Elephant Poachers Ruthlessly Shoot Down Helicopter Pilot Who Was Tracking Them
In a tragic role reversal above the Serengeti, a helicopter pilot who was tracking the activities of hunters in a wildlife reserve was shot down by those same poachers.
A Swarm of Coal Freighters Is About To Invade the Great Barrier Reef
When one thinks of a pristine ocean habitat, like a thriving ecosystem that has gone mainly unmarred by the creeping fingers of humans, one usually also thinks: “Hey I could really make some money here.”
Paris Climate Talks Called a 'Fraud' By the Father of Climate Science as Nations Make a Deal
As the climate negotiations in Paris—the ones that are pretty much the last-ditch effort to save the world as we know it—draw to a close, scientists are already seeing major flaws in the Band-Aid to fix Earth.
NASA Has Already Hired Someone To Make Sure We Don’t Destroy Mars, Too
If our tenure on Earth is anything to judge by, humans are not very good planetary tenants. Now, with a (nearly) clean slate on Mars, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is already trying to prevent us from destroying a second planet.
Florida Orders Mental Exam for Worker Who Pushed Climate Change Agenda
Florida Gov. Rick Scott's unofficial official policy of climate denial has taken a turn for the bizarre: A high-level employee in the state Department of Environmental Protection now says he was suspended and told to get a medical evaluation for refusing to purge mentions of climate change from a state record.
Florida Warns Beachgoers of Flesh-Eating Bacteria in the Water
Health officials in Florida today issued new warnings about high levels of a flesh-eating bacterium in the ocean and other recreational waters in the state. The state says that bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, causes ulceration and rapid skin decay and is fatal in about 50 percent of people who get it in their…
"Prius Repellent" Is a Hot Expensive Way for Rednecks to Kill Earth
They call it "rolling coal" or "hybrid repellent." It is what it sounds like: "pollution porn for dudes with pickup trucks," a setup that costs hundreds or thousands of bucks and gives liberal-hatin' drivers a way to protest Obama by puking clouds of exhaust smoke on little lefties in their lefty cars.
Congressman Praises Oilmen for Fixing Leaks With Duct Tape, Trash Bags
Remember Rep. Vance McAllister? Of course you do. He knows about leaks: leaked videos of him philandering, leaked texts of his guilt. And he would like these stupid tree-huggers to stop trashing the patriotic geniuses who fixed leaking oil pipelines with your dad's station-wagon emergency kit:
Chevron Rewards Survivors of Fracking Explosion With Pizza Coupon
What does Chevron owe the people of a small Pennsylvania town after two of the oil giant's fracking wells exploded and burned for five days? A free pizza and a two-liter bottle of soda, that's what. At least that's better than being immediately killed in the explosion.
America Is Now Importing Air Pollution From China, Too
America sent its manufacturing to China, but the pollution is "coming back to haunt us," according to a new study. The jobs and economic growth remain on the other side of the Pacific. This seems like a pretty bad deal, overall.
As California Burns, Hot Dry Weather Predicted For Entirety of "Winter"
Here's some terrible news to mark the beginning of permanent fire season in California: It's going to stay like this, hot and dry, until May. The Climate Prediction Center says winter will come and go without the usual winter storms that provide the snowpack that provides all the water people use. Fire conditions will…
300,000 People in West Virginia Have Toxic Running Water
Last week, a chemical company poisoned a major West Virginia water supply so thoroughly that FEMA has been dispatched to clean things up.
China's Smog Is Double-Plus Good for National Defense, Says China
Public relations rule No. 1: Turn that extreme negative into a mild positive. Rule No. 2: Quickly delete the story that Rule No. 1 produced.
Energy Company Owes a Million for Murdering a Bunch of Golden Eagles
The Obama administration is trying out new bird protection laws, pulling in a cool million in fines from an energy company responsible for murdering 14 golden eagles — a federal crime — with its wind turbines.
Let's Give Our Veterans the Only Thing They Want: A Mission
We know what's wrong with Veteran's Day. We know this country is crawling with jobless, homeless veterans of America's constant occupations and invasions. We know there aren't enough jobs for these people already burdened with so much, and no labor market demand for the "skill set" of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder…
Is Environmentalism a Religion? Sure, Why Not!
If the grim news about our slow-cooking world has got you down, you might be an environmentalist. Recycling bins, hiking boots, and that reusable grocery bag you got at the farmer's market are other signs that you may have ecological beliefs and concerns. To the industrial propagandists, even your awareness of the…
"Oilfield Trash" and a Boom That Won't Last
People are strangers out here on the oil patch, and public conversation is terse and muted. You never know when an oil company manager or safety inspector or corporate spy is sniffing around. I learned after the first day in Williston, N.D., that my usual work uniform of an old sports coat and tie made me suspect.…
Bakken Boom: Where the Buffalo Are Furloughed
Oil wells and sheet-metal buildings are hideous things, but America the Beautiful resumes as soon as you get past the last grim RV park and last signs of our shoddy civilization. The easiest way to refresh the soul is to look on the map for a big chunk of green: a national park or preserve or forest, or in the case…
American Ugly: Bakken Shantytowns and Stucco Strip Malls
Boomtowns don't have to be ugly. San Francisco was built during the Gold Rush, as was Sacramento and dozens of still pretty towns in the Sierra Nevada. Virginia City, home to the Comstock Lode, quickly built up neighborhoods of ornate mansions and a main street that offered everything from Oscar Wilde lectures in the…
Boomtown Rats on the Lonesome Prairie
Ken Layne, Gawker's America correspondent, is inaugurating his occasional series of reports from the field with a trip to the boom-rich oil fields of North Dakota's Bakken formation, from where he will be filing dispatches all week.
