Environmental News Network - Environmental Policy

Australia to end shark cull
In a major win for sharks and their advocates, Australiaâ€™s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recommended Western Australia (WA) end its controversial shark killing program. After a series of fatal attacks, WA's government proposed a new program in an effort to keep beachgoers safe that involved setting out baited drum lines, which consist of a large baited hook attached to a buoy and an anchor to hold it in place, in designated zones along popular beaches with the intention of killing great white sharks, bull sharks and tiger sharks who were larger than three meters. >> Read the Full Article
Help for Bluefin Tuna!
A multinational organization that coordinates fishing activities in the western Pacific is throwing a lifeline to heavily overfished Pacific bluefin tuna stocks. Speaking today at a press briefing, Japanese officials provided details on a plan agreed to last week that aims to rebuild the spawning population by halving the catch of juveniles and limiting takes of mature fish as well. The proposal calls for total Pacific bluefin catches to be kept below the 2002 to 2004 annual average levels and for catches of fish weighing fewer than 30 kilogramsâ€”juveniles too young to spawnâ€”to be reduced to 50% of those levels. >> Read the Full Article
Petrol vs. Diesel
Climate change has made us question the things that we do, from buying food and using energy to riding planes and driving cars. One of the top questions surrounding climate change is this: Which fuel type is more environmentally friendly, petrol or diesel? Common knowledge would make us reply "diesel" right away, as engines running on diesel emit less carbon dioxide or CO2, and less CO2 is better to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, being eco-friendly isn't as simple as emitting less CO2. Diesel-powered vehicles may emit 20% less CO2 per kilometre travelled, but they may be more harmful for local pollution due to the tiny particles that are released by diesel engines into the atmosphere. The question really isn't which fuel or engine type is more environmentally friendly, as no form of engine that uses fossil fuels will ever become good for the environment. Rather, we should look at which has the capacity to inflict the least amount of damage to the environment. >> Read the Full Article
How is a warming climate impacting coral reefs?
How is a warming climate impacting life in the oceans? Fish can move to cooler areas, but coral reefs are anchored in place. Late-summer water temperatures near the Florida Keys were warmer by nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the last several decades compared to a century earlier, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey. Researchers indicate that the warmer water temperatures are stressing corals and increasing the number of bleaching events, where corals become white resulting from a loss of their symbiotic algae. The corals can starve to death if the condition is prolonged. >> Read the Full Article
Monarch Butterflies losing critical habitat
Sandy Oliviera has raised monarch butterflies in her East Providence backyard for 25 years. In 1998, she helped 125 monarch caterpillars transform into butterflies, and then released them to the wind. "I began to feel like a butterfly factory that year," Oliviera said. Each time her husband or daughter collected milkweed to feed their captive caterpillars, they returned with more eggs or caterpillars to raise. Some days, Oliviera released a dozen newly emerged butterflies, to the pleasure of her 8-year-old grandson who let them rest on his head before they flew away. This summer, for the first time, Oliviera hasn't found a single monarch egg or caterpillar, and hasn't seen any monarch butterflies. >> Read the Full Article
How can we make lawns more environmentally friendly?
Many homeowners strive to have the picture-perfect green lawn. But how can that be achieved in an environment where water in parts of the country is becoming scarce and the use of pesticides and fertilizer is being discouraged? Researchers from two Big Ten universities hope that they will be able to find an answer. Scientists from Rutgers University and the University of Minnesota, both members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation â€“ an academic consortium of Big Ten universities â€“ will be working together over the next five years to develop an environmentally friendly grass that is more resistant to disease and drought and a better economical choice for homeowners. >> Read the Full Article
Block Island wind farm gets final approvals
Deepwater Wind has received the final federal approval needed to build the Block Island Wind Farm â€” a project that remains on-track to be the nationâ€™s first offshore wind farm. The projectâ€™s lead federal permitting agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, granted its approval Sept. 5. With the Corpsâ€™ permit, the Block Island Wind Farm has now been completely reviewed, and approved, by nine state and federal agencies: Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Coast Guard, Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the Rhode Island State Historic Preservation Office. >> Read the Full Article
More benefits of green neighborhoods
Mothers who live in neighborhoods with plenty of grass, trees or other green vegetation are more likely to deliver at full term and their babies are born at higher weights, compared to mothers who live in urban areas that arenâ€™t as green, a new study shows. The findings held up even when results were adjusted for factors such as neighborhood income, exposure to air pollution, noise, and neighborhood walkability, according to researchers at Oregon State University and the University of British Columbia. >> Read the Full Article
The tragic fate of the Passenger Pigeon
This September 1 is the 100th anniversary of a landmark event in the history of biodiversity. On that day in 1914, at about one o'clock in the afternoon, Martha - the last surviving passenger pigeon - died at the Cincinnati Zoo. It is extraordinary to know with virtual certainty the day and hour when a species ceases to be a living entity. And it was a stunning development because less than half a century earlier, the passenger pigeon had been the most abundant bird in North America, if not the world. As late as the 1860s, passenger pigeons had likely numbered in the billions, and their population was neither evenly distributed across the landscape nor in any way subtle. These birds had a propensity for forming huge aggregations that are difficult to imagine today. John James Audubon, America's best-known student of birds, recorded a flight of passenger pigeons along the Ohio River in Kentucky that eclipsed the sun for three days. Other accounts, written over the course of three centuries and in several languages, testify to the birds darkening the sky for hours at a time over the major cities of the eastern third of the United States and Canada. >> Read the Full Article
California FINALLY gets serious about protecting its groundwater
As California suffers through the third year of a record-breaking drought, state lawmakers agreed today to require more sweeping oversight of the stateâ€™s groundwater resources. California legislators approved Senate Bill 1168 and Assembly Bill 1739, which together call for stricter management of groundwater supplies by local agencies while giving the state the ability to step in when necessary. Up until now, California was the only state in the nation that did not comprehensively monitor or regulate groundwater. >> Read the Full Article