A U.S. federal court in Alaska has overturned a rule put in place by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would protect over 187,000 miles of the state's coastline as designated critical polar bear habitat. The measure was put in place after the polar bear was added to the government's "threatened species" list in 2011. The judge's ruling was in response to a suit brought by the state of Alaska and the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, who claimed the designation was unnecessarily large.
W... Read More
Lance Armstrong has reportedly been making the rounds with apologies in advance of his interview with Oprah, which tapes this afternoon.
The Livestrong Foundation told ABC News that he gathered a group of about 100 staffers at their Austin, Texas, headquarters for a special announcement. The disgraced cyclist was reportedly emotional as he addressed the staff, promising that he would attempt to restore the foundation's reputation.
Armstrong's "sincere and heartfelt apology" generated lots o... Read More
A northern Arizona ski resort’s effort to use treated sewage effluent to make snow, the first such initiative of its kind, has hit a few snags. After winning a legal battle against environmentalists and Native American tribes who consider the mountain sacred, Arizona Snowbowl began using recycled wastewater in its snow machines for the first time on December 24. Disconcertingly, the snow came out yellow.
While J.R. Murray, Snowbowl’s manager, has said that the problem was caused b... Read More
Good news: snowboarding might once again be an outsider sport. According to trade group SIA, sales of snowboard equipment have dropped 21 percent over the last four years, while ski sales grew three percent. Participation in the sport has declined in proportion to sales.
Some are attributing the shift to the recent changes in ski design, which make it easier for beginners to learn and for more advanced skiers to do things only snowboarders used to do. (See: slopestyle and half-pipe skiing ... Read More
Beijing was covered in a dense toxic haze this past week culminating in an off-the-charts toxicity level reading of 755 on Saturday. The municipal government in Beijing does not record numbers above 500, and some speculated the monitor had broken, but a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, which took the measurement and reported it on its @BeijingAir Twitter account, said that it was operating correctly. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers levels between 301 and 500 “hazardou... Read More
