News Archives

Week of August 8, 2004

Picture of the Day

Busy again, I'm afraid, but here is a picture for you. These are San Joaquin Kit Foxes.

Posted by Jennifer on Saturday, August 14 2004, 8:44 PM

Drilling for gas in Carson National Forest

The El Paso Energy Corp. has long wanted to explore for gas in New's Mexico's Carson National Forest. Three times the Forest Service, backed by New Mexico state officials, have turned down proposals to allow exploratory drilling. But the Bush administration has taken the first steps towards allowing the drilling in 40,000 acres of alpine meadow. The administration insists that nothing inappropriate has happened, and says that the proposal is not assured of approval. But officials in the Forest Service tell a different tale.

According to Forest Service staffers at the agency's Taos office, the task force began making calls almost every week, beginning in 2003, to inquire about the progress of the Valle Vidal project.

"The task force came down through the channels. The change was based on 'Let's see what we can do for El Paso Energy,' '' said Benjamin Romero, public affairs officer for Carson National Forest.

"The overall thought was they are forcing us into expediting it," said another staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Joanna Prokup, New Mexico's secretary of energy, minerals and natural resources, said the task force's message to the Forest Service left little room for interpretation. "El Paso called [Washington] D.C., D.C. called the Forest Service. They've put it on the fast track."

Posted by Jennifer on Friday, August 13 2004, 5:08 PM

Heat waves will get worse

A new climate modeling study from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado shows that heat waves in the future will be more frequent and more severe in both Europe and North America.

Europe has already experienced an increase in heat-related deaths during the summer, as well as an increase in wildfires.

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Posted by Jennifer on Thursday, August 12 2004, 3:45 PM

"Unprecedented" wetlands restoration project at Pilgrim Lake

In the northeastern United States, an enormous coastal wetlands restoration project finds many saltwater species flourishing. For decades, coastal wetlands have been drained, paved over, filled with dirt, and otherwise destroyed in place of other human uses. And yet, after workers simply opened a small waterway which allowed tidal flows into the Pilgrim Lake wetlands, many wetland species including mollusks, eelgrass, fish, and ducks have begun to return in good numbers to their former habitat.

All it took was inviting the tide in and letting nature run its course, Murray said. In 2002, ecologists opened a small tidal culvert to funnel saltwater back into the choked, oxygen-poor marsh.

"It's like a miracle cure," he said. "In ecological terms, you're usually talking decades to restore damaged ecosystems. This happened almost overnight."

Scientists hope this will pave the way for restoration of nearly all of the Outer Bank's coastal wetlands.

Posted by Jennifer on Thursday, August 12 2004, 8:17 AM

Business Week on global warming

When Business Week admits global warming is real, well, it must be real after all.

Consensus is growing among scientists, governments, and business that they must act fast to combat climate change. This has already sparked efforts to limit CO2 emissions. Many companies are now preparing for a carbon-constrained world...

Researchers under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have pondered the evidence and concluded that the earth is warming, that humans are probably the cause, and that the threat is real enough to warrant an immediate response. "There is no dispute that the temperature will rise. It will," says Donald Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Science. "The disagreement is how much." Indeed, "there is a real potential for sudden and perhaps catastrophic change," says Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change: "The fact that we are uncertain may actually be a reason to act sooner rather than later."

Posted by Jennifer on Wednesday, August 11 2004, 9:32 PM

Another dead zone

I've posted before about the increasing number of dead zones in the ocean. Well another one has developed off the Oregon coast. These zones generally form outside river mouths, when runoff containing too many nutrients leads to large algae blooms. The algae then deplete the oxygen in the water so that almost nothing is left alive. But the zone along the Oregon coast, which was first seen in 2002, is the result of a different process. Currents are dredging up cold, oxygen-depleted water from the depths of the ocean, water which doesn't usually mix with upper layers of the ocean. Scientists fear this may mean permanent changes in currents along the western coast of North America, changes which could negatively impact fisheries and other wildlife.

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Posted by Jennifer on Wednesday, August 11 2004, 2:12 PM

Don't worry, be happy...

In news that isn't so joyful for environmentalists and other living things, Britain's Environment Agency has revealed that Prozac, an anti-depression drug widely used in Europe and North America, is being found in the water around Britain. Use of the drugs has nearly tripled over the past decade. Since there is no regular monitoring of Prozac in drinking water, the exact amount people are ingesting isn't really known yet, but such unintentional medication is cause for some concern.

Posted by Jennifer on Monday, August 9 2004, 6:42 PM

About the site

Yes, I know it seems like I've abandoned the site, but I haven't really. I'm kind of focused on other, non-environmental news these days, what with the Presidential campaign kicking off and all. Plus, I've plunged back into Star Wars Galaxies again, and you know how busy the life of a virtual architect can be!

Anyway, I owe you lots of news and other writing, and will have some soon. I promise!

Posted by Jennifer on Sunday, August 8 2004, 1:16 PM

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