New rainforest species revealed

BBC News, July 30, 2008

An expedition to the rainforests of Guyana has discovered species new to science. A team of researchers and wildlife film-makers spent six weeks searching the pristine forest as part of a BBC documentary.
The group believes it has revealed two fish species, one frog species and a number of bat flies that have not been described previously. Read more...

Southern African wetland region to become world’s largest protected freshwater site

ENN, July 28, 2008

An area of the Democratic Republic of Congo containing the largest body of fresh water in Africa has been added to the Ramsar Convention’s list of Wetlands of International Importance, making it the largest region ever to be designated as such.
At more than six-and-a-half million hectares (approx. 65 thousands square kilometers) , the Ngiri-Tumba-Maingombe area is twice the size of Belgium and has one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity anywhere in the world. It is also a major carbon sink. Read more...

Toronto Pays Citizens Hefty Grants For Projects Reducing Carbon Footprint

ENN, July 28, 2008

The Canadian city of Toronto is paying citizens for going green. What’s been named the 'Live Green Toronto program', launched recently, has $20 million available over the next five years for citizen-driven carbon savings projects. The funding, in the form of subsidies, will go to projects that will help the city make good on its target of reducing its carbon footprint by 6% by 2012. Read more...

Νέο ρεζιλίκι για τα αδέσποτα

ΤΑ ΝΕΑ, 29 Ιουλίου 2008

ΝΕΑ ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΜΑΤΑ γερμανικών και σκανδιναβικών εφημερίδων περιγράφουν την Κρήτη ως «κόλαση» για τα αδέσποτα, επισημαίνοντας τόσο τις κακοποιήσεις και τα βασανιστήρια των ζώων όσο και τις άσχημες συνθήκες ζωής. Διαβάστε περισσότερα....

GM crop trials 'should be secret'

BBC News, July 28, 2008

Senior researchers have called for the location of small open-air trials of GM crops to be kept secret. The researchers say that vandalism of GM crop trials is holding back research in the area.
Current legislation requires the exact location of GM crop trials to be publicly available. Read more...

Read also: Security becomes main cost in UK GMO crop trials

California First State to Adopt Green Building Code

ENN, July 21, 2008

The California Building Standards Commission announced on Friday the unanimous adoption of a statewide 'green' building code, the first in the nation.
The new standards will call for a 20% improvement in water use efficiency for both residential and commercial plumbing fixtures as well as target a 50% increase in conservation for water used in landscaping. Read more...

Commission delays water saving obligations for farmers

Euractiv, July 16, 2008

The Commission has rejected the notion that farmers should implement river basin management schemes in exchange for agricultural subsidies, despite increasing fears over water shortages and droughts.
As part of the so-called "health check" of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Commission proposed a number of amendments to the rules governing how farmers can receive subsidies. Among these are a number of cross-compliance measures whereby in order to receive direct payments, farmers have to meet certain environmental, food safety, animal health and welfare standards. Read more...

Πόσα χρόνια χρειάζονται για να διαλυθούν στην θάλασσα;

Environmentalists block Australia coal port

ENN, July 14, 2008

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Environmental protesters in Australia brought the world's biggest coal terminal to a standstill on Sunday by blocking railway lines and chaining themselves to rail cars.
Police said they arrested about 37 people who chained themselves to a train and rail tracks at the port in Newcastle, 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Sydney to protest over the impact of burning coal on climate change. Read more...

Greens Nominate Cynthia McKinney for President

ENN, July 15, 2008

The USA Green PArty has made a good deal of history this weekend.
The party has nominated a former member of Congress for the presidency, a coup for the party that itself has yet to elect a U.S. representative or senator. Read more...

Spanish parliament grant rights to apes

Reuters, June 25 2008

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans. Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans. Read more...

Condemned to single-sex life by climate change

ENN, July 2, 2008

Rising temperatures look set to produce male-only offspring in the tuatara, condemning the ancient reptile species to extinction by 2085, computer modelling predicts.
Researchers studying tuatara (Sphenodon spp.) — the ancient relatives of which once roamed the world alongside dinosaurs more than 200 million years ago — made their doomsday prediction using digital terrain maps detailing the consequences for the reptiles' nesting sites of a 4°C hike in average temperature. Read more...

State workers in Utah shifting to 4-day week

ENN, July 2, 2008

Utah this summer will become what experts say is the first state to institute a mandatory four-day work week for most state employees, joining local governments across the nation that are altering schedules to save money, energy and resources. Gov. Jon Huntsman, a first-term Republican, says he's making the change to reduce the state's carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide workers more flexibility.
"The reaction (from the public) has been very much a willingness to give this a go," he says. Read more...

New EU waste legislation approved

Waste Management World, June 25, 2008

A new directive has been put in place following the decision of MEPs to adopt amendments to EU waste legislation. Member states will now be required to draw up binding waste disposal and recycling targets and adhere to them. Waste prevention targets will be considered by the European Commission in future, and incineration of waste will be classified as a recovery operation providing it meets certain energy efficiency criteria. Read more...

Read also: Watered-down waste directive gets MEPs' green light

Supreme Court slashes Exxon's punitive damages for Valdez oil spill

Grist, July 1, 2008

ExxonMobil is off the hook for billions in punitive damages related to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. In 1994, the oil giant was ordered to pay $5 billion in punitive damages. In 2006, that amount was cut to $2.5 billion. Last week, the Supreme Court slashed the amount once again, to $507.5 million. By a 5-3 vote (Exxon stockholder Samuel Alito sat out), the court reasoned that punitive damages should not exceed what the company paid to victims for economic losses. Since the accident, Exxon has paid $3.4 billion in various fines, penalties, cleanup costs, claims, and other expenses. The $507.5 million will be divvied up among 32,677 commercial fisherfolk, seafood processors, landowners, native Alaskans, and small business owners. Exxon, which posted a record-breaking annual profit of $40.6 billion in February, makes $507.5 million in approximately 12 hours of sales. Read more...