"OTTAWA -- Conservation advocates across Canada are warning today that more environmentally-destructive development will be approved now that the Conservative Harper Government has slashed environmental reviews. In the next 10 years, more than 500 projects representing over C$500 billion in new investments are proposed across Canada."
"SEATTLE -- Polar bears are skating on thin ice in Alaska these days: Warming temperatures have resulted in dramatic shrinkage of sea ice, leaving the bears with fewer ice floes on which to rest and hunt seals. But at least for the moment, the Endangered Species Act won't be used to control the greenhouse gas emissions that conservationists say are contributing to climate change and posing one of the biggest threats to the bears' survival."
The New York Times' Felicity Barringer interviews Sierra Club head Michael Brune about environmental politics, money, and President Obama.
"Cheniere Energy Inc. has cleared a major regulatory hurdle to building a $5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana."
"In a study published last year in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers put five San Francisco families on a three-day diet of food that hadn't been in contact with plastic. When they compared urine samples before and after the diet, the scientists were stunned to see what a difference a few days could make: The participants' levels of bisphenol A (BPA), which is used to harden polycarbonate plastic, plunged — by two-thirds, on average — while those of the phthalate DEHP, which imparts flexibility to plastics, dropped by more than half."
"President Barack Obama pushed Congress Tuesday to give oil market regulators more muscle to deter price manipulation by speculators, the latest White House response to determined Republican attacks on administration energy policies amid high gas prices at the pump."
"President Barack Obama will receive endorsements Wednesday from the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Clean Water Action and Environment America, according to an environmental political operative and a House Democratic source."
Four major environmental groups hold a press teleconference at 9 am EST Wednesday, April 18, to announce their endorsement for the 2012 election. Politico reports that they will endorse President Obama for re-election. This unusually early engagement comes despite some major disappointments for green groups in White House regulatory decisions. This advisory gives complete dial-in details for this press-only event.
Internews' Earth Journalism Network (EJN) and O Eco have developed a Fellowship program to bring journalists to the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held June 20-22, 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Apply by April 25th.
The Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High CO2 World (OHCO2W) takes place September 24-27, 2012 in Monterey, Cal. Scientists, experts, decision-makers, and ocean advocates from around the world will gather to discuss the latest research in ocean acidification. Apply by May 1st for a fellowship to cover travel and accommodation costs.
