If you register as a "user" of this site, you can leave comments on its content. You cannot create content unless you are a member of the HCEC.
How this site worksUser loginThe HCECNavigationNews from the HCECReceive news, including upcoming events, things you can do and progress made, direct to your email inbox: create an account here, then subscribe here. Who's onlineThere are currently 0 users and 1 guest online.
|
News aggregatorCrackdown on illegal wildlife trade in VietnamMongabay: A sweep of restaurants in Vietnam's Lam Dong Province turned up hundreds of pounds of illegal wildlife products, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). More than 100 officers from the Lam Dong Forest Protection Department confiscated over 850 pounds of wildlife including meat, animal parts, and skins during raids conducted last week in Da Lat City and surrounding towns. Animals included pangolin, porcupine, mouse deer, black-shanked duoc langurs, clouded leopard, ...
Cove star stages protest over Japanese dolphin huntGuardian: The star of an Oscar-winning film about dolphin hunting in Japan delivered a petition to the country's US embassy calling for an end to the practice. Ric O'Barry, 70 – who appeared in The Cove and trained dolphins for 1960s TV show Flipper – was flanked by police and dozens of supporters carrying banners. The petition was signed by 1.7 million people from 151 countries. O'Barry had hoped to deliver it to the Japanese fisheries agency but cancelled the plan after threats from a ...
Study Finds Commercial Organic Farms Have Better Fruit And Soil, Lower Environmental ImpactredOrbit: Side-by-side comparisons of organic and conventional strawberry farms and their fruit found the organic farms produced more flavorful and nutritious berries while leaving the soil healthier and more genetically diverse. "Our findings have global implications and advance what we know about the sustainability benefits of organic farming systems," said John Reganold, Washington State University Regents professor of soil science and lead author of a paper published today in the ...
Disasters show 'screaming' need for action - climate chiefAFP: UN climate chief Christiana Figueres on Thursday warned that a string of weather calamities showed the deepening urgency to forge a breakthrough deal on global warming this year. Speaking before some 40 countries were to address finance, an issue that has helped hamstring UN climate talks, Figueres said floods in Pakistan, fires in Russia and other weather disasters had been a shocking wakeup call. "The news has been screaming that a future of intense, global climate disasters ...
No injuries, signs of spill in Gulf rig explosionReuters: An oil and gas platform operated by Mariner Energy burst into flames on Thursday and unleashed a mile-long oil sheen into the Gulf of Mexico, in the region's first major offshore disaster since BP's oil spill began in April. All 13 crew members were rescued with no injuries from the ocean near the burning platform and were taken to another offshore platform, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The fire has been contained but is not yet extinguished. It is not known whether the oil sheen ...
Amazon at lowest level in over 40 years in Peru: expertsAFP: The Amazon, the world's biggest river, is at its lowest level in over 40 years near its source in northeastern Peru, causing havoc in a region where it is used as the only form of travel, authorities said. According to officials in Loreto province, the Amazon on Tuesday in the northeast city of Iquitos fell to 105.97 meters (347.67 feet) above sea level, 50 cm (1.6 feet) lower than it was in 2005, so far the lowest reference point in four decades. Low levels have brought ...
Report confirms rapid glacier meltingHimalayan: The United States Geological Survey in its report -- published in collaboration with 39 international scientists -- says that glaciers throughout the Asia region -- Russia, China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan -- are retreating. However, the report says the time period for the retreat is different among the glaciers. "In Bhutan, 66 glaciers have decreased by 8.1 per cent over the last 30 years. Rapid changes in the Himalaya ...
Australia: PM Julia Gillard's high-risk Greens embraceAustralian: JULIA Gillard has agreed to a historic pact with the Australian Greens in a bid to end the nation's parliamentary deadlock, promising action on climate change in return for guaranteed support to govern. The deal includes the establishment of a climate change committee to consider a price on carbon, big changes to the rules on political donations and a major parliamentary debate on the war in Afghanistan. The Greens will, in effect, have more power than Labor backbenchers, with ...
Ecologists fear Antarctic krill crisisNature: The humble Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) bears a heavy burden. It may be just a small, shrimp-like crustacean, but its sheer abundance makes it one of the largest protein sources on Earth, eagerly sought by fish, penguins, whales -- and man. Ecologists are now warning that the rapid growth in krill fishing is adding to the pressure of environmental changes threatening the creatures, and are calling for better monitoring and precautionary management of krill fisheries. The ...
Legal challenge to drilling ban scores court victoryBusiness Green: The US ban on deep water oil and gas drilling could be overturned for a second time after a federal judge yesterday rejected the Obama administration's request to dismiss an oil industry lawsuit challenging the six-month moratorium. US district judge Martin Feldman, who controversially overturned the administration's first ban, yesterday ruled that a second ban imposed by the Interior Department in July "arguably fashions no substantial changes from the first moratorium" and as such ...
80% of tropical agricultural expansion between 1980-2000 came at expense of forestsMongabay: More than 80 percent of agricultural expansion in the tropics between 1980 and 2000 came at the expense of forests, reports research published last week in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study, based on analysis satellite images collected by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and led by Holly Gibbs of Stanford University, found that 55 percent of new agricultural land came at the expense of intact ...
Fishing reopened in 5,130 square miles of GulfAP: Federal authorities have lifted a fishing ban in part of the northern Gulf of Mexico from the Florida Panhandle to the far eastern coast of Louisiana. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said Thursday about 5,130 square miles of federal waters from Pensacola west through Alabama and Mississippi are open to fishing and shrimp harvesting. NOAA also said shrimping could resume in federal waters east of Pensacola, which reopened to other fishing last ...
Temporary Cap That Stopped BP Gusher RemovedAP: Engineers have removed a temporary cap that stopped oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's blown-out well in mid-July. No more oil was expected to leak into the sea, but crews were standing by with collection vessels just in case. The cap was removed as a prelude to raising the massive piece of equipment underneath that failed to prevent the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The government wants to replace the failed blowout preventer first to deal with any ...
Vultures rebound in Cambodia; only Asian country with rising populationMongabay: The number of threatened vultures in Cambodia is on the rise according to a new survey by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other members of the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project. The annual census found 296 birds among the country's three vulture species: the white-rumped, red-headed, and slender billed. The population of the latter two species were flat since the 2009 tally, but the white-rumped vulture population rose. All three vulture species are listed as "Critically ...
Chinese traders fear new import restrictions on illegal timberMongabay: The China Timber and Wood Products Circulation Association (CTWPCA) is seeking to establish a body to help importers navigate new environmental regulations in the United States and Europe that restrict trade in illegally logged timber, reports the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). In its August 16-31 Tropical Timber Market Report, ITTO reports that Chinese importers fear failing to meet new U.S. and E.U. regulations governing the sourcing of timber products. The Lacey ...
EPA to issue more rules in climate fightReuters: The Environmental Protection Agency will roll out more regulations on greenhouse gases and other pollution to help fight climate change, but they will not be as strong as action by Congress, a senior administration official said. The agency "has a huge role to play in continuing the work to move from where we are now to lower carbon emissions," said the official, who did not want to be named as the EPA policies are still being formed. President Barack Obama, looking to play a ...
Environmental Forensics for BP Gulf SpillInter Press Service: Stealthy submarine gliders slide through the depths of the Gulf of Mexico with the precision of birds of prey. Robot-like rovers search for droplets of oil thousands of metres under the surface. Powerful computerised analysers send instant results to scientists on board the ship above. All of this to assess the impact of disaster. The specialised equipment, ordinarily used to measure the number of plankton suspended in ocean water, or to search for hydrothermal vents on the ocean ...
Mass Extinction Threat: Earth on Verge of Huge Reset Button?Live Science: Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems. Some scientists have speculated that effects of humans - from hunting to climate change - are fueling another great mass extinction. ...
VeraSun asking corn farmers for repaymentAP: Midwest farmers who sold corn to bankrupt ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. have been receiving official letters asking for most of that money back. Although the request carries legal precedent, trade association groups say growers have a defense and should consult an attorney before sending any money. They do have to respond though -- and promptly, the groups advise. Shannon Hannappel, who farms 1,400 acres near Clarks, Neb., said Thursday she thought she was done dealing ...
Oil spill seen in Gulf platform explosionReuters: An oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on Thursday, setting off a blaze and a small oil spill, but the accident does not appear to be as serious as BP's deadly rig explosion and oil spill in April. The U.S. Coast Guard said an oil sheen of 100 feet by 1 nautical mile has been reported at the site. All 13 crew members on the burning platform were evacuated to another offshore platform, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The fire has been contained but is not yet ...
|
SearchRandom image Upcoming events
 Popular contentRandom Quote"The fact is that the last time we had high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 100 million years ago and the Sun was a little bit cooler at that time. Now if we push it up...this is not something that most climatologists will talk about but I think that there is a small chance, maybe a 1% chance, that if we really hit the planet too hard we may push it into a runaway system in which the temperature simply goes up and up until the oceans boil into the atmosphere, and that would extinguish all life on Earth." |
