UN Turns Up Thermostat As Energy Saving Example

The secretary general of the United Nations has approved a pilot project that raises the thermostat throughout much of UN building to 77 degrees, up from from 72 degrees, which should drop the building’s carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 300 tons - all as an example of curbing energy that contributes to global warming.

Doha Demise Signals Less Cooperation On Cutting Emissions

The collapse of the Doha world trade talks over splits between wealthy and developing nations suggests that other global undertakings like cutting and controlling greenhouse-gas emissions will become more difficult. (Photo: Xinhua)

MAGAZINE GREEN | July 27 - August 2

• Time features a story about the connection between global temperatures and the sex determination in certain animal species. Biologists at Spain's Higher Council for Scientific Research argue that among sensitive fish like the South American Pejerrey can, a small increase in water temperature, such as that caused by global warming, could result in a population that is 98% male - leading to obvious problems.

Maryland Governor Wants 15 Percent Energy Reduction

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has announced that he would like to see a 15 percent per-capita reduction in energy use in the state by the year 2015, a goal that would require residents to change everyday behaviors and use more energy-efficient technologies.

China Unvails Emergeny Measures For Beijing Smog

China has unveiled a number of emergency measures it might use to battle Beijing's stubborn smog before the Olympic games begin, including closing more factories, further reducing the number of cars on the city's roads and in neighbouring areas, and stoping all construction. (Photo: Agence France-Presse)

California To Sue EPA Over Neglect Of Duty

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has said the state will sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for "wantonly" ignoring its duty to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, aircraft, and construction and agricultural equipment. (Photo: Reuters)

LOOSE ENDS

• The Associated Press reports that environtmental groups have sought limits on Mississippi, Gulf pollution from the EPA.
• Reuters reports that Greenpeace has filed complaints on Areva nuclear leaks.

• The Guardian (UK) reports that climate activists have occupied the proposed site for a coal-fired power station

Even Beijing's Clearer Skies May Be Harmful For Athletes

Regardless of whether Beijing gets rid of its pollution haze and clears its skies in time for the Olympic Games, pollution levels may not be safe for athletes even on apparently clear days. (Photo: Reuters)

Despite Discordant Findings Human Infuence On Climate Is Sound Science

Despite conflicting findings regarding climate change science and the so-called journalistic whiplash caused by non-stop scrutiny and loud advocates with various interests, the theory of rising human influence on climate endures.

Spain Might Lower Speed Limit To Reduce Consumption

Spain has launched a plan to reduce energy consumption and save money on oil imports by cutting the speed limit to 50mph and handing out millions of low-energy use light bulbs - just two of a broad swathe of measures between now and 2014 that aim at reducing the country's oil imports by 10% and cutting consumption by 44m barrels, initiatives which could save around $4b. (Photo: Guardian (UK)

US Now World's Top Producer of Wind Energy

The American Wind Energy Association has announced its expectations to release a survey next month that will say the US has replaced Germany as the world's leading wind producer, and that the industry should expect a continued explosion of growth, especially in places like Texas, the Great Plains and California. (Photo: Guardian (UK))

Japan Plans World's Largest Cleanup

An environmental group in Japan has announced plans to hold what it hopes will be the world's largest clean-up, with around 180,000 volunteers setting out to pick up trash. (Photo: Agence France Presse)

Quantum Wierdness Could Yield New Energy Sources

Scientists have said they could possibly harness the notorious unpredictability of quantum physics, especially its trick of revealing light as both a wave and a particle, to thereby creating new energy technologies that would employ things like 'quantum dots,' 'quantum wires,' 'superconductors,' and 'light-emmiting diods.' (Photo: Answers.com)

Navy's Underwater Explosions Aren't Serious Wildlife Threat

A US federal wildlife agency has said that the US navy can continue to set off underwater explosions in Washington State's Puget Sound as it poses no serious threat to protected salmon, steelhead and orcas - this despite the opinion of The National Marine Fisheries Service, which has warned that explosives in excess of 20 pounds could kill thousands of salmon.

Birds Fly Farther North As Climate Changes

Scientists have said that various European bird species have been moving farther north over the past 25 years as warming temperatures shift the normal ranges of plants and animals.

West Coast Govs Back Environment Over Drilling

3 West Coast governors, California's Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oregon's Ted Kulongoski and Washington's Chris Gregoire, have urged the federal government to keep new oil rigs out of their waters and to spend more money on programs to restore the health of the Pacific Ocean.

Speaker Pelosi Is 'Trying To Save The Planet'

The entire congressional appropriations process has basically ground to a halt in response to Republican calls to end the moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration, mostly because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has refused to forsake the environment, resorting instead to hard-nosed parliamentary devices. (Photo: Politico.com)

China Struggles To Clear Beijing Skies for Olympics

China has begun considering emergency plans to keep Beijing skies clear over the Olympics, possibly pushing more cars off the road there and in nearby cities - but government pollution advisers hope that wind or rain will disperse the smog build-ups.

Despite Long-Term Thaw, Arctic Ice Bigger Than 2007

For this year, the sea ice that coats the Arctic has sustained a size larger than 2007's record low this year in a reprieve from the worst predictions of climate change - even so, new evidence has confirmed once more that a long-term thaw is taking place. (Photo: Reuters)

Houston Largest American City Without Recycling Program

Most large American cities fairly ambitious recycling programs and have significantly reduced the amount of trash for landfills, but Houston has failed to create a recycling program, making the world's energy capital also the worst recycler among the nation's 30 largest cities. (Photo: New York Times)

Climate Change Threatens Lebanon's Cedar Trees

After having perched high in the Lebanese mountains for thousands of years, the sturdy cedars that stand as a proud national symbol are now symboliza a fractured lang struggling to survive as environmentalists have continued to express concern that Lebanon's cedars face a new and menacing threat from global warming. (Photo: Reuters)

Eight Miles of Ice Break Off Canadian Arctic Shelf

Around eight square miles of ice sheets have broken off their shelf in the Canadian Arctic as recent decades have seen temperatures in much of the Arctic rise faster than global averages because of global warming - and more break-offs could follow later this year. (Photo: Reuters)

African Americans Likely To Suffer More From Climate Change

The Commission to Engage African-Americans on Climate Change has said that African Americanss are likely to suffer disproportionately from climate change as they are very likely to live in cities where the so-called heat island effect is expected to severely increases temperatures more severe - moreover, they will often be "fuel poor" from rising energy demands and costs.

LOOSE ENDS

• The Associated Press reports that a federal judge ruled that EPA turned 'blind eye' to Everglades clean-up efforts
• Reuters reports that three US Senators have called on the EPA chief to resign, claiming he sided with pollutor instead of dealing with environmental and ecological problems
• Agency France-Presse reports that China has claimed pollution success as skies clear in preperation for the Olympic games soon to be held in Beijing.
• Agency France Presse reports that top WTO delegates have said that failure of cooperation bodes ill for climate change.
• The Associated Press reports that Beijing officials have resorted to employing wind and rain to clear the city's air.
• The Associated Press reports that an environmental group has claimed that some popular Southern California beaches are tainted with fecal bacteria.
• Agence France Presse reports that Japan's cabinet has adopted an action plan against global warming, slashing carbon emissions up to 80 percent by 2050 by starting carbon trading and stepping up research on carbon-capture technologies.
• Reuters reports that conservationists have warned that a rare new Tanzania monkey, discovered just two years ago, is now at risk of extinction
  The Associated Press reports that a Missouri committee has announced their intentions to study ethanol mandates

Army Mobilizes for Green Initiative

The U.S. Army has said that its using reductions in greenhouse emissions to save soldiers lives in Iraq, since fuel-laden convoys are sweet targets - in turn the army is reducing its carbon 'bootprint' by limit the use of fossil fuels and making its operations generally more environmentally sound and sustainable. (Photo: Reuters)

South Korea Promises More Money for Alt Energy Development

As a resource-hungry nation seeking to diversify its energy sources, South Korea has annouced plans to increase investment in alternative energy development by 60 percent this year, which would bring their total investment to about $193 million - much of which will focus on solar and wind power as well as biofuels. (Photo: Reuters)

Beijing Still Short of Clear Skies Promise For Olympics

Beijing has raised questions as to its environmental readiness, as the city is still inundated by a fairly thick haze of smog, clearly falling short of its clean skies promise - and with only 11 days left before this years summer Olympic Games begin. (Photo: Reuters)

Better Technology Needed To Clean Up Icy Arctic Oil Spills

Experts have warned that any companies considering Arctic oil searches will need better technology to deal with cleaning up spills onto ice, and that they should also take into account the range of new hazards, like rougher seas, that will likely be caused by climate change.

Construction Set To Begin On First German Offshore Wind Farm

Germany has begun work on the country's first offshore wind power park, Alpha Ventus, which will be located in the North Sea. Actual construction begin within a weak on the nearly $300 million project. (Photo: Shell)

California Says Ships Must Cut Pollution Off Coast

California air regulators have approved a new set of rules (the nations toughest) for reducing harmful emissions given off by ocean-going ships that plan to enter the state's ports.

Gas-Guzzling 4x4 Still Plenty Popular

Even though environmentalists have waged war on them, the gas guzzling four-by-four has remained a significant feature of the British International Motor Show, though some of the largest SUVs have succumbed to environmental and economic pressures.

Panama's Protected Forest Illegally Cleared For Coffee

High prices and strong demand for Panama's gourmet coffees has convinced many growers to clear land illegally and plant gourmet beans in some of the very few protected highland forests within the country. (Photo: Reuters)

Appeals Court Says EPA Must Regulate Water From Ships

The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a 2005 ruling ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate water discharged from ships in an effort to protect local ecosystems from invasive species.

States Join Canadian Provinces in Cap And Trade Proposal

Seven states in the western US have decided to join four Canadian provinces in proposing a plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions by employing a "cap and trade" system with the ultimate aim of gradually reducing carbon emissions across Oregon, Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Washington. (Photo: Reuters)

Collecting Solar Energy in Space A Viable Energy Alternative

A space solar power system that employs orbiting solar collectors could provide a potentially unlimited source of green energy that's also economically competative, costing around 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is about what consumers currently pay for electricity.

Indian Companies Behind In Fighting CO2

A new report has shown that India's top companies do not face significant stakeholder pressure to combat climate change, as only about 40 percent of the firms surveyed have set voluntary carbon reduction goals.

Boost For Companies Making Fuel From Waste

After much difficulty and delay, a number of US companies that aim to turn waste products into fuel have made progress, as plans are being laid to build plants for recycling materials like wood chips, garbage and crop waste into viable fuel. (Photo: New York Times)

Arctic Holds Nearly 100 Billion Barrels of Undiscovered Oil

The US Geological Survey has reported that the Arctic may hold as much as 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil as well as natural gas stores equivalent 30% of the world's undiscovered gas, an announcement that will certainly add impetus to the race among the US, Russia and other polar nations for control of the region. (Map: Financial Times)

LOOSE ENDS

• Despite the good times for wheat farming and the excitement over alternative fuels, experts advise farmers to resist urges to harvest crop residue and sell it for ethanol production.
• Since food and fuel costs continue to soar and global warming costs take their toll, the average American will soon likely be advised to simply eat less.
• L.A. City Council votes for ban on plastic shopping bags by 2012
  
• The USDA expects U.S. food prices to climb an additional 4% to 5% in 2009 as high grain prices continue to squeeze their way into the American diet.
• Ford has unveiled plan to radically alter its North American product portfolio, converting three truck and SUV plants to small-car production and introducing six of its European models in the U.S.
• New California law allows cities to give loans for energy-saving improvements, letting homeowners and businesses borrow at low interest rates to pay for solar panels, high-efficiency air conditioners and other upgrades

British Government Tries To Water Down Green Legislation

The British government has been revealed as trying to water down tough new legislation by the European Union that aims to boost the uptake of renewable energy - this despite Prime Minister Gordon Brown's pledge last month to launch a 'green revolution' based on clean technology. (Photo: Associated Press)

Coalition Pushes to Make Junk Mail Greener

The Green Marketing Coalition, a group of direct-marketing companies, is teaming up with a handful of their corporate clients in an effort to end junk mail as we know it, making an inherently unsustainable practice a bit greener. (Photo: New York Times)

Two Rare Bald Eagles Released Back Into Wild

The American Eagle Foundation has released two 14-week-old American bald eagles into the wild at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The two eagles, Tennessee and Hope, were named by Disney star Miley Cyrus and are 2 of the 90 eagles released from Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park since the 1990s.

Solar Shares Cooler Than Expected

GT Solar International Inc's initial public offering is facing a surprisingly cloudy outlook, as investors have been cool toward solar energy stocks lately despite hot industry growth and soaring prices of competing energy sources. (Photo: Reuters)

Collision Spills 400,000 Gallons of Oil On Mississippi River

A collision between a chemical tanker and a fuel barge on the Mississippi River has spilled over 400,000 gallons of fuel oil and prompted the United States Coast Guard to close a 29-mile stretch of the waterway near New Orleans. (Photo: Associated Press)

GM Teams Up With Utility Companies For Best Electric Car

In an effort to more broadly and more quickly convert consumers from gas to electric cars, General Motors is teaming up with the country's largest utility companies to work together on producing the best technology and best incentives to make this change a reality. (Photo: Wall Street Journal)

EPA Delays Decision On Ethanol Requirements For Gasoline

The Environmental Protection Agency has put off a decision on whether to temporarily lower ethanol requirements for gasoline, a change requested by Texas Governor Rick Perry, who says the change is needed to rein in corn prices. (Photo: Agency France-Presse)

Japanese Town Becomes Experiment in Renweable Energy

In the town of Kuzumaki, in the mountains of northern Japan, townspeople are using wind, sun and even cow dung as sources of electricity in an effort to use the whole town as an experiment in renewable energy use.

LOOSE ENDS

• America's Conservation Reserve Program, a project meant (as the name implies) to help the environment and known in the eco-community as the "Holy Grail of conservation," is in serious jeopardy. The unusual culprits? Farmers.
• Hoping to provide a more healthy environment for their patients, hospitals are going green by reducing the amounts of toxic chemicals in their buildings, among other eco-strategies.
• Union Pacific Railroad (and everyone else) has learned their lesson: no more setting forest fires! The company has to pay the US Forest Service $102 million for a 2000 fire north of Sacramento, CA.
• In one of the stranger environmental news moments, a man protesting climate change unsuccessfully tried to superglue himself to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at an event at Brown's residence.
  

Alaska Approves License For Natural Gas Pipeline

The Alaska State House of Representatives has approved a license for TransCanada Corp to pursue a 1,715-mile natural gas pipeline project that could unlock 4.5 billion cubic feet of North Slope gas reserves daily and is estimated to cost between $26 billion and $30 billion.

Democrats Conceed Some Ground Over Drilling Expansion

In response to a swing in opinion in favor of off-shore drilling, five Democratic senators have met with five of their Republican colleagues in an effort to work out a plan that would include far more land and sea drilling than would be allowed under current Democratic proposals.

White House Forced EPA Not To Regulate CA Tailpipe Emissions

A former official at the Environmental Protection Agency has contradicted the congressional testimony of EPA administrator Stephen Johnson regarding one of the administration's key global warming decisions, saying Johnson had planned to approve California's bid to regulate vehicle tailpipe emissions until the Bush Administration overruled him.

Bush Pushes For Oil Shale Development With Lower Rate

The Bush administration has proposed charging a lower federal lands royalty rate to companies that want to squeeze oil from western shale deposits, in a bid to increase incentives for oil shale development, which can cost up to three times more than traditional oil development.

Saharan Solar Farm Could Power Europe

EU scientists have said that vast farms of solar panels throughout the Sahara desert could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, a project that could be the centerpiece of an ambitious $50 billion European supergrid that would allow countries to share electricity from abundant green sources such as sun, wind and geothermal (Photo: Waltraud Grubitzsch/EPA/Corbis)

Brits Could Save Money and CO2 With Energy Efficiency Scheme

Analysts have claimed that British businesses could possibly save around £2.5bn over the next year if they would implement energy efficiency schemes that would also cut 22m tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.

Middle East Must Choose: Crops or Water

The Middle East and North Africa are facing a tough environmental decision between choosing to grow more crops or preserve scant water supplies, as the global food crisis joins with decades of draining regional aquifers and sucking salt from sea water to present the region with a difficult choice. (Photo: New York Times)

Buyout Moves London Wind Scheme Forward

German and Danish utility companies have agreed to acquire Shell's 33% stake in the 1,000-megawatt London Array scheme, which could supply electricity to around 750,000 homes in the greater London are using a wind farm off the coast of Kent.

Lone Tortoise Mates and Maybe Saves His Species

'Lonesome George,' a Pinta Island Tortoise, has stunned his keepers by mating with one of his two female companions, an act that may save his species, which many had worried would become extinct since George refused for 36 years to reproduce. (Photo: Reuters)

Ford Shifts Focus To Gas-Sipping Small Cars

Ford Motor Company has said it will respond to a permanent shift in consumer tastes by drastically altering its focus, building many more small cars after having devoted itself for nearly 20 years to constructing gas-guzzling pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. (Photo: Associated Press)

A Fifth of EU Wood Imports Illegal or Suspect

The World Wildlife Federation has charged that nearly a fifth of all the wood imported into the European Union has been either illegally harvested or has come from a suspect source, probably in Russia, Indonesia or China (Photo: Reuters).

Critically Engangered Lemurs Found in Large Numbers

Researchers in Madagascar have found a significant number of greater bamboo lemurs at a spot quite distant from their only known habitat, raising hopes that the critically engangered species will be able to survive.

Alternative Energy A Popular Subject For Campaigns

With gasoline holding fairly steady around $4 a gallon, energy and the economy - and consequently, the environment - have become top issues for both Republican and Democrat campaigns, with both John McCain and Barack Obama trying to portray themselves as proponents of cheaper alternatives. (Photo: Reuters)

Arctic Lake Becomes Climate Change Lab

A bank that collapsed two years ago at an arctic lake has made the water cloudy with sediment and thus provided scientists with a natural laboratory for studying how warmer temperatures will possibly effect ecosystems around the world.

Marsh Draining May Be Hastening Climate Change

The many draining projects around the world that are meant to increase farming land could instead be hastening climate change, as evaporation from warmer global temperatures and wetland destruction are releasing lots of additional CO2 into the atmosphere, thereby possibly increasing greenhouse gases. (Photo: AFP)

Greening Britain One Old Home At A Time

In an era when movie stars build $5 million eco-mansions, families in England have made their old Victorian houses eco-friendly, too. The British government is debating a plan to put some version of smart metering on all 46 million gas and electricity meters in the country’s homes; but most have done it through inexpensive and nearly invisible interventions, like under-roof insulation, solar water heaters and hallway meters, that leave their homes still looking like old Victorian houses. (Photo: New York Times)

MLB Decides To Go Green

Major League Baseball is making a serious effort to go green, as ball parks around the country have started to feature things like recycling bins, solar panels, water-saving no-flush urinals, chemically benign grouds equiptment, and energy efficient vending machines; in some cases teams are even considering environmental impact when they decide on travel plans.

Beijing Cracks Down On Pollution Before Games

In an effort to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion to more tolerable levels in preparation for the Olympics, Beijing officials have decided to shutdown all city construction, impose restrictions on cars, and temporarily close heavily polluting factories.

Judge Puts Gray Wolves Back On Endangered List

Gray wolves native to the greater Yellowstone area of the northern Rocky Mountains, which had become a fair game species by federal government decree in March, have been put back under the protection of the Endangered Species Act by a Montana judge.

Whole Foods Market to Sell Green Toys

Texas-based grocer Whole Foods Market has decided to start carrying 'Earth-friendly' toys made by the ImagiPlay company of Boulder, Colo, a departure for the supermarket, which has rarely sold toys in the past.