positive Water news
Six million turn out for global garbage clean-upMore than six million volunteers from 96 countries collected an unprecedented 100,000 tonnes of garbage last year as part of a global, web-driven clean-up campaign, cyber-environmentalists said Friday.
"Last year the most astonishing numbers of volunteers attended clean-ups in Sweden, Bulgaria and in Slovenia,"
- Tiina Urm, spokeswoman for World Cleanup 2012 |
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More Good News in Water
This week, a shark sanctuary the size of Australia has been establishedThe Cook Islands has approved a shark sanctuary in its waters, making for the largest such sanctuary in the world. |
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New Water Treatment Process Could Help Bring Dead Zones Back to LifeEmploying a new tertiary wastewater treatment process reduced levels of phosphorous and trace pollutants in urban wastewater effluent below EPA safe levels, researchers from Veolia Water, Kruger and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee found. |
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Johnson & Johnson Announces a Ban on Harmful Chemicals in ProductsJohnson & Johnson made the landmark announcement this week that it would ban harmful chemicals from their products. |
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Company Designs Bottle From Great Pacific Garbage Patch DebrisSomewhere in the vicinity of Hawaii, a huge mass of plastic debris floats in the Pacific. And that’s just a fraction of the waste that’s bobbing around out there. Compared to the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” one plastic soap bottle may not seem like much. But if that one bottle is mass produced by soap-maker Method, it could turn out to make a big difference. |
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Venezuela Ends Shark Finning, Creates Protected AreaVenezuela set forth a series of measures this week to protect sharks within its waters including the banning of shark fishing in 3,730 square kilometers (1,440 square miles) of the Caribbean Sea. |
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Maldives creates world’s biggest marine reserveThe Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives announced at the Rio+20 summit it would create the world’s biggest marine reserve to protect its fisheries and biodiversity. |
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Ten African nations pledge to transform their economies to take nature into accountLast month ten African nations, led by Botswana, pledged to incorporate 'natural capital' into their economies. Natural capital, which seeks to measure the economic worth of the services provided by ecosystems and biodiversity—for example pollination, clean water, and carbon—is a nascent, but growing, method to curtail environmental damage and ensure more sustainable development. |
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Australia to create world’s largest marine reserve
via BBC |
Wed June 13, 2012 |
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Toronto joins growing list of municipalities to ban plastic bagsWhat started off as a debate to get rid of an unpopular five-cent fee for a plastic bag has ended up with the largest outright ban on plastic bags in North America. |
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Hawaii first state to ban plastic bags at checkoutBy now, it’s hardly news when a city bans plastic bags at checkout counters -- but an entire state? That’s happened in Hawaii, where Honolulu County has joined the state’s three other counties to give Hawaii a first-in-the-nation title. |
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California public to vote on GMO Label Act after 1 million signatures
via Digital Journal |
Fri May 04, 2012 |
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Whole Foods to Stop Selling Overfished SpeciesWhole Foods Market found a way to commemorate Earth Day: it will no longer sell wild-caught fish with a “red-rating,” meaning a species is overfished, in its seafood departments, starting this Earth Day (April 22). |
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Study Shows Coral Will Survive Warming ClimateCorals may be better placed to cope with the gradual acidification of the world's oceans than previously thought -- giving rise to hopes that coral reefs might escape climatic devastation. |
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Santa Barbara Council Votes to Proceed with Plan for Carrying Out Plastic Bag Ban“Would you like to buy a bag?” The phrase is now familiar in many California cities, and Santa Barbara could be added to the list of those to ban plastic bags from stores and require merchants to charge for paper or reusable bags. |
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Environmental news headlines
- EU to ban pesticides in bee scare
- New law to protect Puerto Rico leatherback turtles
- China, world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, will tax carbon
- New wind power cheaper than coal or gas in Australia
- Gorillas to Be Protected with New Congo National Park
- From the brink of extinction: elephant seals stage remarkable comeback
- Nations agree on legally binding mercury rules
- Six million turn out for global garbage clean-up
- Obama triples area of protected California coastline
- Swiss Parliament Passes Plastic Bag Ban
- This week, a shark sanctuary the size of Australia has been established
- French move boosts shark sanctuaries
- Canada introduces new rules to curb future vehicle emissions
- Brazil says Amazon deforestation at record low
- Australia outlaws illegally-logged wood from abroad
- Tokelau islands shift to 100% solar energy
- Another city in BC bans shark fins
- EU on track to exceed Kyoto emissions goal
- Victory for Forests: Disney Stands Up for Endangered Forests and Animals
- new mammal menagerie uncovered in remote Peruvian cloud forest
- more