ENN Weekly: May 14th - 18th

Typography
ENN rounds up the most important and compelling environmental news stories of the week. In the news May 14th - 18th: Greening our cities, new pollution regulations, protecting Canada's forests, the new "environmental refugees," and much more.











Top Ten Articles of the Week
In the news May 14th - 18th: Greening our cities, new pollution regulations, protecting Canada's forests, the new "environmental refugees," and much more.


1. Sixteen Cities To Go Green Under Clinton Plan
Sixteen cities around the world will begin cutting carbon emissions by renovating city-owned buildings with green technology under a program spearheaded by former President Clinton's foundation. Bill Clinton announced the partnership Wednesday, joined by mayors of several of the cities, as part of an international climate summit he hosted this week in New York City.


2. Study Shows Southern Ocean Saturated with Carbon Dioxide
The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is so loaded with carbon dioxide that it can barely absorb any more, so more of the gas will stay in the atmosphere to warm up the planet, scientists reported Thursday. Human activity is the main culprit, said researcher Corinne Le Quere, who called the finding very alarming.


3. Bush Reveals New Pollution Regulations Designed To Find Way in 18 Months To Curb Emissions
President George W. Bush responded to a Supreme Court environmental ruling by ordering his administration on Monday to find a way to begin regulating harmful vehicle emissions by the end of his presidency. In a Rose Garden announcement, Bush said the new rules would "cut gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles."


4. West Nile Virus Decimates Suburban Birds
Birds that once flourished in suburban skies, including robins, bluebirds and crows, have been devastated by West Nile virus, a study found. Populations of seven species have had dramatic declines across the continent since West Nile emerged in the United States in 1999, according to a first-of-its-kind study.


5. Scientists Urge Half of Canada Forest Be Protected
Canada's vast forests should be protected much more than they are now to preserve wildlife and water and to fight global warming, a group of 1,500 scientists from around the world said Monday. The scientists say Canada's Boreal Forest, stretching from the Alaskan border and running north of the plains all the way to Newfoundland on the Atlantic, is one of largest intact forest-and-wetland ecosystems remaining on earth.


6. U.N. Professor Says Climate Change Is Creating New Refugees Who Deserve U.N. Protection
Increasing global temperatures and land degradation are forcing more people to migrate, creating a wave of environmental refugees who need U.N. protection, a professor at the United Nations University said. Janos Bogardi on Wednesday urged the United Nations to recognize that droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes and other environmental factors -- many of which are worsening because of climate change -- have played a role in the migration of millions of people worldwide.


7. Empty Nets as Tide Turns on Asia's Fishermen
The old adage 'there are plenty more fish in the sea' no longer rings true for Malaysian fisherman Shafie Said. "These days, we have to go farther offshore and into deeper waters to fish," said Shafie, aged 39, his face weather beaten after 16 years sailing tropical waters in the Andaman Sea, off the coast of northwest Malaysia. "Sometimes we return empty handed," Shafie said sadly.


8. Travel Experts See Worrisome Downside to Ecotourism
Ecotourism may be just as environmentally damaging as traditional travel because of the greenhouse gases vacationers help create when they journey to remote, pristine areas, industry experts warned Tuesday. That dilemma has been the focus of the Global Ecotourism Conference, a three-day gathering of ecotourism officials struggling to chart the future of an industry whose success threatens to become its own undoing.


9. Environmental Protection Agency Proposes Rules for Hybrids in Car Pool Lanes
When it comes to using car pool lanes, only the most fuel-efficient hybrids need apply. The government proposed new criteria Thursday for certifying vehicles as clean and energy efficient -- standards for states that let hybrid drivers travel without passengers in the special lanes to avoid rush-hour traffic.


10. eBay Condemned for Allowing Ivory Trade
The elephant, the world's largest land mammal, is being threatened with global extinction by a "rampant trade" in ivory on the eBay online auction site, animal welfare campaigners said on Tuesday. International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said it had conducted a survey in Britain, Australia, China, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Canada and the United States and tracked more than 2,200 elephant ivory items listed on eBay websites.


Photo: A close-up of a Long-Eared Owl. This one holds a typical stance for protecting its young. These owls range from Alaska and Canada to the Gulf states and Mexico, as far east as Central Florida. Credit: NASA.


Contact Info:


Website :