World leaders “have moral obligation to act” after UN climate report

ByJonathan Watts and Matthew Taylor 8 October 2018 (The Guardian) – World leaders have been told they have moral obligation to ramp up their action on the climate crisis in the wake of a new UN report that shows even half a degree of extra warming will affect hundreds of millions of people, decimate corals, […]

Fisheries nations to decide fate of declining bigeye tuna – “The stock is in the red with a very high level of certainty”

By Marlowe Hood 28 September 2018 (AFP) – Dozens of nations with commercial fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean will grapple next week with a new finding that bigeye tuna, the backbone of a billion dollar business, is severely depleted and overfished. Unless catch levels are sharply reduced, scientists warned, stocks of the fatty, fast-swimming predator […]

Half of killer whales doomed to die from pollution – “It is like a killer whale apocalypse”

By Damian Carrington 27 September 2018 (The Guardian) – At least half of the world’s killer whale populations are doomed to extinction due to toxic and persistent pollution of the oceans, according to a major new study. Although the poisonous chemicals, PCBs, have been banned for decades, they are still leaking into the seas. They […]

Climate change and multilateralism figure high on first day of UN General Assembly debate – “Neglecting the effects of climate change will pass on to the next generation a world beyond repair”

25 September 2018 (UN News) – If there was one issue that was a recurrent theme on Tuesday on the first day of the United Nations General Assembly‘s annual general debate, it was the potentially catastrophic impact of climate change , from Secretary-General António Guterres’s opening address warning global Heads of State and Government  that […]

Overfishing and pollution have trashed the Mediterranean – 90 percent of Mediterranean fish populations are now harvested in excess of science-based recommendations

By Agata Mrowiec 16 August 2018 (Oceana) – The Mediterranean is the top tourism destination worldwide. Sunbathers and swimmers flock to the sea during summer holidays.Idyllic though it may seem, all is not well. The Mediterranean is the world’s most overfished sea, with the highest percentage of unsustainably harvested fish populations, according to a recent […]

Wetlands need to move inland in fight against global warming

13 September 2018 (University of Southampton) – A new global study involving researchers from the University of Southampton suggests coastal wetlands, such as those on the South Coast of England, can survive rising sea levels and continue to provide natural defence from flooding if they are able to migrate further inland.Coastal wetlands, which include saltmarshes, […]

U.S. has the highest maternal death rate in the developed world – “It should not be allowed to continue. It is America’s shame.”

By Chris Heide 24 August 2018 (Second Nexus) – A USA TODAY report has determined that the United States has become the “most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world.”More than 700 women in the United States die from complications directly related to childbirth each year. In addition, more than 50,000 American women […]

Canadian crabs with bad attitude threaten coastal ecosystem – “What we’re seeing is this insane level of aggressiveness”

By David Sharp 19 September 2018 BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) – Canadians are known as friendly folks, but these crabby brutes migrating from Canadian waters are better suited for the hockey rink.Green crabs from Nova Scotia are the same species as their cousins that already inhabit Maine waters, but are ornerier and angrier, threatening to accelerate […]

German police halt forest eviction after journalist falls to his death

BERLIN, 19 September 2018 (AP) – Authorities in western Germany say they’re suspending the eviction of protesters from a threatened forest after a journalist fell to his death. Police said Wednesday the young man plunged at least 15 meters (50 feet) from a rope bridge strung between two treehouses in Hambach forest in what appeared […]

German power company to raze Hambach forest for coal mine – Police forcibly remove tree homes of protesters – “The destruction of the Hambach forest is intolerable”

By Martin Meissner and David Rising  13 September 2018 KERPEN, Germany (AP) – German police forcibly removed protesters from tree houses Thursday as they sought to free the way for parts of an ancient forest to be cleared next month for new coal strip mining. Police were hoisted on platforms by cranes to the up-to […]

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