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Staying connected in the wilderness (06/17/2013)
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How technology is helping save rainforests (05/23/2013)
Sweat equity: How to bootstrap your startup (05/05/2013)
Social media beating Google as a source of web site traffic (05/03/2013)
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Launching an environmental news site overseas (04/24/2013)

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RECENT NEWS

Featured video: Rare Syrian Brown Bear caught on camera
(06/19/2013) New camera-trap footage from the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge in Armenia, has captured rare footage of a Syrian Brown Bear (Ursus arctos syriacus), a subspecies of Brown Bear native to Eurasia. This is an important recording as there may be just one or two bears in this reserve and are listed as vulnerable in Armenia. The exact population of this subspecies is unknown and likely to be declining due to poaching, habitat destruction and diminishing sources of food in the wild.

Conserving top predators results in less CO2 in the air
(06/19/2013) What does a wolf in Yellowstone National Park have in common with an ambush spider on a meadow in Connecticut? Both are predators and thus eat herbivores, such as elk (in the case of wolves) and grasshoppers (in the case of spiders). Elk and grasshoppers also have more in common than you probably imagine: they both consume large quantities of plant matter. While scientists have long-known that predators lead to carbon storage by reducing herbivore populations, a new study reveals a novel way in which top predators cause an ecosystem to store more carbon.

Seabirds face big problems as sea levels rise
(06/19/2013) Migratory shorebird populations are at great risk from rising sea levels due to global climate change, warns a recent paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. These birds play an important role in the distribution of nutrients within wetland and coastal ecosystems, and their loss could have unknown consequences for the rest of the world.

Warming world hits fig wasps and figs
(06/19/2013) Recent experiments concerning hugely-important fig plants (Ficus) and their relationship with small, short-lived fig wasps suggest dire potential consequences due to human induced climate change, finds a study published in the journal Biology Letters. The researchers collected four species of adult female fig wasps from the lowland tropical forests of Singapore to test their tolerance to gradually increased temperatures.

Pesticides decimating dragonflies and other aquatic insects
(06/18/2013) While recent research (and media attention) has focused on the alleged negative impacts of pesticides on bees, the problem may be far broader according to a new study in the Proceedings of the US Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Looking at over 50 streams in Germany, France, and Australia, scientists in Europe and Australia found that pesticide contamination was capable of undercutting invertebrate biodiversity by nearly half.

Should zoos educate the public about climate change?
(06/18/2013) Zoos are usually thought of as entertainment destinations. As a place to take the kids on a nice afternoon, they are sometimes perceived to lack the educational heft of an art museum or a theatre. However, over the past few decades many of the world's best zoos and aquariums have also worked to educate their visitors about conservation issues, in addition to funding and supporting programs in the field to save the ever-growing number of imperiled species. But as threats to the world's species mount—including climate change—many are beginning to ask what, if anything, zoos and aquariums should do to address the global environmental crisis.

EU labels another pesticide as bad for bees
(06/18/2013) A widely used insect nerve agent has been labelled a "high acute risk" to honeybees by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). A similar assessment by the EFSA on three other insecticides preceded the suspension of their use in the European Union.

New York City may mandate composting of food scraps to cut garbage bill
(06/18/2013) The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is preparing to roll out a new composting plan for the city, aimed at diverting some of the 100,000 tons of food scraps that ends up in landfill every year.

UN may downgrade Great Barrier Reef's heritage status due to Australia's inaction on threats
(06/17/2013) The federal government insists it is striving to avoid the Great Barrier Reef being listed 'in danger' ahead of a crunch UN meeting, after rejecting a Senate recommendation to block new port developments near the World Heritage ecosystem.

Singapore chokes on haze from deforestation fires
(06/17/2013) Singapore and Malaysian officials have asked Indonesia to take 'urgent measures' to address forest fires in Sumatra that are sending choking haze northward, reports AFP.

Logging may destabilize carbon in forest soils
(06/14/2013) Logging in temperate zones may release more greenhouse gases than previously thought by destabilizing carbon stored in forest soils, argues a new paper published in the journal Global Change Biology-Bioenergy.

Peru opens deforestation data to the public, shows drop in Amazon forest clearing
(06/13/2013) Peru has made its comprehensive deforestation data available to the public.

Fertility in Africa could push world population over 11 billion
(06/13/2013) The global population could grow by another 4 billion people by the end of the century if fertility rates in Africa don't decline, according to a new report by the United Nations. Currently around 1.1 billion people live on the continent, but that number could skyrocket to 4.2 billion (a 380 percent increase) by 2100, causing global population to hit 11 billion.

Why bioluminescent fungi glow in the dark
(06/13/2013) Aristotle (384–322 BC) reported a mysterious light, distinct from fire, emanating from decaying wood. Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) mentioned feasting on a glowing, sweet fungus found on trees in France and, in the late fifteenth century, a Dutch consul gave accounts of Indonesian peoples using fungal fruits to illuminate forest pathways. Bioluminescent fungi have intrigued generations of observers, and a handful of scientists still carry that torch of curiosity, answering questions about how and why these mushrooms glow.

Why endangered species need conservation champions
(06/13/2013) Without heroic conservationists many of today's most beloved species would be extinct: think of pandas, tigers, and elephants. By single-mindly focused on saving a particular species, these conservation champions bring much-needed research, publicity, and, most importantly, targeted actions to keep an imperiled animal from the brink. Through their own exuberance, these heroes also gather others to their cause. But, many of the world's heroic conservationists are little-known to the broader public. To address this a new book, Wildlife Heroes: 40 Leading Conservationists and the Animals They Are Committed to Saving, strives to introduce the public to some of the world's most devoted conservationists.

Burning coal responsible for over 20,000 deaths a year in Europe
(06/13/2013) Air pollution from Europe's 300 largest coal power stations causes 22,300 premature deaths a year and costs companies and governments billions of pounds in disease treatment and lost working days, says a major study of the health impacts of burning coal to generate electricity. The research, from Stuttgart University's Institute for energy economics and commissioned by Greenpeace International, suggests that a further 2,700 people can be expected to die prematurely each year if a new generation of 50 planned coal plants are built in Europe. "The coal-fired power plants in Europe cause a considerable amount of health impacts," the researchers concluded.

Indonesia denies it has any indigenous peoples
(06/13/2013) Indonesia is home to an estimated 50-70 million indigenous peoples, but the government does not recognize the rights of its indigenous peoples and claims that none live in Indonesia. In a response to the United Nations Periodic Review in 2012, a four–year human rights check-up for all countries, Indonesia said: "The Government of Indonesia supports the promotion and protection of indigenous people worldwide... Indonesia, however, does not recognize the application of the indigenous peoples concept...in the country."

Reward for information on sea turtle conservationist's murder reaches $56,000
(06/13/2013) Conservation organizations and individuals have raised $56,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of turtle egg poachers who murdered Jairo Mora Sandoval, a 26-year-old sea turtle conservationist earlier this month.

Tigers, orangutans, rhinos: Sumatra's big mammals on the edge of extinction
(06/12/2013) Karman Lubis's body was found near where he had been working on a Sumatran rubber plantation. His head was found several days later a mile away and they still haven't found his right hand. He had been mauled by a Sumatran tiger that has been living in Batang Gadis National Park and he was one of five people killed there by tigers in the last five years.

Norwegian Parliament calls for stronger implementation of no-deforestation policy for investments
(06/12/2013) The Norwegian Parliament has called for the country's pension fund to strengthen its commitment to avoid investing in companies linked to rainforest destruction.

Bird extravaganza: scientists discover 15 new species of birds in the Amazon
(06/12/2013) From 2000-2009, scientists described on average seven new bird species worldwide every year. Discovering a new bird is one of the least common of any species group, given that birds are highly visible, mobile, and have been scrutinized for centuries by passionate ornithologists and birders. But descriptions this year already blows away the record year over the last decade (in 2001 when nine new birds were described): scientists working in the southern Amazon have recorded an incredible 15 new species of birds according to the Portuguese publication Capa Aves. In fact, this is the largest group of new birds uncovered in the Brazilian in the Amazon in 140 years.

11,000 barrels of oil spill into the Coca River in the Amazon
(06/12/2013) On May 31st, a landslide ruptured an oil pipeline in Ecuadorean Amazon, sending around 11,000 barrels of oil ( 420,000 gallons) into the Coca River. The oil pollution has since moved into the larger Napo River, which borders Yasuni National Park, and is currently heading downstream into Peru and Brazil. The spill has occurred in a region that is notorious for heavy oil production and decades of contamination, in addition to resistance and lawsuits by indigenous groups.

Featured video: gorgeous golden takin caught on camera trap
(06/12/2013) The takin (Budorcas taxicolor) is a goat-antelope species that lives in the Himalayan Mountains. Takins are social bovines and are often spotted traveling in packs of 15 or more. Packs tend to be composed of female takins as the male takin is largely solitary outside of the summer rutting season. The takin is listed as a Vulnerable species by the IUCN Red List and is considered to be Endangered in China.

Bachmann was right? $2 gas, with a catch
(06/11/2013) One of Republican House member Michele Bachmann's most famous and controversial campaign promises — that Americans would see $2-a-gallon gasoline prices if she were elected president — may have come true without her even winning the nomination. Only not in the way she expected.

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