BEIJING, China, January 15, 2009 (ENS) -Eight water conservation and control projects along China's longest river, the Yangtze, will be underway by 2011 to improve water use and protect the environment, a water conservation official said Tuesday. The conservation projects are needed but they will not be enough to address a stern warning from the World Bank this week that China is facing a "severe water-shortage crisis." Increased demand for water due to industrialization and population growth, and less clean water due to pollution are to blame. >>more

By J.R. Pegg
WASHINGTON, DC, January 14, 2009 (ENS) -Scientific integrity and the rule of law will be the "two core values" guiding decisions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the incoming Obama administration, the president elect's nominee to head the agency vowed today at her confirmation hearing. The promises of nominee Lisa Jackson were met with high praise from Democratic senators, who contend the Bush administration has ignored recommendations of the agency's scientists and undermined its mission to protect public health and the environment. >>more

SEATTLE, Washington, January 14, 2009 (ENS) -Climate change will desiccate crop yields in the tropics and subtropics by the end of this century, leaving half the world's population facing a food crisis unless methods of adaptation are found quickly, new research shows. The area at risk stretches from the southern United States to northern Argentina and southern Brazil, from northern India and southern China to southern Australia and all of Africa. >>more

WASHINGTON, DC, January 13, 2009 (ENS) -In honor of President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden, millions of people are heading to the nation's capital to celebrate the inauguration January 20. The Green Inaugural Ball: Maximum Celebration, Minimal Impact, on Saturday at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium celebrates grassroots efforts to protect and improve the environment. A second green party, "The Green Ball: Inauguration of a New Green Economy," will be hosted by former Vice President Al Gore Monday at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. >>more

WASHINGTON, DC, January 13, 2009 (ENS) -Ending the emission of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by 2050 will be necessary to avoid "catastrophic disruption to the world's climate," according to the Worldwatch Institute in its 26th annual assessment, "State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World," released today. Yet, the independent research organization says opportunities abound in renewable energy and efficiency improvements, agriculture and forestry, and the resilience of societies for slowing and managing climate change. >>more

WASHINGTON, DC, January 12, 2009 (ENS) -Sunday was a working day for the brand new 111th Congress, now in the control of Democrats. Casting their first vote, the senators agreed to consider and vote later this week on the package of 160 public lands bills that would protect 200 million acres of wilderness in nine states and safeguard over 1,000 miles of rivers. The package is known informally as the "Tomnibus" Bill because it combines many measures blocked in the past by Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a physician nicknamed "Dr. No." >>more