News and Articles


Is Hunting Wolves Key to Their Conservation?

Hunters have been credited with being strong conservation advocates for numerous game species in multiple countries. Would initiating a wolf hunt invoke the same advocacy for the carnivores?

$1 Million Settlement Reached for Natural Resource Damages at Superfund Site in Massachusetts

A $1-million settlement has been reached for natural resource damages at the Blackburn & Union Privileges Superfund Site in Walpole, Mass.

Legal Sharks Aim to Protect Real Sharks

The University of Denver (DU) Sturm College of Law Environmental Law Clinic filed a federal lawsuit aiming to protect the porbeagle shark from overfishing that has pushed the species to the brink of extinction and left it in need of federal protection, the students say.

Harnessing Tidal Power While Protecting Marine Life

Below the surface of America’s coastal waters could be the energy needed to power your clothes drier and other appliances.

New NRDC Web Tool Analyzes Climate Change State by State

A new Web tool unveiled by NRDC lets users read how their state might be impacted by climate change.

lettuce

Early Suntan Helps Lettuce Crops Bulk Up

New Zealand’s intense ultraviolet light may be bad for the skin, but it could provide a boost for vegetable production, according to new research by a Massey University crop scientist.

Geologist Experiments With Crowdsourcing to Track Water Levels of Local Streams

Inspired by a California researcher who used crowdsourcing to pinpoint the locations of roadkill, a University at Buffalo geologist is turning to the public for help monitoring a different ecological phenomenon: The water levels of streams in Western New York.

Report: 'Super Green' More Likely to be Wealthy

Many do not equate the environmentally focused activities of composting, recycling and using rechargeable batteries as primary activities of the high-income American jet set. But, according to a new report from Scarborough Research, the "Super Green" – those consumers who engage in the highest amount of environmentally-friendly activities as measured by Scarborough – are top earners with a taste for luxury.

New Research Sheds Light on South Pole Dinosaurs

Dog-sized dinosaurs that lived near the South Pole, sometimes in the dark for months at a time, had bone tissue very similar to dinosaurs that lived everywhere on the planet, according to a doctoral candidate at Montana State University (MSU).

EPA, USDA Create a Partnership to Improve Drinking Water Systems

The EPA and the USDA announced a national partnership to protect Americans’ health by improving rural drinking water and wastewater systems.

Research Evaluates Emissions-Reduction Scenario

New computer modeling work shows that by 2100, if society wants to limit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to less than 40 percent higher than it is today, the lowest cost option is to use every available means of reducing emissions.

Study Finds Artificial Reefs are Friendly to Fish, Economy and Public

The reefs, which provide habitat for popular sport fish and other marine life, pulled more than $253 million into the region during one year, the study found. Though it costs nothing more than a saltwater fishing license to use the submerged structures as a fishing spot, anglers spend money on food, lodging, fuel, tackle and other necessities.

Anthropogenic Nitrogen Plays a Double Role in Climate Change

According to a new paper by researchers around the team of Sönke Zaehl from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, nitrogen's detrimental effects on the climate roughly correspond to its climactic benefits. In fact, the scientists' findings suggest that the negative impacts of nitrogen may even slighty prevail.

Researchers Discover Large Variations in Arctic Sea Ice

For the last 10,000 years, summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has been far from constant. For several thousand years, there was much less sea ice in The Arctic Ocean – probably less than half of current amounts. This is indicated by new findings by the Danish National Research Foundation for Geogenetics at the University of Copenhagen.

Food Transportation Moves Carbon from Farms to Markets

New research published in the journal Biogeosciences provides a detailed account of how carbon naturally flows into and out of crops themselves as they grow, are harvested and are then eaten far from where they're grown. The paper shows how regions that depend on others to grow their food end up releasing the carbon that comes with those crops into the atmosphere.

CO2-Caused Ocean Acidification Will Reduce Mollusk Harvests

Changes in ocean chemistry due to increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are expected to damage shellfish populations around the world, but some nations will feel the impacts much sooner and more intensely than others, according to a study by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, USA).

Better Desalination Technology Key to Solving World Water Shortage

Over one-third of the world's population already lives in areas struggling to keep up with the demand for fresh water.

Fishing Company Spawns Sustainable Natural Bluefin Tuna

Ensuring that a population of fish is breeding naturally within their holding pens is a sustainable fish farming goal.

St. Louis Sewer District to Pay 4.7 Billion to Cut Sewer Overflows

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District has agreed to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems and treatment plants to eliminate illegal overflows of untreated raw sewage and to reduce pollution levels in urban rivers and streams.

Crop Breeding Could Reduce CO2 Levels

Writing in the journal Annals of Botany, Professor Douglas Kell argues that developing crops that produce roots more deeply in the ground could harvest more carbon from the air, and make crops more drought resistant, while dramatically reducing carbon levels.