Poll Finds Americans Want More
Environmental Action
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Americans are seriously concerned about the country's environmental health and want more political action on the environment at the national and international levels, according to a survey of 1,000 adults nationwide by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Eighty-four
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percent of those polled say the environment will be a factor in their vote in November. Thirty-five percent consider it a
"major factor." full story
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Highways Paving Over Brazil's Amazon Rainforest
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A new study by a team of U.S. and Brazilian scientists shows that the rate of forest destruction has accelerated in the Brazilian Amazon since 1990. "The recent deforestation numbers are just plain scary," said the study's lead author William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research
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Institute, who operates out of a research facility in Manaus.
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General Zinni: 'They've Screwed Up'
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Retired General Anthony Zinni is one of the most respected and outspoken military leaders of the past two decades. Following his retirement from the Marine Corps, the Bush administration thought so highly of Zinni that it appointed him to one of its highest diplomatic posts -- special envoy to the
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Middle East. But Zinni broke ranks with the administration over the war in Iraq, and now, in his harshest criticism yet, he says senior officials at the Pentagon are guilty of dereliction of duty -- and that the time has come for heads to roll. full story
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Toxic Ship Paint Found in Antarctic Sediment
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Australian marine scientists have found the toxic substance tributyltin in Antarctic marine sediment, the first time the anti-fouling chemical has been detected in a polar region. Tributyltin is added to ship paint to repel marine organisms, and the researchers say paint chipping from icebreakers
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as they ram through thick ice is the most probable cause of the contamination. full story
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Putin Promises To 'Speed Up' Kyoto Ratification
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President Vladimir Putin saved the Kyoto climate change pact from extinction yesterday and stunned environmentalists by saying Russia would ratify it. His announcement will allow the United Nations treaty to become legally binding and leaves America looking isolated on the world stage
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as an environmental sinner. Ending months of speculation, Mr Putin said Moscow would lend the pact its support despite advice from his own chief economic adviser to give it a wide berth. full story
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Spiritual, Scientific Leaders Unite in
Global Warming Action Plea An
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unprecedented group of 31 revered spiritual leaders and respected scientific leaders is urging the federal government and Congress to take action that will protect Earth's climate from global warming. "Many of us share a deep conviction that global climate change presents an
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unprecedented threat to the integrity of life on Earth and a challenge to universal values that bind us as human beings," they wrote.
full story
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Mercury And Tides Climb, As
Climate Change Rises On Global Agenda
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The rising sea is eating at the shores of low-slung Funafuti, a spit of coral and coconut palms in the remote Pacific. Unseen fingers of ocean even reach beneath the sands, surfacing inland in startling places, among nervous islanders. ``It used to be puddles. Now it's like lakes,'' said Hilia Vavae,
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local meteorologist. Far to the north in the Marshall Islands, 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) away, trees are toppling before aquamarine waves. Watching, perplexed, from the edge of a lagoon, teenager Ankit Stephen asked a visitor, ``Why is this happening?'' full story
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Bush Administration Case
Against Greenpeace Dismissed
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A federal judge Wednesday dismissed charges brought by the U.S. Justice Department against Greenpeace USA for violating an obscure 1872 maritime law prohibiting "sailormongering." Judge Adalberto Jordan of the U.S. District Court in Miami ruled there was not enough evidence to
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try the case. He accepted Greenpeace's claim that the federal government provided insufficient evidence for the case to be presented to a jury. full story
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Africa's Most Active Volcano
Again Threatens Gorilla Habitat
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Mountain forests inhabited by endangered gorillas and other wildlife are likely to be destroyed by lava and ash from the erupting Nyamulagira volcano, say workers with the African Wildlife Foundation who have been monitoring the area in the far eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). |
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Europe's Coastlines Eroding Into The Sea
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A fifth of the coastline of the newly enlarged European Union is eroding away, in a few dramatic cases as much as 15 meters (49 feet) a year, according to the most comprehensive study ever done on the problem of human-induced erosion.The report "Living with Coastal Erosion
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in Europe: Sediment and Space for Sustainability," was commissioned by the European Commission, and made public on Monday. Coastal erosion has dramatic effects upon the environment and on human activity. It can make houses fall into the sea and destroy roads and other infrastructure. It threatens habitats of wildlife, the safety of people living at the coast, and economic activities such as tourism. full story
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Pollution Could Affect Unborn Children
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Soot and other types of air pollution can not only affect animals and people, but their unborn children, too, researchers have reported. They found that genetic mutations known to be caused by some pollutants can be passed through sperm to baby mice. Presumably, the same thing could
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happen to human beings, a report in the journal Science said. Mice that breathed polluted air from a steel mill were much more likely to father offspring with clear genetic mutations than mice that breathed filtered air, the team at McMaster University in Toronto found.
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Rise In Birth Deformities
Blamed On Allies' Deadly Weaponry
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The number of babies born deformed and children suffering leukaemia have soared because of the "deadly legacy" of depleted uranium shells used by British and American forces in Iraq, human rights campaigners claimed yesterday. Releasing details of health problems and human rights violations
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suffered by Iraqi children in the past year, they claim the country's youngsters faced a worse existence today than they did under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. full story
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Polar Bears Stranded On Bear Island May Be
Early Warning Sign Of Climate Change
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The plight of a female polar bear and her two cubs stranded on a remote arctic island may be an early warning about the possible impact of climate change, said WWF today. The mother bear and her cubs are stuck on Bear Island, half way between northern Norway and the Svalbard
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archipelago. The mother came out of her winter den too late to leave the small island via the sea ice which surrounded it during the winter. Due to warming temperatures, the sea ice has melted northward leaving the bears stranded and facing a hungry summer. full story
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Environmental Groups Sue Federal Agency
Over California Spotted Owl
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Environmental groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday, alleging the agency wrongfully denied protected status to the California spotted owl. The lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court challenges the service's decision in 2003 not to list the owl under the federal
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Endangered Species Act. The environmental groups claim the owl, which lives in old-growth forests in the Sierra Nevada, is threatened by logging. full story
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Environmentalists Rejoice
at Monsanto GM Decision
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Environmentalists claimed a victory and the death knell for genetically modified crops on Tuesday as U.S. chemical giant Monsanto declared it was giving up on the GM wheat it had hoped would smash consumer resistance. "This is the end of GM. It is the final nail in the coffin. I am sure the
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companies will come back with more proposals in the future but basically the damage is done," Tony Juniper, director of green lobby group Friends of the Earth said. full story
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Amnesty International:
British Army 'Killing Civilians'
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The British army has been killing civilians in areas of southern Iraq that it controls, says a report by Amnesty International. The report follows widespread news of torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British troops. While reports of such abuse have been overshadowed by
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photographs of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers, the British government too faces a growing scandal over the conduct of its soldiers. Shown: An undated handout photograph released May 11, 2004, shows eight-year-old Iraqi girl Hanan Salem Madrud who was allegedly shot dead by British forces in Basra according to a report by human rights group Amnesty International. full story
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Monsanto Abandons Worldwide
GM Wheat Project
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Monsanto has abandoned plans to introduce GM wheat on to the world market despite spending seven years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing the crop. The decision, announced yesterday, is a major fillip for the anti-GM lobby and follows pressure from US and Canadian
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farmers who feared the introduction of GM wheat would lead to the collapse of their billion-dollar markets in Europe and Japan. Monsanto, the world's biggest seller of GM seeds, had looked to the development and introduction of GM wheat to fulfil a dream of dominating the world's bread market. full story
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Breathing Life Into Dying Coral Reefs
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Electricity can now help regenerate UAE's dying coral reefs or build new ones. "On the UAE side, there aren't practically any coral reefs left. But Biorock technology allows us to restore coral growth or build new reefs even under the most difficult conditions when other restoration
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techniques fail". A revolutionary new process known as Biorock, which Prof. Hilbertz invented together with research partners in the U.S., relies on the power of low-votage electricity. The process, technically known as electro-deposition of minerals in sea water, is protected under international intellectual property legislation.
full story
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New Interpretation Of Satellite Data
Supports Global Warming
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University For years the debate about climate change has had a contentious sticking point – satellite measurements of temperatures in the troposphere, the layer of atmosphere where most weather occurs, were inconsistent with fast-warming surface temperatures. But a team led by a
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of Washington atmospheric scientist has used satellite data in a new and more accurate way to show that, for more than two decades, the troposphere has actually been warming faster than the surface. full story
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Whaling Critics Blast Norway
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Environmentalists have started the 2004 whale hunting season by criticising a Norwegian trial system that replaces inspectors on ships with computerised sensors. Critics said the new "blue boxes" -- which are to be installed on 14 out of about 40 whaling boats this year -- can be
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too easily manipulated and will not record how long it takes for the huge sea mammals to die after they are harpooned. full story
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Global Warming Threatens Beaches
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Miles of British coastline and dozens of beaches are under threat from rising sea levels, environmentalists warned today. Global warming is threatening to inundate beaches, marshes and mudflats along the south-east coast, threatening the habitat of hundreds of species of birds and animals.
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full story
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Court Rulings On Emissions
Sharply Split Two Groups
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The Supreme Court on Monday, for the second time in a week, issued a decision on emission standards for power plants that cheered industry groups while upsetting environmentalists. Environmental lawyers, trying to gauge the impact of the decisions, said the cases seemed to
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reflect a certain hostility by the court toward aggressive steps intended to reduce air pollution. "The common denominator is that their attitude presents a serious threat to clean air," said Ann Johnston, a lawyer for Clear the Air, a national coalition of environmental groups that work to reduce emissions from old power plants. full story
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He Saved The Elephant.
But Can He Save The Great Apes?
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Richard Leakey transformed world opinion by setting fire to Kenya's ivory stockpile. Now he is turning his attention to an even greater crisis. The precipitous decline of the gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) and orang-utans is the most urgent of all the world's conservation
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problems, says the man who 15 years ago highlighted the poaching threat to the elephant by setting fire to a stockpile of ivory in Kenya. full story
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Scientists Petition To List 225
Plants And Animals As Endangered
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Scientists, including acclaimed wildlife biologist Jane Goodall, have joined environmental groups in petitioning the government to add 225 plants and animals to the U.S. endangered species list. The species are not new to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; four-fifths have been on the agency's
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waiting list for a decade. Some have been waiting since 1975. The average is 17 years. ``Wildlife is facing serious threats almost everywhere,'' Goodall said in a statement. She accused the Bush administration of seeking to undermine the Endangered Species Act. full story
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Islanders Seek Climate Justice
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Environmental activists from Pacific nations threatened by rising sea levels have called on Australia to recognise "environmental refugees" who try to escape the effects of global warming. The conservationists currently visiting Australia say climate change is raising sea levels and
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increasing the frequency of events like cyclones, which will one day make some low-lying Pacific island nations uninhabitable.
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Malaysia Detains 16 Chinese Fishermen For Poaching, Find 160 Dead Sea Turtles On Boat
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Malaysia's marine police arrested 16 Chinese fishermen for suspected poaching after discovering about 160 dead endangered sea turtles aboard a trawler, officials and news reports said Tuesday. A patrol boat intercepted the suspects Sunday in a rich Malaysian fishing ground in the South China
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Sea off the northeast coast of Borneo island, a fisheries department spokesman in Sabah state said on condition of anonymity. The fishermen were believed to have poisoned the waters with cyanide to catch the turtles, which were meant to be sold as decorative ornaments. full story
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Why Antarctica Will Soon Be
The Only Place To Live - Literally
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Antarctica is likely to be the world's only habitable continent by the end of this century
if global warming remains unchecked, the Government's chief scientist, Professor Sir David King, said last week. He said the Earth was entering the "first hot period" for 60 million
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years, when there was no ice on the planet and "the rest of the globe could not sustain human life". The warning - one of the starkest delivered by a top scientist - comes as ministers decide next week whether to weaken measures to cut the pollution that causes climate change, even though Tony Blair last week described the situation as "very, very critical indeed". full story
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Siberian Forests Falling To Illegal Logging
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Krasnoyarsk, Russia - Illegal logging and controversial business plans have ecologists raising the alarm in Siberia's scenic Krasnoyarsk region, Russia's prime forestry area and vital to a country struggling under massive air pollution. "From Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk, the taiga stretches
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without limit. Does it have an end? When you are on the top of a mountain, you see mountains all around... And all is covered by a dense forest. It gives you shivers," Anton Chekhov wrote in the 1890s. But the famed writer's days are past, and now the sight is different - criminal logging and arson gnaw at the sea of trees.
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