Environmental policy aims to conserve natural resources by balancing environmental protection with economic growth, property rights, public health, and energy production. This is done mainly through laws and regulation passed at all governmental levels and influenced by many stakeholders with different agendas. HIGHLIGHTS As of January 2016, there were 24 An endangered species is "in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range." A threatened species is "likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future." species in Louisiana listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. Click on the tabs below to read about major environmental issues in Louisiana and policies related to air and climate change, land, water, waste, and endangered species. The following is a list of recent environmental bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Louisiana state legislature. To learn more about these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan. Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.

Food choices can be based on environmental and ethical factors. Environmental factors Environmental factors are things that help reduce the impact of food production on the environment and might cause someone to choose to buy a product. For example, locally produced food doesn't have to be transported as far, so less CO2 is produced. This means there is less of an impact on the environment. Ethical factors Ethical factors are things that can be seen as morally right. For example, buying fair trade food which provides farmers with better working conditions. Examples Fair trade food production aims to provide fair prices and better working conditions for farmers and farm workers. Farm assured means that the farms and food companies meet high standards of food safety and hygiene, animal welfare and environmental protection. Food miles means the distance that food travels from where it is grown to where it is bought. This is an environmental concern because of the CO2 emissions from transport. Free range is a method of farming where animals are allowed to roam freely. Genetically modified food is grown with genetic manipulation technology. Some people consider this a risk to the environment and choose GM-free products. Organic foods have been grown without the use of chemical fertilisers or pesticides. Seasonal foods means foods that are in season. Choosing these reduces food miles Sustainability is food production that aims to preserve the world's natural resources for future generations.

Water, it's the very stuff of life, and a high-resolution analysis of the most water-stressed places on Earth reveals anew a stark reality. The Middle East and north Africa (Mena), currently in the middle of a historic wave of unrest, is by far the worst affected region. Of the 16 nations suffering extreme water stress, according to risk analysts Maplecroft, every single one is in the Mena region. Bahrain tops the list of those using far more water than they sustainably receive. Other crisis-hit countries, including Libya, Yemen, Egypt and Tunisia, are not far behind. Syria tops the next category: high stress. (The full top 20 is in a table below, with a bit on the methodology). The obvious question is to what extent this severe lack of water underlies the troubles affecting these nations? The obvious response is that only a fool would wade into political and historical waters so deep and try to divine the role of a single factor, amid poverty, unemployment, repression and more. But reassured by a middle east expert here at the Guardian that water is indeed a major underlying issue in many Mena nations, and John Vidal's article from February, I'm going to dip my toe in as far as following the chain of events that starts with scarce water. Why? Because it powerfully demonstrates how the world's biggest environmental problems link together with profound effect. First, the Mena region has seen rapid and ongoing population growth, from 127m in 1970 to 305m in 2005. That's a lot more people to feed, and to grow food you need water. But there isn't enough water any more. The next solution is to cut out the middle men and buy or lease land in wetter places in order to grow food for export back to the dry Mena countries. Saudi Arabia has done so in Ethiopia, and Qatar in Kenya. Along with other countries including China and South Korea, the Mena countries are leading the "land grab" to alleviate their water woes. It's a compelling, sweeping (and simplistic?) narrative. It encompasses water, population, food, energy, land grabs and civil unrest. It could, I think, be the start of the first large scale example of the "perfect storm" predicted by the UK's chief scientific advisor, Professor John Beddington, and 20 years sooner than he foretold. But more than anything, as we nervously watch the Middle East, it shows how environmental problems in one region send waves around our globalised world. Country Water Stress 2011 category Water Stress 2011 rank Bahrain Extreme Qatar Kuwait Saudi Arabia Libya Western Sahara Yemen Israel Egypt Djibouti 10 Jordan 11 Morocco 12 Algeria 13 Oman 14 Tunisia 15 Malta 16 Syria High 17 Mauritania 18 United Arab Emirates 19 Methodology : Maplecroft give this definition of their water stress index: The Water Stress Index evaluates the ratio of total water use (sum of domestic, industrial and agricultural demand) to renewable water supply, which is the available local run off (precipitation less evaporation) as delivered through streams, rivers and shallow groundwater. It does not include access to deep subterranean aquifers of water accumulated over centuries and millennia [as these are not renewable].

Here’s a list of some top environmental and energy-related news stories to watch when Congress returns from summer recess Sept. 6 and Washington D.C. kicks into full gear. Clean Power Plan Litigation Heads to Court. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear argument Sept. 27 over the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, the backbone of President Obama’s domestic efforts to address climate change. The court will hear more than three hours of argument on issues such as whether the rule impermissibly forces utilities to shift from coal-fired generation to cleaner alternatives, constitutional challenges to the rule and whether the EPA is barred from regulating carbon dioxide from power plants since it has already regulated their toxic emissions. Andrew Childers will cover the news every step of the way. Environment Riders Loom Over Appropriations Process. Federal appropriations will expire Oct. 1, and lawmakers are poised to pass a stopgap funding bill to authorize spending beyond the November election. Dozens of environmental riders torpedoed Democratic support for Interior Department and EPA legislation during the summer appropriations process, and those proposals, such as a Clean Power Plan block, are sure to emerge during the scramble for longer-term fiscal year 2017 funding. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently said the stopgap can’t extend into the 2017 calendar year, setting the stage for a December fight over President Obama’s environmental platform. Brian Dabbs is the one to watch for the story. EPA’s Implementation of Amended TSCA. The EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics will work to propose four rules in December. Those rules will propose: an approach to determine what chemicals are actively in commerce; a strategy to prioritize chemicals as to whether they are low or high priorities for risk evaluations; ways the agency will evaluate health and ecological risks; and fees that companies would pay the agency to help it recoup some of the costs expended on reviewing their products. Pat Rizzuto is all over it. Zika Emergency Funding. When Congress left for its summer recess, it failed to pass a nearly $1.9 billion emergency funding package that the president had requested to fund the government’s response to the ongoing Zika virus outbreak. If Congress does approve the president’s request, there may be more funding for the development of new mosquito-killing insecticides. David Schultz will have the story. Flint Awaits Congressional Funding Decisions. Flint, the Michigan city of 100, 000 that has been mired in a lead-contaminated water crisis, still hasn’t been appropriated recovery funds from Congress. The money has been a contentious issue since early 2016, when conflict over it held up a major energy bill in the Senate. The latest vehicle for the funds is the water resources bill, but it’s TBD whether it will make it into the final bill. Rachel Leven is covering. EPA Regulation on Infrastructure Finance Program Coming. The EPA is expected to finalize rule in October to begin implementing the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Authority. The program would allow water utilities, including the one in Flint, to obtain Treasury-backed credit to secure loans for infrastructure projects worth at least $20 million. Amena Saiyid is reporting. Energy Bill Negotiations Head Into Home Stretch. House and Senate negotiators seeking to hammer out the differences between the two chamber’s energy bills (H.R. 8, S. 2012) have until the end of the congressional session to finish their work. While both bills would expedite the Energy Department’s approval process for natural gas exports, broad differences remain on issues related to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, California drought legislation, and federal efforts to prevent and fight forest fires. Ari Natter is the one to watch for this story. Volkswagen Settlement Heads Toward Approval. A federal district court in San Francisco is scheduled to hold an Oct. 8 final approval hearing on a $14.7 billion settlement in the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Owners of affected diesel vehicles will be able to sell their cars back to the automaker soon after approval is granted. Patrick Ambrosio will have the news. Water Resources Development Act of 2016 to Get Big Push. Senate and House committees approved two very different versions of a bill to authorize water infrastructure projects. The Senate included much aid for drinking water and wastewater systems. Supporters of the legislation will try to get a version passed and sent to the White House in September. Alan Kovski is on it. EPA Implementation of Amended Toxics Law Challenged. A number of EPA deadlines for rulemaking are being closely watched by industry and environmental groups as they see how the EPA will prioritize, evaluate and manage chemical risks. Lawsuits and advocacy around EPA decisions are inevitable. Steve Gibb is watching.

With its abundant forests, natural resources and surrounding oceans, environmental issues in Canada are a hot topic. There are many environmental issues in Canada and below you will find an overview of the major themes that arise time and again, followed by our latest news and analysis on the subject. Canada's Oilsands One of the most controversial environmental issues in Canada is the extremely high-carbon process of extracting oilsands deposits found in Northern Alberta. According to Environment Canada, the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions (responsible for climate change) is Canada's oil industry. In a report released in 2014, Environment Canada found that oil and gas now accounts for one-quarter of all of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. Oilsands Pipelines Much of the oil extracted in Alberta's oilsands reserves is shipped by pipelines in a raw form called “bitumen.” As oil companies look to expand their extraction operations in the oil sands, they need to expand their capacity to ship the oil to global markets. There is an ongoing public debate about whether new pipelines should be built in Canada. Concerns include global climate change, pipeline leaks, First Nations treaty rights and oil tanker spills. One of the most high-profile pipeline debates has centered around the Keystone XL pipeline that would have shipped oil from the oilsands to refineries in the United States. On November 6, 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama officially stopped the Keystone pipeline from being built by stating he would not issue the necessary presidential permit. The Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline has been proposed for nearly 10 years, but is also essentially dead after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power on a promise to implement a ban on oil tankers on the north coast of B.C. The B.C. Supreme Court also ruled early in 2015 that the province of B.C. had failed to adequately consult affected First Nations. Other oilsands pipelines are still in the environmental assessment stages: TransCanada's Energy East pipeline would ship bitumen from Alberta to Quebec and Atlantic Canada and Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline would ship bitumen from Alberta to Burrard Inlet near Vancouver. Coal Exports Canada is responsible for shipping large amounts of coal overseas. When it comes to climate change, the continued burning of coal is a major concern because it is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, when compared to other fossil fuels. When burned, coal also produces toxic pollutants like mercury. While coal exports are not accounted for in domestic reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, Canada is in essence exporting greenhouse gas emissions to other countries like China, Japan and India. Canada also still uses coal to generate a portion of its electricity, but Ontario has already phased out coal use, and Alberta has committed to phasing out coal-fired electricity generation by 2030. A major issue is the proposed expansion of coal export facilities on Canada's Pacific coast, which would export thermal coal from Wyoming's Powder Basin, creating both local pollution issues as well as the global implications of increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Description: Ethics & the Environment is an interdisciplinary forum for theoretical and practical articles, discussions, reviews, and book reviews in the broad area encompassed by environmental ethics, including conceptual approaches in ethical theory and ecological philosophy, such as deep ecology and ecological feminism as they pertain to such issues as environmental education and management, ecological economies, and ecosystem health. Coverage: 1996-2017 (Vol. 1, No. 1 - Vol. 22, No. 1) Moving Wall Moving Wall: 3 years Moving Wall The "moving wall" represents the time period between the last issue available in JSTOR and the most recently published issue of a journal. Moving walls are generally represented in years. In rare instances, a publisher has elected to have a "zero" moving wall, so their current issues are available in JSTOR shortly after publication. Note: In calculating the moving wall, the current year is not counted. For example, if the current year is 2008 and a journal has a 5 year moving wall, articles from the year 2002 are available. Terms Related to the Moving Wall Fixed walls: Journals with no new volumes being added to the archive. Absorbed: Journals that are combined with another title. Complete: Journals that are no longer published or that have been combined with another title.

One of the main environmental problems of Nicaragua in this moment is deforestation. This problem is inflicted by the uncontrolled advance of extensive livestock farming, unsustainable agriculture and population growth. Nicaragua’s economy revolves around agriculture and cattle raising. The extractive economic model and the population growth of recent years is causing the destruction of the last natural reserves of the country. (Bosawas and Indian corn) The Central American region is receiving the early impacts of climate change. With this deforestation we become more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In Nicaragua we have had 3 years of drought with the “el Niño” climate phenomenon. The prolonged drought is causing a serious problem in the dry areas and rural areas of the country. The main problem is the lack of access to water in quantity and quality. Currently, I am supporting a project for strengthening the social movements in Granada. This project is led by the Nicaraguan Center for Environmental Conservation, a non-profit organization. This organization has two objectives, “the conservation of the environment and sustainable human development…” The project aims to strengthen the capacities of the leaders of social movements in the communities of Capulin and San Blas, which suffer from drought, poverty, and the negative impacts of monoculture plantations of sugarcane in the area. In Nicaragua, there are more than 101, 000 acres planted with sugarcane, more than 800 private cane, 4 sugar mills, 35 producers, 283 direct jobs and more than 120, 000 indirect jobs generated. The sugar activity generates more than 5% of GDP, agricultural investment of the $ 200, 000, 000 of dollars. It generates revenue of more than C$ 30 million córdobas; “brings more than 60 MW of power to the national public network during the harvest period, generating more than 10% of port movement of Corinth and the production is located in rural areas: Chichigalpa, El Viejo, Chinandega, Bethlehem, Potosi and San Rafael de el Sur.” The agro-industrial production of cane sugar, peanut, and palm is another serious problem of forest and water resources in Nicaragua. There is evidence of local experience and studies demonstrating the negative effects of monocultures of categorical and assiduously causes to water, land, forest and society as a whole. Our social research and the testimonies of those affected conclude that the agro-business model generates negative impacts on the environment by using large quantities of water, large amounts of agrochemical, and contributing to soil wear. It also negatively impacts the economy through monopolization and land grabbing, with almost exclusive benefits for big economic groups, displacement of peasants, and low generation of jobs because of the modernization of the agro-industry. Jobs generated by the industry for the most part are of low quality. In the project in Capulin and San Blas, the Nicaraguan Center of Environmental Conservation have held 6 workshops with the community, the company and the local government in 2015 and 2016. We hope to be able to promote Agroecology and organic farming within social movements that we advise. We believe that rural models should be focused on meeting the nutritional needs of people of Nicaragua and the surplus to exports to international markets. I had the privilege of participating in the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program at UC Berkeley. This experience changed my perspective in dealing with environmental problems involving various actors, the government, the company and the community. In the Beahrs ELP 2015, I learned that environmental problems are seen from different perspectives depending on the sector you are representing. The other project that I’m working on is in the private sector. We have the legal structure of the recycling company and the professional team. We also have the land where we will start the project. This project has been very complex in financial and technical issues. At Berkeley, I met Dr. Thomas Azwell, who has kept me motivated in the difficult moments of this project. I know we have everything that the investors were asking. We hope to launch this project in a couple of months. In the Beahrs ELP program, I met many environmental leaders from all parts of the world. I maintain communication and exchange environmental information whit ELP participants. In this course I had the opportunity to meet great academics, learn new skill and make new friends. The ELP hass definitely been a great experience in my life and professional career.

For centuries, people assumed that the ocean was bottomless and immune to human impacts. It’s only recently that scientists have come to understand the devastating effects we’ve already had on our oceans. Japanese owned factory trawler NORTHERN EAGLE fishing for pollock in the Bering Sea. © Greenpeace / Robert Visser Global fish populations—a critical source of food for millions of people—are collapsing. The barbaric practice of commercial whaling is still legal and practiced in Norway, Iceland, and Japan. Plastics and toxic waste are making their way into our waters. Currently, less than two percent of our oceans are set aside as marine reserves, making it all too easy to exploit their natural resources. Without proper protection, overfishing, bycatch, pollution, and other issues have become major threats to the health of our oceans. Overfishing & Destructive Fishing Overfishing is threatening food security for hundreds of millions of people and destroying ocean ecosystems worldwide. We’ve already removed at least two-thirds of the large fish in the ocean, and one in three fish populations have collapsed since 1950. Put simply, there are too many boats chasing too few fish. Commercial Whaling It’s hard to believe commercial whaling still happens, isn’t it? The practice was rampant for so long that many whale species may never recover. In the US, the North Atlantic right whale is down to about 350 remaining individuals. The blue whales of the Antarctic are at less than 1 percent of their original population. West Pacific grey whale populations are the most endangered of the world’s great whales, hovering on the edge of extinction with only slightly more than 100 remaining. Pollution & Climate Change Oil spills and other pollution at sea—while they carry serious consequences—actually account for a small fraction of ocean pollution. Nearly half of all ocean pollution comes from activities that take place on land, like sewage, industrial and agricultural runoff, garbage dumping, and chemical spills. Human Rights on Land & At Sea Changing the way we treat our oceans isn’t just about the creatures that live in them, it’s about the people that depend on them. Globally, more than three billion people depend on our oceans and coastal ecosystems for their livelihood.

Environment - current issues: urban population expanding; deforestation results from logging and the clearing of land for agricultural purposes; further land degradation and soil erosion hastened by uncontrolled development and improper land use practices such as farming of marginal lands; mining activities polluting Lago de Yojoa (the country's largest source of fresh water), as well as several rivers and streams, with heavy metals Definition: This entry lists the most pressing and important environmental problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry: Acidification - the lowering of soil and water pH due to acid precipitation and deposition usually through precipitation; this process disrupts ecosystem nutrient flows and may kill freshwater fish and plants dependent on more neutral or alkaline conditions (see acid rain). Acid rain - characterized as containing harmful levels of sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide; acid rain is damaging and potentially deadly to the earth's fragile ecosystems; acidity is measured using the pH scale where 7 is neutral, values greater than 7 are considered alkaline, and values below 5.6 are considered acid precipitation; note - a pH of 2.4 (the acidity of vinegar) has been measured in rainfall in New England. Aerosol - a collection of airborne particles dispersed in a gas, smoke, or fog. Afforestation - converting a bare or agricultural space by planting trees and plants; reforestation involves replanting trees on areas that have been cut or destroyed by fire. Asbestos - a naturally occurring soft fibrous mineral commonly used in fireproofing materials and considered to be highly carcinogenic in particulate form. Biodiversity - also biological diversity; the relative number of species, diverse in form and function, at the genetic, organism, community, and ecosystem level; loss of biodiversity reduces an ecosystem's ability to recover from natural or man-induced disruption. Bio-indicators - a plant or animal species whose presence, abundance, and health reveal the general condition of its habitat. Biomass - the total weight or volume of living matter in a given area or volume. Carbon cycle - the term used to describe the exchange of carbon (in various forms, e.g., as carbon dioxide) between the atmosphere, ocean, terrestrial biosphere, and geological deposits. Catchments - assemblages used to capture and retain rainwater and runoff; an important water management technique in areas with limited freshwater resources, such as Gibraltar. DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) - a colorless, odorless insecticide that has toxic effects on most animals; the use of DDT was banned in the US in 1972. Defoliants - chemicals which cause plants to lose their leaves artificially; often used in agricultural practices for weed control, and may have detrimental impacts on human and ecosystem health. Deforestation - the destruction of vast areas of forest (e.g., unsustainable forestry practices, agricultural and range land clearing, and the over exploitation of wood products for use as fuel) without planting new growth. Desertification - the spread of desert-like conditions in arid or semi-arid areas, due to overgrazing, loss of agriculturally productive soils, or climate change. Dredging - the practice of deepening an existing waterway; also, a technique used for collecting bottom-dwelling marine organisms (e.g., shellfish) or harvesting coral, often causing significant destruction of reef and ocean-floor ecosystems. Drift-net fishing - done with a net, miles in extent, that is generally anchored to a boat and left to float with the tide; often results in an over harvesting and waste of large populations of non-commercial marine species (by-catch) by its effect of "sweeping the ocean clean." Ecosystems - ecological units comprised of complex communities of organisms and their specific environments. Effluents - waste materials, such as smoke, sewage, or industrial waste which are released into the environment, subsequently polluting it. Endangered species - a species that is threatened with extinction either by direct hunting or habitat destruction.

Google Earth Image of a cannabis grow site. The resolution of Google Earth images allowed the researchers to detect marijuana plants that were previously missed with other remote sensing techniques. As policy liberalization rapidly transforms the multi-billion-dollar cannabis agriculture industry in the United States, the need for regulation and assessment of environmental impacts becomes increasingly apparent. The UC Berkeley-based Butsic and his co-author Jacob Brenner used Google Earth imagery to locate and map grow sites (both greenhouses and outdoor plots) in 60 watersheds. Most cannabis grow sites are very small, and have gone undetected when researchers used automated remote sensing techniques, which are commonly used to detect larger changes such as deforestation. “We chose to use fine-grained imagery available in Google Earth and to systematically digitize grows by hand, identifying individual plants. Most plants stand out as neat, clear, little circles, ” said Brenner, who is on the faculty of the Department of Environmental Studies and Science at Ithaca College. “The method was laborious — it took over 700 hours — but it proved to be highly accurate.” Butsic and Brenner paired their image analysis with data on the spatial characteristics of the sites (slope, distance to rivers, distance to roads) and information on steelhead trout and Chinook salmon, both of which are listed as threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. These and other species are vulnerable to the low water flows, soil erosion, and chemical contamination that can result from nearby agriculture. Results of the study show 4, 428 grow sites, most of which were located on steep slopes far from developed roads. Because these sites will potentially use significant amounts of water and are near the habitat for threatened species, Butsic and Brenner conclude that there is a high risk of negative ecological consequences. “The overall footprint of the grows is actually quite small [~2 square kiliometers], and the water use is only equivalent to about 100 acres of almonds, ” says Butsic, who is in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at Berkeley. According to Butsic, California currently has more than one million irrigated acres of almonds.