Environment | WPN World People News

This photo is a mosaic image of sea ice in the Beaufort Sea, created by the Digital Mapping System (DMS) instrument aboard the NASA IceBridge P-3B. The dark area in the middle of the image is open water seen through a lead, or opening, in the ice. Light blue areas are thick sea ice and dark blue areas are thinner ice formed as water in the lead refreezes. Leads are formed when cracks develop in sea ice as it moves in response to wind and ocean currents.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that 33 entities in the Heartland states of Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska were the target of federal enforcement actions over the last year that require entities like renovation contractors, landlords, and property managers to protect communities and public health from exposure to lead.

On November 7, Thomas Davanzo, of Estero, Florida, and Robert Fedyna, of Naples, Florida, were sentenced to 121 months and 135 months in prison, respectively, for their participation in a multi-state scheme to defraud biodiesel buyers and U.S. taxpayers by fraudulently selling biodiesel credits and fraudulently claiming tax credits, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida. Both defendants were also ordered to forfeit ill-gotten gains from the conspiracy of over $46 million and other items to the government, including gold coins, jewelry and Rolex watches, thoroughbred horses, vehicles and properties.

Earth Day Network announces a new report on November 3, “A Criteria-Based Evaluation of Environmental Literacy Plans in the United States,” that analyzes the status of Environmental Literacy Plans (ELP) in all 50 US states.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

As governments start turning Paris Agreement promises into action at UN climate talks in Morocco this week, Greenpeace urges them to stop any new fossil fuel developments and make the record speed of the accord’s ratification the 'new normal'.

COP22 President and Morocco’s Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar (left) with COP 21 President and France’s environment Minister in charge of climate-related international relations Ségolène Royal at the opening of COP 22 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Verifying legality of timber at a wood depot near Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ain Beni Mathar Integrated Combined Cycle Thermo-Solar Power Plant, Morocco.

The World Bank Group on November 3 released the following statement from World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on the eve of the Paris Climate Change Agreement going into force