ENN Weekly: October 30th - November 3rd

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ENN rounds up the most important and compelling environmental news stories of the week. In the news October 30th - November 3rd: The environment vote, a possible seafood collapse, suppressed climate change research, large coral in peril, and much more.















Top Ten Articles of the Week

In the news October 30th - November 3rd: The environment vote, a possible seafood collapse, suppressed climate change research, large coral in peril, and much more


1. Americans Favor Environment, but Don't Vote on It
Compared to voters in Europe, where the Green Party is a political force and global climate change is part of the public dialogue, U.S. voters in national elections tend to cast their ballots based on candidates' stances on the Iraq war, the economy and health care -- not on environmental policy.


2. Ocean Fish, Seafood Could Collapse by 2048
The world's fish and seafood populations will collapse by 2048 if current trends in habitat destruction and overfishing continue, resulting in less food for humans, researchers said Thursday.


3. Investigations Begin Into Whether Bush Administration Muzzled Climate Research
Two federal agencies are investigating whether the Bush administration tried to block government scientists from speaking freely about global warming and censor their research, a senator said Wednesday.


4. China Turns to Salt Water to Ease Drought
Drought-stricken China, where hundreds of millions of people are without regular access to drinking water, is turning to desalinated sea water to help end the crisis, the government said on Tuesday.


5. Scientist Says Large Coral Disappearing
Large species of coral that form underwater reefs and create rich habitat for marine life are disappearing from around the U.S. Virgin Islands, Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, a leading researcher said Tuesday.


6. U.N. Says Global Warming Gases on Rise Again
The industrialized world's emissions of greenhouse gases are growing again, despite efforts under the Kyoto Protocol to cap them and stave off global warming, the United Nations reported Monday.


7. Mistaken Theory Harms Conservation Efforts, UK Study Shows
Efforts to save endangered species have until now been based on a mistaken theory that if one species in an area is under threat, all species there are in danger, according to scientists at London's Imperial College.


8. Report Warns About Global Warming Impact
Unchecked global warming will devastate the world economy on the scale of the world wars and the Great Depression, a major British report said Monday. Introducing the report, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said unabated climate change would cost the world between 5 percent and 20 percent of global gross domestic product each year.


9. Boy Gets Rare Shot of California Condor
A 5-year-old boy has taken a photograph of what experts say may be the first California condor to fly in Topanga Canyon's skies in more than a century.


10. Mirror Test Implies Elephants Self-Aware
If you're Happy and you know it, pat your head. That, in a peanut shell, is how a 34-year-old female Asian elephant in the Bronx Zoo showed researchers that pachyderms can recognize themselves in a mirror -- complex behavior observed in only a few other species.


Photo: Avalanche Creek in Glacier National Park, Montana. Credit: Jesse Achtenberg/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.