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Peruvian Mahogany Logged Illegally |
More than 12% of the mahogany exported by Peru is logged illegally and most of the companies working in the sector are guilty, environmentalists said Wednesday in a report rejected by the government. "At least 20 of the 24 companies exporting mahogany from Peru exported illegally logged mahogany from Peru in 2005," AIDESEP said. "The exports were unlawfully licensed and exported to the US, Europe and other destinations." full story |
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Ban on Selling Wildlife May Fuel Trade |
Banning the trade in endangered wildlife can actually result in increased trade in the animals and their parts, a report published Thursday said. The finding, reported in the journal Nature, is likely to fuel debate among conservationists who disagree over how to best curb the trade in endangered species. full story |
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Montana Delays Slaughter of
300 Bison Amid Uproar |
Public outrage prompted a temporary stay of execution Wednesday for 300 bison, including an estimated 100 calves, roaming in Montana outside the confines of Yellowstone National Park. The Montana Board of Livestock on Tuesday announced plans to capture and kill the bison, or buffalo, in the wake of news earlier this month that seven Montana cows had tested positive for brucellosis. full story |
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Europe Urged to Restrain Booming Wildlife Trade |
Caviar, tropical timber, rare live reptiles and reptile skins - the EU is one of the biggest global markets for wildlife trade, which has a devastating impact on the survival of many endangered species and their environment. The first analysis of the volume and scope of wildlife imports to Europe was released in a report today by TRAFFIC ahead of an international conference on trade in endangered species that opens next week. full story |
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Egg Gatherers Help Scientists
Crack Toxic Contaminant Mystery |
U.S. biologists working with Lockuk are part of a long-range international effort to monitor Arctic and sub-Arctic environments for the quantity and identity of what are called persistent bioaccumulative toxins. These toxins are especially long-lived chemicals that often collect in the fatty tissue of living organisms. The eggs of these murres and gulls contain a precise record of contaminants found where the birds live and forage. full story |
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Inuit Leader: Stop Expansion of Stansted Airport |
One of the most prominent members of the Inuit community will today plead for an end to the expansion of Stansted Airport and deliver a devastating critique of the link between Britain's cheap flights culture and the effects of climate change on his people. Aqqaluk Lynge will present evidence of the increasing loss of Inuit villages and hunting grounds across the Arctic. full story |
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Tokyo Vows to Continue Cull of Humpback Whales |
Japan has vowed to press on and kill 50 humpback whales later this year in defiance of conservationists and anti-whaling nations. Japanese whaling ships intend to kill the humpbacks in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary as part of its "scientific whaling" programme. The ships will also hunt hundreds of minke, sei, sperm and fin whales. The humpback is classed by most environmentalists as one of the planet's more imperiled species. full story |
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U.S. to Study Protection for Alaska Loon |
A petition seeking Endangered Species Act protection for a rare loon that breeds in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve has been accepted for review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Conservationists hope an eventual listing of the yellow-billed loon will curb petroleum development in the 23-million acre reserve that covers much of Alaska's western North Slope. full story |
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Ancient Megadroughts Struck
U.S. West - Could Happen Again |
Much of the western U.S. may be headed into a prolonged dry spell, a "perfect drought," scientists say, that could persist for generations. The West already has been dry for six years and is looking to be dry again in 2007, said Glen Macdonald, an ecology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. full story |
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The Cruelties of Global Warming |
Peru's glaciers are melting. High in the Andes, freak hailstorms and cold snaps are freezing llamas to death. In the north of Kenya, unprecedented droughts have driven herdsmen into deadly battles for the few water holes. In the mountains of Tajikistan, near the border with Afghan-istan, flooding and landslides are washing away the crops. Across the developing world, man-made climate change is an indisputable reality and it is already hitting hardest against the poorest nations. full story |
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Logging Roads Scar Brazil's Amazon |
Brazil's network of illegal roads continues to expand. According to the Imazon study, around 1,174 miles of new roads are cut into the forest each year. With the help of this enormous network of hidden roads, loggers continue to destroy the forest at an astonishing rate, environmental groups say. In the state of Para, for example, satellite images show deforestation levels have jumped by 50% since 2004. full story |
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Global Warming and Ice Predators -
The Arctic Fox, an Endangered Species Now |
The Arctic fox’s habitat, the Arctic tundra, is in a hairline balance, being extremely weak faced to climate change. "Research on ecosystems is complex as it deals with dynamics in all living species in interaction with each other and with non-living aspects of their environment. One of the objectives of this project is to examine whether it’s possible to create a simplification by using the predator community as an ecosystem indicator". full story |
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G8 Leaders Heading for Showdown on Kyoto |
The leaders of the world's wealthiest countries are headed for a showdown next month on how to tackle climate change, with the United States pitted against European nations on how to move forward. Where Canada stands on this major rift remains a mystery leading up to the G8 meetings in Heiligendamm, Germany, beginning June 6. full story |
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Environmental Defense |
Over the next three years, the US Air Force plans to add an important new class of vehicles to its fleet. They can't fly. They have no weaponry. They look like golf carts, and none of them can break 25 miles per hour. What they can do is save fuel. Although the Air Force hasn't decided exactly which models to buy, some of the candidates are electric-powered, others run on ethanol, and even those that use traditional gasoline boast fuel economies between 40 and 50 miles per gallon. full story |
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Plantation Workers Look for Justice in the North |
By day, the workers had harvested bunches of fruit to ship to North American tables. At night, some had sprayed pesticide into the warm, humid air to protect the trees from insects and rot. As the decades passed, the workers came to believe that the pesticide, called DBCP, had cost them their health. Thousands joined lawsuits in the U.S. and Nicaragua alleging that the pesticide made them sterile. full story |
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Sensitive Birds Alert Scientists to New Threat |
There's a new chemical appearing in ospreys, and, unlike PCBs, it's coming from our homes. It is a flame retardant called polybrominated diphenyl ether, or PBDE, and it's as common today as the computers, televisions and furniture that contain it. PBDEs appear to be rinsing out of homes and businesses in sewage, through treatment plants and into rivers, where they end up in fish and the birds that eat them, scientists say. full story |
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Arctic, Tropical Islands Team Up for Climate Pact |
Arctic peoples and tropical islanders will try to strengthen an unusual alliance on the front lines of global warming from Sunday by seeking ways to cope with melting ice and rising seas. Polar ice and permafrost sound an odd combination with tropical palm beaches and coral atolls but scientists say both the Arctic and small islands are among the most vulnerable to global warming. full story |
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Likely Carcinogen in U.S. Blood |
New studies by university researchers and scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that a chemical designated as a likely human carcinogen is present in the blood of almost every American, including newborn infants. The chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, is associated with the manufacture and use of Teflon and other moisture-resistant products. full story |
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Combating Climate Change:
Farming Out Global Warming Solutions |
Saving the trees could slow climate change, new research shows. Each year, nearly 33 million acres of forestland around the world is cut down. Tropical felling alone contributes 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon, some 20% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions, to the atmosphere annually. If such losses were cut in half, it could save 500 million metric tons of carbon annually and contribute 12% of the total reductions in GHG emissions. full story |
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Radical Environmentalist Gets 9-Year Term |
By the time Chelsea D. Gerlach was 16, she was putting her passion for the environment into action. She drove alone from Oregon to Idaho to protest a timber sale. She spoke at a university conference here alongside professors. Interviewed by her high school newspaper she said, “Our generation was born to save the earth.” Now Ms. Gerlach is 30, and although she may continue to be an environmentalist, a federal judge said Friday that she was a terrorist, too. full story |
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Conservationists Warn India Rhinos
Running Out of Space |
With their numbers on the rise, the endangered great one-horn rhinoceroses in India's main national rhino park are running out of space as authorities delay sending them to other reserves, conservationists say. "Rhinos are facing a space crunch," Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, co-chairman of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group, told Reuters. full story |
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Common Chemicals Pose Danger
for Fetuses, Scientists Warn |
In a strongly worded declaration, many of the world's leading environmental scientists warned Thursday that exposure to common chemicals makes babies more likely to develop an array of health problems later in life, including diabetes, attention deficit disorders, prostate cancer, fertility problems, thyroid disorders and even obesity. full story |
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Bipartisan Bill Would Safeguard
America's Roadless Forests |
Bills to enshrine the protection of 58.5 million acres of roadless national forests in law were re-introduced in the U.S. House and Senate on Thursday with bipartisan support and the backing of conservation groups. These roadless areas in 38 states are now at risk of road construction, commercial logging, oil and gas drilling and mining exploration, despite a rule passed in the final days of the Clinton administration that protected them. full story |
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Endangered Gorillas "Held Hostage"
by Rebels in Africa Park |
African rebels killed a wildlife officer and wounded three people on Sunday in attacks on three ranger posts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Virunga National Park. Now the Mai Mai rebels say they will kill mountain gorillas in the park if rangers try to retaliate, according to the conservation group Wildlife Direct, based in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. full story |
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Scientists Urge WTO To Slash Fishing Subsidies |
A group of 125 international marine scientists urged the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Thursday to push for a global accord to slash subsidies paid by many countries to their fishing industries. They warned that unless support was reduced soon, overfishing would damage the ecosystem of the world's oceans beyond recovery. full story |
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Evidence of Global Warming Is Here |
Forget the future. Global warming's impacts, be they sea-level rise, weird weather, or vast ecological die-offs, are well under way here and now. Warming trends over the past 50 years suggest the region will have to rethink how it goes about restoring tidal wetlands, such as the vast South Bay salt ponds. Some regions being lovingly restored now may never emerge from low tide 20 to 50 years' hence. full story |
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New Presidential Directive
Gives Bush Dictatorial Power |
The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9, '07 declares that in the event of a "catastrophic event", George W. Bush can become what is best described as "a dictator". This directive, completely unnoticed by the media, and given no scrutiny by Congress, literally gives the White House unprecedented dictatorial power over the govt. and the country, bypassing the US Congress and obliterating the separation of powers. full story |
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Record Sightings for British Butterflies |
Britain's butterflies are emerging earlier than ever with at least 14 species so far breaking all known records, some of them by astonishing margins, due to climate change. Lepidopterists have been delighting in early shows due to a warm spring, but conservationists warn the effect on Britain's food chain is as yet unknown and must be monitored. There are fears the birds and animals that feed on them may be knocked out of synchronisation. full story |
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Likely Carcinogen Found in
New Jersey Drinking Water |
After testing drinking water samples in New Jersey, a coalition of environmental and labor groups announced it found levels of perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical the federal government has labeled a likely human carcinogen. PFOA has been linked to human health problems, and developmental and other adverse health effects at very low dose levels in lab animals, according to a panel to the US EPA. full story |
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Southeast Asia Seeks to
Crack Down on Animal Trade |
Southeast Asian nations plan to set up task forces to help fight the illegal animal trade in a region that is home to many endangered species, an Indonesian forestry official said on Wednesday. Conservation groups welcomed the plan, but said the problem appeared to be getting worse and urgent action was needed. full story |
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India Tiger Numbers Far Lower
Than Thought, Experts Say |
Early results from a tiger census in India indicate the population of the endangered big cats is drastically lower than previously assumed, wildlife experts and conservationists said on Wednesday. Experts from the government-run Wildlife Institute of India presented initial results of a new count of tigers in 16 of India's 28 tiger reserves and their surrounding areas. full story |
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Vanishing Habitats: The Battle to
Save the Atlantic Forest |
Parts of the Atlantic Forest are richer in life than any other rainforest on the planet. But only about 8% of this previously immense temperate zone survives. The Atlantic Forest is the forgotten forest. It does not get the publicity of its Amazonian counterpart yet its place in the scheme of life is just as important because of the sheer density of species that are found here and nowhere else. full story |
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Dozens of European Mammal Species Face
Extinction, Conservation Group Says |
Dozens of European mammals, including the Iberian lynx, the elusive Saiga antelope and the Mediterranean monk seal, face extinction unless immediate measures are taken to protect them, a conservation group said Tuesday. A total of 35 of the continent's 231 mammal species, about 15% fall into the threatened category. full story |
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Warming Oceans Put More Stress on Whales |
Climate change is making life more difficult for whales, dolphins and porpoises that must adapt to shrinking sea ice and decline in their prey species, according to a new study released by conservationists ahead of next week's annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission. Cetaceans such as belugas, narwhals, and bowhead whales that rely on icy polar waters for habitat and food are likely to suffer most from the reduction in sea ice. full story |
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Game Reserve Hotels Threaten Elephants |
One of Kenya's finest game parks is under threat from uncontrolled development of hotels and lodges, conservationists claim. The building of four new hotels, which would more than double the number of beds in Samburu National Reserve, has been criticised by environmental groups which warn that elephant migratory corridors and lion breeding habitats could be destroyed. full story |
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Polar Bears at Risk as Warming Thaws Icy Home |
Time may be running out for polar bears as global warming melts the ice beneath their paws. Restrictions or bans on hunting in recent decades have helped protect many populations of the iconic Arctic carnivore, but many experts say the long-term outlook is bleak. 20,000-25,000 bears live around the Arctic, in Canada, Russia, Alaska, Greenland and Norway, and countries are struggling to work out ways to protect them. full story |
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Bad Air Linked to Low Birth Weight |
Connecticut air that meets federal pollution limits still contains enough harmful chemicals to stunt babies before they are born, a groundbreaking Yale University study has found. The Yale study found that emissions from cars, diesel engines and power plants increase the frequency of low-birth weight babies, who face a multitude of medical problems, including cognitive ability, infection, heart disease and stroke. full story |
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A River Gasps for Life |
The Ganga is 'dying', and fast. The most revered river of the country can no longer be classified as "threatened". If the WWF report 'World's top 10 rivers at risk' is any indication, continuous water withdrawal, pollution and climate change have together created a situation of very high risk for our most famous river. full story |
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Troubled Waters |
Vermont's cold, clean rivers and streams offer some of the best wild brook trout conditions in the eastern US. But as the state's average temperatures are increasing, its cold-water fish habitat is decreasing. The state's average temperature is projected to rise from 2 to 10 degrees by the year 2100. A report by the U.S. EPA says a 5-degree rise in average temperature could devastate trout and salmon populations nationwide and eliminate brook trout entirely in Vermont. full story |
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Renewable Energy: The Tide Turns |
Senior cabinet ministers are pushing for Britain to be the first nation in the world to get much of its power from the tides, as part of a massive new expansion for renewable energy. The Environment Secretary, David Miliband, Welsh Secretary Peter Hain and Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling want a giant £14bn barrage to be built across the Severn. full story |
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Bipolar Children - Is the US Overdiagnosing? |
Rebecca Riley seemed a normal, playful young child, if at times a little boisterous. Then, aged 2, she was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and at 3 as having a bipolar personality. By the age of 4, Rebecca was dead, killed by an overdose of the drug clonidine, which was being used to treat her condition. She was also taking the anti-convulsant Depakote and the anti-psychotic Seroquel to stabilise her mood. full story |
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Drought Puts Pressure on Electricity |
The water shortage across eastern Australia is now so acute it has begun to affect power supplies, and the country is at risk of electricity shortages next year. Coal and hydro power generation require very large amounts of water, and the Snowy scheme depends on it for 86 per cent of its generation capacity. full story |
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Manhattan-sized Ice Island Will Be
Weather Balloon of Climate Change |
A Manhattan-sized ice island off the northwest coast of Canada's Ellesmere Island could soon be on the move because of extraordinary conditions in the eastern Arctic, say ice experts. Huge cracks and areas of open water have been appearing near the Ayles Ice Island in recent weeks, says Luke Copland, an ice specialist at the University of Ottawa. full story |
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Poisoned Toothpaste in Panama
Is Believed to Be From China |
Diethylene glycol, a poisonous ingredient in some antifreeze, has been found in 6,000 tubes of toothpaste in Panama, and customs officials there said yesterday that the product appeared to have originated in China. Diethylene glycol is the same poison that the Panamanian government inadvertently mixed into cold medicine last year, killing at least 100 people. full story |
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Governments to Rewrite Trade Rules
for Imperiled Species |
From June 3 to 15, more than a 1,000 delegates from 171 countries will convene to determine the fate of 40 animal and plant species at risk of over-exploitation due to international trade. Govt. Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species will consider new proposals affecting the global protection of African elephants, Asian cats, whales, N. American bobcats, leopards, rhinos, sharks, red and pink corals, slow lorises, and a host of plant and tree species. full story |
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China's Additives on Menu in U.S. |
As the recall of tainted pet food mushroomed into an international scandal, 2 of the largest U.S. food manufacturers put out a blanket order to their American suppliers: No more ingredients from China. The directive from Mission Foods. and Tyson Foods underscored consumers' and manufacturers' fears about the safety of imported food ingredients after contaminated wheat products from China killed and sickened pets in the U.S. full story |
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Greenpeace: Exxon Still Funding Climate Skeptics |
Exxon Mobil Corp. gave over $2 million in 2006 to groups Greenpeace called global warming skeptics even as the oil company campaigned to improve its climate-unfriendly image. The company still funds about 40 "skeptic groups," according to the report from Greenpeace, but Exxon disputed that many of the organizations were "global warming deniers." full story |
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Trust Fund for Grizzlies, Wolves Weighed |
Grizzly bear and gray wolf populations in parts of the Northern Rockies are considered stable enough by the govt. to survive without ESA protection. But the animals could get a trust fund to shield them from hard times. With grizzlies in and around Yellowstone recently taken off the threatened species list and gray wolves expected to come off the endangered list within the next year, spending likely will drop as the agency turns its resources to other imperiled species. full story |
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Study Shows Southern Ocean
Saturated with Carbon Dioxide |
The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is so loaded with carbon dioxide that it can barely absorb any more, so more of the gas will stay in the atmosphere to warm up the planet, scientists reported Thursday. Human activity is the main culprit, said researcher Corinne Le Quere, who called the finding very alarming. full story |
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West Nile Virus Decimates Suburban Birds |
Birds that once flourished in suburban skies, including robins, bluebirds and crows, have been devastated by West Nile virus. Populations of 7 species have had dramatic declines across the continent since West Nile emerged in the United States in 1999, according to a first-of-its-kind study. The research, to be published Thursday by the journal Nature, compared 26 years of bird breeding surveys to quantify what had been known anecdotally. full story |
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Poor Indian Fishermen Threaten
To Kill Rare Sharks |
Fishermen along India's western coast are threatening to undo conservation efforts and kill hundreds of endangered whale sharks unless the government gives fuel subsidies promised to them three years ago. About 15,000 fishermen living by the Arabian Sea in the western state of Gujarat say they need help to run their boats and will be forced to hunt the massive yet docile fish and sell its parts for money.
full story |
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China Needs Responsible
Timber Choice, Greenpeace Says |
Greenpeace called on China's large DIY retailers on Thursday to adopt "responsible" timber-sourcing policies to allow the country's growing ranks of home renovators to buy legally imported wood. The environmental group's China office said foreign and local DIY operators were selling illegally imported timber from forests in Southeast Asia, Africa and Brazil, and providing consumers with no way of checking their origins. full story |
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Environmental Groups Sue U.S. Navy
Over Sonar Exercises off Hawaii |
Five environmental groups is suing the Navy over sonar exercises off the coast of Hawaii that they say harm whales. Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in federal court in Honolulu on Wednesday, citing studies saying Navy sonar can "kill, injure, or significantly alter the behavior of whales and dolphins." full story |
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India Must Resist China Pressure
on Tiger Ban, WWF Says |
India must not support a Chinese campaign to lift a ban on trading tiger parts as any relaxation could wipe out the endangered cats, conservation group WWF-India said. The call came a day after a Chinese delegation met Indian officials seeking support to lift the ban, imposed in 1993 on the sale of tiger bones in China for use in traditional medicines as well as skins. full story |
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Energy Standards Needed, Report Says |
The research group's study, scheduled to be released today, concludes that projected electricity consumption in residential buildings in the United States in 2020 could be reduced by more than a third if compact fluorescent light bulbs and an array of other high-efficiency options including water heaters, kitchen appliances, room-insulation materials and standby power were adopted across the nation.
full story |
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Indonesia Counts Its Islands
Before It Is Too Late |
Indonesia has so many islands it has not been able to count them all and is having a hard time finding names for them. Officially there are about 17,000 islands, but that number may drop as one minister fears hundreds of islands might vanish because of rising sea levels from global warming.
full story |
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Scientists Predict Asian Dust Plume
Might Sway U.S. Climate |
Asian desert dust and city pollution is swirling in vast plumes across the Pacific to North America, interacting with storms and possibly spurring climate change, an airborne scientist said Tuesday. "We have found enhancements in pollution levels in some of the upper regions of the storm clouds we studied, just yesterday for example." full story |
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Bald Eagles in Wyoming Soar to 185 Pairs |
The number of bald eagles in Wyoming has grown to 185 breeding pairs, a population recovery that has exceeded expectations from ornithologists who predicted much lower recovery rates when the birds were first granted federal protection in 1967. The bald eagle population is soaring nationally, as well, with the number of breeding pairs in the lower 48 states climbing from a low in 1963 of 417 to more than 9,700. full story |
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Marine Reserves Could Save Coral Reefs |
Threatened coral reefs could be given a helping hand by establishing marine reserves. Marine reserves have already proved to be a successful way of protecting marine life against commercial fishing. Now, research shows for the first time how marine reserves could also help in the recovery of corals, which are already suffering the effects of climate change and over-fishing. full story |
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Children Face Exposure to Pesticides |
On Grandparents Day, Domitila Lemus accompanied her 8-year-old granddaughter to school. As the girls lined up behind Sunnyside Union Elementary, a foul mist drifted onto the playground from the adjacent orange groves, witnesses say. Lemus started coughing, and two children collapsed in spasms, vomiting on the blacktop. full story |
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How Safe Is the Food Supply? |
Tainted ingredients in pet food may have shocked most Americans, but not William Hubbard. As a longtime top policy official at the Food & Drug Administration, Hubbard a decade ago spotted two worrisome trends. Food imports were rising dramatically at the same time the FDA's ability to police the food supply was in decline. full story |
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Scientists Urge Half of
Canada Forest Be Protected |
Canada's vast forests should be protected much more than they are now to preserve wildlife and water and to fight global warming, a group of 1,500 scientists from around the world said Monday. The scientists say Canada's Boreal Forest, stretching from the Alaskan border and running north of the plains all the way to Newfoundland on the Atlantic, is one of largest intact forest-and-wetland ecosystems remaining on earth. full story |
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U.S. Allows Radioactive Materials
in Ordinary Landfills |
Radioactive materials from nuclear weapons facilities are being released to regular landfills and could get into commercial recycling streams, finds a report issued today by the nonprofit Nuclear Information and Resource Service, NIRS. Radioactive scrap, concrete, equipment, asphalt, plastic, wood, chemicals, and soil are placed in ordinary landfills, researchers learned. full story |
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U.S. Seeks Softer Warming Stand at G8 Summit |
The United States is trying to dilute a declaration on global warming to be made at next month's Group of 8 summit. In a draft of the declaration dated April 2007 seen by Reuters, the United States objects to a pledge to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius this century and cut world greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. full story |
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Warming World Threatens Migratory Birds |
Disoriented by erratic weather, birds are changing migration habits and routes to adjust to warmer winters, disappearing feeding grounds and shrinking wetlands. Failure to adapt risks extinction. Birds face starvation when they arrive too early or too late to find their normal diet of insects, plankton or fish. In the north, some birds have stopped migrating altogether, leaving them at risk when the next cold winter strikes. full story |
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Recovery Program Working for Pronghorn |
Federal wildlife biologist Mike Coffeen is ecstatic these days. His efforts to save North America's fastest mammal, the endangered Sonoran pronghorn, are succeeding beyond expectations. Five years after drought whittled the deer-like animal's population to a handful, pushing it to the brink of extinction, its numbers are back above 100.
full story |
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Australia's Military Calls in Kangaroo Shooters |
A planned cull of thousands of near-starving kangaroos in Australia's capital on Monday had animal rights activists warning of protests to save the animals. Australia's Defence Department plans to employ professional hunters to shoot around 3,200 eastern grey kangaroos, around half the 6,500 population, on two military bases on the fringes of Canberra, including a firing range. full story |
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Organic Milk Seen Flooding US Market |
The dairy industry is expecting organic milk supply to surge by at least 40% this year from a previous annual growth rate of 20%, creating an excess of 25 million gallons, according to some estimates. Meanwhile, consumer demand for organic milk will continue to grow at 25% annually, leading some industry experts to predict that a retail promotion war is imminent. full story |
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One Billion to be Displaced by 2050,
Global Warming a Factor |
At least one billion people risk fleeing their homes over the next four decades because of conflicts and natural disasters that will worsen with global warming. In a report, British-based Christian Aid said countries worldwide, especially the poorest, are now facing the greatest forced migration ever, one that will dwarf those displaced by World War II. full story |
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Deforestation: The Hidden Cause
of Global Warming |
The accelerating destruction of the rainforests that form a precious cooling band around the Earth's equator, is now being recognised as one of the main causes of climate change. Carbon emissions from deforestation far outstrip damage caused by planes and automobiles and factories. The rampant slashing and burning of tropical forests is second only to the energy sector as a source of greenhouses gases. full story |
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Health Risk from Springs' Pollution
Not Fully Understood |
Pollution in springs could cause reproductive changes in aquatic species and have implications for human health, according to emerging science on the issue. Rising nitrate levels in the springs of the Suwannee River basin have long been linked to algae growth that disrupts aquatic ecosystems. But new research suggests nitrates could also affect reproduction and lead to allergic reactions. full story |
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Tibet's Mighty Glaciers Rapidly Disappearing |
The glaciers of the Himalayas store more ice than anywhere on Earth except for the polar regions and Alaska, and the steady flow of water from their melting icepacks fills 7 of the mightiest rivers of Asia. Now, because of global warming and related changes in the monsoons and trade winds, the glaciers are retreating at a startling rate, and scientists say the ancient icepacks could nearly disappear within one or two generations. full story |
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Food Safety an Issue Across Asia |
When Bangladeshi magistrate Rokon-ud-Dowla raided a local fish market to check on the quality of the food for sale, he was shocked by what he discovered. "We found all 176 tonnes of fish in the market containing harmful formaldehydes," he said. "We also sealed off dozens of bakeries and confectionery shops for using textile and tannery dyes on sweets in a bid to make them colourful."
full story |
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220 Wildfires Rage across Florida |
Florida, the US state that is most vulnerable to global warming, is joining the fight to control climate change as more than 220 wildfires, fanned by the first named storm of the season, rage across its territory. In an embarrassing blow to Bush, the state's new Rep. Gov., Crist, announced "the first steps towards addressing the impact of climate change" by joining 30 other states in setting up an org. to monitor greenhouse gas emissions. full story |
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Global Warming Will Displace over
Seven Million Indians |
Global warming and subsequent sea level rise will hit the eastern cost of India by the end of this century and displace over seven million people, the environment ministry said Friday. "In the event of one meter sea-level rise, 5,764 sq km of land in coastal areas of India is projected to be lost, displacing approximately 7.1 million people along with 4,200 km of roads by the end of the 21st century." full story |
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Pond Scum Shows Promise as Fuel |
Could pond scum solve the world's energy and global warming crises? University of Hawai'i professor Pengchen "Patrick" Fu thinks it can, with a little push from biotechnology. Fu has developed strains of cyanobacteria, one of the components of pond scum , that feed on atmospheric carbon dioxide, and produce ethanol as a waste product. full story |
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Migrating Birds' Habitat Threatened by Sea Wall |
Thousands of birds are being starved on their migratory routes between Australia and Siberia as a result of a huge land-reclamation project that has drained a valuable wetland habitat in S. Korea. A 20-mile-long sea wall has stopped the ebb and flow of the tides that have made the Saemangeum wetland one of the most important feeding points in the world for migratory birds. Since the wall was closed a year ago the wetlands have been turned from a thriving bird reserve to a barren wasteland.
full story |
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Lupus Cluster at Oilfield Points Finger at Pollution |
An alarmingly high number of people living in houses built on top of a disused oilfield in New Mexico have been diagnosed with the autoimmune disease lupus. It is the latest in a growing number of lupus clusters near polluted areas, and points towards the environmental triggers for this complex disease. full story |
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Acidic Oceans Affecting Food Fish |
Oceans had until recently been viewed as a great savior of the climate, because they have absorbed about one third of the carbon humans have emitted, buffering what would otherwise have been a greater warming of the atmosphere. But scientists have in recent years begun studying the consequences of oceanic carbon storage, a 25% increase in acidity since pre-industrial times. full story |
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India State Accused of Putting Pride Before Lions |
An Indian state housing the world's only natural habitat for the rare Asiatic lion is refusing to relocate the big cats despite calls from conservationists who say it is the only way to save the species. More than a dozen lions have died, mainly due to increased poaching, in the last two months in Gir National Park. Yet authorities in Gujarat in western India are resisting calls to shift some of the population to a neighbouring state. full story |
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Bottled Water Has High Environmental Costs |
Bottled water, the world's fastest growing beverage, carries a heavy environmental cost, adding plastic to landfills and putting pressure on natural springs, the author of a new report said Thursday. The environmental impact can start at the source, where some local streams and underground aquifers become depleted when there is "excessive withdrawal" for bottled water. full story |
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Sealife-killing Acid off California at Record Levels |
An algae bloom in Southern California coastal waters has produced record levels of a toxic acid, scientists reported Wednesday. The chemical has been blamed in the deaths of numerous marine mammals and seabirds in recent months. Measurements from four coastal stations last month found the highest domoic acid concentrations at 27 micrograms per liter. full story |
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Organized Crime Fuels Illegal
Ivory Surge in Africa |
Asian-run organized crime syndicates based in Africa are being implicated in the increase in illegal trade in elephant ivory, according to a new study by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network of WWF and IUCN. The study identified the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria as the 3 nations most heavily implicated as the sources of ivory. full story |
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House Panel Spotlights Political
Intereference with Endangered Species |
Bush administration officials at the Interior Department have repeatedly manipulated science in order to weaken protections for endangered species, former agency officials and environmentalists told the House Resources Committee Wednesday. "Under your leadership we have got negligence, incompetence and political hackery," Representative Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat, told Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett. full story |
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Uganda Forest Faces Bulldozers, Species at Risk |
Uganda has suffered violent protests in recent weeks over government plans to give at least 17,500 acres of Mabira Forest, a nature reserve since 1932, to a sugar cane company. Critics say razing it could devastate a fragile environment, sparking soil erosion, drying up the climate and removing a buffer against pollution for Lake Victoria.
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Ready for 110 Degrees? |
Peak summer temperatures in Atlanta and the Southeast could reach as high as 110 degrees if climate change continues at its current pace, NASA scientists warned Wednesday. A new computer analysis by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York suggests that during July and August, maximum daily temperatures could average 100 to 110 degrees in cities like Atlanta and as far north as Washington and Chicago. full story |
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GM Is First Automaker To
Join Environmental Partnership |
General Motors may be only the first major automaker to join a coalition that wants to reduce greenhouse gases tied to global warming. General Motors Corp. on Tuesday joined the United States Climate Action Partnership, along with 13 other newcomers that included Dow Chemical Co. and PepsiCo Inc. full story |
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Solar Boat Completes Fuel-Free Voyage |
A Swiss-built solar vessel completed the first sun-powered crossing of the Atlantic Tuesday when it arrived at its final destination in New York, the group behind the project said. The 46-foot boat produced 2,000 kilowatt hours of solar energy during its voyage, the transatlantic21 group behind the effort said in a statement. The group said this showed the crossing could be made entirely without fuel.
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31 States Target Global Warming |
Led by California, 31 states representing more than 70% of the U.S. population announced Tuesday that they would measure and jointly track greenhouse gas emissions by major industries. The newly formed Climate Registry is the latest example of states going further than the federal government in taking steps to combat global warming.
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Pollution Threatens River's Health |
New data on contamination in the Lower Columbia River show concentrations of pesticides, industrial compounds and flame retardants between Portland and Longview, Wash., that rival those in Seattle's Puget Sound. the lower Columbia River habitat continues to suffer from decades-old applications of the banned agricultural pesticide DDT, restricted industrial insulators and lubricants PCBs, and PAH found in petroleum. full story |
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Chicken from China? |
According to the USDA, China's top agricultural export goal is opening the US market to its cooked chickens. In China, some farmers try to maximize the output from their small plots by flooding produce with unapproved pesticides, pumping livestock with antibiotics banned in the US, and using human feces as fertilizer to boost soil productivity.
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Massachusetts Challenges Federal Energy Rules |
Massachusetts sued the federal government Monday, accusing energy regulators of failing to tighten standards that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and eliminate the need for major new power plants. The suit filed in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenged the U.S. government's March 7 decision not to strengthen energy efficiency requirements for heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems. full story |
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Migratory Birds, Whales Confused by Warming |
Birds, whales and other migratory creatures are suffering from global warming that puts them in the wrong place at the wrong time, a U.N. official told 166-nation climate talks on Monday. A warmer climate disrupts the biological clocks of migratory species including bats, dolphins, antelopes or turtles, said Lahcen el Kabiri, deputy head of the U.N.'s Convention on Migratory Species. full story |
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Anti-Mining Demonstrators
Blockade Peruvian Roads |
At midnight on May 2, farmers from cities and towns across the northern Peruvian state of Piura began blocking major roads to mining concessions to demand the immediate suspension of all mining projects in some parts of the state and the declaration of a no-mining "red zone" in the Piuran Cordillera. full story |
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WRI: Value Earth's Ecosystems
or They Will Disappear |
Climate change is not only altering weather patterns and causing sea levels to rise, it is also transforming ecosystem services that humans have always taken for granted, the WRI said today in a new report. Economists usually treat natural assets such as clean drinking water, absorption of carbon dioxide, or the decomposition of wastes as if they have no value. full story |
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Pesticides, Fertilizers Linked to
U.S. Premature Births |
The rising premature birth rate in the United States is associated with increased use of pesticides and fertilizers containing nitrates, according to research by a professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "A growing body of evidence suggests that the consequence of prenatal exposure to pesticides and nitrates as well as to other environmental contaminants is detrimental to many outcomes of pregnancy." full story |
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South Pacific to Stop Bottom-trawling |
A quarter of the world's oceans will be protected from fishing boats which drag heavy nets across the sea floor, South Pacific nations have agreed. The landmark deal will restrict bottom-trawling, which experts say destroys coral reefs and stirs up clouds of sediment that suffocate marine life. Observers and monitoring systems will ensure vessels remain five nautical miles from marine ecosystems at risk. full story |
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Scientists Look High in the Sky for Power |
Scientists are eyeing the jet stream, an energy source that rages night and day, 365 days a year, just a few miles above our heads. If they can tap into its fierce winds, the world's entire electrical needs could be met, they say. The trick is figuring out how to harness the energy and get it down to the ground cost-effectively and safely. full story |
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India Plans World's First Tiger Move after Debacle |
A trek to Tiger Point in Sariska Tiger Reserve used to almost guarantee views of the big cats. Now antelope graze with little to fear. The antelopes' predator has disappeared from the reserve after its population was wiped out by poachers two years ago, a massive conservation scandal widely blamed on the negligence of the park and state government authorities. full story |
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Malaysia Seeks To Rehabilitate Borneo
Rain Forests Marred by Logging | |
Malaysia needs 200 million ringgit to restore heavily logged forests that are home to thousands of orangutans on Borneo island. Wildlife experts have estimated that 13,000 orangutans live in the wild in Sabah, accounting for 1/5 of their total population. Sabah's forests are also home to other rare animals such as Bornean pygmy elephants and Sumatran rhinos. full story |
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Poaching Rises in Zimbabwe's Game Parks |
Poaching is rising in Zimbabwe's game reserves and at least 40 endangered black rhinos have been killed in the last three years, the World Wildlife Fund conservation group said on Saturday. Zimbabwe has an estimated 800 black rhinos, after losing over 1,500 to heavy poaching in the 1980s before a government crackdown slowed the slaughter. full story |
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Bill Would Ban Chemical from Plastic Baby Toys |
A common chemical found in soft, chewable baby toys would be banned in California under a bill before an Assembly committee this week. Phthalates have been banned by the EU and at least 14 other countries after studies found that the chemical mimics the hormone estrogen and could cause developmental problems. Those could include early puberty in girls, low sperm counts, genital defects and lower testosterone in boys. full story |
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Peru's Rainforest: Oil and Gas Run Through It |
The Peruvian government is increasingly pushing an oil and gas boom through some of the world's most biodiverse rain forests. In 2006, 70% of the country's pristine Amazonian rainforest was zoned for oil and gas, up from just 13% in 2004, according to a study by groups including Environmental Defense and Oxfam. This year the country is tendering an additional 22.2 million acres, an area larger than the state of Maine. full story |
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Fiddling with Figures while the Earth Burns |
If you want to get some idea of what much of the Earth might look like in 50 years then, says James Lovelock, get hold of a powerful telescope or log onto Nasa’s Mars website. That arid, empty, lifeless landscape is, he believes, how most of Earth’s equatorial lands will be looking by 2050. A few decades later and that same uninhabitable desert will have extended into Spain, Italy, Australia and much of the southern US. full story |
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Oceans' Energy Potential Touted |
It sounds like something from a Jules Verne novel: clean, perpetually renewable energy from the oceans that could power the world. Scientists at a group of Florida universities are working to transform the vision from science fiction to reality, with the first steps possible in 3 to 10 years.
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Biofuels: The Great Green Con |
Everyone is jumping on the biofuel bandwagon. But questions are starting to be raised about just how green biofuels really are. They encourage deforestation - responsible for around a quarter of the world's carbon emissions - as land is cleared to grow the crops. Biofuels have also driven up food prices, hitting the world's poor the hardest. full story |
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Oil and Gas Well-ness Checkup |
Dee Hoffmeister awoke at 3 a.m. early in March with her head spinning. The oversized red numbers on the alarm clock were a blur. She couldn't get out of bed without her husband's help. A gas well a stone's throw from the Hoffmeisters' home was on fire, and the area was steeped in oily smoke. Hoffmeister, 69, who has suffered intermittent mysterious ailments since that well was drilled in 2005, ended up at the emergency room. full story |
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Revealed: the Deadly Invader That Is
Bleeding Great Lakes Fish to Death |
Tens of thousands of fish have been bleeding to death from an aggressive Ebola-like virus in North America's Great Lakes. Officials fear that the plague will spread to devastate waters across the continent. The epidemic caused by what one US government scientist calls "the most important and dangerous fish virus known worldwide" is believed to have been brought into the lakes by ocean-going ships. full story |
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Kids Breathing Pollutants on Aging Buses |
Day in and day out, children across the U.S. are riding to school on aging buses, breathing what some activists say is a dangerous brew of pollutants up to five times dirtier than the air outside. It is a situation that Congress and many states have sought to fix in recent years. In fact, in 2005 federal lawmakers passed a measure to replace or retrofit the dirtiest diesel engines across the nation. But little has been done full story |
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IPCC Reports Quick Action
Can Avert Worst Climate Impacts |
Catastropic global warming can be avoided without excessive economic cost but the world must begin to act at once, a UN climate change panel representing 2,500 international scientists said today. The world community could slow and then reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases over the next several decades by utilizing cost-effective policies and current and emerging technologies, says the new assessment by the IPCC. full story |
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Toronto's Bird-Friendly
Development Guidelines Take Flight |
The city of Toronto Thursday published its new Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines, a set of practices designed to save some of the up to 10 million migratory birds that die each year in collisions with Toronto's buildings. Urban night lighting attracts birds and poor weather traps them, which increases the density of migratory birds in urban areas. More migratory birds in the unfamiliar urban environment results in an increased number of bird collisions the following day. full story |
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Malaria Fear as Global Warming Increases |
Global warming could lead to a return of insect-borne diseases in Britain such as malaria, and increased incidence of skin cancer caused by exposure to the sun, a govt. report warns today. With temperatures forecast to rise into the high 30s this summer, scientists fear Britain could be in line for at least one extreme heatwave before 2012. Tick-borne diseases are set to increase, along with the threat of other diseases associated with hotter climates. full story |
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Indigenous Peru Group
Threatens To Sue Occidental |
Indigenous Achuar communities of Peru who claim that pollution resulting from the production of oil harmed their way of life and damaged their health Thursday threatened to sue Occidental Petroleum. Attorneys who represent the Achuar said that pollution caused by Occidental until 2000 and Occidental's poorly designed pollution control systems that remain in place leave culpable the fourth-largest U.S. oil and gas company. full story |
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Bhutan To Pay for the Climate Sins of Others |
High in the Himalayas, the isolated mountain kingdom of Bhutan has done more to protect its environment than almost any other country. Forests cover nearly 3/4 of its land, and help to absorb the greenhouse gases others emit. Its strict conservation policies help to guard one of the world's top 10 biodiversity hotspots. Yet Bhutan could pay a high price for the sins of others, global warming is a major threat to its fragile ecosystem and the livelihoods of its people. full story |
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Wind Farms Useful but May Threaten Birds |
Wind farms could generate up to 7 percent of U.S. electricity in 15 years, but scientists want more study of the threat the spinning blades pose to birds and bats. The towers appear most dangerous to night-migrating songbirds, bats and some hunting birds such as hawks and eagles. The risk is not understood enough to draw conclusions, a National Research Council panel said Thursday in a study requested by Congress. full story |
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Filmmaker: Fewer Than 1,000
Wild Tigers Left in India |
In his new film on India's tiger crisis, conservation filmmaker Krishnendu Bose argues that there may be less than 1,000 wild tigers remaining in India. "Basically it's a film to share the truth with the people of the country," Bose told ENS in an interview. "I've realized [while shooting that there are] a lot of things even I didn't know as a filmmaker, as a person involved with conservation." full story |
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Teflon Chemical Detected in Infants |
A chemical that is used to help make Teflon is so common in the environment that humans get their first taste of it in the womb. Johns Hopkins researchers found C8 in the umbilical-cord blood of 299 newborns - every baby tested. DuPont has used C8 for decades at its Washington Works factory to make Teflon-brand nonstick, stain- and water-resistant coatings for pots and pans, carpets, clothes and fast-food packages. full story |
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World Has 15-year Window
to Curb Emissions, Experts Say |
A respected panel of scientists organized by the UN says the world probably has only 15 years left to stabilize the growth in greenhouse-gas emissions and, at that point, will have to cut releases in half by 2050 to avoid extremely damaging warming of the planet. The conclusion says big cuts in emissions could be achieved through such steps as imposing carbon taxes, improving automobile efficiency and using renewable fuels. full story |
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Unborn Children Seen as 'Test Rodents'
for Untested Chemicals |
America is using "children as our test rodents" for thousands of new chemicals that have never been tested for toxicity to human life in the womb, said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan. As an example of the impact of a tested toxin in the environment, Landrigan said an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 children born in the US each year suffer a loss of 0.2 to 24.4 IQ points because of methylmercury that passed through the placenta when they were in the womb. full story |
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Growth in Wild Animal Trade Worries Brazil |
Poaching and trafficking in wild animals such as monkeys and parrots is reaching critical proportions in Brazil, home of more animal species than any other country, a non-profit group said Wednesday. The trade is so attractive that it is even prompting drug traffickers to turn their attention to animals. full story |
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Honeybee Die-Off Threatens Food Supply |
Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet. About 1/3 of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80% of that pollination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. full story |
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Melamine-Tainted Feed Has Entered
Human Food Chain |
A chemical used to make plastics that contaminated pet food, killing at least 1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs across the United States has now been detected in the human food chain. Melamine has been found in hog feed in six states and in chicken feed consumed by at least three million chickens. full story |
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Scientists Protest New Reading of ESA |
More than three dozen scientists have signed a letter to protest a new Bush administration interpretation of the Endangered Species Act, saying it jeopardizes animals such as wolves and grizzly bears. The proposed policy revision would enable the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect animals and plants only where they are battling for survival. full story |
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Rio Grande Valley Border Fence Real, Not Virtual |
City officials in the heavily populated valley had anticipated a "virtual" fence of surveillance cameras and border patrols. Instead, a Customs and Border Protection map depicts a structure running piecemeal along a 600-mile stretch of Texas from Presidio to Brownsville, a border region where daily life is binational. "This is going to seriously affect the farmers," he said. "They will not have access to water. It's just going to create bedlam." full story |
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Greenland's Melting Ice Spells Doom |
The world's oceans could rise by up to seven metres if Greenland's ice cap entirely melts because of global warming, climate scientists said on Tuesday. Glaciers on Greenland, the world's most icy land mass, are now melting most quickly where they are in contact with surrounding ocean, while ice in the high centre remains intact, said Garry Clarke, a professor at the University of British Columbia.
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Recruiting Plankton to Fight Global Warming |
Can plankton help save the planet? Some Silicon Valley technocrats are betting that it just might. In an effort to ameliorate the effects of global warming, several groups are working on ventures to grow vast floating fields of plankton intended to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and carry it to the depths of the ocean. full story |
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G.E. Moves Ahead on Removal of PCBs
from 2 Rivers, but Frustration Remains |
More than 30 years have passed since Congress banned a broad range of synthetic compounds called PCBs. Yet 2.65 million cubic yards of mud on the bottom of the Hudson River remain contaminated with the chemicals, which are considered neurotoxins and probable human carcinogens. Since '02, GE has been under federal order to clean approximately 40 miles of the Hudson where its factories discharged PCBs. full story |
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Interior Expands Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling
off Alaska, Virginia and in Gulf |
The Interior Department announced a major expansion of offshore oil and gas development with proposed lease sales covering 48 million new acres off Alaska, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and in the central Atlantic off Virginia. The 3 million acres that are 50 miles off Virginia's coast would require Congress to lift a long-standing drilling moratorium that has covered most ocean waters outside the western Gulf of Mexico for decades. full story |
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Arctic Ice Retreating
30 Years Ahead of Projections |
Arctic sea ice is melting much more quickly than projected by even the most advanced computer models, a new government funded study has found. Comparing actual ice observations with climate models, the scientists conclude that the Arctic could be seasonally free of sea ice as early as 2020. full story |
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Pacific Whale Decline 'a Mystery' |
Grey whales in the eastern Pacific appear to be in some trouble, with the cause far from clear, scientists say. R |
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