Yet, a survey released this week reveals a public that is remarkably in agreement — and strongly in favor of a clean energy future.

Nearly 2/3 support extending current tax credits for renewable energy production and creating nationwide energy standards to promote renewables.

On the subject of exploiting the nation’s vast natural gas reserves using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, 53% support more stringent environmental regulation while another 15% favor an outright ban.

Data from the National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, May 21, 2012

The question of whether the U.S. — meaning Congress — will extend the current renewable energy production tax credits before they expire at the end of this year is most pertinent. Initiated in 1992, the credits were intended to help the clean energy industry ramp up production and attract private investment to gain a foothold in a sector dominated by a mature fossil fuel industry.

If the credits are allowed to expire, as they did in 2004, proponents argue that the result could be devastating to renewable producers while costing as many as 37,000 jobs in the wind industry alone.

Thus far, extending the credits has attracted bipartisan support, but the matter is unlikely to be dealt with before the November elections and passage is by no means certain. In the meantime, producers are rushing to complete projects currently underway before the credits expire — and hesitant to begin new projects in the face of  uncertainty.

Whether the U.S. moves forward toward a renewable energy future or backwards, into a fossil-fueled past, has little to do with public opinion — and everything to do who gets elected.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the National Journal and included 1,004 adults age 18 and older. Interviews were conducted May 17-20, 2012; margin of error was plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

Composite Image Credit: Sara Pennak/IISE

The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and a committee of scientists from around the world announced their picks for the top 10 new species described in 2011.

This is the fifth year for the top 10 new species list, released May 23 to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who was responsible for the modern system of plant and animal names and classifications.

Selected from the hundreds of nominations submitted, the Top 10 list celebrates species exploration, biodiversity and the science of taxonomy. This year’s picks represent treasures from around the globe, from the deepest mines in Africa to the mountain heights of the Himalayas.

“The Top 10 is intended to bring attention to the biodiversity crisis and the unsung species explorers and museums who continue a 250-year tradition of discovering and describing the millions of kinds of plants, animals and microbes with whom we share this planet,” said Quentin Wheeler, an entomologist who directs the International Institute for Species Exploration at ASU.

Members of the international committee who made their selection from more than 200 nominations look for “species that capture our attention because they are unusual or because they have traits that are bizarre,” said Mary Liz Jameson, an associate professor at Wichita State University who chaired the international selection committee. “Some of the new species have interesting names; some highlight what little we really know about our planet,” she said.

To Learn More

For more detailed information about the Top 10 species list for 2011 visit http://species.asu.edu/. Nominations for the 2013 list (for species described in 2012) may be made online at http://species.asu.edu/species-nomination.

The International Institute for Species Exploration also publishes an annual State of Observed Species (SOS) report on human knowledge of Earth’s species. The latest report was released January 18 and is available online.

Humpback whale. Photo courtesy NOAA

The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) was declared by the United Nations “to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.” The event is in its 11th year with Marine Biodiversity the theme for 2012. Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and everyone interested in marine life can take this opportunity to raise awareness of the issues affecting the world’s oceans and shores.

For 10 years, from 2000 to 2010, scientists from around the world, in an unprecedented worldwide collaboration set out to try to determine how much life is in the sea. The huge effort, dubbed the ‘Census of Marine Life’ involved 2,700 scientists from over 80 countries, who participated in 540 expeditions around the world. According to information on the Census website, “The Census investigated life in the global ocean from microbes to whales, from top to bottom, from pole to pole, bringing together the world’s preeminent marine biologists, who shared ideas, data and results. During their 10 years of discovery, Census scientists discovered new species, habitats, and connections and unlocked many of the ocean’s long-held secrets. They found and formally described more than1, 200 new marine species, with another 5,000 or more in the pipeline awaiting formal description.”

The CBD website states, “Today, about 40 percent of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometres of the coast; fisheries provide over 15 percent of the dietary intake of animal protein; toxins in some species may yield anti-cancer drugs and other pharma­ceuticals potentially worth more than US$ 5 trillion; and coastal ecosystems provide services, including tourism and protection from storms, that have been valued at nearly US$ 26 billion annually.”

There is a booklet available for download that expands on the whole Ocean Biodiversity issue, with a forward by Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity where he states, “The survival of marine and coastal ecosystems and biodiversity is essential to the nutritional, spiritual, societal and religious well-being of many coastal communities. But even for the many millions of people who may not think that they have any strong reliance on the ocean, marine ecosystems and wildlife provide all kinds of benefits.”

Life began in the ocean. Let’s not let it end there.

Several large supermarket and big-box chains have announced that they will eventually discontinue stocking their shelves with fish and seafood considered “unsustainable,” that is those vulnerable to over-fishing or capture methods that lead to environmental damage.

Self-proclaimed natural food store chain Whole Foods will expand its ongoing ban on orange roughy, shark, blue fin tuna and most marlin to include all “red-rated” seafood, including Atlantic halibut, gray sole, and skate among others.

In bans that will take effect over the course of two to five years respectively, Target will no longer stock farmed salmon in its grocery departments; Wegmans’ supermarkets will no longer offer seafood from the over-fished Ross Sea in the Antarctic; and Walmart will require its fish and frozen seafood to be sustainable and labeled as such.

Ratings on seafood are determined by nonprofit research organizations like the Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium, with whom Whole Foods partnered in 2010. A green “best choice” rating from the monitors refers to species that are abundant and caught in environmentally responsible ways. Yellow indicates some concerns with the strength of a species or a particular catching method, but is considered the next best option.

Feel-good measures or actual progress?

 Some scientists are now voicing doubts that such well-intentioned efforts really help the environment, saying that to the contrary, some of these ratings labels might lead customers to wrongly believe that the impact of choosing one fish over another is greater than it actually is. A recent Washington Post feature highlighted the questionable results of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the most widely used certification organization in the country. For example, the MSC has, to date, certified 148 wild-caught fisheries, which account for between six to seven percent of the global supply. However, in a study published online in the Journal of Marine Policy, it was alleged that 31 percent of those MSC-certified stocks are in fact over-fished with no relief in sight. While urging consumers to continue buying labeled seafood, Rainer Froese, a senior scientist at the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, nevertheless admonished certifiers to “sharpen their criteria and close any loopholes.”

Good News for Fish…for Fishermen, Not so Much

The sustainability labeling system may cripple many of the large fishing companies that sell to the participating supermarket chains. Fishermen working out of New England ports are particularly vulnerable given that they fish a region considered by federal monitors to have more over-fished stocks than any other. Dismissing the retailers’ bans as a marketing ploy, many affected fishermen are vowing to seek new buyers rather than roll back their quotas to please a bunch of bleeding-heart animal lovers.

Chickens Catch a Break, Too

There is no rating system in place as yet, but you may soon see a cage-free designation on more than just the token handful of egg-cartons in your local supermarket.

According to the Human Society, about 280 million hens are currently confined in battery cages so small, they can’t even spread their wings. That’s the way it’s worked since the advent of the factory farm. You might suspect that this system is all about the bottom line, but the marketing and lobbying end of the industry begs to differ. The United Egg Producers, an industry trade group, warns that cage-free egg production has some environmental downsides, including a larger “carbon footprint” because the hens require more water, acreage and cropland than their confined counterparts. The group also foresees threats to the health of the employees and to the birds themselves – which reportedly crowd together and suffocate if allowed to roam free – not to mention unfettered hens which have been known to peck each other to death.

Your Money or Your Chicken?

The UEP also said that cage-free eggs typically have a retail cost more than triple that of traditional eggs. A 2009 study commissioned by the group found that banning battery cages for hen-laying eggs would raise production costs by 25 percent, or $2.7 billion annually. What they didn’t say is that that cost overage will be passed on to consumers, but you can be pretty sure it will.

Even so, frozen food giant Sara Lee has joined other companies, like Hellmann’s mayonnaise, which has hatched a plan to convert 100 percent of the 350 million eggs it uses each year to cage-free. National restaurant chains including Burger King, Wendy’s, Subway, Denny’s, Red Robin, Quiznos, Sonic, Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. have all started using cage-free eggs. And supermarket chains including Walmart, Costco, Harris Teeter, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Safeway have increased their sales of cage-free eggs.

What about Babe?

In addition to ramping up its use of cage-free eggs and chickens, Burger King has also announced that it’s going to start using the meat from stall-free hogs in its products. The change comes after customers let the company know of their concern for the humane treatment of the animals. In a press release, the third largest fast food chain says it is the first fast food brand to lay down rules to reduce cage confinement for its egg-laying hens and to call for the use of stall-free pork by their suppliers. Both Wendy’s and Bon Appetit, an outfit that runs more than 400 cafes across 31 states, have pledged to work with their U.S. and Canadian pork suppliers to phase out the use of gestation crates. And the powerful Compass Group, the largest food service company in the world, plans to phase out the use of meat from pigs raised in gestation crates by 2017. Compass Group operates dining operations at about 10,000 companies, hospitals, senior living centers, schools, colleges and universities.

Among supermarket chain stores, Safeway has announced that it is working to formulate a plan to sell pork only from suppliers that prohibit use of gestation crates. Hormel, the makers of SPAM, said it would eliminate most gestation crates in the next five years, and Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, will phase out its practice of using gestation crates for pregnant hogs by 2017

A Cage-Free Food Industry in America by 2017?

The key words in all these highly publicized pledges from the food industry are “phase out.” These changes won’t take effect for many years. Why so long? Spokespeople for the various producers and vendors say that it will take time and money to make these changes and ramp up production to meet the gargantuan demands from retail and fast food chains.

And then there’s always the chance that by 2017 you’ll have forgotten that the cage-free promises were ever made.

With an average elevation 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) above sea level, most of the 1,200 islands that make up Maldives may well be gone by 2100.

But between now and then, this country known as a tropical island paradise has a more immediate problem. Trash. Lots and lots of poorly managed trash.

What 20 years ago was an unspoiled coral island now accepts up to 300 tons of trash daily. Some if it cascades to the water’s edge.

Local conservationist Marie Saleem took BBC’s Simon Reeve on a tour of an uninhabited island where Maldivian trash is dumped, and it’s an environmental disaster in the making.

Along with the crystal clear waters that attract well-pocketed tourists, Maldives is home to some of the richest coral reefs on Earth. Marine life includes well over 1,000 species of fish, almost 200 species of coral, 400 species of molluscs and 48 shrimp species.

Yet, the geology of the islands is prime for toxic leaching. Beneath a 6 inch layer of topsoil lies about 2 feet of sandstone, and under that, permeable sand and water.

Worse, perhaps, is the fact that sea levels have risen about 20 cm (8 in.) over the last century — and more than 80% of the country’s land is less than 1 meter above sea level.

In 1987, high tides swept over the Maldives, inundating the capital city of Male and nearby islands.

In 2004, the Maldives were devastated by the tsunami that followed the December 26 Indian Ocean earthquake. Six islands were destroyed, 14 had to be evacuated and 57 suffered serious infrastructure damage.

In the words of Simon Reeve, ”This is a poisoned environment. It shouldn’t be happening anywhere, least of all here.”

One would be hard-pressed to find a worse location for unmanaged waste.

 Update: 1:10 EDT

Readers interested in learning more about the island of  Thilafushi and the problem of waste management in Maldives, may wish to visit the following:

• Thilafushi: Toxic Time Bomb in the Ocean
• Paradise lost on Maldives’ Rubbish Island
• In Photos: Thilafushi – Waste Management gone all wrong
• Maldives: Idyllic Archipelago’s Unprecedented Floating Trash Dump
• ACC forwards cases against senior officials of Thilafushi Corporation for prosecution

By Sepember 2010, high temperatures and continuing lack of rain left the capital city of Canberra parched while severe dust storms plagued parts of New South Wales – yet within two years the landscape was transformed.

The natural-color images above, acquired by NASA’s Landsat 5 in September 2008 and October 2010, show the dramatic difference that rainfall can make: after 4 consecutive months of above-average precipitation and cooler temperatures, vegetation sprang to life.

The return of vegetation provided a welcome food source for kangaroos, many of whom had been crossing Canberra’s busy roadways to feed on well-watered grass.

Canberra was just one of many communities affected by the drought. A study published in 2012 argued that the Big Dry was not a regional phenomenon, but a continental one. The drought, the researchers found, reduced rainfall, water storage, and vegetation in a broad swath across Australia, from northwest to southeast.

By early 2012, residents of southeastern Australia were contending with a different natural hazard: floods.

On the third Friday of May every year, thousands of people celebrate Endangered Species Day by visiting parks, wildlife refuges and zoos and attending events in support of nationwide conservation efforts underway protecting America’s threatened, endangered and at-risk species. The Endangered Species list, co-administered by the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has prevented hundreds of listed species from becoming extinct.

“Endangered Species Day provides an opportunity to celebrate our successes and strengthen our partnership with the American public to conserve our shared natural resources,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. “By taking action to help our threatened and endangered plants and animals, we can ensure a healthy future for our country and protect treasured landscapes for future generations.”

The FWS and the Endangered Species Coalition are cosponsoring events around the country. Events are as varied as educational programs at the local libraries to the Youth Art Contest and week-long events that include International Migratory Bird Day. Go to your Facebook page and support the cause by changing your profile picture or cover photo to an Endangered Species to promote awareness.

“Endangered Species Day celebrates America’s natural heritage and our country’s successful efforts to protect imperiled species,” said Leda Huta, Executive Director of the Endangered Species Coalition. “As Americans, we can be proud that we have one of the strongest endangered species programs in the world. Americans have established a legacy of protecting endangered species for our children and grandchildren.”

Endangered Species need protection all year round, not on just one day. Here are 10 things you can do all year to help the cause.

Source: Endangered Species Coalition and U.S Fish & Wildlife Service

Once a shining example of successful environmental regulation, the Potomac River is once again under threat -- from both pollution and lawmakers.

The nonprofit, advocacy group, American Rivers released it’s 2012 report on the nation’s most threatened rivers today, highlighting issues that impact clean water while outlining actions citizens and policymakers can take to protect America’s waterways.

Appropriately — if not ironically — topping the list this year is the Potomac River which flows through Washington, D.C., and where clean water regulation has come under fire in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Since 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson declared the highly polluted Potomac “a national disgrace,” the “nation’s river” became one of the premier examples of how environmental protections can improve a surface water ecosystem.

More recently, however, rapid urban and suburban growth have sent increasing amounts of polluted runnoff and pharmaceuticals into the system, while intensified agricultural operations upstream funnel fertilizers and animal waste into the river, creating marine life dead zones.

Kayaker running the Great Falls of the Potomac River. Credit: anoldent (flickr); Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

Aside from providing drinking water for more than five million people and myriad recreational opportunities, the Potomac is the second largest tributary of the constantly threatened Chesapeake Bay.

As the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act approaches this October, the lower House of the U.S. Congress is seeking to undermine provisions of clean water regulation that currently protect the Potomac and other river systems nationwide.

Thus far, the U.S. Senate has been able to thwart highly-partisan House attacks on clean water safeguards, but the upcoming fall elections could alter current Congressional and Presidential dynamics, making rollbacks of clean-water protections a near certainty.

Founded in 1973, American Rivers has more than 65,000 members and supporters, with offices in Washington, D.C., and nationwide.

To learn more about the America’s most threatened rivers and what you can do to protect them, visit the links shown in the sidebar, or visit www.americanrivers.org/.

Developed by a team from Yale University and the University of Colorado Boulder, the application draws upon a database containing hundreds of millions of records on the abundance and distribution of Earth’s flora and fauna.

“We are taking 200 years of different types of knowledge coming from different sources, all documenting the locations of species around the world and compiling them in a way that will greatly enhance our knowledge of biodiversity,” said CU-Boulder Associate Professor Robert Guralnick of the ecology and evolutionary biology department, part of the Map of Life research team. “Such information could be used by any organization that needs to make informed decisions regarding land management, health, conservation and climate change.”

Click image to enlarge.

The initial public version of the mapping tool that was released Thursday allows users to see several levels of detail for a given species — at its broadest, the type of environment it lives in, and at its finest, specific locations where the species’ presence has been documented. Users can click a point on the map and generate a list of vertebrate species in the surrounding area. More functions will be added over time, according to the team.

“It is the where and the when of a species,” said Walter Jetz, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale and the project lead. “It puts at your fingertips the geographic diversity of life. Ultimately, the hope is for this literally to include hundreds of thousands of animal and plant species and show how much or indeed how little we know of their whereabouts.”

By highlighting the known abundance and distribution of species, the researchers hope to identify and fill knowledge gaps while offering a tool for identifying changes over time. They expect the map tool will prove useful for professional scientists, wildlife and land managers, conservation organizations and the general public.

Thus far, the team has used information gleaned from a wide variety of sources, including field guides, museum collections and wildlife checklists that involved scientists, conservation organizations and “citizen scientists,: but the project’s ultimate success will depend on participation by other scientists and informed amateurs. Subsequent versions of the mapping tool will enable users to supply new or missing information about the distribution and abundance of particular species.

Jetz called the Map of Life “an infrastructure, something to help us all collaborate, improve, share and understand the still extremely limited geographic knowledge about biodiversity.” The team continues to work on several other tasks and challenges, including who will be contributing data and how information supplied by the contributors will be verified and curated.

“A small but powerful next step is to provide a means for anyone, anywhere on the globe to use their mobile devices to instantly pull up animal and plant distributions and even get a realistic assessment on the odds of encountering a particular species of wildlife,” said Guralnick, who also is the curator of invertebrate zoology at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.

Guralnick said the Map of Life project is following in the footsteps of other knowledge repositories like the GenBank project, a National Institutes of Health-funded effort with a public database of more than 135 million gene sequences from more than 300,000 organisms that allows users to explore genes and genomes using bioinformatics tools. In the biodiversity arena, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility in Copenhagen has developed an important resource that provides access to more than 300 million records of plant and animal occurrences, which is one of the distributional databases being used by the Map of Life team.

The National Science Foundation has provided initial support for the Map of Life project. Other supporters include the Encyclopedia of Life; the International Union for the Conservation of Nature; and the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, and the Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, both in Germany.