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The World Environment News is a daily environmental update bringing you all the latest environmental stories, pictures and video from across the globe, courtesy of the Reuters news service. if it’s happening in the world of environment, it’s happening in the World Environment News.
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Latest News (164 stories)
Sustainable Energy Is Answer To Wider Crisis: EU's Hedegaard
Date: 01-Feb-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis
Energy efficiency offers one of the best tools for tackling the world's debt and social crises as sustainable development comes in from the margins to the mainstream of economic debate, the European Union's climate chief said on Tuesday.
Exclusive: Canadian Solar Seeing Spike In European Demand
Date: 01-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Nichola Groom
Canadian Solar Inc is scrambling to ramp up production of solar panels to meet an unexpected surge in demand from Europe, Chief Executive Shawn Qu said on Tuesday.
Jessica Alba Goes Toxin-Free With The Honest Company
Photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok
Date: 01-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Piya Sinha-Roy
Working mom Jessica Alba is adding entrepreneur to her many titles, shifting from movie star to businesswoman with a venture that provides parents easy access to eco-friendly natural products for babies and homes.
Canada Ethanol Policy Hurts Livestock Farmers: Report
Photo: Reuters/Mark Blinch
Date: 01-Feb-12
Country: CANADA
Author: Rod Nickel
Ethanol production has boosted the prices of grains that Canadian farmers buy to raise cattle and pigs, and Ottawa should curb or eliminate its support for the industry, an agriculture research organization said on Tuesday.
Plans To Block Carp Will Re-Reverse Chicago River
Photo: Reuters/Illinois Department of Natural Resources/Handout
Date: 01-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Andrew Stern
Keeping the invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes will involve re-reversing the flow of the Chicago River -- an engineering marvel completed a century ago through a complex network of rivers, canals, and locks, a new study said on Tuesday.
NRC Wants U.S. Nuclear Operators To Adopt New Seismic Model
Photo: Reuters/Dominion Power/Handout
Date: 01-Feb-12
Author: Scott DiSavino
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday the agency wants nuclear plant operators in the central and eastern United States to use a new seismic model to reassess the potential for earthquakes in their area.
Halliburton Wins Ruling Vs BP Over Gulf Oil Spill
Photo: Reuters/Stringer
Date: 01-Feb-12
Country: GULF OF MEXICO
Author: Jonathan Stempel
A federal judge on Tuesday said Halliburton Co is not liable for some pollution claims arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, setting back BP Plc's effort to hold other companies responsible for part of the $42 billion cleanup.
Keystone XL Bill Gets 44 Senators On Board
Photo: Reuters/Stephen Lam
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Roberta Rampton
A group of 44 senators, all but one Republican, have signed on to proposed legislation that would authorize the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline despite the refusal of President Barack Obama to advance the project.
Insight: The Great Northern Migration -- Of U.S. Cattle
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: P.J. Huffstutter and Theopolis Waters
For more than a century, through a dozen dry spells when lakes disappeared and the land died, thousands of cows from the Swenson Land & Cattle Co have roamed the fields of Texas.
World Lacks Enough Food, Fuel As Population Soars: U.N.
Photo: Reuters/Rupak De Chowdhuri
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: BRITAIN
Author: Nina Chestney
The world is running out of time to make sure there is enough food, water and energy to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and to avoid sending up to 3 billion people into poverty, a U.N. report warned on Monday.
Relief In U.S. Food Prices Seen As Crop Supplies Grow
Photo: Reuters/Jason Reed
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: K.T. Arasu
After being hammered by record high food prices in 2011, which helped ignite the Arab Spring uprisings, consumers worldwide may find some relief in 2012 if U.S. farmers, induced by last year's high crop prices, plant more fields to grain this year.
Malaysian Opposition Says Would Scrap Rare Earths Plant
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: MALAYSIA
Author: Anuradha Raghu
Malaysia's political opposition has vowed to scrap a controversial $200 million rare-earths processing plant being built by Australia's Lynas Corp if it wins national elections expected to be called within months.
After The Wreck, Cruise Ship Crew Hanker For The Sea
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: ITALY
Author: Steve Scherer
Hours after the Costa Concordia's captain had abandoned ship, and after helping dozens of passengers to safety, Carlos Garrone stripped off his clothes and plunged into the freezing waters off Giglio island and rescued a drowning fellow crew member.
Fukushima Pets In No-Go Zone Face Harsh Winter
Photo: REUTERS/Issei Kato
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: JAPAN
Author: Issei Kato and Kiyoshi Takenaka
Dogs and cats that were abandoned in the Fukushima exclusion zone after last year's nuclear crisis have had to survive high radiation and a lack of food, and they are now struggling with the region's freezing winter weather.
EU Takes Next Step In Making Airlines Pay For Carbon
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis and Francesco Guarascio
The European Commission on Monday took another technical step to bring all airlines using EU airports into its carbon trading scheme, following on from last year's court ruling that, despite loud international opposition, the EU plan was legal.
U.S. Duties On China Solar Would Kill Jobs: Report
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Doug Palmer
A U.S. solar industry group fighting a rival coalition's request for steep import duties on Chinese-made solar cells and modules warned in a report on Monday that more than 60,000 U.S. jobs could be lost if such duties were imposed.
6.3 Earthquake Shakes Peru, Minor Injuries Reported
Date: 31-Jan-12
Country: PERU
Author: Helen Popper and Patricia Velez
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake rattled the coast of Peru early on Monday, causing minor injuries, authorities said.
Snowy Owls Soar South From Arctic In Rare Mass Migration
Photo: U.S. Fish&Wildlife Service/Handout
Date: 30-Jan-12
Country: SALMON, Idaho
Author: Laura Zuckerman
Bird enthusiasts are reporting rising numbers of snowy owls from the Arctic winging into the lower 48 states this winter in a mass southern migration that a leading owl researcher called "unbelievable."
Keystone To Be Linked To U.S. Highway Bill: Boehner
Photo: Yuri Gripas
Date: 30-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Kim Dixon
Republican lawmakers will try to force the Obama administration to approve the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline by attaching it to a highway bill that Congress will consider next month, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday.
Extreme Heat Hurts Wheat Yields As World Warms: Study
Photo: Todd Korol
Date: 30-Jan-12
Country: SINGAPORE
Author: David Fogarty
Extreme heat can cause wheat crops to age faster and reduce yields, a U.S.-led study shows, underscoring the challenge of feeding a rapidly growing population as the world warms.
Wrecked Italian Liner Will Not Be Moved For Months
Photo: Zammit Lupi
Date: 30-Jan-12
Country: ITALY
Author: Emilio Parodi
The wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia could remain where it lies near the Italian island of Giglio until the end of the year or longer before it can be broken up or salvaged, the official in charge of the recovery operation said on Sunday.
Migrant Trash Piles Up At Remote U.S.-Mexico Border Areas
Photo: Krista Niles
Date: 30-Jan-12
Country: RIO RICO, Ariz
Author: Tim Gaynor
Picking her way into the desert brush, Raquel Martinez gathered scores of plastic water bottles tossed in an Arizona desert valley near the Mexico border, often by migrants making a risky trek into the United States across increasingly remote terrain.
California Sets Landmark Rules To Cut Auto Emissions
Photo: Robert Galbraith
Date: 30-Jan-12
Country: USA
Author: Nichola Groom
California approved aggressive new rules on Friday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by requiring automakers to put many more electric and hybrid vehicles on the Golden State's roads by 2025.
BP Fails To Shift $15 Billion Oil Spill Costs Onto Transocean
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard/Handout
Date: 30-Jan-12
Country: UK
Author: Tom Bergin
Oil giant BP has lost its attempt to shift over $15 billion of costs related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill onto contractor Transocean, increasing the possibility BP may have to foot the entire $42 billion clean up bill.
EU Energy Policy May Bring 500,000 Jobs
Date: 30-Jan-12
Country: SWITZERLAND
Author: Tom Miles
The European Union may pass a triple whammy environment policy in the first half of this year that would bring a rapid jobs boost, cut energy bills and improve the environment by one simple measure: keeping Europe's buildings in good repair.
Romanians Protest Against Gold Mine Plan
Date: 30-Jan-12
Country: ROMANIA
Author: Luiza Ilie
Hundreds of Romanians protested on Saturday against a plan to set up Europe's biggest open-cast gold mine in a small Carpathian town, joining a wave of anti-government rallies.
River Pollution Triggers Water Panic Buying In China
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: CHINA
Author: Sisi Tang
Residents of a town in southern China have been rushing to buy bottled water after excessive levels of carcinogenic cadmium were found in a river source of drinking water, state media said on Thursday in the latest health scare to hit the country.
BP Must Cover Some Transocean Oil Spill Damages
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: U.S.
Author: Jonathan Stempel
A federal judge on Thursday said BP Plc must indemnify Transocean Ltd for some compensatory damage claims over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
How Climate Change, Urbanization Are Changing Disaster Aid
Photo: African Union-United Nations Information Support Team/Stuart Price
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: U.K.
Author: Katie Nguyen and Megan Rowling
Picture this: a terrible drought forces you to abandon your meager plot of farmland, so you migrate to a city where the jobs are, only to end up living in a slum regularly submerged by floods.
U.S. Needs Long-Term Site For Nuclear Waste: Panel
Date: 27-Jan-12
Country: U.S.
Author: Ayesha Rascoe
The United States must urgently work to find a new central site to house its spent nuclear fuel and probe whether Japan's nuclear disaster has any safety implications for storage at the country's plants, a federal panel said on Thursday.