Orangutans and solar panels

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

Could orangutans be the first apes headed for extinction?
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/orangutan-populations-declining-sharply/20080705090009990001

For afficionados, a debate on solar power: environmental impacts, big vs. small, rooftop vs. open-desert etc.
http://grist.org/news/2008/07/03/BLM/

Oysters, inhalers, nuclear waste, scary news

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

If you'll be returning to COA next year, I look forward to seeing you again. If you're leaving us, congratulations and good luck. The world needs you.


What I said last week is official: the USDA will stop tracking agricultural pesticide use (Associated Press)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOv_zmzZkXkBWLHq5KSkc7WaHZNQD90QJCA80

Bangor News
Another public comment period opened for the Plum Creek plan
http://bangornews.com/news/t/city.aspx?articleid=165236&zoneid=176

Maine could acquire a new, permanent site for nuclear waste storage.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=165181&zoneid=5

New York Times
Worsening drought, increasingly water-intensive farming and resort development combine to spell bad news for southern Spain.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/world/europe/03dry.html?ref=europe

The Senate debate on a current major 'climate bill' might have been funny if it weren't so depressing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/washington/05climate.html?ref=washington

Deforestation is serious in Papua New Guinea
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/science/earth/03fore.html?ref=science

Washington Post
Asthma-treatment inhalers using CFCs will be phased out in the US by the end of 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002208.html

Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay have declined over the past decade for many reasons, despite costly government attempts to restore them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/01/AR2008060102499.html

Guano, plankton, poisons, oil, mountaintop removal and more

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

"We are in a situation that could invoke a mild amount of peril if we don't do things sensibly"--Sean Todd


A California company announced that it had made chemically-authentic "crude oil" from algae, which it hopes to produce commercially within five years. (Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-greencrude29-2008may29,1,4627837.story

A North Carolina state representative introduced a bill to ban burning of coal acquired by mountaintop-removal mining (Grist).
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/5/28/17123/6269

The USDA is apparently no longer tracking pesticide use on US crops or making information about it available (Ethicurean).
http://www.ethicurean.com/2008/05/22/pesticide-info/

Reuters
One outcome of the UN Covention on Biological Diversity: a moratorium on 'ocean fertilization' for attempted carbon sequestration through induced plankton blooms (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL2981194420080530

The EU will make sharpish quota cuts to some of its fisheries [To read about some of the results, go to bbc.co.uk and search "fishery quotas."]
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL3089767920080530?sp=true

New York Times
The White House (under court orders) published a report that global warming is "very likely" caused by humans and its impacts are likely to be rawther bad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/washington/30climate.html?ref=science

A dam is being removed sloooowly from a Montana river to prevent release of heavy-metal-contaminated sediment built up behind it, which is also now being cleaned up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/science/27dam.html?ref=science

Seabird guano, in high demand for organic fertilizer, is running out on the Peruvian islands where it's harvested. Some blame overfishing of anchoveta, which the birds eat, for livestock feed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/world/americas/30peru.html?pagewanted=1

Science and politics clashed again over Brazilian deforestation
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/world/americas/25amazon.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=americas

DDT in Antarctic glaciers may be leaking into the sea as they melt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/science/earth/27obddt.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

Bangor News
Update on the Plum Creek saga
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=164947&zoneid=500

Two animal welfare/advocacy groups threatened to sue the Maine DIF&W for setting trap restrictions that haven't prevented incidental snaring of endangered Canada lynx.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=164948&zoneid=500

Wales, wolves, potatoes, preserves, power

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

In Wales, ambitious plans for powering the country on a combined variety of renewable energies. (Detroit Free Press/AP)
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/BUSINESS07/805180584/1020

The Kansas governor vetoed plans for two new coal-power plants, which will remain vetoed (Lawrence Journal-World)
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/may/22/coal_battle_moves_court/

Update on international 'progress' in committing to greenhouse-gas-emission reductions (Associated Press).
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/nations-urge-deep-emission-cuts-by-us/n20080525035609990014

Self-explanatory:
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2008/twelve-conservation-groups-challenge-federal-wolf-delisting.html

Bangor News
Numerous groups seek to make bio-plastic from Maine potatoes.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=164576&zoneid=500

342,000 acres of Downeast Maine land has been newly 'preserved' along the Canadian border.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/downeast.aspx?articleid=164620&zoneid=177

Roxanne Quimby's eviction of "camp"-leasers on her bought-up land is causing a mighty lot of controversy [including ten zillion comments below this article]
http://bangornews.com/news/t/penobscot.aspx?articleid=164689&zoneid=183

Ants, hurricanes, "saved" land, "sustainable development"

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

Plans for oil drilling in certain Alaskan wetlands appear to be on hold. (ENN/Reuters)
http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/36444

BBC News
"Conservation refugees" in Uganda
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7390917.stm

A disputed new plan for "sustainable" development in the Amazon rainforest.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7399109.stm

Bangor News
Public discussions began for the controversial Schoodic eco-resort proposal. [I'd be glad to hear opinions from COAers who attended this meeting]
http://bangornews.com/news/t/hancock.aspx?articleid=164423&zoneid=178

Editorial: Driving tips to reduce gas consumption.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/viewpoints.aspx?articleid=164198&zoneid=34

Associated Press
Recently-arrived tropical ants are wreaking havoc for human Texans, and may also harm wildlife there.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/crazy-ants-swarm-over-houston-area/20080514152109990001?icid=100214839x1202155990x1200077402

A meteorologist predicted that climate change would actually result in fewer (but fiercer) tropical Atlantic storms. Some other scientists disagree with his model.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/scientist-shifts-view-on-global-warming/20080518143309990001?icid=100214839x1202272107x1200087432

As displayed in the results of a sawmill raid, illegal rainforest logging remains a pernicious issue in Brazil.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/brazils-illegal-logging-hard-to-combat/n20080517115209990005

Crows, koalas, bugs, buses, San Francisco

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

Associated Press
Honeybees in commercial US hives continued dying off en masse in the past year.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/a-third-of-honey-bee-hives-lost-in-2007/20080507090109990001

Study: increased CO2 concentrations in the air makes eucalyptus less edible to koalas, which eat nothing else.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/koalas-at-risk-from-climate-change/20080507151509990001?icid=100214839x1201683254x1200063789

New York Times
Higher gas prices are straining increasingly-popular public transportation systems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/business/10transit.html?pagewanted=1&ref=science

The EPA proposed new, stricter standards for lead concentrations in air.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/washington/02epa.html?ref=science

San Francisco's mayor proposed that recycling and composting--already advanced--be made mandatory there.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/us/07garbage.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

In Japan, crow populations are rising (possibly because of more human garbage around) to plague levels and prompting big extermination efforts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/world/asia/07crows.html?pagewanted=1&ref=science

Bangor News
A newly-approved bill changes the requirements for growing genetically modified crops in Maine, and protects farmers from being sued for accidental GMO contamination of their crops.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=162819&zoneid=5

Introduced beetle larvae are taking a toll on lawns in parts of Maine.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/city.aspx?articleid=164110&zoneid=176

Fungi, fertilizer, land use, bison slaughter

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

Possible restrictions on development and land use in Maine's Unorganized Territory (which comprises over half of the state's land, across multiple counties) are meeting resistance in the far north (Bangor News).
http://bangornews.com/news/t/aroostook.aspx?articleid=163594&zoneid=175

New York Times
Residents of a California town are experimenting with using fungi to clean up dioxins in a former lumber mil site. [After the recent oil spill in San Francisco, some folks there had the idea of growing oyster mushrooms in oil and found the it worked...groovy.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/us/27bragg.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=mushrooms&st=nyt&oref=slogin

Another issue in the food-crisis saga: global shortages of petroleum-based (thus increasingly expensive) fertilizer. [If we could get it to work more efficiently, so zillions of tons weren't washed away and wasted...]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?scp=1&sq=fertilizer&st=nyt

CNN
This year's bison slaughter around Yellowstone National Park was suspended after winter ravaged the herd, but it's expected to restart next year.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/half-of-yellowstone-bison-herd-dies/20080429092909990001

Many scientists working for the EPA claimed that their findings had been manipulated or misused by regulators.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/23/epa.scientists.ap/index.html