November, 2020 | Environment News Service (ENS)

World’s Best Wild Salmon Run Protected From Huge Mine

November 30, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, November 29, 2020 (ENS) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit to the proposed Pebble Mine, a giant copper and gold mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska that would threaten the world’s largest, most valuable wild salmon fishery. The decision met with approval from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress as well as environmental groups, but the mining company was “dismayed” by the ruling. […]

GM Quits Trump Suit to Strip California’s Emissions Control

November 25, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

DETROIT, Michigan, November 25, 2020 (ENS) – General Motors CEO Mary Barra said on Monday the company is pulling out of a lawsuit led by the Trump administration against California over the state’s right to set its own fuel economy and emissions regulations. Barra said the company supports President-elect Joe Biden’s plans to expand electrification of cars. […]

Filming The Power of Youth

November 25, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

EUGENE, Oregon, November 25, 2020 (ENS) – If you don’t want to miss out on the virtual and educational opportunity of a lifetime, you’ll want to attend the world premiere of “Youth v. Gov,” a documentary put together by Our Children’s Trust, which seeks science-based action by governments to stabilize the climate system. […]

Leapin’ Lizards: Argentine Tegus Run Wild in Georgia

November 24, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

ATLANTA, Georgia, November 24, 2020 (ENS) – Georgia wildlife officials and their partners are scrambling to eradicate a wild population of large invasive black and white Argentine lizards called tegus in two counties in southeast Georgia. Growing from two to four feet long and weighing 10 pounds or more, this lizard native to South America is an invasive species that threatens Georgia wildlife. […]

John Kerry to Head Biden Administration’s Climate Team

November 23, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

WASHINGTON, DC, November 23, 2020 (ENS) – President-elect Joe Biden today announced key members of his foreign policy and national security team including, for the first time, a Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. To fill this new role, Biden has chosen old friend and Senate colleague, former Secretary of State John Kerry. […]

Wary Funders Drop Proposed South African Coal Plant

November 19, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, November 19, 2020 (ENS) – “Major climate impacts and exorbitant costs have sounded the death knell” for one of the last new proposed coal-fired power stations in South Africa – Thabametsi power station in water-scarce Limpopo province, says the Centre for Environmental Rights, a firm of environmental justice lawyers. […]

Bezos Opens $10 Billion Earth Fund With Climate Grants

November 18, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

SEATTLE, Washington, November 17, 2020 (ENS) – Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest person, is giving nearly $800 million to 16 environmental groups in the first donations from his $10 billion Earth Fund. in February, Bezos announced the creation of his personal $10 billion Earth Fund, designed to support what Bezos has called “needle-moving solutions” to the climate crisis. […]

Leaking Oil Tanker Abandoned Off Yemen a Red Sea Risk

November 17, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

NEW YORK, New York, November 17, 2020 (ENS) – Technical experts must be granted immediate access to a rusting oil supertanker threatening an environmental calamity in the Red Sea, an independent United Nations expert is demanding. Abandoned five years ago when its engine room flooded with seawater, the leaking 44-year-old tanker FSO Safer still holds 1.1 million barrels of light crude oil. […]

Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Nearly 95% Effective

November 16, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, November 16, 2020 (ENS) – Moderna, a Massachusetts biotechnology company pioneering therapeutics and vaccines, today announced that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, has been rated 94.5 percent effective by the U.S. government. Moderna intends to request an Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. […]

Nicaragua, Honduras Again in Path of Monster Hurricane

November 16, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

MIAMI, Florida, November 16, 2020 (ENS) – The word iota means something very small, but the Category 5 Hurricane Iota now bearing down on Central America is the exact opposite. Expected to bring catastrophic winds, life-threatening storm surge, and torrential rainfall, it’s about to smash into Nicaragua and Honduras near where powerful Hurricane Eta struck just two weeks ago. […]

Pfizer 1st With COVID Vaccine, Claims Over 90% Efficacy

November 11, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

NEW YORK, New York, November 11, 2020 (ENS) – Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is the first company to announce a successful vaccine candidate that is safe and effective in preventing COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. […]

Pandemic Forces Enviro Film Fest in D.C. to Go Virtual

November 10, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

WASHINGTON, DC, November 10, 2020 (ENS) – The largest green film festival in the world and the longest-running film fest in the United States, the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital, DCEFF, has announced its virtual fall showcase starting November 12 and running until November 18. […]

Calling All Film-Makers

November 9, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

GENEVA, Switzerland, November 9, 2020 (ENS) – The opportunity has arrived for young film-makers to submit an original short film to the second Health for All Film Festival sponsored by the World Health Organization, WHO. The first Health for All Film Festival in 2019 was a great success, raking in a total of 1,300 short film submissions from over 110 countries. […]

President-elect Biden to Restore U.S. Climate Leadership

November 8, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

WASHINGTON, DC, November 8, 2020 (ENS) – Joseph R. Biden Jr. was declared President-elect of the United States on Saturday after slow, meticulous vote-counting that kept the nation on edge for four days. Biden, a Democrat, campaigned on a strong climate restoration platform, starting with bringing the United States back into the Paris Climate Agreement on day one of a Biden administration. […]

Trump Pushes Gray Wolf off Endangered Species List

November 7, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

WASHINGTON, DC, November 7, 2020 (ENS) – To the dismay of conservationists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened hunting season on gray wolves across the United States by removing them from the national Endangered Species List. Farmers, cattlemen and ranchers applauded the delisting, but conservationists issued dire warnings, and a coalition of conservation groups is going to court to reverse the rule. […]

Hurricane Eta Kills 3 Central Americans, Aims at Florida

November 4, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

MIAMI, Florida, November 4, 2020 (ENS) – Slow-moving, wet and windy, Hurricane Eta made landfall south of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane on Tuesday afternoon. Eta had maximum sustained winds near 140 mph at landfall, but by Wednesday morning the winds had dropped to 70 mph winds, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. […]

Virus Quarantines World Health Organization Chief

November 2, 2020 News Editor Comments Off

GENEVA, Switzerland, November 2, 2020 (ENS) – The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is in quarantine tonight as he has been exposed to the coronavirus he has been battling every day since early January, COVID-19. […]