Half of China's water polluted and undrinkable: study

Reuters via Environmental News Network reports on China's polluted water supplies where more than half is undrinkable and one quarter unsuitable for industrial use.

Inspectors from China's Ministry of Environmental Protection tested water samples from the country's major rivers and lakes in the first half of the year and declared just 49.3 percent to be safe for drinking, up from 48 percent last year, the ministry said in a notice posted on its website (www.mep.gov.cn).

Despite tougher regulations over the last decade, the ministry has struggled to rein in the thousands of small paper mills, cement factories and chemical plants discharging industrial waste directly into the country's waterways, and the overuse of fertilizers has also left large sections of China's lakes and rivers choking with algae.

Read the full story: Pollution makes quarter of China water unusable

Photo from My Health Beijing

Russia expands conservation areas

Environmental News Network reports that Russia will expand their wildlife protected areas 3 percent by 2020.

The new conservation space will be almost the size of the country of Switzerland.

The Russian government's decision establishes 9 new nature reserves and 13 national parks covering a total area of over 3.8 million [hectares] by 2020. Russia is also introducing marine buffer zones of over 1 million ha.

An existing 9 reserves and 1 national park will see their areas increased by 500 thousand ha.

The decision was based on an analysis of WWF in cooperation with The Nature Coservancy and MAVA Foundation, carried out between 2006-2008, and is aimed at fulfilling Russia's commitment under the Convention on Biodiversity to establish effective protected area systems that safeguard biodiversity.

Read the full story: Russia to create national parks and reserves nearly size of Switzerland

Photo from ENN

China water pollution twice as bad as claimed

Environmental News Network reports that China's water pollution levels are actually twice as bad as previously thought.

A new Chinese government survey of the country's environmental problems has shown water pollution levels in 2007 were more than twice the government's official estimate, largely because agricultural waste was ignored.

The data, presented by Vice Environment Protection Minister Zhang Lijun, revives persistent questions about the quality of Chinese official statistics and the effectiveness of a government push for cleaner growth after decades of unbridled expansion.

Read the full story: Water pollution in China worse than reported

Photo from ENN

Buy electric and get high tax credit

Environmental News Network reports on the momentum electric cars are gaining.

Federal tax credits for purchasing electric vehicles have a $2500 base and can go as high as $7500 depending on battery kilowatt capacity.

Read the full story: Electric cars generate sweet tax credits

Grizzly Bears endangered again

Environmental News Network reports that Grizzly Bears in Yellowstone National Park are back on the endangered species list.

According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) a Montana federal district court returned the bears to the protections under the Endangered Species Act on Tuesday September 22.

In the case, brought by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Judge Donald Molloy ruled that inadequate regulatory mechanisms were put in place to manage the bears after federal protections were dropped in early 2007, and that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) failed to address the loss of an essential food source for the bears, whitebark pine seeds. The NRDC and six other groups, represented by Earthjustice, have a similar case pending in Idaho.

Read the full story: Yellowstone Grizzlies back on endangered species list

Photo from National Park Travel, Inc.

Take out in CA, but not in styrofoam

Environmental News Network reports that Palo Alto, California will ban polystyrene take out food containers next year.

Palo Alto will join 22 other coastal California cities to enact the styrofoam ban. San Francisco started the plastic container ban trend in 2007.

The ban extends to containers, clam shells, bowls, plates, cartons and cups. However, it does not affect straws, utensils or hot up lids. In January, Palo Alto stopped accepting polystyrene packing peanuts and polystyrene blocks used in consumer goods packaging. But while the ban will reduce Palo Alto’s waste, that’s not the initial intention of the prohibition. The current economic recession carried a lot of weight for lawmakers proposing the ban.

Read the full story: Styrofoam ban grows in California

Seattle has already banned these containers (picture above) as written about in The Seattle Times "All you can eat" blog by Nancy Leson.

Kenya game park shows declines; study

Environmental News Network reports on a study showing "substantial" wildlife declines in the Masai Mara; one of Kenya's most touristed game parks.

Populations of major wild grazing animals that are the heart and soul of Kenya's cherished and heavily visited Masai Mara National Reserve—including giraffes, hartebeest, impala, and warthogs—have "decreased substantially" in only 15 years as they compete for survival with a growing concentration of human settlements in the region, according to a new study published today in the May 2009 issue of the British Journal of Zoology.

Read the full story: New study shows widespread and substantial declines in wildlife in Kenya's Masai Mara

Ecotravel News is away

Ecotravel News will be traveling and won't be able post again until February.

To help readers get through the hiatus we suggest the following links:

The Christian Science Monitor's environment section is a favorite

Environmental News Network always has new and interesting stories everyday

Reuters video, environment section

National Parks Traveler blog

Enjoy and until Feb!

Yellowstone amphibians decline

Environmental News Network reports on the decline of frogs and salamanders in Yellowstone National Park; Stanford researchers blame global warming.

Sarah McMenamin, a Ph.d. candidate from Stanford University, studied the critters and found significant declines in population from the 1990s through now, directly citing a changing climate as the culprit.

Read the full story: Amphibians disappearing from Yellowstone Park

China's pollution rate to double by 2030, cites study

Environmental News Network reports on the study showing the doubling of Chinese greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

The study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences shows that without serious curbs on the billions of tons of carbon dioxide China emits each year, the nation could match the amount the United States emits by 2020.

In 2007, the United States was still the world's number one emitter of greenhouse gases at 7.2 billion tons, compared to China's 5.1 billion tons.

Read the full story: China warns of huge rise in emissions

Throw a 'roo on the barbie

Environmental News Network reports on the Australian study that shows eating kangaroo instead of beef and mutton is a more sustainable option.

Cattle and sheep farming degrades land, has contributed to native species extinction, and also emits large amounts of the greenhouse gas methane. Kangaroos, which historically have been eaten by humans for "around 60,000 years," emit acetate rather than methane.

"In economic modelling conducted by Wilson and Edwards, cattle and sheep for meat could be dramatically reduced in Australia's rangelands by 2020, with cattle dropping from 7.5 million to 500,000 and sheep from 38.7 million to 2.7 million.

The scientists conclude that this would allow for a net carbon saving of 16 megatonnes of GhG emissions by 2020, around 28 percent of Australia's agricultural emissions. "

Read the full story: Eat kangaroos to save climate?

UK Starbucks waste precious water

Environmental News Network has a report from the Organic Consumers Association on how many gallons of water coffee franchiser Starbucks wastes per day.

According to the British Sun newspaper, Starbucks wastes 23.4 million liters (that's 6.18 million gallons) of water every day in 10,000 outlets. This is due to the policy of leaving the tap on nonstop.

"A single Starbucks tap left running for just over three minutes wastes the amount of water one African needs to survive for a day in drought conditions.

Under the company's health and safety rules, staff are banned from turning the water off because management claim that a constant flow of water prevents germs breeding in taps."

Read the full story: Starbucks wastes millions of litres of water a day

Toronto to pay for green lifestyles

Environmental News Network reports that Canadian city Toronto has a new carbon emissions reducing program that will pay residents to be green.

The Live Green Toronto program is a citizen-driven project that will give grants based on people's own green initiatives:

"Activators [environmentalists working for non-governmental agencies] meet people with project ideas and collaborate with them through the first stages. If a project idea survives the idea development stage, citizens will have been granted $1,000 to $25,000 [Canadian]. They then can apply for full grants of between $25,000 to $250,000 for their projects to become reality."

Toronto's goal is to reduce their emissions by 6 percent by 2012, 30 percent by 2020, and 80 percent by 2050.

Read the full story: Toronto pays citizens hefty grants for projects reducing carbon footprint

Chinese plastic bag ban: a success

Environmental News Network reports that China's almost complete ban on plastic bags - consumers can still purchase thicker plastic bags - is a success.

Consumers have easily adapted by bringing their own bags and some have even gone back to using traditional baskets.

The ban makes it illegal for shops to hand out free plastic bags to shoppers.

"China's central government dealt this heavy blow to plastic bags out of concern for the environment and a desire for greater energy savings. People in China use up to 3 billion plastic bags daily and dispose of more than 3 million tons of them annually. Most of the carriers end up in unofficial dumping sites, landfills, or the environment. Urban dumping centers and open fields alongside railways and expressways are littered with the discarded bags, mostly whitish ultra-thin varieties. Such scenes have generated a special term in China: "the white pollution."

Read the full story: China watch: plastic bag ban trumps market and consumer efforts

Used oil = carbon-neutral Scottish bus

A Scottish bus company encouraged enough riders to donate their used cooking oil for biofuel production, that they can now go carbon-neutral, reports Environmental News Network:

"For the past six months, Stagecoach has been running eight buses on biofuels made from used cooking oil. That project has the makings of a true bartering scheme; in exchange for used cooking oil, passengers get a reduction on travel fares. The scheme is organized at Ayrshire Council recycling plant and has been met with tremendous enthusiasm of the population. Over 21 tonnes of used cooking oil was handed, marking an 100 percent increase over a period of six months."

Read the full story: Hand over your cooking oils

Starbucks coffee to be served in ceramic

Environmental News Network reports that Starbucks, the global and ubiquitous coffee chain, will serve all in-house coffee in reusable ceramic mugs.

But if you still need to take your coffee to go, bring a reusable container and you might get a discount.

If that isn't "green" enough, Starbucks will also convert all stores to 50 percent renewable energy by 2010 and will also use 80 percent sustainable coffee by 2013.

Although we at Ecotravel News are not Starbucks frequenters (mostly because of the outrageous prices), we applaud the chain for their eco-efforts.

Read the full story: Starbucks goes ceramic

Rising CO2 threatens koala bears

Environmental News Network reports that rising CO2 levels are threatening koala bears.

The Australian Academy of Science found that high levels of carbon dioxide changes the composition of nutrients in the koalas' main diet of eucalyptus leaves:

"Koalas are fussy about the species of eucalypts that they eat as different species contain different ratios of nutrients to anti-nutrients. Some eucalypt species may have high protein content, but anti-nutrients such as tannins bind the protein so it can't be used by the koala"

Read the full story: Koalas under threat from climate change

Artic ice melting fast, near tipping point?

Environmental News Network reports on a study showing evidence of greater Arctic ice melt than previously anticipated.

The report released by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), called the Arctic Climate Impact, shows vast climate change in all arctic systems that is already altering ecosystems and affecting the people and animals living there.

The scientists behind the report are alarmed to the point of discussing whether the Arctic is near the so-called tipping point where nothing can be done to reverse the damage.

The reduction of greenhouse gases worldwide is what will help reduce the melt.

Read the full story: Climate change hitting Arctic faster, harder

Houston tops U.S. air pollution emission study

Reuters via the Environmental News Network unveiled the findings of a carbon dioxide emission study and named the top 20 worst offending U.S. cities.

Unsurprisingly cities with major traffic and/or oil business were the largest offenders.

The Vulcan report, funded by NASA and the Department of Energy (DOE), named the Houston area number one with CO2 emission at 18.6 million tons and Los Angeles area a close second with 18.59.

Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit complete the top 5.

Read the full story: Houston, LA named top CO2 polluters

Plastic beach trash reaches highest level ever

Reuters via Environmental News Network reports on the record high levels of plastic beach trash on British beaches that pose great threats to marine life such as whales, dolphins and seabirds:

"[Environmental group] the Marine Conservation Society, which campaigns for cleaner beaches and seas, said plastic litter has increased by 126 percent since its first survey in 1994.

Scores of marine wildlife species, including seals and turtles, have died after eating plastic or drowning after getting tangled in debris or old fishing nets, it said.

In the last decade, the amount of plastic drinks bottles has risen by 67 percent, plastic bags by 54 percent and cigarette butts by 44 percent, the society said."

Read the full story: Record beach litter threatens marine life