Environmental
Reports for OKALOOSA COUNTY 
Earth
View - A fascinating, real-time look at our
home from above...
December 04, 2000 -
EO-1:
It's not just a good idea, it's the law! - NASA
Science News,
NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite blasted off
last week with a payload of new instruments that could
revolutionize remote sensing. At first glance, last
week's launch of a Delta II rocket carrying the Earth
Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite into orbit seemed
routine. After all, NASA has plenty of Earth-watching
satellites. What's so special about this one? ...
January 19, 2001 -
Earth
Songs - NASA
Science News, If humans had radio antennas instead
of ears, we would hear a remarkable symphony of strange
noises coming from our own planet. Scientists call them
"tweeks," "whistlers" and "sferics."
They sound like background music from a flamboyant science
fiction film, but this is not science fiction. Earth's
natural radio emissions are real and, although we're mostly
unaware of them, they are around us all the time...
October
31, 2000 -
House would end live shark finning -
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted Monday to ban what
lawmakers called the "horrific" practice of
cutting off a shark's fin and throwing the fish back into
the sea to die. The bill, passed by voice vote, is aimed
mainly at Pacific Ocean fishermen in the highly profitable
business of supplying fins to Asian markets, where shark's
fin is regarded as a culinary delicacy and an aphrodisiac.
The bill now goes back to the Senate for a final vote before
being sent to President Clinton for his signature. The
Commerce Department took administrative action in 1993 to
halt finning in Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico
waters after it became apparent the practice was reducing
shark populations. Finning primarily involves ocean blue
sharks unintentionally caught each year with tuna and
swordfish. The sharks, which grow to about 13 feet and 400
pounds, are hauled aboard, their fins are sliced off and the
sometimes still-living fish are dumped back into the sea.
There they are eaten, bleed to death or drown.
October
30, 2000 -
Dam resolution gets bitter reaction -
SEATTLE (AP) - Dam politicians. Environmentalists have
wanted to punch holes in four Snake River dams for years to
aid endangered salmon. The issue has been a lightning rod
for politicos, including Al Gore and George W. Bush, and in
August, Seattle's green-leaning City Council weighed in,
though the dams are hundreds of miles away. Hey, Eastern
Washington, a council resolution said, it's time to haul
down those dams. The people of Eastern Washington took the
suggestion like a hook in the cheek. At least 11 outraged
communities and two counties passed resolutions or sent
letters opposing it. Now, it's become a bitter campaign
issue. U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton and Rep. George Nethercutt,
both Republicans, are fighting off their challengers by
accusing them of being from Seattle, where people want to
destroy the dams. Both challengers deny they're anti-dam.
October
27, 2000 -
Update: Pollution adds to global warming
- WASHINGTON (AP) - The past five years has produced still
stronger evidence that human activities are influencing
climate and that the earth is likely to get hotter than
previously predicted, a U.N. panel of climate scientists
says. The conclusions by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, the most authoritative scientific voice on
global warming, is expected to unleash new controversy as
scientists and governments debate the earth's climate in the
coming decade. It is the first full-scale review and update
of the state of climate science by the IPCC panel since 1995
when the same group concluded there is "a discernible
human influence" on the earth's climate - the so-called
"greenhouse" effect caused by the buildup of
heat-trapping chemicals in the atmosphere.
October
27, 2000 -
Uganda reports new cases of Ebola -
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - The number of people infected with
the deadly Ebola virus in northern Uganda has risen by seven
to 182, but no deaths have been reported in the past 24
hours, a health official said Thursday. The death toll from
the outbreak remained unchanged at 63, Francis Omaswa,
director general of Uganda's medical services, said in a
brief statement. All confirmed cases have been confined to
the Gulu region, 225 miles north of Kampala, according to
local and international health officials. Experts from the
World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and Doctors without Borders are in
Gulu helping Ugandan authorities try to contain the disease.
October
27, 2000 -
USDA issues biotech crop report -
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government says it has traced all but
1.2 million bushels of the unapproved biotech corn that was
grown this year and that only a fraction of the grain is
likely to get into the food supply. The unaccounted for
grain represents 1.5% of the 80 million bushels of StarLink
corn grown this year. The Agriculture Department has been
trying to track down the grain since late September, when
StarLink from last year's harvest was discovered in major
brands of taco shells. The corn, which is genetically
engineered to be toxic to insect pests, was never approved
for human consumption. The Environmental Protection Agency,
which regulates the crop, has been asked to grant temporary
food-use approval for the corn to prevent further recalls or
shutdowns of processing plants.
Archive
of Environmental News - January
2001