Currents

The dream of famed biologist E.O. Wilson—to put together and freely share a comprehensive database of every species of plant and wildlife known to man—has finally come true (at least in part).

Last week, federal researchers unveiled the findings of a six-year study on the presence of synthetic pollutants in 20 western national parks.

Researchers unveiled the first detailed map of human impacts on the world’s oceans last week, and the news is not good. A team of 20 acclaimed marine scientists from around the world collaborated on the project, finding that humans are having a major impact on marine ecosystems, leaving only four percent of the world’s oceans unaffected by human activities.

The city of London announced last week that it is upping the ante in its effort to reduce congestion by tripling the current charge levied against gas-guzzling cars and SUVs entering the city’s central district.

It was raining hard on August 4, 1913, when Joseph Knowles, a part-time portrait painter, tattooed former Navy man, big-beaked friend of the Sioux and Chippewa Indians and onetime hunting guide, stepped off into the northeastern woods of Maine near the present-day Sugarloaf ski area. His intention was a two-month sojourn in the woods, taking nothing in with him—not even clothes!

As cities like London and Stockholm have shown, congestion pricing works—but New Yorkers are putting up a fierce fight to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan.

The Bush administration is proposing to take yet another wildlife species—the brown pelican—off the federal endangered list based on the bird’s recovery in recent years.

British billionaire adventurer and Virgin Group Founder/CEO Richard Branson proposed the creation of an international "environmental war room" led by the United Nations with the sole purpose of staving off human-induced climate change.

During the last week of January, the University of Vermont became one of more than 1,500 institutions to participate in Focus the Nation (FtN), the largest national teach-in on global warming solutions. Though considered an educational initiative, Focus the Nation was also a mass organized effort of civic engagement, promoting action as well as awareness. There are lots of global warming solutions, but one clear goal: 80 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

As the Forest Service digs deeper into its own pockets to fight forest fires, it’s had to cut into critical programs including habitat restoration and invasive species control.