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The Ê»ohiÊ»a is Hawaii’s iconic tree, a keystone species that maintains healthy watersheds and provides habitat for numerous endangered birds. But a virulent fungal disease, possibly related to a warmer, drier climate, is now felling the island’s cherished `ohi`a forests.

Hawaii’s isolation, 2,390 miles from the North American mainland, has given the island chain a unique array of species found nowhere else, including the Ê»ohiÊ»a lehua, an evergreen in the myrtle family with delicate pom-pom-shaped flowers composed of clusters of showy stamens in a range of hues from red and orange to pale yellow. In 2010, homeowners on the Big Island of Hawaii began reporting that Ê»ohiÊ»a in their upland rainforest were dying without apparent cause. Researchers named the mysterious condition “Rapid Ê»OhiÊ»a Death” (ROD). 

On Google Earth, you can see the telltale brown streaks in the Puna forest reserve, Hawaii's largest remaining upland rainforest located on the slope of Kilauea volcano, where many Ê»ohiÊ»a lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) trees have already succumbed. If you scroll over 60 miles to the west to the other side of the island, the green canopy behind Kealakekua Bay on the Kona coast — where Captain James Cook first set foot on Hawaii and was later killed — is pocked with the bleached skeletons of dead and dying trees. 

Scenes like these have become commonplace in the American West, where several conifer species, weakened by long-term drought and warmer temperatures, have been decimated by bark beetles. Researchers are wondering if climate change may also have stressed Ê»ohiÊ»a trees, perhaps helping to trigger the current outbreak on Hawaii. 

The fungus clogs the vascular system of the trees, making them wilt and die as if from a drought.

An overall decrease in trade winds has created drier conditions in recent years in parts of the islands, at the same time that rising temperatures have warmed things up in the cool upland forests where Ê»ohiÊ»a thrive. 

With only days to go before the deadline, Volkswagen AG (VW) and the U.S. government reached a partial settlement over how to deal with the automaker’s “dieselgate” emissions scandal.

Volkswagen agreed to fix or buy back some 500,000 vehicles caught up in the crisis. What wasn’t agreed upon is how much the company should pay in fines and compensation to consumers affected by the crisis.

The American Lung Association has released its annual “State of the Air” report and its findings are troubling. Most Americans live in counties with air pollution so bad that it is a severe risk to their health. According to the report, that means 166 million people are at risk of an early death and significant health problems including asthma, developmental damage and cancer.

Without a doubt the most concerning discovery made by the American Lung Association was that short-term particle pollution had increased sharply since last year’s report: “Short-term spikes” of particle pollution hit record levels in seven of the 25 most polluted U.S. cities in this period.

Una organización que se concibe como comprometida con la responsabilidad ambiental y la sustentabilidad, y que esto lo refleja a través de su política ambiental y de forma abierta da a conocer sus resultados ambientales gana la buena voluntad de los consumidores. Organizaciones que son vanguardistas en las mejores prácticas ambientales tienen muchos de los siguientes atributos:

Alta dirección visiblemente comprometida.

Sólo un director general con una visión amplia y clara puede hacer de la responsabilidad ambiental una prioridad institucional y forjar un vínculo emocional entre una organización y sus grupos de interés (clientes, consumidores, comunidad, gobierno, etc.). Con esta proyección de un compromiso personal con la sustentabilidad, la Alta dirección gana la confianza de sus grupos de interés pero sobre genera ahorros, hace una de meses una de las 4 empresas consultoras más grandes de México hizo público un estudio sobre la sustentabilidad empresarial y uno de los aspectos que más llama la atención es que para los altos directivos el tema de la sustentabilidad sigue enfocado a aspectos ambientales pero que mejores la reputación y generen ahorros

So much methane is bubbling into a river surrounded by hundreds of fracking wells that it's a fire hazard! Local campaigners blame the coal seam gas industry for the gas releases which are spreading along Queensland's river Condamine and gaining in intensity.

So much methane gas is now bubbling up through the Condamine River in Queensland, Australia that it exploded with fire and held a large flame.

Gas seeping into the river began shortly after coal seam gas operations started nearby and is growing in volume and the stretch of river affected is expanding in length.