Caribou in the western Arctic, Alaska. (Florian Schulz / visionsofthewild.com)

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently announced a final plan for managing the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a vast and wild area in northwestern Alaska that provides vital habitat for caribou, countless shorebirds, waterfowl, bears, wolves and wolverines, among others.

The plan is the first that covers the entire reserve, and it is a major step forward for protective management of the western Arctic.

Under provisions of the plan, key habitat areas such as these are protected:

Last month, a movie premiered with a graphic visual of climate change—enough to disconcert viewers across the country. Jeff Orlowski’s "Chasing Ice" depicts a photographer’s brave and relentless journey through the vast Arctic in the face of treacherous weather, technological failure and a bad leg injury. The photographer was documenting rapidly vanishing glaciers over years using time-lapse photography.

The visionary behind the documentary is James Balog who is known for over 25 years of internationally acclaimed nature photography work published by the National Geographic and other major magazines. He takes the viewer to some of the world’s glaciers, including Greenland, Alaska and Montana, where he tries to set up a photographic experiment that he named the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS).

The project, described as “Art Meets Science” on the film’s official website, aims to unite scientists and photographers in their efforts to educate the public about the effects of global warming.

Joan was a tireless advocate for the underdog in every situation. She will be greatly missed.

Earthjustice mourns the passing of the strongest and bravest advocate for clean water and justice that we have ever known, our very own senior legislative counsel Joan Mulhern.

Earthjustice’s original “Mountain Hero,” Joan began her great work at Earthjustice in 1999, bringing with her a remarkable dedication to clean water and leading the organization in its work to save Appalachian waters and communities by ending mountaintop removal mining, to protect Florida waters from toxic algae slime, and to bring the protections of the law to all waters of the United States.

A photo of P-25. Credit: National Park Service

She was one of 26 mountain lions being studied by National Park Service biologists. Collared back in August along with her brother, Puma-25 had been dead for about a week before hikers found her on an October Sunday in Point Mugu State Park, located in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Her death, though, didn’t come at the barrel of a gun or a swipe from a competing lion. Most likely, the one-year old puma—a “Specially Protected Mammal” in California—died of rat poisoning, either by consuming it herself or eating an animal that itself ate the poison.

But Puma-26 is not alone.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling on the government, schools, parents and medical professionals to take concerted action to protect children from pesticides.

The 60,000-member physicians organization is worried about the growing body of scientific evidence that links these toxic chemicals not only to obvious poisoning but also to subtle health problems kids can be particularly vulnerable to.

832F, leading the pack. (Courtesy of the Yellowstone Wolf Project)

She never had a real name. Scientists called her 832F. To her fans, she was known simply as ’06 after the year that she was born. But for anyone who had ever seen the large, sleek gray wolf roaming the Yellowstone plains, she was the epitome of all things free and wild.

Last week, ’06 was killed by an unknown hunter just outside of the park. She was still wearing her radio collar.

CRS found that S.3512's and H.R.2273's weaknesses are “unprecedented” in environmental law.

The Congressional Research Service, dubbed the U.S. Congress’ 'think tank', recently released an authoritative analysis of S.3512 and—to the dismay of the bill’s stalwart sponsors—it’s a bust. CRS, a department of the Library of Congress and nonpartisan research tool for the House and Senate, recently weighed in definitively on the Senate and House coal ash bills, S.3512 and H.R. 2273, and concluded that the bills’ weaknesses are “unprecedented” in environmental law.

CRS found that the bills lack a clear purpose and would not ensure state standards “necessary to protect human health and the environment.” These bills—one passed by the House in October 2011 and the other now pending in the Senate—would prevent the EPA from ever setting federally enforceable safeguards for the disposal of toxic coal ash.

The Pepco Benning Road Power Plant towers over the river. PCB waste allegedly comes from the plant and has ended up in the river.

We have spent more than 15 years championing the need for cleaning up the Anacostia River (as well as the Potomac River and Rock Creek). And what better reason than the fact that several District and Prince George County residents depend on the river for sustenance. This disturbing (you’ll know why in a moment) Washington Post article details the hundreds of anglers who fish the river, pulling out catfish, rockfish and carp, according to a study released by several groups, including the Anacostia Watershed Society. AWS is one of several environmental groups we’ve represented in numerous legal challenges.

According to the Post, nearly 75 percent of anglers consume part of their catch, despite a strong advisory to catch and release. Here are the facts: catfish bottom-feed in the Anacostia, where their food is mixed in with a cancer-causing stew of toxic metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

This is not good. What is particularly bad about this scenario, is that of the nearly 75 percent who catch these contaminated fish, most share it with people back home, dispersing these fish sometimes to pregnant women and children.

Earthjustice has just won two major victories over fossil fuels that strengthen our resolve to make 2013 the year America turns from these dirtiest of energy sources and moves towards a clean energy future—the only real solution to climate change.

On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency reacted to Earthjustice legal action by adopting drastic limits on the amount of soot poured out from coal-fired power plants and tailpipes. This powerful achievement will save thousands of lives a year and slow climate change by reducing pollution that accelerates sea ice melt.

And, a few weeks ago, we learned that the Danskammer coal-fired power plant, one of New York’s dirtiest polluters, will be retired and torn down. Recent Earthjustice legal action helped bring about this happy outcome, aided by flooding from superstorm Sandy, a storm made fiercer by the climate-changing emissions from coal power plants like this one.

But we aren’t basing our climate change plan on more poetic justice. Our plan for tackling climate change is based on the kind of justice we had great success in achieving this year through the courts and the political system.

Soot is composed of tiny microscopic particles that penetrate deep within the lungs often triggering respiratory harm and even premature death. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)

No one likes to breathe dirty and polluted air. Unfortunately, for some communities there may be little to no choice.

But today, the EPA took a step in the right direction to clean up soot pollution and protect millions of Americans forced to breathe dirty air. Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a tightened standard that will limit soot pollution in many major metropolitan areas across the country, cleaning up the smokestacks and tailpipes that belch out this dirty pollution.

The current standard, set in 1997, is outdated, prompting our legal action against the EPA. Last year, we partnered with the American Nurses Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Hip Hop Caucus, and the National Council of Churches to collectively call on Congress and federal regulators to protect citizens from preventable air pollution. This effort, dubbed 50 States United for Healthy Air educated stakeholders on the need for strong clean air protections for all Americans. Thankfully, some voices on Capitol Hill got the message and called on the EPA to set forth strong soot standards.