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The World Environment News is a daily environmental update bringing you all the latest environmental stories, pictures and video from across the globe, courtesy of the Reuters news service. if it’s happening in the world of environment, it’s happening in the World Environment News.
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Latest News (122 stories)
UK Climate Experiment Canceled On Patent Concerns
Date: 17-May-12
Country: UK
Author: Nina Chestney
British scientists have abandoned an experiment to test the possibility of spraying particles into the upper atmosphere to stem global warming, largely due to concerns over a patent for some of the technology, the project's leader said.
Insight: In Ohio, "Fracking" Boom A Delicate Issue For Obama
Date: 17-May-12
Country: USA
Author: John Whitesides
Out past the vacant storefronts and abandoned buildings, beyond the shuttered steel mills and decaying industrial plants, residents of eastern Ohio suddenly are seeing dollar signs.
Extreme Rain Doubled In Midwest: Climate Study
Date: 17-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Deborah Zabarenko
The number of extreme rainstorms - deluges that dump 3 inches or more in a day - doubled in the U.S. Midwest over the last half-century, causing billions of dollars in flood damage in a trend climate advocates link to a rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
South Africa Seizes 10 Rhino Horns In Arrest Of Vietnamese
Date: 17-May-12
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
Author: Jon Herskovitz
South Africa, the country home to the most rhinos in the world, has been losing almost two of the threatened animals a day to poachers who sell the horns in China and Southeast Asia for use by the affluent as a traditional medicine ingredient.
No Ties Or Hand-Driers As South Korea Readies For Hot Spell
Date: 17-May-12
Country: SOUTH KOREA
Author: Meeyoung Cho
South Korean businessmen, typically clad in uniform dark blue suits, are being urged to dump their jackets and ties as the summer looms in a bid to save electricity amid tight supplies as offices turn up the air conditioning.
EU Airline Carbon Cash Should Help Fill Climate Fund
Photo: Darren Staples/Files
Date: 16-May-12
Country: BRUSSELS/LONDON
Author: Barbara Lewis and Nina Chestney
EU nations should pledge that funds from paying for airline emissions will help poor countries deal with global warming, the bloc's climate chief said on Tuesday, after finance ministers stopped short of a firm commitment.
World Living Beyond Its Resources, Summit Off-Track: WWF
Photo: Desmond Boylan
Date: 16-May-12
Country: SWITZERLAND
Author: Tom Miles
Biodiversity has decreased by an average of 28 percent globally since 1970 and the world would have to be 50 percent bigger to have enough land and forests to provide for current levels of consumption and carbon emissions, conservation group WWF said on Tuesday.
Total Starts Injecting Mud To Kill North Sea Gas Leak
Photo: Total E&P/Handout
Date: 16-May-12
Country: UK
Author: Karolin Schaps
France's Total started pumping heavy mud down its leaking well in the North Sea on Tuesday to try to stop an escape of gas that has lasted nearly eight weeks and could deprive Britain of nearly 6 percent of its supply this summer.
EU Says India, China Violate Carbon Law
Date: 16-May-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis
A total of 10 Chinese and Indian commercial airlines have broken EU law requiring them to offset their carbon emissions, while all other international carriers flying to or from Europe have complied, the European Union's climate chief said on Tuesday.
EU ETS Emissions Down In 2011, Permit Glut Grows
Date: 16-May-12
Country: BRUSSELS/LONDON
Author: Barbara Lewis and Nina Chestney Jeff Coelho
Carbon emissions in the European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS) fell by more than 2 percent in 2011 but an oversupply of permits key to driving greener energy use worsened, European Commission data showed on Tuesday.
First Pacific Tropical Storm Of 2012 Forms Southwest Of Mexico
Date: 16-May-12
Author: Sandra Maler
The first tropical storm of the year formed in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico on Monday and was named Aletta, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
Anti-Whale-Hunt Activist Held By German Court
Photo: Paul Darrow/Files
Date: 15-May-12
Country: GERMANY
Author: Elisa Oddone
A marine conservationist renowned for disrupting whale hunts appeared in court in Germany on Monday facing extradition to Costa Rica over charges arising from a confrontation with a ship that was fishing for sharks.
Mexican Wind Energy Boom Plays Out On Gusty Shores
Photo: Jorge Luis Plata
Date: 15-May-12
Country: MEXICO
Author: David Alire Garcia
On an arid plain where sudden gusts of wind can rip roofs off buildings and knock over tractor trailers, Mexico is building a new engine for its energy future.
China "Instant Buildings": Just Add Labor, Fireworks And A Cow
Photo: Broad Group/Handout
Date: 15-May-12
Country: CHINA
Author: Terril Yue Jones
As a crane lowered a steel-and-concrete slab onto support pillars, construction workers swarmed around to bolt it down - a choreography of mad-dash steps against a backdrop of firecrackers, and a sacrificed cow, to herald China's latest "instant building".
Gas-Rich States Lose Fracking Lottery
Photo: Les Stone
Date: 15-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Joan Gralla
While Pennsylvania, northwestern Louisiana and gas-rich areas around the Gulf of Mexico are losing jobs and revenue as the fracking industry shrinks after a price collapse, oil-rich North Dakota and Texas are in the midst of a boom.
BP Resumes Cherry Point, Wash. Refinery Restart: Sources
Date: 15-May-12
Country: HOUSTON
Author: Erwin Seba
BP Plc was resuming the restart of its 225,000 barrel per day (bpd) Cherry Point, Washington, refinery on Monday, according to sources familiar with refinery operations.
Regulation Top Risk Seen By Energy Companies: U.S. Study
Date: 15-May-12
Country: HOUSTON
Author: Erwin Seba
Government regulation is the top risk seen by crude oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, according to a study of annual reports by the top 100 producers done by accounting and consulting firm BDO USA LLP.
Google-Backed Wind Power Line Clears Hurdle
Date: 15-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Timothy Gardner
A planned $5 billion transmission line to send power from wind farms off the East Coast cleared a hurdle, allowing the Google Inc-backed project to move to the next step in the approval process, officials said.
Massive Fault Found Beneath Japan's Mount Fuji
Photo: Toru Hanai
Date: 14-May-12
Country: JAPAN
Author: Kiyoshi Takenaka
Japan's Mount Fuji may be sitting on a large, active fault that could trigger a magnitude-7 earthquake, changing the shape of the mountain and devastating nearby communities, the education ministry said on Thursday.
Eastern Rattlesnake Slithers Closer To U.S. Endangered List
Photo: Dan Childre/Handout
Date: 14-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Verna Gates
The eastern diamondback rattlesnake, North America's largest venomous snake, may need its own antidote.
Analysis: Canada May Seek To Silence Some Foes Of New Pipeline
Photo: Mark Blinch
Date: 14-May-12
Country: CANADA
Author: Jeffrey Jones
Some opponents of the proposed C$5.5 billion ($5.5 billion) Northern Gateway oil pipeline to Canada's Pacific Coast may not get a chance to be heard as scheduled by the regulatory panel looking at the plan because of federal government moves to streamline the country's environmental review process.
Water Safe In Town Made Famous By Fracking: EPA
Date: 14-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Timothy Gardner
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said drinking water is safe to consume in a small Pennsylvania town that has attracted national attention after residents complained about hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas.
Asia Faces Threat To Crops If El Nino Unleashed Again
Photo: Cheryl Ravelo
Date: 11-May-12
Country: SINGAPORE
Author: Naveen Thukral and Lewa Pardomuan
A return of the El Nino weather pattern may threaten food output in Asia, the world's top producer of rice and palm oil, but drier conditions in some areas could also benefit crops such as coffee and cocoa and keep global prices in check.
Why Do El Nino And La Nina trigger Weather Chaos?
Photo: REUTERS
Date: 11-May-12
Author: David Fogarty
From record floods to crippling droughts and wildfires, a natural swing in Pacific Ocean temperatures can trigger climate chaos around the globe.
Chesapeake Delay Contributed To Wyoming Well Blowout
Photo: Steve Sisney
Date: 11-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Edward McAllister and Selam Gebrekidan
Chesapeake Energy's delayed response to warning signs contributed to a natural gas well blowout in Wyoming in April, which led to a leak and the evacuation of dozens of nearby residents, state regulators said on Thursday.
Insight: Canada's Oil Sand Battle With Europe
Photo: Todd Korol
Date: 11-May-12
Country: BRUSSELS/OTTAWA
Author: Barbara Lewis reported from Brussels, David Ljunggren from Ottawa and Jeffrey Jones from Calgary
There's a science to using science.
Scientists Spot Unseen Planet In Kepler Scope Data
Date: 11-May-12
Country: CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida
Author: Irene Klotz
Scientists poring over data collected by NASA's Kepler space telescope have discovered a world outside its field of view, demonstrating a new technique for finding planets beyond the Solar System, scientists reported on Thursday.
Super Weeds No Easy Fix For US Agriculture-Experts
Date: 11-May-12
Country: USA
Author: Carey Gillam
A fast-spreading plague of "super weeds" taking over U.S. farmland will not be stopped easily, and farmers and government officials need to change existing practices if food production is to be protected, industry experts said on Thursday.
Scientists Urge Action On World's Biggest Problems
Date: 11-May-12
Country: UK
Author: Chris Wickham
Scientists from 15 countries are calling for a better political response to the provision of water and energy to meet the challenge of feeding a world of 9 billion people within 30 years.
Argentina Slows Climate Action Amid Energy Supply Crisis
Date: 11-May-12
Country: BRAZIL
Author: Marcelo Teixeira
While its Latin American neighbors move forward with national climate laws, Argentina is backsliding on actions to tackle its greenhouse gas emissions as the country struggles to meet energy demand from a fast-growing middle class.