Tag Archives: Conservation of Resources

A Spotted Hyena Turns Up in Egypt After a 5,000 Absence

A Spotted Hyena Turns Up in Egypt After a 5,000 Absence

The animal killed two goats belonging to residents of Wadi Yahmib, a village within the sparsely populated Elba Protected Area of Egypt. To protect their livestock, the villagers chased down the carnivore in a pickup truck and killed it. When Abdullah Nagy, a zoologist at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, received a video of the hunt from a colleague who was …

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Doug Burgum Is Confirmed by Senate as Interior Secretary

Doug Burgum Is Confirmed by Senate as Interior Secretary

Doug Burgum, a promoter of oil and gas, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday to lead the Interior Department, a role in which he will oversee drilling and mining policies on federal lands and waters. The 79-18 vote for Mr. Burgum puts him in charge of nearly 500 million acres of public land, 1.7 billion acres of offshore waters, …

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Could Trump Use the ‘God Squad’ to Override Environmental Law?

Could Trump Use the ‘God Squad’ to Override Environmental Law?

In at least two executive orders since he took office last week, President Trump has invoked a panel with a telling nickname: the God Squad. The committee is made up of high-level officials who can override the landmark Endangered Species Act so that development or other projects can proceed even if they might result in an extinction. It’s called the …

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Lee Zeldin, Trump’s Pick to Head E.P.A., Faces Senate Confirmation Hearing

Lee Zeldin, Trump’s Pick to Head E.P.A., Faces Senate Confirmation Hearing

Of all the government agencies that President-elect Donald J. Trump has threatened to shrink or eliminate, perhaps none has been a greater target than the Environmental Protection Agency. During the first Trump administration, the nation’s top regulator of air and water pollution and industrial chemicals saw its budget slashed, leading to an exodus of employees and weakened enforcement of environmental …

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Monterey Bay Aquarium Director Julie Packard to Retire

Monterey Bay Aquarium Director Julie Packard to Retire

Julie Packard, the marine biologist who has presided over the Monterey Bay Aquarium since it opened in 1984 and shepherded it through the Covid pandemic, announced her retirement as executive director on Wednesday. Ms. Packard has helped repurpose the thick-glassed fish museums of old into potent forces for ocean conservation action. Built with a $55 million donation by her parents, …

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Monterey Bay Aquarium Director Julie Packard to Retire

Monterey Bay Aquarium Director Julie Packard to Retire

Julie Packard, the marine biologist who has presided over the Monterey Bay Aquarium since it opened in 1984 and shepherded it through the Covid pandemic, announced her retirement as executive director on Wednesday. Ms. Packard has helped repurpose the thick-glassed fish museums of old into potent forces for ocean conservation action. Built with a $55 million donation by her parents, …

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In a First, the E.P.A. Warns of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Fertilizer

In a First, the E.P.A. Warns of ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Fertilizer

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency has warned that “forever chemicals” present in sewage sludge that is used as fertilizer can pose human health risks, saying in a study on Tuesday that, in some cases, the risks could exceed the agency’s safety thresholds “sometimes by several orders of magnitude.” The agency maintained, however, that the general food supply …

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This Tiny Fish’s Mistaken Identity Halted a Dam’s Construction

This Tiny Fish’s Mistaken Identity Halted a Dam’s Construction

For such a tiny fish, the snail darter has haunted Tennessee. It was the endangered species that swam its way to the Supreme Court in a vitriolic battle during the 1970s that temporarily blocked the construction of a dam. On Friday, a team of researchers argued that the fish was a phantom all along. “There is, technically, no snail darter,” …

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