Uncategorized

Greens sue to speed up protections for giant earthworm

Greens plan to sue the federal government in hopes of speeding up endangered-species protections for the Palouse earthworm, the largest and longest-lived earthworm in North America. It can grow up […]

Certification-driven deforestation

Sustainable certification programs in third world nations are not what you would call foolproof. For every product that actually comes from a sustainable operation, you have those that don't but claim they did, and separating the wheat from the chaff is not usually possible -- a few bribes, some forged paperwork and everything looks golden. You might think you got a certified product, but you wouldn't want to bet your first-born on it. Everyone pretends, or at least assumes, these schemes work so they can continue to buy the lumber. In this sense, the certification process may be unintentionally increasing deforestation. Just another of those unintended consequences that often pop up as we pave roads with good intentions.

Penguins in peril, Navy allowed to test underwater sonar, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Whale Meets Its Makah Play It Again, Uncle Sam Put Some More Lead on the Barbie Ursine of the Times […]

A round-up of top ocean stories

Read an article you'd like to see featured here? Send it to wavemaker@oceana.org.

A Manhattan-sized iceberg that had broken off a Canadian island came to a rest in a dead-end Arctic Ocean channel, much to the relief of cargo ships and oil rigs, which may have been threatened by the two-billion-ton berg.

A family out sailing in Massachusetts spied a mola mola, a bony sunfish shaped like a mix between a shark and a pancake. Usually found in warmer waters, the mola sometimes migrates north of the tropics.

A group of scientists announced a plan to wire the Pacific floor so that land-bound researchers can remotely view and study the sea floor. "This is a NASA-scale mission to enter the Inner Space," said one.

Leaked documents suggested the Canadian government is set to announce fast-tracked economic initiatives in the Arctic later this fall.

Dow Chemical evades legal responsibility for chemical spill in India

In 1984, thousands of people in Bhopal, India, were killed by the effects of a cyanide leak from a U.S.-owned pesticide plant. The plant owner, Union Carbide Corp., was bought […]

Gray whale killed by Makah tribe members in surprise hunt

Photo: bbum A gray whale was harpooned off the coast of Washington state this weekend in a surprise hunt by members of the Makah tribe. The tribe does have hard-won […]

U.S. study says two-thirds of polar bears will be gone by 2050

The U.S. Geological Survey released a grim study of polar bears on Friday, concluding that two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will be gone by 2050. Polar bears in Alaska […]

Greenland ice melting faster than predicted

Guess it ends with a bang after all: The Greenland ice cap is melting so quickly that it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size […]

Friday music blogging: The Apples in Stereo

I’ve found a theme song for Grist! The Apples in Stereo are 15-year veterans of the Elephant Six collective down in Georgia — chipper lo-fi psych pop stuff. This is […]

Harassment reports against fishing observers double

In just one year, attacks have doubled on government observers contracted to collect catch and bycatch information from commercial fishing fleets.

Observers are the only independent source of data we have for tracking catches, monitoring quotas and recording harmful activity. They're contracted under NOAA, an agency within the Department of Commerce that conducts environmental research.

But the agency has ceased collecting data on reports of harassment or interference, supposedly because it lacks resources to investigate these matters.

Without observers, we truly have no way of knowing whether laws implemented to protect sea life and habitat are followed. So we've got observers in place to protect marine life, but who's protecting the observers?