SAN FRANCISCO—(ENEWSPF)–December 12, 2014.  A new study says the world’s ocean is awash in 5 trillion pieces of plastic — from tiny beads and toys to shopping bags and bottles — weighing more than 250,000 tons. One of the researchers said it’s the equivalent of two-liter plastic bottles stacked end-to-end[Read More…]

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) samples food prepared on fuel-efficient cook stoves at the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru. Photo: UNFCCC Lima, Peru–(ENEWSPF)–11 December 2014 – The more action that is taken today on climate change, the more likely countries will push for stronger agreements tomorrow, United Nations Secretary-General[Read More…]

Lima, Peru–(ENEWSPF)–December 11, 2014. SECRETARY KERRY: Todd, thank you very, very much. Thank you all for being here. Thank you very much, and it’s a privilege for me to be able to share a few words here on what is, by necessity, a quick trip, and I apologize for that,[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 11, 2014.  NOAA and partners yesterday released three-dimensional sonar maps and images of an immigrant steamship lost more than 100 years ago in what many consider the worst maritime disaster in San Francisco history. On Feb. 22, 1901, in a dense morning fog, the SS City of Rio[Read More…]

Representatives Pocan and Schakowsky Take the Strongest Federal Action to Date Against Fracking in the U.S. Washington, D.C. –(ENEWSPF)—December 11, 2014. Yesterday, U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) introduced a bill to ban fracking for oil and gas on federally owned, public lands with Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09). This is the strongest[Read More…]

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 11, 2014. A new study out of the University of California, Berkeley, compares organic and conventional crop yields and finds that overall yield gaps are much smaller than earlier studies concluded and even smaller when compared crop-by-crop. The study, published in the Royal Society Proceedings B journal, Diversification practices[Read More…]

WASHINGTON—(ENEWSPF)–December 11, 2014.  The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice of intent today to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect Tinian monarchs under the Endangered Species Act. These highly imperiled flycatchers are found only on the 39-square-mile island of Tinian in the western[Read More…]

Development Would Destroy Beetle’s Only Known Habitat ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—(ENEWSPF)–December 11, 2014.  The Center for Biological Diversity today filed emergency petitions to protect an extremely rare, beautiful beetle, found only in the pine rocklands of South Florida, as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act and as a protected species[Read More…]

“For the Clean Power Plan to be a success, it must achieve the level of emissions reductions that the science calls for to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change.” WASHINGTON –-(ENEWSPF)–December 9, 2014.  Today, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) led eleven Senators in calling[Read More…]

Natural cycles, sea surface temperatures found to be main drivers in ongoing event Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 9, 2014.  According to a new NOAA-sponsored study, natural oceanic and atmospheric patterns are the primary drivers behind California’s ongoing drought. A high pressure ridge off the West Coast (typical of historic droughts) prevailed for[Read More…]