Assignment Earth

Assignment Earth, Environmental Protection, This American Land / 10.05.2010

With government support, a huge land purchase by conservationists protects prime habitat for grizzlies, mountain lions and other sensitive species. In order to maintain wilderness habitat in the Swan Valley of Montana The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land has bought and set aside 367,000 acres in the Montana Legacy Project. Land once the owned by the state’s biggest private property holder Plum Creek Timber Company is now closed to development. Parcels scattered throughout forested area will be protected as corridors for the free movement of many wild species including large carnivores.
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Assignment Earth, Environmental Protection, Video / 06.04.2010

In the shadow of the Canyonlands of Eastern Utah, a site has been proposed for the state’s first nuclear power plant. Located outside the town of Green River, the plant would generate electricity for three million homes and provide a much need economic boost to the community. But the project would depend on huge amounts of water from the Green River itself, raising questions about its capacity to support this new development and other claims to its shrinking supply, not mention the impact on fish and other wildlife “Whether it be oil shale, coal gasification plants, nuclear power plants and so, quite frankly there’s not enough water to support all these things,” said John Weisheit, the conservation director of Living Rivers in Moab. “In a river system such as this, even a small incremental drop can strand endangered fish habitat.” In the edition of Assignment Earth we weigh the balance between energy generation and environmental protection.
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Assignment Earth, Environmental Protection, This American Land, Video / 10.03.2010

For 10 years, the Ski Area Citizens Coalition has published its ski area environmental report card, a rating system that grades ski resports across the west according to their impact on the natural environment. Paul Joyce, a conservation assoicate at the environmental protection group Colorado Wild, says a ski resort’s grade depends on how well it plays in its own backyard. “When a ski area expands into the back country, expands into habitat, affects wildlife, affects vegetation, thereby affecting water, watersheds, water quality,” Joyce said, “those things weigh really heavy with the report card.” Resorts owned by the Aspen Skiing Company dominate the highest rated resorts in the west. “People listen to us in part because we’re an interesting news story, but also because we’re business people.,” Auden Schendler, environmental affairs director at Aspen Skiing. “Ultimately we’re not environmentalists. We’re business people. And we see climate changes as an existential threat to business. In this edition of This American Land we explore ski resorts that employ environmentally sustainable practices to protect natural areas that surround their slopes.
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