Three types of critically endangered but commercially valuable shark have been given added protection at the Cites meeting in Bangkok.
The body, which regulates trade in flora and fauna, voted by a two-thirds majority to upgrade the sharks' status.
Campaigners hailed the move as historic and said the vote represented a major breakthrough for marine conservation.
The decisions can still be overturned by a vote on the final day of this meeting later this week.
The oceanic whitetip, three varieties of hammerheads and the porbeagle are all said to be seriously threatened by overfishing.
Read more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21741648
Protect Earth From Climate Change With a Billion Linked-Hands
Start Date: March 1st;, 2013 End Date: April 22nd;, 2014 (Earth Day)
Dear Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon,
We, the People of the Earth, request You to act judiciously and expeditiously to protect the Earth from anthropogenic climate change.
Respectfully,
People of the Earth
Add your name today!
This petition will be delivered shortly after the end date to the United Nations Secretary-General's office by the originator Prof. Ranga B. Myneni of Boston, MA, USA.
Why?
There is now sufficient evidence that our way of living is causing unnatural changes in climate. Collectively, we own this damage and therefore we need to solve it together. It is YOUR CLIMATE CHANGE also. The scientists have been studying and reporting to the policy makers about the dangers of climate change for the past 25 years. Yet, there has been little meaningful action to solve this global problem affecting all life on Earth. The solution lies in convincing policy makers that this is a priority for all citizens of the World. Therefore, I started an online project to collect one billion signatures by Earth Day 2014 for a petition addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to act judiciously and expeditiously on anthropogenic climate change.
How?
You can support by-
(1) Reading and signing the petition at https://www.yourclimatechange.org/
(2) Spreading the word to your (a) family, (b) friends, (c) colleagues and (d) acquaintances by-
(a) sharing using the Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and Twitter links on https://www.yourclimatechange.org/
(b) Composing an email with the subject “Your Climate Change” and including the text of this post
(c) Post this message on your Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ pages and Tweet about it
(3) We can easily reach our goal. If one person can motivate at least 10 people to sign the petition, and they in turn can motivate 10 more to sign the petition and so on. All it takes is 9 such steps, provided that each signee is unique.
(4) Learn about climate change at http://ncar.ucar.edu/learn-more-about/climate
The petition originator is Prof. Ranga B. Myneni, Professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University. Myneni’s research focus is evaluating climate change impacts to vegetation using satellite data. Myneni has about 30 years of research experience. More at http://cliveg.bu.edu/
March 15, 2013
Earthjustice, Tampa, FL —
Florida’s waterways will be covered with more slimy algae outbreaks if a deeply flawed plan announced today between the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is allowed to go forward.
- The plan must be reviewed in federal court to ensure that it complies with the Clean Water Act.
- The public was cut out of the back-room dealings which led to the flawed plan
“We have record numbers of dead manatees washing up on southwest Florida right now (video), in the prime of our tourist season,” said Earthjustice attorney David Guest. “Where is the leadership? This is an absolute sell out. This bogus plan gives deep-pocketed polluters even more loopholes. And what do we, the public, get? More gross, slimy algae in the water.”
The DEP and EPA’s faulty plan fails to set enforceable limits on the amount of sewage, manure, and fertilizer allowed in Florida waters—especially in South Florida and the ailing Everglades.
These pollutants spark slimy outbreaks which are harming Florida’s tourism business, contaminating drinking water, killing wildlife, and threatening public health. Red tide and algae outbreaks are worsened by runoff containing sewage, manure and fertilizer—so-called “nutrient pollution.”
“Obviously, the environmental regulators are bending to politically powerful polluters instead of protecting the public’s right to have clean water to drink and healthy places to fish, boat and swim,” Guest added.
The flawed plan also comes at a time when Gov. Rick Scott’s Administration is firing experienced DEP staffers and replacing them with people who come from polluting industries.
The EPA first began working to set pollution limits for Florida in 2009—part of a settlement in a 2008 Clean Water Act suit filed by Earthjustice in the Northern District of Florida on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, St. John’s Riverkeeper, and the Sierra Club. The suit challenged the decade-long delay by the state and federal governments in setting limits for the pollution.
The public supports the EPA pollution limits. In response to a call for action, more than 40,000 citizens wrote the White House in 2012, urging the Obama Administration to stand firm on imposing effective federal standards for Florida waters. More than 18,000 people wrote the EPA this year, urging enforceable limits.
Contact:
Monica Reimer, Earthjustice attorney, (850) 681-0031
David Guest, Earthjustice attorney, (850) 228-3337
Title: Coral Camp Week 1
Location: Reef Relief Environmental Center, Key West, FL
Link out: Click here
Description: Reef Relief offers a unique summer opportunity for children 6-12 years of age to learn about coastal environments, ocean ecology, identification of fish, coral and other marine life and snorkeling. Coral Camp is an interactive nature-based summer camp experience. Camp activities include visits to NOAA’s Nancy Foster Eco-Discovery Center, the Key West Aquarium, Fort Zachary Taylor State Park for snorkel school, Key West Wildlife Center and two days of snorkeling at the reef. Contact us today and help your child become part of the next generation of ocean lovers.
Start Date: 2013-06-10
Start Time: 8:30
End Date: 2013-06-14
April 8 – April 9, 2013
Tallahassee, Florida
The Everglades Coalition is planning the 1st Annual Everglades Day, and we want you to be a part of it! Mark your calendars for April 8th and 9th for a trip up to Tallahassee to speak with your legislators about how to protect this incredible ecosystem.
We have a full agenda planned including:
- Opening reception
- Lobby training
- Media events
- Meetings with elected officials
We have arranged a special group rate at the Holiday Inn Capital East for $109 per night (2 double beds), which includes hot breakfast. Reservations can be made by calling 850-877-3171 and referencing "Everglades Coalition." Make your reservations by March 25 to reserve this rate.
In addition, we have reserved a luxury bus to travel from South Florida to Tallahassee for only $75 per person. Do the trip in comfort and style – the bus has comfortable seats, on-board restroom, DVD entertainment system and wi-fi!
Spaces on the bus are limited so please visit www.events.org/
If you have questions, please contact evergladescoalition@gmail.com.
Ron Simpson at FAA contact info. can be emailed from: http://www.faa.gov/airports/western_pacific/about_airports/honolulu/. or call 808-541-1232
From Dr. Dean Jacobson, March 18, 2013
Coral mining on Majuro just expanded significantly eastward, getting closer to an especially colorful, lovely "blue and gold" reef that must be protected, by any sane person's estimation. The silt curtain, required by the management plan to be inspected weekly and repaired as needed, has enormous holes and an entire missing panel (it droped 8-10 meters onto a coral reefs, smothering the coral). As usual, the EMP is being ignored both by the contractor PII and the regulator RMI EPA.
It is vitally important now to email Ron.V.Simpson at faa.gov to protest this nonsense; I have repeatedly asked for this, and according to a FOIA request (Freedom of information act), assuming FAA released all the necesary documents in the past five years, only one person on the list did so, Dr. Jessica Carilli. (Thanks, Jess!) She has given me permission to use her name. Her message is succinct and true:
"Coral reefs worldwide are in a dire state of emergency; knowingly killing live reefs when alternatives exist is criminal. Indeed, President Clinton's Executive Order 13089 states that all federal agencies must protect coral reef ecosystems to the extent feasible. Sand and coral rubble can be dredged from different areas of the lagoon where no live ocrla will be damaged. This project must be stopped immediately so that proper regulations can be followed."
I also learned that Ron Simpson wrote the following (this is a matter of public record to the FOIA request, no need to censor it!) in July 2011 after they halted the original planned mining of the picnic reef (mining of an equally nice reef started August 2012):
"We have been informed that the contractor will not be allowed to draline form the shore for the fill materials in the area where the RMI EPA issued the dredging permit (i.e.,, the area where Dr. Dean Jacobson is concerned about damgae to the coral reef). The contractor is now to consider other option for obtain the fill material such as off-shore dredging from a barge, using an alternative site, or import, and to provide cost estimates for each option. We view this as a major steop toward addressing Dr. Jacoson's concern and resolution of this issue. We will continue to monitor the progress. We encourage the RMI Port Authority to coninue to work constructive will all local agencies and stakeholders involved to readh a mutually agreeable solution. **Once all local agencies and stakeholders are in agreement, we will review the recommend alternative options to confirm that all enviromental requirmentes are met, and the impact to the marine
enviornment is minimized.**
Note that FAA has been calling the shots, despite the US Embassy and FAA fiction about "sovereignty" (We don't have jurisdiction, we can't intervene", they say!) This last sentance is utter lip service, actually the opposite happened. "Agreement" was not even attempted, I was excluded from the process prior to the approval of the reservoir reef mining plan, I was banned from the EPA building, and the environmental impact was maximized by substituting one valuable reef for another. This is entirely unacceptable, FAA should be ashamed. Please email! I also have a petition that is still growing, too slowly!
Please sign the petition now!
US-funded coral mining in the Marshall Islands
- Target: President Barack Obama
- Sponsored by: Dean Jacobson, Ph.D., coral ecologist
Please require the Department of State to apply the coral protection that is required by Executive Order 13089, thus ensuring that all FAA projects at the Majuro airport in the Marshall Islands refrain from again using coral reef mining as a source of fill for its airport master plan (this is desirable and indeed possible due to a huge supply of fill in the lagoon, away from coral). By doing so, the "addiction" of destructive coral mining can finally be ended in the Marshall Islands, where living coral is needed to protect the increasingly vulnerable shorelines.
The FAA, in a series of airport improvement projects using local contractors, has unintentionally caused the mining of near-shore lagoon coral reefs as a source of fill; the local EPA has always approved or ignored this practice. For example, in 2008 a large reef was mined by PII (a local company) for the ARFF fire station project (pictures available on Flickr). The US is required to follow a higher environmental road, thanks to Bill Clinton's Executive Order 13089, which specifically requires protection of coral reefs even outside the US. Yet coral mining has again been approved, and may start within months, if local EPA approves it (for a second time) and if the US Embassy here in Majuro approves the local approval. See ten short videos of the reef at: www.youtube.com/user/atolldino/featured
This month 15% of the proceeds from the sale of ONIA’s Charlie Trunk for kids will be donated to Reef Relief’s Coral Camp program. To learn more about ONIA swimwear or to purchase this trunk visit http://onia.com/
The Charlie Trunk incorporates all of the quality and style of its adult counterpart, but is fit for a kid. A fast drying, superfine mesh lining—developed with comfort as the paramount consideration—insures the only thing on a Charlie wearer’s mind is having fun. An elasticized waistband for flexibility and a tailored cut insure that the kids will look just as cool as the adults.
