The US’s largest private water utility company has joined a federal lawsuit that aims to force the manufacturer of atrazine, a widely-used herbicide, to pay for its removal from drinking water. Communities are alleging that Swiss corporation Syngenta AG and its Delaware counterpart Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. made billions of dollars selling atrazine while local taxpayers were left “the ever-growing bill for filtering the toxic product from the public’s drinking water.” A Syngenta spokesman simply states that “the EPA re-registered atrazine in 2006, stating it would cause no harm to the general population.” [Call that a defense?]

Coke Plant Dries up Watertable

10 years ago a Coca-Cola bottling plant opened up in the already semi-arid and Kala Dera, in Rajasthan and, critics say, exploited the existing water supplies to such an extent that the surrounding farmland dried up. Their claims are supported by studies by India’s Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), which found that the water table in Kala Dera has fallen by 22.36 metres since the factory opened, including by six metres between 2007 and 2008 alone.

Loss of the Aral Sea

Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the sea has shrunk by 90% since the rivers that feed it were largely diverted in a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region. The shrunken sea has ruined the once-robust fishing economy, and the sea's evaporation has left layers of highly salted sand, which winds can carry as far away as Scandinavia and Japan, and which plague local people with health troubles. [It's nearly impossible to comprehend the scale of this]

Identifying Frogs

Australia is home to 216 native frog species. Australian frogs have adapted to many different habitats from the rainforests of tropical Queensland and deserts of central Australia to the Southern Alps. The Frogs Australia Network provides a comprehensive website resource for identifying frogs, and much more. Frogs are a wonderful bio-indicator of environmental health, and being able to ID them also helps ensure they are not confused with the cane toad and killed needlessly.

China Aims to Clean Up Its Agriculture

Two important national surveys in China have put food and agriculture under the spotlight. The Chinese government announced it would spend more than 818 billion Yuan (US$119.8 billion) towards agriculture during 2010, an increase of over 93 billion Yuan on the previous year. China’s food security is precarious, as it uses only 7% of the world’s land to feed 22% of world population. China is in a good position to set asustainable example for the rest of the world. China has been promoting the circular or recycling economy for some time, and enacted the Circular Economy Promotion Law in 2008, and anaerobic digestion is a key technology in the recycling economy, as it recycles organic wastes efficiently into food and energy resources.

China's Worst Drought in 50 Years

According to the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, the droughts in northern China have affected about 145 million mu (9.67 million hectares) of crops, and have left 3.7 million people and 1.85 million livestock with poor access to drinking water. [The scale of this is mindboggling, but perhaps more concerning is the global implications economically - food prices etc - when combined with crop failures in India too, alarm bells should surely start ringing]

To Thin or Not To Thin Brigalow

Opinions on brigalow forest management occupy two ends of the spectrum: landholders want it cleared, conservationists want it left. A new study argues that the best environmental result may be somewhere in the middle. According to research conducted near Millmerran, Qld, when nearly two-thirds of brigalow regrowth stem numbers are manually thinned out, the result is greater biodiversity and possibly faster carbon sequestration.

Equity Partners in Agriculture

High land prices and the complexities surrounding succession planning are giving rise to a new agricultural investment model, which brings with it all the professionalism of corporate farming but capitalises on the dedication and drive of the family farmer. This new investment trend, known as equity partnerships, is helping bring together new money with established farming expertise. [But, of course, there is the underlying assumption that such enterprises can be or will be profitable to attract the equity in the first place...and perhaps the fact that funds making their way into agribusiness is decreasing highlights that this is in fact a problem]

Food that Doesn't Compost

McDonald's announced this morning that it would discontinue plans for a worldwide composting initiative after scientists confirmed that no item on the McDonald's menu is compostable. "It would have been great for McDonald's to lead the way on corporate composting...We had to make a tough decision, but in the end I think we made the right one for us and for the environment." [Curiously the article doesn't even start to question the effect such food might have on human health - remembering that all our food is broken down by microbes in our stomachs!]

Sweeter Tomatoes?

Israeli and American scientists have developed a sweet and plentiful variety of tomato, which may cater to consumer demand for natural products. The key to the high yield, extra tasty tomatoes is one gene that produces a protein called florigen, which reportedly controls when the plant stops making leaves and starts making flowers and subsequently fruit. But it's also been reported that growing regular tomatoes in a mulch of hairy vetch activates the same flavour and nutrition-boosting genes and metabolic pathways as in transgenic tomatoes!

Deceptive Labelling

A review of Australian and New Zealand food-labelling laws is expected to expose misleading labelling of common processed food items. Among measures being considered are a crackdown on descriptions such as ''lite'' and ''natural'', and a ban on deceptive health claims, or burying negative information in fine print. The review, launched last October, is looking at a range of other issues including labels for country of origin, genetically modified foods and nanotechnology. [Did you know that a crispy Caesar salad bought at McDonald's contains almost as many kilojoules as a Big Mac?]

A School For Future GM Regulators

In Burkina Faso, a school for the future regulators of Africa's genetically modified (GM) crops is opening up next month. The school, called the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), has been set up by the African Union and is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The operators are careful to point out that this is an "Africa-based, Africa-owned and Africa-led" initiative. [But of course, silly to think multinationals and outside monies had anything to do with it. What an irritating article!]

Enviropig

A genetically engineered pig recently approved for limited production in Canada makes urine and feces that contain up to 65% less phosphorous, officials have announced. Dubbed Enviropig, the genetically altered animal cleared a major hurdle last month, when the government-run Environment Canada approved the animal for production in controlled research settings.

Livestock Are Not Such Big Carbon Emitters

One of the authors of the 2006 UN report claiming meat production is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than transportation, is acknowledging that the comparison is flawed in light of recent research by an US scientist, the BBC reported. "I must say honestly that he has a point — we factored in everything for meat emissions, and we didn't do the same thing with transport."

A Superstorm for Global Warming Research

"Scientists should never be as wedded to their thoeories that they are no longer capable of refuting them in the light of new findings.". Scientific research is all about results, not beliefs. Unfortunately, there are more and more scientists who want to be politicians. [This is a comprehensive behind the scenes look at where global warming research is now after all the dramas of Climategate. It does an amazing job of analysing many of the predictions, and interestingly many that put more blame on environmental changes than specifically climactic changes. This is a brilliantly written article].

Environmental Damage Surrounding 2014 Olympics

Work for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the ecologically fragile Mzymta River valley is so aggressive that last month Russian environmentalists withdrew from the project in disgust, accusing Moscow of breaking its own laws and permanently trashing a rare and pristine wilderness. But on top of that are real security concerns given Sochi's, the host town, position between many fractious ex-Soviet states.

Toxic Shadow on Solar Panels

Among other environmental black marks, the process of manufacturing photovoltaic (PV) cells from silicon relies on a dangerous pyrophoric gas - silane, a gas made up of silicon and hydrogen that explodes on contact with air that has already killed workers, though there is an safer alternative.

Urban Bike Scheme

Officials in Mexico's capital have parked bikes in key areas and, for a fee, made them available to commuters in hopes of making a dent in the city's aggressive car culture and improving the air. Planners hope that by saturating certain Mexico City neighborhoods with the three-speed bikes, they can persuade residents to consider making cycling at least part of their daily commute.

Mopping Up Nuclear Waste

Cesium-137 is among the most dangerous radioactive isotopes. A remnant from nuclear weapons testing and nuclear power plants, cesium-137 is believed to be the main source of radiation still present from the notorious Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in 1986 in Ukraine. Two researchersbelieve they have created a chemical trap for cesium-137 which could make clearing it from toxic sites immensely easier.

Schapelle Corby Update

I did not manage to form an opinion either way on the Schapelle Corby case back when it all happened, but do find these stories compelling. There are certainly a stack of injustices surrounding her case, and perhaps from a humanity point of view, her recent and secret transfer from a Bali jail to a remote Javanese jail is worrying.