Rare sharks, toads, rhinos and bears are among the endangered species in the news this week. Hammer Time: David Shiffman offers 10 reasons why great and scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran and S. lewini) deserve Endangered Species Act protections and encourages people to take direct action in support of a move to do just that. [...]

A new U.S. rule went into effect this week that—after years of legal wrangling—places limitations on hunting of three critically endangered African antelope species: the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), addax (Addax nasomaculatus) and dama gazelle (Nanger dama). Although almost nonexistent in their homelands, thousands of these animals have been raised in captivity and now live [...]

Devastating fires that swept through eastern Texas this month have left dozens of people dead or missing and destroyed more than 1,500 homes. The fires have also dealt a horrible blow the endangered Houston toad (Bufo houstonensis), which had already been suffering due to years of drought that preceded the flames. Houston toads started disappearing [...]

Collect trash, burn it, and then generate electricity. The technology is called Waste to Energy, and it uses our waste streams to produce electricity that can be cleaner than the average kilowatt-hour (kWh) generated in the United States today. A mountain of trash becomes a pile of energy. But, will this domestic renewable resource be [...]

At 1 P.M. on February 28, 2010 a jaw-dropping 22 percent of the electricity being used in the state of Texas was supplied by the wind. Today, Texas is home to more than 10,000 megawatts (MW) of wind capacity—more than the next three largest wind states (Iowa, California and Washington) combined. In the course of [...]

Look out, North Carolina — Texas is not going to let you run away with the title of State Most Shamefully Committed to the Stupid Political Ruination of Science. Despite North Carolina’s impressive recent yearlong streak of stunning science-related legislative psychosis — from legislating against the sea itself to removing scientists from scientific commissions to [...]

Some people take Earth Day more literally than others. Howard Garrett is one of them. Better known as the Dirt Doctor, Garrett believes that the health of the planet begins with the earth beneath our feet; it starts with cultivating strong vibrant soil, and blossoms outwards from there. “Without healthy soil, we won’t have healthy [...]

There were a lot of interesting panels and sessions at this weekend’s Texas Tribune Festival. A lot of nuggets of information, some good dialogue back and forth about energy and environmental policy in Texas. The federal government was only brought up about a dozen times. A few those times it was even mentioned in a [...]

Heads up! I’ll be attending the inaugural Texas Tribune Festival this Saturday and Sunday covering the energy and environment panels and talks. The Texas Tribune is a non-profit media publication that reports on U.S. and Texas news and politics. The lineup is full of heavy hitters in the world U.S. and Texas environmental and energy [...]

I confess, I don’t normally keep an eye out for the latest publications in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, but one recent paper on radioxenon measurements is of particular interest. This paper, as it turns out, is by one of the leading researchers in radioxenon testing, who happens to be a former professor and advisor [...]

Quick update on the Bastrop, TX fires. According to local news outlets, the wildfires are 70 percent contained. Of the 34,000 acres burned by the wildfire, 6,400 acres were in Bastrop State Park. In addition to the many homes lost or damaged by the fires, two historic Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) structures have been damaged. [...]

Not to be outdone by the East Coast, we are fighting through our own natural disasters here in Texas. Nearly two dozen large wildfires are burning across Texas. The latest batch is in and around Austin, TX. The largest fire is in Bastrop County, only 25 miles east of Austin. Another fire in the upscale [...]