Earth Changes
On March 29, 2007, the Department of the Interior removed federal protection for Yellowstone's grizzly bears under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). On April 29th this 'de-listing' will take effect. Only a challenge in federal court can stop this final ruling.
More than a quarter of the country's 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost - tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives.
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©New York Times |
"The overall number of dead seals as of Monday night reached 605, including 489 baby seals," the ministry said. "The coast is continuing to be monitored."
The dead seals have been found along the seashore between two major oil fields in western Kazakhstan. But officials in Kazakhstan cite weather conditions as a possible reason.
"Until February 20, most of the northeastern Caspian did not freeze..., and on February 21-22 the northern Caspian had a covering of thin ice, ...which melted by March 20, ... and it could have had a negative effect on the baby seals," the Ministry of Environmental Protection said earlier.
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Over the past couple of months we here at SOTT have been following the Bee crisis with some interest. It caught my eye when I read the first media article about it that was brought to my attention; I knew this was important. As Albert Einstein observed:
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
Billions of bees have done just that, leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists are mystified about why.
Comment: See To Bee or Not to Be.