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Cheney on the Brainy
The Democratic Party has unveiled new TV commercials that lambaste the environmental records of George W. Bush and his running mate Dick Cheney, just in time for the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. One ad shows an image of Texas with pollution spewing from the top of the state as if from a smokestack. The […]
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Space Invaders
A number of scientists are warning that the spread of invasive species could become the next big environmental crisis. Some of the invasives are brought into non-native areas deliberately, but most are imported accidentally, particularly as global trade increases. Once the species get established in places where they have no natural predators, they can spread […]
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Shape Up or Ship Out
The cruise ship industry has been hit with bad press lately for some high-profile pollution cases involving the illegal dumping of oil-contaminated water and other pollution into the channels and bays along Alaska’s southeast coastal rainforest. These incidents have raised awareness that current law allows cruise ships to dump wastewater and treated sewage virtually anywhere. […]
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A Gab Fest
Gabon’s government reached an agreement last month with the country’s major logging companies and an assortment of environmental groups to permanently protect a 1,900-square-mile tropical rainforest reserve rich with large mammals and other wildlife. The Lope Reserve has also been nominated to become the first national park in the West African nation. The agreement involves […]
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Smells Fishy
Even low levels of common pesticides can disturb the ability of salmon to smell, possibly reducing their chances of survival, according to research by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Salmon rely heavily on smell to help determine friends, even mates, from foes, and it may be the primary sense the fish use to navigate back […]
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Republican Riders in the Saddle Again
Congress’s efforts to pass the massive bills that authorize government spending are being tied up because some Republicans insist on attaching to the bills unrelated amendments called “riders,” many of which aim to undermine environmental protections. Defenders of Wildlife says that Republicans have placed at least 56 anti-environmental riders on 10 appropriations bills, including measures […]
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Smokin' Reefers
Tropical waters in the Northern Hemisphere have been heating up at a dramatic rate, about 1 degree Fahrenheit per decade since 1984, contributing to the unprecedented bleaching of coral reefs over the past 10 years, according to an analysis released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA scientists had no explanation for […]
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Weird Science
In a move that has angered the international community, Japan sent out a fleet of ships into the North Pacific on Saturday with the aim of killing three species of whales — minke, sperm, and Bryde’s. An international moratorium on commercial whaling went into effect in 1986, but Japan has continued to hunt several hundred […]
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Beyond a Shadow of a Drought
China is enduring one of the worst droughts in its history, and many experts are worrying that the nation is running out of water for its 1.3 billion people. Some 400 of China’s 668 cities have declared water shortages, which means that taps may work only a few hours a day, if at all. At […]
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20/20 Questions
ABC News is being hit with questions about the integrity of a “20/20” report on organic foods that was aired in February and again in July of this year. The report by John Stossel claimed, among other things, that non-organic produce does not necessarily have more pesticide residue than organic produce. Stossel said this claim […]
