ENN rounds up the most important and compelling environmental news stories of the week. In the news October 2nd - 6th: Sewage and marine life, a tropical New England, species extinction, koala contraceptive, and much more.
Top Ten Articles of the Week
In the news October 2nd - 6th: Sewage and marine life, a tropical New England, species extinction, koala contraceptive, and much more.
1. Sewage, Coastal Destruction Threaten Marine Life
Sewage is a growing threat to oceans and seas, putting at risk marine life and habitats as the pollution problem escalates, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a report on Wednesday.
2. U.S. Northeast Could Warm Drastically by 2100, Study Says
For those who love New England's mild summer weather, scientists have some advice: enjoy it while you can. If greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current course, Massachusetts may feel more like sultry South Carolina by century's end, researchers said Wednesday in a report on clear signs of global warming in the U.S. Northeast.
3. Greater Diversity of Life in Tropics
As explorers investigated the world in centuries past they began pondering a puzzle called the "latitudinal diversity gradient." That's science talk for: The farther you go from the tropics, the fewer different kinds of plants and animals there are.
4. U.S. Population to Top 300 Million This Month
Some time this month, the number of Americans will surpass 300 million, a milestone that raises environmental impact questions for the only major industrial nation whose population is increasing substantially.
5. WHO Calls for Improved Air Quality, Says Pollution Kills Two Million People Each Year
The World Health Organization on Thursday called on governments to improve air quality in their cities, saying air pollution prematurely kills two million people a year, with more than half the deaths in developing countries.
6. Nicaragua Seeks New Canal to Link Atlantic, Pacific
Nicaragua wants to build a waterway like the Panama Canal that would link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at a cost of $18 billion, President Enrique Bolanos said Monday. He told a meeting of Western Hemisphere defense ministers in Managua it would take 12 years to finance, design and build the canal.
7. United Nations to Consider Deep Sea Trawling Ban
The United Nations needs to stop the destruction of deep sea ecosystems by banning fishermen from trawling nets on the ocean floor, Australia, New Zealand and Palau, joined by actress Sigourney Weaver, said Tuesday.
8. Ozone Hole Matches Record Size
The "ozone hole" over Antarctica this year has matched the record size of 11.4 million square miles, the U.N. weather agency has said. The area of the so-called hole -- a thinning in the ozone layer during the South Pole winter -- is the same as in the record year of 2000, according to measurements by NASA.
9. Scientist Warns of Species' Extinction
As many as half the world's species may face extinction by 2100 because of pollution, climate change, human population growth and other influences, a renowned scientist dubbed "the father of biodiversity" told an audience in Bozeman, Montana.
10. Scientists to Test Koala Contraceptive
Scientists hope to test a contraceptive dart next year as a new weapon to curb a koala population explosion that has destroyed thousands of trees on an Australian island, a researcher said Sunday. Without predators such as dogs, life on Kangaroo Island off South Australia state has proved too idyllic for the teddy bear-like marsupials' own good.
Photo: A wild horse runs along the southern coast of Java, Indonesia. Credit: © Cathryn Wilcox/CCP, Courtesy of Photoshare.
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