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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 […]

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.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

Interior Secretary Kempthorne gets award for record refusal to protect endangered species

The Center for Biological Diversity yesterday presented Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne with its first ever "Rubber Dodo" award, in honor of going a record one year and 90 days without listing a new species as endangered or threatened.

The previous record holder was Ronald Reagan's notorious Interior Secretary James Watt, who went a comparatively wimpy 376 days without listing a new species. Meanwhile, the Fish and Wildlife Service has classified 279 species as "candidates" for listing, because they're in danger of extinction, but haven't yet been given protection by Secretary Kempthorne.

"That waiting list could turn into a 'too-late' list without government action, as species in dire need of protection go extinct," the Center said in an email to its supporters.

According to the Center's Kieran Suckling, some of the endangered species waiting for Dirk to stay the hand of permanent annihilation are the elfin wood warbler of Puerto Rico, the Pacific fisher (a wolverine-like animal that prowls the sylvan coasts of the Northwest), and the red knot, an extraordinary bird whose tale of decline is one of the saddest and weirdest.

News You Already Knew

Not surprising: Rescue and recovery workers at ground zero have developed asthma at a rate that is 12 times what would be expected for adults, according to findings released yesterday by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Feel the Glass Between Your Toes

Life’s a beach, and then the erosion gets so bad that the sand has to be replaced by crushed glass.

Sudan Impact

Lack of water in northern Sudan refugee camps threaten tens of thousands Many of the refugees who fled war in Sudan’s Darfur region have ended up in refugee camps that are now straining to maintain water supplies in the arid region. In June, a United Nations report indicated that the conflict, which has resulted in […]