Environmental News Network

Grizzly Bears in the North Cascades
The National Park Service this week took an important step toward recovering grizzly bears in the North Cascades in Washington state. The agency says it is beginning a three-year process to analyze options for boosting grizzly bear populations in the area, including the possibility of translocating bears and developing a viable population. "We're happy to see the Park Service begin the long-overdue conversation about bringing grizzly bears back to the North Cascades," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Grizzlies have lost more than 95 percent of their historic habitat in the lower 48 states so we welcome any step that brings them closer to returning to some of their ancestral homes." >> Read the Full Article
Turning Jellyfish into Sustainable Medical Products
In a United Nations report released in May, scientists worldwide were called upon to join the war on jellyfish. According to the report, jellyfish have overwhelmed the marine ecosystem as a result of the overfishing of more competitive species, consuming fish eggs and larvae of weaker specimens and creating what the report called a "vicious cycle." So how can this cycle be stopped? >> Read the Full Article
Arctic insects and spiders can survive colder temperatures than thought
Arctic bugs can survive in frozen ground as cold as -27Â°C, scientists have revealed. It is the first time higher-order invertebrates such as spiders, flies and beetles have been found coping in direct exposure to such cold temperatures. Previous lows were between just -5Â°C and a little below -10Â°C. The research, published in the Journal of Thermal Biology, suggests they may be more resilient to climate change than first feared. >> Read the Full Article
Africa Faces Unsustainable Levels of Ivory Poaching
When it comes to illegal wildlife trade, one thing has always puzzled me... Why is the demand for ivory so high? While I may not come across the black-market demands or understand the cultural or historical needs for these rare animal teeth, one thing is easy to see - populations of the African elephant are declining. >> Read the Full Article
Toxic Algae Scare Prompts Backlash Against Farms
What do a no-drink order in Toledo and a backlash against factory farming have in common? A lot, as it turns out. Residents of Ohio's fourth-largest city were advised for multiple days earlier this month to refrain from drinking their tap water because it had been contaminated by toxic algae. As residents struggled to deal with their contaminated water supply, the culprit behind the problem became readily apparent: factory farms. The Ohio Agriculture Advisory Council (OAAC) is proposing a regulatory crackdown that could forever change industrial farming practices in this Midwestern state. >> Read the Full Article
Habitat protection for the Yellow-billed Cuckoo
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to protect more than a half-million acres of critical habitat across the West for the yellow-billed cuckoo, a songbird that lives along rivers and streams. The bird was proposed for Endangered Species Act protection in October 2013 as part of a 2011 agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity to speed protection decisions for 757 imperiled species nationwide. Todayâ€™s proposal would protect 546,335 acres of streamside habitat in nine western states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. "This is an important victory not just for yellow-billed cuckoos but for rivers and streams across the West," said Michael Robinson, a conservation advocate at the Center, which first petitioned for the cuckooâ€™s protection in 1998. >> Read the Full Article
What can we learn from the California Rim Fire?
August 17, 2014 will mark the one year anniversary of the Rim Fire in the California Sierra Nevadas. It was dubbed the Rim Fire due to its proximity to the Rim of the World scenic lookout. The third largest wildfire in Californiaâ€™s history, it burned 257,000 acres of land in Stanislaus National Forest and the western edge of Yosemite National Park, in addition to private land in neighboring counties. It cost more than $127 million to contain, and included more than $50 million in property damage. In the early hours of the fire, a deer hunter was rescued. After the hunter was taken to safety by helicopter, investigators interviewed him to see if he witnessed anything. He told them that he had slipped and caused a rock slide that may have ignited the dry vegetation. As time went on, his story changed several times, even blaming it on marijuana growers. Finally, as the fire had been raging for several weeks, he finally told the real story. >> Read the Full Article
duh DUN... It's Shark Week!
It's time for the 27th annual Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, featuring a solid week of shark-centric programming for viewers who just can't get enough of... factually incorrect fear-mongering stories about sharks. Sharks are the villain everyone loves to hate, from Jaws to endless B-movies on the SyFy Channel, but in fact, the real enemy is humans. Worldwide, sharks are in critical danger, and we're the only ones who can save them. It's time to put down the remote and take up the cause of shark conservation, because it won't be too long before Shark Week is little more than a series of antique horror films about a superorder of fish that used to be abundant in the world's oceans. >> Read the Full Article
Engineering Fruit Flies May Help Crops
We've genetically-modified crops to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or pesticides. Nonetheless, pests still infest crops around the world. In an attempt to control these pests, scientists have turned to genetically engineering the pests themselves! >> Read the Full Article
Monkey Selfies and copywrite considerations
Whilst visiting a national park in North Sulawesi wildlife photographer David Slater had his camera stolen - not by a thief, but by an inquisitive crested black macaque. The resulting selfies are causing controversy and raising questions about the ownership of images on the web. So just who does own the copyright when a monkey gets trigger-happy on your device? Slater was photographing the endangered monkeys when he left his camera unattended. One of the monkeys began playing with the camera and, fascinated by its reflection and the noise produced when it accidentally took a photo, it snapped hundreds of images of itself. Most were blurred and out of focus, but several of the photos produced unique up-close and personal self-portraits of the rare creature. >> Read the Full Article