Bulldozers soon to plow through National Butterfly Center for Trump’s border wall – “That should be an affront to all Americans”

By Silvia Foster-Frau 6 December 2018 (San Antonio Express News) – Bulldozers are expected to soon plow through the protected habitat of the National Butterfly Center along the Rio Grande to clear the way for President Trump’s border wall, which got a green light from the Supreme Court this week. [cf. National Butterfly Center issues […]

South Africa bees: “One million die in Cape Town”

26 November 2018 (BBC News) – At least one million bees are suspected to have died of poisoning in a wine-producing area of South Africa. Brendan Ashley-Cooper told the BBC that an insecticide used by wine farmers, Fipronil, was thought to have killed the insects on his farm. Other honey bee farmers in the area […]

Palm oil was supposed to help save the planet – Instead, it unleashed a catastrophe

By Abrahm Lustgarten 20 November 2018 (The New York Times) – The fields outside Kotawaringin village in Central Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, looked as if they had just been cleared by armies. None of the old growth remained — only charred stumps poking up from murky, dark pools of water. In places, smoke […]

Dead whale washes ashore on Indonesia beach, with six kilograms of plastic in its stomach

By Jessica Taylor 19 November 2018 (Evening Standard) – Distressing photos have emerged online of a beached whale in Indonesia that was found to have almost six kilograms of plastic in its stomach. The sperm whale washed up on the shore of Kapota Island, in the Wakatobi Archipelago of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia on Monday, 19 […]

UK supermarket ad pulled for showing palm oil harvesters terrorizing orangutans and destroying forest habitat

By Sarah Butler and Mark Sweney 9 November 2018 (The Guardian) – Iceland’s Christmas campaign has been banned from TV because it has been deemed to breach political advertising rules.As part of its festive campaign the discount supermarket struck a deal with Greenpeace to rebadge an animated short film featuring an orangutan and the destruction […]

Amazon deforestation in Brazil up 84 percent in September 2018

By Stefania Costa 29 October 2018(Imazon) – In September 2018, SAD detected 444 square kilometers of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, an increase of 84% compared to September 2017, when deforestation totaled 241 square kilometers. In September 2018, deforestation occurred in Amazonas (24%), Mato Grosso (23%), Rondônia (20%), Pará (19%), Acre (11%), Roraima ).Degraded forests […]

Oyster populations at risk as global warming transforms ocean ecosystems – “The near-future looks bleak”

By Simon Davies 11 October 2018 (Institute of Physics) – Climate change’s effect on coastal ecosystems is very likely to increase mortality risks of adult oyster populations in the next 20 years.That is the finding of a new study led by the University of Nantes, the LEMAR (the Marine Environmental Science Laboratory) in Plouzané and […]

Burmese python invasion in Florida a hidden legacy of Hurricane Andrew

By Matt Morrison 26 October 2018 (CBS News) – It’s been 26 years since Hurricane Andrew became the costliest storm in Florida’s history, but today residents of the Sunshine State are still paying the price in a way few would have imagined. Captive Burmese pythons let loose by Andrew’s destruction have flourished in the southern […]

Australia government greenlights luxury camp in Tasmanian world heritage area despite expert advice – “The evidence that the government has ignored its own experts makes a mockery of commitments to meet world heritage obligations”

By Adam Morton 16 October 2018 (The Guardian) – One of the first acts of the Morrison government was to greenlight a private tourism development with helicopter access in Tasmanian world heritage wilderness against the recommendation of an expert advisory body.The decision, signed by an environment department assistant secretary on 31 August on behalf of […]

Sewage spill from Hurricane Michael causes Florida fish kills – “It was horrible down here. You couldn’t hardly breathe. It smells like pure crap.”

By Terray Sylvester 18 October 2018 APALACHICOLA, Florida (Reuters) – A sewage spill from a Florida wastewater plant during Hurricane Michael into a river feeding environmentally fragile Apalachicola Bay is suspected of causing mass fish kills downstream, state officials said on Thursday.Experts say the discharge of 80,000 gallons of partially treated sewage into the Apalachicola […]

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