Wednesday, May 14, 2008

United Nations Has A Tree-mendous Goal

· The United Nations is leading an effort to plant 7 billion trees worldwide -- to help protect the environment and slow climate change -- by the end of next year.

The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), an organizer of the planting drive, had an initial goal of 1 billion trees by the end of 2007.

"In 2006 we wondered if a billion-tree target was too ambitious; it was not," said Achim Steiner, head of UNEP. "The goal of planting 7 billion trees, equivalent to just over a tree per person alive on the planet, must therefore also be doable."

UNEP said that safeguarding forests and planting trees are among the most cost-effective ways to slow climate change.

Trees soak up carbon dioxide as they grow. A U.N. official said that 7 billion trees would, as they grow, take in roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide as what is emitted by Russia in a year. Russia is the third-largest producer of greenhouse gases, after the United States and China.

· The United States expects to undertake a full schedule of astronomy missions over the next 12 months.

The goals range from counting tiny specks of carbon in Earth's atmosphere to surveying the outer boundary of the solar system.

NASA, the U.S. space agency, expects to spend more $4 billion on these and more than 40 other existing or future science projects in the next year.

The first event in the list is landing NASA's Phoenix spacecraft near the north pole of Mars on May 25. The lander is equipped with a robotic arm that will scoop up some icy soil to see if it contains the ingredients for basic life.