The soft toilet paper is usually made by chopping down and grinding up trees that were decades or even a century old.

From The Washington Post
Photo by Galina Toktalieva
Old trees cut down for the briefest and most undignified of ends. It’s a menace, environmental groups say. They want Americans, like Europeans, to wipe with tissue made from recycled paper. Big toilet-paper makers say that they’ve taken steps to become more Earth-friendly but that their customers still want the soft stuff, so they’re still selling it. (more…)

By Alex Kirby, BBC
Edited by Galina Toktalieva

Twenty years after independence, this small Central Asian state remains one of the poorest among former Soviet Union respublics, struggling to make its way in a complex and sometimes hostile world.
There is something of Arcadia about Kyrgyzstan in the spring. Heading out of the southern city of Osh, you pass apple and apricot orchards, with the road climbing every now and then to cross a spur of the mountains.There are not as many sheep as there were in Soviet times, when Kyrgyzstan was expected to provide winter overcoats for the world’s largest army but there are still plenty. We were heading for the small town of Khaidarkan, home to the only mercury mine in the world which is still exporting its output. (more…)

The snow leopard is a beautiful and charismatic animal, found in the remote mountainous regions of Central Asia. Protected by thick, smoky-grey fur, and capable of leaping thirty feet and taking prey three times its own weight, it is well adapted to the cold, harsh landscape. Solitary, shy and well camouflaged, the snow leopard is very rarely seen. Although not at all aggressive to humans, it continues to suffer at their hands
24.kg –Population of snow leopards rises on the territory of Sarychat-Ertash nature reserve, Kyrgyzstan, National Academy of Science informed. There are reportedly seven animals listed in Kyrgyz Red Data Book of endangered species, two of them are leopardesses with cubs. “Growth of snow leopard population should continue up to restoration of it initial number on the territory- 17-20 animals,” the National Academy of Science said.
Sarychat-Ertash nature reserve is situated at junction of Internal and Central Tien Shan, in valleys of Sarychat, Ertash, Uchkul rivers. Its total area is 135 thousand hectares.

Mailuusuu ist eine Industriestadt im Süden Kirgisistans. Seit Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts wurden hier Radiobaryt-Vorkommen entdeckt. Zwischen 1946 und 1968 wurde in der Umgebung der Stadt Uran abgebaut.

Seit dem Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion und dem Ende des Uranabbaus und der Uranweiterverarbeitung dort hat die Stadt schwere Zeiten erlebt: seit dem Ende der Uranindustrie gibt es für den Großteil der örtlichen Bevölkerung nicht mehr viel Arbeit. Das schlimmste Erbe aus der Sowjetzeit sind jedoch die vielen (insgesamt 36) nicht gesicherten Lager von Uranabfällen an den steilen und tektonisch instabilen Berghängen oberhalb der Stadt. Nach einer im Oktober 2006 veröffentlichten Studie des Blacksmith Instituts aus New York ist Mailuusuu damit eine der zehn am schlimmsten verseuchten Gegenden der Welt.

For a generation, Toko and his extended family have grown tomatoes, apples and strawberries along the Mailuu Suu River in southern Kyrgyzstan. Their little plot was a form of insurance, looked upon as a reliable food source that could help feed the family and produce some income amid the post-Soviet era’s economic uncertainty. But for the past year a new sign across the muddy lane displays the fearsome international trefoil symbol for radioactivity: “Keep Out!” Former bounty turned into a wellspring of misery for Toko’s family. He and his children now suffer headaches and nausea, maladies caused by what they suspect to be contaminated products.
In March 2008, officials from Kyrgyzstan’s Emergencies Ministry began moving radioactive uranium waste from Soviet-era dumps – into the hills just above his home. “It gives us headaches; our eyes itch,” Toko says as he gestures across the road. Now he grows his fruits and vegetables in water potentially contaminated by the radioactive materials.
(more…)

Three Chinese tourists have bought a 274-kg piece of depleted uranium and brought it home from Kyrgyzstan as a souvenir, the China Daily newspaper reported.
The three tourists bought “the glittering treasure” for $2,000 at a flea market in Kyrgyzstan, hoping to make money by reselling it in China.
Not knowing what they had actually bought, the tourists sliced off a piece of the stone and took it to experts from Beijing’s University. After identifying the souvenir as a piece of depleted uranium, the scientists called the police.
Kyrgyzstan has a number of uranium disposal sites left from Soviet-era uranium mining.

Soviet-Era Uranium Waste in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 7 – Radioactive dust, contaminated groundwater and toxic landslides and floods threaten more than a million people in Central Asia. (more…)

“When I wish to find out how good or how wicked anyone is, or what are his thoughts at the moment, I fashion the expression of my face, accurately as possible, in accordance with the expression of his, and then wait to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my own mind or heart, as if to match with the expression” Edgar Allan Poe

I am frequent visitor to Vienna zoo. I believe animals have also soul and move in eternal circles of reborns, as humans do. Perhaps I was antelope not so long time ago. The only problem with zoo animals is that they are in state of lethargy, one needs endless paitence to wait, when they change the pose to catch a moment for photo.