Enviro

October 27, 2016 – After five years of protracted negotiations, and tireless ‘Speedo diplomacy’ from endurance swimmer and UN Environment’s Patron of the Oceans Lewis Pugh, Antarctica’s Ross Sea has finally been declared a Marine Protected Area. The Ross Sea is widely considered to be the last great wilderness area on Earth and known as […]

WASHINGTON, DC, Oct. 27, 2016 – The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Cetacean Society International (CSI), Earth Island Institute (EII), and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) lauded the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) today for its final designation of the Sakhalin Bay-Amur River population of beluga whales in Russia as depleted under the Marine Mammal […]

WASHINGTON, DC, Oct. 27, 2016 -North Dakota’s only national park is pushing to permit construction of a new Verizon cell tower right next to the state’s largest tract of designated wilderness. The plan would wire wilderness in violation of law, as well as contravene National Park Service (NPS) policy and the very purpose for which […]

Washington, DC October 26, 2016 – Each year, hunters and trappers cut deeply into the populations of large mammals inside Denali National Park and Preserve, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) figures released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Surprisingly, the toll on both predators and game animals inside the […]

Oct. 24, 2016 – Most research on climate change ecology is limited to the impacts of a single climate variable, such as temperature or water availability, on one trophic level at a time — and often on a single species. For instance, many studies have shown that increasing carbon dioxide levels can increase plant growth. […]

LEWISTOWN, MT October 18, 2016 – An unlikely combination of peanut butter and drones has given researchers renewed hope for the future of North America’s rarest mammal, the endangered black-footed ferret. The project, which is a joint effort between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, World Wildlife Fund, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Wildlife Health […]

SAN FRANCISCO Oct. 7, 2016— In the face of staggering declines, Endangered Species Act protection may be warranted for Pacific bluefin tuna, the National Marine Fisheries Service said today. The announcement, in response to a petition from conservation groups earlier this year, means the agency will now conduct an in-depth status review of the species. […]

Oct. 5, 2016 – Over 1 million dams exist worldwide. These structures have numerous environmental effects, and there is no shortage of research on the various ecological consequences of dams. However, the bulk of the research effort has been narrowly focused on river ecosystems. Writing in BioScience, Bridget R. Deemer of the School of the […]

DURHAM, NC, Sept. 27, 2016 – The Deepwater Horizon oil spill six years ago caused widespread marsh erosion that may be permanent in some places, according to a new Duke University-led analysis of 270 miles of the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts. At the hardest-hit of 103 Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) sites, where oil […]

Sept. 27, 2016 – As pipeline-delivered natural gas continues to be a politically unstable energy source for Europe, officials in Brussels are exploring large-scale importation of liquefied natural gas from alternative sources – including the shale gas industry in the United States. Cornell Professor Robert Howarth, an expert on the atmospheric implications of methane, COP21 […]

Sept. 23, 2016 – The Council of Canadians launched a national boycott campaign against Nestlé in Guelph last night. Guelph and the neighbouring region of Wellington County are currently ground zero for a battle between a local community protecting their water and the multi-billion dollar bottled water giant. “The water crisis is at our door […]

NEW YORK/CHICAGO, Sept. 21, 2016 – Beginning in 2008, Volkswagen installed software to circumvent emissions testing by turning off the nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions control system in real-world driving in nearly half a million cars. A new analysis using a tool developed and used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assess the health and […]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2016 – Oceana, SkyTruth and Google today launched the public Beta of Global Fishing Watch, a new online technology platform that allows anyone in the world free access to monitor and track the activities of the world’s largest commercial fishing vessels in near real-time. By providing the first free global view of […]

Sept. 14, 2016 – It’s no secret that Arctic sea ice is melting. Polar bears, the poster-child for climate change, are among the animals most affected by the seasonal and year-to-year changes in Arctic sea ice, because they rely on this surface for essential activities such as hunting, traveling and breeding. A new University of […]

Sept. 7, 2016 – Climate change played a heavy role in the nightmarish storm that brought a three-day deluge to coastal Louisiana last month, triggering floods that killed 13 and left thousands more homeless, research released Wednesday showed. The unprecedented 1 to 2 feet of rain that fell over parts of Baton Rouge and nearby […]

HELENA, Mont. September 6, 2016 – A coalition of conservation groups has objected to a mining company’s request for a state water right permit for the proposed Rock Creek Mine.  If finalized, the permit would allow the mine to drain water from pristine streams in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness and adjacent Kootenai National Forest—in some […]

HONOLULU, Hawaiʻi,  September 5, 2016 –  Ocean warming is affecting humans in direct ways and the impacts are already being felt, including effects on fish stocks and crop yields, more extreme weather events and increased risk from water-borne diseases, according to what has been called the most comprehensive review available on the issue, launched today […]