Via The Guardian
"The democratic ideal embodied by America’s national parks, national forests, and public lands stood in sharp contrast to my experiences in Switzerland where I grew up; so many of Europe’s forests and streams are owned by the powerful and locked behind fences or castle walls."
Via Hartford Courant
"Curt Johnson, executive director of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment and Save the Sound, said the plan to continue allowing commercial fishing makes no sense because the monument acts as a “fishery re-establishment zone” where fish populations can be revived without the pressures of human harvesting."
"In chapter after chapter, the report details how events such as heat waves in Alaska and intense droughts in parts of Africa probably would not have happened — or certainly wouldn't have been as severe — without the human activity fueling the warming of the planet. Numerous authors behind the report work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."
Via Huffington Post
"Climate Change is the defining challenge of our time. If we do not meet this challenge with resolve and strength, our planet will become inhospitable to human life. We will be a blip on the Earth’s timeline."
"Three former administrators of the agency responsible for the government’s vast weather forecasting system have serious concerns about the businessman President Trump has nominated to be its next leader, and two of them say the nominee has conflicts of interests that should disqualify him, documents and interviews show."
Via NRDC
"Any day now, President Trump’s Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, is going to propose a new draft program that will tell us which U.S. coasts are on the chopping block—to be opened up for the oil industry. At risk are the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico."
Via Global Trade
"The site is 100 miles west of the Alaska wildlife refuge, which a provision in the current Senate Republican tax bill would open for drilling. The executive branch doesn’t require congressional approval for Eni’s Arctic drilling, which could begin this month."
"On Twitter, Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the Interior Department, said Patagonia was disingenuous in its ad campaign.
“Patagonia Is Lying To You,” the committee's account wrote, using the same font the retailer had on its website. It continues: “A corporate giant hacking our public lands debate to sell more products to wealthy elitist urban dwellers from New York to San Francisco.”"
"The Environmental Protection Agency will not block its scientists from freely discussing their work in public, Administrator Scott Pruitt promised lawmakers this week, in the wake of a recent incident in which researchers were barred from presenting findings on climate change at a conference."
"Zinke’s final report comes a day after Trump signed proclamations in Utah that downsized two massive national monuments there — Bears Ears by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante by nearly 46 percent. The president had directed Zinke in April to review 27 national monuments established since 1996 under the Antiquities Act, which gives the president broad authority to safeguard federal lands and waters under threat."
