Seafood fraud hurts ocean conservation: report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. seafood fraud — where farmed, imported or endangered fish is sold as wild, local and sustainably-managed — is hurting efforts to preserve ocean diversity, conservation advocates said on Wednesday.
The widespread practice is also hitting consumers who are occasionally sold cheaper or even dangerous products at premium prices, according to the marine conservation group Oceana.
U.S. weather extremes show ‘new normal’ climate
WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) – Heavy rains, deep snowfalls,
monster floods and killing droughts are signs of a “new normal”
of extreme U.S. weather events fueled by climate change,
scientists and government planners said on Wednesday.
“It’s a new normal and I really do think that global
weirding is the best way to describe what we’re seeing,”
climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University
told reporters.
The Beer-Water Nexus
Does the path to clean, safe water lead through a brewery?
Andy Wales, head of sustainable development at global brewer SABMiller, maintains it can happen. The maker of Miller beer — and 20 other brands, from Aguila in Colombia to Zolotaya Bochka Klassicheskoye in Russia — likes the environmental angle, but the main impetus is to ensure production of their products in what is a highly variable business from location to location.
“Water is obviously a critical part of high quality beer,” Wales said by telephone from London. One important part of this equation is figuring out how to use less water and still make good beer.
Environmental groups question Obama’s forest plan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An Obama administration plan to protect wildlife and water in U.S. national forests drew fire on Monday from environmental advocates who contend the new rule needs stronger scientific standards.
As it stands now, the proposed Forest Planning Rule gives too much discretion to individual managers of the 155 forests and grasslands that cover 193 million acres (78 million hectares) of public territory, a former U.S. wildlife official said in a telephone briefing.
Mail a letter, save a tiger?
If the world gets saved one small act at a time, the U.S. Postal Service and the Wildlife Conservation Society may be onto something. They’ve just unveiled a new stamp that aims to make protection of endangered species as easy as mailing a letter.
The new Save Vanishing Species stamp costs 55 cents, 11 cents more than a regular first class stamp. It features the face of a tiger cub, and net proceeds contribute to projects supported by the Multinational Species Conservation Funds, which are administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These projects work to conserve tigers, rhinos, great apes, marine turtles and African and Asian elephants.
Enviro-word of the moment: Anthropocene
A word has entered the language — at least, the language of environmental concern — that may be ready for prime-time. That word is Anthropocene. It’s the epoch we’re apparently living in, roughly translated as the Age of Man. The theory behind the name is that human beings have made such an impact on Earth’s geology that we should have an era named for us that differentiates this time from the tired old Holocene period.
Holocene means “entirely new,” but it’s been some 10,000 years since it started. Scientists and others meeting in London figure it may be time to move on.
Deal aims to cut endangered species red tape
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Animals and plants that may deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act moved closer to getting help under a legal settlement plan announced on Tuesday by the government and environmentalists.
The plan, which followed a legal battle between the government and the environmental group WildEarth Guardians, aims to cut legal and bureaucratic red tape that has kept 251 species from being officially listed as endangered or threatened, clearing the way for government protection.
Did human activities cause the Mississippi River flood?
As the Mississippi River crested at near-record levels near Memphis, Tennessee, a nagging question surfaced at a Capitol Hill briefing: are people to blame? According to one expert on water and hydrology, the answer is closer to yes than no.
“I’m not suggesting these (floods) are caused by climate change, but there’s very clear scientific evidence that the risk of flooding on the Mississippi River is increasing because of human influence,” said Peter Gleick, president of the California-based Pacific Institute.
Climate change to hit American West water supply
WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) – Climate change could cut
water flow in some of the American West’s biggest river basins
– including the Rio Grande and the Colorado — by up to 20
percent this century, the Interior Department reported on
Monday.
This steep drop in stream flow is projected for parts of
the U.S. West that have seen marked increases in population and
droughts over recent decades, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
said in a telephone briefing.
Ozone hole dominates shifting S.Hemisphere climate
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Climate policymakers and scientists need to look beyond global warming emissions of carbon dioxide and take the loss of stratospheric ozone into account, researchers said on Thursday.
The stratospheric ozone layer, which shields Earth from solar ultra-violet radiation, has thinned over the South Pole over the last half-century.
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