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American Robin / my photo |
Birds and birding
Science and nature blogging
Environment and biodiversity
- Obama has nominated Sally Jewell, the CEO of REI, as the new Secretary of the Interior. Major environmental groups such as Audubon have praised the appointment. However, she also has experience working for the oil industry. What this pick means in terms of wildlife conservation and environmental policy is so far unclear. The nomination came shortly after former secretary Bruce Babbitt criticized the president's public lands policies.
- If the Keystone XL pipeline fails to win approval, the leader of Canada's Northwest Territories wants to build a pipeline north to a new port on the Arctic. However, such a scheme is likely to be foolhardy.
- Last year was the 10th warmest year on record globally and the hottest year on record in the United States.
- New Jersey's bobcat population appears to be increasing and is starting to spread south of I-80.
- While Chris Christie won credit for his handling of the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, he's since settled into a more familiar pattern, refusing to acknowledge the role of climate change in this and future disasters and not coming up with a plausible funding source for purchasing flood-prone properties.
- The US Fish and Wildlife Service recaptured a Mexican Gray Wolf that it released into the wild just three weeks ago for fear that it might be shot.
- Poachers have killed over 11,000 elephants in Gabon since 2004. While ivory is restricted in some countries, demand for ivory in Asia has increased and fueling the new poaching boom.
- The US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed protecting the wolverine under the Endangered Species Act. The main threat against it is climate change. Its population had previously been reduced to near extinction by trapping, and some wolverines continue to be caught in traps laid by USDA Wildlife Services.
- Plans to clean up oil spills in the Arctic are still too vague.