Environment

Wolves: Their Own Worst Enemy?

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Wolves may be in the crosshairs as the Alaska Board of Game debates predator control measures statewide — but a new report finds that the controversial carnivores may be their own worst enemy. A wolf cull is, for some, “a good thing,” notes the Anchorage Daily News; “for others, it is very bad.” Alaska’s aerial predator-control program, not to mention hunting and trapping by licensed citizens, claim about 1,250 wolves annually, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. However, studies by wildlife biologists in Denali National Park show that “at least” 60 percent of dead wolves are killed, and sometimes cannibalized, by other wolves from rival packs. The National Park Service monitors the area’s 18 wolf packs with the help of radio collars placed on the alpha male and female pairs of each pack — the animals most likely to be killed in a territorial battle.

Environment

Health Fears for Navy Dolphins, Sea Lions

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The United States Navy plans to use dolphins and sea lions — which can detect underwater saboteurs at night — to protect submarines at a base near Seattle. The Los Angeles Times reports that animal activists are concerned that the Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins, which are unused to such cold water, will suffer in the Puget Sound. Dolphin biologist Toni Frohoff told the newspaper that some of the Atlantic dolphins were captured in the Caribbean and that “they don’t have the physiology to adapt” to 45-55 degree water. At one of two public hearings in Seattle, the Navy offered to heat the dolphins’ holding pens, but critics said the temperature fluctuations might compromise their health in the long run. The Navy has a total 78 dolphins, 27 sea lions and one beluga, all of which are highly trained and can physically help capture trespassers.

Environment

Salmon Imports May Bring Banned Chemicals

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The Pew Environment Group recently obtained documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showing that Chilean salmon farmers are using chemicals and medications banned by regulators in the United States and Europe. Chile is America’s biggest suppliers of salmon and the second largest exporter of salmon in the world, reports PR Newswire. The farms — including Chile’s two largest salmon producers — are using the antibiotics flumequine and oxolinic acid, plus emamectin benzoate, a pesticide, to treat salmon destined for foreign markets. People who eat fish treated with antibiotics may develop resistance to the drug, making them vulnerable to certain types of bacterial infection, according to the report. Emamectin, the pesticide, is known to be “very toxic to aquatic organisms” and harmful to the environment.

Environment

Lebanon: Water Shortage May Renew Feud

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In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, known for its fertile cropland, an old feud between two clans that draw from the same water source is heating up, according to a United Nations report. Violence between two clans in 1951 saw the Tawk, a prominent Christian family, resettle closer to Oyoun Orghosh springs, where they developed orchards, restaurants and aquaculture that their rivals, the Shiite Amhaz, say violate water rights dating back to the Ottoman Empire. Eleven people were killed in the conflict before the Hizbollah organization established an employment program for the Amhaz in 1991. Now, population growth, outdated infrastructure and increasing temperatures are putting renewed pressures on the springs, leading the government to predict an 80 percent increase in demand for water in the next fifteen years. All this threatens to stability of a region where agriculture employs almost half the workforce.

Environment

Boy Scouts Logging Raises Questions

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The Boy Scouts of America, known for its dedication to conservation, faces scrutiny for the logging and commercial sales of land often donated for recreational purposes. A Hearst Newspapers investigation found that dozens of Boy Scout councils nationwide repeatedly logged in or near protected wildlife habitat, allegedly disregarding conservation and planning policies. At 99 years old and boasting 2.8 million members, the Boy Scouts is one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit organizations. However, membership has fallen by 600,000 in a decade, and the Boy Scouts ban on gays and atheists in the ranks has further diminished funding. Public records indicate that many councils practice sustainable forestry that benefits local habitat — and Scout representatives say that trees are renewable and that logging is often used as a last resort to meet budget needs.

Economy

Is there a Carbon-Credit Bubble?

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Carbon trading, which seeks to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions through market-based incentives, is being threatened by the global economic downturn, the BBC reports. Carbon trading in the European Union and the United States enables governments to set limits on the amount of climate-changing pollution a company can produce. If carbon dioxide emissions exceed that limit, the offending company can buy emission credits from companies that pollute less; thus, credit buyers pay to pollute, while sellers are rewarded for reducing their own emissions. Yet the global recession is reducing industrial productivity, resulting in lower carbon emissions, and so creating a surplus of carbon credits whose market value has plunged. Critics of market-based carbon trading say the whole system is flawed and warn of a “carbon bubble.”

Environment

Wurst for Worse as Germans Ponder Less Meat

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Risking the wrath of its wurst-wolfing citizens, Germany’s government is asking them to eat less meat in an attempt to curb the effects of climate change. The government’s environmental advisor is urging citizens to adopt a more Mediterranean diet and limit meat consumption to once a week or special occasions, reports the Guardian. The Federal Environmental Agency said agriculture accounts for 15 percent of Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions, and meat production is a huge part of that. Agency head Andreas Troge said eating less meat “hardly means sacrificing quality of life,” but the advice may be hard to swallow for most Germans, who eat a great deal more meat than their European neighbors. Vegetarianism is not widely practiced and meatless dishes are “frowned upon” according to a Germany vegetarian association.

Environment

Year's Top Issues: Forests

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The good news, as such things are reckoned, is that a recent U.N. study found a net loss of 7.3 million forest hectares worldwide in 2005, down from 8.9 million hectares in the 1990s. Yet massive, government-led reforestation programs around the world are often met by persistent destruction at the grassroots. Burkina Faso exemplifies the problem, in miniature. A government program there to reforest lands in the sub-Saharan region aims to plant nine million new trees — yet two-thirds of the nation’s forests have been cleared for agriculture, and growing populations are increasing the pressure for more farming. Overgrazing and illegal timber-cutting are also to blame, according to reports.

Environment

Year's Top Issues: Water

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Access to clean water is one of the defining issues of the 21st century, and while the problem is global, much of the action is playing out at the community level. Drought is only deepening in Australia and Ukraine. In China, shortages caused by drought and heavy use are profound — the Yellow River rarely reaches the sea anymore, and the Yangtze dropped to a 140-year low last January, according to reports. Add pollution to the mix, and you have a burgeoning crisis for vulnerable populations in the developing world and beyond. Advocates say market forces will effectively deliver clean water to those most in need; some tout the concept of “virtual water” as a means of facilitating water importing and exporting at the national scale.

Environment

Africa: Power from the Rift

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East Africa’s Rift Valley may be a huge source of geothermal power, and could transform a continent where two billion people have no access to electricity. SciDev.Net of London reports that pilot drilling in Kenya showed that geothermal energy, which is generated from steam from underground water heated by the Earth’s interior, could be a viable and economic source of power for several African countries. Heading up the project is the African Rift Geothermal Development Facility, which said if the technology is implemented properly, various geothermal sites in the region could produce at least 4,000 megawatts of electricity. The Rift Valley spans several countries, including Kenya, Mozambique and Djibouti. If investment plans are successful, the project will expand to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania.