carver
Business

Hope for Elephants: China Starts Ivory Market Shutdown

BEIJING, China, March 31, 2017 (ENS) – China today permanently closed 55 retail ivory stores and 12 ivory carving entities across the country as a step towards shutting down its entire domestic ivory market to protect elephants at risk of extinction from poaching. […]

pipeline
Energy

Enviros, Tribes Sue to Block Keystone XL Pipeline

GREAT FALLS, Montana, March 30, 2017 (ENS) – Six environmental groups today sued the Trump Administration for what they allege is “illegally approving a cross-border permit” for TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. On Monday, a tribal coalition and a U.S.-Canada environmental coalition filed suit to block the permit. […]

ambassadors
At Risk

Nuclear Nations Boycott Weapons Ban Treaty Talks

NEW YORK, New York, March 29, 2017 (ENS) – Nuclear powers, including the United States, Britain and France are among nearly 40 countries boycotting the first UN conference in more than 20 years on a global nuclear weapons ban treaty at the United Nations this week. […]

power plant
Air/Climate

Trump Kills Obama’s Clean Power Plan

WASHINGTON, DC, March 28, 2017 (ENS) – Most of President Barack Obama’s actions taken to forestall climate change were wiped out today as President Donald Trump revoked, revised, rescinded or withdrew limits on carbon emissions from power plants and opened federal lands to coal mining. […]

Beetlejuice
Gov/Politics

‘Beetlejuice Provision’ Invoked to Save Data From Trump

WASHINGTON, DC, March 27, 2017 (ENS) – To prevent hundreds of environmental data sets on government websites from being removed by the Trump administration, two nonprofit organizations and a conservation biologist have sent Freedom of Information Act requests for the data sets to eight federal agencies. […]

New Delhi
Air/Climate

India Moves to Stricter Vehicle Emissions Norms

NEW DELHI, India, March 24, 2017 (ENS) – India’s automobile industry is geared up to begin production of vehicles compliant with Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) emission norms across the country from April 1, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. […]

pipes
Energy

Trump Administration Approves Keystone XL Pipeline

WASHINGTON, DC, March 24, 2017 (ENS) – The Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs has issued a Presidential permit to TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, authorizing the Canadian company to construct, connect, operate, and maintain pipeline facilities at the U.S.-Canadian border for the importation of crude oil from Canada’s tar sands. […]

nanocar
Latest News

First NanoCar Race Heralds ‘Dawn of Atom Technology’

TOULOUSE, France, March 23, 2017 (ENS) – NanoCars will compete for the first time ever during an international molecule-car race to be held on April 28-29 in Toulouse. The vehicles, which consist of just a few hundred atoms, will be powered by minute electrical pulses during the 36 hour-long race. […]

drinking
Latest News

World Water Day Appreciates Precious Wastewater

DURBAN, South Africa, March 22, 2017 (ENS) – On this, World Water Day, a water-scarce world is looking to treated wastewater to help ease increasingly severe water shortages. In many of the regions projected to be hit hardest, a water crisis is already happening. […]

signing
Land Use/Forests

Giant Land Donation Safeguards Chile’s Wild Patagonia

SANTIAGO, Chile, March 17, 2017 (ENS) – After the largest land donation in history from a private entity to a country, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Tompkins Conservation leader Kristine McDivitt Tompkins Wednesday signed a pledge to expand Chile’s national parkland by roughly 4,500,000 hectares. […]

refugees
Gov/Politics

Trump Budget Blueprint a Disaster for the Planet

WASHINGTON, DC, March 16, 2017 (ENS) – President Donald Trump’s first budget outline was released today, covering Fiscal Year 2018. The “Budget Blueprint” cuts deep into agencies that protect the environment, help rural people, the poor and international relations, but hands a big boost to defense spending and homeland security. […]

Trump
Air/Climate

Trump Reopens Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Standards Review

DETROIT, Michigan, March 15, 2017 (ENS) – President Donald Trump said today that he will cancel an Obama-era EPA determination that federal fuel efficiency standards through model year 2025 are feasible and have his administration conduct its own review, bowing to the wishes of auto industry executives. […]

mouse
Latest News

Biotech Explosion Will ‘Overwhelm’ Regulators, Panel

WASHINGTON, DC, March 14, 2017 (ENS) – So many biotechnology products are expected to come to market over the next five to 10 years, that their number and diversity could “overwhelm the U.S. regulatory system,” advises a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. […]

VW engine
Latest News

Illegal VW Emissions Blamed for 1,260 Premature Deaths

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, March 13, 2017 (ENS) – Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and two other institutions report that Volkswagen’s emissions in excess of the legal standards have had a deadly effect on public health not just in Germany but across Europe and in the United States. […]

coral
Latest News

50 Reefs: A Global Plan to Save Corals from Extinction

SYDNEY, Australia, March 12, 2017 (ENS) – Ninety percent of the world’s coral reefs are expected to disappear by 2050 due to climate change, pollution and poor fishing practices. Now, a unique philanthropic coalition has launched 50 Reefs, a plan to save the most important reefs so once the climate stabilizes they can reseed the entire coral ecosystem. […]

boys
Health

Flame Retardants Linked to Child Aggression, Bullying

CORVALLIS, Oregon, March 11, 2017 (ENS) – There is no doubt that flame retardant chemicals added to furniture, carpeting electronics and vehicles to halt or slow fires do save lives. But these chemicals can affect the social development of young children, new research has found. […]

EV
Latest News

New York Governor Energizes Electric Vehicle Ecosystem

ALBANY, New York, March 11, 2017 (ENS) – To promote electric vehicle use across New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a new campaign that includes the installation of charging stations, incentives for employers to encourage employees to drive electric vehicles and extensive public education and outreach. […]

child
Health

Pollution Kills 1.7 Million Children a Year

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 6, 2017 (ENS) – Every year, environmental risks such as indoor and outdoor air pollution, second-hand smoke, tainted water, lack of sanitation, and inadequate hygiene, take the lives of 1.7 million children under five years of age, warn two new reports from the World Health Organization. […]