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Watch presidential candidates discuss climate and energy

On Nov. 17, 2007, Grist cosponsored the first-ever presidential candidate forum focusing on climate change and energy policy. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Dennis Kucinich attended and spoke in-depth about their green platforms. (All Democratic and Republican presidential candidates were invited to attend.) Watch the forum below, or read the transcript [PDF]. For more information […]

Commission on bluefin conservation comes up empty again

The following is a guest essay from Carl Safina, the oceans' most articulate defender and director of the Orion Grassroots Network member group Blue Ocean Institute. His books include Song for the Blue Ocean, Eye of the Albatross, and Voyage of the Turtle. His blog also is a must-read.

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The story goes like this: It's one of the largest, fastest, most gorgeous fish in the sea. Unfortunately, its extraordinary warm-bloodedness makes its muscle delicious to the strange seafood-loving creatures that live on land. The value of bluefin tuna meat goes up due to global demand for sushi and sashimi. As the price goes up, fishing increases. Too many fish are caught and the population collapses. Over the past 50 years, bluefin fisheries have collapsed off Brazil, in the North Sea, and recently off the eastern U.S. and Canada.

The Commission tasked with managing Atlantic bluefin fisheries is completely broken. The 43-nation International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas met this month in, appropriately enough, Turkey, to discuss the fate of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic. Usually referred to by its acronym ICCAT -- pronounced eye-cat -- it should be called instead ICCAN'T. Or, keep the acronym and change its name to International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna.

Canada sets aside huge tracts of land for protection

The Canadian government plans to set aside 25.5 million acres of northern boreal forest and tundra as protected land, off-limits from resource development. The total acreage (hectarage?) of the protected area is 11 times the size of Yellowstone National Park — or, in Canadian, about twice the size of Nova Scotia and more than five […]

Scientists urge investment in deeper understanding of the deep

Things we know about the world’s oceans: They’re big. They’re watery. They’re in bad shape. And that’s about it. To that end, the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans is urging the 72-nation Group on Earth Observations, which meets this week, to invest $2 billion to $3 billion over the next decade in a […]

Australia elects prime minister who wants to ratify Kyoto Protocol, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Add-Ministering First Aid Good on Gordon Plying Chicken It’s Still Dammed If They Do, And Damned If They Don’t Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Oh, You Shouldn’t Have Fry, Fry Again Java Script

Mexico boosts funding for butterfly protection

Millions of butterflies clapped their tiny wings as Mexican President Felipe Calderon yesterday announced a plan to curb logging and protect habitat for migrating monarchs. Mexico has already boosted anti-logging efforts, resulting in a 48 percent drop in illegal tree-chopping in the last year. Calderon hopes the additional funding to be put toward the existing […]

China announces vague plans to mitigate environmental impacts of Three Gorges Dam

Attempting to curb fresh criticism of the country’s massive Three Gorges Dam spurred by a landslide that killed over 30 people, China announced a set of vague initiatives to improve the environmental problems caused by the world’s largest dam. While no one has directly tied the landslide that killed a construction worker and a bus […]

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, Gristians! As someone who spends a great deal of time on the internet, I’m all too aware that most of what passes for dialogue on the web consists of slogans and nostrums, hurled back and forth with maximum vitriol. Virtually everyone I know who maintains a website has the same lament: the intelligent […]

Thanksgiving Day game will be carbon neutral

Plan to watch a little football tomorrow? Like, um, all day long? Well, be sure to tune in to watch the Lions play the Packers in the first carbon-neutral football game evah.

Congo nature preserve set up to protect bonobos

A swath of Congo rainforest larger than the state of Massachusetts will be designated as a nature reserve in a collaborative effort between American and Congolese environmental groups and agencies. Advocates hope the reserve will be a significant step toward protecting the endangered bonobo, one of humans’ closest ape relations. Bonobos, which live only in […]