Land Use/Forests
U.S. Marines Plan to Destroy Another Island
HONOLULU, Hawaii, August 19, 2013 (ENS) – Another beautiful and valuable Pacific island has been selected by the U.S. Marines as a site for “live fire training.” […]
Month: August 2013
Energy
Solar Panels to Be Placed on White House Roof
WASHINGTON, DC, August 19, 2013 (ENS) – Solar panels are being installed on the roof of the White House this week, three years after the Obama Administration first announced its intention to do so. […]
Energy
Ecuador Allows Oil Drilling in Yasuni National Park
QUITO, Ecuador, August 16, 2013 (ENS) – Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has approved oil drilling in Yasuni National Park, signaling the collapse of an innovative trust fund that would have conserved this biodiversity treasure trove. […]
Food
EPA Debuts Bee-Protective Pesticide Labels, Enviros Demand More
WASHINGTON, DC, August 16, 2013 (ENS) – To protect bees and other pollinators, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed new pesticide labels that prohibit use of some neonicotinoid pesticide products where bees are present. Environmentalists want the agency to take these pesticides off the market. […]
Latest News
Smithsonian Scientist Identifies New Mammal: the Olinguito
WASHINGTON, DC, August 15, 2013 (ENS) – The first new carnivore species to be identified in the American continents in 35 years was introduced to the public today by the Smithsonian Institution scientist who recognized it from skins and skulls tucked away in the collection of the Chicago Field Museum. […]
Business
Google Cuts Carbon Footprint But Funds Climate Change Deniers
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, August 15, 2013 (ENS) – Google’s self-confessed obsession with building energy efficient data centers and buying renewable energy has paid off. The search engine giant says it reduced its carbon footprint by nine percent in 2012. But its recent funding of right-wing climate deniers has undermined its reputation as a green corporation. […]
Air/Climate
Canadians Warn Obama: Don’t Trust Harper’s Tar Sands Rhetoric
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, August 14, 2013 (ENS) – Production of heavy crude oil from the Alberta tar sands is Canada’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, and if expansion continues as government and industry project, they will cancel out every other effort to mitigate emissions, Canadian experts told reporters today. […]
Latest News
Apes Can Swim and Dive
BERN, Switzerland, August 14, 2013 (ENS) – A husband and wife research team has provided the first video-based observation of apes that can swim and dive. Instead of the usual dog-paddle stroke used by most terrestrial mammals, these animals use a kind of breaststroke. […]
Energy
Court Forces Yucca Mtn. Decision on U.S. Nuclear Regulators
WASHINGTON, DC, August 13, 2013 (ENS) – A federal appeals court ruled today that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can no longer delay a decision on whether or not to grant a permit to the stalled nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. […]
Energy
World Bank Funds Hydro Dam for Africa’s Great Lakes Region
WASHINGTON, DC, August 13, 2013 (ENS) – The World Bank has approved US$340 million for the Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project, which will generate power for residents of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. While local officials welcome the project, river advocates say ecosystem impacts have not even been evaluated. […]
Latest News
San Francisco Bay Area Gears Up for Bike Sharing
SAN FRANCISCO, California, August 13, 2013 (ENS) – The Bay Area Bike Share pilot program will go live on August 29 with 700 bikes at 70 stations in five cities – San Francisco, Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose. […]
At Risk
Update: Petron Admits to Oil Spill in Manila Bay
MANILA, Philippines, August 12, 2013 (ENS) – Petron Corporation has acknowledged its pipeline in Cavite Province leaked half a million liters of diesel fuel into Manila Bay which affected over 30 villages in the province. Petron is the largest oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines. […]
Air/Climate
Interpol Targets Criminals Who Subvert Carbon Markets
LYON, France, August 12, 2013 (ENS) – Securities fraud, insider trading, embezzlement, money laundering and cybercrime – the intangible nature of the global carbon trading markets puts them at risk for exploitation by criminal networks, according to a new law enforcement guide produced by Interpol. […]
At Risk
Fukushima’s Radioactive Leaks to the Pacific Alarm Japan
TOKYO, Japan, August 9, 2013 (ENS) – Radioactive groundwater leaks from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are increasing every day, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered the government to step in to help plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company deal with the radioactive flood. […]
Land Use/Forests
U.S. Palm Oil Plantation Endangers Chimps in Cameroon
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, August 9, 2013 (ENS) – Endangered chimpanzees and other primates could lose stretches of their forest habitat in Cameroon if a U.S. company’s plan to establish a palm oil plantation goes ahead. […]
Energy
Canada Funds Algal Biorefinery to Convert Tar Sands Emissions
CALGARY, Alberta, Canada, August 9, 2013 (ENS) – To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from oil production in the Alberta tar sands, the government of Canada is investing in a demonstration-scale algal biorefinery that will convert carbon dioxide into commercial products. […]
Latest News
U.S. East Coast Dolphin Die-Off Triggers Investigation
GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts, August 8, 2013 (ENS) – So many dead bottlenose dolphins are washing up on the Mid-Atlantic coast from New York to Maryland that federal government scientists have declared an “unusual mortality event” and are investigating what is responsible for these deaths. […]
Land Use/Forests
New Zealand Court Opens Denniston Plateau to Coal Mining
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, August 8, 2013 (ENS) – New Zealand environmentalists have lost another round in their long-running battle to keep coal mining from destroying conservation land on the Denniston Plateau on the West Coast of the country’s South Island. […]
Latest News
Uncertain Funding Jeopardizes U.S. Land Imaging Satellites
WASHINGTON, DC, August 8, 2013 (ENS) – Landsat satellites orbiting the Earth have continuously recorded changes to the planet’s land surfaces for 40 years, but while it is essential to U.S. national security, the future of the program is now in jeopardy, warns a new report from the National Research Council. […]
Air/Climate
Earth Sizzled in Record Heat Last Year, Meteorologists Report
ASHEVILLE, North Carolina, August 7, 2013 (ENS) – Across the United States, 2012 was the warmest year on record, and globally, 2012 was among the 10 warmest years on record, according to the 2012 State of the Climate report issued Tuesday by the American Meteorological Society. […]