Word: northern
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Nearly every habitat is at risk. Forests in the northern hemisphere have fallen to lumbering, development and acid rain. Marine ecosystems around the world are threatened by pollution, overfishing and coastal development. It is in the tropics, though, that the battle to preserve what scientists call biodiversity will be won or lost. Tropical forests cover only 7% of the earth's surface, but they house between 50% and 80% of the planet's species...
...desperate farmers. Horrifying images of starvation in northeastern Africa have captured world attention in the past decade. In India, according to government reports, 37% of the people cannot buy enough food to sustain themselves. Warned Shri B.B. Vohra, vice chairman of the Himachal Pradesh state land-use board in northern India: "We may be well on the way to producing a subhuman kind of race where people do not have enough energy to deal with their problems...
Necessity has spawned invention in marginal farmlands around the world. The Chinese, threatened by a desert that is spreading at the rate of 600 sq. mi. a year, are planting a "green Great Wall" of grasses, shrubs and trees 4,350 miles across their northern region. In Peru archaeologists have revived a pre- Columbian agricultural system that involves dividing fields into patterns of alternating canals and ridges. The canals ensure a steady supply of water, and the nitrogen-rich sediment that gathers on their floors provides fertilizer for the crops...
...houses and businesses in Osage, a town of some 3,600 people in northern Iowa, seem just like buildings anywhere else in small-town America. Only a close look reveals the difference. Examine, for example, the new insulated roof on the local hospital that shaves utility bills 20%. Or venture into the basement of Steele's Super Valu grocery to see the wall that owner Everett Steele built around his cooling compressors to capture heat, which is then pumped into the store. Osage's model conservation program saved the town an estimated $1.2 million in energy costs...
Caught between the insurgent and counterinsurgent campaigns, terrified citizens can hardly remember the gentle ways that characterized Sri Lanka for decades. "Today I am afraid to smile at anyone on the street," says Vallipuram Pararajasingham, a doctor in northern Vavuniya. In the south, people are too frightened even to venture into the streets. "You find television newscasters afraid to work, lawyers afraid to attend bar meetings, and M.P.s who resign after threats," says Wickremasinghe. "Everyone is living in a psychosis of fear...