The roads were littered with the bodies of people and animals, the hospitals were full of the ailing. Many of them died. As you can expect, all hell soon broke loose. Lawyers descended, thousands of claims were made, fingers were pointed, Union Carbide Corporation C.E.O. Warren Anderson was vilified by the Indian people and is hated to this day.

After agonizing years in court, a settlement was reached. Four hundred and seventy million dollars. To this day, soil and groundwater samples taken near the Union Carbide India Limited site and in the surrounding areas show a plethora of poisons. Vegetables are grown in the soil and the water is consumed and life goes painfully on.

via Twenty-five Years After the Disaster, Bhopal Is Still Ill: Henry Rollins | Vanity Fair.

So far, hunters have reached half of the total 220-wolf limit set by Fish and Game earlier this year. Hunting could still close before the March 31 deadline if hunters reach quotas set for each zone.

Montana closed its wolf hunting season Monday after nearing its quota of 76 wolves, or about 15 percent of Montana's total wolf population. Idaho officials estimate the state's population between 800 and 900 wolves.

Environmentalist criticized the decision, saying it has much deeper implications for the health of the region's wolf population. They said the season is now extended into breeding and denning season, when wolves are at their den sites and therefore particularly vulnerable.

via Idaho extends wolf hunting season, environmentalists say it’s a bad move | KLEW CBS 3 – News, Weather and Sports – Lewiston, ID – Lewiston, Idaho | Local & Regional.

Lawton and his group were given about 10 acres of extremely salty and flat soil 400 meters below sea level. They designed a system to collect as much of the rainwater as possible into swales (”water-harvesting ditches on contour”), bordered the swales with mulch and, on the uphill side, nitrogen-fixing trees that helped to shade the water and prevent evaporation. Underneath the mulch, they put mini-irrigation systems. On the downhill side, they planted fruit trees — date palms, fig trees, pomegranate trees, guava trees, mulberry trees, and some citrus — mixed in with non-fruit trees and more mulch (very non-traditional agriculture).

via Turning Desert into a Garden/Food Forest : EcoWorldly.

On the Croatian islands of Cres, Krk, Plavnik and Prvić, protected Eurasian Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) nest just above the sea on vertical cliffs. Tourists flock to the area in boats, and upon reaching the areas below the nests, they clap and shout in order to startle the birds into taking flight – hoping to photograph these majestic raptors.

Tragically, many of the birds are young and do not yet know how to fly. Once they are frightened from their nests, they fall into the water and drown.

read the rest: Tourists Responsible for Deaths of Protected Griffon Vultures in Croatia : EcoWorldly.

But when the wolves came back “there was an unforeseen bonus: Not only did the elk population go down, but there have been ‘major ecological effects,’ [William Ripple, a professor of forest ecosystems and society at Oregon State University in Corvallis,] says. The elk now steer clear of areas where they perceive risk from wolves, leading to the regrowth of aspens, willows, cottonwood trees, and berry-producing shrubs. That in turn has supported the resurgence of beaver and bird populations.”

via Reintroducing Wolves to Scotland Could Bring Back the Forests of Old : TreeHugger.

Alarmed with the almost daily reporting of rapidly declining tiger numbers and the inaction that follows, school children and several civil society groups in the Indian capital city of New Delhi are coming together to demand the basic right of the tiger–a Right to Survival. And in that, ensuring the survival of the entire human race. The Rally that follows a tiger consultation will also be a shift from all that has been done to all that needs to be done. As an organizer of the rally, comments like these are both inspiring and thought provoking.

via Save Tiger, Save Humanity: A Much Called For Rally in New Delhi : EcoWorldly.

Today, the first customer to get a Tata Nano will take delivery of the world’s cheapest car, at $2,053 – and right on schedule. Tata had announced the first deliveries would be in July of 2009 when orders were first taken earlier this year.

For a gasoline car; the Nano has astounding mileage ; 56 mpg while producing emissions of just 101 grams of CO2 per km, lower than even European requirements, forget about the U.S. (We have none: the sky’s the limit – literally)

via World’s Cheapest Car Gets 56 MPG; First Delivery On Schedule – Today : Gas 2.0.

Officials from the reserve’s wildlife department said there was no “explicable” reason for the falling number of tigers. But according to an independent report by India’s central forest ministry, it’s pretty obvious what has killed the tigers: poachers. The report claimed that “warning bells” have been going off for almost a decade, and park officials simply failed to address them.

via 24 Tigers Killed in Panna Tiger Reserve – None Left : EcoWorldly.

This is not new to me.  I saw a nature show that showed how some whales have remnants of pelvic bones not attached to anything.  The are just there.  Maybe they had the right idea and moved back or just stayed in the sea.

If they did, they have the right idea.

As the annual International Whaling Commission meeting stumbles to a close, unable to negotiate a compromise between whaling opponents and people who’ve killed more than 40,000 whales since 1985, scientists say these aquatic mammals are more than mere animals. They might even deserve to be considered people.

Not human people, but as occupying a similar range on the spectrum as the great apes, for whom the idea of personhood has moved from preposterous to possible. Chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos possess self-awareness, feelings and high-level cognitive powers. According to a steadily gathering body of research, so do whales and dolphins.

via Whales Might Be as Much Like People as Apes Are | Wired Science | Wired.com.

BILLINGS, Montana – Montana and Idaho are moving to host the first open gray wolf hunts in the lower 48 states after the animal’s removal from the endangered list across much of the Northern Rockies.

via Two states ready for first open wolf hunts – Environment- msnbc.com.