow below, which does something fascinating: when the male bird sings to proclaim its territory, it winds itself up, lets go a burst of song, and shivers its body at the same time, like a dog shaking off water. It is so charming you cannot stop watching it (if you are lucky enough to catch it).

The second is the spotted flycatcher, the sort of creature birdwatchers sometimes refer to as an LBJ (little brown job), inconspicuous and unflashy, until you watch it perform: it sweeps out from a perch to catch an insect, and sweeps back with a looping neatness of flight that is elegance personified.

Insects: they also are among the charms of spring we can look forward to. The sight of two early butterflies, in particular, can make your heart leap: the brimstone and the orange tip. The first is brilliant lemon-yellow, the second is white with fiery marmalade-orange at the end of the wings: both make wonderful splashes of colour in a landscape still largely monochrome from winter.

But there are even more fascinating, less familiar insect attractions in less familiar places. Fishermen see rivers coming to life in the spring, and fly fishermen closely observe the aquatic insect life on which trout feed. Two river flies are infallible markers of the months of April and May, and as big a pleasure to those who know them as the orange tip and brimstone. The first is the St Mark's fly, so-called because it appears about St Mark's Day (25 April). Also known as the hawthorn fly, this is a burly black insect which is instantly identifiable because its legs hang down like the undercarriage of a plane coming into land. Trout feed on them voraciously in the short period they are on the water. But they feed even more avidly on the second insect month-indicator, the mayfly, which does indeed appear in May. These are beautiful, yellow, long-winged, long-tailed, butterfly-sized insects that induce a true feeding frenzy in trout when they fall on the water in their thousands, in one of the great natural sights of the countryside in springtime.

The countryside: that is where we think of spring happening. But it happens in towns and cities too, of course, with sunshine and warmth and trees leafing and flowers blossoming and light dresses and open-necked shirts appearing. And perhaps we might put in a word for somewhere else where spring can happen magically, somewhere very much taken for granted: the suburbs.

Above all, spring gives the suburbs long evenings, when the light softens and the air is still, and cul-de-sacs and privet hedges and even car ports are transformed. There are evening sounds with great resonance. For me, two in particular are the first purr of a lawnmower trimming the green square behind 15 Acacia Drive, floating through the stillness, and the crystal sound of a song thrush singing its heart out on 15 Acacia Drive's rooftop, infallibly brought on by the change in the evening light. There is even a smell of the suburbs in spring which can lift your heart: the sweet scent of the cut grass after that lawnmower has passed.

But why is the heart lifted? All the seasons surely have something to entrance us. Who does not lap up the lazy days of high summer, drink in hand? Who is not touched by the wistful sadness of a misty October day? Who is not stunned by the transformation of a dark cityscape by a heavy snowfall?

The heart is lifted because the signs of Spring, which will shortly be upon us, trigger in us something unusual: the anticipation of new life. We know that all living things die, including ourselves, and we have to accept that, but the world being wonderfully reborn every year goes a long way to make up for mortality.

For a few short weeks, spring plants in our souls one of the rarest and most precious human feelings, one we rarely refer to these days, but one which in spite of ourselves we cannot shake off. For when flowers are opening, grass is growing once again, birds are returning to nest and butterflies are on the wing again, Hope (remember that?), hope is all around us, and in us too.


It is a month late. Until this week, everything's been locked up tight. Look at the big fat buds on the magnolia trees, more and more common in people's gardens: shut fast. And last year they burst open in the first week of March.

But it will not be long now, the spring, it cannot be held back much more; and soon, very soon, the world will be full of flowerings, full of nestings, full of blossomings and burstings forth and singing and rushing about.

Since it has been such a long time coming this year - or so it has felt in the arctic east wind, under the grey skies - perhaps we can cheer ourselves up by anticipating some of the pleasures just around the corner. Let us start with flowers. Daffodils and crocuses are obvious and welcome, but familiar; some people prefer spotting something a little less well-known.

Look out now for the bright yellow stars of the lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), a member of the buttercup family: for Wordsworth, it was such a telling sign of the spring it was his favourite flower. And you thought that was the daffodil?

But Wordsworth wrote only one daffodil poem ("I wandered lonely as a cloud"), and three celandine ones. And here is a piece of celandine trivia: on Wordsworth's grave at Grasmere there is a likeness of a celandine, but it is actually the wrong one, the greater celandine (Chelidonium majus), which belongs to a different family (the poppy); lesser celandines have attractive heart-shaped leaves.

Let us go on with trees. Here are two worth waiting for: the horse chestnut, and the hawthorn. Why are they special? Because in spring they both do green like nothing else. When the horse chestnuts - the trees that bear conkers - come into full leaf, for about 10 days they are of a brilliant, iridescent emerald that takes the breath away. And with hawthorns, especially hawthorn hedges, there is a short period of just a couple of days when the tiny opening leaves look like a green mist being held in place by the branches; you see it and cannot quite believe it.

Both trees are even lovelier for their blossoms. Those of the horse chestnut are known as roman candles: they are huge waxy-white things, standing up all over the branches like the decorations on a giant Christmas tree. The hawthorn flowers are known as May blossom and they turn hedges creamy, and sweet-smelling with their soft scent.

But the best blossom of all, many would contend, is from yet another tree: the bulging snow-white blooms of the cherry. A E Housman immortalised it in a short lyric ("Loveliest of trees, the cherry, now/Is hung with bloom along the bough"). He was looking at cherry trees in woodlands, but there are many spectacular displays in towns, especially when the trees are planted all the way along a road.

The approach to Twickenham bridge in west London is a good example; if you are heading from the capital to the M3 motorway, you will encounter it. And if you are lucky enough to be in the US capital at the right time, the blossoming cherry trees of Washington are even more special.

Staying with the plant world, let us go from admiring to consuming, and think of the first spring vegetables; tender, fresh and full of flavour, as they say in the ads. You might fancy new potatoes, a hint of salads to come, and you might be partial to the crunchiness of purple sprouting broccoli, but the champion is surely asparagus.

What is it that makes it so special? It is the simplicity, somehow, is it not? Here you have just a plain green (or greeny-white) shoot on your plate, and it has been steamed for only a few minutes, but what a delicate, subtle flavour: sweet with just the beginnings of bitterness, and crying out to be dipped in melted butter or hollandaise.

And what about the animal world? Think spring and everyone thinks lambs. Spring lambs are charming, especially in hill farms: their bleating is the true spring sound of north Wales and the Lake District. But everyone knows lambs. What is a bit more distinctive?

Hares. March hares, mad March hares, that square up to each other and start boxing. It used to be thought it was two male animals fighting over females, but now we know that a fighting couple is actually an unresponsive female fighting off an ardent male. That is something most people know about but few people have seen, yet it is a sight visible in the countryside now if you look hard enough, for example, on the army training ranges of Salisbury Plain, where a new public footpath has just been established.

It is easier, though, to enjoy the new season with birds. Spring migrants which have wintered in Africa are among the highlights of the natural world in Britain as it warms, led by the cuckoo with its unmistakable call, and the swallow with its dashing flight.


Many people would list other spring birds as their favourites: chiffchaffs, willow warblers, nightingales, swifts. But here are a couple that are a little less familiar, and really special. (They are also declining in numbers for reasons which are not yet well understood).

The first is the wood warbler, a tiny bird, greeny-yellow above and bright yellow below, which does something fascinating: when the male bird sings to proclaim its territory, it winds itself up, lets go a burst of song, and shivers its body at the same time, like a dog shaking off water. It is so charming you cannot stop watching it (if you are lucky enough to catch it).

The second is the spotted flycatcher, the sort of creature birdwatchers sometimes refer to as an LBJ (little brown job), inconspicuous and unflashy, until you watch it perform: it sweeps out from a perch to catch an insect, and sweeps back with a looping neatness of flight that is elegance personified.

Insects: they also are among the charms of spring we can look forward to. The sight of two early butterflies, in particular, can make your heart leap: the brimstone and the orange tip. The first is brilliant lemon-yellow, the second is white with fiery marmalade-orange at the end of the wings: both make wonderful splashes of colour in a landscape still largely monochrome from winter.

But there are even more fascinating, less familiar insect attractions in less familiar places. Fishermen see rivers coming to life in the spring, and fly fishermen closely observe the aquatic insect life on which trout feed. Two river flies are infallible markers of the months of April and May, and as big a pleasure to those who know them as the orange tip and brimstone. The first is the St Mark's fly, so-called because it appears about St Mark's Day (25 April). Also known as the hawthorn fly, this is a burly black insect which is instantly identifiable because its legs hang down like the undercarriage of a plane coming into land. Trout feed on them voraciously in the short period they are on the water. But they feed even more avidly on the second insect month-indicator, the mayfly, which does indeed appear in May. These are beautiful, yellow, long-winged, long-tailed, butterfly-sized insects that induce a true feeding frenzy in trout when they fall on the water in their thousands, in one of the great natural sights of the countryside in springtime.

The countryside: that is where we think of spring happening. But it happens in towns and cities too, of course, with sunshine and warmth and trees leafing and flowers blossoming and light dresses and open-necked shirts appearing. And perhaps we might put in a word for somewhere else where spring can happen magically, somewhere very much taken for granted: the suburbs.

Above all, spring gives the suburbs long evenings, when the light softens and the air is still, and cul-de-sacs and privet hedges and even car ports are transformed. There are evening sounds with great resonance. For me, two in particular are the first purr of a lawnmower trimming the green square behind 15 Acacia Drive, floating through the stillness, and the crystal sound of a song thrush singing its heart out on 15 Acacia Drive's rooftop, infallibly brought on by the change in the evening light. There is even a smell of the suburbs in spring which can lift your heart: the sweet scent of the cut grass after that lawnmower has passed.

But why is the heart lifted? All the seasons surely have something to entrance us. Who does not lap up the lazy days of high summer, drink in hand? Who is not touched by the wistful sadness of a misty October day? Who is not stunned by the transformation of a dark cityscape by a heavy snowfall?

The heart is lifted because the signs of Spring, which will shortly be upon us, trigger in us something unusual: the anticipation of new life. We know that all living things die, including ourselves, and we have to accept that, but the world being wonderfully reborn every year goes a long way to make up for mortality.

For a few short weeks, spring plants in our souls one of the rarest and most precious human feelings, one we rarely refer to these days, but one which in spite of ourselves we cannot shake off. For when flowers are opening, grass is growing once again, birds are returning to nest and butterflies are on the wing again, Hope (remember that?), hope is all around us, and in us too.

[waldron] 14/11/2005 13:13

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[waldron] 14/11/2005 07:10

OR something like that.




Syngenta to plant trees

RNS Number:0601U
Syngenta AG
14 November 2005


Media Release


Syngenta to plant forty thousand trees to celebrate its 5-year anniversary



Basel, Switzerland, 14 November 2005

Syngenta announced today it was celebrating its fifth anniversary by planting
tens of thousands of trees around the world. To launch the program, the company
will plant a tree for every employee, some 20,000 trees in all, in Africa.

Building on this national business units will also plant a tree for every
employee in support of specific environmental and social initiatives in their
country. In total, as many as 40,000 trees will be planted worldwide through
the anniversary recognition.

"Since our formation in 2000, Syngenta has flourished and our fifth anniversary
is an opportunity to celebrate," said Michael Pragnell, Syngenta Chief Executive
Officer. "This is our way of paying tribute to our employees who built the
company, and to symbolize our commitment to sustainable agriculture. It is also
a reminder of the meaning of the name Syngenta, derived from Greek and Latin
origins: together with people."

Syngenta was formed on 13 November 2000 from the merger of Novartis Agribusiness
and Zeneca Agrochemicals. It has been pioneering corporate social responsibility
programs particularly in the field of sustainable agriculture, soil
conservation, water quality, employee well-being and community involvement; all
of these are reflected in this initiative.

Syngenta is a world-leading agribusiness committed to sustainable agriculture
through innovative research and technology. The company is a leader in crop
protection, and ranks third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Sales in
2004 were approximately $7.3 billion. Syngenta employs some 20,000 people in
over 90 countries. Syngenta is listed on the Swiss stock exchange (SYNN) and in
New York (SYT). Further information is available at HTUwww.syngenta.comUTH.



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https://www.etreeuk.com/?bhjs=1&fla=0&bn=ie&bv=6&bo=winxp

[energyi] 09/11/2005 07:58

Sino Forest (t.TRE)

SINO-FOREST CORPORATION is involved in the growing & harvesting of eucalyptus, aspen and pine trees under long-term plantation programs in Southern China. The Company also manufactures, distributes and sells forest products including logs, wood chips and wood products.

@:

[wal footrot] 10/8/2005 16:19

dont think the iranians that dominated the courses in physchem would have been so keen...

rgds

worried of worksop

[wal footrot] 10/8/2005 16:13

LOL!!!

lucky i was at UMIST then eh?

im no great spotter of gays, but i dont think many chemistry students were that way inclined.

[wal footrot] 10/8/2005 16:07

attack of the clones init (imho)

rgds

john mccririck

[joe barton] 10/8/2005 15:36

no theres 3 fat yanks who run nited though

[wal footrot] 10/8/2005 15:29

alas no. my forex trades, as you may recall, are purely boredom based. think i got stopped out for small loss from memory

thats quite a memory you have there joey. not bad for a semi-downs syndrome scouse c*nt!

aren't there 3 WPs?

[joe barton] 10/8/2005 15:21

wal did you stay short youro from all that time ago around 1.35?....aye i recon theres only one wright phillips and he still plays for siddy

[tonyx] 10/8/2005 11:09

wl-cheers!

From ULT...short n sweet!

English Bigblls - 10 Aug'05 - 11:07 - 6225 of 6225


Nice treeshake!