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California must seek permission to implement ship-emissions rule, court says

A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down a California rule aimed at reducing smog-causing emissions from ships in the Los Angeles area. The state had argued that it had the authority to implement the rule without seeking permission from the U.S. EPA since it was simply regulating the fuel used in older, more-polluting auxiliary […]

National parks chock full o’ chemicals, says study

Our prized natural places are hardly pristine, according to a six-year federal study. Researchers looked at the air, water, soil, lichen, conifer needles, and fish in 20 national parks and monuments. They found a total of some 70 contaminants, from near as well as far, local pesticide residue mingling with mercury wafted in from overseas. […]

Water, world

Nifty:

Left: All the water in the world (1.4087 billion cubic kilometres of it) including sea water, ice, lakes, rivers, ground water, clouds, etc. Right: All the air in the atmosphere (5140 trillion tonnes of it) gathered into a ball at sea-level density. Shown on the same scale as the Earth.

Notable quotable

“Getting shot is just going to piss off a 500-pound grizzly bear.” — George Durkee, director of the Ranger Lodge of Fraternal Order of Police, on why it doesn’t make sense to allow visitors to carry loaded guns in national parks

Massive database of species goes online

An online Encyclopedia of Life that aims to eventually include every living organism on the planet has unveiled its first detailed pages. Read up on the 24 species that have entries complete with text, pictures, and video, or sift through 30,000 others with preliminary information. Those involved with the encyclopedia, which got its start from […]

South Africa to resume elephant culling despite criticism

South Africa announced it will resume killing elephants in May for the first time since a 1995 ban on the practice. Wildlife officials argued that culling is necessary to reduce elephant populations in the country due to their impacts on vegetation and other species; the number of elephants has more than doubled since the ban […]

Natalie Portman on Target

In talking about her new vegan shoe line, Natalie Portman reveals she often shops at Target to find vegan shoes: "Basically, I [launched the line] out of a lack of choice. Stella McCartney does great shoes, but they’re expensive and very fashiony. I wanted a mary-jane shoe without leather. I’ve been getting stuff from Target, […]

Gray wolves in northern Rockies lose endangered-species protections, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: He’s Back Hero or Zero? Across the Gray Divide Canada, a Tax! A Batt Out of Hell Coil in Fear Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Get the Hang Of It Sheath All That Stranger Than Fiction

Deep thought of the day

When tallying up the costs and benefits of climate change (and mitigating climate change), economists generally use GDP figures. If the entire continent of Africa was wiped out, that would shave about 2-4% off of global GDP. Would that count as a large cost or a small one?

Brazil seizes huge load of illegal Amazon timber after riots

Brazilian troops and police seized about 500 truckloads of illegal hardwood timber from the Amazon rainforest over the weekend, following riots and protests by sawmill workers and others that had forced out environmental inspectors earlier in the week. After the inspectors were driven out, they came back days later with over 450 troops to confiscate […]