"Drifting Toward Disaster: Breaking the Brazos"
"Few rivers can claim as strong a connection to Texas’ natural and cultural history—and its very identity—as the Brazos."
Things related to the web of life; ecology; wildlife; endangered species
"Few rivers can claim as strong a connection to Texas’ natural and cultural history—and its very identity—as the Brazos."
"Armed government officials with Brazil’s justice, Indigenous and environment ministries pressed illegal gold miners out of Yanomami Indigenous territory Wednesday, citing widespread river contamination, famine and disease they have brought to one of the most isolated groups in the world."
"The Biden administration called for regulatory changes Wednesday to encourage voluntary conservation projects on private land, partly by shielding owners from punishment if their actions kill or harm small numbers of imperiled species."
"When the Mamalilikulla First Nation unilaterally declared an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area in their traditional territory in late 2021, it was as much to protect rare corals and sponges as reestablish connection to lands and waters from which the community had been forcefully removed. Now Canada is backing the nation, adding marine protections under federal law".
"The vast genetic diversity of corals means there are some that may survive warming waters. Now scientists just need to find them."
"Cabbage moths, corn borers and other plant-eating insects crucial to ecosystems have declined dramatically in East Asia over the past two decades — along with dragonflies and other predator insects that eat them, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances."
In our annual analysis of what’s ahead on the environment beat in 2023, there are some things to count on: worsening climate disasters and continued politicking over energy transitions, but also regulatory action on greenhouse gas emissions (not to mention on “forever chemicals”). Other things are less clear: environmental rulings by a conservative U.S. Supreme Court, energy impacts of war in Europe and the effectiveness of COP28 and treaty talks on plastic pollution. Read the full overview and get more in our “2023 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment” special report.
"Once they dominated much of the landscape but after centuries of deforestation their dwindling remains – just two per cent of the original – are now believed to be facing an existential threat from a combination of factors, including climate change, the planting of non-native species, and artificially high numbers of deer."
"The dodo bird isn’t coming back anytime soon. Nor is the woolly mammoth. But a company working on technologies to bring back extinct species has attracted more investors, while other scientists are skeptical such feats are possible or a good idea."