Sunday’s London Independent contains a fascinating little story entitled “Feelgood funding blocks eco-warriors“. Apparently the UK’s top grant giving institutions are more interested in funding conservation and species preservation, than they are in addressing systemic change to stop the root causes of those problems. Not that its news that charismatic mega-fauna equal mega bucks for … Read More
impact on wildlife
Britain’s Warmest Spring Brings out the Butterflies
Still don’t believe in climate change? Well talk to Britain’s butterfly experts who are astounded that at least 11 species of butterfly have made their earliest recorded appearances after Britain’s warmest spring on record. Of Britain’s 59 resident and regular migrant species, 37 have now appeared, and of these, all except one (the orange tip) … Read More
Outrage As Shell Gets Green Light to Drill in Beaufort Sea
The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) has approved Shell’s plan to drill as many as a dozen exploration wells over the next two years in the Beaufort Sea. The agency, which supervises Alaska’s oil and gas leasing released an environmental assessment that said that the project would not cause “undue or serious harm or damage … Read More
Brown Bears Stop Hibernating
Bears in the mountains of northern Spain have stopped hibernating, scientists have revealed in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world. Bears are supposed to slumber throughout the winter, slowing their body rhythms to a minimum and drawing on stored resources, because frozen … Read More
BC Coast Under Threat from Oil and Gas Development
Once again the threat of oil and gas development looms over British Colombia’s wild and beautiful Pacific coast. For over thirty years there have been both provincial and federal moratoria in place to protect the coast from oil and gas development. But now the BC government is intensively lobbying the federal government to lift their … Read More
Sakhalin – We Have to Ensure the Whales Survive
Rich Cookson’s next blog from Sakhalin: “The Russian frigate Nadezhda, packed with acoustic monitoring equipment, has arrived off Piltun. After a five-day journey from Vladivostok on the 108m-long, three-mast ship, the marine mammal experts and acousticians on board have started their work.
Sakhalin Energy: “Our Critics Are Wrong”
Rich Cookson’s next dispatch from Sakhalin: The Deputy CEO of Sakhalin Energy, David J Greer, is bullish about his company’s impact on Sakhalin, dismissing many of his critics’ claims as “absolutely wrong”. “We bring joy and happiness to the people of Sakhalin,” he says. “And we are providing clean and efficient energy to an energy-starved … Read More
Sakhalin Energy: “We Have No Impact on Whales”
Here is Rich Cookson’s third blog from Sakhalin. “In early-morning off-the-record briefings, Sakhalin Energy’s (SE) employees – many of them from Shell – insist that the company is committed to protecting the island’s environment. They say, for instance, that the company has new scientific data which proves that its offshore activities have had no discernable … Read More
World Facing “Catastrophic” Loss of Species
Nineteen leading scientists are warning today that the Earth is on the brink of a “major biodiversity crisis” fuelled by the destruction of habitats and climate change. The scientists estimate that 12 per cent of all birds, 23 per cent of mammals, a quarter of conifers, a third of amphibians and more than half of … Read More
Sakhalin – “No Guarantees” About Engangered Whales
Here is Rich Cookson’s second blog from Sakhalin Island, off Russia’s east coast. Rich writes: “The Sakhalin Energy (SE) project, Sakhalin II, is the second of nine planned extraction projects around Sakhalin. Exxon holds a 30 per cent stake in Sakhalin I, an oil development on the northeastern Sakhalin Shelf. Affiliates of the Russian oil … Read More