While most Americans strive for good credit scores, others take special care to achieve great ones. Meet some credit score superstars — and learn why and how they keep those precious three digits so high.

Good Scores Key to Financial Health

Credit scores were developed as tools to help banks and businesses make objective decisions. To generate them, a mathematical formula pulls credit report data and transforms it into a numerical rating. FICO (FICO) scores range from a low of 300 to a high of 850, and according to MyFico.com, mortgage lenders consider anything above 760 as ideal. While it is the dominant score, FICO isn’t the sole scoring model. For example, the three major credit reporting bureaus — TransUnion, Experian and Equifax (EFX)– produce the VantageScore, with a scale ranging from 501 to 990.

Despite ranking system differences, a higher score always indicate less risk, and having them makes you more appealing to lenders, employers and landlords.

Consequently, focusing on scores is only natural. “People are drawn to this subject because it allows them to measure something that they equate to financial health,” says Jose Rivas, national education manager for Consumer Credit Counseling Service of San Francisco.

That focus, however, can turn into anxiety, with conflicting information often to blame. “One article states that consumers should close their unused accounts,” says Rivas, “another states that consumers should never close their accounts.” For this reason, getting the facts from reliable sources is essential. Like the following high achievers, you can create a terrific credit score with real knowledge and a specific sense of purpose.

Credit Score Vigilante

Dan Nainan, a professional comedian who constantly travels between New York and Los Angeles, has carefully built an 830 FICO score. Doing so enabled him to negotiate preferential terms with his premium reward card. “I was able to drop the annual fee for my $450 per year American Express card to $150!” Nainan also cites the “feel-good” factor: “It’s a comfort to know that wherever I go and whatever I apply for, I can get it.”

Vigilance is Nainan’s strategy. “If there’s anything at all that might affect my score, I ask a ton of questions and go to the Internet and do as much research as possible. If I test drive a car, or sign up for a health club, I look at the fine print very carefully to see if they have a right to hit my credit file with an inquiry.” He’s also programmed everything online “so that all of the bills pay themselves, and any and all credit card balances are paid off immediately.”

Protecting a Long History of Timely Payments

Want the very best vehicle loan available? Let your numbers do the talking. When Brenda Avadian, founder of TheCaregiversVoice.com, out of Pearblossom, Calif., was applying for a car loan, her 849 score helped her secure top financing. “Saving thousands on interest charges is a tremendous motivator,” says Avadian, who locked in 0 percent interest for five years. A loan with a 4 percent rate would have cost her an extra $3,200 on the same vehicle.

Avadian attributes her impressive score to a long history of timely payments. “And on those rare moments when a bill sneaks under some paperwork and it’s either late or due that day,” says Avadian, “I call and take care of it.” She believes her loyalty to the same banks (three credit accounts — not too many, not too few) also helps. “Instead of constantly shifting to capture the best deal, discount rate, rebate points, etc., I’ve stuck with the same folks for years.”

Regular Charging, Zero Balances

At last check, marketing company president Paul Entin, from Bloomsbury N.J., holds a 990 VantageScore. For him, it’s a matter of honor and integrity. “A high credit score indicates your name and your signature on a contract have meaning. It’s an indicator of certainty … of character. It would be difficult to trust someone with a poor credit rating to the same extent you can trust someone with a higher credit rating.”

Entin maintains his high score by using his business and personal credit cards regularly and paying them off every month. “It’s not magic — pay your bills on time and pay the debt. Make it a priority. Pay attention to spending.”

Keeping the Right Mix of Credit

“Every time someone runs my credit they say, ‘Wow, I almost never see someone with credit that high,’” says Carrie Rocha, founder of pocketyourdollars.com in Minneapolis. She keeps it first-rate to preserve her autonomy. “As someone who got out of $50,000 in debt in less than three years, I take a lot of personal pride in my financial freedom.” Though Rocha has no plans to borrow money again, “I have no barriers when it comes to employment, insurance or other areas of life where my credit score is used to assess the kind of risk I am.”

Besides “the obvious things like pay my bills,” Rocha says she increased her score by talking to her credit union loan officer, who said an overabundance of idle retail accounts was driving it down. She had opened the cards randomly during in-store promotions, but never really charged on them, so there was no history to protect. After formally closing the accounts, her scores that were previously in the 720 to 740 mark rose to the 800s.

Does the Perfect Credit Score Exist?

Pursuit of excellence is often wise, but does ‘perfect’ exist? Yes, says Craig Watts, public affairs director for FICO. “Several thousand consumers do in fact have the highest possible FICO score.”

While not everyone will reach the credit score apex, you can get close by consistently following three simple guidelines:

1. Pay all bills on time.
2. Keep credit card balances low.
3. Take on new credit only when you really need it.

Don’t obsess over small credit score variations. “Lenders decide what score they will accept for their best interest rate product,” assures Watts. “They genuinely don’t care if your score is 50 or 100 points higher than that.”

Clearly, A-plus credit has its advantages, but there is no reason to go overboard. Find balance between attentiveness and fixation by understanding what those numbers can do for you and knowing how you can improve them. And remember — credit scores gauge your borrowing history, not your intrinsic value as a person.

Reposted from: here

The world’s first solar airplane, the Solar Impulse, passed its first flight test with flying colors — in preparation for a round-the-world trip. The next step will be to see if its capable of staying aloft in the dark.

The plane itself is a sight to see, with the same 200-foot wingspan as a Boeing 747 covered in 12,000 solar panels. The cockpit is comparably tiny — the total machine weighing just 1.7 tons. And its 40-horsepower engine doesn’t take it nearly as fast and far as its fuel-powered peers. During today’s test, lasting just under an hour and a half in the air, it reached a top speed of 44 miles per hour and an altitude of about 4,000 feet.

The Solar Impulse has been lagging behind schedule. The goal is to have it take off on its round-the-world jouney by 2012. To hit that deadline, today’s test was supposed to take place in 2009, but the technology wasn’t there. But having successfully taken off and landed — not to mention a few turns — running exclusively on the sun’s energy, it should be ready for the next phase this summer: a 36-hour flight that will determine how well it performs at night.

The plane is equipped with lithium polymer batteries that should be able to hold enough energy generated during the day to keep it flying when the sun is no longer shining. Today’s test was actually meant to put these batteries through the paces. While the Solar Impulse will usually rely on the sun’s rays during the day, its maiden voyage ran exclusively off the batteries, which were fully charged beforehand.

It’s way too early to tell what impact solar aviation technology will have on commercial or military flight. But, just like the first planes running on biodiesel fuel, this could be a harbinger of things to come.

The plane, based in Switzerland, has been in development for about seven years. The culmination will be the round-the-world flight, accomplished in five hops and six days. Here’s a video of today’s test, which drew a considerable crowd:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Reposted from: http://green.venturebeat.com/2010/04/07/solar-plane-takes-to-the-skies-for-the-first-time/

By Dr. Maoshing Ni – Posted on Fri, Mar 26, 2010, 3:53 pm PDT

The days just got longer, birds are singing, and we can cast off the heavy layers of winter. Spring is about the renewal and revitalization of everything in your life. Refresh your home and promote personal health with these simple and effective feng shui tips, many of which are adapted from my book Second Spring.

How Feng Shui optimizes wellness

The Chinese art of feng shui uses the science of energy alignment in one’s surroundings to bring about health, wealth, and happiness in one’s life. I’ve been very fortunate to study with my father, a feng shui master who passed down to me thousands of years of wisdom about how to change people’s lives through environmental alignment with constructive energy.

The skeptic in you may wonder, does feng shui really make any difference? Well, I personally have watched the lives of many of my patients transformed through positive change to their surroundings. One revealing case that stands out is a patient I treated who suffered from severe indigestion. Following the advice of a gastrointestinal specialist, he had taken antacids for a year with no relief. When I treated him, I began with a variety of traditional Chinese techniques involving diet, stress management, acupuncture, herbs, and digestive enzymes. In a few months his symptoms were greatly reduced—but they had not completely disappeared.

I then turned my attention to his home environment. I learned that he had moved into his home one year earlier, but still had piles of packed boxes in his living room, located in the middle of the house. At once I realized that the problem was an energy blockage in his earth element, which manifests in the digestive organs. When he cleared the clutter, furnished the room comfortably, and began to live in it, his symptoms disappeared.

Here are some tips for this spring that transform your home and revitalize your health:

1. Start spring with a household purge

A good first step for revitalizing your life through feng shui is to cleanse, detoxify, and let go of the past. If there are items in your home that do not bring you joy, discard them to free up space and bring in the new. Donate to a charity organization, organize a garage sale, or sell online the things you haven’t used in a long time. Clean your living space thoroughly to remove stains, mold, and dirt. Throw out junk piles and any indoor plants that didn’t make it through the winter. Repair or get rid of broken furniture, chipped dishes, and cracked mirrors—these reflect aspects of your life and health that are broken and can trap energy. A good rule of thumb is that if you haven’t used something in a year, you can certainly live without it. Make it your new practice to get rid of one older item for every new thing you acquire.

2. Balance the 5 elemental energies of your home

In feng shui, every space in the home should contain a balance of the five elements. One easy way to achieve this is to include the colors and objects that correlate to each element. The diagram below illustrates which elements correspond to which area of your home.

Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer, On Friday April 2, 2010, 1:26 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s economy posted its largest job gain in three years in March, while the unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent for the third straight month.

The increase in payrolls is the latest sign that the economic recovery is gaining momentum and healing in the job market is beginning. Still, the healing is likely to be slow, and most economists don’t expect new hiring to be fast enough this year to rapidly reduce the unemployment rate.

The Labor Department said employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the most since the recession began but below analysts’ expectations of 190,000. The total includes 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census, also fewer than many economists forecast.

Private employers added 123,000 jobs, the most since May 2007.

“It’s just the beginning of a rise in private hiring that will help sustain the recovery,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. “They’re not big numbers, but they’re welcome numbers.”

Still, there are 15 million Americans out of work, roughly double the total before the recession began in December 2007. More Americans entered the work force last month, which prevented the increase in jobs from reducing the unemployment rate.

The economy began recovering in the middle of last year, but is only now showing modest job gains.

“It is still disappointing that it took roughly nine months before we started to see any meaningful rebound” in jobs, Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients.

The stock market was closed for Good Friday but stock futures edged up in an abbreviated session of electronic trading. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose about 0.3 percent.

The jobs report pushed interest rates in the bond market to their highest level since before the worst days of the credit crisis in 2008.

Treasury prices fell, sending their yields higher. Bond prices tend to fall as investors’ confidence grows and demand for safe-haven investments wanes.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.95 percent from 3.87 percent late Thursday, its highest level since last June.

President Barack Obama told workers at a high-tech battery plant in Charlotte, N.C., that his aggressive — if unpopular — policies helped add jobs.

“We are beginning to turn the corner,” he said.

But he also sounded a cautionary note. “We shouldn’t underestimate the difficulties we face,” he said. “We’re still going through a hard time.”

Manufacturers added 17,000 jobs, the third straight month of gains. Temporary help services added 40,000, while health care added 37,000. Leisure and hospitality added 22,000.

Even the beleaguered construction industry added 15,000 positions, though that likely reflects a rebound from February, when major snowstorms may have kept many construction workers off payrolls.

The average work week increased to 34 hours from 33.9, a positive sign. Most employers are likely to work current employees longer before they hire new workers.

The department also revised January’s job total to show a gain of 14,000, up from a previously reported loss of 26,000. February’s job numbers were also revised higher by 22,000 to show a loss of 14,000. The economy has now added jobs in three separate months since the recession began.

Still, more Americans said they were working part-time even though they preferred full-time work. When they and discouraged workers who have given up searching for jobs are included, the “underemployment” rate ticked up to 16.9 percent from 16.8 percent.

And average hourly earnings fell by two cents to $22.47. That shows that high unemployment is enabling companies to hold down wages. Average weekly earnings rose by about $1.50 to $763.98, partly reflecting the longer work week.

In a stark illustration of how hard it remains for many people to find jobs, the number of those out of work for six months or longer increased to 6.5 million, a record high.

More than 44 percent of those out of work are long-term unemployed, also a record.

“For those laid off, unemployment is stretching longer and longer and putting severe distress on families,” said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Still, Friday’s jobs report follows positive data earlier this week that showed consumers are increasing their spending and manufacturing activity is growing at its fastest pace in more than five years. Economists are increasingly confident that the nation will avoid a “double-dip” recession, in which growth slows after a short burst at the end of last year.

“The stars are starting to align here,” said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. financial economist at IHS Global Insight.

Analysts expect the economy will expand at a roughly 3 percent pace in the current January-to-March quarter. That’s roughly half the 5.6 percent pace seen in the final quarter of last year.

Normally, growth in the 3 percent range would be considered respectable. But the nation is emerging from the worst recession since the 1930s. Growth needs to be in the 5 percent range or higher to quickly drive down the unemployment rate. Both the Federal Reserve and Obama administration expect joblessness will remain above 9 percent through the end of this year.

AP Writer Phillip Elliott contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS average weekly earnings rise and total)
Reposted from here

Developing countries are ramping up renewables after Copenhagen. About 151 developing countries took part in the Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. Of those, 25 submitted Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) in February, many of which call for new renewable energy policies, laws and projects.

NAMAs are a new concept of national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction measures reported directly to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. They are expected to be the main vehicle for mitigation actions taken by developing countries.  Few developing countries have adopted the public policies needed for the widespread development of renewable energy technologies and markets, with the exception of Brazil, which built the world’s leading biofuels industry, and China and India, which have built hydro, wind, biogas and solar power plants and manufacturing facilities.

Renewable Action Plans

Africa is organizing for renewable energy project development.  In late 2009, representatives from various African nations established the African Renewable Energy Alliance with help from the World Future Council to speed up the electrification of African countries and fight climate change.  Among its members are the Union of African Utilities, which represents 54 private and public electricity producers and distributors in 43 countries as well as industry members and policy-makers.  The Alliance founding declaration states, “Now is the time to set the course towards a massive uptake of renewable energy for all people in urban and rural Africa.”

Ethiopia’s NAMA plan includes wind, geothermal, and biomass projects.  Ethiopia’s wind power projects include the more than 760 MW of planned wind power capacity from seven different projects to be completed by 2013.  In addition, the country plans to develop more than 450 MW of geothermal capacity by 2018. The country also plans to produce 63.36 million liters of ethanol from 2010 to 2015 and 621.6 million liters of biodiesel between 2010 and 2015.

Other African nation’s that released NAMAs include Ghana, which is increasing electricity generation from renewable energy sources to 10–20 percent by 2020.  Ghana is upgrading its electricity distribution system to make way for renewable projects. Morocco is developing five solar energy sites that total 2,000 MW to come online between 2015 and 2020.  Morocco’s NAMA calls for the installation of 440,000 square meters of rooftop solar water heater collectors by 2012 and 1.7 million square meters by 2020. Morocco’s NAMA also specified an Energipro Programme that is developing a 1000 MW wind park by 2012 with plans to increase the park to 5000 MW by 2030.

Sierra Leone created an Integrated Natural Resources and Environmental Management Program that includes expanding clean energy projects, especially solar, micro-hydro and biomass. It plans to produce biofuels from corn, rice husks and sugarcane.

In Latin America, Mexico committed to a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, provided it gets adequate financial support from richer nations. Mexico plans to install 7,000 MW of renewable energy capacity to generate an estimated 16,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year (in addition to the El Cajon and La Parota hydroelectric plants).  It also plans to introduce biofuels and biodiesel as a fuel source.

Brazil is increasing the use of biofuels as well and plans to reduce 48 to 60 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2020.  It will also use renewable electricity to reduce emissions from electricity by 26 to 33 million tons of CO2 in 2020.  Costa Rica stated it needs financing before it can submit specific commitments to any plan.

In Asia, Indonesia has committed to a 26% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Its NAMA calls for the development of alternative and renewable energy sources, but it won’t release more specific plans until it gets a financing commitment from developed nations or the international investment community.

In the Middle East, Jordan passed a new Renewable Energy Law in January 2010.  The new law allows private companies with renewable energy projects to bypass the competitive government bidding process and negotiate directly with the Energy Ministry. The new law will require project developers to clearly state fixed electricity tariffs in their proposals before being approved. The law aims to help the government reach the goals of the National Energy Strategy, which calls for 7 percent of the country’s energy mix to come from renewable energy sources by 2015, and 10 percent by 2020.

The Renewable Energy law also requires the country’s National Electric Power Company to purchase all electricity produced by renewable energy power plants and to cover the cost of grid connection.  Further, it allows the owners of solar and wind power systems to sell electricity back to their electricity provider through net metering.

Jordan also established a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund to support energy-saving and renewable energy initiatives. Private sector companies or investors within or outside the country can apply for the fund, which will be financed by the state budget and international donor agencies. The fund has already received financing from the French Development Agency, the World Bank and the Global Environment Fund.  Other international aid agencies such as the German Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency have expressed interest in providing assistance as well.

Several developing countries in Eastern Europe released NAMAs that include renewable energy, including Armenia, which created Renewable Energy Armenia a web portal designed to encourage the development and financing of renewable energy in the country. The portal includes solar and wind energy potential charts.

Georgia is developing a low-carbon growth plan and low carbon strategy through the use of renewable energy investments from what it calls the global investment community.

Macedonia (formerly Yugoslavia) is investigating the use of solar and wind energy, but its NAMA plan limits these projects to specific locations.  Their plan states wind projects are only favorable in the mountains near Povardarie and between the towns of Kocani and Stip.  Solar thermal systems for water heating are more cost effective than PV for home and business owners.

Geothermal energy in Macedonia is mostly used in locations near Kocani and Strumka. However, the report claims that since the thermal parameters of the water are low, geothermal power is limited to use in spas and heating buildings, not for producing electricity.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development launched a Renewable Development Initiative to advance the development and financing of renewable energy projects in 29 countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

Sustainable Development

NAMAs in the Copenhagen Agreement allow developing nations to use their land and resources for renewable energy projects. In previous agreements, land and resource use was restricted under REDD, which limited national plans to prevention of deforestation.

Renewable energy can alleviate poverty in developing nations by providing the energy needed for creating businesses and employment.  It can be used for cooking, space heating and lighting. It can power schools and reduce the time that children spend out of school collecting fuel from traditional sources. It can eliminate health problems caused by pollution from burning traditional fuels indoors. It can improve health by providing energy to refrigerate medicine, sterilize medical equipment and to supply fresh water and sewage services needed to reduce infectious disease.

However, some international organization such as the African Biodiversity Network caution that development of renewable energy projects in poorer countries cannot carry unacceptable costs in social and environmental impacts. These organizations want governments of developing nations and project developers to consider the impact of projects on farmers, forests, indigenous peoples and food security.  Many of these groups are not opposed to renewable energy development as long as it doesn’t promote massive land grabs and deforestation. They also want governments to ensure that financing of these projects includes proper education and training for the people living in developing countries to ensure long-term economic stability.

(CNN) — Facebook is, by its nature, a social experience.

But as the undisputed king of social networking expands ways for its users to interact, it’s raising more questions about how much of their information is made available to people they don’t know.

In some cases, users may not even realize it’s happening.

One example is the hundreds of thousands of developers approved by Facebook to create games, quizzes and other applications. Some of those developers are able to access basic information about users after a Facebook friend has started using their application.

Facebook provides pages of instructions on how people can tighten up their privacy settings to hide their personal information from other users and outside applications.

But some observers say that too many of the site’s estimated 400 million users don’t know how to do so.

Microsoft researcher and social-media analyst Danah Boyd, speaking at last month’s South by Southwest Interactive festival, said none of the “non-techy” users she talked to about their privacy settings knew how they were configured.

“I ask them what they think their settings are and then ask them to look at their settings with me. I have yet to find someone whose belief matched up with their reality,” said Boyd, a keynote speaker at the Austin, Texas festival. “That is not good news.”

In January, Facebook announced that 35 percent of its users had tweaked their privacy settings after a December change that made more information public.

To be sure, that represents millions of users. But Boyd said that can’t possibly be all the people who want at least some of the privacy features that Facebook’s new default settings changed.

“Are there Facebook users who want their content to be publicly accessible? Of course,” she said. “But 65 percent of all Facebook users? No way.”

For Facebook, it’s a balancing act. The site wants to give users the privacy they’ve come to expect, but at the same time make information available to create experiences that will compete with other emerging applications such as Foursquare and Twitter.

Twitter, as well as photo sharing sites such as Picasa, default to open access, making them more accessible by outside applications and search engines. Facebook’s material that is public can also be searched — for example, by Google’s new social search feature — while private material cannot.

“The experience that we’re trying to provide through the Facebook platform is fundamentally a social one,” said Simon Axten, a manager on Facebook’s public policy team. “There are some really interesting and useful applications that have come out of that development that really allow people to have a social experience that involves the people that they are friends with.”

Axten said the rules of the road for developers are pretty strict. Basically, developers are instructed to collect only the data they need for their application. Anything else could land them in trouble, he said.

For example, an application that lets users send friends an electronic greeting card might need to know their birthday or anniversary. Games that require players to work together must know which other friends play the game so it can send them alerts when they need to act.

Axten said Facebook can take “a spectrum of actions” when it discovers inappropriate use of people’s information — from warning developers who may not realize they’re misusing the data to disabling a developer’s access to the site.

No application can access a user’s most sensitive data, such as contact information, according to Facebook. And the site announced late last year that they’re working on a new approval process that will require an application to more specifically state what information it wants to access.

Mike Rasmussen is president of Republic of Fun, a game company with a crowdsourcing app on Facebook that lets users give feedback and advice on current games and, in the near future, to suggest new ones. He said Facebook’s list of rules for developers is a strict one.

“Developers, if they were creative, could certainly abuse it,” he said. “But with Facebook, it’s almost not worth it. They make it so easy to get what you really need, unless you’re being malicious.”

Rasmussen said his application stores a single identifier for users and does not even keep their names. He said he’s only heard “second- or third-hand” about developers getting into trouble for pushing the boundaries.

Evan Brown, a Chicago technology and intellectual-property attorney, said he’s not familiar with any legal cases involving private information gathered by a Facebook developer.

He said Facebook’s rules governing outside developers are designed so the site may legally expel a developer easily.

“They have the sole discretion to determine what the crime is, and they have the sole discretion to determine the punishment,” said Brown, who blogs about Internet legal issues.

Facebook’s Axten said a team monitors complaints, which users can file simply by clicking a link that’s on every Facebook application. The team also regularly monitors popular and fast-growing applications and conducts random checks, he said.

And of course there are personal settings. A user can click the “Account” tab at the top right of their Facebook home page, then scroll down to “Application Settings” and “Privacy Settings” to make changes.

Increasing awareness about that ability is what Facebook and other social-networking sites need to work harder on, Boyd said.

“While you want your services to go viral, help users walk through the value proposition first,” she said. “Not through a video, but through an experience.”

Reposted from: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/ptech/04/01/facebook.developers.privacy/index.html?hpt=T2

Calm down, deep breaths
And get yourself dressed
Instead of running around
And pulling on your threads
And breaking yourself up

If it’s a broken part, replace it
If it’s a broken arm, then brace it
If it’s a broken heart, then face it

And hold your own, know your name
And go your own way.
Hold your own, know your name
And go your own way.
And everything, will be fine.

Hang on, help is on the way
And stay strong, I’m doing everything

All the details in the fabric
All the things that make you panic
All your thoughts, results of static cling
All the things that make you blow
Ain’t no reason, go on and scream
If you’re shocked,
It’s just the fault of faulty manufacturing
Everything, will be fine
Everything, in time
Everything…

Hold your own, know your name
And go your own way.

By: Jason Mraz

Everyday’s the same
I feel them merge
I try to separate
Resist the urge
But they tell me
I’ll be fine
That it will all get better
Just try to write it down
Or put it in a letter
But the words won’t play
And there’s no
Easy way to say
Goodbye, goodbye

Keep my head on straight
And don’t look down
With all I’ve pushed away
I’m losing ground
But they tell me
I’ll be fine
That it will all get better
Just try to write it down
Or put it in a letter

But the words won’t play
And there’s no
Easy way to say
Goodbye, goodbye

And from the sidelines
Watch me fall down

And I don’t understand
The things I do
But I’ll probably be fine
As long as I keep moving
I’ll try to write it down
So things just keep improving

Still the words won’t play
‘Cause there’s no
Easy way to say
Goodbye, goodbye

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Coral reefs are dying, and scientists and governments around the world are contemplating what will happen if they disappear altogether.

The idea positively scares them.

Coral reefs are part of the foundation of the ocean food chain. Nearly half the fish the world eats make their homes around them. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide — by some estimates, 1 billion across Asia alone — depend on them for their food and their livelihoods.

If the reefs vanished, experts say, hunger, poverty and political instability could ensue.

“Whole nations will be threatened in terms of their existence,” said Carl Gustaf Lundin of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Numerous studies predict coral reefs are headed for extinction worldwide, largely because of global warming, pollution and coastal development, but also because of damage from bottom-dragging fishing boats and the international trade in jewelry and souvenirs made of coral.

At least 19 percent of the world’s coral reefs are already gone, including some 50 percent of those in the Caribbean. An additional 15 percent could be dead within 20 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Old Dominion University professor Kent Carpenter, director of a worldwide census of marine species, warned that if global warming continues unchecked, all corals could be extinct within 100 years.

“You could argue that a complete collapse of the marine ecosystem would be one of the consequences of losing corals,” Carpenter said. “You’re going to have a tremendous cascade effect for all life in the oceans.”

Exotic and colorful, coral reefs aren’t lifeless rocks; they are made up of living creatures that excrete a hard calcium carbonate exoskeleton. Once the animals die, the rocky structures erode, depriving fish of vital spawning and feeding grounds.

Experts say cutting back on carbon emissions to arrest rising sea temperatures and acidification of the water, declaring some reefs off limits to fishing and diving, and controlling coastal development and pollution could help reverse, or at least stall, the tide.

Florida, for instance, has the largest unbroken “no-take” zone in the continental U.S. — about 140 square miles off limits to fishing in and around Dry Tortugas National Park, a cluster of islands and reefs teeming with marine life about 70 miles off Key West.

Many fishermen oppose such restrictions. And other environmental measures have run into resistance at the state, local, national and international level. On Sunday, during a gathering of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, restrictions proposed by the U.S. and Sweden on the trade of some coral species were rejected.

If reefs were to disappear, commonly consumed species of grouper and snapper could become just memories. Oysters, clams and other creatures that are vital to many people’s diets would also suffer. And experts say commercial fisheries would fail miserably at meeting demand for seafood.

“Fish will become a luxury good,” said Cassandra deYoung of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. “You already have a billion people who are facing hunger, and this is just going to aggravate the situation,” she added. “We will not be able to maintain food security around the world.”

The economic damage could be enormous. Ocean fisheries provide direct employment to at least 38 million people worldwide, with an additional 162 million people indirectly involved in the industry, according to the U.N.

Coral reefs draw scuba divers, snorkelers and other tourists to seaside resorts in Florida, Hawaii, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean and help maintain some of the world’s finest sandy beaches by absorbing energy from waves. Without the reefs, hotels, restaurants and other businesses that cater to tourists could suffer financially.

Many Caribbean countries get nearly half their gross national product from visitors seeking tropical underwater experiences.

People all over the world could pay the price if reefs were to disappear, since some types of coral and marine species that rely on reefs are being used by the pharmaceutical industry to develop possible cures for cancer, arthritis and viruses.

“A world without coral reefs is unimaginable,” said Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist who heads NOAA. “Reefs are precious sources of food, medicine and livelihoods for hundreds of thousands around the world. They are also special places of renewal and recreation for thousands more. Their exotic beauty and diverse bounty are global treasures.”

Reposted from :http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100325/ap_on_sc/us_world_without_corals