oily beach Tobago
At Risk

Tobago Oil Spill Spreads Across Southeastern Caribbean Sea

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, February 16, 2024 (ENS) – At least two vessels were involved in an incident that is spilling gobs of black crude oil across a widening area of the Caribbean Sea off the coast of South America. Emanating from a capsized barge off Tobago’s southwest coast, the oil has fouled some of the pristine beaches that attract so many tourists to the tropical island, the country’s Coast Guard has confirmed. […]

snowboarder Lake Tahoe
Health

First Drug to Treat Severe Frostbite Approved in U.S.

WASHINGTON, DC, February 15, 2024 (ENS) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug – an injection to treat severe frostbite in adults that reduces the risk of finger or toe, nose or ear amputation. The iloprost injection, marketed under the brand name Aurlumyn, is a vasodilator, a drug that opens blood vessels and prevents blood clotting. […]

lidar map
Latest News

Inaugural World Lidar Day Honors Remote Sensing Technology

DENVER, Colorado, February 14, 2024 (ENS) – It’s Geo Week in Denver, where one of the world’s largest geospatial conferences is underway. As part of the gathering, on February 12, a group of Lidar enthusiasts celebrated the first World Lidar Day, marking this date as an annual celebration of the expanding world enabled by Light Detection and Ranging, LIDAR. […]

capsized ship Tobago
At Risk

Capsized Ship Spills Oil Onto Tobago’s Secluded Beaches

SCARBOROUGH, Tobago, February 12, 2024 (ENS) – An abandoned vessel that capsized just 200 meters (656 feet) from the coast of Tobago’s new Cove Eco-Industrial Park has been leaking oil for days, and now some 10 kilometers (six miles) of the Caribbean island’s coastline is fouled with the oily mess. […]

GEF Council
Business

Global Environment Fund Gives $1B+ to Help Climate, Species

WASHINGTON, DC, February 9, 2024 (ENS) – The Global Environment Facility’s 186 member governments have agreed to invest $1.1 billion for international action on biodiversity, climate change, nature renewal, and pollution control, during the GEF’s first meeting as the Council of the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, GBFF. […]

rhino research
Latest News

Success and Tragedy Mark First Rhino Embryo Implant

BERLIN, Germany, February 8, 2024 (ENS) – For the first time, a rhinoceros has successfully become pregnant following embryo transfer. Although the surrogate mother rhino died before she could give birth to the transferred calf, scientists say the successful embryo implantation paves the way for use of the same method to save the entire northern white rhino subspecies from extinction. […]

spraying oilseed rape field
AmeriScan

NEW YORK: First to Protect Birds, Bees From Neonic Pesticides

ALBANY, New York, January 30, 2024 (ENS) – New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed into law first-in-the-nation legislation to protect birds and bees from toxic neonicotinoid pesticides used on outdoor ornamental plants and turfs, and the seeds of corn, soybeans and wheat. This law is the first in the United States to limit neonicotinoid coating on seeds. […]

Daimler hydrogen fuel cell truck
Latest News

European Union to Phase Out Heavy-Duty Diesel Trucks

BRUSSELS, Belgium, January 18, 2024 (ENS) – European lawmakers today agreed on emission targets for the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) from heavy-duty vehicles that will phase out almost all sales of new diesel trucks by 2040. After passenger cars, heavy-duty vehicles are the second biggest transport polluter in Europe. […]

Swinton Alabama solar farm
Latest News

Stormwater Violations by Solar Farm Builder Draw Big Fines

SAN FRANCISCO, California, January 17, 2024 (ENS) – Swinerton Builders, a California-based builder of utility-scale solar farms nationwide, has agreed to pay a hefty $2.3 million penalty to settle allegations that through inadequate management of stormwater the company violated the federal Clean Water Act … […]

flooding DRC
At Risk

Flooding Congo River Overwhelms Countries on Both Banks

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, January 12, 2024 (ENS) – After two months of heavy rain, the waters of the Congo River have risen higher than anyone has seen them in more than 60 years. The flooding rains have claimed more than 300 lives and disrupted 300,000+ households in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and 17 lives in the Republic of the Congo, authorities on both sides of the river said. […]

electric school bus
Latest News

Electric School Buses Have Another Billion-Dollar Year

WASHINGTON, DC, January 9, 2024 (ENS) – Imagine waiting for the school bus – you’re trying to remember algebra for a test, you didn’t get much sleep because of your asthma, and the diesel school bus pulls up, reeking of emissions, making it hard for you to breathe again today. […]

Scientists deploy ROV
Latest News

WWII Munitions, DDT Remain on Southern California Seafloor

SAN DIEGO, California, January 7, 2024 (ENS) – Tons of munitions, petrochemicals, chemicals from manufacturing the pesticide DDT, and other hazardous materials were dumped for decades in deep ocean basins off the coast of Los Angeles, scientists from three California universities are discovering. […]

South Africa Mabola River
Land Use/Forests

Weak South African Law Allows Mining in Protected Areas

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, January 6, 2024 (ENS) – South Africa’s limited protected-area estate is increasingly coming under threat from mining. This is facilitated by an enabling regulatory environment that permits mining and related activities within certain protected areas. […]

Portland Harbor Superfund Site
Latest News

Oil, Chemical Firms Pay Millions to Fix Portland Harbor

PORTLAND, Oregon, December 31, 2023 (ENS) – People who eat fish that live year-round in Oregon’s Lower Willamette River are taking a big risk, as these fish contain levels of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls high enough to harm health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been warning for decades. […]