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Not anytime soon, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals

The brutal practice of shark finning got a boost this week as the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a Hong Kong company should not have lost the proceeds from 64,695 pounds of shark fins seized by the Coast Guard in 2002.

Let me repeat that figure: 64,695 pounds of shark fins alone were on that boat. That's the weight of more than eleven Cadillac Escalades. Or eight female African elephants. Or 470 Oxford dictionaries.

Much of U.S. Midwest flooded, weather service warns of more to come

Heavy rains in the U.S. Midwest since Monday have flooded large parts of the region, with some areas enduring over a foot of rain. Officials warned of more flooding to come as communities downriver and downstream brace themselves for hugely increased flows. Thousands of people have been evacuated, including more than 500 homes in Missouri. […]

A roundup of news snippets

• Democratic lawmakers are criticizing the Bush administration’s plan to ease pollution reporting requirements for factory farms. • A global water crisis is right around the corner, says the U.N. • Shell Oil wants to quintuple the amount of oil it produces from Canada’s tar sands. • The ports of L.A. and Long Beach have […]

Postal service and direct mailers join together in a pro-junk-mail campaign

A number of state legislators are introducing bills that would allow residents to block junk mail, and the group ForestEthics recently launched a campaign calling for a Do Not Mail Registry. This sounds appealing to most everyone with a mailbox, but is loudly opposed by direct mailers and the U.S. Postal Service. The Direct Marketing […]

Arctic losing older, thicker sea ice despite cooler temps this winter

The Arctic is losing more of its older, thicker sea ice than in years past despite persistent cold weather throughout the Northern Hemisphere this winter, researchers said. Older sea ice tends to be thicker and have a lower salt content, making it more melt-resistant than new ice. In March, Arctic sea ice is usually at […]

Notable quotable

“A major component of Global Warming is to reduce population because people are seen as part of the problem. And, of course, population control includes abortion. It also includes same-sex relations because they do not cause offspring.” — Tony Perkins, of the Family Research Council

EDF + CEOs: C&T A-OK

Here’s the new Environmental Defense Fund ad — on which they spent $2 million — featuring CEOs stumping for a cap-and-trade bill. Apparently the director told them: “I don’t care what you do, as long as you make some kind of hand gesture.”

Hey, did you hear about those glaciers?

I’m told they’re melting.

In Brief

• Greens are urging the British government to clamp down on airlines that fly “ghost flights” — long-haul flights with no passengers on board. • The Maine lobster industry is seeking sustainable-seafood certification. • Conservationist Richard Leakey has given qualified support for South Africa’s plan to manage its elephant population by killing some elephants. • […]

Protests in Tibet partially spurred by environmental resentment

Violent protests that rose this week against Chinese rule in Tibet were spurred in part by anger about environmental destruction in the Himalayas, an area that Tibetans consider sacred. A Beijing-to-Lhasa railway opened by the Chinese in 2006 has provided easy access for Chinese miners to the pristine Tibetan highlands, where they’ve begun digging up […]