By Amy Elliot and Amanda Painter

Monday was the maiden voyage of the U.K.’s first Bio-Bus, otherwise known as the “Poo Bus” due to the nature of its fuel, The Guardian reported Nov. 20. [Please note the discrepancy between the date reported by The Guardian and the date and time listed on the Bath Bus Company’s website, which has been used to cast the chart.]

The bus is powered by biomethane gas, formed from treated sewage and food waste; one tank, which requires the annual waste of about five people to generate, lasts up to 186 miles.

The gas is produced by energy company GENeco, whose general manager Mohammed Saddiq told the newspaper: “Gas-powered vehicles have an important role to play in improving air quality in U.K. cities but the Bio-Bus goes further than that and is actually powered by people living in the local area.”

The bus’s first trip, scheduled for 8:00 am GMT (local time), certainly fits the bill with the Sun, ascendant, Venus, Ceres, Pholus, the Moon, Vesta and the Part of Fortune all in Sagittarius, which rules travel. All but the Sun are in the 1st house, which Eric has described as “The Continuing Story of I Am Becoming” — and alternative, green fuels do seem to be central to public transportation’s continuing story.

Sagittarius is a fire sign — fitting for a chart about something being burned, and especially a fuel designed with the ‘big picture’ of the overall health of the planet in mind. Fire is also present in the form of a grand fire trine linking the Sagittarius planets with those in Aries and Leo. This grand trine not only reinforces the theme of a gas being burned, but also emphasizes the cyclical nature of biomethane gas: we eat, we shit, it gets used to power our transportation to jobs so we can afford to eat…and so on.

Since this is a transportation story, a quick look at Mercury shows it conjoining Saturn in Scorpio in the 12th. Not only is this story about a new transportation fuel ‘structure’, but it involves a transformation of waste into something of value (deep transformation being a Scorpio theme).

The Bio-Bus brings into a collective use the results of our least-public bodily functions — the ones we tend to relegate to the background, the shadows, the category of ‘unmentionable in polite conversation.’

Eric has described the 12th as, “the end of the story or the time before the beginning.” It’s the perfect description of sewage and compost, if you think about it. Although being the 12th house and all, most people riding this bus probably won’t.

Fukushima ‘Hot Spots’: Authorities Dilute Contamination Readings

Radioactive “hot spots” from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster may still pose a health threat to residents of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan, according to findings from a recent radiation monitoring survey conducted by Greenpeace in October, Aljazeera reported Nov. 13.

Hot spots, which exceed the Ministry of Environment’s long-term target of 0.23 microsieverts per hour, were discovered 60 kilometers from the disaster site and included roads within areas where evacuation advisories have been lifted.

In light of the findings, Greenpeace claims that authorities have underestimated the contamination and health risks for residents and will attempt to persuade local governments to cease lobbying efforts for the restart of nuclear reactors in their districts.

An article at the Fukuleaks website further describes the situation:

“The government has avoided dealing with the unsafe levels and hot spots by taking an average of multiple readings to declare a location ‘safe’. This same tactic is frequently used in contaminated food and radioactive water where the offending reading or item is diluted with other readings or items to make the offending item read under set safety levels. This tactic has also been used by UNSCEAR to declare the health damage from Fukushima Daiichi to be non existent by diluting those exposed into the entire population of Japan.”

Fukushima Radiation Detected Off California Coast

Water samples collected by a crowd-funded monitoring project have detected trace amounts of radioactivity from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster off the coast of Northern California, 100 miles west of Eureka, USA Today reported Nov. 14.

Small amounts of cesium-134, a radioactive isotope linked directly to the Fukushima fallout, were 1,000 times below the acceptable limit for drinking water set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“The models predict cesium levels to increase over the next two to three years, but do a poor job describing how much more dilution will take place and where those waters will reach the shoreline first,” said Ken Buesseler, senior scientist and nuclear chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Since there are no federal government agencies monitoring the radioactive fallout from Fukushima off the U.S. West Coast (surprise!), Buesseler started the crowd-funded project (called Our Radioactive Ocean) to collect samples along the west coast of North America. These findings reveal cesium-134 levels that are relatively low and considered harmless to humans and marine life, according to scientists.

Cesium-134 is a fingerprint of Fukushima since it does not occur naturally in nature and is produced only by nuclear weapons and reactors. Its half-life is about two years, which actually makes it less of a concern compared to cesium-137, which has been bio-accumulating for decades thanks to a half-life of 30 years. cesium-137 is plentiful in the ocean thanks to the Cold War’s nuclear weapons testing programs.

According Buesseler, cesium-134 does not bio-accumulate like other toxins. Due to its short half-life, the cesium-134 from nuclear weapons testing is no longer present — in other words, its presence off the coast of Northern California indicates it originated from Fukushima.

On a Move: Central Asian Migratory Species

Large migratory mammals of Central Asia got a helping hand earlier this month, as the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species, at their 11th meeting in Quito, Ecuador, agreed to adopt an initiative to protect wildlife in the region from increasing development threats, ScienceDaily reported Nov. 7.

Linear infrastructure — roads, fences and other structures that support development — create barriers to 15 species considered by the initiative. The initiative’s first step is to create guidelines that offer development alternatives to governments and industry.

More than a million Mongolian gazelle are among the species that travel in massive numbers across this region of deserts, grasslands and mountains.

“A single Mongolian gazelle can use over 25,000 square kilometers,” said Peter Zahler, co-author of the guidelines and Asia Program Deputy Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society. “Keeping these enormous Central Asian landscapes intact and fully functional will be the key to protecting these globally significant wildlife species.”

Study Links Pesticide Use to Depression, Suicide

Farmers who use specific pesticides may be at greater risk of depression and suicide, according to a study featured in Scientific American on Oct. 6.

The research, which took place over 20 years, showed that fumigants and organochlorine insecticides were associated with increased depression risks of 80 percent and 90 percent, respectively. It also found that low-level exposure over time was an additional danger.

Epidemiologist Freya Kamel, one of the authors, explained the study’s results were corroborated by a variety of other data. “I don’t think there’s any question that pesticides can affect the functions of the brain.”

The research did not clarify exactly how the chemicals cause mental health problems.

Canadian Court Rules Landowner Can Sue Over Fracking Effects

Landowner and campaigner Jessica Ernst is free to sue the provincial government of Alberta, Canada, over the effects of fracking (hydraulic fracturing) on her property, the Huffington Post reported Wednesday.

The judge’s ruling follows a series of legal battles involving energy corporation Encana that Ernst began in 2007.

Ernst claims that since the fracking commenced, hazardous levels of chemicals have contaminated her well, to the extent that she can ignite the methane-laced water; she also asserts that her concerns had not been properly addressed.

“The message is to the Alberta government,” Ernst says. “Smarten up and clean up your act.”

The province unsuccessfully argued that it was immune from prosecution and did not have a private duty of care to individuals.

Editor: Amanda Painter. Additional Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves Monsanto Eco is produced by a team consisting of Amy Elliott, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick and Chad Woodward.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, claims to have successfully removed all 1,331 spent fuel assemblies from the badly damaged fuel pool in the Unit 4 reactor, Reuters reported Nov. 5. The fuel pool was damaged by the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, but is not one of the three reactors that sustained a nuclear meltdown.

According to TEPCO, only 180 unused fuel assemblies remain, awaiting transport to the Unit 6 reactor.

Planet Waves first reported on this undertaking in the November 2013 article Notes From Downwind.

The removal of the unused fuel assemblies is considered less dangerous than the spent fuel since it has not been irradiated in a reactor. TEPCO began the precarious process of removing the assemblies from Unit 4 in November 2013.

Almost 1,400 fuel assemblies must still be transferred from three reactors that experienced meltdowns during the disaster.

Although a quick look at the chart for the earthquake that led to the nuclear disaster does not render any big, obvious correlations, it’s worth noting that Planet Waves recently described the entrance of Mars into the Uranus-Pluto square as a ‘sign of the times’. Dare we hope that the successful removal of the spent fuel rods is one of those signs?

In less encouraging (but also less threatening on a massive scale) news, three workers sustained injuries last Friday at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after steel construction materials collapsed on them, Agence France-Presse reported Nov. 7. The three men were constructing a 13-meter-high tank for the storage of contaminated water used to cool the reactors.

One worker, knocked temporarily unconscious, was transported to hospital via helicopter and remains in critical condition. A second worker suffered what appeared to be a broken leg while the third evaded serious injury and was able to walk unassisted after the accident.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the plant, has been hurrying to construct hundreds of new tanks for water storage.

From the initial earthquake and tsunami (and the resulting fires) that damaged the Fukushima plant, to the problem of seeping groundwater carrying leaked radiation from the holding pools into the sea, water has presented dangerous surprises and ongoing problems. As Planet Waves reported at the time, the earthquake struck just hours before Uranus made its final move from the last degree of Pisces (a water sign) into Aries (a fire sign), on its way to square Pluto.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Despite lacking the cuddly reputations enjoyed by most mammals, reptiles and amphibians are still integral members of the planet’s ecosystems. And according to a study published in PLOS ONE and reported in Science Daily Oct. 28, the highly specialized Galapagos Islands ecosystem can now boast the recovery of endangered giant tortoises on the island of Espanola.

Feral goats brought to the island in the 19th century had ravaged the tortoises’ food sources.

The goats have since been eradicated, and 40 years ago captive-bred tortoises were re-introduced by the Galapagos National Park Service.

“The global population was down to just 15 tortoises by the 1960s,” said James P. Gibbs, a professor of vertebrate conservation biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and lead author of the study. “Now there are some 1,000 tortoises breeding on their own. The population is secure. It’s a rare example of how biologists and managers can collaborate to recover a species from the brink of extinction.”

Meanwhile along the Mid-Atlantic coast of the U.S., biologists have confirmed the existence of a new species of leopard frog, reported Science Daily Oct. 29. Ecologist Carl Kauffeld first described the frog in a 1937 paper, but lacked the technology to prove it was in fact distinct from two similar species in the New York / New Jersey region.

Forty years after Kauffeld’s death and nearly 80 years since his paper, Rutgers doctoral candidate Jeremy Feinberg and a team of scientists have confirmed that Feinberg came across the frog six years ago in the marshes of Staten Island, not far from the Statue of Liberty. Unlike Kauffeld, Feinberg and his team had the benefit of genetic testing and bioacoustic analysis — plus volunteers from Connecticut to North Carolina, some with the North American Amphibian Monitoring Project, collected key data.

“If there is a single lesson to take from this study, it’s that those who love nature and want to conserve it need to shut down their computers, get outside and study the plants and animals in their own backyards,” said co-author Brad Shaffer, professor in UCLA’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Fittingly, Feinberg and his team have named the frog, which has been hiding in plain sight in New York City and across eight states, after Kauffeld: Rana kauffeldi. But you just call it the Atlantic Coast Leopard Frog.

Deforestation Debilitates the Amazon — and Global Climate

Meanwhile the Amazon rainforest, which is home to more than 400 frog species, may be losing its ability to benefit the climate, The Guardian reported Friday. The study, by a leading expert in Brazil, suggests the cumulative effect of deforestation has possibly caused worsening droughts; the forest had helped to channel water inland.

The author, Antonio Nobre, said, “Studies more than 20 years ago predicted what is happening with lowering rainfall. Amazon deforestation is altering climate. It is no longer about models. It is about observation.”

Nobre is calling for the government to immediately increase efforts to halt deforestation and to replant trees. Recent satellite data, however, indicate an increase in deforestation activities, despite a downward trend dating to 2009. At this point, a burgeoning agribusiness lobby is making it harder to push through legislation that would create forest reserves.

“They have taken good action in the past,” says Nobre. “I hope they will listen now.”

One of the factors contributing to Brazil’s deforestation is its dependence on hydroelectric power generated within the Amazon Basin, which requires trees to be cleared for power lines and other infrastructure.

Maybe When It’s Dark We’ll See What’s Wrong?

Brazil is not the only area where dependence on electricity is problematic, and in fact blackouts are likely to become more commonplace worldwide in the near future as a result of the demand/supply imbalance, according to a new study published in Phys.org on Oct. 28.

The research, conducted by experts in architecture and sociology at the U.K.’s University of Lincoln, concluded that people are currently too dependent on electrical power, and noted that spare capacity for spikes in demand is being used up fast, with power usage still increasing sharply.

Sociologist Steve Matthewman further explained that privatization and resulting neglect of infrastructure are liable to lead to worldwide issues: “Single corporations can put their own interests ahead of the shared grid, and spare capacity is reduced in the name of cost saving.”

Nuclear Fuel Chemical Leak Under Investigation

In response to a leak of uranium hexafluoride on Oct. 26 at a uranium conversion facility near Metropolis, Illinois, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has launched an investigation, reported Reuters Oct. 28.

Uranium hexafluoride, also known at UF6, is a radioactive substance that becomes chemically toxic when released into the air.

The facility in question, operated by Honeywell International Inc., converts raw uranium into a nuclear fuel precursor using a chemical process; that fuel can then be used by nuclear reactors as well as nuclear weapons.

“At this point we’re still in a fact-finding mode,” said Roger Hannah, an NRC spokesman.

“We haven’t come to any conclusions about whether processes weren’t followed.”

Honeywell confirmed last week that equipment failure was the cause of the release. The facility will remain closed pending the investigation outcome.

Some reports claim this “equipment failure” is linked to a labor dispute in which 135 union workers have been locked out of the facility following their contract’s expiration, leaving less experienced workers (namely “[college-aged] students and interns training to be engineers,” according to one resident) to operate the plant.

Depleted Uranium Use in Iraq Labeled Genocide

Use of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq by the U.S. and the U.K., beginning with the first Gulf War in 1991, has caused such severe effects that some are calling for it to be labeled genocide, according to Truthout reporter Dahr Jamail on Oct. 14. Depleted uranium is generally a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium for use in nuclear reactors and in the manufacture of nuclear weapons (see immediately previous item).

Illnesses resulting from the attacks include new organ diseases not previously seen in the region, immune system deterioration, congenital birth defects, miscarriages, cancers and kidney failure. Lack of documentation may mean that known cases are underestimates.

Oncologist Dr Jawad Al-Ali said, “Iraqi people were victims of the aggression inflicted by the use of DU munitions by the American and British troops during these wars, and this is genocide.”

Almost 10,000 rounds were used in the 2003 invasion. In response to the health crisis, Iraq recently called for a global treaty ban to all DU munitions.

The Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, on behalf of itself and Iraq Veterans Against the War, submitted in September a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Department of Defense and the State Department, requesting the firing coordinates of the DU weapons used in Iraq.

Smile (or Not) — You’re on Candid Nuclear Plant Camera

Leaked photographs published by The Ecologist Oct. 27 reveal a potentially dangerous situation at Sellafield, a nuclear reprocessing site in Cumbria, England.

“Looking at the photos I am very disturbed at the degraded and run down condition of the structures and support services. There is a significant risk that the system could fail,” nuclear expert John Large told The Ecologist.

The photographs, taken over a period of seven years and submitted by an anonymous source, show the dilapidated state of high-level nuclear storage ponds at the site that was abandoned almost 40 years ago. The exposed, open-air storage ponds, packed with spent fuel, are currently undergoing a lengthy decommissioning process.

And From the David vs. Goliath Files:

Organic farmer and senior U.S. senator from Montana Jon Tester has succeeded in getting the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) to look into the process by which the USDA and FDA have authorized genetically modified (GMO) crops, according to an Oct. 28 story by the Alliance for Natural Health.

Politico news service notes that in a 2013 letter to the GAO, Senator Tester asked government auditors to evaluate whether the “FDA has sufficient data to ensure the safety of genetically engineered foods,” as well as other issues such as cross-pollination of conventional crops and the impact GMO products have on U.S. trade relationships with nations that ban the import of genetically altered food.

Tester reportedly argues in the letter that the Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology, which serves as the basis for regulating and approving genetically modified crops, has not been updated sufficiently over the last 30 years to guide lawmakers in assessing the latest developments in agricultural science.

Sounds like it’s well past time to bring the Coordinated Framework (and much else) up to speed.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter and the ECO editorial team

You may forward Planet Waves Monsanto Eco to your friends. They can sign up for this free environmental newsletter from Planet Waves. View this edition as a webpage.

Planet Waves Monsanto Eco (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday evening in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Editor: Amanda Painter. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves Monsanto Eco is produced by a team consisting of Amy Elliott, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick and Chad Woodward.

You can sign up for this free environmental newsletter from Planet Waves to be delivered to your inbox each Tuesday evening.

Dear Friend and Reader:

You’re probably aware that the discrepancy between the number of people on this planet who do not have enough to eat and the amount of food wasted annually is obscene; according to the United Nations, 1.3 billion tons of food is thrown away each year. In response, tech innovators are developing ways to facilitate getting ‘unwanted’ food to those in need.

NPR’s Marketplace Morning Report profiled long-haul trucker Richard Gordon and his brother Roger Gordon on Monday. For 30 years Richard has trucked food up and down the East Coast; sometimes a shipment — say, of eggplant — would be rejected for superficial reasons.

“They say it should be dark or it should be purple. I’m not really sure what color eggplant is supposed to be, but a lot of times, eggplant is refused because it’s not the color they want,” Richard explained to NPR’s Sasa Woodruff.

“Or you might get a load of potatoes with too many eyes in it or too many curves and they reject it for that reason.”

When that would happen, he’d call his brother Roger to see if he could find a place that would accept the produce as a donation.

Eventually Roger decided to try taking the middleman out of the equation, and two years ago he launched a web and app service called Food Cowboy. It connects truckers with food charities and other entities along the commercial food chain. Those accepting the food pay 10 cents per pound; suppliers write off the donation on their taxes.

Rejected or excess perishable food needs to get to someone who can use it quickly, so it’s no surprise that food-rescue apps are being developed all over the U.S. to serve local communities (and elsewhere, including on the scale of individual households in the U.K.). Among those mentioned in the NPR story are PareUp in New York and CropMobster in California, and one called Spoiler Alert being launched in Massachusetts later this month by two MIT students.

“We have a lot of problems in this country, a lot of really complicated problems, but hunger and food waste shouldn’t be one of them,” says Roger Gordon. “We have enough food to feed every hungry person in America, wholesome food, every day.”

Fishing For an Answer? Clean Up the River

Unfortunately, not everything grown or caught in the U.S. counts as ‘healthy food’. For example, eating fish caught in the Lower Columbia River in Oregon may be hazardous to your health, according to a Sept. 29 article in The Oregonian — and sadly that’s the case in many places.

Environmental organization Columbia Riverkeeper recently tested both migratory and resident (non-migratory) fish species, including steelhead, shad, walleye and carp. Although none of the migratory species contained contaminants above current consumption guidelines, resident fish did — including a walleye with PCB levels 175 times the limit set by the Environmetal Protection Agency (EPA) for “unrestricted consumption.”

PCBs, highly carcinogenic industrial chemicals, were banned in 1979 — demonstrating how persistent bio-accumulative toxins are, as they concentrate up the food chain rather than dispersing. (As Planet Waves reported Aug. 19, the U.S. Army Crops of Engineers finally confessed to its role in polluting the Columbia River through its dam construction.)

The sampled fish were obtained from local fishermen who planned to eat the fish in question.

“Fish advisories are not enough. We have to clean up the river,” said Lorri Epstein, Riverkeeper’s water quality director. “You can keep issuing advisories, but people are going to keep eating fish,” often for economic or cultural reasons.

GMO Soy Found in Infant Formula

Laboratory testing of infant formula purchased in Portland, Oregon, earlier this month revealed two products containing genetically modified soy engineered to withstand heavy pesticide spraying, reported The Statesman Journal Oct. 24. 

The tests, coordinated between The Center for Food Safety and retired EPA scientist and former professor at Oregon State University Dr. Ray Seidler, discovered the GMO soy in two infant formula brands: Similac Soy Isomil and Engamil Prosobee Powder Soy Infant Formula.

“Everything we know from the recent medical literature suggests we should be doing everything possible to reduce infant exposure to chemicals,” said Seidler.

Both products contained soy engineered for resistance to Monsanto’s glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide) and Bayer Crop Science’s glufosinate. Glufosinate has been found toxic to reproduction and was banned by the European Parliament in 2009.

Lawsuits Filed Against EPA’s Enlist Duo Herbicide

Several U.S. farmer and ecological groups are fighting back, via two lawsuits, against the EPA’s approval last week of Dow AgroScience’s latest herbicide concoction, Enlist Duo, Reuters reported Oct. 23. (See coverage last week by Planet Waves.)

One lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California, seeking to overturn the EPA’s regulatory consent. The groups argue that the EPA did not adequately assess the human health impacts of 2,4-D, a component of Enlist Duo, before green-lighting the herbicide on Oct. 15.

“This was a rubber stamp. They acted illegally in approving this,” said Andrew Kimbrell, an attorney with the Center for Food Safety and a plaintiff in the case.

A second lawsuit, filed Oct. 15 by the Natural Resources Defense Council in the Washington, D.C. Circuit court, alleges depletion of monarch butterfly populations primarily due to glyphosate, and claims the EPA underestimated the toxicity of 2,4-D for people.

“Because of its documented impacts on the thyroid, a critical organ for brain development, infants and children are at especially high risk from adverse impacts of 2,4-D exposure,” said Kristi Pullen, an NRDC staff scientist.

The two chemicals have been combined in Enlist Duo to battle the rise of so-called superweeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate. Milkweed, the only food that monarch butterfly larvae eat, has not developed resistance.

Note: you can listen to an Oct. 16 interview Posted by WWGF News to YouTube about
the EPA’s approval of Enlist Duo featuring Planet Waves’ own Carol Van Strum and Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides. The full interview includes other guests — or you can listen to a 12-minute excerpt in which Carol focuses on what individuals angry about the EPA’s decision can do.

…And a Breath of Fresh Air

For one 2-hour period last week, wind turbines out-produced nuclear plants in the U.K., the BBC reported Oct. 21. A combination of high winds and several offline nuclear reactors meant that wind made up 14.2% of all power generation and nuclear provided 13.2%.

Although the milestone was temporary and wind power is controversial amongst environmentalists, those who see nuclear’s long-term waste problem and potential for runaway disaster as bigger evils may take heart. However, until inexpensive storage technology is developed to make up for significant periods of negligible wind, the country will continue to rely heavily on nuclear and fossil fuels.

Not helping matters, notorious former U.K. environment secretary Owen Paterson is calling for a new generation of mini nuclear plants across the country — as though their meltdowns would be less radioactive.

Counters Jennifer Webber, spokeswoman for trade body RenewableUK, “Wind power is often used as a convenient whipping boy by political opponents and vested interests.” She adds, “All the while, it’s been quietly powering millions of homes across the U.K. and providing a robust response to its vocal detractors.”

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter and the ECO editorial team

You may forward Planet Waves Monsanto Eco to your friends. They can sign up for this free environmental newsletter from Planet Waves. View this edition as a webpage.

Planet Waves Monsanto Eco (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday evening in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Editor: Amanda Painter. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves Monsanto Eco is produced by a team consisting of Amy Elliott, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick and Chad Woodward.

Last month the governments of Nepal and India, in cooperation with the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), released a report showing that tigers are using forested corridors to pass between protected areas across the boundary between the two countries, reported The Times of India. The report, titled “Tigers of the Trans-boundary Terai Arc Landscape,” details wild tigers and their prey as they move between Nepal and India.

Camera traps — cameras that have been set to automatically take a picture when a large animal moves by — documented 239 individual adult tigers across an area of more than 2,000 square miles, from November 2012 through June 2013. Called “landscape level conservation,” the corridors provide critical links between protected areas, since wildlife do not observe lines drawn on maps.

The study’s results were shared at the second Stocktaking Conference of The Global Tiger Recovery Program, hosted by Bangladesh and attended by 140 tiger experts from 20 countries. These tiger-range countries are involved in “TX2,” an initiative with the goal of doubling tiger populations by 2022.

Said Dr. Barney Long, director of WWF’s Species Conservation Program, “it shows that we must think and act beyond just islands of protected areas for tigers to truly thrive and have the space to double in number,” adding, “landscape level conservation can result in dramatic recoveries for wild tigers.”

Priorities for the next two years set at the Stocktaking Conference include: “professionalizing and investing in frontline staff, national tiger monitoring and assessment in all tiger habitats by 2016, improved transboundary collaboration and expanded capacity to tackle human-tiger conflict,” according to the WWF.

‘Citizen Scientists’ and Snow Leopard Conservation

In another ground-level conservation effort centered on big cats, WWF-Mongolia has trained eight local herders to conduct snow leopard surveys, and to use and maintain automated camera traps for monitoring the animals, the WWF reported in July.

The idea is that by involving the residents who know the area’s harsh mountains best, they not only become more deeply invested in protecting the rare cats, but the WWF can help develop methods to reduce livestock kills.

“We never hunt the snow leopard, even if they attack our livestock,” said Byambatsooj, a Mongolian herder and ‘citizen scientist’.

He adds, “We are very happy for the involvement of local herder communities in this action. We are all obliged to care for and safeguard the camera traps placed on the mountain.”

Far less is known about snow leopards than any other big cats, due to their elusive nature and inhospitable home.

Vultures Rebounding in India

South Asian vultures in India are making a comeback after facing extinction a decade ago, according to a study published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, reported Bird Life International Oct. 14.

Since India banned the veterinary drug diclofenac in 2006, which is used to treat livestock, vulture populations are showing signs of recovery. Planet Waves reported last month on a related campaign to prevent similar decimation of vulture populations in Europe after diclofenac was approved for commercial use in Italy and Spain.

“We’ve come so far and this is turning into one of the biggest conservation success stories ever,” said Dr. Toby Galligan, conservation scientist and co-author of the study.

While experts claim that six percent of livestock carcasses are still contaminated with the drug, the number of contaminated carcasses has been reduced by half since the ban.

The Bad News: EPA Approves Dow’s Enlist Duo Herbicide

Following the approval of Dow AgroScience’s GMO corn and soybeans last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Reuters reported Oct. 15 that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has given final approval for Dow’s Enlist Duo herbicide (containing the Agent Orange ingredient 2,4-D, and glyphosate), which the new GMO crops were engineered to resist. (See Sept. 30 coverage by Planet Waves here.)

The EPA’s approval comes with new restrictions in an attempt to prevent weed resistance — including a paltry 30-foot “no-spray” buffer zone, banning use when wind speeds exceed 15 mph, and limiting its use to ground applications only.

The restrictions, however, miss some important points. Planet Waves researcher Carol Van Strum points out that the EPA approved this combination without any testing for the effects or synergistic impacts of the two chemicals combined (and no testing of the false-named ‘inert’ ingredients, which can be even more toxic than the ‘active’ ones and also react synergistically with them and with each other).

‘Inert’ does not mean chemically inert, but rather that a chemical does not act toward the stated purpose of the ‘active’ ingredients.

It’s also worth noting that, as Van Strum writes, “the EPA’s decision is based on a risk assessment that assumes that a certain number of deaths — adults and children — are ‘negligible’ and therefore ‘acceptable.’ Ask yourself whether your own cancer or your own child’s birth defects are ‘negligible.'”

Or, as Andrew Kimbrell, executive director for Center for Food Safety, put it: “EPA has turned its back on those it purports to protect — the American people and our environment.”

China Announces Logging Ban in Main State-Owned Forests

China has decided to try banning commercial logging in state-owned forests in the province of Heilongjiang, which borders Russia and provides much of the country’s timber, The Guardian reported Oct. 17. The move is designed to help timber supplies recover and to usher in better forest management practices.

Two companies manage 18.45 million hectares (nearly 45.6 million acres) of forests in Heilongjiang, covering 39% of the entire province.

Some laid-off loggers “will become forest rangers and learn how to manage forests,” said Sheng Weitong, a forestry expert and former advisor to China’s cabinet-level state council, to chinadialogue.

Hou Yuanzhao, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Forestry, added that, “A halt here means an end to the way China has been utilizing forestry resources since 1949.”

Heilongjiang’s forests help stabilize the ecology of northeastern China, a primary producer of rice — meaning that recovery of the region’s forests is key to far-reaching facets of China’s economy and overall health. Key to the planet’s health, however, will be China’s ability to curb its appetite for wood. China’s domestic timber industry accounts for only 40% of its demand for lumber — both to satisfy the tastes of its growing middle class and the demands of foreign furniture and construction companies.

Burkina Faso’s ‘Re-Greening’ Success

Farmers in the landlocked West African nation of Burkina Faso have “achieved striking progress” in reclaiming land formerly considered too infertile, according to Bloomberg News Oct. 9. Formerly known as Upper Volta, the vast majority of people in Burkina Faso are employed in agriculture.

In a September 2014 case study published by Britain’s Overseas Development Institute, lead author Amanda Lenhardt noted how local dissemination of “a range of simple but sustainable agricultural techniques” for conserving water and restoration of arable land has not only produced enough additional food to feed its population but also “could hold key lessons for other countries.”

This is far from an overnight success; sustainable farming methods have been encouraged since the 1970s, both by the government and non-governmental organizations, aided by strong social and community networks, according to the study’s authors.

Although more still needs to be done, the increased food crops have “enhanced food security for around 500,000 people.” If one of Africa’s poorest countries can “re-green” itself, what is taking the rest of the world so long?

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter and the ECO editorial team

You may forward Planet Waves Monsanto Eco to your friends. They can sign up for this free environmental newsletter from Planet Waves. View this edition as a webpage.

Planet Waves Monsanto Eco (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday evening in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Editor: Amanda Painter. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves Monsanto Eco is produced by a team consisting of Amy Elliott, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick and Chad Woodward.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Yellow-billed cuckoos, native to the western U.S., are to be listed as threatened with extinction, enabling the government to protect them, the Center for Biological Diversity announced Oct. 3. Critics have labeled the decision “a blatant abuse of the Endangered Species Act,” due in part to its potential negative effect on the Salt River Project, which provides electricity for millions of Arizona residents.

The building of dams for the Salt River Project, along with increased acreage devoted to agriculture and the spread of invasive species, have contributed to the marked decline of the yellow-billed cuckoos ‘ natural wetland habitats. The bird’s population has consequently dropped over several decades.

Steve Spangle, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Arizona, said the organization was “looking forward to working with all the agencies” to protect the species.

A large part of one newly designated critical habitat was being threatened by the prospect of a mine, suggesting that the species’ new designation may be heading off more ecological harm than usual — though not everyone sees it that way.

Left unmentioned in most discussion of the yellow-billed cuckoo’s new designation and the local waterways is that the Salt River Project was home to one of the first massive domestic uses of Agent Orange herbicides, intended to facilitate water flow into the Salt River. From 1965-1969, the U.S. Forest Service repeatedly sprayed the whole area by helicopter, including rivers, streams and people’s homes, with the same mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T used in Vietnam. (The New York Times covered residents’ settlement with Dow Chemical in 1981.)

Said toxic chemicals researcher Carol Van Strum in a comment to Planet Waves, “For a truly mind-boggling account of that insanity, see Sue the Bastards! by Billee Shoecraft. The Salt River Project itself is a prime example of how entire populations are led to depend on environmentally destructive, unsustainable projects.”

Fossil Fuel Harvesting Creates Methane Hot Spot

In other news from the Southwest, researchers using satellite data have discovered a small area in the southwestern U.S. where significantly more methane is produced than in the rest of the country. The “hot spot,” reported by NASA Oct. 9, is on the Colorado-New Mexico border, close to the intersection with Arizona and Utah, and covers approximately 2,500 square miles.

With emissions seeming to reach about 100,000 metric tons of methane per year, the main suspect is a large coalbed methane factory in the San Juan Basin.

Lead study author Eric Kort explained that fracking does not explain the data from 2003-2009, and that the results suggest “emissions from established fossil fuel harvesting techniques are greater than inventoried.”

Widespread Aquifer Poisoning in Central California

Fracking has, however, proven a culprit in the poisoning of California groundwater. State documents obtained by The Center for Biological Diversity reveal widespread contamination of Central California aquifers by almost 3 billion gallons of oil industry wastewater, reported The Center on Oct 6.

The waste, contaminated with fracking fluids and other pollutants, entered through at least nine injection disposal wells used by the oil industry for disposal of waste. Tests conducted by the Central Valley Water Board have shown high levels of toxic arsenic, thallium and nitrates in wells near these waste-disposal operations.

“The fact that high concentrations are showing up in multiple water wells close to wastewater injection sites raises major concerns about the health and safety of nearby residents,” said Timothy Krantz, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Redlands.

Typhoon Rains Elevate Fukushima Radiation Levels

Sticking with the theme of contaminated water a little longer, heavy rains from Typhoon Phanfone, a storm that swept through eastern Japan last week, may have caused a surge in radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The Japan Times reported Oct. 12 that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) discovered record-high levels of radioactive substances from groundwater samples in three wells that are periodically tested.

A TEPCO spokesperson stated that the typhoon may have had an effect, while TEPCO itself claims it does not know why. With another storm heading towards Fukushima this week, water migrations from the plant into the ocean may be possible as well as delays in the cleanup of the crippled plant.

“Operator TEPCO revealed the findings as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his government tried to reassure the international community that the situation at Fukushima is ‘under control,'” according to Yahoo! News.

Some would argue that nothing about the Fukushima situation has been “under control” in more than three years.

Upper Ocean Levels Warmer Than Previously Calculated

Water — so essential for life on Earth — is a barometer for the health of the planet on the macro scale as well as in more localized ecosystems. Climate scientists, keenly focused on ocean temperatures, have found that the effect of global warming on the upper 2000 meters of the world’s oceans is greater than science has previously calculated, according to the Oct. 6 New York Times.
Citing a recent study published by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Times quoted study leader Paul Durack as saying, “We potentially may have missed a fair amount of heat the ocean has been taking up.”

Interestingly, a study concurrently published by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) indicates that deeper ocean layers have not warmed in proportion. But as JPL researcher Felix Landerer has noted, the warming of the oceans’ top half is “an unequivocal sign our planet is heating up.”

Animals Taking Action: The New Trend?

Given how well humanity has created dire environmental problems, one could hardly blame animals if they finally chose to take matters into their own hands — and a pair of videos that have taken the Internet by storm in the last few days illustrate what that might look like.

In the casual, “can’t we all just get along?” style of negotiation, we have a horse in Cheshire, England, who paid the local police headquarters a visit, captured on CCTV.

The equine visitor does not seem to have stayed long enough to file a report or press charges against any agricultural wrongdoers, so perhaps he’s just getting to know the neighbors the same way a beat cop might when assigned to a new neighborhood?

Said a Cheshire police spokesman in a statement reported by The Guardian, “At neigh point did the horse pose a risk to security.” If only the horse could say the same of us.

Meanwhile, a hawk above Cambridge, Massachusetts, took a more ‘vigilante justice’ approach when it encountered a recreational drone aircraft known as a quadcopter last week. Cambridgeport resident Christopher Schmidt just wanted to film the changing colors of the trees; the hawk, however, saw it as a direct threat.

“My turning the quadcopter, as you can see in the video, was an attempt to move away from the area that he was circling, since I had seen him in the park earlier,” Schmidt told Boston.com. “As he flew closer, I first thought ‘that will be an interesting shot.'”

The hawk succeeded in clearing his airspace, sending the drone thudding to the ground; neither the bird nor the quadcopter suffered damage.

No word as to whether the hawk will try harder next time.

Yours & truly,

Amanda Painter and the ECO editorial team

You may forward Planet Waves Monsanto Eco to your friends. They can sign up for this free environmental newsletter from Planet Waves. View this edition as a webpage.

Planet Waves Monsanto Eco (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday evening in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Editor: Amanda Painter. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves Monsanto Eco is produced by a team consisting of Amy Elliott, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick and Chad Woodward.