Green Options

The most recent NOAA Fisheries Service’s population survey reveals a decline in Cook Inlet beluga whale numbers.

Alaska’s small population of critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales is continuing to decline even further, according to the new survey by NOAA scientists.

Endangered species protections have been reinstated for the gray wolf in the western Great Lakes region.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that Endangered Species Act protections are reinstated for the gray wolf in the western Great Lakes region.

However, the status may only be temporary.

Finally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing the status of the Pacific walrus to determine whether or not the marine mammal will receive Endangered Species Act protections.

The Center for Biological Diversity stated that the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) is facing a double threat to its ice habitat: Global warming and increased oil development.

A petition seeking protection for the Pacific walrus was submitted by the Center back in February 2008. After the USFWS failed to respond to the petition, the Center filed a lawsuit - prompting the USFWS to take action.

Millions of nuts, bolts, pieces of metal and carbon, and whole spacecraft from thousands of missions and launches form an orbiting garbage dump spinning around the Earth at speeds up to 22,000 mph.

After the recent collision between a Russian and U.S. satellite, concern for the growing hazard of space junk is becoming even more acute within the international space community. In recent months, NASA and the European Space Agency have both diverted resources into monitoring space debris and researching ways of mitigating and—some day—removing it.

Though President Bush remains in office for only two more weeks, he has left a final trail of devastation to cement his legacy in place. From gutting the endangered species act to allowing toxic waste to flow freely, Bush is pushing 11^th hour executive orders at a potentially record setting pace.

His list of last minute domestic atrocities is not limited to the environment, but many of his most egregious final offenses are those that spoil sensitive habitat and natural resources. This list is merely a sample of Bush’s midnight regulations, along with what is being done to stop him. Here are George Bush’s top five most disgraceful efforts to ruin our environment once more.

5) Actual pine woods to be replaced with a suburb named “Pine Woods”. Plum Creek Timber, the nation’s largest private landowner, has crafted a back door deal with the Bush administration to allow them to pave over logging roads and develop the previously inaccessible land. Local forest agencies are furious about the back door deal, which is being finalized this week. It might not be too late to stop it, so call 1-800-832-1355 and tell Forest Service director (and former timber industry lobbyist) to stop opening up our forests for development.

Lasers: They’re more than just fun toys. The European Space Agency (ESA) recently demonstrated how lasers can accurately measure atmospheric CO2 levels. The A-SCOPE (Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth) space mission is one of six being considered by the agency.

Endangered US animal and plant species are in danger of losing vital legal protection designed to prevent them from extinction.

The beluga whales of Alaska’s Cook Inlet have been listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Government. The ruling contradicts Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s administration who has questioned the science showing a decline in the distinctive white species.

Sarah Palin says the causes don’t matter. The Bush Administration admits they do, but says that since there’s no single source of greenhouse gases, wildlife agencies should ignore global warming.

On Monday, the Bush administration proposed a policy that threatens to weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to the point of extinction. This comes as no surprise. Like the war in Iraq, removing the fetters of environmental protection has been an administrational goal since 2001. Unlike the war in Iraq, this time Bush and his cronies could very well succeed.

It has only been a fortnight or so since the polar bear was finally listed as an endangered species under the US Endangered Species Act, and already conservationists have supplied some more names for the ESA; ringed, bearded and spotted seals.

The Center for Biological Conservation was the group who filed a petition on February 17, 2005, asking that the polar bear be listed under the ESA. They have followed the landmark decision approving this petition by adding the three seals for consideration as species under threat. The “landmark” aspect of these decisions is that the polar bear was the first animal to be recognized as threatened as a direct result of climate change.

“While the polar bear may be the first Arctic species listed under the Endangered Species Act due to global warming, it will, unfortunately, not be the last,” says Shaye Wolf, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.