Colombia: Ethnocide and political violence on the rise – More than 60 percent of all indigenous peoples in Colombia are at risk of extinction

By Dan Kovalik28 March 2016 (Libya 360) – While Colombia, the U.S.’s staunchest ally in the Hemisphere, is held out as some beacon of democracy in Latin America, the facts on the ground tell a very different story. Of course, you will rarely hear those facts, or about Colombia at all, given the general laziness […]

What we’re doing to the Earth has no parallel in 66 million years, scientists say – “In the more recent past, we don’t see anything comparable to what humans are currently doing”

By Chris Mooney 21 March 2016 (Washington Post) – If you dig deep enough into the Earth’s climate change archives, you hear about the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM. And then you get scared. This is a time period, about 56 million years ago, when something mysterious happened — there are many ideas as to […]

World’s largest monarch butterfly population could disappear in 20 years – ‘The next generation of children may never see a monarch butterfly’

WASHINGTON, 21 March 2016 (Center for Biological Diversity) – The eastern migratory population of the monarch butterfly — which includes 99 percent of the world’s monarchs — is at high risk of extinction within two decades unless the population rebounds dramatically, according to a new study published today by Nature Scientific Reports. The study from […]

Ash tree set for extinction in Europe – ‘Between the fungal disease and a bright green beetle called the emerald ash borer, it is likely that almost all ash trees in Europe will be wiped out’

By Claire Marshall23 March 2016 (BBC News) – The ash tree is likely to be wiped out in Europe, according to a review of the evidence. The trees are being killed off by the fungal disease ash-dieback along with an invasive beetle called the emerald ash borer. According to the research, published in the Journal […]

Rhino poaching: Another year, another grim record

By David Shukman 9 March 2016 (BBC News) – The mass slaughter of rhinos has increased for the sixth year in a row, according to grim new figures from international researchers. At least 1,338 of the iconic animals were killed for their horns in Africa last year. This is the greatest loss in a single […]

Scientists link massive starfish die-off to warming ocean

By Lynda V. Mapes21 February 2016 (Seattle Times) – It was the starfish arms walking off on their own that alerted biologist Steven Fradkin that something was terribly wrong at Starfish Point at Olympic National Park. Next he noticed white lesions pitting the skin of the usually colorful orange, purple and brick-red starfish that are […]

‘Where Have All the Animals Gone?’ – A journey through Africa and Asia – ‘It’s not the end of the world. It is the end of the wild.’

By Shreya Dasgupta 8 February 2016 (mongabay.com) – In Where Have All the Animals Gone?: My Travels with Karl Ammann, author and natural historian Dale Peterson recounts his adventures with Karl Ammann, an eccentric award-winning wildlife photographer, as they travel across several countries in Africa and Asia. Peterson’s book is a witty, humorous, and sometimes […]

South Africa reports small decrease in rhino poaching, but across Africa 2015 worst year on record – ‘Continent-wide the scale of the rhino poaching crisis is spreading’

Johannesburg, South Africa, 21 January 2016 (Traffic.org) – South Africa today announced the official number of rhinos illegally killed in the country during 2015. The figure of 1,175 represents a slight drop on the 1,215 record total in 2014, but overall rhino poaching figures for Africa total a record high for the continent. “While a […]

Demand for fish bladder may wipe out world’s rarest porpoise – ‘The vaquita’s only hope for survival is that gill nets are permanently removed from its entire range in the Gulf of California’

By Rachael Bale10 January 2016 (National Geographic) – Just last week, a friend at the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) emailed me to ask if I’ve ever written about the trafficking of totoaba swim bladders, adding that she’s been working on vaquita conservation in the Gulf of California. Totoaba? Vaquitas? These were […]

Mongabay: Top 15 environmental stories of 2015

By Mike Gaworecki30 December 2015 (mongabay.com) – As 2015 comes to a close, Mongabay is looking back at the year that was. This year saw President Obama reject the Keystone pipeline as historic droughts and a vicious wildfire season wracked the western US and Canada. The world committed to climate action in Paris as Southeast […]

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