Plastic in more than 9% of fish in northern Pacific Ocean
Southern California researchers found plastic in nearly 1 in 10 small fish collected in the Pacific Ocean in the latest study to call attention to floating marine debris entering the food chain. The study published this week by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego estimated that fish in the middle depths of the northern Pacific Ocean are ingesting as much as 24,000 tons of plastic each year.
U.S. Military Investigation Shows U.S. Tax Dollars Funneled to Afghan Taliban
An unreleased military investigation shows U.S. taxpayer dollars are being funneled to the Taliban in Afghanistan under a $2.6 billion transportation contract. The year-long investigation implicates four of the United States’ eight prime contractors in Afghanistan in criminal enterprises or support for the enemy. The military has not revealed which four companies were involved, nor has it disclosed the total amount of taxpayer dollars that have disappeared. The investigation confirms separate inquiries carried out by Congress, federal agencies and The Nation magazine.
Environmentalist Tim DeChristopher Sentenced to 2 Years for Disrupting Federal Oil and Gas Auction
The environmental activist Tim DeChristopher has been sentenced to two years in prison for a bold action that prevented a mass sell-off of public wilderness in 2008. DeChristopher was convicted of interfering with a public auction when he disrupted the Bush administration’s last-minute move to auction off oil and gas exploitation rights in Utah. DeChristopher posed as a bidder and won drilling lease rights to 22,000 acres of land in an attempt to save the property from oil and gas extraction. On Tuesday, DeChristopher was fined $10,000 and immediately taken into custody to begin serving his 24-month sentence. Twenty-six people were arrested protesting the sentencing outside the courthouse. Speaking in court, DeChristopher reportedly said, “You can put me in prison, but it will not deter my future of civil disobedience, and it won’t deter others who are willing to fight to defend a livable future.”