Gov/Politics

Public Lands Critic to Oversee Fish, Wildlife and Parks

WASHINGTON, DC, June 11, 2019 (ENS) – The Secretary of the Interior keeps illegally shuffling political officials into jobs requiring Senate confirmation, according to a legal complaint filed today by the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER. […]

plastic
Latest News

Canada to Ban Throw-Away Plastics by 2021

MONT-SAINT-HILAIRE, Quebec, Canada, June 10, 2019 (ENS) – Canada intends to ban “harmful” single-use plastics as early as 2021 and hold companies responsible for plastic waste, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today. “Canadians know first-hand the impacts of plastic pollution, and are tired of seeing their beaches, parks, streets, and shorelines littered with plastic waste. […]

pipeline
Latest News

Nano Villain Blamed for Oil Pipeline Corrosion

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, June 7, 2019 (ENS) – A form of nanoscale corrosion is responsible for unpredictable breaks in the steel pipelines that carry oil, decreasing their working life, new research has found. The universal use of steel in pipeline infrastructure makes aqueous steel corrosion a global concern, with negative effects in most industrial sectors. […]

Beijing
Air/Climate

World Environment Day: Clean Air to Stabilize Climate

NEW YORK, New York, June 6, 2019 (ENS) – “It is time to act decisively. My message to governments is clear: tax pollution; end fossil fuel subsidies; and stop building new coal plants. We need a green economy, not a grey economy,” declared UN Secretary-General António Guterres Wednesday in a video message to mark the 45th annual World Environment Day, with its theme of beating air pollution. […]

Air/Climate

US Fertilizer Plants Emit 100 Times the Methane Reported

ITHACA, New York, June 6, 2019 (ENS) – Emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from the ammonia fertilizer industry have been greatly underestimated, finds new research from Cornell University and the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. The methane emissions were higher than the EPA’s estimate for all industrial processes in the United States. […]

grouse
Land Use/Forests

Court Blocks Controversial Oregon Grazing Permits

PORTLAND, Oregon, June 4, 2019 (ENS) – A federal judge in Oregon today granted conservation groups’ motion to block livestock from using public lands allotments near the town of Burns in central Oregon during the month of June. The temporary restraining order was issued in response to a lawsuit challenging former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s order to reinstate the grazing permits, overriding the Bureau of Land Management. […]

trash
Latest News

Powering Jet Planes With Plastic Waste

RICHLAND, Washington, June 4, 2019 (ENS) – Scientists have found a way to turn daily-use plastic waste products into jet fuel. In a method described in a new paper in the journal “Applied Energy,” a research group led by Washington State University Associate Professor Hanwu Lei melted plastic waste at a high temperature with activated carbon to produce jet fuel. […]

vehicles
Latest News

British Columbia Bans Sale of Gas-powered Cars by 2040

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Canada, June 1, 2019 (ENS) – In a move aimed at removing a major source of air pollution and climate change, the provincial government has put British Columbia on a path to require the sale of all new light-duty cars and trucks to be zero-emission vehicles by the year 2040. British Columbia Wednesday passed a law curbing the production and sale of gasoline-fueled cars in the province. […]

car
Energy

Governments Cue Hydrogen for Global Clean Energy Role

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, June 1, 2019 (ENS) – Hydrogen is on the move. At the Clean Energy Ministerial meeting Friday in Vancouver, governments announced a new international hydrogen partnership under the leadership of Canada, the European Commission, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States, with participation from several other CEM member countries. […]

seal
Latest News

Leopard Seals Recognized as New Zealand Residents

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, May 31, 2019 (ENS) – New Zealand’s newest residents like being alone, have leopard-like spots, and can each weigh up to 600 kilos (1,320 pounds). This week leopard seals have gone from being officially classified as vagrants, to recognition as residents of New Zealand. […]

Land Use/Forests

NGOs Buy Grazing Rights to Protect Argentina’s Species

NEW YORK, New York, May 30, 2019 (ENS) – The largest protected area in Argentina’s Patagonian steppe, inhabited by wildlife such as the guanaco, the Andean cat, and Andean condor, has now been further secured by conservation groups that have arranged to buy the grazing rights on the reserve from livestock producers. […]

smoke
Business

Big Companies Ask Congress For National Carbon Price

WASHINGTON, DC, May 22, 2019 (ENS) – Representatives of some of the largest U.S.-based corporations are asking Congress to pass meaningful climate legislation, including a price on carbon. Today, executives from more than 75 businesses met with a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers in the largest business gathering on Capitol Hill to advocate for climate legislation in over a decade. […]

George Will
Energy

Indigenous Pipeline Protest Disrupts Trudeau Fundraiser

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, May 22, 2019 (ENS) – An Indigenous leader demanding that cancellation of the Trans Mountain pipeline interrupted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his speech today at a Liberal fundraiser at the Opus Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Trudeau is fundraising ahead of the federal election scheduled to take place on or before October 21. […]

Cryosat
Air/Climate

West Antarctic Glaciers Unstable, Melting Into the Sea

LEEDS, England, UK, May 16, 2019 (ENS) – The warming of ocean waters over the 25 years between 1992 and 2017 have caused the glacier ice in West Antarctica to thin so rapidly that 24 percent of the region’s ancient ice is now affected, a British research team has determined. […]

taco
Business

Yum! Brands’ Recipe for Good

BOSTON, Massachusetts, May 15, 2019 – Yum! Brands, the parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, today was named to the 100 Best Corporate Citizens list by “Corporate Responsibility Magazine” for its continued commitment to being a good corporate steward. […]

fire
At Risk

Intense Early Season Fires Burn Across Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium, May 15, 2019 (ENS) – From Norway to Spain, from the United Kingdom to Romania, the number and severity of wildfires burning at the start of this year have risen sharply from that of previous decades, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System, EFFIS. […]

mountains
Air/Climate

Earth’s Most Famous Glaciers Could Melt Away by 2100

GLAND, Switzerland, May 10, 2019 (ENS) – Glaciers are forecast to vanish from almost half of all UNESCO World Heritage sites if business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions continue, finds the first global study of World Heritage glaciers, co-authored by scientists from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN. […]

frog
At Risk

Humans Threaten One Million Species With Extinction

PARIS, France, May 6, 2019 (ENS) – Nearly one million species are at risk of becoming extinct within decades, and current efforts to conserve the Earth’s resources will likely fail without “radical action,” a United Nations report by hundreds of biodiversity experts warned on Monday. […]

vegetables
Food

California Agencies Partner to Advance Carbon Farming

SACRAMENTO, California, May 4, 2019 (ENS) – A public-private initiative to advance climate-smart agriculture and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on agricultural lands is the newest cooperative project for two California state agencies that want to create a way for food and fiber businesses to directly fund climate projects on California farms and ranches. […]