rice
Food

Climate-Smart Rice the ‘Crop of the Future’

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines, February 24, 2017 (ENS) – More than half of the world’s population, nearly four billion people, eat rice as their daily staple, but the changing climate is making it tougher for rice farmers to keep their plants alive until harvest. Now, new, stress-tolerant rice varieties can help make farmers more resilient. […]

factory
At Risk

Israeli Illegal Pesticides Poison Occupied West Bank

AMMAN, Jordan, February 20, 2017 (ENS) – The illegal trade and the manufacture and use of toxic pesticides in Israeli illegal settlements, result in human rights violations and contribute to the food insecurity in the Occupied West Bank, an international fact-finding mission concludes. […]

spillway
At Risk

Fresh Storms Could Reactivate Oroville Dam Crisis

OROVILLE, California, February 19, 2017 (ENS) – The emergency at California’s Oroville Dam appears to be over for the moment, although during the next few days severe weather is expected to hit the area at the western edge of the Sierra Nevada mountains, as hundreds of thousands of residents return to their homes. […]

Pruitt
Gov/Politics

Senate Confirms EPA Foe Pruitt as EPA Administrator

WASHINGTON, DC, February 17, 2017 (ENS) – Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt today won Senate confirmation to head the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, the federal agency he has sued multiple times during the Obama administration in attempts to limit its control of industry. […]

spillway
At Risk

‘Extreme Peril’ at California’s Lake Oroville Dam

SACRAMENTO, California, February 13, 2017 (ENS) – More than 180,000 people near Lake Oroville in Butte County, California were evacuated from their homes Sunday as officials warned the auxiliary emergency spillway at Lake Oroville Dam could fail, causing widespread, severe flooding along the Feather River Basin. […]

solar
Energy

Renewables Dominate New U.S. Generating Capacity

WASHINGTON, DC, February 13, 2017 (ENS) – In 2016, for the second year in a row, the majority of new generating capacity installed in the United States came from renewable energy sources, according to the latest issue of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update.” […]

fire
At Risk

‘Extreme’ Chilean Wildfires Worst in Decades

SANTIAGO, Chile, February 6, 2017 (ENS) – In Chile’s worst fire disaster in 50 years, the South American country has lost over half a million hectares to more than 100 wildfires that first flared up in mid-January. The blazes have frustrated firefighters’ efforts to control them, with new hot spots emerging daily. […]

fast food
Food

Perfluorinated Chemicals Found in Fast Food Wrappers

WASHINGTON, DC, February 5, 2017 (ENS) – The health hazards of perfluorinated chemicals, or PFCs, are well known to scientists, yet some fast food chains still use food wrappers, bags and boxes coated with these grease-resistant compounds, according to nationwide tests reported in a new peer-reviewed study. […]

stream
Latest News

Republican Congress Scraps Stream Protection Rule

WASHINGTON, DC, February 3, 2017 (ENS) – The Senate voted Thursday to send President Donald Trump a measure to kill the Interior Department’s Stream Protection Rule, a coal mining regulation finalized in December, just weeks before the end of the Obama administration. The House passed the measure earlier in the week. […]

Gorsuch, Trump
Gov/Politics

Environmental Record of Trump’s Supreme Court Choice

WASHINGTON, DC, February 1, 2017 (ENS) – Neil McGill Gorsuch, a judge who now sits on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado, is President Trump’s nominee for the seat on the U.S. Supreme Court left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. If confirmed, the jury is out on what he would mean for the environment. […]

Leaf
Latest News

Cuba Gets Electric Cars: Nissan Leafs Made in the USA

MIAMI, Florida, Febuary 1, 2017 (ENS) – A Miami-based automotive export company has received the first approval from the U.S. government to ship American-made electric cars to Cuba. Putting aside politics in favor of business, the move follows former President Barack Obama’s policy of restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba. […]

hunter
Latest News

U.S. Hunters Auction African Hunts for $$ to Lobby Trump

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, February 1, 2017 (ENS) – Safari Club International, America’s most powerful hunting lobby group, this week will auction the lives of 280 South African animals to raise funds to lobby the Trump administration against measures protecting threatened species, such as the Big Five: elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo and leopard. […]

Trump
Gov/Politics

Trump’s Regulatory Order Jeopardizes Environment

WASHINGTON, DC, January 30, 2017 (ENS) – Framing it as a “prudent and financially responsible” measure, President Donald Trump today ordered federal agencies to repeal two existing regulations for every new regulation issued. Environmentalists warned the order will dismantle protections. […]

water tower
Latest News

Senators Ask EPA Help for Carcinogen in Long Island Water

WASHINGTON, DC, January 30, 2017 (ENS) – U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Friday called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to “prioritize and accelerate” the risk evaluation for 1,4-dioxane, a potential carcinogen found in 71 percent of Long Island water supply systems. […]