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EU Governments Failing the Forests |
European governments are dragging their heels on a key EU initiative designed to tackle illegal logging, according to a new assessment released by WWF today. The Illegal Logging Government Barometer shows that the UK and Austria are doing the most and Ireland and the Czech Republic the least to prevent unsustainable timber coming into the EU. full story |
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Forests Threatened by Plagues of Insects |
Canada's vast boreal forest is facing the devastating threat of mountain pine beetles as early as this summer, causing widespread economic and environmental damage, warns one of the country's foremost experts. Last summer, a great swarm of beetles was caught in prevailing winds, blowing into Alberta and landing at the doorstep of the boreal forest.
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South Pole Highway Drive Will
Show Viability of Alternative Fuels |
A U.S. team plans to drive from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole later this year to demonstrate the viability of alternative energy sources to replace fossil fuels. The 1,000 mile journey to the South Pole will take 10 days using alternative fuel vehicles driven along a U.S.-developed ice highway. full story |
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The Heat Is on for Greenhouse Gas Methane |
Across the globe, chickens and pigs are doing their bit to curb global warming. But cows and sheep still have some catching up to do. The farm animals produce lots of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide yet is at the heart of efforts to fight climate change. full story |
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Animal Extinction -
the Greatest Threat to Mankind |
When we hear of extinction, most of us think of the plight of the rhino, tiger, panda or blue whale. But these sad sagas are only small pieces of the extinction puzzle. The overall numbers are terrifying. Of the 40,168 species that the 10,000 scientists in the World Conservation Union have assessed, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, one in three amphibians, one in three conifers and other gymnosperms are at risk of extinction. full story |
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So Young. So Toxic. |
It doesn't take a lifetime of unhealthy living to accumulate toxins in your body. Ask 30-year-old Mainer Hannah Pingree, House majority leader in the Legislature and a walking chemical soup. She's not alone. Pingree recently had her body tested for 67 chemicals found in everyday items, and medical professionals detected 35 that are not supposed to be found in the human body. full story |
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A Dim Future for Standard Lightbulbs |
High above Philadelphia, on the 25th floor of the Cira Centre, Tom Sperry grinned sheepishly. "I've just been informed I'm a wasteful tyrant," he said. Never mind that his office has efficient fluorescent lights. Or that a motion sensor turns them off whenever he leaves. It's just that in an identical office one floor up the room is every bit as bright but uses half the energy. full story |
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Shipping Suffers with Drop in
Lake Superior's Level |
Lake Superior is the uppermost of the five Great Lakes, stretching 350 miles from Duluth to the eastern tip of Upper Michigan. But its down some 18 inches from the base level considered normal. It's a foot lower than it was just a year ago. A month ago, the lake's surface almost broke the record low set in 1926. full story |
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Southwestern U.S. Becoming a Dust Bowl |
The severe seven-year drought in the Southwestern United States is just the beginning of a new and even drier climate for the region due to climate change, scientists say. The infamous "dust bowl" conditions of the 1930s will be the norm, with the possibility that the aridity will be unlike anything in the past, according to research published Thursday in Science. full story |
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Rising Oceans and Watery Landmarks |
An inconvenient truth or not, global warming is increasingly accepted as cold, hard reality. Numerous scientific reports released this year confirm the world is getting warmer, and sea levels are rising because of it. The most conservative estimates predict sea levels will creep up by five inches by century's end; some scientists say two feet. full story |
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We Have the Money and Know-how
to Stop Global Warming |
The report, the 3rd this year from the IPCC, looks at ways to tackle global warming and is due to be released in Bangkok on Friday. The previous 2 reports analysed the science of climate change and its likely impacts. Together, the 3 reports will underpin international negotiations on a new treaty to regulate greenhouse gas emissions to replace the Kyoto protocol. full story |
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On the Road, Hope for a Zero-Pollution Car |
In dozens of laboratories and research centers, scientists and engineers are busy searching for ways to reduce the cost and improve the practicality of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Development has progressed to the point that some of these prototype vehicles are in daily service, commuting around Detroit, delivering packages in Washington, serving urban bus routes. full story |
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Lovelorn Rhinoceros Is the
Last Hope for His Species |
Andalas the rhino is on a mission. He has been sent from Los Angeles Zoo to the wilds of Sumatra to defend his male honour and do what it takes to propagate his endangered species. In other words, he has been taken to the rhino equivalent of a singles bar and left to follow his natural desires. full story |
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Indonesian Governors Curb Logging
to Reduce Climate Change |
The gov.s of Indonesia's most forested provinces have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from logging to reduce the impact of climate change. Tropical rainforests absorb the greenhouse gas CO2, the main gas responsible for global warming. The gov.s of Aceh, Papua and Papua Barat provinces agreed on "environmentally friendly, sustainable economic development and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation." full story |
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Algae Killing Birds, Sealife in California |
A bloom of ocean algae that produces a toxic acid has sickened and killed hundreds of birds, sea lions and dolphins in California, environmentalists said. Birds and animals have been washing up on shores from San Diego to San Francisco Bay. In the past week, 40 birds have been taken to the International Bird Rescue Center in San Pedro with symptoms of domoic acid poisoning, which attacks the brain and can cause seizures. full story |
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Cambodian Rangers Trained to Help Bears |
Park rangers in Cambodia are being trained to survey wild bears to help protect them from being hunted for their bile which is used in traditional Chinese medicines, a conservationist said Thursday. Wild bears, known as Asiatic black bears and Sun bears, continue to be hunted in Cambodia to meet a growing demand in China and Vietnam. full story |
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Move to Biofuels Could Damage Rainforest |
Europe's dash for biofuels could accelerate the destruction of tropical rainforests, the EU admitted on Thursday. The EU's executive arm said that the 27-member bloc's decision to increase tenfold its consumption of vehicle fuel made from crops by 2020 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would increase the pressure on virgin land, especially in Asia.
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Emission Standards Will Give
Industry Three-year Free Ride |
New industrial facilities and automobile manufacturers in Canada are getting a free ride over the next three years, while some sectors that produce pollution linked to climate change such as Alberta’s oilsands are facing a $15 per tonne carbon tax starting in 2010, under new federal environmental regulations unveiled Thursday. full story |
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China Admits Tainted Food Link |
Chinese authorities acknowledged for the first time that ingredients exported to make pet food contained a prohibited chemical, stepping up their probe of two Chinese companies' roles in one of the USA's largest animal-food recalls. While pledging cooperation with U.S. authorities investigating the recall, the Chinese govt. in a statement Thursday also disputed that the chemical melamine was responsible for harming pets. full story |
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States Take Lead in Cutting Carbon Emissions |
While the US ponders whether to curb greenhouse gases, several states are pushing ahead with plans that already are bearing fruit. At least 21 states and DC are on track to create 46,000 megawatts of renewable power by 2020, eliminating 108 million metric tons of CO2 emissions a year that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, according to an analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists. full story |
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Big Business Dodging Toxic Cleanup
Costs, Group Charges |
Corporations responsible for hundreds of the most toxic sites in the United States spent nearly as much money lobbying politicians and funding political campaigns as they did cleaning up their messes, according to a new analysis by a Washington, D.C. watchdog group. As a result, the companies may dodge hundreds of millions in cleanup fees, charges the non-profit, non-partisan Center for Public Integrity. full story |
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Schwarzenegger Warns of
California Suit Against EPA |
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Wednesday threatened to sue the Environmental Protection Agency if it fails to act soon on a state bid to crack down on greenhouse gas emissions from cars. "If we don't see quick action from the federal government, we will sue the EPA," Schwarzenegger told an audience at the Milken Institute's Global Conference in Beverly Hills. full story |
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Dutch Consider Tough Biofuels Criteria |
It's the new climate change dilemma: finding alternatives for oil and gas without doing more harm than good. In the rush to develop biofuels, forests are burned in Asia to clear land for palm oil, and swaths of the Amazon are stripped of diverse vegetation for soya and sugar plantations for ethanol. full story |
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U.S. Senators Question Bush
Endangered Wildlife Plan |
A Bush administration plan to change rules of the Endangered Species Act protecting American wildlife drew pointed questions Wednesday from 5 U.S. senators, who called the proposed changes "troubling." "If the draft revisions had been in place 30 years ago, it is hard to imagine that we ever could have achieved the successes, with bald eagles, grizzly bears, sea turtles, sea otters and many other species, of which we now are deservedly proud." full story |
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Ice Shrinks, Birds Migrate Early in Warmer Arctic |
A Norwegian glacier has shrunk on an island 600 miles from the North Pole, a usually frozen fjord is ice-free and snow bunting birds have migrated back early in possible signs of global warming. At the tail end of the Arctic winter, polar sea ice extends less far south than normal around the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in what may be linked to a warming widely blamed on greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels. full story |
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Democratic Lawmaker Seeks
Cheney's Impeachment |
A veteran US lawmaker on Tuesday introduced legislation urging Vice President Dick Cheney's impeachment for allegedly manipulating intelligence used to justify the US invasion of Iraq. Cheney "has purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States," said the resolution introduced by House of Representatives Dennis Kucinich. full story |
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EU Greens Say Monthly Commute by EU
Lawmakers Responsible for 20,000 Tons of CO2 |
The monthly commute by EU lawmakers from Brussels to its other seat in Strasbourg produces over 20,000 tons of CO2 a year, nearly as much as the entire CO2 output of some small island nations, according to a study published Wednesday. A failure to change the arrangement "hastens climate change and undermines EU efforts to cut CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020". full story |
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California Farmers Experiment with Growing
Oilseed Plants for Biodiesel |
California farmers are hoping to strike oil, vegetable oil, that is, with a series of experimental trials involving crops that can be processed into biodiesel. Some of the efforts to produce the sought-after fuel call for growing hearty crops such as canola on unproductive land that can't support higher-value produce. full story |
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Climate Toll to Double Within 25 Years |
Deaths and injuries from climate change are set to more than double in the next 25 years, according to estimates to be published soon. The World Health Organisation is finalising data forecasting that deaths linked to even a very narrow number of causes most closely connected to shifting weather patterns will reach more than 300,000 a year by 2030. full story |
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EPA Won't Specify Global Warming Plans |
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency repeatedly refused to say Tuesday how soon he will comply with a Supreme Court ruling and decide whether to regulate carbon dioxide, the leading gas linked to global warming. Stephen Johnson, appearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was asked repeatedly to provide a timetable for responding to the April 2 Supreme Court decisions. full story |
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PCBs Cause Autism-like
Condition in Newborn Rats |
Traces of a chemical banned 30 years ago cause brain abnormalities in newborn lab animals that are similar to defects in children with autism, according to a new study by University of California scientists. Many scientists say that an array of chemicals in the environment are scrambling brain development and could play a role in children's learning disorders. full story |
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An Island Made by Global Warming |
The map of Greenland will have to be redrawn. A new island has appeared off its coast, suddenly separated from the mainland by the melting of Greenland's enormous ice sheet, a development that is being seen as the most alarming sign of global warming. The island was once thought to be the tip of a peninsula halfway up Greenland's remote east coast but a glacier joining it to the mainland has melted away completely, leaving it surrounded by sea. full story |
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Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons |
What is happening to the bees? More than a quarter of the country's 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost, tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives.
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Sea Life at Risk as Acid Levels Rise in Oceans |
Global warming has increased acidity levels of the oceans by 30% and in the decades ahead will create new risks for coral, zooplankton and other creatures that help support the North Pacific fisheries, according to researchers who gathered Monday at the University of Washington. The acidification is caused by the ocean's absorption of CO2 produced by fossil-fuel combustion. Currently, this is about 2 billion tons of the gas each year. full story |
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Global Warming Imperils
Himalayan Glaciers, Experts Say |
Global warming could wipe out large areas of glaciers in the Himalayas and surrounding highlands, threatening livelihoods across much of Asia, climate scientists said in Beijing on Monday. Rising temperatures fuelled by greenhouse gases from industry and agriculture have already shrunk glaciers on the mountains dividing China and South Asia, experts say. full story |
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Wild Africa Romance Awaits
Endangered China Tiger |
A South China tiger, one of fewer than 100 in existence, took off from a Shanghai airport on Monday for a romantic mission to Africa that might help save the species. The four-year-old male, known only by his breeding registry number "327", is to be paired with a young female of the same species in a South African reserve. The idea is for the tigers to mix in a wild environment, breed and brush up on their hunting skills before being returned to China. full story |
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UK Companies, Government
Partner to Cut Greenhouse Gases |
Eight large British companies have joined with Prime Minister Tony Blair to introduce a campaign that will provide consumers with products and services that make it easier to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The campaign, called "We're in this Together" will provide both ideas for behavioral change and practical solutions to help consumers reduce their household emissions by one metric ton over three years. full story |
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Ecuador Seeks Compensation to
Leave Amazon Oil Undisturbed |
The government of Ecuador will wait up to one year to see if the international community offers to compensate the country for not developing a major oil field in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, Energy Minister Alberto Acosta says. The area of lush, primary rainforest shelters a unique diversity of animals and plants. full story |
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Top Brass Fear Climate Change |
Threats to national security from climate change are large and should be considered an integral part of U.S. security and defense planning. Those are among the conclusions in a report released last week by a panel of 11 retired high-ranking admirals and generals. They warned of a host of environmental calamities that, unless abated, would result in massive migrations of people, famine, greater border tensions, and conflicts over food and water. full story |
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Aluminium Smelters Generate
Hot Debate in Iceland |
Iceland's biggest and newest aluminium smelter, Alcoa Fjardaal, pumped out its first hot metal at the weekend, riling critics who fear it will damage the environment. The balance between environmental and economic tradeoffs for Iceland's three existing and three planned smelters have become a major issue in the lead-up to May 12 elections. full story |
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Boca Firm Stakes Its Future on
Building a Safer Baby Bottle |
With word starting to spread about the potential dangers of many baby bottles, Ron Vigdor has seen a rapid increase in orders for the ones he sells, bottles that aren't made from a chemical associated with neurological damage in lab animals. Bisphenol A is the building block of hard, polycarbonate plastic, and it's found in the baby bottles made by major manufacturers. full story |
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Ontario First Nation Uneasy about Birth Ratio |
The people of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation are painfully aware they make up a startling statistic that has raised eyebrows around the world, but the bigger concern for residents are the chemicals they fear are overwhelming their community and killing off their legacy. In Aamjiwnaang, records show two girls are being born for every boy, a scientific anomaly that has stunned researchers and that residents admit is clearly not normal. full story |
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Population, Consumption Drive Global Climate
Change and Environmental Degradation |
The principal factors affecting climate change are the growth of human population and consumption, according to research by WSU sociologist Eugene A. Rosa and his colleagues Richard York, of the University of Oregon, and Thomas Dietz, of MSU. In fact, their findings suggest the impact of these two stressors is so profound that they may outpace any potential benefits from industrial modernization and improving technologies. full story |
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Sunderban Dying of Global Warming |
Nearly a half of the 102 Sunderban islands in India spread over nine and a half square kilometers are uninhabited. The region has been witness to an abnormal rise in the sea level in the last four decades. This in turn has led to massive erosion. About a fifth of the southern part of the delta, the heart of the tiger reserve is already submerged. full story |
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The Worldwide Threat to Coral Reefs |
The coral reef systems provide nearly $30 billion in goods and services worldwide each year, and provide nurseries for 1/4 of the planet's fish. However, an astonishing 60% of coral reefs across the globe have been permanently destroyed or are at risk of being destroyed in the next three decades. The potential economic and environmental impact of such a great loss has environmental groups calling for urgent coral reef conservation measures. full story |
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Why Was Arsenic Secret, Mayor Asks |
Mayor Sheila Dixon announced yesterday that the city will investigate why high arsenic levels in a South Baltimore park were kept quiet for more than 30 years. Heading the inquiry will be the city's health commissioner who ordered the closure of Swann Park on Thursday after tests showed arsenic at levels more than 100 times higher than generally considered safe. full story |
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Will Lemmings Fall Off Climate Change Cliff? |
Contrary to popular belief, lemmings do not commit mass suicide by leaping off of cliffs into the sea. In fact, they are quite fond of staying alive. A bigger threat to the rodents is climate change, which could deprive them of the snow they need for homes and lock up their food in ice, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. full story |
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Indian Coast Vulnerable to Global Warming |
Towns and cities along India's eastern coast will be devastated with global warming intensifying cyclones and rising sea levels eroding vast stretches of the shoreline, a climate official said on Friday. Experts warn that as temperatures rise, the Indian subcontinent, home to about one-sixth of humanity, will be badly hit with more frequent and more severe natural disasters such as floods and storms and more disease and hunger. full story |
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Agency Wants Whales Listed as Endangered |
Beluga whales have long delighted residents and tourists alike when spotted swimming the silty waters off Alaska's biggest city, but now the gregarious white whales are in danger of becoming extinct. That's the determination of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which on Thursday proposed that the small whales with the prominent foreheads in Cook Inlet be listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. full story |
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Recent Findings on Mountain Gorillas
Show Hope for Species' Survival |
After a decade of conservation efforts, the mountain gorillas in Eastern Africa are showing a slow but steady comeback, says WWF, the global conservation organization. Results of a survey released today indicate that there are now 340 gorillas within the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in south-western Uganda, a 12% growth over the past decade. full story |
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Mining Battle Marked by Peaks and Valleys |
In the hamlets scattered across the coal fields of southern Appalachia, the news from the courthouse was a breath of fresh air to many: A federal judge had sided with environmentalists fighting to stop a form of destructive strip mining known as mountaintop removal. Maria Gunnoe, 38, could barely contain her glee. Mountaintop-removal operations are leveling the peaks and forested ridges where she has lived her whole life. full story |
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A Prescription for Disaster |
Flushing old pills down the toilet or throwing them in the trash might clear out the bathroom cupboard, but scientists around the country are finding that these drugs are winding up in our lakes and streams and creating problems for fish that swim in them. Unwanted medications that are flushed into wastewater or seep into groundwater at landfills eventually expose water creatures to thousands of chemicals that interact with their bodies. full story |
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Norway Aims to be Carbon Neutral by 2050 |
Norway wants to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 in the world's toughest national plan for fighting global warming, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday. He said that Norway, the world's number five oil exporter, wanted other rich nations to set similar "carbon neutral" aims. "Norway would be the first country in the world to take on such a concrete commitment," Stoltenberg said. full story |
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Indigenous Peoples on
Climate Change Front Lines |
The Inuit of the Arctic can no longer hunt safely as the ice is breaking up around them. Pacific Islanders are losing coral atolls beneath rising seas. Caribbean islanders are battered by violent storms. Tribes in Borneo watch as their rainforests catch fire. Tibetans wonder why their sacred glaciers are melting and why the alpine medicinal plants are disappearing. full story |
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Creation of Wild Sky Wilderness Area
Finally Wins Approval in U.S. House |
The House unanimously approved the Wild Sky Wilderness Area on Tuesday, moving the popular 106,577- acre project to the brink of reality after five years of frustrating detours. By clearing the House, the first new wilderness area in Washington state in 23 years is virtually assured of final passage, lawmakers and supporters said. full story |
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Banning Ship Waste in the Baltic |
WWF is calling on shipping companies operating in the Baltic to protect the marine environment by halting the practice of dumping polluted waste water into the sea. Waste water released from shipping vessels currently discharge up to 460 tons of nitrogen and 150 tons of phosphorus into the Baltic each year, contributing to large-scale toxic algae blooms and a reduction of water quality. full story |
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World Needs to Axe Greenhouse Gases by 80% |
The world will have to axe greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, more deeply than planned, to have an even chance of curbing global warming in line with EU goals, researchers said on Thursday. Even tough long-term curbs foreseen by the EU or California fall short of reductions needed to avert a 2 degrees C temperature rise over pre-industrial times, seen by the EU as a threshold for "dangerous change," they said. full story |
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Could Global Warming Cause War? |
A platoon of retired US generals and admirals warned that global warming "presents significant national security challenges to the U.S." The UN Security Council held its first ever debate on the impact of climate change on conflicts. And in Congress, a bipartisan bill would require a National Intelligence Estimate by all federal intelligence agencies to assess the security threats posed by global climate change. full story |
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Oregon Lawmakers Consider Ban on
Chemical Found in Children's Toys |
Pacifiers and lipstick aren't the sort of thing health advocates and business groups normally squabble over. But the two sides clashed Wednesday over a bill that would prohibit the sale of toys and other consumer products for children under 5 that contain phthalates, a chemical used to make plastics more durable and pliable. full story |
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Far Eastern Leopard Still on
the Brink of Extinction |
A new census of one of the world’s most endangered cats, the Far Eastern or Amur leopard, shows that as few as 25 to 34 are left in the wild, renewing fears for the future of the species. "The recent census confirmed once again that the Far Eastern leopard survives on a very shaky edge."
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UN Report Calls For an Urgent Action
on Road and Air Pollution |
Soaring car and air travel must be tackled if the world is to stop greenhouse gas emissions from transport rising rapidly over the next few decades, according to a leaked draft report by the UN climate panel. It highlights transport as a particular problem area, saying efforts to curb emissions "are faced with many barriers", despite options such as new engine technologies or biofuels. full story |
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Breast Cancer Cells Grow
Under Influence of Fish Flesh |
Many streams, rivers and lakes already bear warning signs that the fish caught within them may contain dangerously high levels of mercury, which can cause brain damage. But, according to a new study, these fish may also be carrying enough chemicals that mimic the female hormone estrogen to cause breast cancer cells to grow. full story |
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Bangladesh: A Nation in Fear of Drowning |
It is hard to gauge the exact extent of the local devastation caused by climate change because severe flooding and catastrophic river erosion are part of every day life in rural Bangladesh. But the island of Aralia, in the Haor flood plain of north-east Bangladesh has, in the past 50 years, diminished to a fifth of its size, according to its older residents. full story |
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Salmon Advocates Say Kill Dams, Not Sea Lions |
To reduce the decline in the salmon population in the Northwest, a US congressional representative has proposed a measure to kill sea lions who feed on the endangered fish. But since the sea lions are responsible for only about 3% of salmon deaths, according to the US Army Corp of Engineers, environmental groups say the bill misses the point. They say the true solution is to eliminate the four dams in the lower Snake River. full story |
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All Power To the Super Dump's Stench |
They call it the void. A giant open-cut mine on the outskirts of Goulburn is slowly filling with Sydney's waste, but this super tip is also a new source of green power. When the switch is flicked at a small power plant nearby in about six months, methane from the decomposing waste will be burned to generate electricity. full story |
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Warming Study Sees Problems for Great Lakes |
Global warming is likely to dramatically alter the Great Lakes region in the coming decades, making the world’s largest body of fresh water shallower and dirtier while hurting the region’s ability to capitalize on its greatest natural resource. That’s the conclusion the IPCC delivered Monday as it released the North America chapter of its much publicized report on the worldwide impact of higher temperatures.
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Global Warming May Put U.S. in Hot Water |
As the world warms, water - either too little or too much of it - is going to be the major problem for the United States, scientists and military experts said Monday. It will be a domestic problem, with states clashing over controls of rivers, and a national security problem as water shortages and floods worsen conflicts and terrorism elsewhere in the world, they said. full story |
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Ecuador's President Vows to
Help Galapagos Islands At Risk |
The conservation and environmental management of the Galapagos Islands ecosystem is "at risk and a national priority" due to the anarchy and lack of institutionalization that prevail in the archipelago, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa declared Sunday. The President pledged new protective measures by the end of April. full story |
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Iron Traps, Pits Haunt India's Rare Asiatic Lions |
Indian authorities are unearthing hundreds of large iron traps and pits in the world's only natural habitat for rare Asiatic lions after a spate of killings of the big cats by poachers. In the last seven weeks, 11 lions have been found dead, seven of them killed by poachers. The four others drowned after falling into wells. full story |
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China's Yangtze River Extensively Polluted |
China's Three Gorges Dam reservoir has been fouled by pesticides, fertilizers and sewage, and more than 600 kilometres of the Yangtze river are critically polluted, Xinhua news agency said on Sunday, citing a report. Nearly 30 percent of the river's major tributaries, including the Minjiang, Tuojiang, Xiangjiang and Huangpu rivers, were seriously polluted. full story |
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Far North Feels Worst Effects of Warming |
Inuit hunters are falling through thinning ice and dying. Dolphins are being spotted for the first time. There's not enough snow to build igloos for shelter during hunts. As scientists work to establish the impact of global warming, explorers and hunters slogging across northern Canada and the Arctic ice cap on sled and foot are describing the realities they see on the ground. full story |
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Global Warming Rallies Held Across the U.S. |
Americans worried about climate change gathered Saturday on ski slopes and in cities for a nationwide day of demonstrations aimed at drawing attention to global warming. More than 1,300 events were organized in every state under the banner Step It Up 2007 to push Congress to require an 80% cut in CO2 emissions by 2050. full story |
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Are Mobile Phones Wiping Out Our Bees? |
Some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. full story |
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Niger Delta Is a Disaster Zone |
The stench of stagnant, raw sewage filling open sewers along the streets of Port Harcourt is nauseating. A persistent cloud of toxic exhaust emitted by buses and trucks burns your eyes and throat. Though potable water for everyone is a supposed goal of the government, taps flow beige and reek of rotten eggs. full story |
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Canada Joins Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking |
Canada has become the newest member of the international Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking, Canadian Environment Minister John Baird announced Thursday. An initiative of the U.S., the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking was founded in 2005 and, with the addition of Canada, has grown to include 5 countries and 14 international conservation and industry organizations. full story |
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Climate Change - Africa Faces More Risk |
A UN regional report on climate change has predicted more hunger, diseases and water shortages in Africa due to the impact of global warming. The report, which was availed to the News Agency of Nigeria in NY, stated that "continued increase in greenhouse gases will later this century put up to 1.8 billion more people in Africa at risk of water shortage". full story |
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Florida Manatees May Lose Endangered Status |
Florida manatees are dying in record numbers and the lumbering marine mammals face growing threats from speedboats, a toxic foe called red tide and the potential loss of their warm winter havens at power plants. So why is the U.S. govt. talking about removing its protective "endangered" label, conservationists ask. full story |
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Greenpeace Spotlights Rainforest
Damage in DR Congo |
Greenpeace called for urgent action Wednesday to prevent illegal logging in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, accusing international companies there of "causing social chaos and wreaking environmental havoc." In a report which accused the World Bank of failing to stem the problem of illegal logging, Greenpeace said over 37 million acres of rainforest had been granted to the logging industry since a moratorium was agreed by the country's govt. in 2002. full story |
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ConocoPhillips Accepts Climate Change,
Develops Alternative Fuels |
ConocoPhillips, the 5th largest oil company in the world, is taking steps to address the problem of global warming, the first major US oil company to do so. The company is implementing programs to develop alternative fuels and to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. ConocoPhillips announced it has joined the US Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of corporations trying to address the problem of climate change. full story |
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Uganda Offers Sanctuary to Orphaned Chimps |
When Rutoto was just one year old, he was snatched from his home in Uganda's Kalinzu Forest and his mother was butchered in front of him with a machete. For more than a month he was locked in a cramped box, and the only daylight he saw was when his container was opened to feed him bread and bananas, food that his young stomach was unable to digest properly. full story |
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Warming Could Spark
North American Water Scramble |
Climate change could diminish North American water supplies and trigger disputes between the United States and Canada over water reserves already stressed by industry and agriculture, U.N. experts said Wednesday. More heat waves like those that killed more than 100 people in the United States in '06, storms like the killer hurricanes that struck the Gulf of Mexico in '05 and wildfires are likely in North America as temperatures rise. full story |
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Indonesia Quake Caused Huge Coral Die-Off |
A strong earthquake that struck Indonesia's Sumatra island two years ago caused one of the biggest coral die-offs ever documented, a study by scientists from two conservation groups found. The earthquake had raised the island of Simeulue near Nias by up to 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in), exposing most of the coral reefs ringing the island over about 300 km (190 miles) of sea floor. full story |
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Warming Could Damage Arctic
and Release Toxins |
Global warming will damage the hunting cultures of Arctic peoples, thaw polar ice and could release toxic wastes now trapped in permafrost dumps, a U.N. study showed on Wednesday. The report, giving regional details of a global study by the U.N. climate panel issued on April 6 in Brussels, also said Arctic fish stocks and forests could be affected by a rate of warming in the Arctic almost twice the global average. full story |
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Activists Target Big Banks
for Financing Climate Change |
Amid warnings about the need to scale back and stop greenhouse-gas emissions to lessen global warming, power utilities are still blueprinting at least 150 new coal-burning plants in the United States. But their plans are being met with opposition from environmentalists, many of whom are chanting a strict "no new coal" policy. full story |
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Greenpeace Exposes that Logging in the
Congo Rainforest Is Out Of Control |
A damning new report launched by Greenpeace today exposes that international logging companies operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo are causing social chaos and wreaking environmental havoc. 'Carving up the Congo' uncovers endemic corruption and impunity in the DRC's logging sector at a time when key decisions that will determine the future of these forests are about to be made. full story |
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Little Time to Avert Big Temperature Rise |
Fighting global warming will be inexpensive but governments have little time left to avert big, damaging temperature rises, a draft UN report shows. The draft, due for release in Bangkok on May 4, indicates warming is on track to exceed a 2 Celsius (3.6 F) rise over pre-industrial times, regarded by the EU as a threshold for "dangerous" change to nature.
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Ice Cap Getting Thinner |
British scientists claim to have made a discovery which puts the thickness of local lake ice into real perspective. They said there is now evidence that the polar ice cap could disappear in as little as 13 years if global warming continues at its current pace. The claim is based upon measurements of the ice cap made by the British nuclear submarine H.M.S. Tireless. full story |
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UNESCO World Heritage Sites
in Danger of Global Warming |
The Great Barrier Reef, Kilimanjaro National Park, and The Tower of London are among the World Heritage sites that will be threatened by climate change in this century, according to a publication by the UN agency released today. The report, "Case Studies on Climate Change and World Heritage" is intended to raise awareness and mobilize support for preservation of the 830 natural and cultural sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. full story |
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Study Seeks to Explain Drop in Male Births |
Each year in the United States, more boys are born than girls, but a 30-year decline in the percentage of male births is raising concern. Since 1970, in the United States, there have been 135,000 fewer white male births than historic patterns would indicate, Dr. Davis said. The birthrate of white males has dropped from an average of 105.5 males to every 100 females in 1970 to 104.6 males per 100 females in 2001. full story |
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Salmon Win, Bush Loses Appeal
on Columbia River Dam Plan |
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday rejected the Bush administration's salmon plan for dam operations on the Columbia and lower Snake rivers. The appellate court upheld a lower court ruling that the plan was illegal because it failed to comply with the Endangered Species Act. full story |
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Millions Face Hunger from Climate Change |
Warming temperatures could result in food shortages for 130 million people across Asia by 2050 and cause potentially catastrophic problems in Africa, wiping out one of the continent's staple crops altogether. Climate change threatens the ecologically rich Great Barrier Reef and sub-Antarctic islands, and could melt the snow on Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro. full story |
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Tigers Fading Fast in Last Stronghold |
Hope is fading in the fight to save the tiger in India, the animal's last stronghold, according to Indian conservationists. Resurgent poaching and feeble official protection have combined to put the animal, India's national symbol, on the road to extinction, say the country's leading tiger experts in a BBC documentary to be screened tomorrow. full story |
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Indonesian Tropical Island
Torn Apart by Tin Mining |
The coconut palms on the tropical beaches of the Indonesian island of Bangka open up to reveal a landscape so devastated by mining that it bears an eerie resemblance to the surface of the moon. Deep craters as big as football fields pockmark the land. Smaller craters filled with turquoise water glitter deceptively in the tropical sun. The water is highly acidic. full story |
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India Steps Up Protection for Rare Asiatic Lions |
Hundreds of new guards and closed-circuit TV cameras will be used to protect rare Asiatic lions threatened by poachers and villagers in their only natural habitat, Indian officials said on Saturday. The government of the western state of Gujarat, where the Gir wildlife sanctuary is located, set up an Asiatic Lion Protection Cell after 10 lions were found dead during the last six weeks, six of them killed by poachers. full story |
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Doomsday Climate Predictions for Cape |
The lush vineyards, rare plant species and breathtaking scenery that make the Cape Peninsula region a tourist magnet are in danger of withering away within decades, the findings of a growing number of climate change scientists suggest. A library of evidence, including a major UN report released on Friday, suggests that Africa will be affected more severely than any other continent by climate change this century. full story |
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Next Task: 'Repairing' the Climate |
Now comes the hard part of global warming, fixing it, say scientists looking ahead to the release of the next major climate-change report. "This is going to get a lot of attention; this is really the solution part of the global warming question," says Joanna Lewis of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. full story |
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Many New Constraints
for Bush on the Environment |
The Bush administration is taking more flak for its environmental policies from Congress, federal courts, official government watchdog agencies, and the court of public opinion. One probable outcome: It will be more difficult for President Bush, with less than two years left in office, to push environmental policy in the direction he wants.
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Are GM Crops Killing Bees? |
A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the US is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous. A possible cause is the growing use of genetic engineering in agriculture. full story |
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Coral Reef Collapse Spells Danger for Millions |
The report on island coral reef fisheries reveals that over half (55%) of the 49 island countries reviewed were being exploited unsustainably. Fish landings are currently 64% higher than can be sustained. In order to support this level of exploitation, an additional 75,000 km2 of coral reef would be needed, an area 3.7 times greater than Australia's Great Barrier Reef. full story |
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Unicorns of the Sea: Dying in the Depths |
Narwhals, the "unicorns" of the sea, are in particular danger as whales and dolphins, already depleted by centuries of hunting, are driven towards extinction by global warming, a new report reveals. Whales that depend on the edges of rapidly retreating polar ice, the narwhal, beluga, bowhead and right whales, are especially vulnerable, as are those living in particularly restricted areas, such as the northern end of the Gulf of California. full story |
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Mercury Rising in the Adirondacks |
A recent study warns of widespread mercury contamination in the Adirondacks after scientists found high levels of the dangerous element in the picturesque wilderness and wildlife that personify the region. In the central Adirondacks, researchers found that 25% of common loons have blood mercury levels that exceed the wildlife health threshold of 3.0 parts per million, putting the already fragile population at risk of further decline. full story |
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Climate Calamity Forecast |
Up to 300,000 Australians on average may annually be exposed to the dengue virus by 2020, and between 600,000 and 1.4 million by 2050, according to climate change predictions finalised yesterday by global scientists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest report predicts serious consequences for the built, as well as the natural, environment. full story |
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How the Worst Effects of Climate Change
Will Be Felt by the Poorest |
Humanity will be divided as never before by climate change, with the world's poor its disproportionate victims, the latest UN report on the coming effects of global warming made clear yesterday. Existing divisions between rich and poor countries will be sharply exacerbated by the pattern of climate-change impacts in the coming years, predicted in the study. full story |
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Dire Warming Report Too Soft, Scientists Say |
A new global warming report issued Friday by the United Nations paints a near-apocalyptic vision of Earth's future: hundreds of millions of people short of water, extreme food shortages in Africa, a landscape ravaged by floods and millions of species sentenced to extinction. Despite its harsh vision, the report was quickly criticized by some scientists who said its findings were watered down at the last minute by governments seeking to deflect calls for action. full story |
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Global Warming Could Deal Big Blow to Salmon |
Global warming is expected to further weaken wild chinook salmon populations by changing the temperatures and flows of major river systems, according to a study published Thursday by the National Academy of Sciences. Warmer waters in the summer and early fall are expected to cause more disease, stress and die-offs, while rain-swollen rivers in warmer winter months could flush out salmon eggs from spawning gravel. full story |
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Sea Life Threatened by Acidic Oceans |
Rising CO2 emissions are making the world's oceans more acidic, particularly closer to the poles, heralding disaster for marine life, a major UN report on climate change impacts has warned. Harvey Marchant, Australian lead author on polar regions for the report said research showed a high take-up of CO2 by polar oceans was producing marked changes in several species. full story |
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Warming's Biggest Wallop
Aimed at Wildlife, Not People |
Global warming will affect societies around the world through more prolonged droughts, more intense rains and flooding, changes in the timing of seasonal rainfall and snowmelt, and a projected increase in the spread of animal- and insect-borne diseases, scientists say. But it will affect plant and animal species even more dramatically. A shift in climate zones could lead to extinction of some species and the spread of others, according to a report set to be released Friday by the IPCC. full story |
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Global Warming Brings Perpetual
Drought to U.S. Southwest |
Human-caused climate change is likely to lead to long periods of extreme drought throughout the American Southwest starting early this century, finds a new study released today by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, a member of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. The researchers compared the coming drought to the Dustbowl of the '30s that sent millions of environmental refugees fleeing to California from across the Great Plains. full story |
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Questions Linger About Bushes and BCCI |
Now that the U.S. Congress is investigating the truth of Bush's statements about the Iraq war, they might look into one of his most startling assertions: that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. There was a link, but not the one Bush was selling. The link between Hussein and Bin Laden was their banker, BCCI. But the link went beyond the dictator and the jihadist, it passed through Saudi Arabia and stretched all the way to George W. Bush and his father.
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It's Not Just a Fad - Organic Food
Is Better For You, Say Scientists |
New evidence has emerged showing that organic food does contain nutrients that deliver health benefits, contrary to the view put forward earlier this year by David Miliband, who said it was only a "lifestyle choice". Scientists in Britain, France and Poland examined organic carrots, apples, peaches and potatoes and discovered that they have greater concentrations of vitamin C and chemicals that protect against heart attacks and cancer than non-organic produce. full story |
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Winter Arctic Sea Ice Near Record Low |
Winter Arctic sea ice this year was the second smallest area on record in a sign of greenhouse warming, U.S. climate scientists said on Wednesday. Sea ice extent, or the area of ocean that is covered by at least 15 percent ice, was 5.7 million square miles in March, the Colorado-based National Sea and Ice Data Center said on Wednesday. full story |
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Global Warming Driving Australian Fish South |
Global warming is starting to have a significant impact on Australian marine life, driving fish and seabirds south and threatening coral reefs, Australia's premier science organisation said on Wednesday. In particular, warmer oceans, changes in currents, disruption of reproductive cycles and mass migration of species would affect Australia's marine life. full story |
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Global Warming Will Decimate Biodiversity |
Thousands of plant and animal species are disappearing every month due to the effects of global warming, leading environmentalists say. "About 150 species disappear every day," German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said at the conference of environment ministers of the G8 in Potsdam. "Humankind is about to delete nature's biological databank at an unknown speed," Gabriel said at the conference opening. full story |
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Bush Loses Power over
Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
The Bush administration has suffered a major blow over its refusal to limit the emission of greenhouse gases after the Supreme Court ruled that a government agency had the power to enforce regulations on cars and lorries. In its first-ever ruling on a case involving global warming, the court decided that the EPA was authorised to enforce limits on the amount of carbon dioxide produced by vehicles. full story |
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EU Carbon Trading Scheme Failing to Curb
Emissions from Big Polluters | |
Europe's big polluters pumped more climate-changing gases into the atmosphere in 2006 than during the previous year, according to figures that show the EU's carbon trading system failing to deliver curbs. Critics said the data underlined the gap between the rhetoric of European leaders, who have promised to cut C02 emissions by one-fifth by 2020, and the reality of delivering reductions. full story |
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Is Earth Near Its 'Tipping Points'
from Global Warming? |
Earth is spinning toward many points of no return from the damage of global warming, after which disease, desolation and famine are inevitable, say scientists involved in an international report on the effects of climate change. Opinions vary about how long it will take to reach those "tipping points" and whether attempts to cut planet-warming gases churned out by power plants, vehicles and other human industry can slow, halt or reverse the harmful effects in coming decades. full story |
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Trawling, Industry Threaten India Turtle Nesting |
Until a decade ago, this beach on India's east coast used to witness one of nature's most spectacular sights, the mass nesting of tens of thousands of Olive Ridley turtles on a single night. Not since 1995 has that happened. These days just a handful of turtles come to the beach at Devi to nest, and its status as one of three main nesting sites for the Olive Ridleys in India's coastal state of Orissa is under threat.
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U.S. Developer To Build Hotels
in Congo National Park |
Congo Republic has signed a deal to allow a U.S. developer to build hotels and casinos in a natural park that is home to several endangered species, a source at the Forestry Ministry said on Monday. The agreement, signed last week in the commercial capital Point-Noire, gives Utah-based Pioneer International Development a 50-year licence to develop eco-tourism in the Conkouati-Douli National Park, the central African country's most diverse reserve. full story |
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Struggling Seabirds |
West Coast seabirds are dying, apparently from a lack of food -- and some researchers think the phenomenon may be linked to global climate change. This is the third year that scientists have found unusually large numbers of marine birds, mainly common murres, but also rhinoceros auklets and tufted puffins, washed up on beaches in California, Oregon and Washington. full story |
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Few Pups Seen on Opening Day
of Canada's Seal Hunt |
Climate change has turned the ice in Canada's Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence to slush weeks earlier than usual, so few young seals were to be seen as the annual Canadian harp seal hunt opened today. Mother seals could not climb onto solid ice to give birth and so were forced to give birth at sea, where thousands of pups have drowned. full story |
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Colourful Creatures That Face a Dark Future |
Unmistakable in their silhouettes, but infinitely variable in their details, they are some of the world's favourite, but also most endangered animals: seahorses. Most of the world's 35 species are in trouble, according to Heather Koldewey, the aquarium curator who is Project Seahorse's assistant director. "They're in trouble because they live in the most vulnerable of marine habitats, the coastal environment, coral reefs, estuaries, mangrove swamps and seagrass beds," she said. full story |
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Report: Global Warming Will Melt Himalayas |
Today, the IPCC, a network of more than 2,000 scientists, will open a five-day meeting in Brussels, to finalize a report on how warming will affect the globe and whether humans can do anything about it. The panel will paint a bleak picture of increasing poverty, paucity of drinking water, melting glaciers and polar ice caps, and a host of vanishing species by mid-century unless action is taken to curb emissions of CO2 and other heat-trapping gases. full story |
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Poor Nations to Bear Brunt as World Warms |
The world's richest countries, which have contributed by far the most to the atmospheric changes linked to global warming, are already spending billions of dollars to limit their own risks from its worst consequences, like drought and rising seas. These industrial powers are spending just tens of millions of dollars on ways to limit climate and coastal hazards in the world's most vulnerable regions, most of them close to the equator and overwhelmingly poor. full story |
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Hormonal Chemicals May Be Imperiling Fish |
Male English sole carry something in their bodies that's not supposed to be there: a protein usually found only in female fish with developing eggs. These so-called "feminized" fish, first found in the late '90s, are thought to be victims of human hormones and hormone-mimicking chemicals, flushed into the water from sewage-treatment plants, factories, storm-water drains and runoff from roads. full story |
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Antibiotic Resistance:
The Problem Keeps Multiplying |
Before the discovery of antibiotics in the '40s, little could be done for patients with bacterial infections. The problems of the past are returning gradually, courtesy of the new "superbugs," bacteria untreatable by most antibiotics. These bugs are the hardy few survivors among those who have been hit with antibiotics. The survivors multiply as only bacteria can do, and they grow more resistant over time. full story |
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