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U.S. Greenhouse Gases on Rise
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Greenhouse gas emissions in the United States rose by 0.5 percent in 2002, the Energy Department reported Friday. Carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, which account for 83 percent of all
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greenhouse gas emissions, rose by 0.8 percent from 2001 levels. Many scientists believe that carbon dioxide and other industrial emissions trap heat in the atmosphere, much as a greenhouse does. full story
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Vanishing Ice May Destroy
Polar Bears' Habitat in 100 Years
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A severe thinning of sea ice across the Arctic region has been confirmed for the first time by a satellite study, which predicts the imminent demise of the only natural habitat for the polar bear. Climate scientists said
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yesterday they had established an unambiguous link between the melting of the Arctic and rising temperatures caused by global warming. full story
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US Puts Right to Protest at Risk
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Greenpeace is being taken to court by the US government because of its action against the illegal importation of mahogany. Its lawyers says it is the first time an entire organisation has been criminally prosecuted for
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the activities of two members. The prosecution arises from the activity in April last year of two Greenpeace members who boarded a vessel off the coast of Miami allegedly carrying mahogany from Brazil to the US and hoisted a banner saying: "President Bush, Stop Illegal Logging." full story
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Warming Ocean Likely to Cause Further Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse
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Two sections of Antarctica's Larsen ice shelf have collapsed over the past decade and another portion could be headed for the same fate as warming ocean waters undermine the ice, researchers say. Currents of water
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deep beneath the surface are melting the floating ice shelf from below, said Andrew Shepherd of the University of Cambridge in England. full story
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Feds Turned Down Request
to Fight Beetle
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Just as the Southern California wildfires were beginning late last week, the Bush administration quietly turned down a six-month-old emergency request by Gov. Gray Davis for help in removing dead and
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dying trees in the same forests now being consumed by flame. In April, Davis asked for a federal emergency declaration in three counties where bark beetle infestation had left thousands of acres of dense woodland vulnerable to fire.
full story
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Scientists Back Reef Protection Boost
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A group of Australia's most prominent marine scientists have put their full support behind moves to increase protected areas on the Great Barrier Reef from five to more than 30 per cent. The 15 scientists, from
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organisations such as the Australian Institute of Marine Science will today launch a report outlining why they believe the biodiversity of the reef deserves greater protection. full story
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Judge Orders Special Master in
Everglades Cleanup Dispute
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A federal judge agreed with environmental groups and an Indian tribe Wednesday to appoint an expert to monitor Everglades pollution cleanup, in a defeat for the Bush administrations in Washington
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and in Tallahassee. Government agencies and politically powerful sugar growers vigorously objected to the appointment of a special master to consider whether an 11-year-old Everglades restoration pact is being violated or will be soon.
full story
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U.S. Govt to Auction off Oil and Gas Leases in Scenic Parts of Utah
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The Bush administration will allow oil and gas drilling on land in the state of Utah once reviewed for possible wilderness protection, and environmentalists said Thursday that other areas may follow. In a lease
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sale next month, the Bureau of Land Management will auction rights to drill for oil and gas on more than 17,000 acres, mostly in the Book Cliffs region of eastern Utah, that a 1999 review under the Clinton administration had determined could warrant wilderness designation. full story
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Senate Rejects Measure to Curb
Carbon Dioxide from Industrial Plants
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The Senate rejected a plan Thursday to curb global warming, but both supporters and opponents of the measure said they were happy about the results of the chamber's first vote on the issue in more than six years.
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Senators voted 55-43 to defeat a bill co-sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., that would reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from industrial smokestacks. full story
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Sea Pollution Could Condemn
Turtle Population to Extinction
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Five ailing juvenile turtles washed ashore in September. Very weak and emaciated and unable to submerge from the water, they were covered in epibiota and algae from floating on the sea surface for long periods.
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They rejected food and yet none had external injuries or signs of a viral infection. Two died. An autopsy on one showed a stomach full of plastic. The second, a hawksbill (rarer than the green turtle more commonly found on the coast), had lower intestines full of "soft fibre glass" (similar to roof insulation material). full story
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Activists Claim Japan Dolphin Hunts Use Brutal Methods to Corral, Kill Mammals
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An environmental group claimed Wednesday that Japanese fishermen use unnecessarily brutal methods to hunt dolphins, releasing a videotape that shows the mammals being forced into a cove to be killed, with
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the water turning red from the blood. full story
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Turtle Excluder Devices
Now Law in Mozambique
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A recent study showed that shallow water shrimp trawlers operating on Sofala Bank in central Mozambican waters kill between 1,932 to 5,436 marine turtles every year. These deaths can be averted by installing
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TEDs on trawl nets — a simple and inexpensive operation which is actually welcomed by Mozambican boat owners. full story
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Warming is Global, but the Push
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Motivated by environmental and economic concerns, states have become the driving force in efforts to combat global warming even as mandatory programs on the federal level have largely stalled. At least half
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of the 50 states are addressing global warming, whether through legislation, lawsuits against the Bush administration or programs initiated by governors. full story
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Ecosystem in Fire Zone is Meant to Burn
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The fires raging across Southern California are stoking the debate over whether and how forests should be thinned to protect the communities that increasingly nestle up against them. Yet this week's fires have little
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to do with forests. Most of the 560,231 acres that have burned so far are in areas with few trees -- hilly expanses where homes perch amid the highly flammable chaparral that characterizes much of California's landscape, including the East Bay hills, the Peninsula and parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains. full story
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Senate Opens Debate on Global Warming
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The Senate prepared to make a largely symbolic vote on global warming capping a polarized two-day debate on a bill designed to reduce industrial carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The two
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chief sponsors of the legislation, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman D-Conn., acknowledged that their bill likely would be defeated. They characterized it as the opening shot in a what will be a lengthy effort to get Congress to address human-caused climate change. full story
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Ground Level Ozone Pollution Hits
Ten Year High in Europe
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Preliminary assessments by the European Environment Agency (EEA) suggest that this summer's heatwave contributed to the worst ozone pollution seen in Europe for almost a decade. The hot weather, combined
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with emissions of 'precursor' pollutants from traffic, industry and vegetation, led to long lasting and geographically extensive episodes of harmful ground level ozone pollution across the continent. full story
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Bush Attacks Clean Water Safeguards, Sets Dangerous Precedent
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The Environmental Protection Agency's proposed "Oregon Rule," which would pave the way for federal dams to evade their Clean Water Act obligations, is a trial balloon for a broad national policy
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that would have devastating consequences for river ecosystems across the country, conservationists warned today. full story
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Dikes Bulldozed in Danube Delta
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The removal of more than 6km of dikes on Tataru Island in the Danube Delta starts today, with the goal of restoring the natural flooding regime of this part of the Danube River. The bulldozers symbolize a new future
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for the island, which is the first model site of the “A Vision for the Ukrainian Danube Delta” project, supported by WWF. full story
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Global Warming Puts Tropic's
Animals at Risk
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A study has found species such as some types of tree kangaroo may become extinct in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area if climate change continues at current rates.The Cooperative Research Centre for
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Tropical Rainforest Ecology study says temperatures have already increased by 0.6 per cent globally. full story
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Farm-Wild Salmon Hybrids Can't Spawn?
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Scientists say a new study into the impact of aquaculture on Atlantic salmon provides the first scientific evidence that interbreeding between escaped farm salmon and native fish threatens to wipe out wild
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populations. full story
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Mountain Residents Find Bubbling Crude in their Well _ and they're Not Happy
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Melissa Bentley holds a sample of crude that came from the water well in her yard at Dorton, Ky., Thursday, Oct. 16, 2003. Bentley and her husband found just enough of the petroleum to foul their only source of
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potable water and enough natural gas to cause their well house to burst into flames. full story
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Citizens to be Granted Right to Sue
over Environmental Issues
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The Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was negotiated among the countries of the United Nations Economic
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Commission for Europe and signed by the EU and all Member States in June 1998. It gives citizens access to environmental information, to justice in environmental matters and participation in decision-making. full story
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New Study Forecasts Competitive Re-Alignment in Global Auto Industry
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"The global auto market in which companies compete is increasingly being defined by concern over climate change," said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute. "From Europe to Japan to
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California, new policies and commitments are challenging companies to make less carbon-intensive and more fuel-efficient vehicles." full story
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Protesters Threaten to Stall
Genetic Planting Applications
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Critics of genetically modified crops vowed Wednesday to bombard government officials with paperwork in hopes of delaying any applications to grow such crops as a two-year ban on the practice expires. The ban
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was due to lapse at midnight despite widespread opposition to genetic engineering. Opinion polls show that 68 percent of New Zealand's 4 million people want the ban extended because they fear contamination of the nation's country's environment. full story
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Polluted Mine
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More than a dozen wells at an old open pit copper mine in northern Nevada tested positive in 1984 for what conservationists say are ``very high'' levels of uranium, according to newly revealed documents that have
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raised pollution concerns. ``Nobody knows if that went into the groundwater,'' said Tom Myers, executive director of the Great Basin Mine Watch in Reno, who provided AP with the documents.
full story
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Ex-Energy Minister Says Texaco Knew it was Polluting Ecuadorean Amazon
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Texaco knew it was damaging the environment when it launched operations in the Amazon jungle three decades ago, a former energy minister testified in a civil trial against California-based ChevronTexaco.
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Texaco chose to dump 18.5 billion gallons of oily water brought up during drilling into some 350 open pits and streams instead of reinjecting it deep underground in order to cut costs. full story
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States, Cities Sue EPA over New Air Rule
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Twelve states and several Northeast cities sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to try to block the Bush administration's changes to the Clean Air Act. EPA's new rule makes it easier to upgrade
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utilities, refineries and other industrial facilities without installing additional pollution controls.
full story
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Green Building Investments
Yield High Returns, Says Study
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Investments in green buildings pay for themselves 10 times over, according to a new study for 40 California government agencies. With this study, the California Department of Finance has recognized for the first
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time the existence of financial benefits associated with improved health productivity and lowered operations and maintenance costs in green buildings. full story
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Arabs Blame United States
for Baghdad Bloodbath
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Most Arab media on Tuesday blamed the U.S. failure to provide security in Baghdad for the latest suicide bombings in the Iraqi capital. They agreed that Washington had only itself to blame for the chaos and
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said the United States had failed Iraqis by not providing enough security to prevent the devastating attacks that killed 35 people on Monday, the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. full story
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Environmental Defense to Sue Bush Admin. on Pollution Rollbacks
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Today Environmental Defense filed a legal challenge to the Bush administration's sweeping rollbacks to the public health protections of the Clean Air Act's new source review program. These rule changes, which
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were published today, put public health in jeopardy by allowing thousands of power plants and industrial facilities nationwide to increase air pollution and evade long-standing clean air safeguards. full story
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France Reclaims Toxic Ship
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After being caught illegally exporting ships containing hazardous waste to Turkey, the French military has seized a former french aircraft carrier they had sold for scrapping. This high seas tale exposes again the
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underhand tactics and cost cutting of some sections of the shipping industry at the expense of the environment and workers' health. full story
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Wildlife in Zimbabwe Falls Prey
to Poachers
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HWANGE NATIONAL PARK, Zimbabwe Once this 14,800- square- kilometer expanse of wilderness, Zimbabwe’s largest, was one of Africa’s grandest showcases of wild animals. These days, it is Exhibit A in
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the unfolding story of their destruction. full story
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Satellite Data Reveals Rapid
Arctic Warming
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A NASA satellite survey of the Arctic has revealed just how rapidly the region is warming. The overall trend of rising temperature over the past 20 years is eight times higher than that recorded by ground measurements
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over the past century. "Climate is changing, the Arctic is changing rapidly, and it has significant effects on lower latitudes," said Mark Serreze, of the University of Colorado in Boulder. full story
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Turtles in Troubled Waters on Bali as Illegal Trade in the Animals Grows
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Three years ago, consumption of sea turtles was decreasing due to a police crackdown and a campaign by local animal rights activists against the killing. But the practice is on the rise again. Earlier this year, police
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raided three boats carrying more than 250 turtles destined for Bali from other parts of Indonesia _ a sign, conservationists say, of the increasing demand for the meat. full story
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Columbia Basin Tribes Want
River Improved
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A study released last year found 92 contaminants in fish species critical to the Warm Springs, Umatilla, Yakama and Nez Perce tribes. Most frequently detected were metals, PCBs, banned pesticides such as DDT and
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byproducts from chlorine bleach and water chlorination. Some tribal leaders believe the contamination could violate the tribes' treaty rights to fish at traditional spots. full story
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Cutting Greenhouse Gases, or Not
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In the international debate over how to deal with global warming, the United States and China occupy center stage. The United States has long been the dominant producer of carbon dioxide emissions and the
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other heat-trapping greenhouse gases associated with rising temperatures. China still lags far behind in total emissions, but its vast population and rapid rate of economic growth put it high on experts' lists of future sources of the warming gases. India is not too far behind. full story
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Decentralize to Save the Forest
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Indonesia has some 100 million hectares of forest and it loses about two million hectares every year, an area almost four times the size of Bali. Reforesting 3 million hectares over five years will have a relatively
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small impact on national forest cover. Over five years, on the basis of current trends some 10 million hectares of forest will be lost due to a range of causes, including illegal logging. full story
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EPA Official Backed Air Act Changes Despite Warnings
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The top Environmental Protection Agency official charged with protecting air quality was warned repeatedly by staff that proposed changes to a Clean Air Act rule could undermine efforts to force certain
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power plants to add anti-pollution equipment, according to a report by the General Accounting Office. full story
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9/11 Commission Could Subpoena
Oval Office Files
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The chairman of the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks says that the White House is continuing to withhold several highly classified intelligence documents from the panel and that
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he is prepared to subpoena the documents if they are not turned over within weeks. full story
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Blair will Ignore Public Opposition
to GM Technology
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The Prime Minister's reaction, in the week after the results of the Government's own trials proved that growing at least two GM crops damaged wildlife, has amazed and angered senior officials. They are
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bewildered that his views seem to have remained unchanged even though a series of reports from his own advisers has progressively demolished the case for the technology. full story
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Retreating Arctic Ice Caps
Could Affect Global Climate
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U.S. satellite observations show a continuing retreat of the North Pole ice cap, as the Arctic warms. Scientists say the shrinking ice cover feeds global warming, but is also enhanced by it in a vicious cycle.
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Small changes can have a big impact on our lives. The rate of decline is expected to accelerate. As Arctic temperatures increase, the ice cover retreats more, exposing more ocean to the sun, warming the water, which melts more ice. At the same time, the warmer water heats the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
full story
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Report Says E.P.A. Aide Knew
Rule Change Could Hurt Lawsuits
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Congressional investigators have determined that a top Bush administration air-quality regulator was warned that administration proposals to revise federal clean-air regulations could harm government
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lawsuits to force power plants and refineries to make upgrades that would sharply reduce the pollution they produce. full story
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People Protest Bush on Canberra Streets
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Thousands protested Bush and the invasion of Iraq outside parliament today. The police had tried to ban any marches from occurring and to ban Public Address equipment from use. In defiance of a march ban
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people marched first to the US Embassy, then to The Lodge, the Prime Minister's permanent residence in Canberra, really just his holiday house, as he lives at Kirribili house in Sydney.
full story
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Greenpeace Springs a Surprise
before Coke Plant
|
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In a novel mode of protest, activists of Greenpeace, internatonal environmental campaigner, on Saturday delivered empty Coca Cola bottles at the softdrink major's plant at Plachimada, near here. "Today's
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action was symbolic in getting to accept responsibility of disposing the waste bottles produced from non-degradable polyethlene terephthalate." full story
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States, Environmental Groups
Challenge Bush on Global Warming
|
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Twelve states, several cities, and over a dozen environmental groups today joined forces to challenge the Bush administration’s continued failure to confront global warming. The plaintiffs are targeting the
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unprecedented ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency late last summer that summarily disavowed the agency’s longstanding jurisdiction under the Clean Air Act to regulate global warming emissions. The states, cities and groups challenged the EPA decision in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. full story
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Pollution Rules Investigation Sought
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The EPA’s inspector general is weighing a request by several senators for an investigation after a report found that EPA rule changes could lead to almost 1.4 million tons more air pollution and jeopardize
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Clinton-era lawsuits against power plants, contradicting Bush administration claims. full story
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Arctic Ice Cap Melting
at Worrisome Rate: NASA
|
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The polar ice cap is melting at an alarming rate due to global warming, NASA scientists said, with satellite images showing the ice cap continuing to shrink. "It is happening now - we cannot afford to wait a long
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period of time for technological solutions," David Rind of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies said in New York. full story
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Filtering the Smog
|
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This just in from the U.S. General Accounting Office: The Bush administration has undermined enforcement of the Clean Air Act. The public will be breathing dirtier air—and many of us dying sooner—
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as a result. Frankly, this isn't news to those of us who monitor the actions of the Environmental Protection Agency for a living. We have known for some time that under President Bush, the EPA has become something of a wholly owned subsidiary of such huge polluters—and generous GOP campaign contributors—as ExxonMobil and Southern Company. (And what a deal for them, when you think of it: EPA politicos, working on their behalf, with salaries paid for by taxpayers!) full story
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Plan to Secure Future of Great Barrier Reef
|
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WWF-Australia today released a comprehensive plan to secure the future of Australia’s most beloved natural treasure — the Great Barrier Reef. The plan comes ahead of an historic zoning regime for the World
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Heritage-listed reef due within weeks from the Australian government. The zoning plan comes after the government released a draft plan in June this year to increase highly protected areas in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park from 4.6 per cent to 32.5 per cent. full story
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ChevronTexaco Battles
Lawsuit by Ecuadoreans
|
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When Rene Arevalo draws water from his well, it is brown and gummy, requiring him to run it through a makeshift filtering system outside his wood-plank home outside this town. About 30,000
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people affected by the waste are hoping that a lawsuit, accusing ChevronTexaco of dumping 18.5 billion gallons of waste into open, unlined pits, will lead to a full-scale cleanup. On Wednesday, the California-based company went on trial here in a case that, if successful for the plaintiffs, could establish a new way for American companies to be held accountable for environmental degradation in foreign countries.
full story
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Philippine Senate Ratifies Kyoto Protocol
|
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Filipino senators yesterday championed the welfare of Filipino people by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, the world's only international treaty to combat global warming. "The senate ratification of
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the Kyoto Protocol sends a clear signal to the world that even a known ally of the US does not agree with the US’ climate and energy policy,” says Raf Senga, Climate and Energy Policy Officer at WWF-Philippines. full story
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UN Donates £19m to Clean up
Russia's Polluted Arctic Shores
|
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An international effort to clean up pollution in the Russian Arctic is to begin with a multimillion-pound project to identify its ten dirtiest hotspots. Decades of industrial and military activity had led to a
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catastrophic degradation of some of the most precious regions on Earth, which were now facing the additional threat of global warming, experts said. full story
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Studies, Senators Knock EPA on Air Rules
|
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Environmental Protection Agency rule changes could lead to almost 1.4 million tons more air pollution in 12 states and jeopardize Clinton-era lawsuits against power plants, two studies concluded Wednesday,
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contradicting Bush administration claims. full story
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Record Heat Wave in Europe
Takes 35,000 Lives
|
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A record heat wave scorched Europe in August 2003, claiming an estimated 35,000 lives. In the worst heat spell in decades, temperatures in France soared to 104 degrees Fahrenheit and remained unusually
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high for two weeks. As temperatures continue to climb, the toll of heat waves in individual countries could jump from the thousands to the tens of thousands. The World Meteorological Organization estimates that the number of heat-related fatalities could double in less than 20 years. full story
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Clean-Up for Russian Arctic
|
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A new international project to clean up the Russian Arctic is being announced in London on Wednesday. The Arctic is threatened by a number of pollutants, including poisonous heavy metals, radioactive
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leaks and industrial chemicals. And the Russian shores are more affected than any other part of the region. full story
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Forest Bill Blocked in Senate
|
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U.S. Senate Democrats, concerned that a congressional bill modeled after the president’s Healthy Forests Initiative to expedite forest-thinning projects could be overkill, blocked it from reaching the floor Monday. The
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Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 passed the U.S. House of Representatives in May and is slowly working its way through the Senate. Also known as H.R. 1904, it would limit public appeals of federal forest-thinning proposals and allow loggers to take some large trees to offset the costs of such projects. full story
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Panel Endorses US
Exemption on Ozone Pact
|
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An international panel of experts has approved the Bush administration's request for broad exemptions to a ban on methyl bromide, a pesticide that is popular with agricultural businesses but damages Earth's
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protective ozone layer. full story
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Indians Sue over Amazon Pollution
|
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The case opened in Lago Agrio, a rundown town 100 miles (160 km) north of Quito, after nine years of legal battles in the United States ended with a U.S. Appeals Court ruling the dispute should be heard in
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Ecuador. Environmentalists hope the case will set a precedent forcing companies in the developing world to observe the same anti-pollution standards demanded in rich nations. full story
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Keep Hands off
Endangered-Species Policy
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Imagine a rule change in this country that encourages the killing of bald eagles so money raised from those hunting licenses could be used to protect endangered spotted owls. The proposal is for a re-interpretation
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of the Endangered Species Act to allow Americans to capture, hunt and import a select list, including Asian elephants, trophy game and prized blue parrots. full story
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Mexico Announces Transfer of Dolphins from Baja Park after 4 Die in Polluted Water
|
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Mexican authorities on Monday ordered three bottle-nose dolphins transferred to another facility after four died at a Baja California aquatic park. A combination of stress, lowered immune response and
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polluted water caused an infection that killed a male dolphin named Capuchino Monday, and those factors played a role in the deaths of three other dolphins at the same park since Sept. 23.
full story
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More Fluoride; Less Teeth
|
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Total tooth loss increased while Americans steadily receive more fluoridated water and food, according to recent government statistics. Fluoride, hailed as a cavity preventive is supposed to enhance
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tooth retention; but fails expectations. full story
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Hidden Hazards Revealed
in Disney Products
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Tests by independent scientists have revealed that toxic 'gender bending' chemicals are found in everyday children's products like Disney pyjamas. These chemicals can damage the developing foetus and
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young children; they should not be found in products you put your kids into every night.
full story
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World's Wading Birds Are Vanishing Fast, Experts Warn
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Having reviewed the latest available data, ornithologists from 20 countries who attended last month's International Wader Study Group conference suggested half of all waders are in decline, with just 16
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percent bucking the downward trend. They said well over 100 species were now at risk, with 23 of them classed as "globally threatened." full story
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New UN Initiative Aimed at Increasing Investments in Renewable Energy
|
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The head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today announced the launching of a Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (SEFI) which he said was aimed at engaging the finance sector to invest
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in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
full story
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Goodall Assails Bush Administration Plan for Endangered Species Act
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Jane Goodall, the British anthropologist who has observed chimpanzee behavior in Tanzania for four decades, said yesterday that a Bush administration proposal to ease restrictions on hunting, capturing and
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importing endangered species would worsen cruel and corrupt practices in poor countries. "The live-animal trade is horrible -- shooting mothers and capturing their babies," Goodall, 69, said during a telephone interview from a hotel room in Beverly Hills, Calif. full story
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New Zealand Moves to
Save Lakes from Pollution
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New Zealand authorities are recruiting scientists and communities on the shores of some popular lakes to save them from pollution. The problem is so bad that some of the lakes around Rotorua, the North Island's top
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tourist destination, are in danger of ecological collapse. full story
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Water, Air Pollution Rises Alarmingly
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Millions of Pakistanis are exposed to health hazards, as they have to inhale polluted air and drink contaminated water. Different studies, conducted time and again, manifest that air and water pollution level in the country
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alarmingly high and there was no countrywide mechanism in place to control it. full story
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Global Warming Withers
South Africa's Desert Plants
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Photos taken in 1945 show the desert wilderness that is now Richtersveld park thick with forests of quiver trees, unusual aloes that rise high into the air on white trunks and then spread branches topped
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with spiky, succulent leaves. A half-century later, Richtersveld's famed quiver trees are dying. Around Kokerboomkloof, a boulder-strewn outcrop overlooking the Orange River border with Namibia, nearly half of the hundred-some trees are now brown skeletons. Just as worrying, there are no young plants pushing up amid the gravel-and-sand soil. full story
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Number 10's Wildlife Experts
Warn Against GM Damage
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Tony Blair's chief wildlife advisers have dealt another massive blow to the case for genetically modified (GM) crops, warning that the technology will 'seriously degrade' swaths of countryside. In a damning report,
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English Nature also warns that the use of GM oilseed rape and sugar beet would speed up the loss of farmland birds. full story
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Malaysia Praised for its
Environment Protection Effort
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British High Commissioner Bruce Cleghorn today commended Malaysia's environmental protection effort, saying it has a good reputation across the world for its conservation programme. He said Malaysia was
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also successful in combining rapid economic development with environmental protection.
full story
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North Sea Faces Collapse of its Ecosystem
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The North Sea is undergoing "ecological meltdown" as a result of global warming, according to startling new research. Scientists say that they are witnessing "a collapse in the system", with devastating
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implications for fisheries and wildlife. Record sea temperatures are killing off the plankton on which all life in the sea depends, because they underpin the entire marine food chain. Fish stocks and sea bird populations have slumped. full story
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Newly Unclassified US Documents: Bush Ancestor's Bank Seized by Gov't
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President Bush's grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler's rise to power, government documents
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show. Prescott Bush was one of seven directors of Union Banking Corp., a New York investment bank owned by a bank controlled by the Thyssen family, according to recently declassified National Archives documents reviewed by The Associated Press. full story
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EPA won't Limit Dioxins in Sludge
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said yesterday it will not regulate dioxins in sewage sludge used as farm fertilizer, citing new studies indicating such usage does not pose significant health or
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environmental risks. Dioxins, highly toxic chemical compounds generated by manufacturing or burning, are known to cause cancer and damage to the neurological and immune systems of humans and animals, according to government and private experts. full story
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New Gecko Already under Threat
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An ancient species of gecko just discovered in remote northern Australia is already under threat from dwindling habitat. PhD student Conrad Hoskin from the University of Queensland in Brisbane who found
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the Gulbaru gecko (Phyllurus gulbaru) has just described the new species in the Australian Journal of Zoology. "Only a small fraction of the suitable habitat for the Gulbaru gecko receives some degree of protection in state forest,"
Hoskin says. full story
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South American Glaciers' Big Melt
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The Patagonia glaciers of Chile and Argentina are melting so fast they are making a significant contribution to sea-level rise, say scientists. They report ice was lost at a rate sufficient to push up ocean waters by 0.04
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The Patagonia glaciers of Chile and Argentina are melting so fast they are making a significant contribution to sea-level rise, say scientists. They report ice was lost at a rate sufficient to push up ocean waters by 0.04 full story
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GM Crops Make Wildlife Extinct
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The future of genetically modified food was in doubt last night after research showed it damages wildlife. The Government-backed study revealed that GM seeds could cause long-term damage to birds and
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insects even driving some species to extinction. Scientists said the trials of herbicide-tolerant GM beet and spring rape were worse for the environment than growing normal varieties of those crops. full story
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Study says Ozone Cuts Trees'
Effect on Pollution
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Scientists have long identified forests as a potential buffer against rising concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main smokestack and tailpipe emission linked by most scientists to global warming. Trees sop up the
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heat-trapping greenhouse gas through photosynthesis and stash it in soil. The more carbon dioxide there is in air, the more that forests, in theory, can lock up in the earth. But a new experiment has shown that fairly common concentrations of ozone, the eye-stinging ingredient in smog, can sharply impede this process. full story
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States Tightening Air-Pollution Rules
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In a revolt against the Bush administration's loosening of air pollution rules for aging power plants and factories, a coalition of states and localities will announce today that it will impose its own tougher
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regulations. Officials from New Jersey, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, South Carolina, and the cities of Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, will present alternative rules they developed in response to the Bush administration's new federal rules allowing older coal-fired plants to make massive renovations without installing new pollution controls. full story
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Study Shows Children Riding Diesel Buses Exposed to Pollution
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Going to school in the familiar yellow school buses may be exposing children to dangerous doses of exhaust, according to a recent government study. A study released by the California Air Resources Board
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showed that toxic fumes from the bus' own engine and from surrounding traffic entered older vehicles. This exposed kids to levels of pollution two to five times greater than those riding new buses, increasing their risk of cancer by 4 percent. full story
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House Resolution Opposes Oil Plan
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The House voted Wednesday to hold steadfast against pressure from the oil and chemical industries for the Bush administration's proposal to inventory the extent of oil and gas reserves off the nation's coastline
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through every means short of drilling exploratory wells. The 229-182 vote was a directive to House leaders negotiating with the Senate on a compromise energy bill that is teetering under the weight of numerous controversial provisions, including authorization and subsidies for expansive oil and gas development in Alaska's Arctic region. full story
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Airborne Ozone Can Alter Forest Soil
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The industrial pollutant ozone, long known to be harmful to many kinds of plants, can also affect the very earth in which they grow. Researchers at Michigan Technological University and the
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North Central Research Station of the USDA Forest Service have discovered that ozone can reduce soil carbon formation--a measure of the amount of organic matter being added to the soil. full story
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Judge: Loggers Need Pollution Permit
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Timber companies that engage in forest logging should be required to obtain federal stormwater pollution permits, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel said the U.S. Environmental
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Protection Agency has misconstrued the 1972 federal Cleanwater Act by exempting logging companies from going through the permitting process for stormwater runoff. full story
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Raw or Medium Rare,
Tourists Try Icelandic Whale
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On a cold and dark autumn evening, the Trir Frakkar restaurant in Reykjavik is packed with groups of mainly foreign diners pondering whether to opt for the fish course or go for something a bit more beefy.
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"We had the smoked puffin and whale sashimi. Good choice," says a North American tourist. "How many people do you know who can say they've eaten puffin and whale?" full story
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GOP Proposal May End
Coastal Drilling Ban
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House Republicans are drafting a proposal that would end the federal ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, while giving states greater say on whether they want energy development in their coastal
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waters, congressional sources say. full story
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Green Groups Call for GM Ban
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Environmental campaigners have called for a ban on GM crops after a new report found that some types are worse for wildlife than conventional varieties. The Government-backed study found
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that growing GM herbicide-tolerant beet and spring rape is worse for wildlife than the conventional varieties. full story
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Village Patrols Protect Vietnam’s Forests
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Local villagers from nine Ka Tu villages in the province of Quang Nam, Vietnam, are patrolling their forests, apprehending poachers, seizing traps, and confiscating ill-gotten gains. The village forest
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protection teams were formed as part of WWF-Indochina’s MOSAIC Project. Empowered by the Tabhing Commune People’s Committee, they have the authority to enforce national and provincial laws to protect the forest. full story
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Baltic Forests Mapped for Value
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A two-year mapping project carried out in the Baltics by WWF and BirdLife shows that 17 per cent of the forests surveyed are highly valuable. However, the project concludes that many of the most valuable forests
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are neither protected nor adequately managed in commercial forestry. full story
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Monsanto Shuts UK Cereal Business
After GM Setback
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Monsanto, the world's largest genetically modified seed company, is to close its European cereal business headquarters at Trumpington in Cambridgeshire, which employs 125 people. The
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decision follows the failure to introduce genetically modified hybrid wheat to Europe, and the company has decided to cut costs. full story
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