Whales are dying off North America’s West Coast – ‘There might be massive ecological changes that are happening in the Northeast Pacific’

By Hilary Beaumont14 August 2015 (VICE News) – In only one week, the corpses of four humpback whales have been found along Canada’s west coast, fueling questions of whether their deaths are connected to a recent uptick of whale and other marine animal deaths in Alaskan waters. So far scientists don’t know what’s causing the […]

Seizing wells and going on strike, Peruvian protesters stand up to Big Oil

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer2 September 2015 (Common Dreams) – Demanding reparations for industrial pollution and adequate compensation for use of native lands, Indigenous activists in Peru shut down 11 wells in an Amazonian oil block on Tuesday. According to the Spanish EFE news agency, native protesters led by the Federation of the Achuar and […]

Amid California’s historic drought, ancient sequoias show signs of stress – ‘I’ve been studying sequoias for 35 years and have never seen anything like this’

By Cally Carswell5 September 2015 (The Guardian) – Last September, US Geological Survey ecologist Nate Stephenson hiked into Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest to look for dying seedlings. California was suffering through its third year of severe drought, and trees were dying in the park in greater numbers than usual. The roadside leading up to […]

Japan lifts evacuation order for town near doomed nuke plant

NARAHA, Japan, 6 September 2015 (AP) – Japan’s government on Saturday lifted a 4 1/2-year-old evacuation order for the northeastern town of Naraha that had sent all of the town’s 7,400 residents away following the disaster at the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant. Naraha became the first to get the order lifted among seven municipalities forced […]

Wildfires around Lake Baikal are ‘close to catastrophic’ – Fire area doubled during the last week to at least 1 million acres across Russia

By Olga Gertcyk2 September 2015 (The Siberian Times) – The WWF has expressed concern at the wildfires now raging across Siberia, and called for a radical rethink from the authorities to prevent future carnage. But the director of monitoring and prevention at the Ministry of Emergencies pointed to irresponsible officials who, he alleged, chose to […]

30 years on, French agent apologizes for sinking Greenpeace flagship – ‘I have the blood of an innocent man on my conscience, and that weighs on me’

By Guy Jackson6 September 2015 (AFP) – The French secret service frogman who attached the mines which sank the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand 30 years ago apologized for his actions in an interview Sunday with investigative website Mediapart. Jean-Luc Kister, whose face was not covered in the hour-long video interview, said he […]

2015 fire season is second ever to break 8 million acres burned in U.S. by September

[cf. 2015 is on track to be the worst U.S. wildfire season on record] 5 September 2015 (NIFC) – Favorable weather conditions in the Northwestern states have helped firefighters make progress on many large fires. Despite the changes in the weather, there is still a lot of work to be done, and firefighters will continue […]

Bjørn Lomborg, just a scientist with a different opinion?

By Stefan Rahmstorf31 August 2015 (RealClimate) – Bjørn Lomborg is a well-known media personality who argues that there are more important priorities than reducing emissions to limit global warming. In a recent controversy centering on him, the Australian government (known for its contradictory position on climate change) offered the University of Western Australia (UWA) $4 […]

UNHCR chief issues key guidelines for dealing with Europe’s refugee crisis – ‘Europe is facing a moment of truth’

GENEVA, 4 September 2015 (UNHCR) – The head of the UN refugee agency António Guterres, emphasizing the European Union faced a “defining moment”, has laid out a set of key guidelines which he says should underpin all efforts to resolve the current refugee and migration crisis facing Europe. Guterres said the biggest influx of refugees […]

Open letter to Starbucks: Your ‘green’ straws make mermaids cry

By Lisa Kaas Boyle3 September 2015 (Huffington Post) – Dear Starbucks, I am a real mermaid, not just a graphic on a plastic cup. As an ocean protection activist, environmental attorney and surf lover, I spend a lot of time at the beach and in the ocean. I want you to know that your “Green” […]

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