ENN Weekly: June 12th - 16th

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ENN rounds up the most important and compelling environmental news stories of the week. In the news June 12th - 16th: A Hawaiian monument, a pesticide phase-out, thawing permafrost, polar bear cannibalism, and much more.

The Week's Top Ten Articles

In the news June 12th - 16th: ENN rounds up the most important and compelling environmental news stories of the week. In the news June 12th - 16th: A Hawaiian monument, phasing out pesticides, thawing permafrost, polar bear cannibalism, and much more.


1. Northwest Hawaiian Islands to Get Monument Status
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands -- remnants of extinct submerged volcanoes far from Waikiki -- will become a vast U.S. national monument and nature sanctuary, a senior administration official said Wednesday.


2. U.S. Government Plans to Phase out Use of Common Pesticide on Fruit, Other Crops
The federal government plans to phase out a common pesticide that has been used on apples, pears and other crops since the late 1950s, acting amid complaints from environmental groups that the chemical poisons farmworkers.


3. Thawing Permafrost Could Unleash Tons of Carbon
Ancient roots and bones locked in long-frozen soil in Siberia are starting to thaw, and have the potential to unleash billions of tons of carbon and accelerate global warming, scientists said Thursday.


4. Biologists, Criminalists are Developing 'CSI'-Type Standards to Catch Underwater Perps
When death strikes a coral reef, whether from an oil spill off Mexico or sediment unleashed by a dam bursting in Hawaii, marine biologists know what to look for, but not how to document and preserve their findings so they will hold up in court.


5. U.N. Scheme to Save One Billion Tonnes of Greenhouse Gas
A U.N. scheme to promote renewable energy use in poor nations is growing sharply and will axe emissions of greenhouse gases by more than a billion tonnes by 2012, the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said last Friday.


6. Environmentalists Ask Judge to Stop Logging in Burned-over Section of National Forest
Environmentalists asked a federal judge Wednesday to temporarily block logging in a remote, burned-over section of a national forest that was purchased last week in the first such sale since the Bush administration eased logging restrictions.


7. Study Says Polar Bears May Turn to Cannibalism
Polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea may be turning to cannibalism because longer seasons without ice keep them from getting to their natural food, a new study by American and Canadian scientists has found.


8. Brazilian Police Crack Down on Illegal Logging in Amazon Rain Rorest
Police arrested 28 people suspected of operating an illegal logging ring in Brazil's Amazon rain forest and were looking for 46 more, officials said.


9. Millions of People Die Annually from Preventable Environmental Causes
Filthy drinking water, mosquitoes and other avoidable menaces kill 13 million people a year, the World Health Organization said Friday.


10. African Leaders Pledge Farming Green Revolution
African leaders recommended on Tuesday scrapping taxes on fertilisers as one of 12 key measures to foster a "Green Revolution" in farming and reduce hunger in the poorest continent.


Photo: A Monte Verde Toad. Credit: Charles H. Smith/ Washington DC Library/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.


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