Tag - environment

 
 

ENVIRONMENT

WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 31, 2014
U.S. to monitor turtle exports in face of booming global trade
There were lots of snickers when a Chinese-Canadian man was caught trying to leave the United States with 51 turtles hidden in his sweatpants, but the case illustrated the serious threat facing native species from the booming international turtle trade, federal scientists said on Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 31, 2014
Scientists call skin-eating Asian fungus a threat to amphibians
A skin-eating fungus that infiltrated Europe through the global wildlife trade is threatening to inflict massive losses on the continent's native salamanders including extinction of whole species and could do the same in North America, scientists say.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 25, 2014
Understanding the complex web of life
"Biodiversity provides the foundation on which all life depends, including human societies," writes Nik Sekhran in the opening pages of "Biodiversity for Sustainable Development," a captivating book released earlier this month by the United Nations Development Programme.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 23, 2014
Paraguayan plant stevia upends sugar market
The maker of America's top sugar brand, Domino Sugar, is launching its first no-calorie "natural" sweetener extracted from the stevia plant in Paraguay, the strongest sign yet that the upstart product is threatening to eat into demand for sugar.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2014
Mount Fuji hiking fees to be spent partly on safety and conservation projects, prefecture says
An official in Shizuoka says the prefectural government there will spend funds from last year's Mount Fuji hikers' fees on six safety and conservation projects.
WORLD
Oct 15, 2014
Gun-slinging patrolwoman chases off polar bear at Alaskan home
A gun-slinging Alaskan wildlife manager chased off a massive polar bear that broke into an 81-year-old's house in a remote community to feast on a drum of seal oil, the Alaska Dispatch News reported.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 12, 2014
Rattlesnake repertoire boosts snakelike robot's skills
How do you make a better snake robot? You study snakes, of course.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 4, 2014
The bear cheek of our woodland friends
When I came to live here in Kurohime in the hills of northern Nagano Prefecture almost 35 years ago, I got a gun licence and joined the local hunter's association — not because I wanted to kill things, but to help me learn about the mountains, rivers, woodlands, plants and wildlife in this area.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 2, 2014
Ditch U.N. temperature target for global warming, study recommends
A temperature goal set by almost 200 governments as the limit for global warming is a poor guide to the planet's health and should be ditched, a study published in the journal Nature said on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 2, 2014
Lack of ice forces some 35,000 walruses to chill on Alaska shore
Fast-melting Arctic sea ice has forced some 35,000 Pacific walruses to retreat to the Alaska shoreline, scientists from several federal agencies said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 27, 2014
India and its incredible pollution problem
Incredible India! is the Indian government's marketing slogan to attract tourism. And I agree. India is truly incredible in countless ways, both captivating and heartbreaking.
BUSINESS
Sep 24, 2014
Philanthropies and investors pledge $50 billion divestment from fossil fuels
The Rockefellers, who made their vast fortune from oil, and other philanthropies and high-wealth individuals have pledged to divest $50 billion from investments in fossil fuels.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 18, 2014
Gibbons become the last ape to have their genome revealed
Gibbons — the small, long-armed tree swingers that inhabit the dense tropical forests of Southeast Asia — have become the last of the planet's apes to have their genetic secrets revealed.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 17, 2014
Pakistani militants allege India is deliberately opening its upstream dams as a 'water bomb' creating floods
Hafiz Saeed, widely considered one of South Asia's most dangerous militants, has no doubt who is to blame for devastating floods that have submerged swaths of Pakistani countryside and claimed hundreds of lives.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 12, 2014
Wildlife activists say new U.S. lynx protections fall short
The federal government will extend protections to all imperiled Canada lynx in the lower 48 U.S. states, but wildlife advocates said on Thursday it was ignoring important parts of the rare cats' range and they vowed to challenge the move in court.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 12, 2014
Warmer air caused ice shelf collapse off Antarctica
Warmer air triggered the collapse of a huge ice shelf off Antarctica in 2002, according to a report on Thursday that may help scientists predict future break-ups around the frozen continent.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 10, 2014
U.S. bird species dying out amid development: report
Bird populations across the United States are shrinking largely due to development, with the steepest declines in Western states, according to a scientific report released on Tuesday.
WORLD
Sep 5, 2014
BP 'grossly negligent' in 2010 U.S. spill, fines could be $18 billion
A U.S. judge has decided that BP Plc was "grossly negligent" and "reckless" in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill four years ago, a ruling that could add nearly $18 billion in fines to more than $42 billion in charges the company took for the worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 30, 2014
Kiun-Kaku: a garden of elegant period taste
Despite the seasonal limitations for visiting, the Atami Baien, a plum garden, is a better-known sight that the Kiun-Kaku garden, which is an all-seasons landscape also found in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture. Perhaps it is the thirst for scale that has prioritized the plum trees in their large hillside...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 29, 2014
U.S. seizes more than 1,200 illegal giant snails
The giant African snail damages buildings, destroys crops and can cause meningitis in humans. But some people still want to collect, and even eat, the slimy invaders.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji