Volcanic eruptions offset small part of greenhouse gas-driven global warming: Study

Summit County: A series of small to mid-sized volcanic eruptions the past 10 years were the main factor in the formation of stratospheric sulfuric acid that reflected the sun`s energy and partially offset the effects of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. "This new study indicates it is emissions from small to moderate volcanoes that have been slowing the warming of the planet," said Ryan Neely, a researcher at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science and doctoral student at CU Boulder. Neely...

URL: http://summitcountyvoice.com/2013/03/02/study-volcanic-eruptions-offset-small-part-of-greenhouse-gas-driven-global-warming-during-the-past-10-years/
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State Dept: Build the Keystone pipeline or not, the oil sands crude will flow

Time: The State Department issued its long-awaited supplementary environmental impact assessment (SEIS) this afternoon on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would ship up to 830,000 barrels a day of Canadian oil sands crude to the U.S. The full report is some 2,000 pages long--and was released at the very end of the week, thanks very much, State Department--but you can boil it down to one sentence: Approval or denial of any one crude oil transport project, including the proposed Project, remains unlikely...

URL: http://science.time.com/2013/03/01/state-dept-build-the-keystone-pipeline-or-not-the-oil-sands-crude-will-flow/
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Climate change turns an already troubled ski industry on its head

High Country News: George Shirk sits in his office at the Mammoth Times on a Saturday afternoon, with his dog, Fido, who writes his own weekly column for the paper, curled up underneath the desk. Early December is the quiet time between the Thanksgiving and Christmas rushes at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, and Shirk, a 60-year-old news veteran with a sandy smoker's voice, has kindly agreed to give me an armchair tour of his adopted hometown. Mammoth Lakes is perched in the Eastern Sierra, a half-day's walk from some...

URL: http://www.hcn.org/issues/45.4/climate-change-turns-an-already-troubled-ski-industry-on-its-head

Latinos Agree: We Have To Address Climate Change

ThinkProgress: Following the hottest year on record - one that recorded over 3,000 monthly records for heat, rain, and snow - the public is starting to agree that climate change might, in fact, be real. Though we all have a stake in an issue that will continue to cause extreme weather events, escalate costs and damages, and pose a grave public health threat, one community in particular is taking notice: Latinos. On Wednesday, House Representative Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) hosted Adrianna Quintero from Voces Verdes,...

URL: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/03/02/1661551/latinos-agree-we-have-to-address-climate-change/?mobile=nc
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Pakistan launches first national climate change policy

Reuters: Disaster-prone Pakistan has launched its first ever national policy on climate change, detailing how it plans to tackle the challenges posed by global warming, mitigate its risks and adapt key sectors of the country's economy to cope with its consequences. Pakistan is highly vulnerable to weather-related disasters such as cyclones, droughts, floods, landslides and avalanches. Devastating floods in 2010 disrupted the lives of 20 million people - many more than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami - and...

URL: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/03/02/pakistan-national-climate-change-policy-idINDEE92101S20130302
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Plants tell a story of climate change at Santa Fe Dam

Whittier Daily News: Ann Croissant bent down to listen to what the plants were saying. She skimmed her weathered hands lightly across the tops of the moss and liverwort. These lichen-like plants are skin of the earth flora seen more often during dank winters. But here it was, March 1, just a few weeks until spring, and the plethora of winter species crowding out the fleeting spring arrivals concerned Croissant, a noted botanist and activist who has taught at Cal Poly Pomona and Azusa Pacific University. "There...

URL: http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_22704046/steve-scauzillo-plants-tell-story-climate-change-at
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Keystone XL: A Choice Between Big Oil or a Sustainable Planet

EcoWatch: Last week Time Magazine declared that Keystone XL had become the Stonewall and the Selma of the climate movement--and today we got a reminder of just how tough those fights were, and how tough this one will be. On a Friday afternoon, with Secretary of State John Kerry half a world away and D.C. focused on the budget fight, the State Department released a new environmental impact statement for the pipeline. Like the last such report, it found that approving a 800,000 barrel-a-day fuse to one of...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/keystone-xl-big-oil-or-sustainable-plant/
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Southern California wildfire fully contained

Reuters: Fire officials on Saturday said they had fully contained a wildfire that scorched the hills east of Los Angeles as record-setting dry weather parched Southern California. The fire has burned about 310 acres in Riverside County, said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It was fully contained by 6 p.m. local time, the Riverside County Fire Department said on its website. The blaze broke out on Thursday afternoon in Jurupa Valley near the...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/03/us-usa-wildfire-california-idUSBRE9210AU20130303?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

With Lingering Drought Comes Plans for New Reservoirs

New York Times: Tucked away in northeast Texas, Lake Gilmer was the last major reservoir built in the state, more than a decade ago. Local officials said they had intended to share construction costs and water with a new power plant, but the power company backed out, leaving the City of Gilmer with the bill. Rather than serve city or industrial customers as a water source, the lake is mostly used for bass fishing. Nonetheless, Texas' interest in reservoirs is reviving as the drought persists and growing cities...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/us/with-lingering-drought-comes-plans-for-new-reservoirs.html
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New York Fracking Reportedly Held As Andrew Cuomo, RFK Jr. Talk Health

Associated Press: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo came as close as he ever has to approving fracking last month, laying out a limited drilling plan for as many as 40 gas wells before changing course to await the findings of a new study after discussions with environmentalist and former brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy Jr., several people familiar with his thinking told The Associated Press. The turning point, which could delay a decision for up to a year or longer, came in a series of phone calls with Kennedy. The two...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/02/new-york-fracking_n_2797039.html

After Keystone Review, Environmentalists Vow To Continue Fight

National Public Radio: If they can block the Keystone XL pipeline, they can keep Canada from developing more of its dirty tar sands oil. It takes a lot of energy to get it out of the ground and turn it into gasoline, so it has a bigger greenhouse gas footprint than conventional oil. But the State Department report, which was released Friday, says Keystone won't have much of an impact on the development of that oil from Alberta, Canada. Industry analyst Kevin Book of ClearView Energy Partners says that finding will...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/02/173327307/after-keystone-review-environmentalists-vow-to-continue-fight?ft=1&f=1025
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How Climate Change Affects People of Color

The Root: Chances are, if you are a person of color, climate change isn't at the top of your list of concerns. President Barack Obama's remarks on the issue in his State of the Union address and inaugural speech weren't what made you cheer. Finding a job, keeping the lights and heat on, and guarding the health and safety of your kids are your priorities -- and what you want your political leaders to prioritize, too. But climate change should be at or near the top of our political agenda, and here's why....

URL: http://www.theroot.com/views/how-climate-change-affects-people-color
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Climate is a hot topic in the Kansas Legislature

Kansas City Star: Almost a decade after Kansas wrestled with the merits of evolution, the Legislature now grapples with the politics of environmental science. As they move to ease often expensive renewable-energy mandates, lawmakers also debate the climate-change worries that help motivate such regulations. Bills look not just to set aside the concerns about greenhouse gases spewed to generate energy. Some would also require schools to teach challenges to mainstream climate science. Others aim to prevent public...

URL: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/03/02/4096474/climate-is-a-hot-topic-in-the.html

Vermont delegation calls for strict environmental review of tar sands

Burlington Free Press: All three members of Vermont's Congressional delegation are asking the federal government to require a strict environmental review should the owner of a New England oil pipeline seek to transport Canadian tar sands oil through its infrastructure in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The request was made in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dated Feb. 26 and signed by 18 members of Congress, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., U.S. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch,...

URL: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/needlogin?type=login&redirecturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.burlingtonfreepress.com%2Farticle%2F20130301%2FNEWS03%2F303010032%2FVermont-delegation-calls-strict-environmental-review-tar-sands%3Fnclick_check%3D1
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Firefighters contain 80 percent of Southern California wildfire

Reuters: Fire officials on Saturday said they had contained 80 percent of a wildfire that scorched the hills east of Los Angeles as record-setting dry weather parched Southern California. About 310 acres in Riverside County have been burned by the wildfire, said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The flames were still raging at midday but the wildfire was expected to be fully contained by evening, state and local fire officials said. No injuries...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/02/us-usa-wildfire-california-idUSBRE9210AU20130302?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Government fights Europe over air pollution reduction

Independent: The Government will argue in the Supreme Court this week that it has no obligation to reduce Britain's harmful levels of air pollution within the time limits set by Europe. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels are dangerously high in 16 regions of Britain, exceeding the EU limit which member nations were supposed to have complied with by 2010. Britain is the only nation not to apply for a time extension having failed to meet its 2010 deadline, because the Coalition has decided to fight European air regulations...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/government-fights-europe-over-air-pollution-reduction-8517922.html

Droughts and floods 'will be common events in Britain'

Guardian: Britain faces increasingly extreme weather conditions and urgently needs to improve its anti-flood defences and preparations for severe drought, says the Environment Agency. Its stark conclusion follows detailed analysis of weather patterns, river levels and flooding events in 2012, which revealed that some areas suffered record levels of drought before facing some of the worst flooding ever. Last year, flooding was recorded on 20% of days and drought on 25% of days, with rivers such as the...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/02/britain-faces-more-floods-and-droughts
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Keystone XL pipeline report slammed by activists and scientists

Guardian: Green activists and climate change scientists have slammed a new report from the Obama administration that raises no serious objections to building a massive and controversial oil pipeline. The Sierra Club, one of the US's oldest and most respected environmental advocacy groups, attacked the State Department study into the proposed Keystone XL piepline – which will bring oil from Canadian tar sands deposits down to the Gulf of Mexico – as a "deeply flawed" analysis of the environmental consequences...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/02/keystone-xl-pipeline-report-activists-scientists
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Democratic Governors: The States Must Lead On Climate Change

BuzzFeed: While most D.C. lawmakers show scant interest in pushing through new legislation on climate change, Democratic governors across the country are advancing a new argument on the way forward: reducing carbon emissions and investing in clean energy, they say, is a job for the states. "I personally believe that with this obstructionist Congress," said Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, "nothing much good is gonna happen in Washington despite the president's best efforts." Climate change does have its champions...

URL: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/democratic-governors-the-states-must-lead-on-climate-change
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Environmentalists diss State Dept.'s Keystone pipeline review

USA Today: The State Department riled environmentalists with a largely positive review Friday of a controversial Canada-to-U.S. pipeline, saying the project would not significantly alter the development of Canada's tar sands. In its long-awaited draft environmental review of the Keystone XL, the State Department said the pipeline won't make much of a difference to climate change because the tar sands will likely be developed anyway. "Approval or denial of the proposed project is unlikely to have a substantial...

URL: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/01/keystone-pipeline-obama-state-department/1957539/
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Glaciers in the Himalayas Are Retreating—But Why?

Climate News Network: One of the Climate News Network's editors, Kieran Cooke, was among a group of journalists recently investigating the impact of climate change in Nepal and the Himalayas. In the last of his reports from the region he describes the difficulties of establishing why so many of Nepal's glaciers appear to be shrinking. Mohan Bdr. Chand is at the sharp end of glacier research. A climate researcher at Kathmandu University, Chand is carrying out vital field work, looking at high mountain glaciers as indicators...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/study-explores-glaciers-retreat-in-the-himalayas-15652?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
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New Obama admin. report on Keystone XL pipeline has enviros worried

Mother Jones: On Friday afternoon, the State Department released a draft of its much-anticipated new analysis of the environmental impact of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Although the report makes no firm statement one way or the other about whether the controversial pipeline from Canada to Texas should be approved, some of its conclusions have enviros worried that a greenlight is inevitable. The administration has spent more than two years considering whether to approve the 1,600-mile pipeline that would...

URL: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/03/enviros-attack-latest-state-dept-report-keystone-xl
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Keystone XL effect on environment seen as minimal, U.S. says

LA Times: A long-awaited State Department review of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline released Friday concludes that he project would have minimal impact on the environment, increasing the chances it could be approved in the coming months. The State Department underscored that the study, a supplemental environmental impact statement, is a draft and that it does not offer recommendations for action on the $7-billion project, which would bring petroleum from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to refineries...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-keystone-pipeline-20130302,0,695669.story
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US State Department says Keystone XL won't impact global warming

Globe and Mail: TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL pipeline has cleared a significant political hurdle in the United States after a State Department assessment concluded the project would not contribute to the warming of the planet. Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones cautioned that the department's report, released late Friday, does not provide a recommendation on the project. But activists who oppose the pipeline condemned the work as a "botch job" that unduly minimizes the environmental impacts,...

URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/us-state-department-to-release-keystone-xl-report/article9213065/
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State Dept. Keystone report plays down climate fears

Politico: The State Department's long-awaited environmental report on the Keystone XL pipeline leaves President Barack Obama with no real scientific reason to reject the nation's most fiercely debated energy project. The sprawling 2,000-page report, released late Friday afternoon, doesn't issue a clear yea or nay on a sprawling section of pipeline that would traverse from western Canada to Oklahoma. But the report's key takeaways — including a conclusion that the project would have "no significant impacts...

URL: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/state-dept-keystone-report-plays-down-climate-fears-88313.html?hp=t2_3
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Remarkable summer in Australia is its hottest on record

Environment Health: Australia: It's so hot right now. Or rather, it was so hot this summer, that the country set a record for its hottest summer since recordkeeping began there in 1910, the country's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) announced Friday. For a country that has an arid climate and is prone to heat waves, that might not seem unusual. But the summer was remarkable in almost every respect, as the Australian continent smashed records for heat intensity, geographic scope, and duration. Moreover, the heat continued...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/australia-has-hottest-summer-on-record-consistent-with-global-warming-15679
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Senate climate bill

Living on Earth: President Obama promises executive action on global warming, if Congress fails to enact climate legislation. Now Senator Barbara Boxer of California and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont have introduced a climate bill that includes, among other measures, a tax on carbon emissions. Senator Bernie Sanders discusses the legislation with host Steve Curwood. Transcript CURWOOD: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios in Boston, this is Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. With John Kerry now...

URL: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=13-P13-00009&segmentID=1
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Chinese carbon tax

Living on Earth: Some US politicians argue that it's pointless for the United States to take action on climate change until the Chinese curb their emissions. But an official in China's Ministry of Finance recently wrote an article advocating a tax on carbon. Deborah Seligsohn, a researcher at University California at San Diego, tells host Steve Curwood that the Chinese are taking climate change more seriously than many people think. Transcript CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth, I'm Steve Curwood. Not long ago China...

URL: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=13-P13-00009&segmentID=2
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World Bank pledges more efforts to combat climate change

Chinaorg: World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on Friday pledged that the World Bank was committed to tackling climate change "more than anything else." World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. [File photo] "What we have to realize is that climate change is not a future threat. It is here with us today," Kim said at a special event titled "Connect4Climate: Right Here, Right Now" to celebrate creative youth engagement in the effort to combat climate change. "I want you understand that in a world...

URL: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2013-03/02/content_28108078.htm
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Climate change dates back to dawn of first farmers

USA Today: Chopping down trees with flint axes, planting peas and shearing sheep — those all sound like the prosaic duties of the earliest farmers. But those same Stone Age sodbusters were likely changing our planet's climate, researchers are now suggesting, long before the greenhouse gas emissions of the industrial era. And that means the "Anthropocene" era, the time of humans making a mark on the planet more striking than natural forces, extends not just to the beginning of the industrial era but to the...

URL: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/vergano/2013/03/02/anthropocene-climate-farming/1955041/
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Youngstown gas driller indicted, accused of dumping fracking waste into river

Plain Dealer: A federal grand jury returned an indictment against the owner of an oil and gas drilling company on Thursday, charging him with violating the Clean Water Act by dumping more than 20,000 gallons of fracking waste into a river in Youngstown. In addition to the charges against Benedict Lupo, 62, of Poland, Ohio, the grand jury also returned Clean Water Act indictments against Lupo`s company, Hardrock Excavating, and an employee of the company, Michael Guesman, 34, of Cortland. Guesman previously...

URL: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/02/youngstown_gas_driller_indicte.html
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TransCanada Confident Keystone XL Will Be Approved by Summer -Executive

Dow Jones: TransCanada Corp. (TRP) still fully expects to receive approval for its controversial cross-border Keystone XL pipeline expansion within the next several months, a company executive said Thursday. TransCanada, which has been waiting for White House approval for the 830,000 barrel-a-day pipeline expansion for years, expects to receive the necessary permit "by the first half of 2013," Paul Miller, TransCanada's senior vice president in charge of oil pipelines, said on the sidelines of the Platts...

URL: http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2013/02/28/transcanada-confident-keystone-xl-will-be-approved-by-summer-executive/

EU Climate Chief Says Talks on Airline Emissions Will Test Obama

Bloomberg: European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said an early test of President Barack Obama's commitment to combating climate change is how he negotiates an international agreement on aviation emissions. "I really believe that when it's about finding a global way forward for aviation now, we -- the U.S. and the European Union -- should be on the same side, working for the obvious, namely that if I take a long-haul plane, be it from Washington to Europe or from Europe to Beijing, it is only...

URL: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-02-28/eu-climate-chief-says-talks-on-airline-emissions-will-test-obama

Population growth is threat to other species, poll respondents say

LA Times: Nearly two-thirds of American voters believe that human population growth is driving other animal species to extinction and that if the situation gets worse, society has a "moral responsibility to address the problem," according to new national public opinion poll. A slightly lower percentage of those polled -- 59% -- believes that population growth is an important environmental issue and 54% believe that stabilizing the population will help protect the environment. The survey was conducted...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-population-poll-20130302,0,3593053.story?track=rss
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European Coal for 2014 Increases as U.K. Use of Fuel Surges

Bloomberg: European coal for next year increased for the first time in five days, paring its third monthly loss, as the U.K said it burnt more of the fuel for power generation last year. Thermal coal for delivery in 2014 to Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Antwerp gained as much as 40 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $98.20 a metric ton, and traded at $98 a ton at 3:13 p.m. in London, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. The contract is set to drop 1.7 percent this month. The share of coal in U.K. power generation...

URL: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-02-28/european-coal-for-2014-increases-as-u-dot-k-dot-use-of-fuel-surges

Why The U.S. Needs A National Climate And Energy Plan

Forbes: I wrote yesterday about a bill recently introduced by a freshman state lawmaker that would require policymakers to plan for how California will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. The prudent proposal reminds lawmakers that California's forward-thinking climate policy, which includes a declining cap on GHG emissions and, most importantly, a price on carbon, must be extended beyond 2020, when the state's climate change law, AB32, expires. California's suite of complementary policies...

URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/justingerdes/2013/02/28/why-the-u-s-needs-a-national-climate-and-energy-plan/

Growing taste for Fairtrade shows it's Britain's cup of tea

Guardian: Have you eaten a banana today? Last year Britain imported an extraordinary 4bn bananas from some of the poorest parts of the world. But in a triumph for campaigners, one in three bananas consumed in this country is now certified as Fairtrade, guaranteeing fair prices for farmers. While sales of organic food are sagging, Fairtrade is booming. Sales in 2012 were £1.57bn, up 19% on the year before. In what has mushroomed into a mainstream sector, more than 4,500 items registered with the distinctive...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/mar/02/fairtrade-taste-growing-britain
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In California, What Price Water?

New York Times: On a calm day, a steady rain just about masks the sound of Pacific Ocean water being drawn into the intake valve from Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Listen hard, and a faint sucking sound emerges from the concrete openings, like a distant straw pulling liquid from a cup. At the moment, the seawater is being diverted from the ocean to cool an aging natural-gas power plant. But in three years, if all goes as planned, the saltwater pulled in at that entryway will emerge as part of the regional water supply...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/business/energy-environment/a-costly-california-desalination-plant-bets-on-future-affordability.html
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Tell Attorney General Holder: No Tax Write-Offs for BP for Spilling Oil

EcoWatch: BP may get a gift from the government for spilling oil in the Gulf of Mexico and we need your help to cut the deal off at the pass. BP is finally in court with the federal government and a number of affected states in order to determine the fines and penalties they will have to pay as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. Great news, right? Well, unfortunately, word has come out that the Department of Justice may be offering BP a sweetheart settlement deal that...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/holder-no-bp-tax-write-offs/
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Australia’s Record-Breaking Hottest Summer

Guardian: This summer hasn't just felt hot. It's been hot. In fact, the summer of 2012-13 is now the hottest on record. Average temperatures beat the record set in the summer of 1997-98, and daytime maximum temperatures knocked over the 1982-83 record. January 2013 has been the hottest month since records began in 1910. A significant summer, for weather and climate There is an old adage in meteorology and climatology circles, "Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get". But what does this mean?...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/01/australia-record-breaking-hottest-summer
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/2/1/1328095185135/A-rabbit-flees-a-bushfire-006.jpg

Louisiana chief says master plan can adapt to sea level rise

Advocate: Yes, we can. And, by the way: You're wrong. That's how Garret Graves, head of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, and some coastal scientists have responded to federal researchers who last week predicted the southeast coast faces the highest rate of sea level rise "on the planet" – 4.4 feet by 2100. At that rate, they said, parts of the state's coastal Master Plan will be obsolete before they are completed. "The NOAA folks are just misinformed," said Graves, summing...

URL: http://theadvocate.com/news/neworleans/neworleansnews/5310950-123/graves-louisianas-coastal-master-plan

Keystone XL clears big hurdle, gets thumbs-up from State Dept. report

Grist: The U.S. State Department just released a draft environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL pipeline, and it`s not what climate activists have been hoping for. As The New York Times puts it, the report "makes no recommendation about whether the project should be built but presents no conclusive environmental reason it should not be." According to The Washington Post, the report "suggest[s] that blocking the project would not have a significant impact on either the future development of...

URL: http://grist.org/news/keystone-xl-clears-big-hurdle-gets-thumbs-up-from-state-dept-report/?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed

Will Newest National Park Be Marred by Oil Drilling?

EcoWatch: On Feb. 11, hundreds of people--including Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and State Representative Sam Farr (D-CA)--gathered together to celebrate the creation of the U.S.`s newest national park, Pinnacles. An unusual outcropping of volcanic rock spires rising from the oak savannah of the California Coast Range, Pinnacles is a 27,000-acre wildlands preserve that is home to foxes, badgers, eagles and an estimated 31 California condors, a species once on the edge of extinction that has now rebounded...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/national-park-oil-drilling/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3383491547_a1b0b1f472_z.jpg

Canada: Keystone XL focus shifts to climate change, oil lobby says

National Post: A delegation of oil sands CEOs "couldn't get a clear reading" in Washington this week over whether Barack Obama's renewed focus on climate change means more uncertainty for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, an executive with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Thursday. The climate discussion, the carbon discussion, is clearly back as being a priority issue The Canadian lobby group and a handful of Canadian oil patch leaders met with members of Congress, the administration...

URL: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/01/keystone-xl-focus-shifts-to-climate-change-oil-lobby-says/
Enclosure: http://financialpostbusiness.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/0301obama.jpg?w=620

A defense of Keystone protesters from the dark heart of the MSM

Grist: When I wrote my essay on the virtues of being unreasonable on Keystone XL, I implied, unfairly, that TIME journalist Mike Grunwald was among the ranks of Very Serious People who think anti-Keystone activism is misguided. He protested, and I promised that if he wrote on the subject I would do a special post on it. Well, Grunwald has written a column about Keystone XL and it is a doozy, just about the best thing I`ve ever read on the subject in a mainstream publication. Unlike the Monday morning...

URL: http://grist.org/climate-energy/a-defense-of-keystone-protesters-from-the-dark-heart-of-the-msm/?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed

State Department Again Sees No Environmental Barriers to Keystone Pipeline

New York Times: The State Department`s revised supplemental environmental impact statement on the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline is out, and offers very little that Secretary of State John Kerry or President Obama might use as a reason to reject the plan. You can best gauge the reaction of various factions on Twitter using the #noKXL and #keystoneXL tags. The voluminous report includes this blunt conclusion on the inconsequential nature of the pipeline if one`s interest is in reducing extraction...

URL: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/state-department-again-sees-no-environmental-barriers-to-keystone-pipeline/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/01/blogs/dotkeystone/dotkeystone-articleInline.jpg

Canada: 'This Is Huge': Sweeping Forest Bill Gathers Foes

Tyee: A British Columbia government bill that would radically shift the management of public forests is drawing criticism from environmental groups, the head of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and opposition politicians. The bill, however, is in the middle of a legislative log jam and may not pass before the province's politicians leave the legislature to hit the campaign trail. "This is huge," said Vicky Husband, a long time conservationist whose efforts have been recognized with an Order of B.C....

URL: http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/02/27/Forest-Bill-Foes/

EU climate chief: Obama would send ‘strong signal’ by nixing Keystone

The Hill: The European Union's climate minister said Thursday that White House rejection of the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline would be an "extremely strong signal" of the Obama administration's second-term intent to confront global warming. "If you had a U.S. administration that would avoid doing something that they could do, with the argument that in the time we are living in, with the climate change we are faced with, we should not do everything we can do, then I think it would be a very, very...

URL: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/285505-eu-climate-chief-obama-would-send-strong-signal-by-nixing-keystone-pipeline

State Department Keystone XL Pipeline Analysis Disspirits Climate Change Community

Huffington Post: Environmentalists are fuming over the conclusion from the State Department that the Keystone XL pipeline -- a fiercely-debated proposal to transport heavy crude from Alberta's oil sands deposits 1,700 miles to the U.S. Gulf Coast -- would be "environmentally sound." The government claims in the report released on Friday that the pipeline project wouldn't significantly alter climate change. Such an assessment is at odds with the warnings of experts and advocates -- more than 40,000 of whom recently...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/01/state-department-keystone-xl-_n_2793160.html
Enclosure: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1017678/thumbs/s-STATE-DEPARTMENT-KEYSTONE-XL-large.jpg?6

US admits Keystone impact, says this is only option

NBC: Construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline would create "numerous" and "substantial" impacts on the environment, the State Department said Friday in a draft environmental impact statement. But the project is a better bet than any of the alternatives, it said in essentially clearing the project to go ahead. The report concluded that the Canadian synthetic crude oil the pipeline is slated to transport into the U.S. produces 17 percent more greenhouse gases than natural crude oil already...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/01/17149564-state-department-admits-keystone-environmental-impact-but-says-theres-no-better-way?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/130301-keystone-pipeline-330p.photoblog600.jpg

Ice Core Data Help Solve a Global Warming Mystery

Scientific American: Scientists can study Earth's climate as far back as 800,000 years by drilling core samples from deep underneath the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Detailed information on air temperature and CO2 levels is trapped in these specimens. Current polar records show an intimate connection between atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature in the natural world. In essence, when one goes up, the other one follows. There is, however, still a degree of uncertainty about which came first--a spike...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ice-core-data-help-solve
Enclosure: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/ice-core-data-help-solve_1.jpg

New emissions trading scheme kicks off in California

EcoSeed: California has implemented a new cap and trade scheme aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the United States' most populous state. Companies whose activities release 25,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually are expected to comply with the new cap and trade program. For 2013, the scheme has come in effect for companies involved in the electrical industry and energy intensive manufacturing companies. Other sectors, such as transportation fuels and natural gas use by residential...

URL: http://www.ecoseed.org/business/carbon-market/15969-new-emissions-trading-scheme-kicks-off-in-california

Natural Gas Dethrones King Coal As Power Companies Look To Future

National Public Radio: The way Americans get their electricity is changing. Coal is in decline. Natural gas is bursting out of the ground in record amounts. And the use of wind and solar energy is growing fast. All this is happening as power companies are trying to choose which kind of energy to bet on for the next several decades. Until recently, half of these plants burned coal to make electricity. Now, that's down to about one-third. Since 2010, about 150 coal plants either have been retired or it's been announced...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/01/173258342/natural-gas-dethrones-king-coal-as-power-companies-look-to-future?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/03/01/dresden-plant_wide-4bf2eae46412ab99e09397c855f4316e5577ca0d-s40.jpg

U.S. Report Sees No Environmental Bar to Keystone Pipeline

New York Times: The State Department issued a revised environmental impact statement for the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline on Friday that makes no recommendation about whether the project should be built but presents no conclusive environmental reason it should not be. The 2,000-page document also makes no statement on whether the pipeline is in the United States' economic and energy interests, a determination to be made later this year by President Obama. But it will certainly add a new element to the already...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/02/us/us-report-sees-no-environmental-bar-to-keystone-pipeline.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/02/us/PIPELINE/PIPELINE-popup.jpg

Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on climate change, State Department analysis says

Washington Post: The State Department released a draft environmental impact assessment of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline Friday, suggesting that the project would have little impact on climate change. Canada's oil sands will be developed even if President Obama denies a permit to the pipeline connecting the region to Gulf Coast refineries, the analysis said. Such a move also would not alter U.S. oil consumption, the report added. The lengthy assessment did not give environmentalists the answer they had...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/keystone-xl-pipeline-will-not-have-huge-impact-on-climate-draft-analysis-says/2013/03/01/715491b0-82a5-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html
Enclosure: http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/draftseis/index.htm

Remarkable Summer in Australia Is its Hottest On Record

Climate Central: Australia: It's so hot right now. Or rather, it was so hot this summer, that the country set a record for its hottest summer since recordkeeping began there in 1910, the country's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) announced Friday. For a country that has an arid climate and is prone to heat waves, that might not seem unusual. But the summer was remarkable in almost every respect, as the Australian continent smashed records for heat intensity, geographic scope, and duration. Moreover, the heat continued...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/australia-has-hottest-summer-on-record-consistent-with-global-warming-15679?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/3_1_13_news_andrew_summeraustraliananomaly-500x375.jpg

Climate change putting stress on Kansas water resources

Lawrence Journal World: The current drought gripping all of Kansas and much of the western United States may seem severe now, but it is not abnormal for a region that has seen cyclical droughts for much of the last 1,000 years. What ought to concern Kansans more, a panel of experts said during a symposium Friday night at Kansas University, is the longer-term change in the region's climate that will put greater demand on the state's dwindling water resources. "From a climate perspective, it looks like it's going to...

URL: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/mar/01/climate-change-putting-stress-kansas-water-resourc/

It's the EU against the Government in a day of judgment for air pollution

Telegraph: Almost no one seems to have noticed, but one of the most important court cases so far this century will be heard next week. It will not just decide whether four fifths of our environmental legislation can be effectively enforced, but crucially affect our relationship with the EU. For if the judgment goes as ministers want, it will pose arguably the greatest challenge to Brussels's writ since Britain first joined the Common Market. A good thing, too, many will say, not least those increasingly...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9902756/Its-the-EU-against-the-Government-in-a-day-of-judgment-for-air-pollution.html
Enclosure: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02497/smogalamy_2497152b.jpg

Natural capital: avoiding the next financial crisis

Chinadialogue: Nature underpins global wealth creation. The renewable flow of goods and services provided by the earth's ecosystems buttress our economy and yield benefits for business. But this stock of ecosystems -- also known as "natural capital' -- is largely invisible in financial decision-making. As a result, natural capital does not appear on the balance sheets of businesses and is largely unaccounted for in financial products. Take for instance an investor in London, Shanghai or New York who finances...

URL: http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/5752
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Draft Assessment of Tar Sands Pipeline “Devastatingly Cynical”

Inter Press Service: The U.S. State Department late Friday released a draft environmental impact assessment of a contentious pipeline project that simultaneously acknowledged the dangers posed by climate change while also noting the project would "not likely result in significant adverse environmental effects". Scientists and advocates have reacted with significant alarm, warning that the new report, officially a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), is merely recycling deeply flawed conclusions offered...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/03/draft-assessment-of-tar-sands-pipeline-devastatingly-cynical/
Enclosure: http://ipsnews-net.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/Library/2013/03/keystoneprotest640-629x472.jpg

U.S. review gives boost to Keystone oil pipeline

Reuters: The Keystone XL oil pipeline got a boost on Friday when the State Department said the project would not likely change the rate at which Canada's oil sands are developed, discounting warnings from environmentalists that it would lead to a spike in greenhouse gas emissions. The report is far from the last word on Keystone. The environmental assessment must be finalized after the public comment. Federal agencies will then have 90 days to work with the State Department to determine whether the pipeline...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/02/us-keystone-idUSBRE9200W620130302

Campaign says has helped retire 15 percent of coal capacity

Reuters: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Sierra Club, an environmental group, said Friday they were halfway to their goal of getting one-third of coal-fired power plants retired by 2015 through a variety of civic actions. Bloomberg gave the Sierra Club $50 million in 2011 to launch the "Beyond Coal" campaign, which set a goal to preside over the retirement 105,000 megawatts of coal-fired power in four years and encourage a shift toward renewable energy. The campaign took credit for helping...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/01/us-usa-coal-climate-idUSBRE92011320130301?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130301&t=2&i=708798992&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE9201NF600

EU looks to stop illegal timber

BBC: Measures to prevent illegally harvested timber from entering the European Union come into force on Sunday. The EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) requires importers or sellers of timber and wood products to keep records of the sources of their supplies. Interpol estimates that illegal logging contributes up to 30% of timber in the global market, costing in excess of 15bn euros ($20bn/£13bn) each year. The EU accounts for 35% of the world's primary timber consumption. The law, which was adopted...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21590484#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60754000/jpg/_60754227_deforestationbrazilap.jpg

Build It And They'll Come: Georgia Power Kicks Off 210-MW Solar Program


Today (March 1) at 8:00 am EST, Georgia Power Company began accepting applications for its Advanced Solar Initiative (GPASI), a program that will add 210 megawatts of solar capacity over the next three years. This first deadline is for small and medium-sized facilities (up to 100 kW and 100 kW - 1 MW, respectively), for which the utility is seeking a total of 45 MW in each of the next two years. An additional 60 MW of utility-scale projects will be solicited for 2013 (that RFP goes out next month) and 2014, to be brought online in 2015 and 2016.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/03/build-it-and-theyll-come-georgia-power-kicks-off-210-mw-solar-program?cmpid=rss

Chicken Little and the "Crisis" of Grid Reliability


The Wall Street Journal published an alarmist piece yesterday depicting California's electrical grid as the victim of a 'looming crisis' brought on by the state's 'growing reliance' on wind and solar.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/03/chicken-little-and-the-crisis-of-grid-reliability?cmpid=rss

NLP Solar Sales Training | 2 Loan Programs | Live Webinar March 6 & 7th


URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/partner/rich-hessler-solar/news/article/2013/03/nlp-solar-sales-training4?cmpid=rss

Duke Explores Rooftop Solar as Panels Slow Electricity Demand, CEO Says


Duke Energy Corp., the largest U.S. utility owner, may expand into rooftop solar as wider use of photovoltaic panels by customers cuts into demand for electricity in states including California, Chief Executive Officer Jim Rogers said.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/03/duke-explores-rooftop-solar-as-panels-slow-electricity-demand-ceo-says?cmpid=rss

Green Jobs Survey Killed as US Prepares Government-Wide Cuts


A program tracking U.S. green jobs, faulted by Republican lawmakers, will be scrapped by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as part of automatic budget cuts set to take effect today, according to a person familiar with the decision.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/03/green-jobs-survey-killed-as-us-prepares-government-wide-cuts?cmpid=rss

The Real Power behind Today's Energy Efficiency Industry?


President Barack Obama recently pushed for increased energy efficiency in his State of the Union address. His endorsement is a plus, no argument. But it may not be the federal government that drives the industry's next growth spurt. Increasingly, the push for clean energy seems to be more grassroots, from the city and community. Consider these sign

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/03/the-real-power-behind-todays-energy-efficiency-industry?cmpid=rss

300 Reasons Utilities Should Do These 3 Things for Distributed Solar


In the next decade, over 300 gigawatts of unsubsidized solar energy could be deployed across the United States, generating electricity for the same or less than retail electricity prices.  But many utilities remain blissfully unaware of the coming solar storm or how to handle it, as evidenced by a Public Utility Commission hearing in Minnesota last

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/03/300-reasons-utilities-should-do-these-3-things-for-distributed-solar?cmpid=rss

All About Rainscreens

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To lower the risk of wall rot, it often makes sense to provide a ventilated air gap between your siding and your sheathing

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Twenty years ago, very few residential builders knew what a rainscreenConstruction detail appropriate for all but the driest climates to prevent moisture entry and to extend the life of siding and sheathing materials; most commonly produced by installing thin strapping to hold the siding away from the sheathing by a quarter-inch to three-quarters of an inch. was. These days, however, it's no longer unusual to see siding being installed on vertical furring strips or a plastic drainage mat. As rainscreens become more common, mainstream builders are beginning to ask, "What's a rainscreen? How do I know if I need one?"

This article will pull together information to answer the most common questions about rainscreen gaps between siding and sheathingMaterial, usually plywood or oriented strand board (OSB), but sometimes wooden boards, installed on the exterior of wall studs, rafters, or roof trusses; siding or roofing installed on the sheathing—sometimes over strapping to create a rainscreen. .

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/all-about-rainscreens

Biomass Analysis Tool Is Faster, More Precise


A screening tool from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) eases and greatly quickens one of the thorniest tasks in the biofuels industry: determining cell wall chemistry to find plants with ideal genes.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/03/biomass-analysis-tool-is-faster-more-precise?cmpid=rss

UConn Professor's Patented Technique Key to New Solar Power Technology


A novel fabrication technique developed by UConn engineering professor Brian Willis could provide the breakthrough technology scientists have been looking for to vastly improve today's solar energy systems.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/03/uconn-professors-patented-technique-key-to-new-solar-power-technology?cmpid=rss

Why you should sweat climate change

USA Today: More American children are getting asthma and allergies, and more seniors are suffering heat strokes. Food and utility prices are rising. Flooding is overrunning bridges, swamping subways and closing airport runways. People are losing jobs in drought-related factory closings. Cataclysmic storms are wiping out sprawling neighborhoods. Towns are sinking. This isn't a science-fiction, end-of-the-world scenario. Though more anecdotal than normal - today, at least - these scenes are already playing...

URL: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/28/climate-change-remaking-america/1917169/

Top 4 Reasons the US Still Doesn’t Have a Single Offshore Wind Turbine

Climate Desk: Despite massive growth of the offshore wind industry in Europe, a blossoming array of land-based wind turbines stateside, and plenty of wind to spare, the US has yet to sink even one turbine in the ocean. Not exactly the kind of leadership on renewables President Obama called for in his recent State of the Union address. Light is just beginning to flicker at the end of the tunnel: On Tuesday, outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a gathering of offshore industry leaders he was optimistic...

URL: http://climatedesk.org/2013/02/top-4-reasons-the-us-still-doesnt-have-a-single-offshore-wind-turbine/
Enclosure: http://climatedesk.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/wind-ship-670.jpg

Latest Move on Fracking Shows Democracy is Alive and Well in NY

EcoWatch: Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's recent decision to hit the reset button on fracking proves that participatory democracy is alive and well in New York. Last week, Cuomo's State Health Commissioner, Dr. Nirav Shah, announced that he needs more time to review fracking's health impacts, meaning that the state's current proposed fracking regulations will expire on Feb. 28. Any future plans for fracking now depend on how the health issue comes out, which may take as much as a year or more to determine, according...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/fracking-democracy-alive-ny/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/dimock.jpg

Ice Bubbles May Solve Carbon-Temperature Paradox

Climate Central: Scientists may have resolved a long-standing puzzle in climate science by showing that ancient increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide came at the same time as rising temperatures, rather than hundreds of years afterward. In a new analysis of bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice, published Thursday in Science, lead author Frederic Parrenin of the Laboratory of Glaciology and Geophysics of the Environment, in Grenoble, France, and his colleagues write that at the end of the last ice age, about 20,000...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/antarctic-ice-bubbles-may-solve-carbon-temperature-paradox-15663?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/uploads/news/2-27-13-MIKE-Ancientco2tempchangeParadox-opt2.jpg

United Kingdom: Charity reaches rainforest goal

BBC: A charity founded to save tropical rainforest the size of Wales has achieved its goal. It has raised £2m in three years to protect over two million hectares of forest, mainly in Africa. "Size of Wales" was founded by Welsh environmentalists annoyed that their country was often used in the media as a comparator to gauge the scale of rainforest destruction. Copycat campaigns are now being discussed in Denmark and Ireland. The project's organisers say ultimately they'd like to see the people...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21618349#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/66137000/jpg/_66137261_66136428.jpg

Shell Abandons 2013 Arctic Drilling

EcoWatch: After a year of embarrassing failures and accidents, Royal Dutch Shell announced yesterday it would not drill in the Arctic this year. "It is encouraging that America's pristine Arctic has been given a reprieve and we are happy Shell has now officially recognized they cannot safely drill in the Arctic. Now, it's time that the Obama Administration recognizes the same thing," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. "Shell began its Arctic folly by declaring they would take...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/shell-abandons-arctic-drilling/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/savethearctic.jpg

Taking a Fresh Look at Nuclear Waste

New York Times: The American program to dispose of spent nuclear fuel and other highly radioactive wastes is at a standstill for a variety of reasons. First-of-a-kind efforts tend to be technologically difficult, but the real problems are not hardware issues, according to a new book, "Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste." "The technical characteristics of nuclear waste make the disposal problem difficult, yet it is the human factors that have made it intractable,'' the authors, William M....

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/a-fresh-look-at-nuclear-waste/
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/02/28/automobiles/book/book-articleInline.jpg

Fracking Pennsylvania: Flirting With Disaster

EcoWatch: Book review: Fracking Pennsylvania: Fracking With Disaster by Walter M. Brasch, Greeley and Stone Publishers, LLC, Carmichael, CA; 2013; 274 pages, $14.95 As an anti-fracking activist, one of the most important things I`ve learned in this work is how necessary it is for us to be connected and know about each other`s work, experiences and information. Walter Brasch has made a valuable contribution to that effort. If I were teaching a course on environmental ethics, Brasch's books would be on the...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2013/fracking-flirting-with-disaster/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/cover2.jpg

Shell Sees Solar as Biggest Energy Source in Next Half Century

Bloomberg: Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) says solar power, a business it abandoned four years ago, may expand into the world's biggest source of energy in the next half century. The proposition that photovoltaic panels will be the main power source by 2070 is one of the New Lens Scenarios Europe's largest oil company published today in a report on energy demand this century. A second has natural gas as the main fuel by 2030. Both come with risks to energy producers and the climate. "The world is complicated,...

URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-28/shell-sees-solar-as-biggest-energy-source-after-exiting-industry.html
Enclosure: http://www.bloomberg.com/image/ikShM2gmYGWM.jpg

Swift reaction as Shell suspends 2013 Arctic Alaska offshore drilling

Alaska Dispatch: After a spate of mishaps and mechanical issues that beleaguered Royal Dutch Shell's bid at offshore drilling in Arctic Alaska, the company announced Wednesday it would suspend its 2013 drilling season. Shell is pausing in order "to prepare equipment and plans for a resumption of activity at a later stage," the company said in a statement. Shell's first year in the Alaska Arctic -- after a long permitting process and billions of dollars invested -- proved troublesome. Stubborn sea ice hampered...

URL: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/swift-reaction-shell-suspends-2013-arctic-alaska-offshore-drilling
Enclosure: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_620/public/images/topic/news/kulluk-kiliuda-bay-2.jpg?itok=Mjj3arTo

Environmentalists still waiting for Obama to act on climate change

Guardian: It's been 114 days since Barack Obama promised on the night of his re-election to protect future generations from – in his words – "the destructive power of a warming planet". It's been 38 days since he renewed and expanded on that promise on inauguration day, 16 days since he told Congress straight up in his State of the Union address: act on climate change or I will. But when it comes to spelling out the actions Obama intends to take on climate change, exactly how he intends to use his executive...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/28/environmentalists-wait-obama-climate-change
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/2/28/1362077238341/obama-climate-change-008.jpg

Guide for filing complaints on rule-breaking by palm oil companies published

Mongabay: Over the past 25 years palm oil production has emerged as one of the biggest drivers of deforestation and peatlands degradation in Southeast Asia. And there are fears that expansion in West and Central Africa could soon make palm oil a major cause of forest conversion on that continent. To help mitigate the environmental damage caused by palm oil production, in 2004 a variety of stakeholders came together to form the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a body that sets standards for production....

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0228-rspo-complaint-guide.html
Enclosure: http://mongabay.s3.amazonaws.com/sabah/600/sabah_aerial_2926.jpg

Dusty Springs in Asia, Africa Can Increase Snow in Calif

Climate Central: A dusty spring in Asia and Africa can increase snowfall thousands of miles away in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, according to a new study. The process begins when winds stir up tiny particles of dust, pollution, bacteria and heavy metals from the Taklimakan and Gobi deserts in Asia and the Sahara in northern Africa. In a matter of days, those particles -- known to scientists as aerosols -- travel halfway around the world, carried high above the Earth by the Jet Stream. When they run...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/african-asian-dust-influences-snow-in-california-study-finds-15665?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/2-28-13-Lauren-SugarPineDamForest-500x374.jpg

Offshore wind sector buoyed by funding for floating wind farm

BusinessGreen: Principle Power's plans to commercialise its innovative floating offshore wind farm technology received a major boost yesterday, when it became one of three companies to take home a share of a £2.3m government funding pot. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) yesterday confirmed the winners of the second round of its Offshore Wind Component Technologies Development and Demonstration scheme, and also launched a £4m call for entries to a further round. Teeside-based Principle Power...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2251487/offshore-wind-sector-buoyed-by-funding-for-floating-wind-farm?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Offshore+wind+sector+buoyed+by+funding+for+floating+wind+farm

Historic Datasets Reveal Effects of Climate Change and Habitat Loss On Plant-Pollinator Networks

ScienceDaily: Are plant-pollinator networks holding together as the insects and plants in the network are jostled by climate change and habitat loss? The question is difficult to answer because there is no baseline: few historic datasets record when plants first bloomed or insects first appeared and almost none follow both plants and insects. Which is why biologist Tiffany Knight and her then postdoctoral research associate Laura Burkle were delighted to discover meticulous data on a plant-pollinator network...

URL: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEe8tzGgMF1KpN38dLzsylsx_ku9A&url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228155624.htm
Enclosure: http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/02/130228155624-large.jpg

Improving climate protection in the agricultural sector

ScienceDaily: Agriculture is responsible for around ten to twelve percent of all greenhouse gases attributable to human activities. This raises the question of how these emissions could be reduced. A recent study has investigated -- for the first time -- the full range of factors that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, namely soil and climate conditions, the agricultural model and the farming intensity on both organic and conventional holdings. The study has enabled scientists to develop a new model that...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228124146.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
Enclosure: http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/02/130228124146-large.jpg

Climate change threatens corn crops

PhysOrg: A warming world is putting crops at risk, according to scientists who studied how the weather affects French maize yields. If climate-change projections are right, we'll need to improve yields per acre by as much as 12 per cent between 2016 and 2035 just to maintain today's total production. The results reveal a real threat to our food supply in the coming decades. It turns out that maize yields drop significantly for every day when temperatures climb over around 32°C, and that heat stress...

URL: http://phys.org/news/2013-02-climate-threatens-corn-crops.html
Enclosure: http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2013/7-climatechang.jpg

Keystone halt would send strong signal: EU climate chief

Reuters: The European Union's top climate change official said on Thursday that if the Obama administration rejects the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, it would send a strong message that the United States is serious about combating climate change. "That would be an extremely strong signal for the Obama administration," Connie Hedegaard, the EU Commissioner for Climate Action, told reporters in a briefing in Washington. Hedegaard has been visiting lawmakers, administration and World Bank officials as...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/28/us-eu-climate-keystone-idUSBRE91R1CK20130228?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Earth Unlikely to Face an Ecological Tipping Point, Study Says

Yale Environment 360: A team of international scientists has rejected the idea that the planet could face a sudden and irreversible ecological shift as a result of largely human-driven pressures, suggesting that such global transformations are more likely to occur over a long period of time. While earlier studies have warned that ecological pressures -- including climate change, biodiversity loss, and over-exploitation of resources -- could drive the planet toward a dangerous "tipping point," the new paper says the ecosystems...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/earth_unlikely_to_face__an_ecological_tipping_point_study_says/3779/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29
Enclosure: http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(13)00033-5

Shale gas lobbyist urges UK companies to publicly disclose use of all chemicals

Guardian: A revamped lobby group for the British shale gas industry has responded to concerns over controversial drilling techniques by drawing up a set of guidelines encouraging companies to disclose all the chemicals they use in the fracking of wells. The United Kingdom Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG) admits the rules are not binding but should act as a measure of "good practice" for explorers who have just had a fracking moratorium lifted by government, despite protests from the environmental movement....

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/28/shale-gas-lobbyist-urges-disclose-chemicals
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/2/28/1362073269452/Cuadrilla-shale-gas-drill-010.jpg

Selective logging changes character of tropical forest

Mongabay: Selective logging is usually considered less harmful than other forestry practices, such as clear cutting, but a new study in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Science has found that even selective logging has a major impact on tropical forests lasting decades. Comparing trees in two previously logged sites and two unlogged sites in northeast India, researchers found less tree diversity in selectively logged forests with trees dispersed by birds proved especially hard-hit....

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1212-hance_tcs_logging_india.html
Enclosure: http://mongabay.s3.amazonaws.com/madagascar-2012/600/madagascar_masoala_0199.jpg

China: Sandstorm pushes Beijing pollution off the charts

NBC: Beijing and other parts of northern China were stung by hazardous air pollution levels Thursday as strong winds blew a sandstorm through the region. Air in the capital turned a yellowish hue as sand from China's arid northwest blew in, turning the sky into a noxious soup of smog and dust. At 6 a.m. local time, the U.S. Embassy's air quality index showed a reading of 516 for particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. Known as PM2.5, such particles are considered particularly dangerous...

URL: http://behindthewall.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/28/17130220-sandstorm-pushes-beijing-pollution-levels-off-the-charts?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/a_3k_brown_sand_130228.vembedlarge456.jpg

BP oil spill probe did not address cost overruns: executive

Reuters: BP Plc's investigation of its disastrous 2010 Gulf of Mexico blowout did not address the impact of cost overruns on the well, a BP executive said on Thursday, in the final day of testimony this week in the massive civil trial over the spill. Plaintiffs contend that cost concerns prompted crew members on the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig to rush to wrap up the drilling. The executive who led BP's internal investigation said the company did not focus on that angle. "I don't recall it being part...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/28/us-bp-spill-trial-idUSBRE91P0NI20130228?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130227&t=2&i=708040909&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE91P1B3500

Past Antarctic warming linked to greenhouse gas

LiveScience: Rising carbon dioxide levels may have caused Antarctic warming in the past, new research strongly suggests. The findings, published today (Feb. 28) in the journal Science, just add to the body of evidence that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions will lead to climate change. "It's new evidence from the past of the strong role of CO2 [carbon dioxide] in climate variation," said study co-author Frédéric Parrenin, a climate scientist at the CNRS in France. Past data Eons of the Earth's climate...

URL: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/stories/past-antarctic-warming-linked-to-greenhouse-gas
Enclosure: http://images.mnn.com/sites/default/files/ice-crystal.jpg

How to Choose the Right Mechanical System

Subtitle:&nbsp_place_holder;

There's no one system that works for all projects, so how do you choose?

Images:&nbsp_place_holder;

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-architects-lounge/how-choose-right-mechanical-system)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-architects-lounge/how-choose-right-mechanical-system)

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-architects-lounge/how-choose-right-mechanical-system)

With any house, there are so many variables that influence the decision to choose one particular mechanical system over another: climate, house size, cost, local availability and cost of fuels and materials, and the lifestyle and preferences of the occupants. There is no "one-size-fits-all" system that we can reliably prescribe for all projects. Phil and I sat down over a good winter cocktail to share our views, anecdotes, battle scars, and wisdom on this important subject.

Podcast NID:&nbsp_place_holder;

[Green Architects' Lounge - How to Choose the Right Mechanical System](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/content/green-architects-lounge-how-choose-right-mechanical-system)

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-architects-lounge/how-choose-right-mechanical-system

United Kingdom: Seabirds to be released after rescue

BBC: Rescued birds are to fly at sea for the first time since being found on the coast covered in an oil additive. More than 300 guillemots and razorbills found covered in glue-like polyisobutene (PIB) four weeks ago have been cared for by the RSPCA. Most of them were discovered on Dorset beaches where they were found covered in the waxy substance. The RSPCA said it hoped up to 29 birds could be released from a cliff top in the Portland area on Thursday. Washing-up liquid They are to be...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-21606208#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/66108000/jpg/_66108515__65992018_birds.jpg

Veteran explorer stakes Russia's claim over the Arctic

Reuters: Russian polar explorer Artur Chilingarov made his name in the Soviet Union with a daring rescue of an ice-bound ship, then won international fame for planting Russia's flag under the ice cap, angering governments with rival claims over the Arctic. Now at the age of 73, rather than folding away his maps, he is spearheading President Vladimir Putin's diplomatic push to secure more of the mineral-rich region. "We don't want anything that belongs to anybody else, but if we prove it's ours, give...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/veteran-explorer-stakes-russias-claim-over-arctic-183824824--sector.html?.tsrc=yahoo
Enclosure: http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/eJJUEL.IR_nO0ZWk1UyI8w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9Mjk4O2NyPTE7Y3c9NDUwO2R4PTA7ZHk9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0yOTg7cT04NTt3PTQ1MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-02-27T183824Z_1_CBRE91Q1FUQ00_RTROPTP_2_RUSSIA.JPG

New research takes a global look at methane emissions from oil and gas

EnergyWire: Concerns have cropped up in recent years that the methane leaks from oil and gas fields could be large enough to pose a significant climate threat. In various studies, scientists have estimated that anywhere between 1 and 10 percent of natural gas produced leaks through wellheads, transmission lines and compressor stations. Recent measurements from the Uinta Basin of Utah taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration set leakage as high as 9 percent. Now, preliminary results are...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/energywire/2013/02/26/1

Oregon: County Seeks to Back Out of Water Deal

New York Times: The Klamath County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to withdraw from an agreement that lays out how to share scarce water between fish and farms, control power costs for irrigators, and restore broken down ecosystems. Two other signatories of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, the Karuk Tribe and the Klamath Water Users Association, say the county cannot pull out because the agreement is a binding contract that was just renewed for two more years. Greg Addington, executive director of the...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/us/oregon-county-seeks-to-back-out-of-water-deal.html

Ford to accelerate waste reduction effort

BusinessGreen: Ford is aiming for a 40 per cent cut in the waste it sends to landfill per vehicle produced by 2016 as part of a new five-year global waste reduction plan. Meeting the goal would see just 13.4lb (6.1kg) per vehicle sent to landfill between 2011 and 2016, building on the drop from 37.9lb (17.2kg) to 22.7lb (10.3kg) achieved between 2007 and 2011. Under the new strategy, the carmaker intends to stop certain kinds of waste from entering its facilities. This includes identifying the five largest...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2251155/ford-to-accelerate-waste-reduction-effort?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Ford+to+accelerate+waste+reduction+effort