RSS Feed
Author Archive
US Honeybee Population Plummets by More Than 40%, USDA Finds
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 14th, 2015
EcoWatch: To the horror of beekeepers around the country, it appears that the worrisome decline in honeybees is getting even worse. According to the latest annual government study, U.S. beekeepers reported losing 42.1 percent of the total number of colonies managed from April 2014 through April 2015, much higher than the 34.2 percent from the year prior. The study was conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership in collaboration with the Apiary Inspectors of America and the United States Department of Agriculture...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on US Honeybee Population Plummets by More Than 40%, USDA FindsMega-Dam Projects Will Force Tens Thousands of People From Their Land
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 12th, 2015
EcoWatch: On a 20-minute walk through the rainforest of Borneo, you will encounter more tree species than exist on the entire North American continent. The distinctive biodiversity of the area attracts tourists and researchers from all over the world, in spite of the intense destruction of the rainforest from logging and palm oil plantations in the past few decades. Now, there’s a new threat to the people and the wildlife of Borneo: mega-dams. In the Malaysian state of Sarawak in the north of the island, mega-hydro...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mega-Dam Projects Will Force Tens Thousands of People From Their LandBottled Water Companies vs. California’s Epic Drought
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 11th, 2015
EcoWatch: As the drought in California rolls into its fourth year, causing mandatory water cutbacks by cities and private citizens and concern about the state’s enormous agricultural sector, bottled water plants in the state are attracting increasing attention attention and controversy. Bottled water accounts for a tiny fraction of the water consumed in the state but it’s become something of a symbol of who gets access to water for profit and who is being forced to cut back.
Last week, Starbucks announced...
Gay Marriage to Blame for California Epic Drought, Bill Koenig Claims
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 8th, 2015
EcoWatch: Last week the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Obergefell vs. Hodges. The decision in that case, expected in June, could legalize marriage equality across the country in the dozen states that have not done so on their own.
But as that possibility inches closer, opponents have become more desperate and outlandish. Blaming gay marriage for everything wrong in the country seems to be their go-to explanation, even when things are wildly disconnected—such as climate change. When they’re...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Gay Marriage to Blame for California Epic Drought, Bill Koenig ClaimsFracking Chemicals Found in Drinking Water, New Study Says
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 5th, 2015
EcoWatch: If you ask communities on the frontline of the fracking industry in the U.S. what their greatest concern is about the controversial technology, often the reply is the threat to their drinking water.
The fracking industry replies in the way it always does to these concerns: it downplays the risks with an arrogance that verges on indifference.
The standard reply from the industry is that fracking cannot contaminate water as the fracking rocks are normally thousands of feet below drinking aquifers...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fracking Chemicals Found in Drinking Water, New Study SaysEpic Drought Brings Fear Worst Wildfire Season Yet
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 4th, 2015
EcoWatch: The firefighters are primed, hoses at the ready. May and June are often the peak months for forest fires in the southwest of the U.S., and the outlook for this year is grim.
“I wish I could have some hope,” says Dr Wally Covington, director of the Ecological Restoration Institute at North Arizona University. “It’s just a terrible situation in southern California.”
Covington, an internationally recognized expert on forest restoration, says a prolonged drought, higher temperatures and stronger...
Michael Brune: BP Oil Disaster Was Not an Accident, It Was a Crime
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on April 20th, 2015
EcoWatch: April 20, 2010 should be, to borrow a phrase from Franklin Roosevelt, “a date that will live in infamy.” Today is the anniversary of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history: the explosion of Deepwater Horizon and subsequent oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. I don’t like to call it a spill, because spills are accidents. What happened that day was not an accident; it was a crime.
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Michael Brune: BP Oil Disaster Was Not an Accident, It Was a CrimeTop 25 Greenest Cities in America
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on April 15th, 2015
EcoWatch: A solid majority, 71 percent of Americans, believe the country “should do whatever it takes to protect the environment,” according to a 2014 poll by the Pew Research Center. This strong public interest in our environment extends to urban living, prompting NerdWallet’s curiosity: Even though we all know that the city we live in influences our transportation and energy choices, how do environmental impacts differ across the U.S.? We explored the data for the nation’s 150 largest cities to shed light...
9 States Report Record Low Snowpack Amid Epic Drought
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on April 14th, 2015
EcoWatch: California gets most of the attention in drought news coverage because so much of the state is in exceptional drought—the highest level—but 72 percent of the Western U.S. is experiencing drought conditions, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor data. When California’s snowpack assessment showed that the state’s snowpack levels were 6 percent of normal—the lowest ever recorded—it spurred Gov. Brown’s administration to order the first-ever mandatory water restrictions. California’s snowpack...
Toxic Weed Killer Glyphosate Found Breast Milk, Infant Formula
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on April 10th, 2015
EcoWatch: The widely-used herbicide glyphosate, now classified as probably carcinogenic to humans by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been found in a number of items, including honey, breast milk and infant formula, according to media reports. “When chemical agriculture blankets millions of acres of genetically engineered corn and soybean fields with hundreds of millions of pounds of glyphosate, it’s not a surprise babies are now consuming Monsanto’s signature chemical with breast milk and infant...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Toxic Weed Killer Glyphosate Found Breast Milk, Infant Formula