Egypt to Australia to Louisiana to Maine...

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

To quote the sagacious Ford Prefect once again: "We don't stand a whelk's chance in a supernova."


Oil and gas companies are being blamed for the tremendous erosion of Louisiana's coastal wetlands , and called on to pay for it. (Best of New Orleans).
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/current/cover_story.php

*On the current and predicted effects of sea-level rise in coastal Egypt (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89660898

A look at five of Maine's toxin-contaminated sites and the ongoing efforts to clean them up (Bangor News)
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=163249&zoneid=500

More arguing over possibilities for diverting water from Northern California to Southern California, and its effects on endangered fish (Los Angeles Times).
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-salmon17apr17,1,1938847.story

After two environmental groups planned to sue the US Forest Service over flaws in this year's fire management plans for the Southwest, the Service apparently dropped the plans altogether (Earthjustice).
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2008/forest-service-scraps-fire-planning-in-southwest.html

New York Times
*Prolonged drought in grain-producing nations, probably worsened by climate change, is a factor in the current high-price-induced famines around the world: Australian rice as a case study.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/business/worldbusiness/17warm.html?pagewanted=1&ref=science

Contrary to some predictions voiced in articles last week, rising food prices are reducing investments--by buyers and farmers--in organic food.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/business/18organic.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin

Bush's muchly-criticized "new plan" for dealing with climate change was outlined in a recent speech.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/washington/17bush.html?ref=science

CORRECTION: I wrote here last term that the EPA had vetoed the big Yazoo wetland pumping project in Mississippi. I believe that they haven't actually finalized that veto, but it's proposed and expected.

Salmon, methane, farming and food

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

"There's nothing that depresses me more than seeing a planet being destroyed. Except possibly being on it when it happens."--Ford Prefect

For the first time, this year's fishing season for Chinhook salmon off California and Oregon will probably be canceled due to lack of the fish in the Sacramento River. That doesn't address other threats to the fish: dams, river depletion for farming, changing ocean conditions etc. etc. (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/11/MNO6103NBB.DTL

Homeowners in part of southern Colorado have a rocky relationship with nearby methane mines. [We woudn't need to mine methane--a potent greenhouse gas--if we made better use of what our landfills and livestock produce] (Associated Press)
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/homeowners-feel-heat-in-west-coal-boom/n20080412050309990005

Johnsongrass in Mississippi and Arkansas crop fields is the newest weed found to have developed resistance to Roundup as a result of the herbicide's intensive use (Delta Farm Press).
http://deltafarmpress.com/soybeans/johnsongrass-scott-0319/

New York Times
*Rising crop prices are putting pressure on farmers to re-cultivate land which the government has been paying them to leave alone for wildlife and conservation. Environmentalists, hunters, crop-consumer groups and farmers are all players in this intensifying debate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/09/business/09conserve.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

The delisting of gray wolves as endangered in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, and the resulting wolf kills which have already begun, ignited a firestorm of public opinion and legal action.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/us/13wolves.html?ref=science
*A discussion on whether rising prices for conventional food might do some "good" by encouraging people to buy more organic and local foods.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/dining/02cheap.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

A Grist critique of the above article, with lots of interesting reader comments
http://www.grist.org/comments/food/2008/04/04/?source=most_popular

Trout, Maine issues and the EPA

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

The "Environmental Protection Agency" needs a new name.

18 states and 11 environmental groups have sued the EPA for still refusing to regulate carbon dioxide emissions (Associated Press).
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/states-sue-epa-over-global-warming/20080402133809990001

The EPA exempted toxic oil-refinery waste from being considered toxic if it's gasified and burned at the refineries (Earthjustice)
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2008/epa-s-hazardous-waste-exemptions-no-april-fool-s-day-joke.html

A possible new "buyout plan" would aim to reduce the number of groundfishing boats in Maine [and further concentrate fishing ability with big operations]. (Kennebec Journal)
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/4927018.html

A major new "eco-resort" planned for the Schoodic Peninsula is a source of debate (Ellsworth American)
http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13889&Itemid=1

Bangor News
An editorial on this issues around said resort.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/viewpoints.aspx?articleid=162521&zoneid=35

Editorial: Some hope to get Maine lobster certified as "eco-friendly". [It mostly is, but the occasional bycatch of right whales will be an impediment]
http://bangornews.com/news/t/viewpoints.aspx?articleid=162289&zoneid=34

A European wind-energy company has plans for Aroostook County
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=162583&zoneid=500

New York Times
A new government rule aims to encourage developers who destroy wetlands to "restore or create" new ones elsewhere. Some environmentalists don't like it. [You can see attempts at wetland creation near a local salt marsh--it didn't work very well]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/washington/01epa.html?ref=science

Warming waters and drought are threatening Montana's freshwater fish, already imperiled by water depletion for ranching.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/science/earth/01trout.html?ref=science

Lions, factory farms, Iceland, Kansas

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

The EPA is seeking to exempt big "livestock operations" from needing to report their emissions of toxic ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gases (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/25/AR2008022502472.html

On the tension between humans and wildlife in Kenya, highlighted by lion and elephant killings near a national park (National Geographic News)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080318-kenya-elephants.html

The legislative battle continues over new Kansas coal plants (Houston Chronicle/AP)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5643680.html

Iceland considered whether to resume commercial whaling...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7294564.stm

..and soon decided to do so (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6059564.stm

Drugs, toxic birds, ozone, wave power

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

A study found a variety of human-made toxins in a variety of bird eggs all over Maine (Kennebec Journal)
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/4855509.html

Although algae blooms are increasing in coastal areas, the open ocean is losing its phytoplankton fast. Climate change may be a cause. (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87959035

Associated Press
A thorough look at the array of pharmaceuticals detected in drinking water across the US
http://news.aol.com/health/story/ar/_a/probe-finds-drugs-in-drinking-water/20080309184409990001

The EPA will reduce allowable levels of ozone (smog) in US air. Some people say the new rule isn't strict enough; others say it's too strict.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/air-too-dirty-to-breathe-in-345-counties/20080313094209990001

New York Times
One more biodiesel downside: water-fouling spills of waste oil from manufacturing facilities
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/us/11biofuel.html?ref=science

A fully wave-powered boat will attempt to cross 3,780 miles of the Pacific Ocean.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/science/11boat.html?ref=science

Starlings, tiny frogs, brownfields and a dead zone

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

Rare, tiny Maud Island frogs were discovered breeding in a New Zealand sanctuary where nobody had thought they lived. (Associated Press)
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/sign-of-hope-seen-for-rare-frog-species/20080303090509990002?ncid=NWS00010000000001

As I said earlier this week: Hundreds of bison are being systematically killed as they leave Yellowstone Park, for fear of them spreading disease to cattle (Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-bison26feb26,1,5519098.story

A 2001 plan to reduce the vast dead zone off Louisiana is going nowhere...and the zone keeps growing. (Times-Picayne)
http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1204180301219420.xml&coll=1&thispage=1#Scene_1

New York Times
In New Jersey, developers are taking new interest in defunct, contaminated sites ("brownfields")
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/business/05brown.html?pagewanted=1&ref=science

Eating worms contaminated with estrogen from polluted water has interesting effects on starlings
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/science/04obbird.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

Dugongs, lynx, coho, coal

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposed greatly expanding its designated "critical habitat" for Canada lynx in much of the northern US, which could affect use of public land there. (Billings Gazette)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/02/29/news/state/24-lynx.txt

A renewed push to include "clean coal" in energy plans [ignoring, as usual, the environmental cost of coal-mining] (Associated Press)
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/governors-include-coal-in-energy-debate/n20080223180409990007

Legislatinve wrangling over new coal-burning plants in Kansas appears to be headed in favor of the coal companies and utilities. (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/22/AR2008022202878.html?hpid=moreheadlines

The URLS of these two explain themselves:
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2008/federal-judge-rules-against-us-defense-department-plans-for-airbase-in-habitat-of-okinawa-dugong.html

http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2008/oregon-coho-salmon-regain-federal-protection.html