U.S. Government Sued By Activists Seeking Endangered Status of Bees Vital To Pollinating Staple Crops

Rusty patch bumble bee. Photo by Headline & Global News.

While most people don’t give much thought, if any, to how important bees are to our lives by pollinating some of our most basic fruits, vegetables, and grains. Activists are taking notice and making efforts to stop their declining numbers in the wild from threats including habitat destruction, pesticides, and pathogens.

To really understand the important role of bees, Achim Steiner, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director, says of “the crop species that provide 90 percent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees.”

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California Towns With Highest Job Losses From Drought To Receive Food, Water & Other Aid

With California experiencing its driest year ever on record, so far, the state is now in emergency mode, and trying to get out as many relief services as possible to the public as quickly as it can.

Among these services will be food assistance for families that have been directly affected by the drought through unemployment from agriculturally-related jobs; temporary drinking water replacement for economically disadvantaged communities; statewide water conservation measures; new irrigation measured for famers; and water diversion projects for habitat preservation for wildlife.

The California Department of Social Services announced that food banks in 24 drought-affected counties will begin receiving the first in $5.1 million in food assistance, with food hitting the food bank shelves soon this month.

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Buffalo To Reduce Lake Erie Pollution With Grant from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the City of Buffalo, NY, a $500,000 grant from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) that will be used in conjunction with another $500,000 in funding from Empire State Development to provide green infrastructure in an effort to minimize polluting stormwater runoff into Lake Erie.

Space view of the Great Lakes.

Empire State Development is New York State’s chief economic development agency that works to promote the growth of the state economy through loans, grants, tax credits, and other forms of financial assistance to projects and initiatives that will create business growth and job creation.

A major focus of this project will be building a green infrastructure along a one-mile stretch of Buffalo’s Niagara Street that’s part of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail and National Scenic Byway. This area currently accumulates untreated stormwater that drains directly into the Black Rock Navigation Channel and the Niagara River.

Northern waterfront of the Niagara River. Photo from Wikimedia.org.

The EPA says the project will include the installation of porous asphalt, stormwater planters, rain gardens, and the reduction of impervious pavements. The new project is expected to capture stormwater from about 15 acres along Niagara Street and result in the reduction of about 5 million gallons of stormwater runoff per year.

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Buffet Foundation Donates $23.7 Million to Combat Rhino Pouching in South African National Park

While pouching has always been a problem on the African continent, over the last several years, the decimation of rhino populations in South Africa’s Kruger National Park has accelerated at a frightening rate, and conservation groups as well as investment institutions are stepping up efforts to help.

Protecting the African rhino. Photo courtesy of South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

SANParks (the South African National Parks system) reported last year a total of 1,004 rhinos were pouched in country, up from 668 pouched in 2012, and 448 pouched in 2011.

The rampant pouching is increasing, and the latest report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) found that, “This year alone, 172 rhinos have been poached since January with 113 of those occurring in the Kruger National Park.”

To add to the significance, “Kruger is currently home to over 40 percent of the world’s remaining 22,000 rhinos, the largest single population of rhinos in the world,” says SANParks.

In response to the worsening situation, authorities have continued stepping up their prevention efforts. SANParks reported that last year, the number of people arrested for rhino poaching-related offenses climbed to 343, with 133 of them in the Krugar National Park. Since the beginning of 2014, six alleged poachers have been arrested.

SANParks says that Kruger’s poaching problem is fueled mainly by illicit criminal networks in Mozambique, South Africa, and East Asia, but evidence suggests that armed groups elsewhere in Africa derive significant funding from poaching activities.”

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Over 50 Percent of U.S. Rivers Are In Poor Health, Says A Newly Released EPA Survey

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finally released the most recent data on the health of about 2,000 rivers and streams from across the country – and the results aren’t pretty.

The New River originates in Mexico and flows into the United States through Calexico, California. The river eventually meets up with the Salton Sea, a large inland sea. The New River is reported to be the most polluted river flowing into the U.S. from Mexico, says the California Report. Photo courtesy of the California Report.

States and tribes participated in the data collection, and found that 55 percent of the country’s rivers and streams are in poor condition based on their ability to support life.

The information was published in a collaborative survey report called the 2008-2009 National Rivers and Streams Assessment. The report looked at random samplings from river systems as large as the Mississippi River to as small as mountain headwater streams.

The report looked at how major stressors – both chemical and physical – are affecting these aquatic systems over time.

Chemical stress factors on the rivers and streams included excessive levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and mercury.

To begin with, the report showed that 28 percent of the country’s rivers and streams had excessive levels of nitrogen, and 40 percent had high levels of phosphorus.

Known as nutrient pollutants, the EPA explains that too much nitrogen and phosphorus in water can cause significant increases in algae that can harm water quality, food resources, habitats, and decrease the oxygen that fish and other aquatic life need to survive.

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