TOP STORY

Gray Wolf Withdrawn from Endangered Species List

"Thirty-five years being hunted to near extinction, the gray wolf on Monday was taken off the US list of endangered species, clearing the way for it to be hunted again in most states...The gray wolf (canis lupus) was placed on the endangered list in 1974 after the animals were almost eliminated in many US states.  But thanks to conservation efforts its numbers now reach some 4,000 in the Great Lakes region, which includes Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and there are more than 1,300 in the Rocky Mountain states of Idaho and Montana. There are also between 8,000 and 11,000 grey wolves in Alaska.  In all these states wolves can now be hunted again according to strict regulations...Environmentalists decried the change as "potentially disastrous" and vowed they would sue to prevent it."  [AFP--TerraDaily]

Related:

• Live chat about this decision with Andrew Wetzler, Director of NRDC's Endangered Species Project.  Wednesday, May 6th at 2pm.  [Switchboard]

RECOMMENDED READING

Bolivia's Chacaltaya Glacier is Gone

"If anyone needs a reminder of the on-the-ground impacts of global climate change, come to the Andes mountains in Bolivia. At 17,388 feet above sea level, Chacaltaya, an 18,000 year-old glacier that delighted thousands of visitors for decades, is gone, completely melted away as of some sad, undetermined moment early this year." [Miami Herald]

China On Track to Smash Solar Targets 

"China is set to smash its target for a roll-out of solar power by 2020 more than fivefold and possibly even tenfold...Under the National Development and Reform Commission's renewable energy plan set out in 2007, China would have 1,800 megawatts of installed solar capacity by 2020."  But a director at NDRC said earlier today, "The goal that we made originally is probably too low.  By 2020, we can reach 10,000 MW or more."  [Reuters]

Climate Denier Inhofe Joins Gore in Fight Against "Black Carbon"

James Inhofe--the conservative Republican senator from Oklahoma who "has called global warming a hoax, compared the Environmental Protection Agency with the Gestapo, and over the years dismissed Al Gore as desperate and 'full of crap'"--suprised everyone this week by "[joining] Democratic senators in putting forward a bill for an official review of the dangers of soot or "black carbon" to public health and the environment late last month."   Black carbon "is thought to be the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide."  [The Guardian]

European Union Targets Seal Hunt 

"The European Parliament voted to ban imports of seal products Tuesday, including fur coats and even omega-3 pills, trying to force Canada to end the annual seal hunt that animal rights groups call barbaric." [Associated Press-Huffington Post]

FUNNIES

[Tom Toles--Washington Post]