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EU Expansion 'Poses Risk To Rare Species'
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Expansion of the European Union this year will put the world's endangered species at greater risk, conservationists warn, because the 25 countries are failing to agree on a common approach to save rare animals and plants. Among animals at greatest risk are the great
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white shark, the leopard, black and white rhinoceros, Asian freshwater turtles, elephants and the irrawaddy dolphin, found in South-east Asian waters. full story
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Battle Over Toxic Metal
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Over the objections of several federal scientists, the Bush administration is preparing to relax national standards for selenium - a toxic metal that caused mass deformities of water fowl in California's Central Valley during the 1980s. Critics say the proposed standards are based on
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a study that even its author says was interpreted improperly. The standards follow years of lobbying by power companies, Valley farming interests and mining officials, all of whom say the current federal standards are overly restrictive. full story
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Republican Conventioneers Met
By Giant Protest March
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"There were one million of us in the streets to demand the defeat of a sitting president and a rejection of his agenda," crowed one jubilant demonstrator who was part of a two mile long march through the streets of Manhattan Sunday on the eve of the Republican National
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Convention. March organizers estimated that about half that number of people took to the streets, but called the march, "big, very big." full story
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Ebola Outbreak Suspected In
Loss Of Congo Gorillas
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Emerging evidence suggests a new outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Republic of Congo's Odzala National Park that may explain a sudden disappearance of hundreds of Western lowland gorillas, scientists said on Friday. A confirmed outbreak of the deadly virus could potentially
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kill 20,000 gorillas within months and threaten people living near the park. full story
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Pollutants Raining Down On Rockies
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Airborne pollutants from Front Range tailpipes, smokestacks, crop fields and feedlots are damaging the prized mountaintop ecosystems of Rocky Mountain National Park. If unchecked, the creeping accumulation of urban nitrogen compounds could acidify park waters and soils,
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posing a threat to fish, forests and vast expanses of rolling alpine tundra, National Park Service air-quality officials have concluded after reviewing more than 20 years of research. full story
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Stage Set for Huge Anti-Bush March In New York
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They have protested naked, used pedal power, marched and rung bells in the days leading up to the Republican convention, but on Sunday political activists were expected to turn out in the hundreds of thousands to rally against President Bush's policies. Tensions are high between
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activists and police, who have negotiated for months over Sunday's planned march past the Madison Square Garden convention site by up to 250,000 people under the banner, "The World Says No To The Bush Agenda." full story
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The More We Grow, The Less Able
We Are To Feed Ourselves
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The world is consistently failing to grow enough crops to feed itself, alarming official statistics show. Humanity has squeaked through so far by eating its way into stockpiles built up in better times. But these have fallen sharply and are now at the lowest level on record. The UN's Food
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and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) latest report on global food production says that this year's harvest is expected to fall short of meeting consumption for the fifth year running. full story
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Chemical Endangers Killer Whales
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Canadian scientists say a widely used fire retardant has been found in the blubber of endangered killer whales. A study reported in the Aug. 15 issue of Environmental Science and Technology says that polybrominated diphenyl ether or PBDE should be regulated by the
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government. full story
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Polluters Targeted By Court
Dedicated To Environmental Cases
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Judges are to be given tough powers to protect Britain from pollution and over-development under propoosals for a new environmental court. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has commissioned two reports which back the creation of a dedicated
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court headed by senior judges specialising in environmental law
full story
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Diversions Ruined River, Judge Rules
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The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation violated state and federal law by diverting most of the water from the San Joaquin River to agriculture for more than 50 years, a federal judge in Sacramento ruled Friday. The judge wrote in a 41-page order, "There can be no genuine dispute
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that many miles of the San Joaquin River are now entirely dry, except during extremely wet periods, and that the historic fish populations have been destroyed." full story
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New Yorkers Sickened By 9/11
Demonstrate As Republicans Arrive
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The Republican Convention opens here on Monday with the theme of "building a safer world." But at the site where the World Trade Center Towers once stood, demonstrators are holding a daily vigil to inform the nation that the area is still contaminated with toxics spread when
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the buildings collapsed in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. full story
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The Planet Goes Haywire
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Almost all climate scientists, atmospheric chemists and oceanographers say the greenhouse effect has arrived and that we should expect more droughts, hurricanes, flash floods, forest fires and giant storms. The kind of extreme weather that happened once in 100 years, they
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say, could soon take place every 20 years. full story
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Sewer Leaks Still Pose Risk, U.S. Says
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Sewer systems throughout the country are spilling enough raw sewage and waste into oceans and streams to fill more than 1 million Olympic-sized swimming pools every year, according to a federal report released Thursday. Despite three decades of costly improvements driven by the
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Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that outdated and poorly maintained sewer systems still posed a serious public health threat. full story
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White House's New Clean-air Rules
Have Hidden Hazards
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The Bush administration's controversial proposal for regulating mercury emissions from power plants would allow continued, unregulated releases of arsenic, lead and 60 other toxic material that could harm public health, according to a new study by the Clean Air Council. "It is
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now clear that mercury is just the tip of the iceberg," said Arthur Stamoulis, policy analyst for the Clean Air Council, a statewide environmental group. full story
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IUCN Probes Oil Development Impact
On Endangered Gray Whales
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Two offshore platforms linked to Sakhalin Island by pipelines are the next oil development planned for Russia's Far East, but the project is located near the summer feeding grounds of the only known population of critically endangered Western gray whales. IUCN–The World
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Conservation Union is convening an Independent Scientific Review Panel to evaluate how it may affect the whales. full story
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Europe Needs To Change
To Limit Climate Change
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More frequent and more economically costly storms, floods, droughts and other extreme weather. Wetter conditions in northern Europe but drier weather in the south that could threaten agriculture in some areas. More frequent and more intense heatwaves, posing a lethal threat
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to the elderly and frail. Melting glaciers, with three-quarters of those in the Swiss Alps likely to disappear by 2050. Rising sea levels for centuries to come. These are among the impacts of global climate change that are already being seen in Europe or are projected to happen over the coming decades as global temperatures rise. full story
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Earth Warned On 'Tipping Points'
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The world has barely begun to recognise the danger of setting off rapid and irreversible changes in some crucial natural systems, a scientist says. Professor John Schellnhuber says the most important environmental issues for humans are among the least understood. He told
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a briefing in Sweden that the Asian monsoon was one of the "tipping points" that could change very quickly. full story
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Asian Farmers Sucking The Continent Dry
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The world is on the verge of a water crisis as people fight over ever dwindling supplies, experts told the Stockholm Water Symposium. A generation ago, Indian farmers in the state of Gujarat used bullocks to lift water from shallow wells in leather buckets. Now they haul it from
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300 metres below ground using electric pumps. But that technological revolution is about to have devastating consequences. full story
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World Bank Offers Brazil
$1.2 Billion For Conservation
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The World Bank has decided to extend loans totaling US$1.2 billion to Brazil over four years to support the South American country's goal of balancing economic growth with social development and the improvement of environmental quality. The first loan of the series,
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for US$505 million, was approved by the Bank's Board of Executive Directors on Tuesday. full story
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States Look Harder For Mercury
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The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that 846,000 miles of U.S. rivers and 14 million acres of U.S. lakes are so tainted with mercury that eating their fish could pose health problems for children and during pregnancy. Federal environmental officials stressed that the
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numbers don't mean that mercury contamination is worse now than a few years ago. What they do mean is that state officials have been looking harder for such contamination, and the harder they look, the more mercury contamination they find. full story
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Oil, Gas Leases in Roadless
Wyoming Forest Called Illegal
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Oil and gas leasing proposed for western Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest would give energy companies the right to build roads, drill wells, and run pipelines through public lands that are now roadless backcountry without public input or environmental assessment,
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conservationists are warning. A coalition of groups has formally asked the U.S. Forest Service to withdraw its leasing plans.
full story
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Ford Crushes 'Clean Cars', Ramps Up SUVs
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The Ford motor company is scrapping its fleet of zero emission electric vehicles in the US. Not content with being the worst ranked motor company on fuel efficiency it has decided to plumb new depths by sending its most fuel efficient, zero emission Th!nk cars to the
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crushers. Ford is crushing this environmental solution because it succeeded in trashing the California legislation that encouraged their use. full story
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Democrats Suggest Bush Administration 'Payoff' For Support From Agribusiness
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Six House Democrats are accusing the Bush administration of brokering sweetheart water deals with certain Central Valley farm districts that could affect how much water is available to California's cities and environment over the next 25 years. "It looks like the Bush administration
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wants to hand a big payoff to agribusiness in exchange for their support," said Miller, who called on federal officials to delay signing the pacts until Congress and the public can review them further. full story
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Judge Blocks Limestone Mine
In Florida Panther Habitat
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A federal judge has revoked a federal permit for a Florida limestone mine because of concerns about the impact on habitat used by the critically endangered Florida panther. Environmentalists hailed the ruling as an important victory for a species in serious peril - only 78 adult Florida
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panthers are believed to remain in the wild. full story
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Scientists Say Risk Of Water Wars Rising
|
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The risk of wars being fought over water is rising because of explosive global population growth and widespread complacency, scientists said. "We have had oil wars," said Professor William Mitsch. "That's happened in our lifetime. Water wars are possible." Scientists at the World
|
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Water Week conference which began on Sunday in Stockholm said that ignorance and complacency were widespread in wealthier countries. full story
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Air Pollution 'Masking Global Warming'
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The true threat from global warming may have been masked by air pollution, a leading scientist warned today. Aerosols - particles of pollution in the air - help to cool the earth but, as they diminish in coming decades, global warming may be found to accelerate, says Meinrat Andreae,
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of the Max Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany. full story
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Climate Change Dangers
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The smug spin in government circles that the devastating threat of climate change is under control is far from the truth and requires a reality check. Records for heavy rain, flooding, hurricanes and typhoons as well as drought and dust storms are increasingly being broken.
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Reports in this week's Irish media alone mention `10 million Chinese affected by typhoon', `Thousands homeless after hurricanes in Florida', 'Flash floods bring chaos to Cornwall/Derry'. full story
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Plants Are Being Charged With Excessive
Killing Of Fish Through Cold Water Intakes
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Power plant discharges on rivers and lakes are hot spots for anglers, but their cool water intakes kill untold numbers of fish. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued the first national standards for reducing fish kills at existing plants, though environmentalists say it lets energy
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companies off the hook. Six states -- Pennsylvania not among them -- are suing the EPA, claiming it failed to fulfill the Clean Water Act of 30 years ago with regulations issued July 9 and effective Sept. 7. full story
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Severe Thaw Threatens Arctic
|
|
A few final brush strokes are still being added to the definitive and official picture of how climate change will affect the Arctic, and how much it already has. The result, called the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, is scheduled for publication in November. But a summary of the assessment
|
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obtained by the Star makes clear that environmental doomsayers were not far off when they warned that severe warming of the Arctic is inevitable, threatens the way of life of the Inuit, will alter the face of the North almost beyond recognition and has potentially disastrous global climate change consequences.
full story
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4x4s Whip Up A Worldwide Dust Storm
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Dust storms emanating from the Sahara have increased tenfold in 50 years, contributing to climate change as well as threatening human health and destroying coral reefs thousands of kilometres away. And one major cause is the replacement of the camel by four-wheel drive
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vehicles as the desert vehicle of choice. full story
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Global Warming To Devastate Europe First
|
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European winters will disappear by 2080 and extreme weather will become more common unless global warming across the continent is slowed, warns a major new report. Europe is warming more quickly than the rest of the world with potentially devastating consequences,
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including more frequent heatwaves, flooding, rising sea levels and melting glaciers, says the European Environment Agency (EEA) document, launched on Wednesday. full story
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Park Service Revs Up
Snowmobile Use In Yellowstone
|
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The National Park Service announced a plan Thursday to allow 720 snowmobiles into Yellowstone National Park each day for the next three winters. The proposal is the latest twist in a controversy at play in two federal courts and critics say it ignores an array of scientific studies
|
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that snowmobiles should be phased out in Yellowstone.
full story
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Dust 'Is Hidden Climate Problem'
|
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The huge amounts of dust blowing across the Earth may have serious consequences for the environment, a scientist says. Professor Andrew Goudie told a meeting of geographers dust was affecting human health, coral reefs and climate change. He said dust storms were becoming
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more frequent in some parts of the world, and transported prodigious quantities of material for very long distances.
full story
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Ecuador Judge Begins Jungle Site Visits In ChevronTexaco Pollution Case
|
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An abandoned oily pit in this remote Amazon jungle town became the backdrop for an open courtroom as an Ecuadorean judge began visiting 122 polluted sites in a lawsuit involving ChevronTexaco. "We have stomach pain, dizziness, skin rashes, and we are constantly
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sick," resident Elias Zurita said at a public hearing Wednesday presided by Judge Efrain Novillo. The 40-year-old Zurita said has lived three meters (10 feet) from a toxic pool since he was 8.
full story
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Strong Power Plant Rule Would Prevent
3,000 Premature Deaths
|
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The Bush administration's proposal to cut power plant emissions of air pollutants that contribute to smog and soot pollution does not go far enough to protect public health, according to a study by the advocacy organization Environmental Defense. The study focuses on the Bush plan
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to employ a cap and trade system to cut sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants. full story
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U.S. Population Predicted To Boom by 2050
|
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With 294 million people, the United States is now the world's third most populous country after China and India. According to a new forecast from the Population Reference Bureau, the U.S. population will increase by 45 percent over the next 45 years, the only industrialized
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nation projected to experience a major population increase.
full story
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A Flash Flood In The Pan Or
A Rainstorm Caused By Global Warming?
|
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Climate change is predicted by computer models to cause more violent summer downpours in Britain, but such is the variability of our climate that no single storm can be taken as conclusive evidence of it. However, the increasing occurrence of such events is now starting to
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point to global warming as the ultimate cause, said Alan Werrity, professor of physical geography at the University of Dundee and an adviser to the Scottish Executive on flood management.
full story
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Group Urges EPA For More Pollution Cuts
|
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If the government required deeper cuts in air pollution from power plants, at least 3,000 lives would be saved and 140,000 children would avoid asthma and other respiratory ailments, an environmental group said Tuesday. Environmental Defense, a New York-based
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group, urged the Environmental Protection Agency to require more pollution reductions than EPA plans to impose in December. full story
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Monsanto Ripped Over Wheat Experiments
|
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Field trials of genetically modified wheat are still being conducted in Canada by multinational biotech giant Monsanto despite a pledge earlier this year that the testing would be abandoned, critics said Tuesday. Greenpeace, one of several environmental groups opposed to the trials, said
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Monsanto should have torn up the fields as it said it would. "The trials are a danger for both the environment and for the potential for release for farmers," said Pat Venditti, genetic engineering campaigner for Greenpeace. full story
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Afghan Vote Threatens Bush's Credibility
|
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With evidence mounting of plans for widespread vote-rigging in Afghanistan's upcoming elections, U.S. experts say the controversy could emerge as a serious liability for U.S. President George W. Bush's re-election campaign. After voter registration centers closed across Afghanistan
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on the weekend, election officials acknowledged the number of voting cards issued far exceeded the estimated number of eligible voters — and that the illegal practice of multiple registrations is widespread. full story
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Global Climate Technologies Here,
Political Will Lacking
|
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Lack of political will, not technology, is keeping the world from acting more aggressively to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to an analysis by Princeton University scientists. The study finds that a wide range of existing technologies could be immediately deployed to
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prevent global carbon dioxide emissions from increasing over the next 50 years. full story
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4,000 Scientists Challenge Bush
|
|
Last November, President Bush gave physicist Richard Garwin a medal for his "valuable scientific advice on important questions of national security." Just three months later, Garwin signed a statement condemning the Bush administration for allegedly misusing, suppressing
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and distorting scientific advice. So far more than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel prize winners, have put their names to the declaration. full story
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Pollutants Cause Huge Rise In Brain Diseases
|
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The numbers of sufferers of brain diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and motor neurone disease, have soared across the West in less than 20 years, scientists have discovered. The alarming rise, which includes figures showing rates of dementia have trebled in men, has
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been linked to rises in levels of pesticides, industrial effluents, domestic waste, car exhausts and other pollutants, says a report in the journal Public Health. full story
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Bush Overhauls U.S. Regulations
|
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Under the distraction of war, the Bush Administration has modified health rules, environmental regulations, energy initiatives, worker-safety standards and product-safety disclosure policies in ways that often please business and industry leaders while dismaying
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interest groups representing consumers, workers, drivers, medical patients, the elderly and many others. full story
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Future Heat Waves Will Be
Hotter, Longer, More Frequent
|
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Heat waves in North America and Europe will become more intense, more frequent and longer lasting during this century, scientists said on Thursday. A new modeling study shows that an increase in heat absorbing greenhouse gases intensifies an unusual atmospheric circulation
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pattern already observed during heat waves in Europe and North America. full story
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Wetlands Protection Slipping
Under Bush Policy Guide
|
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Last December, under pressure from states, environmentalists, and hunting and fishing groups, the Bush administration withdrew a proposal to limit protection of wetlands under the Clean Water Act. But the administration did not rescind policy guidance that relaxed protection for
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isolated wetlands, and environmentalists say this has allowed federal regulators to approve the destruction of thousands of acres of wetlands. full story
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Biggest US Law Group Condemns Torture,
Calls For Independent Investigation
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The American Bar Association (ABA) this week added its voice to appeals for independent investigation of the abuse and torture by U.S. soldiers of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Bush administrations "war on terrorism." "The use of torture and cruel,
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inhuman and degrading treatment by U.S. personnel in the interrogation of prisoners captured in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts has brought shame on the nation and undermined our standing in the world." full story
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Tasty As It Is, Your Lunch May Be
Killing The Planet
|
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Your lunch could be killing the planet, says WWF Scotland. On a new website, the organization demonstrates that many everyday items eaten in an ordinary office lunch are implicated in environmental destruction on a global scale. Using two popular British
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sandwiches - the tuna mayonnaise and the bacon, lettuce and tomato - the website shows the hidden consequences of food production. full story
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Sudanese Arab Horsemen Poach
Rare Congo Rhinos
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Sudanese Arab horsemen, whose kin are being recruited by the Janjaweed militias in Darfur, are poaching elephants and endangered white rhinos in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, conservationists say. The poaching raids have halved the world's remaining wild northern
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white rhino population, threatening it with extinction, said Fraser Smith, head of the Garamba National Park Project, in northeastern Congo. full story
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Dead Zone Plagues Oregon Coast
|
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A low oxygen zone devoid of marine life has formed off the central Oregon Coast for the second time in three years. The event appears similar to one in 2002, when an area of ocean water with low oxygen content formed along the nearshore Oregon coast between Newport and
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Florence, causing a massive die-off of fish and invertebrate marine species. full story
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Tidal Wave Disaster Is Just Waiting To Happen
|
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A beautiful volcanic island in the Atlantic is on the brink of catastrophic collapse, threatening to unleash giant waves that will wreak havoc around the globe within hours. And while scientists try in vain to make their concerns heard, the world's governments look the other way. Between 9
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and 12 hours after the island collapses, waves between 20 and 50 metres high will have crossed 4,000 miles of ocean to crash into the Caribbean islands and the eastern seaboard of the US and Canada. full story
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Chemical Flame Retardants Found
In Farmed Salmon
|
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Farmed salmon are contaminated with much higher levels of chemical flame retardants than most wild salmon, new research demonstrates. Indiana University professor Ronald Hites, lead researcher on the study, studied polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a group of flame
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retardant chemicals used in electronics and upholstery. He determined the contamination is linked to the high fat diet that farmed salmon are fed. full story
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El Nino May Return In 3 Months
|
|
El Nino, the dreaded weather anomaly which has killed hundreds and spawned disasters across the Asia-Pacific region over the years, could possibly develop by late 2004, the Climate Prediction Center of the U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said. In a monthly
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report devoted to monitoring El Nino which was issued late Thursday, the Center said sea surface temperatures have risen in the central Pacific Ocean and may "indicate the possible early stages of a warm episode." full story
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Climate Change Could Doom Alaska's Tundra
|
|
In the next 100 years, Alaska will experience a massive loss of its historic tundra, as global warming allows these vast regions of cold, dry, lands to support forests and other vegetation that will dramatically alter native ecosystems, according to an Oregon State University
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researcher. full story
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Endangered Florida Manatee Clinging To Survival
|
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Manatee populations are growing at healthy rates in two of four regions off Florida's coast, but the endangered marine mammal is stalled or declining elsewhere in Florida, says the first comprehensive population analysis in nine years. Slow-moving vegetarians, manatees are killed by
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exposure to toxic red tides, by watercraft and ghost fishing gear injuries, and asphixyation in floodgates and canal locks. full story
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Polluted U.S. Beaches Closing In Record Numbers
|
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The number of closings and advisories at U.S. oceans and Great Lakes beaches last year rose 51 percent from 2002, according to an annual survey released Thursday by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The study, based on federal and state data, finds 2003 was the worst
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year for beach closings and advisories since the environmental organization began monitoring beach water pollution
14 years ago. full story
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Global Warming Could Cloud Cities
With More Smog
|
|
Global warming is likely to cause hotter summer days and more smog for many cities in the eastern half of the United States, medical experts said on Wednesday. The finding raises concerns that the nation's battle against smog will become increasingly difficult - more than 100 million
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Americans already live in counties with unhealthy smog levels.
full story
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London's Thames River
Contaminated With Raw Sewage
|
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The ancient sewer system beneath the city of London could not handle heavy rains on Tuesday and disgorged hundreds of thousands of tons of raw sewage into the Thames River, the Environment Agency said. Thousands of fish were killed as the river turned toxic overnight.
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The spill followed violent storms in the capital, which saw 42 millimeters (1.65 inches) of rain fall in just one hour. The combined sewer system, which carries both sewage and storm overflow, was completely overwhelmed full story
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Scientists Alarmed At Increase
In Melt Rate Of Ice
|
|
Greenland's cover of ice is melting ten times quicker than previously thought, an increase that could lead to floods across the world, scientists have found. Newly published research shows an alarming rise in the rate of collapse of the massive Greenland ice-sheet as a result of global
|
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warming. If the entire ice-sheet melts, the resulting flood waters would raise the level of global seas by seven metres, submerging large areas of land, including sea-level cities such as London.
full story
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
|
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Greenpeace activists and local residents stop roadbuilding and timber operations today in an area of the Alaskan rainforest where clearcutting is taking place. Shown: a banner reading, Ancient Forest Protection Starts Here, activists suspend a specially engineered structure high over logging
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roads in pristine forest that is slated to be cut. full story
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Environmental Change + Genetic Mutation =
New Viruses
|
|
Environmental alterations, such as replacing forests with ranchland, combined with genetic mutations, can produce emerging viruses like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and HIV, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston have discovered.
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Study of equine viruses in coastal Mexico yielded clues to the new microbial threats. full story
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Danube Delta Terns
Victims Of Canal Construction
|
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Thousands of tern chicks have died in their shells on a spit of land in the Danube delta named for the wealth of its bird life. They are the first loss of wildlife documented as a result of a ship canal being built by the Ukraine government across the Danube Delta to the Black Sea. The canal
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crosses a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve that is also a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. full story
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Seas Turn To Acid As They
Absorb Global Pollution
|
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The world's oceans are sacrificing themselves to try to stave off global warming, a major international research programme has discovered. Their waters have absorbed about half of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities over the past two centuries, the 15-year
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study has found. Without this moderating effect, climate change would have been much more rapid and severe. But in the process the seas have become more acid, threatening their very life.
full story
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