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Send an ocean-themed e-card

If your world was ending, what would you do? I think these critters have the right idea … If you thought that was cute, you can also send a Valentine e-card to show your love for the oceans.

Tiny island nation of Kiribati creates world’s largest marine reserve

The tiny Pacific island nation of Kiribati has created the world’s largest marine reserve, spanning 164,200 square miles (roughly the size of California). In contrast, the islands comprising Kiribati itself total only about 313 square miles, or about four times the size of Washington, D.C. The new Phoenix Islands Protected Area is home to sea […]

Sunscreen-slathered swimmers contributing to coral bleaching, says study

Photo: iStockphoto Up to 6,000 tons of sunscreen wash off of ocean swimmers each year, posing a threat to up to 10 percent of global coral reefs, according to a new study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Four common sunscreen chemicals can awaken dormant viruses in coral-dwelling algae, with results of horror-movie proportions: the […]

Mining behemoth responds to Gristmill

This past Christmas, I named Anglo-American Mining Company CEO "Cyanide" Cynthia Carroll the "world's biggest scrooge" for planning to plop one of the world's biggest gold mines right atop the richest salmon fishery in the world in Alaska's Bristol Bay -- and wreaking massive devastation to the landscape, wildlife, and economy of Alaska (you can see pictures of this landscape in the extraordinary book Rivers of Life by Robert Glenn Ketchum and Bruce Hampton).

Well, my little article got some big attention from Anglo-American, and spokesflack Sean Magee struck back in a lengthy riposte, which I've excerpted below (full version here).

In Glenn's article, he talks about the "gold lust" of mining company CEOs who want to gild their bathrooms and fill their swimming pools with the precious yellow metal. Unfortunately, the gold mine he's referring to will actually be a copper mine. As much as 95% of the recoverable metal contained in the Pebble ore body is copper. Somehow, a copper toilet bowl, or filling a swimming pool with pennies, just doesn't create the image of a greedy corporate executive Glenn was shooting for.

When I pressed Magee on this point, he clarified that 95 percent refers to the weight, not the value. According to him, it becomes 30 percent when you compare the value of the gold to the copper. Of course, with gold prices hitting $900 an ounce and investors rushing into gold, the gold part of the mine is becoming a lot more valuable. But mining companies don't like to talk about gold, because 85 percent of global demand is driven by jewelry; it's hard to defend the destruction that accompanies gold mining when almost all of it goes to make bling. I also admit, I had a hard time believing Magee -- the email address he used to send me his letter ends in "@hdgold.com."

Regardless, let's talk about copper. Here's what Magee says is so great about it:

Elk populations getting out of control in some national parks

Forget hungry, hungry hippos — here come the hungry, hungry elk. Three national parks in Colorado and the Dakotas are awash in antlered gluttons, at some places more than twice what’s considered a preferable population. “Willow and aspen stands are declining [and] that deprives other species of habitat they need,” says a spokesperson for Colorado’s […]

New studies show salmon farms destroy wild stocks

Responding to collapsing wild-fish stocks worldwide, the World Bank has hotly promoted "aquaculture" — essentially, large-scale, industrial fish farms. Photo: Simon Bisson The Bank has directed serious resources at promoting fish farming. Such projects make up a significant chunk of its "portfolio of over US$1.2 billion in fisheries, aquaculture, coastal and aquatic environmental management and […]

Outlook not good for air quality at Delhi-hosted games

Think the air quality at this summer’s 2008 Beijing Olympics is going to be bad? When New Delhi hosts the 2010 Commonwealth Games, it’ll probably be even worse.

The green take on Super-Duper Tuesday, sell-off of oil leases in polar-bear habitat sets record, and

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Curb Uranium Enthusiasm Super Troopers Troop On Missing in Auction Shelling It Out The Fellowship of the Ping A Shock to the Systems Unhappy Campers Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Boogie Woogie Google Boy Sell Abrasions

Brown pelicans to be removed from endangered species list

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will remove brown pelicans from the endangered species list within a year. Brown pelicans have been listed as endangered since 1970, even before the Endangered Species Act was born, due to the effects of the ultra-toxic pesticide DDT that thinned their eggshells, causing rapid population decline. But […]

Hungry humpheads and sustainable fish in U.K. groceries

28 cases of ciguatera fish poisoning have been documented since November. Fish such as grouper, snapper, and amberjack eat toxic algae, and people who eat the contaminated fish can suffer from nausea and vomiting. In serious cases, neurological problems can last for months or years ...

... a federal judge rejected President Bush's exemption of the U.S. Navy to rules regulating sonar ...

... scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography suggested that wind may be behind the sardine and anchovy booms and busts off the California coast over the last century ...