Archive

New loopholes would  remove protections from ponds, wetlands, and streams if they are over 4000 feet from other waters, if they are used for farming, ranching, or silviculture, if they are channelized or ditched, or if they are connected underground to other waters.

Posted on August 11, 2015 

Corruption, organized crime, low pay for game wardens and custom officials, high demand from China, and more trade between China  and Africa contribute to Elephant poaching.  Link

Article on how ivory is smuggled from Africa to China and Hong Kong via Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Burma.

Posted on August 10, 2015

Goldman Sachs  burdened Greece, Oakland, and the Detroit Water Dept., and the Chicago school system with huge fees and penalties involving complex interest rate swaps (financial derivatives), according to Robert Reich in the Nation.  The amounts are large: $ 793 million in fees from Greece plus an increase in its debt of $ 2.1 billion, a $200 million  penalty for the Chicago schools to get out of their swaps, $ 547 million to terminate the swaps for the Detroit Water Dept., and a $16 million penalty for Oakland.  These entities did not realize how risky and expensive it would be to enter into these swaps and then to get out of them.  It is similar to what happened around 2008 when big banks sold risky swaps and derivatives as safe and lucrative investments, which later lost much of their value.   The governments were not always innocent; Greece was trying to hide its debt and had spent too much. But Reich says that Goldman minimized costs and risks and exaggerated the benefits, and the governments did not understand the risks and costs.   Greece was also corrupt and allowed taxes to be avoided, and it  also was gullible or stupid.

Posted on July 28, 2015

Reducing fishing, protecting marine areas, and banning large trawlers help.  Activists are organizing in the Blue Frontier movement.  David Helvarg wrote about saving the seas in the Progressive.  He wrote Saved by the Sea : Hope, Heartbreak, and wonder in the Blue World.

Posted on July 17, 2015

Citizens and youth are winning lawsuits!  Incriminating Exxon papers are found by UCS.  Here is the link.

Posted on July 17, 2015