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The global map of tree density at the square-kilometer pixel scale. Credit: Crowther, et al A new Yale-led study estimates that there are more than 3 trillion trees on Earth, about seven and a half times more than some previous estimates. But the total number of trees has plummeted by roughly 46 percent since the start of human civilization, the study estimates. Using a combination of satellite imagery, forest inventories, and supercomputer technologies, the international team of researchers was able to map tree populations worldwide at the square-kilometer level. Their results, published in the journal Nature, provide the most comprehensive...

Americans now comprehend fully the disdain the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has for truth-telling, the rights of others, and the environment. Forget the last six spiteful years; the Colorado mine disaster suffices. The EPA’s wanton malfeasance — experts warned of a catastrophic blowout — unleashed three million gallons of orange arsenic-, cadmium-, and lead-laden wastewater into an Animas River tributary trashing public, private, and tribal lands and waters in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and the Navajo Nation. Even so, the EPA has nothing on the U.S. Forest Service. In documents filed days ago in a federal district court in Arkansas,...

Amidst agricultural fields of tomatoes, sunflowers, and alfalfa, a small Woodland farm is openly growing hundreds of cannabis plants. This legal medicinal marijuana grow is setting a precedent for cannabis growers in the state. Most of California’s largest crop is grown clandestinely to avoid Law Enforcement. By growing in the open, with strict adherence to legal statutes and requirements, and promoting their organic and sustainable practices to the community, this farm hopes to turn Yolo County into the Napa of Weed. FULL ARTICLE: http://www.tully-weiss.com/news/california-farmers-shine-sunlight-on-marijuana-crops

BISMARCK, N.D. — A federal judge in North Dakota on Thursday blocked a new Obama administration rule that would give the federal government jurisdiction over some state waterways. U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson of North Dakota issued a temporary injunction against a the rule, which gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers authority to protect some streams, tributaries and wetlands under the Clean Water Act. The rule was scheduled to take effect Friday. “The risk of irreparable harm to the states is both imminent and likely,” Judge Erickson said in blocking the rule from taking effect....

An environmental group opposed to a bottling plant near Mount Shasta filed a lawsuit accusing Crystal Geyser of pushing through an illegal plan to suck thousands of gallons of water a day from an aquifer that feeds the drought-diminished Sacramento River.

California is sinking even faster than scientists had thought, new NASA satellite imagery shows. Some areas of the Golden State are sinking more than 2 inches per month, the imagery reveals. Though the sinking, called subsidence, has long been a problem in California, the rate is accelerating because the state's extreme drought is fueling voracious groundwater pumping. "Because of increased pumping, groundwater levels are reaching record lows — up to 100 feet (30 meters) lower than previous records," Mark Cowin, director of California's Department of Water Resources, said in a statement. "As extensive groundwater pumping continues, the land is sinking...

Gov. Jerry Brown’s plans for massive water tunnels have yet to win approval, but a report shows California already is planning to take up to 300 farms to acquire land for the project. A 160-page report prepared by state contractors lays out plans to move rapidly to eminent domain to acquire land for two 30-mile-long tunnels. The tunnels would help ferry water from Northern and Central California to Southern California. …

or months, scientists have been saying that the El Niño weather pattern this winter could finally put a dent in California's four-year drought. Given the stakes, there is likely going to be much focus Thursday when the latest El Niño forecast is released. The forecast is scheduled to be announced publicly at 6 a.m. PDT by the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center. Officials are to hold a conference call at 9 a.m. to discuss it. Experts have said the evidence is growing stronger for a huge El Niño that would dump heavy -- perhaps historic -- rain in Southern...

There's much more to California's drought than lack of rain. California is currently in the grip of one of the worst droughts in state history. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed an executive order that imposes water restrictions on residents, businesses, and farms across the state. While the state is clearly experiencing this drought, the extreme weather shortages are an ongoing and man-made human tragedy—one that has been brought on by overzealous liberal environmentalists who continue to devalue the lives and livelihoods of California residents in pursuit of their own agenda. It comes down to this: which do we think is...

Here's a Tip: Don't Give North Korea More Aid "No matter what promises North Korea makes and agreements North Korea signs, nothing is likely to change." Doug Bandow August 9, 2015 Shenyang, China: North Korea is a major topic of interest in this provincial capital in China’s northeast. The “Hermit Kingdom” is just a couple hours away by car. Pyongyang sends diplomats and students to Shenyang while attempting to stem the flow of refugees. Again the North’s harvest does not look good. Observers warn that another famine may be coming. The first reports of drought appeared earlier this year. The...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A deepening drought in Puerto Rico has forced the government to extend severe water rationing measures to more communities. A total of nearly 400,000 customers now receive water every third day as the U.S. territory's main reservoirs continue to shrink. Nearly 13 percent of Puerto Rico is under an extreme drought and another 39 percent under a severe one. The National Drought Mitigation Center said a total of 2.5 million people have been affected. The newest rationing measures went into effect Wednesday. The drought has forced some businesses to temporarily close as Puerto Rico struggles...

Californians are taking to drought shaming sites to tattle on each other for wasting water. Residents are using the sites to out each other for reasons including neighbors with leaky sprinklers to waiters who serve water without asking as the state's historic drought continues. The tattling has also reached social media where residents are using the hashtags 'droughtshaming' and 'watershaming' to reveal any water-wasting activities. An app called DroughtShame was even developed to 'capture geotagged photo proof of disregard for California's water restrictions'.

SACRAMENTO — California is launching a state website that lets residents tattle on water wasters, from neighbors with leaky sprinklers to waiters who serve water without asking. California has multiple restrictions on water use, including banning washing cars with hoses that don't shut off and restricting lawn-watering within two days of rainfall. But enforcement varies widely across the parched state. Residents can send details and photos of water waste at www.savewater.ca.gov . Complaints are then sent to local government agencies based on the address of the offense. The site went online Thursday as the latest conservation initiative. More than 300...

It’s not just producers and farmers who are getting hit with rising costs and growing shortages of water. When it comes to H2O, everyone better get prepared to pay more and get less. In its long history, water has never been more precious, more controversial, more expensive or more essential to agriculture and commerce than it is right now. A symbol of purity in cosmetic ads, a stand-in for quality in beer ads, the poster boy for violence and destruction during floods, hurricanes and tsunamis, water is currently so scarce out West that it threatens to decimate the nation’s most...

Wait before turning on the sprinklers Heavy downpours across Southern California this weekend may help some make their water bill a little lighter this month. San Diego resident Shelley Stapley said the weekend rain was great for the soil in her tomato garden. "It is saturated; the soil is wet," said Stapley. She usually waters her plants by hand but now she's waiting a while before watering again. "Less water, less money for the bill because water is really expensive," said Stapley. California drought regulations ban watering for 48 hours after a rain, but Mark Mahady with Walter Andersen Nursery...

California regulators on Monday proposed a first-of-its-kind, $1.5 million fine for a group of Central Valley farmers accused of illegally taking water during the drought. It would be the first such fine against an individual or district with claims to water that are more than a century-old, known as senior water rights holders. The action reflects the rising severity of California’s four-year drought that has prompted the state to demand cutbacks from those historically sheltered from mandatory conservation. …

Heavy rains and flooding washed out parts of Interstate 10 in Southern California, shutting down traffic in both directions. (snip) The incident took place near Desert Center, about 170 miles east of Los Angeles and about 50 miles from the Arizona border.

California is a beautiful state, but its incompetent government has turned it into a national joke—a “meanwhile, in California” meme seems appropriate for whatever’s going on elsewhere, because odds are California is doing something even dumber, like declaring an Uber driver is an employee instead of a private contractor, making laws about your bathroom’s temperature, or banning “ex-gay” reparative therapy. Today, during one of California’s most severe droughts in recent history, we can illustrate like so: The Los Angeles Times ran an editorial in April opposing building more desalination plants like the brand new one opening in Carlsbad, which...

Actor Tom Selleck has been stealing truckloads of water from a hydrant for his 60-acre ranch and avocado farm in California, according to a lawsuit filed by a water district. The Magnum P.I. star and his wife Jillie Mack are accused of dispatching a white truck to a neighboring valley at least 12 times since 2013 to retrieve gallons of precious water, which is in short supply during the historic drought. To catch him, Calleguas Municipal Water District has spent $22,000 on a private investigator, the Sun Sentinel reported. But even after they were issued with a cease-and-desist notice, the...

California keeps reminding us what has gone astray with America in recent years. The state is in the midst of a crippling four-year-old drought. Yet California has built almost no major northern or central mountain reservoirs since the New Melones Dam of 1979. That added nearly 3 million acre-feet to the state's storage reserves -- a critical project that was almost canceled by endless environmental lawsuits and protests. Although California has almost doubled in population since the dam's construction, its politicians apparently decided that completing more northern and Sierra Nevada water projects was passé. So the parched state now prays...