01.06.09
Last-minute Bush regs
Groups Fight to Protect Fish, Wildlife, and Wilderness Areas From Last-Minute Bush Regs
Oil-shale Leasing Program Jeopardizes Existence of Threatened and Endangered Species
Shell game
Shell Game: It Will Take More Than Goodwill and Greenwash to Save The Biosphere
by George Monbiot
01.04.09
Algae biofuel
Biofuel Development Shifting From Soil To Sea, Specifically To Marine Algae
ScienceDaily (Jan. 4, 2009) — Bell-bottoms… Designer jeans… Disco… Big hair… Gas shortages. Some icons of the 1970s are emblazoned in the memories of those old enough to remember. A few styles, to the dismay of many, have come back in vogue—oil-related crises among them. Broad anxiety over fuel manifested again in 2008, illuminating the dark side of the nation’s continued oil addiction.
01.03.09
Right whales
New Breeding Ground For Endangered Whales? High Numbers Of Right Whales Seen In Gulf Of Maine
ScienceDaily (Jan. 3, 2009) — A large number of North Atlantic right whales have been seen in the Gulf of Maine in recent days, leading right whale researchers at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center to believe they have identified a wintering ground and potentially a breeding ground for this endangered species.
Coral decline
Coral Decline Warns of Ocean Changes: Australian Scientists
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/01/02-2
01.02.09
Obama and Bush legacy
Obama Will Face Bush Legacy on Environment
by Jim Tankersley
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush could be forcing President-elect Barack Obama to act almost immediately to curb global warming, after years of the Bush administration fighting attempts to crack down on greenhouse gas emissions.
Or, depending on which interpretation prevails, Bush could be giving his successor much-needed breathing room on a volatile issue.
In its final weeks, the Bush administration has moved to close what it calls “back doors” to regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. It barred the Environmental Protection Agency from considering the effects of global warming on protected species. And it excluded carbon dioxide from a list of pollutants the EPA regulates under the Clean Air Act.
Environmentalists call the moves a last-minute attempt to block speedy, executive action by the president’s successor on climate change, an issue that Obama calls a top concern. But they say it could backfire, by prompting lawsuits and fueling fights over coal-fired power plants that the new administration would need to resolve quickly.
Bottled water
My New Year Resolution is to Lose My Bottle – and Quit Coke
by Johann Hari
By the time you read this, my head will be thump-thumping - but this is not a standard-issue New Year’s Day hangover. No. My New Year’s resolution is to finally give up my addiction to two liquids that are trashing the lives of some of the poorest people on earth: bottled water, and Coke. In 2009, I’m determined to lose my bottle.
12.30.08
Tenn. spill
Spill May Have Permanently Altered Tenn. Community
by Kristin M. Hall
KINGSTON, Tenn. - A week after more than a billion gallons of coal ash broke through a retention pond dike and roared into a small river cove, the landscape has turned into a muddy pit that’s little like the scenic spot that attracted people to live here.
12.27.08
Cancerous Air
Born Under a Bad Sky
Cancerous Air
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
This is what it has come to: the air in LA is so toxic that a child born in the city of angels will inhale more cancer-causing pollutants in the first two weeks of life than the EPA (not known for understating risks) considers safe for a lifetime.
12.26.08
GM plants and biofuel
Modified Plants May Yield More Biofuel
ScienceDaily (Dec. 26, 2008) — Plants, genetically modified to ease the breaking down of their woody material, could be the key to a cheaper and greener way of making ethanol, according to researchers who add that the approach could also help turn agricultural waste into food for livestock.
12.23.08
Eco-Warriors at risk
Hundreds of Brazil’s Eco-Warriors at Risk of Assassination
• Study marks 20 years since Mendes murder • Environmentalists divided over activist’s legacy
by Tom Phillips
RIO DE JANEIRO - Twenty years after the killing of Chico Mendes, one of the world’s most prominent rainforest defenders, hundreds of human rights and environmental activists still face the threat of assassination in Brazil, a new study claims.
Crackdown on pesticides
Massive Crackdown on the Use of Scores of Toxic Pesticides
New EU rules, opposed by Gordon Brown, will phase out use of cancer-causing compounds in Britain
by Geoffrey Lean
Britain is to get its toughest crackdown on toxic substances in food and the environment, despite determined resistance to the safety measures from Gordon Brown.
EPA sued
Published on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 by the Courier-Journal (Kentucky)
Coalition Sues Over Mining Ruling
by James Bruggers
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12.19.08
EPA ruling and coal plants
EPA Ruling Could Speed Up Approval of Coal Plants
by Matthew L. Wald and Felicity Barringer
WASHINGTON - Officials weighing federal applications by utilities to build new coal-fired power plants cannot consider their greenhouse gas output, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency ruled late Thursday. Some environmentalists fear the decision will clear the way for the approval of several such plants in the last days of the Bush administration.
12.15.08
The Lorax
New Popularity for Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’
Dr. Seuss’ spokesthing for the environment was ahead of the curve in 1971. Now, he’s a green kids favorite.
Red Apes in Danger
Lucrative Palm Oil Crop Putting Red Apes in Danger
by Marc Kielburger and Craig Kielburger
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12.08.08
Construction industry and environment
Construction Industry Could Trim Climate Emissions Cheaply
POZNAN, Poland - Energy use in buildings accounts for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, but the potential of the construction sector to combat climate change has not been tapped, according to a new report issued by the United Nations Environment Programme.
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12.06.08
Court and environment
Highest US Court Ponders Power Plants and Fish Protection
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/05-5
12.03.08
EPA To Gut Mountaintop Mining Rule
EPA To Gut Mountaintop Mining Rule That Protects Streams
by Renee Schoof and Bill Estep
WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved a last-minute rule change by the Bush administration that will allow coal companies to bury streams under the rocks leftover from mining.
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12.02.08
Climate conference
Published on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 by Environment News Service
Youth Embarrassed By US Delegation at Climate Conference
OZNAN, Poland - The U.S. climate delegation’s “sidestepping and recalcitrance” in a news conference on the opening morning of the United Nations annual climate conference in Poznan was denounced by the international climate campaign 350.org and a group of young people from the United States who are attending the meetings.
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12.01.08
Climate Change Juggernaut
Climate Change Juggernaut on the Horizon, UN Talks Told
POZNAN, Poland - War, hunger, poverty and sickness will stalk humanity if the world fails to tackle climate change, a 12-day UN conference on global warming heard on Monday.
International court for the environment
Lawyers Call for International Court for the Environment
by Louise Gray
Stephen Hockman QC is proposing a body similar to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to be the supreme legal authority on issues regarding the environment.
Stephen Hockman QC said an international court will be needed to enforce any binding climate change agreement (Photo: EDDIE MULHOLLAND) The first role of the new body would be to enforce international agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions set to be agreed next year.
But the court would also fine countries or companies that fail to protect endangered species or degrade the natural environment and enforce the “right to a healthy environment”.
The innovative idea is being presented to an audience of politicians, scientists and public figures for the first time at a symposium at the British Library.
11.29.08
Climate agenda and water
Access to Water Must be High on Climate Agenda: Group
by Svetlana Kovalyova
MILAN (Reuters) - Access to water is a basic human right and should be high on the agenda of climate change talks in Poland next week, the head of an Italian advocacy group said on Friday.
11.28.08
New enviro threat in Great Lakes
Biologists Find New Environmental Threat In North American Lakes
ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2008) — A new and insidious environmental threat has been detected in North American lakes by researchers from Queen’s and York universities.
Along with scientists from several Canadian government laboratories, the team has documented biological damage caused by declining levels of calcium in many temperate, soft-water lakes.
Calling the phenomenon “aquatic osteoporosis,” Queen’s PhD candidate Adam Jeziorski, lead author of the study, notes that calcium is an essential nutrient for many lake-dwelling organisms. “Once calcium declines below a certain threshold, some keystone species can no longer reproduce,” he says. “These species and other organisms that feed on them are endangered.”