Environmental News to USE and VIEWS
Florida is slow to see the need to save water. Many regions in Florida have all but depleted their groundwater supply, yet they have barely begun planning new water sources or enforcing conservation measures. New York Times. and Randian's Diary
Shishmaref puts cry for help on web. Residents of Shishmaref, an Inupiat Eskimo village whose island home is being eaten away by the sea, are turning to the Internet for help in making a multi-million dollar move to the mainland of Northwestern Alaska. Anchorage Daily News
www.shishmarefrelocation.com
'Farmers are reporting nothing but dust'. More than a third of the United States is in the grip of a menacing drought that threatens to make its way into Illinois and other Midwestern states before the summer ends. Chicago Tribune
Trapped in Tiverton by pollution, politics. Imagine living in a place where you can’t plant a flower, dig a garden, sell your house or let your children play outside, where hidden toxins darken the soil and a summer breeze carries the fear of airborne particles infiltrating your lungs. Providence Journal
Our electronic waste is piling up overseas. California's growing efforts to recycle electronic waste are pushing piles of toxin-laden scrap to countries that are supposed to reject some of those exports. San Diego Union-Tribune
School faces testing for autism link. Officials are probing whether environmental factors contributed to a high prevalence of autism and learning disabilities among the children of teachers in a New Jersey school. Bergen County Record
Environmentalists' lawsuit targets water board's 'ag waiver'. Tens of thousands of farms are illegally exempt from laws requiring the monitoring and reporting of toxic water runoff, environmental groups said in a lawsuit filed Monday. Stockton Record
Mediterranean to get five times as many dangerously hot days. Countries around the Mediterranean are set to suffer up to five times as many dangerously hot summer days if greenhouse gas emissions continue their relentless rise, say researchers. New Scientist
Desalination no answer to water crisis. Removing salt from sea water to overcome a worldwide shortage of drinking water could end up worsening the crisis, environmental group WWF warned on Tuesday. Reuters.
America is drunk on ethanol. Farmers in the Midwest are sending billions of bushels of corn to refineries that turn it into billions of gallons of fuel. Dunkirk Observer
Pesticide link probed in bee deaths. Researchers investigating the deaths nationally of billions of honeybees are concentrating on the role of pesticides in the mysterious loss of the pollinating insects. Palm Beach Post
Researchers worried about limp Korean sperm. Although there is no problem with their sperm count, over the past five years Korean men have produced significantly small numbers of healthy, actively mobile sperm cells. Experts blame the phenomenon on environmental hormones that affect the reproductive system. Seoul Chosun Ilbo
Agent Orange appeal in US court. A US court has been hearing an appeal by Vietnamese plaintiffs about the use of Agent Orange by American forces during the Vietnam War. BBC
Germans cause stink by refusing to take our toxic waste. A plan to export and destroy highly toxic waste from Sydney collapsed yesterday when German politicians barred its shipment, prompting one of Australia's largest companies to threaten legal action in Europe. Sydney Morning Herald
Water: the story from the source. Despite the drought and declining dam levels, Sydney resident still expect water to flow every time they turn on their taps. And they expect it to be clean and safe. Sydney Morning Herald
EPA 'twiddling thumbs' on solvent. The federal government has failed for six years to implement updated standards on TCE, an industrial solvent that has contaminated water in the aquifer under Long Island, Sen. Charles Schumer said Monday. New York Newsday
Floating algae mess takes the bloom off nice beach weekend. An algae, known as cladophora, has become increasing problematic around the Great Lakes, particularly along Lake Michigan's rocky shorelines in northern Michigan and in Wisconsin and in Lake Ontario. Muskegon Chronicle
Listen to the frogs. Because a frog's skin is so porous, they can be used to monitor toxins in water supplies. Chicago Daily Herald
Will drilling pollution reach Vail? The oil and gas rigs might be an hour or two away from Vail, but distance doesn’t mean much to pollution. Vail Daily
Ozone doesn't cooperate with Doyle's EPA request. The air quality alert was issued for Wednesday and Thursday as hot, sticky weather settled over much of the state and ozone levels rose. Racine Journal Times
The real 'China threat' is pollution. China's economy is growing at a rate the world has never seen before. While such an exploding economy is admired by many economists and envied by the entire developing world, the danger of such economic growth has also become increasingly clear. Coshocton Tribune