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Viral epidemic hits Mediterranean
Striped dolphins in the Spanish Mediterranean are under attack from a virus similar to measles that could kill roughly 75,000 of the creatures before the disease loses steam.
Authorities confirmed the disease, Morbillivirus, was also responsible for a plague that killed hundreds of thousands of dolphins in the early 1990s and also recently affected the Canary Island right whale population.
This is definitely not the year for dolphins -- perhaps you remember the reports late last year of the Yangtze River dolphin effectively becoming extinct. Human impacts, including industrial pollution, boat traffic, and overfishing, were to blame. A video surfaced earlier this summer showing Brazilian fishermen killing 83 dolphins for kicks.
True, this virus may be a natural phenomenon despite its disastrous potential. Things like poaching, pollution and overfishing can be prevented and helped -- and should be.
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Vietnam hospital waste turned into plastic utensils
Recycling gone bad: Environmental officers in Vietnam have found that nearly 300 tonnes of medical waste from a Hanoi hospital was illegally processed into household plastic utensils, state media said Wednesday. A staff member at the Vietnam-Germany Hospital sold the used plastic items — including IV transmission lines and syringes, some still contaminated with blood […]
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Drinking water across the globe contaminated by arsenic, says research
Some 137 million people across the globe unknowingly consume water with unsafe levels of arsenic, according to new research. The odorless, tasteless chemical occurs naturally in soil, but also reaches drinking water from agricultural and industrial sources and the vials of paperback-mystery villains. Arsenic can lead to lung, bladder, and skin cancer and is “the […]
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Crushed glass may help replenish Florida beaches
In order to deal with the constant erosion of Florida’s beaches, one county has decided to stop building outrageously expensive real estate so close to the water’s edge it practically begs nature to destroy it. Ha, ha. Just kidding. Actually they’re looking into replenishing beaches with recycled beer bottles, crushed, of course, into tiny sand-size […]
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Iceland announces it will reinstate whaling ban next year
Rejoining the 21st century is Iceland, who after lifting its 10-year-old whaling ban just a year ago, announced it will reinstate the ban for the coming season because the whaling market just isn't as lucrative as it used to be.
The Iceland announcement marks a victory for whales, though many obstacles remain. Bycatch still threatens the survival of many smaller whale species and sonar disorients whales, which use sound to communicate and to navigate their migration routes.
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Maybe-extinct Chinese river dolphin maybe spotted
Competing with the maybe-alive maybe-not ivory-billed woodpecker in the United States for Most Ethereal Species, a rare Chinese river dolphin thought to be extinct as of last December may have been spotted recently. “I never saw such a big thing in the water before, so I filmed it,” said amateur creature-spotter Zeng Yujiang. Unfortunately, the […]
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My Art Will Go On
Grist reporters and guest brains address Leo’s 11th Hour Superbad may have topped box office sales this past weekend, but Leonardo DiCaprio’s eco-documentary The 11th Hour, which opened in theaters around the U.S. and Canada on Friday, showed moviegoers what’s truly superbad: the state of our environment. The film features dozens of eco-experts talking about […]
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Gorges Ain’t Gorgeous
China’s Three Gorges Dam plagued by environmental problems China’s Three Gorges Dam got a lot of flak during construction for its environmental impact and for uprooting over 1 million people. A year after its completion, critics’ concern about the world’s largest hydroelectric project has only increased. The weight of the water behind the dam, along […]
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A Playg on the Playground
Green group finds some New Orleans playgrounds contaminated with arsenic Some playgrounds and schoolyards in New Orleans may be contaminated with high levels of arsenic swept in by Hurricane Katrina, according to soil samples taken by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Government agencies, which have taken about 2,000 soil and sediment samples in the city, […]
