Environmental News Network

Margaret Thatcher, Lyndon Johnson were Right!
President Lyndon Johnson and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made stark warnings about global warming decades ago, but convincing evidence for action only amassed in recent years, experts say. A 190-nation U.N. conference in Copenhagen in December is due to agree a new U.N. pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions to slow a rise in temperatures to prevent floods, droughts, wildfires or rising sea levels. >> Read the Full Article
ENN is pleased to be a media partner with Robert Batemanâ€™s Innovative Contest that Challenges Youth to Connect with Nature
In an unprecedented collaboration, over thirty major organizations have joined forces to invite young Americans to discover nature by entering the Robert Bateman "Get to Know" Contest. These partners include the US Forest Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, National Wildlife Federation, the Children & Nature Network, the Wyland Foundation, and many others. The Get to Know Contest invites any American age 18 or younger to go outdoors, to "get to know" their wild neighbors, and then to share their experience by creating art, writing, or photography. >> Read the Full Article
Ohio State Glaciologist Team Gets Important Ice Cores in Andes
Ice cores are important tools to identify Earthâ€™s past climate. They enable us to peer back in time to identify species of insects trapped in ice as well as isotopes oxygen and dust particles that were deposited at various time in the past. The ratio of oxygen isotopes in the ice allows researchers to determine whether temperatures were warmer or cooler when the snow that eventually turned to ice was deposited on the glacier. The dust content gives scientists clues about the rate of precipitation at the site. The thicker the core (longer cores) the longer into the past we can see. >> Read the Full Article
Sea Slime Killing U.S. Seabirds
Hundreds of birds are washing up on the shores of the U.S. Pacific Northwest coated with a foamy sea slime, scientists say. Research suggests that recently, the blooms are larger, lasting longer, and happening with greater frequency. >> Read the Full Article
Chemical spills after ship accidents in China
Chinese workers are trying to clean up dangerous chemicals in the central reaches of the Yangtze river and an oil spill near an eastern Chinese port, after two shipping accidents this weekend. >> Read the Full Article
Unanticipated Long Term Consequences of Nuclear Waste From Bomb Making
Radioactive debris has been found in canyons that drain into the Rio Grande, but officials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory say there's no health risk. More than 60 years after scientists assembled the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, lethal waste is seeping from mountain burial sites and moving toward aquifers, springs and streams that provide water to 250,000 residents of northern New Mexico. Isolated on a high plateau, the Los Alamos National Laboratory seemed an ideal place to store a bomb factory's deadly debris. But the heavily fractured mountains haven't contained the waste, some of which has trickled down hundreds of feet to the edge of the Rio Grande, one of the most important water sources in the Southwest. >> Read the Full Article
Multiyear Arctic ice is effectively gone
The multiyear ice covering the Arctic Ocean has effectively vanished, a startling development that will make it easier to open up polar shipping routes, an Arctic expert said on Thursday. >> Read the Full Article
Water Use in the US Less in 2005 Than in 1975
Just when you think all human activities are making the environment worse, news comes that our efforts to improve efficiency and reduce environmental impacts (0ur environmental footprint) are doing some good. According to a new U.S. Geological Survey report, the U S is using less water now than during the peak years of 1975 and 1980, despite a 30 percent population increase during the same time period. >> Read the Full Article
In Japanâ€™s Managed Landscape, a Struggle to Save the Bears
Although it is a heavily urbanized nation, fully two-thirds of Japan remains woodlands. Yet many of the forests are timber plantations inhospitable to wildlife, especially black bears, which are struggling to survive in one of the most densely populated countries on Earth. >> Read the Full Article
Volcanic Air Pollution Chokes Locals
Between fiery destruction, mudslides, and ash clouds that blot out the sun, volcanoes aren't short on spectacular threats to human life. But on the island of Hawaii, residents living downwind of the actively erupting Kilauea volcano are at risk of a range of more subtle health problems, including bronchitis, asthma attacks, lung infections, and sore throats thanks to volcanic air pollution, according to a new study. >> Read the Full Article