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Showing posts with the label Environmental
Mexico’s monarch population booms
Science Magazine IN SECTION: NEWS IN BRIEF Edited by Jeffrey Brainard Opens in modal lightbox Monarch butterflies clustered at a reserve in Mexico. PHOTO: BIOSPHOTO/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO Viewable Image - mexicos monarch population booms Image Caption Monarch butterflies clustered at a reserve in Angangueo, Mexico. PHOTO: BIOSPHOTO/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO Every winter, monarch butterflies in Canada and the northeastern and midwestern United States flock to the pine and fir forests of central Mexico to hibernate, covering trees and turning hectares of forest orange and black. This year, the butterfly population overwintering in Mexico more than doubled, according to World Wildlife Fund Mexico, which helps lead the annual count. The butterflies covered 6.05 hectares of forest, up from 2.48 last year. It’s the largest wintering area since the winter of 2006–07. This famous group of migrating monarchs has been struggling in recent years, with an all-time low arriving
Buckle Up Folks - Getting to the East Side of Lake Winnipeg is Going to be a Lot More Dangerous by Road.
by Don Sullivan Story here. Jack Pine I would encourage you all to take a few minutes out of your day today and email the Manitoba Minister of Sustainable Development at; minsdev@leg.gov.mb.ca and se nd a similar email that I have sent below. If necessary copy and paste the one that I sent below and add your name. Dear Minister of Sustainable Development, I am writing to address an urgent matter and seek clarification from you on this matter regarding File: 5991.00 - Canadian Premium Sand Inc. - Wanipigow Sand Extraction Project. In its Environmental Act Proposal Submission, Canadian Premium Sand (The Company), indicates that they will, prior to receiving a Class 2 Licence for the entire project, undertake site clearing and infrastructure construction sometime in February/March 2019. ( EAP submission Part 1 Executive Summary) The Company will need to receive works permits issued under the Crown Lands Act under Section 7(1)(c). For the record I am strongl
A call to protect much more land and sea from human encroachment
Science X Riding Mtn. Nat'l. Park - Manitoba, Canada. A PinP photo. A new paper in the journal Science strongly supports establishment of many more land and sea areas as protected sites. Failure to do so, the editorial warns, chillingly, could spell doom for many species, including our own! More here.
Sahara dust may make you cough, but it's a storm killer
Texas A&M University The bad news: Dust from the Sahara Desert in Africa -- totaling a staggering 2 to 9 trillion pounds worldwide -- has been almost a biblical plague on Texas and much of the Southern United States in recent weeks. The good news: the same dust appears to be a severe storm killer. More here.
Wood Buffalo: Canada’s largest national park and its people in peril
The Narwhal American White Pelicans at the Rapids of the Drowned, Wood Buffalo Park. Photo by Ansgar Walk. International officials are warning the Canadian government not enough is being done to protect the Peace-Athabasca delta — one of the world’s largest freshwater inland deltas — from the ravages of ongoing industrial development. More here.
One-Third of Protected Areas 'Highly Degraded' By Humans, Study Finds
EcoWatch A traffic jam on the road to the famed Lake Louise in Jasper National Park, Canada. PinP photo. A study published in Science Friday presents what authors call a sobering "reality check" on global efforts to protect biodiversity —one third of all conservation areas set aside as wildlife sanctuaries or national parks are "highly degraded" by human activities. More here.
Salmon with side effects: Aquacultures are polluting Chile's rivers with a cocktail of dissolved organic substances
ScienceNews Salmon farming in Reloncavi Estuary, Chile. Photo by Pablo RodrĆguez Tasty, versatile, and rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids: salmon is one of the most popular edible fish of all. Shops sell fish caught in the wild, but their main produce is salmon from breeding farms which can pollute rivers, lakes and oceans. Just how big is the problem? Scientists are working to answer this question by examining the dissolved organic compounds which enter Chile’s rivers from salmon farms. They warn that these substances are placing huge strain on ecosystems and are changing entire biological communities. More here.