Salmonella Bacteria Thrives in Untreated Surface Water
ATHENS, Georgia, February 27, 2009 (ENS) – Health agencies investigating salmonella illnesses in Georgia should consider untreated surface water as a possible source of contamination, a new University of Georgia study indicates. Over the course of a year, researchers tested rivers and streams in a region of south Georgia known for its high rate of [...]
Read More »California Faces Water Rationing, Governor Proclaims Drought Emergency
SACRAMENTO, California, February 27, 2009 (ENS) – Parched California is a step closer to mandatory water rationing today as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency and ordered all government agencies to implement the state’s emergency plan and provide help for people, communities and businesses impacted by the third consecutive year of drought. “This [...]
Read More »Midwest States Get $146 Million for Fish, Wildlife Restoration
WASHINGTON, DC, February 27, 2009 (ENS) – Eight Midwestern states will receive more than $146 million to fund fish and wildlife conservation, boater access to public waters, and hunter and aquatic education, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday. Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin will receive a total of more than $78.5 [...]
Read More »Green Jobs Key to Obama Administration’s Middle Class Task Force
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, February 27, 2009 (ENS) – Creating green jobs is the first order of business for the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families. Led by Vice President Joe Biden, the Task Force held its inaugural meeting today in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania. “At a time when good jobs and good [...]
Read More »Obama’s Latest Choice for Commerce a Proven Conservationist
WASHINGTON, DC, February 26, 2009 (ENS) – “Gary knows the American Dream. He’s lived it. And that’s why he shares my commitment to do whatever it takes to keep it alive in our time,” President Barack Obama said Wednesday, announcing former Washington Governor Gary Locke as his choice to lead the Commerce Department. “It is [...]
Read More »German Silicon Maker Chooses Tennessee for New Factory
CLEVELAND, Tennessee, February 26, 2009 (ENS) – Tennessee officials and executives of the world’s second largest producer of hyperpure polycrystalline silicon today announced that the German company will build a $1 billion facility in Tennessee. Polycrystalline silicon is a primary component used in the manufacture of solar panels and semiconductors. Wacker Chemie AG of Munich, [...]
Read More »North Carolina to Study Sea Level Rise for the Nation
RALEIGH, North Carolina, February 26, 2009 (ENS) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency is awarding $5 million to the state of North Carolina for a statewide risk assessment and mitigation strategy demonstration of the potential impacts of sea level rise caused by climate change. Announcing the award on Tuesday, FEMA Regional Administrator Phil May said [...]
Read More »Human Dimension Needed in U.S. Climate Research
WASHINGTON, DC, February 26, 2009 (ENS) – The U.S. government’s Climate Change Science Program should expand its agenda to integrate research in the natural and social sciences that will enable the nation to tackle problems communities actually face, says a new report from the National Research Council. Climate change already is changing people’s lives with [...]
Read More »Contested Case Hearing Granted on South Texas Uranium Permit
AUSTIN, Texas, February 26, 2009 (ENS) – Local officials and citizens from Goliad County got some encouragement Wednesday in their fight against uranium mining over a south Texas aquifer. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality voted to allow a contested case hearing on an application by Uranium Energy Corporation to mine uranium just north of [...]
Read More »Australia’s Unique Birds Slipping Away
CANBERRA, Australia, February 26, 2009 (ENS) – A five-year report card on the state of Australia’s birds by Birds Australia shows many of the continent’s unique native species are in decline due to habitat loss, drought and introduced predators. Environment Minister Peter Garrett launched the report at Parliament House today, saying, “The State of Australia’s [...]
Read More »Icy Global Seed Vault Hosts Global Warming Meeting
LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, February 26, 2009 (ENS) – Four tons of seeds representing hundreds of crop species were delivered today to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault as it celebrated its one-year anniversary. The vault in nothern Norway is intended to serve as a fail-safe backup should the original samples be lost or damaged or to provide [...]
Read More »Congress Considers Reform of U.S. Chemicals Control Law
WASHINGTON, DC, February 26, 2009 (ENS) – The U.S. chemical regulatory system is failing to protect public health and the environment and is in dire need of reform, experts told a House panel Thursday. The legal hurdles of existing law make it virtually impossible for the federal government to limit or ban the use of [...]
Read More »Obama Administration Restarts Oil Shale Leasing in Colorado, Utah
WASHINGTON, DC, February 25, 2009 (ENS) – The Department of the Interior will offer a second round of research, development, and demonstration leases for oil shale in Colorado and Utah and withdraw the previous administration’s proposal for expanded research, development and demonstration leases, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today. “We need to push forward aggressively [...]
Read More »Court Overturns Illegal Bush-era Soot Pollution Standard
WASHINGTON, DC, February 25, 2009 (ENS) – A federal appeals court Tuesday ruled that Bush-era clean air standards were insufficient, sending them back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be rewritten in a way that will better protect public health. The court decided that the Bush EPA had acted illegally in issuing weak air [...]
Read More »Final Words On Spectacle Season One
So, this is the end of the line for Spectacle’s inaugural season. It started with Elton John and wraps up with Smokey Robinson. They’ve had a few hits between them. Elton and Smokey book-ended a veritable who’s who of singers, songwriters and giant personalities (including a President of the United States), thoughtful and passionate all [...]
Read More »International Polar Year Reports Widespread Global Warming
GENEVA, Switzerland, February 25, 2009 (ENS) – New evidence of the far-reaching effects of global warming in the polar regions has emerged from the scientific explorations of International Polar Year 2007-2008. Snow and ice are declining in both polar regions, affecting human livelihoods as well as local plant and animal life in the Arctic, as [...]
Read More »Obama To Congress: Economic Recovery ‘Begins’ With Clean Energy
WASHINGTON, DC, February 25, 2009 (ENS) – In his first address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, President Barack Obama earned repeated standing ovations from both Democrats and Republicans. He focused on three issues – clean energy, health care and education – and an overarching fourth issue – economic recovery. “The fact is, [...]
Read More »U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Weak Bush-era Mercury Rule
WASHINGTON, DC, February 24, 2009 (ENS) – The U.S. Supreme Court Monday declined to consider a Bush-era rule that would have allowed a cap-and-trade approach to mercury, a toxic heavy metal emitted by power plants that burn coal and oil. Power plants are the largest source of mercury in the nation. The Supreme Court’s decision [...]
Read More »Poll: Saving Money Motivates Iowans to Save Energy
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa, February 24, 2009 (ENS) Although Iowans are concerned about the environment and global warming, the number one reason they conserve energy is to save money, finds the first Iowa Energy Poll, 2008, conducted by the University of Northern Iowa’s Strategic Marketing Services and funded by the Iowa Power Fund. Vehicle purchases, driving [...]
Read More »Last Year Was Earth’s Coolest Since 2000
NEW YORK, New York, February 24, 2009 (ENS) – Climatologists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City said today that 2008 was the planet’s coolest year since 2000. Yet this does not mean that global warming is no longer a threat, they said. The analysis also showed that 2008 was [...]
Read More »EPA Invests $2 Million in Philadelphia Drinking Water Security
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, February 23, 2009 (ENS) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today presented a $2 million grant to Philadelphia to help the city address the risk of intentional contamination of its drinking water by diseases, pests, or poisonous agents. The federal agency says it could make a total of $9.5 million available to the [...]
Read More »Environmental Judge Orders Vermont to Act on Stormwater
MONTPELIER, Vermont, February 23, 2009 (ENS) – For the second time in seven months, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources has been handed a court order to implement stormwater regulations that will protect water quality in five Chittenden County brooks. Environmental Court Judge Thomas Durkin last week reaffirmed his August 2008 order to the state [...]
Read More »Climate Tipping Point Near Warn UN, World Bank
WASHINGTON, DC, February 23, 2009 (ENS) – The planet is quickly approaching the tipping point for abrupt climate changes, perhaps within a few years, according to the UN Environmental Programme’s newly released 2009 Year Book and a separate World Bank report now being presented throughout Latin America. The UN agency warns that urgent action is [...]
Read More »Infrastructure Takes a Front Seat at National Governors Meeting
WASHINGTON, DC, February 23, 2009 (ENS) – The National Governors Association 2009 Winter Meeting wrapped up today with a session on best practices from around the world for financing infrastructure repairs and upgrades. The governors charted what they called “an action-based roadmap” for the chairman’s initiative Strengthening Our Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future. Each year, [...]
Read More »Tutorial: Creating Event or Location Map Markers
Welcome to Eco-mmunity. This website aims to connect people to all the green resources in the world. One of those resources is environmental events and important environmental locations. Creating event and location markers in Eco-mmunity is a great way to create awareness about ways to lessen damage to the environment, and also to protect special [...]
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