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Gunmen kill environmental activist in Brazil - Associated Press: Police in Brazil say gunmen have killed an environmental activist, his brother and three friends. The bodies of Jorge Grando, the former head of the environmental protection agency for the city of Pinhais in southern Brazil, and the four others were found inside a house. Their hands were tied behind their backs and each had several bullet wounds in their heads. Police are seeking two suspects in the "execution-style" killings that took place late Friday. Authorites said Saturday that while...

Melting ice on Arctic islands boosts sea levels: study - Independent: Melting glaciers and ice caps on Canadian Arctic islands play a far greater role in sea level rise than previously suspected, according to a study published Thursday. Between 2004 and 2009, the 30,000 snow-and-ice covered islands in the Canadian Archipelago shed 363 cubic kilometres (87 cubic miles) of water, equivalent to three-quarters of contents of Lake Erie, the study found. During the first half of this six-year period, the average loss was 29 cubic kilometres (seven cubic miles) per...

Weather may help fight against massive Texas wildfires - Reuters: Substantially higher humidity, lighter winds, and the possibility of drenching thunderstorms had firefighters battling the huge PK Complex brush fire in north Texas more optimistic on Saturday than they have been in days, officials said. The weather could also help control some of the other fires that have been ravaging parts of the state. The monstrous PK Complex brush fire has charred 148,000 acres and destroyed nearly 300 structures, including 167 homes. "Everyone is optimistic, things...

Emissions reduction 'due to GFC.' - Sydney Morning Herald: Queensland's carbon emissions have dropped by 5.7 per cent. A leading environmental group says a drop in carbon emissions in Queensland is due to the global financial crisis rather than government policy. State Environment Minister Kate Jones said yesterday that Queensland's emissions had dropped by 5.7 per cent. "The report shows our total emissions have declined by about 9 million tonnes from 2008 to 2009, and remain below our 1990 level," she said. Ms Jones acknowledged Queensland...

City plans to harness geothermal energy - Shanghai Daily: SHANGHAI is expected to use shallow geothermal energy to heat and cool buildings in the near future, the Shanghai Institute of Geological Engineering Exploration said yesterday. Experts said the energy comes from 200 meters underground, where the soil and groundwater remain at a fairly constant 25 degrees Celsius year round. Therefore, once a building is equipped with an air-exchange system, the heat can be used to control indoor temperatures. "If this energy can be harnessed, it can cover...

Ozone loss made tropics rainier - ScienceNews: By pulling atmospheric circulation patterns further south, the ozone hole that appeared in the 1980s over Antarctica brought more rain south of the equator. From high above the South Pole, Earth’s ozone hole can affect rainfall as far away as the tropics, scientists have found. Thinning ozone causes weather patterns to shift southward across the Southern Hemisphere, bringing more rain to a band that includes eastern Australia and the southwestern Indian Ocean, researchers report online April 21...

U.S. negotiator warns Kyoto fight could derail climate talks - New York Times: The smoldering international battle over the future of the Kyoto Protocol is a "legitimately difficult" issue -- but not one that should overshadow the practical work of fighting climate change, U.S. Climate Envoy Todd Stern said yesterday. In an interview with ClimateWire yesterday, Stern said the U.S. goal is to keep nations focused on bringing to life agreements made in Cancun, Mexico, last year to create a Green Climate Fund, develop technology centers and establish guidelines for tracking...

Marin's first public charging stations for electric vehicles open in San Rafael - Marin Independent Journal: Marin County's first public electric vehicle charging stations went live for Earth Day on Friday in the C Street public garage in San Rafael. Initially, the city will not charge for the electricity beyond the normal fee for parking in the garage. "We want people to know that San Rafael is a green business destination where we support sustainable transportation choices," said Bob Brown, San Rafael's community development director. Additional charging stations will be opening throughout Marin soon....

Fires burn Texas from 'stem to stern.' - LA Times: Ranchers flung open gates in hopes their livestock could escape fast-moving flames. One family watched in horror as two of their horses caught fire and galloped away. Homes, barns, oil field pump jacks and thousands of acres of rangeland are now blackened. Such were the scenes in drought-plagued west Texas, where the mammoth Rock House fire has raged for two weeks, part of a complex of more than a dozen fires stretching across a swath cut by the Pecos River. No part of Texas has been spared....

Energy use is up in the state, report shows - CT Post: Animals from tropical waters have been showing up in Connecticut waterways and cold-loving creatures, like lobsters, are becoming more scarce. Invasive plants and animals continue to encroach the state's lakes, ponds and woodlots, according to the 2010 annual environmental report compiled by the state Council of Environmental Quality, which was released Thursday. Although the state of the air, water and wildlife in Connecticut has held mostly constant according to "Environmental Quality in Connecticut,"...

Whitfield planning another battle with EPA - Courier Press: U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, who has led the charge against the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, is planning a new assault -- this one aimed at the agency's plan to curb mercury and other toxic substances coming from coal-fired power plants. Whitfield, R-Ky., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power, has announced his intention to offer legislation postponing the implementation of EPA regulations unveiled on March 16 that impose limits on the...

Conservation of traditional waterways highlighted - Times of India: MARGAO: A panel discussion "Confronting reality: Climate and human-induced issues facing Goa" organized by Goa Chitra ethnographic museum, Benaulim, recently, saw speakers expressing concerns over rising sea levels, changing biodiversity in the Arabian Sea, underscoring the need for conserving traditional waterways, besides dwelling on other environmental issues. Geologist and former Aldona comunidade president Hector Fernandes delivered a talk on the gaunkari system of land management as practiced...

Apple ranked 'least green tech company'and other green stories of the week - Independent: Some of the major green and environmental stories of the past week (April 15-22) including Greenpeace naming Apple the 'least green tech company' are rounded up below. Antarctic - a hole in the ozone layer above the Antarctic could be affecting levels of rainfall across the Southern Hemisphere claims a new study into the global nature of climate change. (Independent) Apple - the manufacturers of the iPhone and iPad have been named the world's 'least green tech company' in a list compiled by...

Obama pumps plan to develop renewable energy - Associated Press: President Barack Obama says one answer to high gasoline prices is to spend money developing renewable energy sources. "That's the key to helping families at the pump and reducing our dependence on foreign oil" in the long term, he said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. Obama raises the issue of rising fuel prices during almost every public appearance and says that he understands the strain higher fuel costs are putting on some family budgets. He announced Thursday during...

Climate change threatening China's water resources - Newstrack India: Climate change is having an adverse impact on China's water resources, said the country's water resources minister. Chen Lei's comments came during a meeting on climate change where he pointed out that global warming has become an important environmental issue, with water being one of the sectors most directly affected. "China faces an imbalance between the supply and demand of water to support its rapid social and economic development, while protecting the natural environment and ecosystems,"...

UK's Richard Branson gets flak for lemur relocation plan - Reuters: British billionaire businessman and adventurer Sir Richard Branson has plans to fly commercial passengers into space, but his terrestrial scheme to relocate endangered Madagascar lemurs on a Caribbean island he owns is getting flak from some conservation experts, The Virgin Group founder, who has combined a meteoric business career with round the world balloon flights and philanthropic initiatives, has announced he will resettle lemurs collected from zoos on 120-acre (48-hectare) Moskito Island,...

Renewables enjoy spring surge of superlatives - One World: The arrival of nature's season of renewal in the northern hemisphere has been greeted with a burst of timely announcements of renewable energy schemes around the world, many of them claiming to be bigger and better than anything before. As if determined to become the symbol of 21st century technology, the wind turbine continues to extend its wingspan. Vestas, the dominant producer of offshore turbines, has revealed plans for a monster blade, the first to be designed specifically for the challenging...

More thunderstorms, tornado threats in Midwest - Reuters: Thunderstorms with hail and high winds in spots kept the central United States wet and windy on Friday with the risk of tornadoes rising as afternoon gave way to evening, meteorologists said. AccuWeather.com warned that a storm system moving across the Great Plains could trigger violent thunderstorms in an area stretching from Dallas to Columbus, Ohio, on Friday night into Saturday, creating dangerous conditions as the weekend begins. It said tornadoes were most likely to occur in the first...

Cooler, wet weather gives Texas firefighters a break - Reuters: Improved weather conditions allowed Texas firefighters to mount an offensive overnight against wildfires that have charred more than 1.8 million acres across the state and killed two responders this year, officials said on Friday. With diminished wind speeds and increased moisture in the air, as well as modest rainfall, the roughly 1,800 firefighters contained nine wildfires overnight and waged battle against the remaining fires that still spans 600,000 acres. "When conditions turn like that...

Record number of endangered whales expected off Cape Cod - Reuters: Researchers in Massachusetts say they are on track to spot a record number of endangered right whales in Cape Cod Bay and nearby waters. So far this season, which stretches from January through mid-May, more than 200 right whales have been sighted, accounting for nearly half of the known species population. The total thus far is the same number tracked during the entire 2010 season, said Laura Ganley, flight coordinator for the right whale studies program at the Provincetown Center for Coastal...

Storm Causes Damage, Injuries At St. Louis Airport - National Public Radio: A severe storm that struck the St. Louis area left homes flattened in suburbs around the main airport, which remained closed Saturday a day after being hit by a tornado. Crews had worked through the night in trying to clean up Lambert Airport, boarding up windows and sweeping up shattered glass. That effort pressed on Saturday, with police standing guard at spots where windows had been blown out. No passengers were evident. In nearby suburbs, people wandered through neighborhoods where roofs...

US Coast Guard slams Transocean - AFP: The US Coast Guard slammed drilling rig operator Transocean's "poor safety culture" in a report Friday on the massive explosion and fire that unleashed the biggest maritime oil spill in history. Poor maintenance, inadequate training and the bypassing of alarms and automatic shutdown systems prevented the crew from shutting down the runaway well after it blew and led to a chaotic abandonment of the blazing Deepwater Horizon rig. "The investigation revealed that Deepwater Horizon and its owner,...

Women Key to Greening the Economy - Inter Press Service: Earth Day celebrated its 41st year Friday with the slogan ‘A Billion Acts of Green’. The grassroots demonstration is said to have inspired the modern environmental movement, and continues to inform and promote green economic policies worldwide, while attracting over a half billion people every year. This year, one of the main elements of the Earth Day campaign is the Women and the Green Economy (WAGE) campaign focusing on engaging women leaders in the advancement of a global green economy. Originally...

Chesapeake seeks permanent plug for natgas well - Reuters: Chesapeake Energy is looking for options to plug permanently a Pennsylvania natural gas well following a blowout this week that sent drilling fluid into local waterways. Chesapeake, one of Pennsylvania's biggest shale gas producers, used a mix of plastic, ground-up tires and heavy mud on Thursday as a temporary plug for the well, which had spewed thousands of gallons of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, fluid into the surrounding area. The spill, which occurred late on Tuesday, has stoked...

This will be the Arab world's next battle - Guardian: Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many underlying challenges that are not now in the news will remain. Prominent among these are rapid population growth, spreading water shortages, and growing food insecurity. In some countries grain production is now falling as aquifers – underground water-bearing rocks – are depleted. After the Arab oil-export embargo of the 1970s, the Saudis realised that since they were heavily dependent on imported grain, they were vulnerable...

Drill off Alaska coast? Gulf mess renews debate - Associated Press: A year after the disastrous Gulf oil spill, the prospect of a major accident in oil's next frontier -- the icy waters off Alaska's north coast -- has experts even more concerned. With no roads connecting remote coastal towns, storms and fog that can ground aircraft, no deepwater ports for ships and the nearest Coast Guard station about 1,000 miles away -- it would be nearly impossible to respond on the scale that was needed last year to stop the runaway oil well and clean up the mess. That means...

Tony Hawk and Ziggy Marley address eco-impact of smoking in new video - Independent: Tony Hawk and Ziggy Marley draw attention to the environmental issues of discarded cigarette butts in a new video released to coincide with Earth Day on April 22. The video, produced by American Public health organization Legacy, features professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, musician and son of Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley, and a host of other celebrities. Though smoking is often demonized for its negative effect on health, this video takes a different approach looking instead at the negative environmental...

More pine barrens, last Long Island wilderness, protected - Reuters: New York state officials chose Earth Day on Friday to announce purchase of a large tract of land in Long Island's pine barrens as a preserve for hikers and other naturalists and a source for pure drinking water. The land, mostly surrounded by publicly owned property, had been sought for years by preservation advocates as an essential part of the 100,000-acre pine barrens in Suffolk County in eastern Long Island. Calling the pine barrens a "beautiful natural resource" as well as "an important...

Europe scorns "supersalmon" as GM battle widens - Reuters: European salmon farmers and breeders who dominate global sales have a wary eye on transgenic American superfish that grow fast and might gulp part of the $107 billion-a-year aquaculture business. "We don't have any monster pigs in Europe, or monster cows, and there's no need for such a salmon," said Geir Isaksen, the chief executive at big Norwegian fish farmer Cermaq. Genetically modified (GM) Atlantic salmon patented by U.S. biotech firm AquaBounty are widely billed as growing at double speed...

Georgia nuclear reactor idled unexpectedly still shut down - Reuters: A reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia remained out of service on Friday after it shut down unexpectedly earlier this week when a breaker failed. Carrie Phillips, a spokeswoman for Southern Nuclear, which operates the plant in Waynesboro, Ga., declined to say when the nuclear unit would be back in operation. But she said the company had replaced the breaker that tripped on Wednesday, as well as related equipment, and that plant employees were now "going through the process to look at...

Free Rain Barrels for New Yorkers - New York Times: New York City Department of Environmental Protection New York City is offering homeowners 55-gallon rain-collection barrels. It’s raining barrels. New York City is giving away 55-gallon rain barrels to homeowners to help conserve water and reduce pressure on the city’s sewer system, which is often overwhelmed during heavy storms. The city started promoting the barrels by distributing a few hundred of them in Queens in 2008 and 750 more in 2009 to homeowners who applied for them. This year,...

U.S. Negotiator Warns Kyoto Fight Could Derail Climate Talks - Climate Wire: The smoldering international battle over the future of the Kyoto Protocol is a "legitimately difficult" issue -- but not one that should overshadow the practical work of fighting climate change, U.S. Climate Envoy Todd Stern said yesterday. In an interview with ClimateWire yesterday, Stern said the U.S. goal is to keep nations focused on bringing to life agreements made in Cancun, Mexico, last year to create a Green Climate Fund, develop technology centers and establish guidelines for tracking...

Report: Transocean contributed to Gulf disaster - Associated Press: Flaws in Transocean Ltd.'s emergency training and equipment and a poor safety culture contributed to the deadly Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion that led to the Gulf oil spill, according to a Coast Guard report released Friday. The report centered on Transocean's role in the disaster because it owned the rig and was primarily responsible for ensuring its safety, the Coast Guard said. BP PLC owned the well that blew out. The Coast Guard report also concluded that decisions made by workers...

In Texas, Questions of Drought and Climate Change - New York Times: Kate Galbraith Grass at the City Hall in Midland, Tex., may not fare as well under outdoor watering restrictions issued because of a severe drought. The severe drought across Texas has hit the oil and gas city of Midland especially hard, as I reported in Friday`s New York Times and Texas Tribune. Since Oct. 1, Midland has received only 0.13 inches of rainfall -- making it "most likely the driest six-and-a-half-month period in recorded history," said David Hennig, a Midland-based meteorologist...

Google Gives Mojave Solar Project A Boost - National Public Radio: Google has announced a $168 investment, its largest ever, to back Brightsource Energy's solar thermal project in California's Mojave desert. Alexis Madrigal, of The Atlantic, discusses the project's technology, the environmental battles it faced, and how to connect this remote field of mirrors to the grid.

Earth Day Pictures: 20 Stunning Shots of Earth From Space - National Geographic: Sapphire waters tinged with pink sediment seem to get tangled amid emerald vegetation in a satellite picture of Bombetoka Bay, on the northwestern coast of Madagascar. To celebrate Earth Day—which today received the ultimate Internet accolade, a Google Doodle—National Geographic photo editors selected 20 of the most stunning pictures of Earth, as seen from space, including this jewel-toned shot of the island country off the African coast. Captured in 2000 by a NASA satellite, the scene shows...

Ten facts about peat - Telegraph: :: Peat only become the dominant ingredient in garden compost in the 1970s when it replaced loam, or soil. It is rich in nutrients and excellent at holding water. :: Britons use three million cubic litres of peat every year, most of which is imported from Ireland or the Baltic States. :: The UK used to produce our own peat but 90 per cent of the bogs in this country have been lost, taking with them rare plants and animals. :: Peat 'grows' by only a millimetre a year. A 10 metre deep peat...

Experts on peat - Telegraph: Peat is destroying the environment and is no longer necessary in the modern garden says Alys Fowler, presenter on BBC Gardeners World and The Edible Garden: "I think there needs to be more education about the benefits of non-peat compost -- it can be just as effective as peat. As well as reducing carbon emissions and protecting peat bog habitats, peat-free compost is also a great way of recycling our waste. Just as we do not have endless peatbogs, we also do not have bottomless landfill sites. I...

Ozone hole over South Pole affecting climate change all the way to equator - Daily News & Analysis: Researchers at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science have found that the ozone hole, which is located over the South Pole, has affected the entire circulation of the Southern Hemisphere all the way to the equator. While previous work has shown that the ozone hole is changing the atmospheric flow in the high latitudes, the new study demonstrated that the ozone hole is able to influence the tropical circulation and increase rainfall at low latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere....

Chesapeake stems flow from blown Pennsylvania gas well - Reuters: Chesapeake Energy has stemmed the flow of leaking drilling fluids from a natural gas well that suffered a blow-out late on Tuesday in Pennsylvania and prompted the company to suspend a controversial gas production technique in the state. Chesapeake, one of Pennsylvania's biggest shale gas producers, used a mix of plastic, ground-up tires and heavy mud to plug the well -- an operation that echoes BP's "top kill" effort to seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well last year. "Late Thursday afternoon,...

Greenpeace activists board oil rig off Turkey - AFP: In a bid to prevent deep sea oil drilling in Arctic waters, 11 Greenpeace activists boarded an oil rig Friday as it was leaving Turkey for Greenland's Baffin Bay, the enviromental group said. The international team of Greenpeace volunteers crawled to the top of the Leiv Eiriksson drilling derrick in the Sea of Marmara off Tekirdag province and unfurled a banner reading "Stop Arctic destruction," the organisation said. The captain of the 53,000 tonne rig belonging to the Scottish company Cairn...

Greenpeace occupies rig in Arctic drilling protest - Associated Press: Greenpeace activists climbed aboard a huge oil rig off Istanbul on Friday in a bid to prevent it from reaching Greenland to begin deep-water drilling in the Arctic, but later abandoned their protest because of bad weather. The environmental group said eleven activists, some in rock-climbing gear, used speedboats to intercept and then climb atop the Leiv Eiriksson at dawn after it had left a port in Istanbul. They climbed the rig's derrick, unfurling a banner that read: "Stop Arctic destruction"...

The big city fix for climate change - Fortune: Jay Carson is CEO of the newly formed C40 Clinton Climate Initiative, which combines previous efforts led by former President Clinton and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to leverage big cities in the fight against global warming. He'll have a budget this year of $12 million and a staff of 65. Carson is only 34 but he's been in the spotlight basically since he graduated from Columbia -- as deputy mayor of Los Angeles, press secretary for former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and for two failed...

Antarctic ozone hole affecting weather in tropics, new study says - CNN: Antarctic ozone hole affecting weather in tropics, new study says NASA satellites recorded an 11.5 million square-mile hole in the ozone over Antarctica in 2000 U.S. scientists draw link between Antarctic ozone hole and tropical weather changes Sophisticated climate model run alongside historical observations prove link Ozone layer expected to repair itself by middle of 21st century according to scientists The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is affecting weather patterns across...

China rethinks nuclear power - Nation: In the wake of the partial meltdown of nuclear reactors at the Fukushima plant in Japan, China announced it would shelve plans for vast expansion of its nuclear power capacity, at least temporarily, until more stringent safety checks are performed. Construction will eventually resume, but with a potentially scaled-back role for nuclear power and with solar and wind energy picking up some of the slack. If nuclear remains a small fraction of China's total energy mix (just 2 percent today, compared...

A Republican environmentalist finds green nirvana - Spiegel: Republicans in the US have gained a reputation for being skeptical of any environmental legislation. But William K. Reilly, a former advisor to President George H. W. Bush, is an exception. In Berlin recently, he said he finds German efforts to transition to renewable energies "breathtaking." Over the course of his long career as a Republican, a businessman and a governmental adviser, William K. Reilly has seen a lot. But during a recent trip to Berlin, the 71-year-old told SPIEGEL he finds Germany's...

Church leader likens inaction on climate to crucifying Christ - Sydney Morning Herald: THE crippling of Japan, the devastation of Christchurch and the floods that ravaged Queensland were not the work of God, church leaders said. But the leader of one of Sydney's three main Christian denominations blamed man for some disasters that caused human suffering. The Moderator of the Uniting Church Synod of NSW and ACT, the Reverend Niall Reid, said in his Easter message that climate change was the result of ''unsustainable, unfettered and unthinking addiction to economic growth'', and...

Earth Day organizers call for a billion acts of green - Reuters: If the environmental movement has a high holiday, Earth Day is it. The annual effort to raise public awareness about the environment and inspire actions to clean it up marks its 41st anniversary on Friday, coinciding with the Christian Good Friday and Judaism's celebration of Passover. In an effort dubbed "A Billion Acts of Green," organizers are encouraging people to observe Earth Day 2011 by pledging online at act.earthday.org/ to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve...

Biofuels and compostable plastics: The future or just a bunch of cornstalks? - Public Radio: As oil prices rise, the search for petroleum alternatives intensifies. Some companies are betting big on biomass. Think ethanol made from corn stalks or prairie grass. Or the corn-based plastic known as "PLA." But David Fridley, staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and Post Carbon Institute fellow, is a skeptic. Here`s an excerpt from my recent interview with Fridley for a story on oil alternatives in laundry detergent: Gardner: What`s the biggest challenge in moving away from petroleum-based...

Ozone hole linked to southern rain increases - AFP: 20H11 Ozone hole linked to southern rain increases Pedestrians walk as heavy rain starts in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2010. The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is a significant driver of climate change and rain increases in the southern hemisphere over the past 50 years, US scientists said Thursday. AFP - The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is a significant driver of climate change and rain increases in the southern hemisphere over the past 50 years, US scientists said Thursday. The...

Study finds solar panels increase home values - New York Times: When Bill and Suzann Leininger put solar panels on their Escondido, Calif., home a few years ago, they most likely enhanced its resale value, a new study says. All those homeowners who have been installing residential solar panels over the last decade may find it was a more practical decision than they thought. The electricity generated may have cost more than that coming from the local power company (half of which, nationwide, comes from burning coal), but if they choose to sell their homes,...

Carbon footprint varies by location, income - California Watch: What is your carbon footprint? Like the real estate slogan, it depends on location, location, location. For a single-person household earning less than $10,000, living in California, the annual carbon footprint is about 16 tons of greenhouse gasses. But for a couple earning $90,000 living in the Bay Area, it's about 57 tons annually. That is almost the same as a family of five living in St. Louis, with half of the annual income. Research by UC Berkeley Professor Dan Kammen and Ph.D candidate...

Ozone hole dominates shifting S.Hemisphere climate - Reuters: * Depleted ozone means subtropical summers are rainier * Global climate agreements need to focus on ozone - study Climate policymakers and scientists need to look beyond global warming emissions of carbon dioxide and take the loss of stratospheric ozone into account, researchers said on Thursday. The stratospheric ozone layer, which shields Earth from solar ultra-violet radiation, has thinned over the South Pole over the last half-century. This depletion of ozone has shifted the Southern...

Protesters demand coal company cleans up its act - ABC Local: A vocal debate over clean power took place before a pair of City Council committees Thursday. Protesters from Pilsen and Little Village want to cut pollution from the coal-fired power plant in their neighborhood. It's an issue that has been dragging on for years in the Southwest Side of the city, and now there is a clean air ordinance being pushed by Alderman Joe Moore that would get the Fisk and Crawford power plants to reduce their emissions of fine particulate mater, the microscopic soot...

Amid oil spills, melting ice and radiation, signs of hope on Earth Day - Miami Herald: As omens go, dead birds raining from the sky can be seen as pretty predictive of grim times environmentally. Catastrophic, even. And the seers would have been right. A volcano darkened the skies of Europe. Crude oil spread its foul sheen over the Gulf. Ice caps and glaciers continued to retreat. A tsunami opened up a tide of radiation in Japan. Plague of frogs? Well, they're still dying off at an alarming rate worldwide. So Earth Day this year, 41 years since the first, seems "double,...

How websites suck down energy - Fast Company: By now, you've surely gotten wind of Greenpeace's campaign to get Facebook to 'unfriend' coal--Jaymi's been doing some great coverage of the attempts made to get the social media giant to power its giant, energy-hogging data centers with something other than dirty fossil fuels. And it's those data centers that lie at the core of the fight--they're massively energy intensive, currently comprising approximately 1.5% of the nation's energy usage. And as the internet grows, that percentage is slated...

Former REDD+ negotiator for Indonesia sentenced to 3 years for corruption - Mongabay: Former REDD+ negotiator for Indonesia sentenced to 3 years for corruption Wandojo Siswanto, one of the negotiators for Indonesia's delegation at 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen and a key architect of its Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) partnership with Norway, has been sentenced to three years in prison for accepting bribes. Following an investigation by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Wandojo was found guilty of receiving a bribe of about $10,000 from...

Why an oil spill in Arctic waters would be devastating - Guardian: The wrecked oil tanker Exxon Valdez spilling oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1989. The effects are still being felt. Photograph: taken from picture library As sea ice disappears and open water seasons last longer, the High North – that vast area above the Arctic circle – has become the oil industry's new frontier, offering potentially billions of barrels of oil from deep offshore wells in return for the huge technical, safety and financial risks. But conservationists increasingly...

Activists occupy oil rig in fight to prevent Arctic drilling - Guardian: Greenpeace activists protesting against Arctic drilling. The fight to stop the global oil industry exploring the pristine deep waters of the Arctic has been dubbed the new cold war, and early on Friday it escalated as environmental activists from 12 countries occupied the world's second largest rig on its way from Turkey to Greenland to drill among the icebergs. The protesters found the 52,000-tonne semi-submersible platform Leiv Eiriksson at around midnight, steaming due west at a stately six...

Texas governor calls for prayers for rain amid fires - Reuters: Texas Governor Rick Perry called on Texans to pray for rain as cooler temperatures on Thursday helped firefighters contain wildfires that have charred more than 1.5 million acres across the state. Perry, a Republican, sought increased federal help in combating the blazes last weekend and urged Texans to ask the same from a higher power over the Easter holiday weekend. "Throughout our history, both as a state and as individuals, Texans have been strengthened, assured and lifted up through prayer,"...

Chesapeake stems flow from leaking natgas well - Reuters: Chesapeake Energy has stemmed the flow of leaking fluids from a natural gas well which suffered a blow-out late on Tuesday in Pennsylvania, the company said in a statement. Chesapeake said it would conduct an investigation into the cause of the accident which sent thousands of gallons of drilling fluid into the environment.

Earth Day organizers call for "a billion acts of green" - Reuters: If the environmental movement has a high holiday, Earth Day is it. The annual effort to raise public awareness about the environment and inspire actions to clean it up marks its 41st anniversary on Friday, coinciding with the Christian Good Friday and Judaism's celebration of Passover. In an effort dubbed "A Billion Acts of Green," organizers are encouraging people to observe Earth Day 2011 by pledging online at act.earthday.org/ to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve...

Europe scorns "supersalmon" as GM battle widens - Reuters: European salmon farmers and breeders who dominate global sales have a wary eye on transgenic American superfish that grow fast and might gulp part of the $107 billion-a-year aquaculture business. "We don't have any monster pigs in Europe, or monster cows, and there's no need for such a salmon," said Geir Isaksen, the chief executive at big Norwegian fish farmer Cermaq. Genetically modified (GM) Atlantic salmon patented by U.S. biotech firm AquaBounty are widely billed as growing at double speed...

Switching to Renewables: Germany Explores Using Train Lines as a Power Grid - Spiegel: Germany's increased emphasis on renewable energies requires an all-new power grid. Now, many in Berlin are wondering if the grid powering the country's train system could be used to transport wind power from the north to the south. Some say it could save up to 75 percent of expected costs. One of the biggest question marks surrounding Germany's now-accelerated plans to dramatically increase its reliance on renewable energies has been the need to modernize its energy grid. Plans call for much of...

Smog alert for bank holiday weekend - AFP: Millions of asthma sufferers have been urged to take sensible precautions after a "smog alert" was issued for the Easter weekend, with high levels of pollutants expected to choke the air in England and Wales. The Department for Environment has warned that the current warm weather will increase levels of ozone and polluting particles known as PM10s, which can affect people's health. Some people, particularly the elderly, infants and those suffering from asthma, may notice an effect on their...

In climate change case, Obama administration sides with power companies, not ... - Washington Post: The Obama administration and environmental interests generally agree that global warming is a threat that must be dealt with. But they’re on opposite sides of a Supreme Court case over the ability of states and groups such as the Audubon Society that want to sue large electric utilities and force power plants in 20 states to cut their emissions. A detail of the West Facade of the U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Monday, March 7, 2011. The court is taking up a climate change case for...

Pictures: International Year of Forests on Earth Day - Mongabay: Pictures: International Year of Forests on Earth Day In my nearly 12 years of running mongabay.com, I have had the good fortune to visit spectacular forests around the world. So this Earth Day, instead of writing something pithy (Jeremy has done a fine job in his Earth Day post recognizing the value of what nature gives us), I'm just posting some of my favorite forest pictures I've taken in my travels. If you are a long-time mongabay reader, you've probably noticed my tradition of not writing...

Extinction rates being altered by contemporary climate change - Newstrack India: A study has found that contemporary climate change is affecting extinction rates. Local extinction rates of American pikas have increased nearly five-fold in the last 10 years, and the rate at which the climate-sensitive species is moving up mountain slopes has increased 11-fold, since the 20th century. The research strongly suggests that the American pika's distribution throughout the Great Basin is changing at an increasingly rapid rate. The pika (Ochotona princeps), a small, hamster-looking...

Earth Day pictures: International Year of Forests - Mongabay: Earth Day pictures: International Year of Forests In my nearly 12 years of running mongabay.com, I have had the good fortune to visit spectacular forests around the world. So this Earth Day, instead of writing something pithy (Jeremy has done a fine job in his Earth Day post recognizing the value of what nature gives us), I'm just posting some of my favorite forest pictures I've taken in my travels. If you are a long-time mongabay reader, you've probably noticed my tradition of not writing...

Neighbors of U.S. gas well blowout fear the worst - Reuters: Dairy farmer Christine Pepper's worst fears were realized when a natural gas drill 3 miles from her home blew out, spilling toxic fluid into a creek. A 25-year-old native of rural Bradford County in northern Pennsylvania, Pepper said she was against the boom in drilling by hydraulic fracturing ever since wells started popping up a few years ago, surrounding her livestock and family, fearful that safety would be overlooked. "I was crying when I heard about it (the blowout)," Pepper said on Thursday,...

What does Nature give us? A special Earth Day article - Mongabay: What does Nature give us? A special Earth Day article Rainforest leaves in Uganda. To read last years Earth Day article: World failing on every environmental issue: an op-ed for Earth Day. There is no question that Earth has been a giving planet. Everything humans have needed to survive, and thrive, was provided by the natural world around us: food, water, medicine, materials for shelter, and even natural cycles such as climate and nutrients. Scientists have come to term such gifts 'ecosystem...

Reserve marine life 'flourishing' - BBC: Marine life 'flourishing' at Lamlash reserve The marine reserve covers about one third of Lamlash Bay off the Isle of Arran A marine reserve set up off the Isle of Arran in 2008 is already flourishing with wildlife and commercially-valuable scallops, according to researchers. The small area of seabed in Lamlash Bay became the first protected site of its kind in Scotland. A study by York University and a local seabed trust has found significantly more juvenile scallops inside the reserve...

Ethiopia says won't allow Egypt to examine new dam - Reuters: Ethiopia will deny Egypt a chance to examine a new mega dam it is building on the Nile unless Cairo inks a new deal relinquishing its veto powers over allocation of the river's waters, an official said on Thursday. Egypt has been locked for more than a decade in a dispute with other countries through which the river passes, refusing changes to colonial-era treaties contested by Ethiopia and other upstream nations. Under the pact signed in 1929, Egypt is entitled to 55.5 billion cubic meters...

Earth Day organizers call for 'a billion acts of green' - Reuters: If the environmental movement has a high holiday, Earth Day is it. The annual effort to raise public awareness about the environment and inspire actions to clean it up marks its 41st anniversary on Friday, coinciding with the Christian Good Friday and Judaism's celebration of Passover. In an effort dubbed "A Billion Acts of Green," organizers are encouraging people to observe Earth Day 2011 by pledging online at act.earthday.org/ to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve...

Driller halts Pennsylvania fracking after blowout - Reuters: Chesapeake Energy suspended the use of a controversial natural-gas production technique in Pennsylvania on Thursday as it worked to contain a well blowout that spilled toxic fluid into a local waterway. Chesapeake, one of the state's biggest shale gas producers, will use a mix of plastic, ground-up tires and heavy mud to plug the well - an operation that echoes BP's "top kill" effort to seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well last year. The company said it still did not know the cause of...

Volunteers around the world put old weather data online - LA Times: Volunteers around the world put old weather data online Detailed entries from old Royal Navy ship logs and colonial-era records could be a gold mine for scientists trying to understand climate change. "Old weather data is the one vaccine that can save people from a whole host of maladies," Crouthamel said. When the images of the old weather records reach NOAA, the Climate Database Modernization Program converts them into a digital form that can be accessed over the Internet and integrated...

Study Finds Solar Panels Increase Home Values - New York Times: When Bill and Suzann Leininger put solar panels on their Escondido, Calif., home a few years ago, they most likely enhanced its resale value, a new study says. All those homeowners who have been installing residential solar panels over the last decade may find it was a more practical decision than they thought. The electricity generated may have cost more than that coming from the local power company (half of which, nationwide, comes from burning coal), but if they choose to sell their homes,...

In praise of … llamas - Guardian: The llama and its fluffier, smaller relative the alpaca are among the most successful immigrants to the United Kingdom in modern times. They marked their arrival by going to the very top, grazing for Queen Victoria at Windsor. For years a source of high-quality textiles, following Sir Titus Salt's breakthrough in spinning alpaca weft with a cotton warp in Bradford in the late 1830s, the animals have long been valued for their fleeces. Now they have earned a bigger niche in their own right. At dozens...

Greenpeace Cites Facebook, Apple for Dirty Data Centers - NewsFactor: Greenpeace is calling out dirty data centers. A new study by the environmental watchdog cites tech giants like Facebook and Apple in what it calls a "rapidly growing environmental footprint of the online world." The study evaluates the energy choices of IT giants. How Dirty is Your Data? shines a bright light on the amount of electricity required to power the cloud. Greenpeace's conclusion: The IT industry is largely ignoring the importance of renewable power and is not transparent in disclosing...

On Our Radar: Republicans Mark Spill Anniversary With Drilling Call - New York Times: Republicans Mark Spill Anniversary With Drilling Call Doc Hastings, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, marks the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill with a call to speed drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. "Over the past year significant progress has been made toward making American offshore drilling the safest in the world," Mr. Hastings, Republican of Washington, said in a statement. "Safety reforms have been implemented, new technology has been deployed...

Ozone hole dominates shifting Southern Hemisphere climate - Reuters: Climate policymakers and scientists need to look beyond global warming emissions of carbon dioxide and take the loss of stratospheric ozone into account, researchers said on Thursday. The stratospheric ozone layer, which shields Earth from solar ultra-violet radiation, has thinned over the South Pole over the last half-century. This depletion of ozone has shifted the Southern Hemisphere's climate so that dry areas in the subtropics now see about 10 percent more precipitation in summer than...

Easter temperatures soar as government issues London smog alert - Guardian: The first shadow has been cast over the UK's sunlit spring by a smog warning for England and Wales. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said that the the high pressure system expected to prevail during the weekend made high pollution levels likely, partly owing to the warm still air. The alert came as the first of an estimated 2 million holidaymakers left the UK for supposed hotspots, many of which are currently cooler than southern England's daily highs of 24C (71F)....

Catching rain with rain barrels - Y Green: When I was young, we used to high-tail it outside, clanging pots in hand, at the first whisper of a spring or summer storm. It was our firm belief that shampooing with rainwater imbued our hair with magic. Girlhood diversions aside, the truth is that harvesting rainwater may be more important than we realize. According to the UN, 20 percent of the world`s population in 30 countries faces water shortages. This number is expected to rise dramatically by 2025. Although water is something that many...

Driller suspends Pennsylvania fracking after blowout - Reuters: Chesapeake Energy suspended the use of a controversial natural-gas production technique in Pennsylvania on Thursday as it worked to contain a well blowout that spilled toxic fluid into a local waterway. Chesapeake, one of the state's biggest shale gas producers, will use a mix of plastic, ground-up tires and heavy mud to plug the well - an operation that echoes BP's "top kill" effort to seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well last year. The company said it still did not know the cause of...

London accused of breaching legal pollution limits - Business Green: Green groups have warned that the UK has taken a step closer to receiving a �300m fine from the European Union, after London yesterday exceeded the annual allowance for PM10 pollution incidents and the government today issued its first summer smog warning. However, government officials maintain legal limits have not been broken due to a loophole contained in the temporary exemption from the EU's air quality rules that was recently granted to London and which effectively relaxed the standards the...

Nuclear dilemma: Adequate insurance too expensive - Associated Press: From the U.S. to Japan, it's illegal to drive a car without sufficient insurance, yet governments have chosen to run the world's 443 nuclear power plants with hardly any insurance coverage whatsoever. Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, which will leave taxpayers there with a massive bill, highlights one of the industry's key weaknesses -- that nuclear power is a viable source for cheap energy only if plants go uninsured. The plant's operator, Tepco, had no disaster insurance. Governments...

Cities Becoming New Battleground in Fighting Climate Change - Newswise: Urban centres worldwide are the leading contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report by UN-HABITAT prepared with expertise from a Canadian climate change scholar at Ryerson University. The report, Global Report on Human Settlements: Cities and Climate Change, details the possible impacts of climate change on cities and towns. It reviews the steps being taken by national and local authorities worldwide to mitigate and adapt to climate change and assesses their potential impact...

US: BP to provide $1 billion for oil spill projects - Reuters: BP Plc has agreed to provide $1 billion for projects in the Gulf of Mexico to restore natural resources damaged by last year's oil spill, the company and the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. The department said the agreement, the largest ever of its kind, represented a first step in fulfilling BP's obligation to fund a complete restoration of harmed public resources, such as rebuilding coastal marshes and replenishing damaged beaches. Other initial projects to be funded will restore...

Warmer temperatures may be exterminating pika populations one-by-one - Mongabay: Warmer temperatures may be exterminating pika populations one-by-one The last decade has not been a good one for the American pika (Ochotona princeps) according to a new study in Global Change Biology. Over the past ten years extinction rates have increased by nearly five times for pika populations in the Great Basin region of the US. Examining extinctions of pike populations in the region over the past 110 years, researchers found that nearly half of the extinction events occurred since 1999. American...

Obama Targets 'Climate Change Deniers In Congress' - Huffington Post: At a Democratic National Committee fundraiser on Wednesday night in San Francisco, President Barack Obama called out climate change-deniers in Congress, and commented that investments in clean energy are crucial to help the economy, national security, and future generations. Although Obama admitted, “Secret Service doesn’t let me pump gas now,” he still recognizes that high gas prices are seriously affecting Americans. Beyond the economy, this becomes an issue of national security “because we...

Ethiopia says won't allow Egypt to examine new dam - Reuters: Ethiopia will deny Egypt a chance to examine a new mega dam it is building on the Nile unless Cairo inks a new deal relinquishing its veto powers over allocation of the river's waters, an official said on Thursday. Egypt has been locked for more than a decade in a dispute with other countries through which the river passes, refusing changes to colonial-era treaties contested by Ethiopia and other upstream nations. Under the pact signed in 1929, Egypt is entitled to 55.5 billion cubic meters...

Fewer Americans see climate change as threat - USA Today: Fewer Americans and Europeans view climate change as a threat than did a few years ago, but more Latin Americans and sub-Saharan Africans see themselves at risk, according to Gallup surveys in 111 countries. The 42% of adults worldwide who see it as a threat to themselves and their families hasn't budged in recent years, but changes in some regions reflect divisions on the issue between the developed and developing world. In the USA, 53% said climate change is a serious personal threat in Gallup's...

Haiti's charcoal trade – in pictures - Guardian: Haiti's charcoal trade – in pictures Haiti's chief source of fuel spawns a harsh trade that causes deforestation and courts environmental disaster. New ways of providing fuel are now being explored

Greenpeace slams Apple over "dirty" datacentres - Business Green: Greenpeace has opened a new front in its ongoing battle with Apple, ranking the iconic technology company bottom in a new league table revealing the extent to which IT companies rely on coal power to supply their sprawling datacentres. Entitled How Dirty is Your Data? (PDF), the report draws on publicly available data to estimate the energy consumption of the world's largest datacentres and their draw on renewable energy. Greenpeace acknowledges that IT firms refuse to publicly disclose energy...

Fukushima no-go zone imposed around nuclear plant - video - Guardian: Japan disaster Fukushima no-go zone imposed around nuclear plant - video The Japanese government has declared a 12-mile no-entry zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, with residents facing arrest or fines if they return home

How to take your cycle on a plane - Guardian: Before I moved to Berlin in January to cover a colleague's maternity leave, I spent a lot of time worrying about how I was going to import my bikes. Before you start, I know. I should have taken the train. But I didn't, and you're going to have to get over that. I didn't have time and it was too expensive. Let's move on. Now, I have often spouted forth advice about taking bikes on planes, and yet I confess I have never had the bottle to do it myself. I muddled through the winter on an array...

Which nations have the most emissions? - Guardian: A scientist standing in front of a globe during the UN climate conference in Copenhagen. Photograph: Axel Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images There are many different ways to compare the carbon footprints of the world's nations. These include total emissions, per capita emissions, historical emissions and emissions as measured by consumption as opposed to production. Each gives a different insight – and none tells the whole story on its own. Following is quick guide to the data. Current CO2 emissions...

South Africa invokes "fracking" moratorium in Karoo - Reuters: South Africa's cabinet placed a moratorium on Thursday on oil and gas exploration licenses in the semi-arid Karoo region, where the controversial shale extraction technique of "fracking" might be deployed. The Karoo is a vast and ecologically sensitive region that is high on the radar screen of conservationists. "Cabinet has endorsed the decision by the department of minerals to invoke a moratorium on licenses in the Karoo, where fracking is proposed," the government said in a statement. Petrochemical...

natgas well blowout raises safety concerns - Reuters: A blowout at a Pennsylvania natural gas well late Tuesday could heighten concerns about the safety of a controversial process to extract gas from shale rock. The accident comes at a sensitive time for energy drillers, exactly one year after an explosion that led to the massive BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and just as regulators mull whether to allow the technique in New York state. The well in Bradford County, operated by Chesapeake Energy, spewed thousands of gallons of drilling fluid used...

Japan says crippled Fukushima Daiichi's partner plant - Reuters: Japan's Fukushima Daini nuclear plant, the companion of the crippled Daiichi plant 10 kilometers away that is still leaking radiation, has cleared a key milestone toward stabilizing, regulators said on Thursday, although the outlook for a restart remains uncertain. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said on Thursday it reduced the evacuation zone around the four-reactor, 4,400 megawatt Daini plant after engineers had repaired the cooling systems and maintained the plant in a "cold shutdown"...