Myanmar has banned lucrative logging operations as the newly-elected government of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi steps up a battle on deforestation, an environment official said on Thursday. More here.
Throughout Exxon’s global operations, the company knew that CO2 was a harmful pollutant in the atmosphere years earlier than previously reported. Story here.
Across Peru, headlines have been dominated by the presidential elections. Deep in the Amazon, however, the ongoing trauma caused by oil pipeline spills seeps on. Almost three months following a 2,000-barrel spill in Chiriaco followed by another just days later near Mayuriaga, indigenous communities continue to confront the daily reality of poisoned water, fish and crops. More here.
Today, the Alliance for Natural Health-USA released the results of food safety testing conducted on an assortment of popular breakfast foods. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing revealed the presence of glyphosate—the most widely used agricultural herbicide—in 11 of the 24 food samples tested. More here.
The margin of the Greenland ice sheets. Hannes Grobe, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. 1992.
On Monday, Greenland began to melt. Parts of Greenland melt every year and the whole thing freezes again each winter, but lately, thanks to global warming, the melting has come earlier and then peaked in the summer at higher levels than usual. Story here.
The Ya Ly Dam, one of the largest in Viet Nam, on a major tributary of the Mekong. A Wikimedia Commons photo.
The fate of 70 million people rests on what happens to the Mekong river. With world leaders meeting in Paris next week for crucial UN climate talks, John Vidal journeys down south-east Asia’s vast waterway - a place that encapsulates some of the dilemmas they must solve. He meets people struggling to deal with the impacts of climate change as well as the ecological havoc created by giant dams, deforestation, coastal erosion and fast-growing cities. Story here.
White-tailed deer in western Manitoba. PinP photo.
Winnipeg, April 14, 2016: “The Green Party urges the next government of Manitoba to uphold the law and protect the Whitemud Watershed Wildlife Management Area from the proposed Energy East pipeline,” said David Nickarz, Green Party of Manitoba critic for Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship.
Concerns remain chemical widely used in agriculture as a herbicide can kill all plants, algae, bacteria and fungi in a crop’s vicinity, affecting biodiversity. Story here.
I still find political attitudes towards growth puzzling, to say the least. What kind of growth, you ask? Economic growth? Population growth? Well, it doesn’t really matter. Our politicians want it, in great dollops, as if it was the key to the Kingdom.
On Saturday afternoon, the worst fear of a landowner in South Dakota was realized. Loern Schulz found oil in surface water near the Keystone pipeline’s right-of-way and reported the spill. Story here.
Diabetes, which now affects more than 400 million people worldwide, is closely linked to poverty in most regions of the world, World Health Organization Medical Officer Alessandro Demaio told IPS Thursday. Story here.
A Newfoundland cod fishery has for the first time been certified sustainable, a significant achievement that demonstrates how a science-based approach to managing fish populations and fisheries delivers conservation success. Story here.
Climate change is a major threat to human health, with extreme heat likely to kill 27,000 Americans annually by 2100, according to a report released Monday by the White House. Story here.
Between 1984 and 2009 the weight of female bears in Ontario fell by over 10% while climate change meant they had 30 fewer days a year to hunt seal on ice. More here.
In a scenario that sounds like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, bull trout and other fish will travel in trucks past the Site C dam for 100 years as part of BC Hydro’s strategy to save the threatened fish species from disappearing from the Peace River. Story here.
Study also finds companies fracked into underground sources of water and at much shallower depths than previously known, close to drinking water wells. More here.
Seismic cannons will not blast through the waters of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait this year, giving Nunavut communities and marine life another summer of relief from the threats of dangerous oil exploration. More here.