y r t f s o i t r A e h T
Door to The
New World
It is impossible to overstate the importance of humankind’s clearing of the forests. The transformation of forested lands by human actions represents one of the great forces in global environmental change and one of the great drivers of biodiversity loss. The impact of people has been and continues to be profound. Forests are cleared, degraded and fragmented by timber harvest, conversion to agriculture, road-building, human-caused fire, and in myriad other ways. The effort to use and subdue the forest has been a constant theme in the transformation of the earth, in many societies, in many lands, and at most times. Deforestation has important implications for life on this planet.
Just think, originally, almost half of the United States, three-quarters of Canada, almost all of Europe, the plains of the Levant, and much of the rest of the world were forested. The forests have been mostly removed for fuel, building materials and to clear land for farming. The clearing of the forests has been one of the most historic and prodigious feats of humanity. About one half of the forests that covered the Earth are gone. Each year, another 16 million hectares disappear. The World Resources Institute estimates that only about 22% of the world’s (old growth) original forest cover remains “intact� most of this is in three large areas: the Canadian and Alaskan boreal forest, the boreal forest of Russia, and the tropical forest of the northwestern Amazon Basin and the Guyana Shield (Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Columbia, etc.)
Today, forests cover more than one quarter of the world’s total land area, excluding polar regions. Slightly more than 50% of the forests are found in the tropics and the rest are temperate and boreal (coniferous northern forest) zones. Seven countries (Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, China, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) account for more than 60% of the total. For millennia, humankind has influenced the forests, although much of the impact has been relatively minor. Today, the impact is enormous. Deforestation is expanding and accelerating into the remaining areas of undisturbed forest, and the quality of the remaining forests is declining. Today we examine global patterns in deforestation, assess the human and ecological costs of forest loss, and discuss some of the steps that can help to rectify this alarming situation.
Bamboo
Bamboo is the name given to a group of perennial evergreen plant that is commonly found in Eastern Asia, the Americas, Australasia and sub-Saharan Africa. In Eastern and South Eastern Asia, the plant is of high economic importance, where it is used in gardens, for food and as a crucial material for building.
History of
As a woody plant, it is hardy, and can be found growing in a diverse range of climates - from the tropical jungle environment of Chile, to the high cold mountain slopes of the himalayas. In fact it is only Canada, Europe, Antarctica and Western Asia where bamboo is not found as a native plant species! It has however been introduced to these areas too, and usually takes to the climates in these places just as easily. One of the main factors behind the usefulness of bamboo over history, and indeed its success as a plant on such a large scale, is the rate at which it grows. As the fastest growing plant on earth, bamboo has been measured at having a growth rate exceeding one metre per hour for short periods. Studies have the record for daily growth as 121cm over a 24-hour period. Although the modern plant is a little shorter, heights of 250 feet were not unusual for prehistoric bamboo varieties! The first exposure most people in the western world have to bamboo is prob-
ably as part of a chinese (or other East Asian) meal! The shoots of bamboo are often used in many Asian dishes, and are readily available sliced in fresh and canned form from most supermarkets. The sap of young stalks can also be tapped to make a sweet wine called ulanzi. Continuing the culinary theme, larger bamboo stalks, because of their hollowness, are often used as cooking vessels. The food can be placed in the stalk, and then cooked directly over the flame. For construction, harvested bamboo can be treated to form a very hard and lightweight material. This can be used as supports in traditional Asian housing, as scaffolding, or even as a replacement for steel reinforced rods in concrete style construction. Steamed and flattened sections of bamboo are also becoming popular as an alternative to more traditional wooden flooring panels. One of the more recent uses for Bamboo is as a fibre for making clothing fabric. In this incarnation, bamboo has been found to have several desirable properties; it is very light and extremely soft, making it very comfortable to wear; it also wicks moisture away from the skin, making it ideal clothing for carrying out exercise in (i.e. yogo, or jogging) or as a material for baby clothing and accessories.
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MB-985-ELW BURMA gem ruby rings center ruby gem weight noted [Lab-certified]
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Poison ivy, poison ivy Well late at night when you’re sleeping Poison ivy comes a creeping all around
You’re gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion You’ll be scratching like a hound the minute you start to mess around
Measles make you bumpy and mumps’ll make you lumpy and chicken pox’ll make you jump and twitch A common cold’ll cool you and whooping cough’ll fool you but poison ivy’s gonna make you itch
Poison ivy, poison ivy Well late at night when you’re sleeping Poison ivy comes a creeping all around
You’re gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion You’ll be scratching like a hound the minute you start to mess around
Measles make you bumpy and mumps’ll make you lumpy and chicken pox’ll make you jump and twitch A common cold’ll cool you but whooping cough’ll fool you but poison ivy’s gonna make you itch
Poison ivy, poison ivy Well late at night when you’re sleeping Poison ivy comes a creeping all around
She’s pretty as a daisy But look out man she’s crazy She’ll really do you in If you let her get under your skin
Poison ivy, poison ivy Well late at night when you’re sleeping Poison ivy comes a creeping all around
She comes on like a rose And everybody knows She’ll get you in dutch You can look but you’d better not touch
Poison
Ivy
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MB-647-ELX diamond cluster earrings 30+ carats total weight
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MB-870-ELW Asscher-cut canary diamond set fancy intense yellow diamond & emerald earrings Asscher-cut tops: two x 2+ carats each gem emeralds: two x 6+ carats each rare fancy vivid yellow diamond ring Asscher-cut, 20+ carats, premium clarity set with shield-cut diamonds
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G
reen is life. Abundant in nature, green signifies growth, renewal, health, and environment. On the flip side, green is jealousy or envy (green-eyed monster) and inexperience. Green is a restful color with some of the same calming attributes of blue. Like blue, time moves faster in a green room.
Green is the national color of Ireland and is strongly associated with that country. Green also has close associations with Islam. Because of all the green in nature the color is reminiscent of Spring. Coupled with red it’s a Christmas color.
Why do we love music? Science has spent much time and energy exploring this question, yielding many results but few answers. Our lives are lived with music: from childhood’s lullabies to first car stereos to wedding marches, music is the wordless voice that gives silent definition to our days and hours. It can lift our spirits or ease our pain, speak to our sense of new-found love or ancient loss, and is the emphatic punctuation on every celebration, no matter how small.
Green Symphony
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MB-1126-ELW Extra-very-fine Colombian emeralds PearShape drop 10+ carats pendant-necklace earrings top emeralds: two x 3+ carats each bottom drop emeralds: two x 8+ carats each total Earrings carat weight 22+ carats [all lab-certified]
All about
moss It’s a plant that’s velvety soft, vivid green and practically takes care of itself. What’s not to like about moss? As it turns out, with all of these inviting qualities, some gardeners adore moss. Others can’t stand it. “Personally, I love moss,” says Selene Loomis, landscape designer and arborist at Green Mist Gardens in Chardon. “I use it in my fairy gardens. It’s also lovely growing between stepping or patio stones if you can establish it.” “Moss gardens can be quite lovely, sort of calming,” says Victoria Mentrek, who recently sold Heights Garden Center in Cleveland Heights and now works at Breezewood Gardens in Chagrin Falls. Moss is serene and soothing, almost surreal, in its natural setting and when planned in a garden. It is the focal plant in many Japanese and tea gardens. Most mosses are shade-loving, spreading out into a green carpet under an umbrella of trees. Moss clings to stone stairways, brings color and texture to the nooks in path stones, and grows on rocks perched aside streams. Few gardeners plant moss, even though the easy-tomaintain ground-hugger is considered perfect for shady areas where grass won’t thrive. Because there isn’t a big demand, moss isn’t always easy to find at garden centers.
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MB-618-ELX INTENSE canary diamond bracelet: 35+ carats total weight canary diamond earrings: 2+ carats each center [GIA Lab]
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Members of Christ United Methodist Church may wake up one of these mornings to find a couple of pink garden flamingos in their yard. The church’s youth group is going around at night to yards belonging to church members and planting the flamingos in the ground, said Bailey Phillips, youth director at the church. The birds are part of a project that will help fund mission trips and other activities for the youth group. “Right now, we’ve got a list of houses,” Phillips said. “We keep adding to our list. We’re slowly making our way through that list.” Phillips said the church’s youth group has done the flamingo project before with some success, so they decided to
bring it back. “It’s just kind of a fun idea for the youth kids to do to get interactive,” Phillips said. Phillips said every evening, the youth group picks up the flamingos from one yard and puts them in another. Along with the birds, the group leaves a note explaining what they’re for and how to get them out. In order to get the pink birds out of their yard, church members must pay to move them to another yard. Or, they can buy “insurance” from having the flamingos put in their yard. Phillips said the project has been going on for about a week and a half, and the youth group plans on doing it for at least several more days.
Dancingwith Flamingos
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MB-1043-ELW natural fancy light purplish pink heart-shaped diamond pendant 15+ carats center Pink Eye-Clean [GIA Laboratory] (ring configuration possible)
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By VICTORIA GOMELSKY
Green Makes a Dazzling Return
F E R N A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem. They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns do not have either seeds or flowers.
Unlike mere minerals, gemstones possess an alchemic mix of beauty, durability and rarity. Emerald, however, goes one better. Prized by the Romans, the Incas, the Moguls and the czars, it lays claim to one of the gem trade’s longest and most illustrious histories. And therein lies the rub. During the designer renaissance of the past 20 years, emerald became a victim of its own highfalutin image. Considered too classic, too expensive and too fussy by the talented young jewelers who revolutionized the trade’s understanding of fashion, May’s birthstone was forsaken by all but the most conventional stylists. Adding insult to injury, in 1997, the U.S. television news program “Dateline” revealed the prevalence of undisclosed treatments in the emerald trade. A related court case sent the market into a slump that dragged on for nearly a decade. The color is, invariably, associated with Colombia, and, specifically, Muzo, the largest and most prestigious of the country’s mines, located about 100 kilometers, or 60 miles, north of Bogotá. Blessed with pitch-perfect concentrations of chromium and vanadium, the elements that transform plain beryl into a crystal cocktail of extreme desire, Muzo emeralds were adored by the Moguls, who engraved them with verses of Islamic text or fashioned giant emerald crystals into wine goblets.
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MB-646-ELW oval diamond riviera necklace with 15+ carat pear-shaped emerald drop 52+ carats total gem weight emerald & diamond earrings two x avg. 13.5 carat emeralds total total gem weight: 27+ carats
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Red maple is a medium size shade tree which grows in most landscapes. During the summer it has deep green leaves. It is one of the earliest trees to flower in the spring and provides dramatic color in the fall. Many red maple cultivars have been selected for fall color and specific crown shapes. Red maple is native from Maine to Florida, west to Wisconsin and is adapted to a wide variety of acidic soils. It tolerates both very dry and moist sites but grows best in moist well drained soils. Growth is fastest in full sun, however, the tree will tolerate shade when it is young. Yellowing between the veins of leaves, interveinal chlorosis, is a symptoms of manganese deficiency. This problem occurs on soils with high pH, low manganese levels and or poor drainage. Trees with root disorders are more prone to nutrient deficiency. When soil pH is greater than 6.0, manganese is converted to forms which are not avaialble to the plant which increases the probability of chlorosis. Red maple is susceptible to a number of leaf spot diseases which may disfigure leaves and cause early defoliation. Cankers, diseases of the bark, occur mainly after severe winters.
ed Maple
R They cause limb dieback and can kill the tree if they progress into the stem. Root and wilt diseases caused by Verticillium, Phytophthora, Armillaria and nematodes can cause dieback of the crown and eventual death. Red maple is susceptible to several important decay fungi which attack the wood. These fungi enter through improper pruning cuts and other injuries to the trunk and limbs. Decay can structurally weaken the trunk, increasing the potential for tree failure. There are numerous insects and mites which may attack red maples. Leaf feeding caterpillars include gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) and tent caterpillar (Malacosoma distria). Galls on the leaf are caused by a number of mites or midges which lay eggs early in the spring. White coatings on twigs is caused by the cottony maple scale (Pulvinaria innumerabilis). Aphids can also cause blackening of leaves (sooty mold) and reduction of vigor. Sapsuckers and squirrels both attack red maples to drink the sweet sap. These wounds may girdle the trunk or provide entry for canker fungi.
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MB-1190-ELY BURMA gem ruby ring: 13+ carats with heart-shaped diamonds gem ruby earrings: 10+ carats each / set in micro-pave setting [Lab-certified]
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Save a
Rainforest,
By Julia Whitty
Reduce Poverty A new study disputes a widely-held assumption that protecting forest resources exacerbates poverty for people living nearby. Instead, this novel research shows that saving rainforests and protecting land in national parks and reserves reduced poverty in Costa Rica and Thailand. The researchers looked at the long term impacts of poor people living near parks and reserves established in 1985 or earlier. From the abstract: “As global efforts to protect ecosystems expand, the socioeconomic impact of protected areas on neighboring human communities continues to be a source of intense debate.
comprehensive national datasets and quasi-experimental matching methods. We estimate impacts of protected area systems on poverty in Costa Rica and Thailand and find that although communities near protected areas are indeed substantially poorer than national averages, an analysis based on comparison with appropriate controls does not support the hypothesis that these differences can be attributed to protected areas. In contrast, the results indicate that the net impact of ecosystem protection was to alleviate poverty.” Coauthor and economist Paul J. Ferraro tells Georgia State University the results are counterintuitive:
“Most people might expect that if you restrict resources, people on average will be worse off.” The debate persists because previous studies do not directly measure socioeconomic outcomes and do not use appropriate comparison groups to account for potential confounders. We illustrate an approach using
The authors speculate that conservation of biodiverse areas may help poor people through tourism and infrastructure, notably new roads providing new economic opportunities.
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MB-1227-ELX Cushion tops: 2+ carats each Pear drops: 12+ carats each total diamond weight: 30+ carats premium color & clarity [GIA Lab]
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David Birnbaum
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MB-928-ELX D Flawless PearShaped diamond pendant 20+ carats
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T E A R D R O P S
Pulled teardrops cut in the lead-crystal Harlequin bud vase lend brilliant shine to any setting. With a simply classic flared shape for lasting appeal.
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MB-840-ELW rose-cut diamond necklace & earrings necklace: 110+ carats total weight earrings: 10+ carats total weight total diamond weight for set: 120+ carats
All about the
Diamonds Diamonds are one of the world’s most precious gems. The word diamond comes from a Greek word, “adamus”, which means invincible. This is because diamonds are the hardest minerals in the world. They are 1000 times harder than rubies or sapphires. Not even the most powerful acids can harm a diamond’s surface. Diamonds really are invincible!! Millions of years ago pockets of carbon dioxide existed deep beneath the Earth’s crust. Extreme heat and pressure caused the carbon atoms to crystallize forming diamonds. Pressure built up causing volcanic eruptions that brought the diamonds up to the surface. The value of a diamond is based on the four c’s: carat, cut, clarity, and color. Carat is the weight of a diamond. One carat equals 1/5 gram. The cut of a diamond is it’s shape after a jeweler finishes it. The four most common cuts are pear, emerald, marquise, and brilliant.
The clarity of a diamond is how pure it is. Diamonds can range from flawless to heavily flawed. The most common colors of diamonds are white, yellow, and brown. Diamonds can also be blue, red, orange, purple, green, and even black. A very brightly colored diamond is called a fancy. Fancies are rare and worth a lot of money. Diamonds have many uses. About 20% of diamonds found are used for jewelry. The other 80% are used in industry. These uses include: cutting tools, polishing hard metal, phonograph and videodisc needles, and bearings for laboratory instruments. The first diamonds were found in ancient times in India. Large diamond deposits were found in Brazil around the 1720’s. Huge diamond fields were discovered in Siberia in 1956. In the 1860’s, diamonds were found in South Africa. This led to a diamond rush in the Kimberly Fields. Now, most of the world’s diamonds come from South Africa.
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Rain Forest Ⅱ Collection
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