ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS // Current

Army Blocks Soldier From Taking Puppy From Iraq

PLEASE SIGN! 'CLEMENCY-FOR-RATCHET' http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/clemency-for-ratchet?page=1 10/22/08 UPDATE:... more

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Hungry bears surround Russian villages

Dozens of brown bears searching for food have forced two villages in a mountainous region of southern Russia to impose a curfew,... more

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How To Eat A Kangaroo

The question of how to eat an environmentally-conscious meal has a number of answers. For example, in Australia, researchers have... more

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Wildlife Group Expands Reach of Anti-Palin Wolf Ad

The program began under her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, and continues with her support. Private citizens are permitted to... more

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Who sanctioned the rape of a sanctuary?

On-the-spot report from Kumudini Hettiarachchi in Uda Walawe, Pix by M.A.Pushpa Kumara Absolute stillness, the stillness of the... more

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Breaking news: House energy bill passes 236-189

The House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday lifting a longstanding congressional moratorium on offshore drilling. ... more

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Polar bears 'could become extinct' because of melting ice

Polar bears and other rare species are in danger of dying out, scientists fear, as latest figures show the Artic sea ice is at... more

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Four Manatees Killed by Boat Propeller

Four endangered manatees have washed up dead within a few miles of the downtown Savannah riverfront in the past week, leading... more

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Endangered Mountain Gorillas Featured on Morris Animal Foundation

Endangered Mountain Gorillas Featured on Morris Animal Foundation Web Exclusive, MAF Responded to Dian Fossey's Request for Veterinary Care--

DENVER, Sept 15, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) has posted a Web exclusive, http://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/gorilla/index.html, featuring an up close and personal visit with the magnificent, though highly endangered, mountain gorillas of Rwanda. In the exclusive video, MAF visits the site of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP), an innovative gorilla health initiative first established in 1985 when Dian Fossey asked MAF for help in response to a crisis situation for these gorillas. Their very survival was at stake. MAF accepted the daunting challenge and established veterinary care and health resources in the Rwanda jungles. Thousands of loyal MAF donors and friends also stepped up to answer the call for help. The MGVP is a testament to the kindness, generosity and commitment of people to saving a species.
MAF Chief Operating Officer John Taylor takes viewers to the MGVP headquarters and into the mountains where these gorillas live, explains how the project came about and allows the audience to enjoy these inspiring creatures at very close range. In fact, in one segment Taylor explains how one of the gorillas harmlessly reached out and grabbed one of the human members of the group.
In recent years the program was transitioned from MAF to MGVP, Inc., but MAF remains the primary funding source. Today, ecotourism plays a crucial role in the gorillas' survival and protection, inasmuch as they represent an important economic asset to the nation's economy. Information on how to visit the gorillas is provided as well as some good tips on making the trip.
About Morris Animal Foundation:
Morris Animal Foundation, established in 1948, is dedicated to funding animal health research that protects, treats and cures companion animals and wildlife. MAF has been at the forefront of funding breakthrough research studies benefiting animals in some 100 countries, spanning all seven continents. MAF has its headquarters in Denver. The Foundation has funded more than 1,500 humane animal health studies. Charity Navigator ranks MAF as a four-star charity, the highest rating.
For more information, call 800.243.2345, or visit http://www.MorrisAnimalFoundation.org.
SOURCE Morris Animal Foundation
http://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org
Endangered Mountain Gorillas Featured on Morris Animal Foundation Web Exclusive, MAF Responded to Dian Fossey's Request for... more

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3 months ago

Independents at Last : Alaska Chinook

How do Alaskans feel about Palin? This blog gives you a good idea... This BLOG Sponsored by: ~ Writings From Alaska ~ The... more

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3 months ago

Coca-Cola continues unethical and dishonest practices in India

Unethical and Dishonest Practices in India: Company Must Follow Recommendations of Company Funded Study: Shut Down Kala Dera... more

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25 responses

3 months ago

Business, oil groups sue over federal protection for polar bears in Alaska |

CHICAGO — The American Petroleum Institute and four other business groups filed suit last week against Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall, joining Alaska Gov. SARAH PALIN'S administration in trying to reverse the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species.

On Aug. 4, Alaska sued to oppose the polar bear’s listing, arguing that the animal’s populations as a whole are stable and that melting sea ice does not pose an imminent threat to their survival.

The suit says polar bears have survived past warming periods. The federal government has 60 days from the filing date to respond.

One of the plaintiffs in Thursday’s lawsuit, the National Association of Manufacturers, lauded the choice of PALIN as the Republican vice presidential nominee for reasons including her ADVOCACY of Alaskan oil and gas exploration, which many fear could be affected by the bear’s protected status.

The manufacturers association and the petroleum institute were joined in the lawsuit by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Mining Association, and the American Iron and Steel Institute.

They object to what they call the "Alaska gap" in relation to the special rule the federal government issued in May in conjunction with the polar bear’s protected status.

The rule, meant to prevent the polar bear’s status from being used as a tool for imposing greenhouse gas limits, exempts projects in all states except Alaska from undergoing review in relation to emissions.

Manufacturers association Vice President Keith McCoy said the group sees the rule as unfairly subjecting Alaskan industry to greenhouse gas controls and opening a back door for regulation nationwide.

"This could significantly curtail oil and gas exploration," especially on Alaska’s North Slope, he said. "It’s discrimination against the state of Alaska. During a time when gas prices are high and we need to look at all options, to issue something that shuts off a viable resource" is ill-advised, he said.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the D.C. Circuit, notes that greenhouse gas emissions worldwide contribute to global warming and says that projects in Alaska should not be subject to special SCRUTINY because of the polar bear’s STATUS.

Kassie Siegel, climate program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, which originally petitioned to list the polar bear as an endangered species in 2005, decried the assertion in the Alaska suit that science does not prove that polar bear populations are declining. The center is also suing the federal government, seeking to change the polar bear’s status from "threatened" to "endangered."

At least four current federal lawsuits challenge aspects of the listing.
CHICAGO — The American Petroleum Institute and four other business groups filed suit last week against Interior Secretary... more

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3 months ago

Take Action for Manatees!

Help Us Obtain Greater Enforcement Of Boat Speed Zones The Issue: Cuts in state and federal funding have resulted in fewer... more

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4 months ago

America's Endangered Species Under Attack

The Bush administration is proposing new rules that would weaken species protections and eliminate independent scientific review of development projects that could threaten species habit.

The changes ("tweaks") that the President Bush and the Bush Administration are proposing would weaken Section 7 of the landmark Endangered Species Act.

For more than three decades, this key provision of the ESA has safeguarded imperiled species from the impacts of potentially harmful federal projects.

Key to the success of this provision has been the requirement for interagency consultation between "action agencies" that build dams or highways, issue oil and gas leases or timber cutting contracts, etc., and the "conservation agencies" that have the primary responsibility for protecting endangered species (the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service).

The conservation agencies have always had the opportunity and responsibility to take a second look at the projects proposed by the action agencies. As a result of taking that independent look, the conservation agencies have often been able to suggest project modifications that avoid harmful impacts to rare species.

The proposed regulatory changes would eliminate the requirement for an independent review by the conservation agencies. The result will almost certainly mean that both harmful impacts on rare wildlife, and opportunities to avoid those impacts, will be overlooked.

Conservation is not the mission of federal action agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Highway Administration, and others. To make sure that their projects (and the projects of many other federal agencies as well) do not cause needless harm to rare species, the existing requirement for independent review by federal conservation agencies should not be abandoned.

Please follow the link for the petition to President Bush. If these regulatory changes are made, it will be as if the Endangered Species Act does not exist... not to mention the horrific impact on the environment.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION!
http://action.edf.org/campaign/esa_action

I will be posting more news release on this issue.The Bush administration is proposing new rules that would weaken species protections and eliminate independent scientific review... more

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4 months ago

IMPACT: Bush to relax protected species rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — Parts of the Endangered Species Act may soon be extinct. The Bush administration wants federal agencies to decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.

New regulations, which don't require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews government scientists have been performing for 35 years, according to a draft first obtained by The Associated Press.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said late Monday the changes were needed to ensure that the Endangered Species Act would not be used as a "back door" to regulate the gases blamed for global warming. In May, the polar bear became the first species declared as threatened because of climate change. Warming temperatures are expected to melt the sea ice the bear depends on for survival.

The draft rules would bar federal agencies from assessing the emissions from projects that contribute to global warming and its effect on species and habitats.

"We need to focus our efforts where they will do the most good," Kempthorne said in a news conference organized quickly after AP reported details of the proposal. "It is important to use our time and resources to protect the most vulnerable species. It is not possible to draw a link between greenhouse gas emissions and distant observations of impacts on species

The Bush administration and Congress have attempted with mixed success to change the law.

In 2003, the administration imposed similar rules that would have allowed agencies to approve new pesticides and projects to reduce wildfire risks without asking the opinion of government scientists about whether threatened or endangered species and habitats might be affected. The pesticide rule was later overturned in court. The Interior Department, along with the Forest Service, is currently being sued over the rule governing wildfire prevention.

But internal reviews by the National Marine Fisheries Service and Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that about half the unilateral evaluations by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management that determined wildfire prevention projects were unlikely to harm protected species were not legally or scientifically valid.

"This is the fox guarding the hen house. The interests of agencies will outweigh species protection interests," said Eric Glitzenstein, the attorney representing environmental groups in the lawsuit over the wildfire prevention regulations. "What they are talking about doing is eviscerating the Endangered Species Act."

Fish and Wildlife Service: http://www.fws.gov/endangered
National Marine Fisheries Service: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/esa/
National Wildlife Federation: http://www.nwf.org/newsWASHINGTON (AP) — Parts of the Endangered Species Act may soon be extinct. The Bush administration wants federal agencies to... more