Please invest in Our Daily Planet today, by making a one time or monthly contribution.
We do not charge our readers a subscription fee for our content. We want to continue to grow our readership, particularly among millennials and public servants. Voluntary contributions from readers will help us employ interns and freelance journalists, expand our content, and reach a larger audience.
If you make a contribution of $150 or more, you will become an official “Friend of the Planet” and receive a Friend of the Planet T-shirt or water bottle.
Animals
by Natasha Lasky, ODP Contributing Writer A study published last week in the journal Endangered Species Research reports the discovery of a new group of blue whales living in the Indian Ocean. Researchers identified this new group of whales from their distinct song: “a slow, bellowing ballad” as the New York Times reported. There are […]
Continue Reading 576 wordsThis year was supposed to be a big one for biodiversity with the Conference of the Parties for the Conference on Biodiversity meeting in the fall in China, of all places, and then the pandemic struck and pushed the meeting back by a year. Nevertheless, the evidence of the importance of conserving nature and ensuring we do not experience a mass extinction crisis became even clearer, especially when compounded with warming across the planet.
Continue Reading 585 words
By Azzedine Downes, President & CEO of IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare History is laden with the underlying mythology of the immense human struggle to exist, a ‘push and pull’ across cultures, countries, resources, and boundaries, both natural as well as those that are man-made. It is this notion that we must fight for […]
Continue Reading 808 wordsHighways connect people, but they often create barriers separating wildlife from key habitat areas and other animals. There is a growing movement to create wildlife “corridors” across man-made obstacles and last week the largest one (so far) in the U.S. opened in San Antonio, Texas. The Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge connects San Antonio’s Phil […]
Continue Reading 110 words
This week, the Trump administration adopted a new rule that narrows the definition of what qualifies as a habitat under the Endangered Species Act. The new definition only allows “critical habitat” for plants and animals at risk to be protected under the Act.
Why This Matters: By slicing away at the places that the Endangered Species Act applies, more activities that further degrade the habitat will likely be able to proceed.
Continue Reading 511 words
Bowhead whale populations have nearly returned to their numbers pre-commercial whaling. An update from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration suggests that even in spite of Arctic warming, Bowhead whales have multiplied in Alaskan waters.
Why this Matters: Bowhead whales were once nearly extinct, as commercial whalers at the turn of the twentieth century hunted them for their oil, blubber, and baleen.
Continue Reading 479 wordsSubscribe to the email that top lawmakers, renowned scientists, and thousands of concerned citizens turn to each morning for the latest environmental news and analysis.
