KALIBUTAN By LEON DULCE Bulatlat.com MANILA – The 12,600-square kilometer Pantaron mountain range in Mindanao is home to one of the last remaining old growth or primary forests in this country. It has also been home to one of the longest and most courageous defence of its existence by the people living on it. This ⇒

EarthTalk® Dear EarthTalk: What’s going on with Earth Day this year and how can I get involved?– Christine B., Boston, MA Last April 22 marked the 44th annual celebration of Earth Day, and the focus this year was green cities. “As the world’s population migrates to cities, and as the bleak reality of climate change ⇒

EarthTalk® Dear EarthTalk: What’s behind the rise in public transit in the U.S. in the last few years, and how does our transit use compare with that of other developed countries? — Angie Whitby, New Bern, NC Transit ridership is indeed at its highest level in the U.S. in 57 years. According to data collected ⇒

EarthTalk® Dear EarthTalk: What is the environmental impact of those “K-Cups” everyone seems to be using nowadays to make coffee at both home and office? — Chris B., Stamford, CT K-Cups—those little one-serving coffee containers that allow people to brew one cup at a time in a specially designed Keurig brewing machine—are all the rage ⇒

EarthTalk® Dear EarthTalk: What are some cool apps that work with a mobile phone that can help me get in better touch with the environment?– Mitchell Brown, Troy, MI Not surprisingly, there are thousands of “green” apps out there that make it easier for people to find and share information to help us all become ⇒

Dear EarthTalk: If “cap and trade” has worked so well in Europe for reducing greenhouse gas emissions there, why haven’t we tried something similar here in the U.S.? — Sandra M., Bern, NC “Cap-and-trade,” whereby big polluters must pay to emit greenhouse gases against a capped total amount that is reduced over time—has been in ⇒

Dear EarthTalk: How is it that global warming could cause an increase in health problems and disease epidemics? Do we have any evidence that it is already happening?  — Jim Merrill, Provo, UT Global warming isn’t just bad for the environment. There are several ways that it is expected to take a toll on human ⇒

Dear EarthTalk:What are “dirty fuels” and why are they so called?– Bill Green, Seattle, WA The term “dirty fuels” refers to fuels derived from tar sands, oil shale or liquid coal. Just like their more conventional fossil fuel counterparts such as petroleum and coal, they can be turned into gasoline, diesel and other energy sources ⇒

Dear EarthTalk: Should those of us who care about our health and the planet be concerned about the new trend in genetic engineering called synthetic biology?–Chrissie Wilkins, Bern, NC “Synthetic biology” (or “synbio”) refers to the design and fabrication of novel biological parts, devices and systems that do not otherwise occur in nature. Many see ⇒

Dear EarthTalk: I thought Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown would have sealed nuclear power’s fate, but I keep hearing otherwise. Can you enlighten?  — Jacob Allen, New York, NY The 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster did cause many nations to reconsider their nuclear committments, though many European countries—Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden—had ⇒