Environmental News January 12 to January 24, 2017

Quote for the week

"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."
— Theodore Roosevelt, 1907

Trump signs executive orders to advance Keystone XL, Dakota Access pipelines
Date: January 24, 2017
By: Tom DiCristopher, CNBC
President Donald Trump on Tuesday took steps to advance construction of two oil pipeline projects that have been fiercely disputed and were delayed under his predecessor.
Read more here.

Donald Trump tells Detroit auto CEOs that environmental regulations are “out of control”
Date: January 24, 2017
By: Steven Overly, Washington Post
President Trump told the chief executives of the country’s largest automobile manufacturers Tuesday that environmental regulations are “out of control” and pledged to make it easier for the companies to open assembly plants in the United States.
Read more here.

New crab species shares name with 2 ‘Harry Potter’ characters and a hero researcher
Date: January 23, 2017
By: Pensoft Editorial Team
While not much is known about the animals living around coral reefs, ex-Marine turned researcher Harry Conley would often take to the island of Guam, and dig deep into the rubble to find fascinating critters as if by magic learnt at Hogwarts. Years after his discoveries and his death, a secret is revealed – a new species and genus of crab, Harryplax severus.
Read more here.

Our Oceans, Our Futures
Date: January 23, 2017
By: UCSB Public Affairs, Edhat Santa Barbara
Making up 90% of the inhabitable space on our planet and providing half of the world’s oxygen, oceans play an irreplaceable role in global health, in every sense of the word. Add to that the worth of oceans as a global asset – estimated at $24 trillion – and the need to protect the health of the oceans themselves comes into sharp focus.
Read more here.

From tiny phytoplankton to massive tuna: how climate change will affect energy flows in ocean ecosystems
Date: January 23, 2017
By: University of British Columbia, Nereus Program
Phytoplankton are the foundation of ocean life, providing the energy that supports nearly all marine species. Levels of phytoplankton in an ocean area may seem like a good predictor for the amount of fish that can be caught there, but a new study by Nereus Program researchers finds that this relationship is not so straightforward.
Read more here.

Bioinvasion is Jeopardizing Mediterranean Marine Communities
Date: January 23, 2017
By: Tel Aviv University
Non-indigenous species (NIS) introduced through the Suez Canal are harming indigenous species and habitats in the Mediterranean Sea, impairing potentially exploitable marine resources and raising concern about human health issues, according to a new Tel Aviv University study.
Read more here.

Turning ocean into drinking water: How it works, what it costs and is it safe?
Date: January 23, 2017
By: Lauren Williams, OC Register
Here’s an idea: let’s use the ocean to create and endless supply of pure water, no matter the amount of rain and snow that falls (or doesn’t) on California. Desalination, long considered something out of “The Jetsons,” is real. But also consider this: Though the promise of desalination is appealing – fresh, clean water that can outlast any drought – critics and water experts have many questions.
Read more here.

The minute trump took office, all reference to ‘climate change’ was deleted off white house website
Date: January 20, 2017
By: Matt Agorist, the free thought project
Exactly one minute before President-elect Donald Trump took office, the official White House website, http://www.whitehouse.gov, had a lengthy information page on climate change and the steps federal government had planned to address it. Exactly one minute after that, when Trump took office – it was gone.
Read more here.

Anti-Sea lice drugs may pose hazard to non-target crustaceans
Date: January 20, 2017
By: Norwegian Institute for Water Research
To treat sea lice infections in aquaculture, veterinary medicines are widely used. However, these medicines may cause collateral damage.
Read more here.

This New Shampoo Will Clean Your Hair—And the Oceans
Date: January 19, 2017
By: Sarah Ruiz-Grossman, Huffington Post
If you don’t like lifeless hair, dandruff on your shoulders and plastics in your ocean, you can tackle all three in the shower.
Read more here.

Regional Sea-Level Scenarios Will Help Northeast Plan for Faster-than-Global Rise
Date: January 19, 2017
By: Todd B. Bates, Rutgers Today
Sea level in the Northeast and in some other U.S. regions will rise significantly faster than the global average, according to a report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Read more here.

Massive sea lion and fur seal hunting in the Patagonian coasts is altering Southern Atlantic Ocean ecosystems
Date: January 18, 2017
By: Universitat de Barcelona
Sea lion hunting by the Europeans at the Atlantic coasts of South America changed its nutrition guidelines of these pinnipeds as well as the structure of the coastal trophic network, according to new research.
Read more here.

Study Shows Signs of Hope for Endangered Sea Turtles
Date: January 17, 2017
By: Kim McDonald, UC San Diego
Bones from dead turtles washed up on Mexican beaches indicate that Baja California is critical to the survival of endangered North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles, which travel some 7,500 miles from their nesting sites in Japan to their feeding grounds off the coast of Mexico.
Read more here.

Why do killer whales go through menopause? Mother-daughter conflict is key
Date: January 12, 2017
By: Cell Press, Science Daily
Killer whales are one of only three species that are known to go through menopause, surviving long after they’ve stopped reproducing. Those older females play an essential role in helping their younger family members to find food and survive in lean times. But, researchers report in a new study, the reason older females stop reproducing has more to do with conflict between mothers and daughters than it does with cooperation.
Read more here.