News Archives

Week of November 7, 2004

Asian beetles menacing forests

A tiny green beetle, the emerald ash borer, has destroyed more than 6 million ash trees in southern Michigan, and forest managers are struggling to keep the insect from escaping into forests nationwide. The beetle has been found in nurseries and forests from Maryland to Ontario, and it has proved very hard to kill.

At risk are 7.5 billion trees in 40 states, and ash is an important source of wood for furniture, flooring, and baseball bats. Ash trees in Ohio and Michigan alone are worth $3 billion.

Posted by Jennifer on Saturday, November 13 2004, 5:36 PM

Friday Kitten Blogging

Blue and Jamey as babies.

Posted by Jennifer on Friday, November 12 2004, 4:45 PM

I don't know whether to laugh or cry

When the prospect of thawing ice in the Arctic makes the oil industry happy because it might uncover new drilling sites.

Posted by Jennifer on Thursday, November 11 2004, 1:27 PM

Controversial EPA study shut down

An EPA study on how infants and children absorb pesticides has been halted. The study paid low-income families to allow their children to be tested.

Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said, "Regardless of the number of reviews, paying poor parents to dose their babies with commercial poisons to measure their exposure is just plain wrong."

Posted by Jennifer on Thursday, November 11 2004, 7:47 AM

Satellite imagery can identify ocean danger

Longline fishing kills about 300,000 oceanic birds each year, including 100,000 albatrosses. When the birds dive for food, they can become caught on the long strands of hooked lines, and drown when they cannot get away.

Birdlife International has been using satellite tracking to identify "hotspots" in the ocean — times and places where birds and fishing trawlers are most likely to collide. The organization hopes this will help fishing fleets to tailor their routes to avoid as many bird deaths as possible, especially for breeding birds. Parties to the Agreement on Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels are meeting this week, and hope this study can help guide their conservation work.

Posted by Jennifer on Wednesday, November 10 2004, 5:26 PM

Work locally for environmental protection

In Salon today, Katherine Mieszkowski joins the chorus of those lamenting Bush's re-election and what it means for the environment. But she goes on to do a bit more. She points out that pro-environment legislation was passed in several states (including my own purple-state home of Colorado), and notes that voters in general are in favor of environmental protection. Unfortunately, the environment got almost no attention in this election cycle, since most folks were swamped with concerns about terrorism, the war, and the economy. She suggests we continue to fight locally on these issues, since there is evidence that we can make real progress closer to home. If you're looking for a bit of encouragement, you'll find it here.

Posted by Jennifer on Tuesday, November 9 2004, 12:55 PM

Takhi - "the last wild horse" - returns to Mongolia

A decade or so ago, the takhi, or Przewalski horse, lingered only in zoos and a few small reserves. It no longer roamed the plains of Mongolia, where it once helped to fuel the war drives of Ghengis Khan. Cave drawings of horses much like the Takhi have also been found across Europe, and it's believed they were once common across much of Eurasia. But only Mongolia maintained its swathes of grassland long enough for this wild horse to exist into modern times. As the steppes were invaded by cattle and development, the Takhi vanished from the wild.

But Claudia Feh, a Swiss scientist who had been obsessed with wild horses since her childhood, decided to rescue the last remaining Takhi members from the zoos where they still existed. With others, she formed a group called TAKH. This group raised funds to buy captive horses, and set up a 400 hectare preserve in the south of France. The horses were carefully raised in an area ecologically similar to the Mongolian steppes, and over a couple of generations were allowed to create their own social order. And then they were released into the wild, in the distant region of Khomiin Tal.

Other groups, such as the Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski Horse, have also worked to release these horses back into wild areas, though they use less painstaking methods. Now three to five groups of this ancient species once again live free and breed in Mongolia.

First, a breeding programme secured the genetic basis that allowed to build a new population. Second, two generations of selected horses hardened-off and re-learnt their social behaviour in semi-reserves in The Netherlands and Germany. Third, groups from the semi-reserves were brought to a carefully selected natural area in Mongolia. Here, in their natural habitat, they were finally set free.

Photo: A.M. Groeneveld, All rights reserved by the FPPPH

Posted by Jennifer on Monday, November 8 2004, 3:24 PM

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report is here

In spite of efforts to suppress it the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment is here, and it confirms what we have been seeing all year long, that the Arctic is melting, becoming warmer at a rate twice that of the rest of the world. The report will be received Tuesday at an official meeting of the eight member nations of the Arctic Council.

*Okay, looks like you can get a look at it here.

Comments? Click here.

Posted by Jennifer on Monday, November 8 2004, 1:14 PM

Not exactly reality-based

Bush advisor claims climate change conspiracy

An advisor to President George W Bush has reportedly claimed that global warming is a fallacy created to disrupt the American economy, in an interview on Radio 4. Myron Ebell, from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), claimed that the notion of climate change through man-made emissions was “ridiculous and unrealistic”.

Posted by Jennifer on Monday, November 8 2004, 12:56 PM

What's next for environmental protection?

Now that Bush has apparently won re-election, he's made it clear that he intends to continue to dismantle environmental regulations, and proceed instead with a free-market approach that includes lower standards of protection, opening up public lands to extractive industries, and ignoring global warming entirely. Congressional Republicans have set their sights on the Endangered Species Act, and intend to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve for drilling. Hang on, everyone, we're in for a bumpy ride.

Posted by Jennifer on Monday, November 8 2004, 9:04 AM

And Japan

is enduring another earthquake. This one is slightly less strong than the last.

Posted by Jennifer on Sunday, November 7 2004, 11:04 PM

Mount St. Helens, cont.

Mount St. Helens has already blown a lot of ash and steam, and is now forming a huge new lava dome, this one over 900 ft. long. The lava has grown more than 300 ft. (100 meters) over the past few days, and scientists say that the volcano could erupt any time. An earlier eruption, in 1980, was the worst volcanic disaster in U.S. history.

Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam

Posted by Jennifer on Sunday, November 7 2004, 9:59 AM

Mexico is missing its burros

Human and animals have worked side by side throughout recorded history. In rural farm areas, horses, mules, and donkeys are important for their strength and speed, and in some areas they can be more appropriate for farm work than motor vehicles. In Mexico the farmworker with his burro (as donkeys are called locally) is practically a stereotype because they are so commonly used for farm work.

But over time people moved to cities, and rural people, trying to avoid the stereotype of peasant-with-burro, stopped using and breeding the animals. And now Mexico faces a burro shortage, since populations of these hard-working animals have been allowed to dwindle. Mexico may end up importing stock from the U.S. to help replenish supplies.

Posted by Jennifer on Sunday, November 7 2004, 8:51 AM

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