Twice As Nice: Organic Wine

Of the many farms across Tuscany, there are two -- 30 kilometers apart -- that have been part of a study led by biochemist Valentina Niccolucci. Appropriately, she and her colleagues from the University of Siena have been studying wine and, more specifically, the effects of winemaking on the environment. At both farms, Niccolucci's team grew, packaged and distributed Sangiovese grapes, most known for being Chianti's main ingredient. At one farm, they used conventional methods, while at the other, organic. They found that a single bottle of wine from the organic farm had a eco-footprint of a little over 7 square meters, while the bottle of traditionally-produced wine needed almost twice that amount -- something giving wine-drinkers another reason to cheer.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Organic wine is twice as good for the planet" (New Scientist, August 27, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Buy organic wine from Snooth.com

photo courtesy SuDolce, Creative Commons

World's Coral Reefs Facing Collapse

An international team of scientists has discovered that the world's current protection zones for coral reefs are misplaced, and warned that if immediate action is not taken, global warming will cause a collapse of this vital marine ecosystem. The report, published by a group led by Newcastle University and the Wildlife Conservation Society, concluded that the existing "no-take" zones should be maintained, but new areas must be established soon.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Protection Zones In The Wrong Place To Prevent Coral Reef Collapse" (ScienceDaily, August 28, 2009)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Reef Check Foundation's International Declaration of Reef Rights

photo courtesy PsychoScheiko, Creative Commons

World Protests Planned for Japan Dolphin Day

September 3 is Japan Dolphin Day 2008. Forty-six groups in over 20 cities across the globe will be protesting at Japanese embassies and consulate offices, speaking against the largest annual massacre of cetaceans in the world -- the over 23,000 dolphins and other small whales killed in the country's government-approved slaughter.

GET INFORMED

• Read "September 3 - Japan Dolphin Day - Join Protests Around the World (In Defense of Animals)

GET INVOLVED

• Join a Japan Dolphin Day protest event
  
• Sign an Ocean Project petition to end Japan's dolphin slaughter
• Adopt a dolphin from the World Wildlife Fund

photo courtesy Tom Weilenmann, Creative Commons

Change A Fishing Hook, Save A Turtle

For years, marine turtles -- many of them critically endangered loggerhead sea turtles (pictured) -- have been the unfortunate and unintended victims of fish hooks, becoming what is known in the world of commercial fishing as "bycatch." But according to a new study by the World Wildlife Fund Bycatch Initiative for the Eastern Pacific -- a four-year study in the waters around Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru -- simply changing the hooks from the classic "J" shape to circular ones can reduce the bycatch by up to 89 percent per 1,000 hooks, leaving up to 95 percent of snagged turtles alive, while performing similar fish catch-rates to the standard hooks.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Fishing Technology Letting Turtles Off the Hook" (ScienceDaily, August 26, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Take the Sea Turtle Restoration Project Seafood Pledge
• Sign a WildAid petition to prevent longline fishing in the Galapagos

photo courtesy TvR, Creative Commons

Coming Soon: The World's First Solar-Powered Ship

Solar panels that generate a few kilowatts have been used on large ships to power living areas, but not to power propulsion engines -- yet. Nippon Yusen KK, Japan's biggest shipping firm, and Nippon Oil have announced a $1.4-million plan to put 40-kilowatt-generating solar panels atop one of Toyota's 60-ton car carriers, which would make it the first large ship to be driven -- at least partially -- by the sun's energy. By comparison, home solar panels generate about 4.5 kilowatts of power. The move will conserve up to 6.5 percent in fuel oil used to power the diesel engines and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by about 20 tons.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Japan firms to work on solar-powered ship" (Reuters, August 26, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the "Solar Petition" urging the US Congress to introduce and pass legislation called "The Solar Energy Act of 2009," which will require that at least 30% of the power in the United States be generated by solar power (and other renewable resources) by 2020
• Get solar-powered products

photo courtesy kevinthoule, Creative Commons

Environmentalists Rally Behind Biden

Environmentalists, conservationists and animal rights activists are hailing Barack Obama's vice presidential pick, the six-term senator from Delaware, Joe Biden. According to an Environment America scorecard, he has an 83% lifetime score on voting on environmental issues. In addition to introducing legislation to eliminate billions of dollars in subsidies to oil companies, Biden co-sponsored the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, the Animal Fighting Prohibition Act and a resolution for the International Whaling Commission to end commercial whaling and illegal trade in whale meat. He has also sponsored bills to reduce air pollution, including carbon dioxide, and is a proponent of the renewable energy requirement for electric power utilities.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Why Environmentalists Are Cheering Joe Biden" (TheDailyGreen.com, August 25, 2008)
• Read "Joe Biden on Environment" (OnTheIssues.org)

GET INVOLVED

• Donate to help elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden
  
• Find an Obama-Biden campaign event in your area
  

The Fight Against Malaria Has A New Viral Friend

It means "bad air" in Italian and it may have been around for over 50,000 years. Hippocrates wrote about its symptoms in the 4th century BC. It's the ancient, parasitic disease known as malaria, and it's had a profound effect not only on human populations but on the whole history of mankind. Transmitted through the bites mosquitoes infected with the Plasmodium species of parasitic protozoa, malaria currently claims the lives of over one million people each year, the majority of whom are children living in sub-Saharan Africa who sleep without the protection of mosquito nets.

But the fight against malaria just got a new weapon -- a previously unknown virus highly infectious to mosquito larvae, which was serendipitously discovered by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute in Baltimore. The researchers believe that the virus could be altered to kill the host mosquito before it can infect humans.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Malaria Researchers Identify New Mosquito Virus" (ScienceDaily, August 22, 2008)
• Read "The History of Malaria, an Ancient Disease" (US Centers for Disease Control)

GET INVOLVED

• Donate to the United Nations' "Nothing But Nets" campaign to purchase nets for children in Africa (100% of your donation will go to providing nets for children in Africa, no portion of your donation will be diverted for administrative costs)
• Become an advocate for Africa Fighting Malaria, a non-profit health advocacy group based in South Africa and the United States
  

photo courtesy ldv32, Creative Commons

Massive Glacier Disintegration in Greenland

Satellite images have revealed massive breakups at two of Greenland's largest glaciers last month. A section about half as large as Manhattan broke off the Petermann glacier, the largest floating glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. Scientists fear that the glacier will continue to disintegrate over the next year. Meanwhile, the Jakobshavn glacier has retreated inland to a point where it was between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. These events are widely accepted to be a direct result of global climate change.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Continued Breakup of Two of Greenland's Largest Glaciers Shown in Satellite Images" (ScienceDaily, August 22, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the "We Can Solve It" petition for a global treaty on climate change
• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe

photo courtesy sobergeorge, Creative Commons

Polar Bears Swimming Miles from Coast Cause Concern

Nine polar bears have been spotted this week swimming dangerously in open water -- with one seen in the Chukchi Sea about 60 miles from Alaska's shoreline. These sightings confirm scientists' fears that climate change has forced the bears to search much further for food, putting them at risk of drowning.

"The bottom line here is that polar bears need sea ice, sea ice is decaying, and the bears are in very serious trouble," said Professor Richard Steiner of the University of Alaska’s Marine Advisory Program. "For any people who are still non-believers in global warming and the impacts it is having in the Arctic, this should answer their doubts once and for all."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Polar bears found swimming miles from Alaskan coast" (World Wildlife Fund, August 22, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a World Wildlife Fund petition urging your representative to cosponsor the Polar Bear Seas Protection Act, which would halt oil and gas leases in the polar bear’s habitat until scientists can fully assess the environmental impacts (for US citizens)
• Adopt a polar bear from the Defenders of Wildlife for $20
  

photo courtesy eskimo_jo, Creative Commons

Understanding A Powerful Crop Virus

Africa's most important food crop is maize, and its main viral disease is maize streak virus (MSV). In the September issue of the Journal of General Virology, researchers have published their discovery of how this powerful agricultural disease was born. About 100 years ago, two strains of MSV recombined, creating a strong, quick-spreading virus that was able to infect a wider variety of grasses and survive colder winters than its predecessors. Scientists are currently testing various solutions including resistant gene research.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Tracking A Crop Disease Could Save Millions Of Lives" (ScienceDaily, August 20, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Avaaz.org petition to UN, G8 and EU leaders to stem the food crisis by mobilizing emergency funding to prevent starvation, removing biofuel incentives and investing in sustainable agriculture

photo courtesy philcalvert, Creative Commons

EPA Sued Over Pesticide That May Kill Bees

Around one-third of the human diet is pollinated by bees. In the United States, that's about $15 billion worth of crops. But for the past two years, bees have been dying at an alarming rate, in what has come to be known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Farmers and scientists believe the cause is a combination of habitat loss, parasites, viruses and pesticides -- a new class of which could be one of the major culprits. On Monday, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), filed a lawsuit charging that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is refusing to disclose records of studies about the new pesticides, which have been banned in Germany and France.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Lawsuit seeks EPA pesticide data" (San Francisco Chronicle, August 19, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a Dutchess County Legislature Environmental Committee petition to ban neocotinoid seed-treatment pesticides to save honeybees
• Join the Global Healing Center's boycott of the world's eight biggest pesticide companies

photo courtesy autan, Creative Commons

Dead Zones Plaguing the Oceans

In 1976, they caused a half-billion-dollar loss for fisheries in New York and New Jersey. Each year, they kill 83 tons of fish and other ocean life in Cheseapeake Bay. Over 400 of them have been identified around the globe. They are caused by fertilizer runoff and the burning of fossil fuels. They are known as "dead zones" -- and they are spreading.





GET INFORMED

• Read "Oceanic Dead Zones Continue to Spread" (Scientific American, August 15, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign an NRDC petition supporting a new ocean protection bill
• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe

photo courtesy ingridz, Creative Commons

Getting Close to the Elephants of Samburu

Writer David Quammen and photographer Michael Nichols joined famed biologist Iain Douglas-Hamilton on a trip to Samburu-Laikipia, an 11,000 square-mile ecosystem in a remote part of northern Kenya to visit a family of elephants for a National Geographic story. What they found was not only a home where Loxodonta Africana can thrive, but -- with a growing Kenyan population that inevitably leads to more shootings and more tramplings -- also a place with growing risks for elephants and humans alike.

One of the world's most pre-eminent elephant experts, Douglas-Hamilton has studied these majestic animals for 40 years. "If you had asked me, when I was ten years old, what I wanted to do," he says, "I'd have said: I want to have an airplane; I want to fly around Africa and save the animals."

GET INFORMED

• Read Quammen's National Geographic story, "The Samburu Elephants: An African Love Story," and see Nichols' photographs of the elephants eating, sleeping and playing (National Geographic, September 2008)
  
• Read about Iain Douglas-Hamilton (Wikipedia)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Give up your ivory through the International Fund for Animal Welfare amnesty program (UK only)
• Adopt an elephant from the World Wildlife Fund for $25
• Sign a petition urging eBay to ban all ivory sales on its site
• Join AWF's Elephant Conservation Research Project

RELATED POSTS

• Elephant Extinction Possible by 2020 (August 3, 2008)
• Future Uncertain for Thailand's Elephants (July 31, 2008)
• Listening to the Secret Lives of Elephants (July 5, 2008)
  
• South Africa to Start Elephant Culling (May 5, 2008)
• African Conservation Gets $10 Million Gift (May 1, 2008)
  

photo Michael Nichols, National Geographic

Wind Energy Not So Great for Bats

For Anne Youngman, an officer of the Bat Conservation Trust in London, one of the main topics of conversation at the 11th European Bat Research Symposium which begins next week in Transylvania will be about the declining populations of bats in Scotland. Bad weather, food scarcity and habitat loss due to human development have threatened their survival. But there is an emergent -- and more unlikely -- threat that Youngman expects will be a hot topic this year: the wind farms in Portugal.

She says, "One of the concerns is that the blades turn so fast the bats can't detect them and another is a change in pressure which it is believed to damage the bats internally." The turbines in Scotland are less of a problem for bats, most likely because they are built in open fields where bats do not tend to fly.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Dark times overshadow bat events" (BBC News, August 14, 2008)
  
• Read "Sound Barrier: A new device may aid bats by scaring them away from wind farms" (Plenty, August 6, 2007)
• Visit the Bat Conservation Trust
• Watch a video of Dharma Webber, Director of Indigo Wings - Californai Native Bat Conservancy, talk about bats

GET INVOLVED

• Help these injured, rescued and orphaned bats
  
• Build a bat house to help stem bat habitat loss
• Find out how to make your palm trees help bats in need

photo courtesy woowoowoo, Creative Commons

A Six-Step Plan to Save the Oceans from An Extinction Crisis

Create marine reserves. Enforce fishing laws. Develop aquaculture. Eliminate fertilizer use subsidies. Reduce the use of fossil fuel. Start local conservation. If these six steps are taken, argues Jeremy Jackson, senior scientist emeritus of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, we may be able to avert an extinction crisis in the world's oceans. In a talk last year at Middlebury College, "The State of the Ocean," Jackson said, "Our amnesia about what is natural is the greatest threat to the environment."

He predicts that overfishing will lead to an edible species loss which will cause not only an extinction of other species up and down the food chain, but also the growth of toxic algae, disease outbreaks and increased coastal "dead zones." In an essay entitled "Ecological Extinction and Evolution in the Brave New Ocean," Jackson writes, "Some may say that it is irresponsible to make such predictions pending further detailed study to be sure of every point. However, we will never be certain about every detail, and it would be irresponsible to remain silent in the face of what we already know."

GET INFORMED

• Read "A recipe for saving the world's oceans from an extinction crisis" (EurekAlert/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, August 13, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Countdown 2010 Declaration to stop biodiversity loss by 2010
• Download the Environmental Defense Fund's "Pocket Eco-Friendly Fish Selector" to make choices that help prevent overfishing
• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe

photo courtesy Micah A. Ponce, Creative Commons

UK Scientists Call for End of Animal-Pain Tests

In a new report published by the journal Neuroimage, a group of British scientists has concluded that using animals for pain research has limited value and alternative technologies should be developed. While the use of both conscious and anesthesized animals in lab tests for chronic pain treatments is common, the authors argue that animals cannot provide an accurate guide to the human pain process. The emergence of modern brain imaging and the use of human cells and tissues may help to change the current methods of testing to find treatments for such chronic ailments as osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia.

"Animal models don't represent human patients sufficiently well," said Qasim Aziz, a professor from the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry and one of the authors of the report. "I would like to see far greater uptake of...other human-relevant approaches to pain research."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Call to end animal pain-research" (BBC News, August 14, 2008)
• Visit StopAnimalTests.com
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a P.A.W.S. Club petition against animal testing

photo courtesy Samuel Judge, Creative Commons

Amazon Threatened By Oil and Gas Exploration

The world's most biodiverse and intact rainforest sits in the western Amazon, covering an area that includes Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. But according to a new three-year study by Duke University and the non-profit organizations Save America's Forests and Land Is Life, this pristine area -- known as the "lungs of the Earth" -- is now threatened by oil and gas exploration projects.

Co-author Dr. Stuart Pimm of Duke University said, "Filling up with a tank of gas could soon have devastating consequences to rainforests, their peoples and their species." The ressearchers contend that the single greatest threat from energy development in the region is the creation of new roads, which endanger the region's plants, animals and humans through colonization, deforestation, overhunting and illegal logging.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Oil and gas projects in western Amazon threaten biodiversity and indigenous peoples" (EurakAlert/Public Library of Science, August 12, 2008)
• Read "Happy Markets, Happy Forests" (13.7 Billion Years, April 27, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Donate to Rainforest Action Network
• Take these seven steps to help save the Amazon rainforest
  

photo courtesy 10b travelling, Creative Commons

Alaska's Wolf Control Program Under Fire

In March, a federal judge upheld Alaska's practice of shooting wolves from planes and helicopters as part of their wolf control program, but banned it in four areas covering about 15,000 square miles, in a case brought by four conservation groups -- Friends of Animals, Defenders of Wildlife, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Sierra Club. Alaska's Department of Fish and Game estimates there are between 7,700 and 11,200 wolves in the state, and believes they are preying too heavily on the moose and caribou needed by subsistence hunters. The conservation groups claim that the science used by the state's wildlife managers is not sufficient to justify the killing of almost 800 wolves in the last five years.

According to the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife, 28 wolves were killed near their dens so far this summer, including 14 wolf pups illegally killed by Alaskan state officials. On August 26, Alaskans will have a chance to weigh in on the debate at the polls with a ballot initiative.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Alaska Judge Upholds Aerial Wolf Killing But Limits Extent" (Environmental News Service, March 18, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a Defenders of Wildlife petition urging Alaska governor Sarah Palin to end aerial wolf hunting

photo courtesy Susan Renee, Creative Commons

Slowing Human Population Growth May Stop Species Extinction

Human activity is responsible for the extinction of thousands of species, and we are in the midst of the sixth great species extinction in the Earth's 4-billion-year history, with at least 2,000 amphibians and 91 percent of certain species currently in danger. Additionally, almost 50 percent of all forests and temperate grasslands are gone. According to Stanford University scientists Paul Ehrlich and Robert Pringle, the way to stop this from happening is to reduce the growth of the human population and to change human behavior, from eating beef to driving cars. One species that is thriving is the human race, with a surging population currently at 6.7 billion.

Ehrlich and Pringle suggest that educating women about birth control is an important first step in slowing population growth. They write, "Education and employment -- for women especially -- along with access to contraception and safe abortions are the most important components." Regarding population, Ehrlich says, "The most basic response is...starting a decline. Second is doing something about consumption. If you don't do anything about those, then you are in trouble in all the others: more people...more greenhouse gases...more rapid climate change."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Population Bomb Author's Fix For Next Extinction: Educate Women" (Scientific American, August 12, 2008)
• Read the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Conservation International petition to combat species extinction, urging government leaders to incorporate forest protection into their national policies on climate change
• Sign the Countdown 2010 Declaration to stop biodiversity loss by 2010

photo courtesy ucumari, Creative Commons

North Pole May Be Ice-Free in Five Years

Last summer, global warming caused over one million kilometers of Arctic ice melt, and this year's loss could be worse. Several days ago, storms over Alaska's Beaufort Sea drew warm air into the Arctic Circle, causing a rapid disintegration of the ice cap. In light of this startling development, scientists now fear that North Pole sea ice may disappear completely by 2013 -- not in 60 years as previously believed.

This massive loss of sea ice will have dramatic effects on ecosystems, weather patterns and the environment in general. Major storms will be set to cover the northern hemisphere, while polar bears, seals and other animals that depend on the ice will be put to a grim test of survival. Without the anchoring sea ice, glaciers may fall, raising sea levels and submerging low-lying coastal regions such as Bangladesh and many Pacific islands. Also, without the ice's ability to deflect the sun's rays, global temperatures will rise significantly.

"We always knew it would be the first region on Earth to feel the impact of climate change, but not at anything like this speed," said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. "What is happening now indicates that global warming is occurring far earlier than any of us expected."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Meltdown in the Arctic is speeding up" (Guardian, August 10, 2008)
• Read "Sudden ice loss in Arctic could make '08 worst ever" (Vancouver Sun, August 11, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the "We Can Solve It" petition for a global treaty on climate change
• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe

photo courtesy 9.81 meters per second squared, Creative Commons

Studying How Whales React to Sonar

A pioneering study by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Navy and leading international scientists has shed new light on the behavior of some of the most mysterious whales, such as deep-diving beaked, pilot, false killer and melon-headed whales, in an attempt to understand how they react to sonar by attaching sensors to the animals while they swim near realistic military operations around Hawaii.

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) claims the Navy's use of sonar off the southern California coast is harmful to marine life. Scientists widely agree that sonar interrupts the normal behavior of whales, dolphins and other marine mammals that use sound to communicate, navigate, locate food, find mates and avoid predators.

GET INFORMED

• Read "How Whales and Other Marine Mammals React to Sonar" (Science Daily, August 9, 2008)
• Read "Of Whales and National Security" (New York Times, July 2, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the NRDC petition urging Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter to adopt measures to keep marine life safe

photo courtesy air freelancer, Creative Commons

EU Proposes Ban on Seal Products

The European Union has proposed a total ban on products made from seals killed inhumanely. Though the plan covers seal hunts globally, it will likely hurt the Canadian seal industry the most. Canada holds the world's largest annual seal hunt, which conservationists claim is the cruelest for its use of spiked clubs and rifles. In 2006, Canada exported about $5.5 million worth of seal products to the EU, including pelts, meat and oils. Seal products that meet strict EU guidelines will still be allowed to enter Europe.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson said, “After more than four decades of fighting this brutal, savage and extremely cruel slaughter of seals on Canada’s Eastern coast, an incredible victory has been achieved with the proposed banning of seal pelts into European markets." The United States has banned Canadian seal products since 1972.

GET INFORMED

• Read "EU proposes import ban on seal products" (MSNBC, July 23, 2008)
• Read "V Day for Seals in Europe" (Sea Shepherd, July 23, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the International Fund for Animal Welfare petition to end the Canadian seal hunt
• Donate to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

video courtesy International Fund for Animal Welfare

The Most Viewed Meteor Shower Arrives

The most viewed annual meteor shower, the Perseids, will reach a peak on the night and early morning of August 11 to 12, when the Earth travels through the dust and small rocks that trail the 109P Swift-Tuttle comet. The Perseid meteor shower, named for its origin in the constellation Perseus, has been viewed by humans since 36 A.D., and its stable orbit will allow it to be viewed for millennia to come.

"[Comets] are interesting because they are extremely old, forming when planets did, and they are unaltered since. With comets, you can observe what went into making the Earth, its original ingredients," said Paul Wiegert, a physicist and astronomer at Canada's University of Western Ontario. "It's like a free sample of material from outer space. Space missions cost millions of dollars to go get that material, but sometimes we can get it delivered here for free."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Perseid Meteor Shower To Peak August 11 and 12" (National Geographic, August 7, 2008)
• Read "The 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower" (NASA, July 22, 2008)
• Read "Western U.S. to Have Best Glimpse of Next Week's Perseid Meteor Shower" (Fox News, August 8, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Plan your viewing with these meteor shower viewing tips (Stardate.org)
• Download this month's night sky map and calendar (Skymaps.com)
  

photo courtesy Tommy Huynh, Creative Commons

Visiting the Most Polluted City on Earth

Reporter David Fineberg visited the dirtiest place on the planet -- the city of Linfen in China's Shanxi Province -- to create a five-part video for VBS.tv's "Toxic" series. The coal-mining town has all but succumbed to the toxic pollution, which hangs permanently over the area in a thick smog.

"Spending about a day here breathing in the air is about the same as smoking three packs of cigarettes," Fineberg said. "The scary part is that there's [sic] a lot of cities in China like this." Ailun Yang from Greenpeace China said, "Because there's something fundamentally wrong with the economic model...the more the economy grows, the more the environment...gets worse." Sixteen of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China.

GET INFORMED

• Read about VBS.tv's "Toxic Linfen" episode (view part 1 of 5 above; the other parts will go live over the
  
• Read "Air pollution shrouds Beijing on eve of Olympics" (Associated Press, August 7, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a Greenpeace China petition urging the Chief Executive and the Secretary of China's Environment Bureau to regulate CO2 emissions from power plants

Longstanding Environmental Law Under Attack

Since 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has helped to establish the United States' policy of promoting the enhancement of the environment, legally requiring "environmental impact statements" for major federal governmental actions. But now conservationists are concerned that this longstanding law may be by-passed through a proposal by the Bush administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that would severely limit the environmental review and public participation procedures provided by NEPA, opening the door to further threaten ocean ecosystems, sustainable fish populations and marine wildlife in general. The agency has proposed the shortening of public comment periods and in some cases, full exemptions of NEPA review.

GET INFORMED

• Read "The Rubik’s Cube of Fishery Management" (Wilmington Star News, July 21, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Sign Audobon's petition urging NMFS to withdraw the current proposal and craft a new one that will ensure protection of ocean ecosystems
  
• Sign the Ocean Conservancy's petition urging NMFS to draft a new rule that improves the environmental review process

photo courtesy Martha de Jong-Lantink, Creative Commons

Almost Half of World's Primates Face Extinction

A new study has found that almost half of the world's apes and monkeys, including our closest relatives -- chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons and lemurs -- are at risk for extinction due to hunting and deforestation. The surprising report, released on Tuesday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), concluded that 48 percent of the over 600 known species and sub-species of primates are currently facing an increasing threat.

The president of Conservation International and head of IUCN's primate specialist group Russell Mittermeier said, "We have solid data to show that the situation is far more severe than we imagined."

GET INFORMED

• Read "Almost half of monkeys, apes under threat" (Reuters, August 5, 2008)
• Read the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
  

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Conservation International petition to combat species extinction, urging government leaders to incorporate forest protection into their national policies on climate change

photo courtesy GANDALF_GREY, Creative Commons

US Proposes Protection Plan for Marine Sanctuary

One of 14 sites that make up the United States National Marine Sanctuary System, the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is home to several marine species, including humpback whales, minke whales, fin whales, northern right whales, pilot whales, harbor porpoises and harbor seals. Located at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, Stellwagen covers an 842-acre protected area.

Although some restrictions have been put in place by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), commercial and recreational fishing is allowed within the sanctuary, which has been damaged by trawlers and draggers, overfishing, ship collisions, pollution and global warming. NOAA has proposed the restoration of this vital ecosystem, and has extended the period for public comment on the proposal until October 3.

GET INFORMED

• Read "NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary Extends Public Comment Period on Draft Management Plan" (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, July 24, 2008)
• Visit the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Web site

GET INVOLVED

• Sign the Ocean River Institute petition supporting the Stellwagen Bank Management Plan

photo courtesy keithcarver, Creative Commons

China Ranks Second in Global Renewables Investment

As criticism about China's air quality mounts before the opening of the Beijing Olympics on August 8, the Climate Group has released a report showing that the country's recent and growing investment in green technologies -- about $12 billion in 2007 -- has pushed its global renewable energy ranking to second place. The study, commissioned by Allianz, a global financial service provider, and the World Wildlife Foundation, a global environmental NGO, analyzed performance in energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon markets of the G8 countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- as well as China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa.

Germany received the top spot, with the United States scoring the worst. China is the world's biggest renewable energy producer, but it is also the biggest carbon emitter, releasing almost a quarter of the world's total every year.

GET INFORMED

• Read "China's 'rapid renewables surge'" (BBC News, August 1, 2008)
• Read "China to Be World's Top Manufacturer of Green Energy" (Bloomberg, August 1, 2008)
• Read "Climate Performance: G8 Climate Scorecards 2008" (Scoop World/WWF press release, July 6, 2008)
  
• Download a PDF of the full Climate Group report, "G8 Climate Scorecards" (Allianz and WWF, 2008)
  

GET INVOLVED

• Analyze and reduce your impact on the environment with the National Grid Floe
• Protect an acre of forest for $15 to combat climate change

photo courtesy dipthongasaurus rex, Creative Commons

Elephant Extinction Possible by 2020

A new study published in the August issue of Conservation Biology says that, without better enforcement of anti-poaching laws, most remaining large groups of African elephants could be extinct by 2020. At the time the international ban on ivory was introduced in 1989, the elephant death rate from poaching in Africa was 7.4 percent, but that figure has risen to 8 percent. Samuel Wasser, a biologist at the University of Washington and the paper's lead author, believes that part of the problem is public ignorance of the situation. In the 1980s, there were about a million African elephants; today that number is around 470,000, a direct result of the growing demand for ivory in Japan and China. Wasser suggests that public pressure for increased enforcement funding may stem the tide, along with more localized policing at the sources, confiscating the ivory before it enters the global crime network.

"The situation is worse than ever before and the public is unaware," Wasser said. "It's very serious because elephants are an incredibly important species. They keep habitats open so other species that depend on such ecosystems can use them. Without elephants, there will be major habitat changes, with negative effects on the many species that depend on the lost habitat." He also noted that elephants bring in a significant revenue for many African nations through ecotourism.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Ivory Poaching At Critical Levels: Elephants On Path To Extinction By 2020?" (Science Daily, August 2, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Give up your ivory through the International Fund for Animal Welfare amnesty program (UK only)
• Adopt an elephant from the World Wildlife Fund for $25
• Sign a petition urging eBay to ban all ivory sales on its site

photo courtesy Doug Fisher, Creative Commons

Wildlife Populations Look Good on Kenyan Ranch

An aerial count of the animals living on Kenya's Mutara Ranch has brought a smile to the wildlife conservationists working to help these animals thrive. The 20,000-acre ranch, which sits on an important wildlife corridor in the Samburu Heartland, has marked thousands of acres as protected territory, and according to the recent survey, now holds more than 2,700 animals, including 100 elephants, 1,800 Burchell’s zebras, 170 impala, 200 Grant Gazelles and many other species, such as giraffes, ostriches and oryx.

Kenya’s Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC), which manages government-owned land, set aside a large part of Mutara Ranch for conservation purposes and has been working with the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and the Ol Pejeta Conservancy to protect wildlife habitats and put an end to poaching.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Counting All Animals: AWF-Supported Ranch Rich in Wildlife" (African Wildlife Foundation, July 28, 2008)

GET INVOLVED

• Adopt a zebra from the AWF for $25
  
• Sign the International Friends of Kenya petition to stop Kenya's proposed forest excisions
• Donate to Lion Guardians, a a Maasailand lion conservation project in Kenya
  

photo courtesy amateur_photo_bore, Creative Commons

Canada Takes Big Step in Forest Protection

Ontario and Manitoba signed a pact to protect a piece of Canada's boreal forest that covers more than 9,400 square kilometers. The move marks a major step towards the ultimate goal of Pimachiowin Aki, a coalition of the two provinces and the four First Nations working to have 40,000 square kilometers of boreal forest declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Several indigenous people and endangered species, such as the woodland caribou, will now be protected under the agreement.

GET INFORMED

• Read "Ontario and Manitoba Establish Interprovincial Wilderness Area" (CNW Group, July 30, 2008)

Get INVOLVED

• Sign a petition to protect Canada's boreal birds
• Protect an acre of forest for $15 to combat climate change
• Sign a petition to save rainforests

photo courtesy Troy B Thompson, Creative Commons