Audi partners with Facebook

Audi TDI clean diesel engines kick out 20% less carbon emissions than regular gasoline engines, and Audi wants you to know it. So they have launched a Facebook campaign with two goals -- to convince you that the new Audi clean diesel technology from Germany is a great green drive, and also raise $25,000 for The Nature Conservancy.

Audi is donating $1 for every person who joins Audi's Facebook fan page. I just joined -- it's your turn now. So, we need 24,999 Examiner readers to do the same. It doesn't cost you anything but a couple of mouse clicks, and you are helping the environment. And I know you are a tree hugger, or at least a tree admirer, because you are here, reading about green cars.

The donation directly benefits The Nature Conservancy voluntary carbon offset program. The first project is to restore the habitats of local, native plants and animals, in the Lower Mississippi Valley, by buying up land to keep it from development, and planting trees and other green things. The official description is ‘reforestation’ which means protecting and restoring forests and woodland.

Audi and The Nature Conservancy have similar goals – to reduce carbon emissions and help achieve energy independence. Okay, maybe energy independence is a stretch – but at least we can get out of first gear with more fuel efficient vehicles. Anyway, for sure, it’s an interesting marketing campaign.

BTW – The Nature Conservancy is responsible for the protection of more than 18 million acres in the United States, and has helped preserve more than 117 million acres of ecologically important lands and waters in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific.

"Our engineers are always innovating to reduce our vehicles’ carbon emissions, and we’ve taken a giant leap forward with the introduction of the Audi Q7 TDI clean diesel this year," said Johan de Nysschen, President, Audi of America. "But our commitment doesn’t stop with our products; we want to promote reduced emissions through support of organizations like The Nature Conservancy, and also to spread the word about the benefits of reduced emissions."

Audi also has produced a You Tube video, Truth in Diesel.

Clean diesels are German technology -- not surprising, since Rudolph Diesel was a German engineer who worked with a guy named Gottlieb Daimler. Merceces-Benz and Volkswagen also have diesel models that are emission-approved in all 50 US states. In fact, the VW Jetta TDI was named Green Car of the Year at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2008.

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Audi partners with Facebook

source: www.examiner.com

Protection Sought Again for Giant, Spitting Worms

Fans of the giant Palouse earthworm are once again seeking federal protection for the rare, sweet-smelling species that spits at predators.

They filed a petition Tuesday with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting the worm be protected as an endangered species.

''The giant Palouse earthworm is critically endangered and needs the protection of the Endangered Species Act to have any chance of survival,'' said Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The center filed the lawsuit along with Friends of the Clearwater, Palouse Prairie Foundation, Palouse Audubon and Palouse Group of Sierra Club.

The worm has been seen only four reported times in the past 110 years, but supporters contend it is still present in the Palouse, a region of about 2 million acres of rolling wheat fields near the Idaho-Washington border south of Spokane.

Decades of intense agriculture and urban sprawl have wiped out much of the worm's habitat, said Steve Paulson with Friends of the Clearwater. Only about 2 percent of the Palouse prairie remains in a native state, he said.

The worm can reach 3 feet in length, is white in color and reportedly possesses a unique lily smell, said Greenwald, who is based in Portland, Ore. It is the largest and longest-lived earthworm in North America.

During the Bush administration, the agency rejected a similar petition from the groups, saying there was not enough scientific information about the species to prove it needed protection. The groups hope to have better luck with the Obama administration.

''We no longer have an administration adamantly opposed to protecting species,'' Greenwald said. The latest petition includes new research the groups hope proves the worm is rare and threatened, he said.

Doug Zimmer of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Seattle said they had not seen the petition and could not comment on its merits. ''It's always good to see new information and good science on any species,'' Zimmer said.

In 1897, the giant Palouse earthworm was described as ''very abundant'' in the region, but sightings are rare. The last confirmed sighting was made on May 27, 2005, by a University of Idaho researcher. Before that, the worm had not been seen since 1988.

Most earthworms found in the Northwest originated in Europe, arriving on plants or in soil shipped to the New World. The giant Palouse earthworm is one of the few native species.

In previously rejecting endangered species protection, the Fish and Wildlife Service said there was too little information in the scientific record. That prevented the assessment of population trends.

The agency concluded that while the Palouse prairie has experienced a dramatic conversion of native habitat to agriculture, it was not clear if that hurt the worm. The agency also found no information on predation or transmission of pathogens by other earthworms to the giant Palouse earthworm.

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