By Drew Griffin, Scott Bronstein, and John D. Sutter 22 September 2017 (CNN) – Within hours of meeting with a mining company CEO, the new head of the US Environmental Protection Agency directed his staff to withdraw a plan to protect the watershed of Bristol Bay, Alaska, one of the most valuable wild salmon fisheries […]
By Giem Guimaraes 29 September 2017 (Mongabay) – Brazil. The fifth largest country in the world. Besides housing the world’s largest rainforest and freshwater reserves, — approximately 12 percent of the world’s total — it is also the country with the largest commercial cattle production, with more than 215 million animals. Additionally, it has the […]
28 September 2017 (WHRC) – A revolutionary new approach to measuring changes in forest carbon density has helped WHRC scientists determine that the tropics now emit more carbon than they capture, countering their role as a net carbon “sink.” The shift from carbon sink to carbon “source” was caused by widespread deforestation, degradation and disturbance, […]
By Mike Gaworecki 20 September 2017 (Mongabay) – A team of researchers based in Australia and the United States have used historical nautical maps to determine that coral reef loss in the Florida Keys is much more extensive than previously understood.The British empire began mapping its overseas territories in the 18th century, and coral reefs […]
By Philip Fearnside 15 September 2017 (Mongabay) – On 23 August 2017, Brazil’s president Michel Temer issued a decree revoking the RENCA (National Reserve of Copper and Associated Minerals), an area the size of Switzerland on the northern side of the Amazon River straddling the states of Pará and Amapá. The Ministry of Environment had […]
By Sue Branford 18 September 2017 (Mongabay) – The Temer government, widely criticized for its attacks on indigenous rights, has approved its first significant measure in favor of the country’s indigenous communities.Last week, Brazil’s official gazette published a decree, signed by Justice Minister Torquato Jardim, establishing the Indigenous Territory of Turubaxi-Téa along the middle reaches […]
By Ben Panko 7 September 2017 (Smithsonian) – What if the world’s parasites suddenly went extinct? Given how much work we’ve put into combating malaria-carrying mosquitoes and horrifying Guinea worms, it sounds like a reason for celebration. But think twice: Actually, losing these much-despised mooches, bloodsuckers and freeloaders could have disastrous consequences for the environment […]
By Jake Spring; Editing by Paul Tait 31 August 2017BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s government said late on Thursday it would suspend action on a decree opening a vast section of the Amazon rainforest to mining, backtracking in the face of activist criticism and a legal challenge. The mining ministry said in a statement that, after […]
By Manuel Bojorquez 30 August 2017 HOUSTON (CBS News) – Harvey dumped a year’s worth of rain on Houston in a matter of days, shattering last year’s above-normal rainfall and bringing this year’s total to an unprecedented 73 inches.But according to Jim Blackburn, a professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Rice University, […]
By Lisa Friedman And Brad Plumer 21 August 2017WASHINGTON (The New York Times) – The Interior Department has ordered a halt to a scientific study begun under President Obama of the public health risks of mountaintop-removal coal mining. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which was conducting the study, said in a statement […]
