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Carsey Institute: Americans' Knowledge of Polar Regions Up, But Not Their Concern
Published Feb 8, 2012 - 7:13:27 AM
Americans' knowledge of facts about the polar regions of the globe has increased since 2006, but this increase in knowledge has not translated into more concern about changing polar environments, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
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University of Florida report: 12 shark attack fatalities worldwide in 2011
Published Feb 8, 2012 - 7:06:49 AM
Shark attacks in the U.S. declined in 2011, but worldwide fatalities reached a two-decade high, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File report released today.
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Google leads latest Greenpeace climate ranking of IT industry
Published Feb 8, 2012 - 6:12:52 AM
Greenpeace today released the 5th edition of its Cool IT Leaderboard (1), which sees Internet search engine giant Google overtaking on climate issues, followed by Cisco and Ericsson.
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Big Bend National Park Designated as International Dark Sky Park
Published Feb 7, 2012 - 8:55:23 AM
The stars at night are big and bright in Texas' Big Bend National Park. The park was recently designated as an International Dark Sky Park, one of now just ten in the world. Big Bend National Park (BBNP) came in at the 'Gold Tier' level, meaning that the skies above the park are free from all but the most minor impacts of light pollution.
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WWF captures first known tiger images in northern India forest
Published Feb 6, 2012 - 8:56:25 AM
As it nears the end of its journey inside the northern Indian State of Uttarakhand, the Kosi River flows down the Himalayan foothills that separate the Corbett Tiger Reserve from the Ramnagar Forest Division to its east. The rustic forests that blanket this area are an important tiger habitat and form part of a crucial natural link – known as a corridor – that allows the endangered big cats and other important species to thrive.
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113 Containers of Toxic Waste Arrives at Indonesian Port
Published Feb 6, 2012 - 7:18:30 AM
On the heels of massive quantities of toxic wastes arriving at the Jakarta Tanjung Priok Port last week, environmental groups led by Indonesia Toxics-Free Network, the Basel Action Network, Ban Toxics, and BaliFokus condemned the illegal trade and urged world governments that have not already done so to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment and to enforce the Basel Convention as a matter of urgency.
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Treasure trove of wildlife found in Peru park
Published Feb 3, 2012 - 6:13:36 AM
The Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Peru program announced today the discovery of 365 species previously undocumented in Bahuaja Sonene National Park (BSNP) in southeastern Peru.
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Study finds southern Indian Ocean humpbacks singing different tunes
Published Feb 2, 2012 - 7:14:27 AM
A recently published study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and others reveals that humpback whales on both sides of the southern Indian Ocean are singing different tunes, unusual since humpbacks in the same ocean basin usually all sing very similar songs.
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Saudi Oil Minister Calls Global Warming "Humanity's Most Pressing Concern"
Full story: Think Progress
Man-made air pollution from North America causes Europe to lose 1.2 million tonnes of wheat a year
Published Jan 31, 2012 - 11:03:26 AM
Man-made air pollution from North America causes Europe to lose 1.2 million tonnes of wheat a year, a new study has found.
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2011: A Year of Weather Extremes, with More to Come
Published Jan 31, 2012 - 9:21:55 AM
The global average temperature in 2011 was 14.52 degrees Celsius (58.14 degrees Fahrenheit). According to NASA scientists, this was the ninth warmest year in 132 years of recordkeeping, despite the cooling influence of the La Niña atmospheric and oceanic circulation pattern and relatively low solar irradiance. Since the 1970s, each subsequent decade has gotten hotter—and 9 of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred in the twenty-first century.
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Electricity Access Still Insufficient in Developing Countries
Published Jan 31, 2012 - 6:47:50 AM
Despite massive gains in global access to electricity over the last two decades, governments and development organizations must continue to invest in electrification to achieve critical health, environmental, and livelihood outcomes, according to new research published by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online publication.
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Preserved habitat near national parks helps species conservation
Published Jan 31, 2012 - 6:14:47 AM
National parks often are established to help preserve species native to a particular region, but it appears that some species preservation is more successful if a significant portion of land adjacent to a park also is left as natural habitat.
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EARTH: Tracking Plastic in the Oceans
Published Jan 31, 2012 - 6:12:27 AM
Humans produce over 260 million tons of plastic each year. Almost a third of that plastic goes into disposable, one-time-use items, and only about 1% of it is recycled globally. Where does the rest of the plastic go? How does it interact with our environment? And how will it impact us in the future? In this month's issue of EARTH Magazine, follow the fate of many plastics as they make their way from our homes to our planet's oceans.
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The good news about carbon storage in tropical vegetation
Published Jan 30, 2012 - 9:55:09 AM
A study published in Nature Climate Change today finds that tropical vegetation contains 21 percent more carbon than previous studies had suggested. Using a combination of remote sensing and field data, scientists from Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), Boston University, and the University of Maryland were able to produce the first "wall-to-wall" map (with a spatial resolution of 500 m x 500 m) of carbon storage of forests, shrublands, and savannas in the tropics of Africa, Asia, and South America. Colors on the map represent the amount of carbon density stored in the vegetation in a continuum fashion (Figure 1). Reliable estimates of carbon storage are critical to understanding the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by changes in land cover and land use.
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What do killer whales eat in the Arctic?
Published Jan 30, 2012 - 9:44:15 AM
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are the top marine predator, wherever they are found, and seem to eat everything from schools of small fish to large baleen whales, over twice their own size. The increase in hunting territories available to killer whales in the Arctic due to climate change and melting sea ice could seriously affect the marine ecosystem balance. New research published in BioMed Central's re-launched open access journal Aquatic Biosystems has combined scientific observations with Canadian Inuit traditional knowledge to determine killer whale behaviour and diet in the Arctic.
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80 percent of 'irreplaceable' habitats in Andes unprotected
Published Jan 28, 2012 - 12:23:50 PM
Hundreds of rare, endemic species in the Central Andes remain unprotected and are increasingly under threat from development and climate change, according to a Duke University-led international study.
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Snowy Owl Invasion
Published Jan 27, 2012 - 1:20:49 PM
Snowy Owls lead nomadic lives and travel vast distances from year to year searching for productive feeding areas. Some years, most recently in the winter of 2011/2012, conditions cause them to come south in great numbers.
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NASA Releases Stunning "Blue Marble" Image of Earth
Published Jan 27, 2012 - 12:52:22 PM
NASA released a new, high-resolution "Blue Marble" image of Earth this week, taken from instruments aboard the recently launched Suomi NPP satellite. The image is actually a composite of many pictures from Jan. 4, 2012 that were stitched together, and shows North America in stunning detail. One feature that is notably absent from the picture is snow cover, which is confined to parts of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada.
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Western Bark Beetle Research Group Celebrates Five-Year Anniversary
Published Jan 27, 2012 - 12:39:20 PM
The USDA Forest Service's Western Bark Beetle Research Group (WBBRG) continues its efforts to better understand, manage and respond to bark beetle outbreaks in the western United States. Formed in 2007, the group which is composed of 11 scientists from the Forest Service's three western research stations—Pacific Southwest, Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain—celebrates its fifth anniversary this month.
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Temperate Freshwater Wetlands Are 'Forgotten' Carbon Sinks
Published Jan 26, 2012 - 11:28:56 AM
A new study comparing the carbon-holding power of freshwater wetlands has produced measurements suggesting that wetlands in temperate regions are more valuable as carbon sinks than current policies imply, according to researchers.
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Rattlesnake Roundup in Georgia Switches to Humane Wildlife Festival
Published Jan 25, 2012 - 11:05:20 AM
The Center for Biological Diversity, Coastal Plains Institute, Protect All Living Species and One More Generation sent a letter to the Evans County Wildlife Club today praising its recent decision to change its rattlesnake roundup in Claxton, Ga., to a wildlife festival where snakes will be celebrated instead of collected by the hundreds and butchered for their meat and skins. In a separate letter, the groups today also presented a petition with more than 5,000 signatures to the Whigham Community Club asking it to make similar changes to its annual rattlesnake roundup in Whigham, Ga., the state's last outdated roundup.
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Leading Bird Conservation Group Calls on Interior and Agriculture to Curb Bird Deaths From Mining Claim Markers
Published Jan 25, 2012 - 9:56:47 AM
American Bird Conservancy (ABC), the nation's leading bird conservation organization, today called on the federal government to take action to eliminate the massive avian mortality threat posed by the continued use of uncapped metal or PVC mining claim marker pipes on public lands in the West.
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Birds to Benefit from U.S. Snake Ban
Published Jan 24, 2012 - 7:47:53 AM
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has banned the importation and interstate transportation of four nonnative constrictor snakes. Release of snakes into the wild is threatening birds and other animals in the Everglades and other sensitive ecosystems across the United States.
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Climate Crisis Should Be Front and Center in Obama's State of the Union Speech
Published Jan 24, 2012 - 6:31:09 AM
Unmistakable signs of the global climate crisis were seen around the world in 2011: epic droughts, record high temperatures, massive wildfires, flooding, food shortages, a gathering humanitarian crisis and increasing numbers of animals and plants pushed toward extinction. President Barack Obama has an important opportunity Tuesday to address the climate crisis in his State of the Union speech to Congress.
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Endangered Bird Produces a Chick on U.S. Soil for Second Time in History
Published Jan 23, 2012 - 10:59:03 AM
For the second time ever recorded, an endangered Short-tailed Albatross has nested in the United States and produced a chick. The recent discovery of the nest and chick on Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands follows the fledging of the first U.S.-born chick last year at the same site by the same parents.
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Steller Sea Lion Protections in Aleutian Islands Upheld
Published Jan 20, 2012 - 10:07:58 AM
Today, the United States District Court for the District of Alaska upheld protections for the Western Population of Steller sea lions. The new measures were put in place by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to reduce competition between large-scale commercial fisheries and endangered Steller sea lions in the Aleutian Islands.
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Native forest birds in unprecedented trouble, according to University of Hawaii at Manoa researchers
Published Jan 20, 2012 - 7:27:10 AM
Native birds at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge are in unprecedented trouble, according to a paper recently published in the journal PLoS ONE. The paper, titled "Changes in timing, duration, and symmetry of molt of Hawaiian forest birds," was authored by University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Zoology Professor Leonard Freed and Cell and Molecular Biology Professor Rebecca Cann.
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'Extinct' monkey rediscovered in Borneo by new expedition
Published Jan 20, 2012 - 7:23:51 AM
An international team of scientists has found one of the rarest and least known primates in Borneo, Miller's Grizzled Langur, a species which was believed to be extinct or on the verge of extinction. The team's findings, published in the American Journal of Primatology, confirms the continued existence of this endangered monkey and reveals that it lives in an area where it was previously not known to exist.
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Leaders of U.S. Environmental Organizations Urge President to Restore Critical Protections to America's Waterways
Published Jan 19, 2012 - 10:08:47 AM
Nineteen leaders of the nation's largest environmental organizations sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to restore critical Clean Water Act protections to America's waterways by finalizing proposed guidelines and conducting a rulemaking in 2012.
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