Record Summer Temperatures, By The Numbers

Climate Central: The weather this summer has been so extreme that it has rivaled the most destructive and unbearable summers in U.S. history, years that are infamous in weather lore. Those years include 1934 and 1936, which were in the middle of the Dust Bowl era, as well as 1954 and 1988, which was the year that Yellowstone National Park burned and NASA scientist James Hansen first warned the U.S. Senate about the consequences of manmade global warming. As a reporter and analyst on the extreme weather and climate...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/a-breakdown-of-record-summer-temperatures?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%253A+climatecentral%252FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/uploads/blogs/7-20-12_andrew_junerecordtemps_fromtracker.jpg

France maintains shale gas ban: environment minister

Agence France-Presse: France has no intention of lifting its ban on shale gas exploration because of continued concerns over its environmental impact, Environment and Energy Minister Delphine Batho said Friday. "The government clearly and distinctly maintains the ban on exploiting shale gas because nowhere in the world has it been proven that this exploitation can be done without significant environmental damage and important health risks," Batho told BFMTV. "Nothing in the government's agenda today foresees a reconsidering...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/france-maintains-shale-gas-ban-environment-minister-170833252.html

United Kingdom: Round up: tackling climate change

Guardian: Andy Johnston is a director of the Local Government Information Unit and chief executive of Local Energy Tackling apathy: Lack of interest is going to be a major hurdle when attempting to roll out large community projects, such as insulated council housing stock. There is certainly a risk that needs to be factored into the calculations as to the level of uptake and willingness from tenants. Even in cases where councils try to give away housing improvements, there is still a sizeable percentage...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2012/jul/21/round-up-tackling-climate-change?newsfeed=true
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/20/1342782492286/Traffic-jam-campaign-post-008.jpg

Drought, Climate Change, Corn Prices, Ethanol and Biofuels

Forbes: As we've all noticed there's a drought going on in the American heartland. As many have noted this is leading to soaring prices of three main crops, corn wheat and soya. For that American heartland is the major source of export crops for all three (less so for soya than the other two to be sure). We know that high food prices can kill poor people: this is not generally regarded as a good thing even though there are far too many small population fanatics around. Even they tend not to advocate starvation...

URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/07/20/drought-climate-change-corn-prices-ethanol-and-biofuels/

Smog Rules Could Have Saved Thousands of Lives Annually

Yale Environment 360: By declining to implement tougher regulations on smog last fall, President Obama rejected measures that could have saved several thousand lives a year and prevented millions of cases of asthma attacks and other acute respiratory problems, according to a new study. Reporting in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, scientists from Johns Hopkins University said that the tougher smog rules would have prevented 2,400 to 4,100 additional deaths annually from cardiac and respiratory problems....

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/smog_rules_could_have__saved_thousands_of_lives_annually/3556/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

China in talks to build UK nuclear power plants

Guardian: China is poised to make a dramatic intervention in Britain's energy future by offering to invest billions of pounds in building a series of new nuclear power stations. Officials from China's nuclear industry have been in high-level talks with ministers and officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) this week about a plan that could eventually involve up to five different reactors being built at a total cost of £35bn. Greenpeace described the move as desperate, while others...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/20/china-uk-nuclear-power-plants
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/20/1342807148188/A-worker-at-the-Oldbury-n-008.jpg

UN urges international community not to turn its back on Tuvalu

Bikya Masr: A United Nations independent expert on Thursday called on the international community to not turn its back on the small island State of Tuvalu, where communities are being seriously affected by climate change. "Climate change is an everyday reality for people in Tuvalu, and is slowly but steadily impacting their human rights to water and sanitation," warned the Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water, Catarina de Albuquerque, at the end of her first mission to the country. "Climate...

URL: http://www.bikyamasr.com/73352/un-urges-intl-community-not-to-turn-its-back-on-tuvalu-over-climate-change-2/

Snapshot of the Drought’s Impact Across the Country

Climate Central: The record-breaking drought currently affecting a majority of the country has only gotten worse in the past week, and shows no signs of improving. More than a third of U.S. counties have been declared federal disaster areas. As the heat and dry weather have persisted, the threat to American farmers and ranchers has increased, as the drought continues to dry out already-suffering crops and pastures. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecasted that corn and soybean yields will drop 12 percent...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/snapshot-of-the-droughts-impact-across-the-country?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed%253A+climatecentral%252FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed

Top Ten Impacts Climate Change Is Making Worse Right Now

ThinkProgress: The onslaught of extreme weather and record temperatures this year have had an impact on people globally, directly through drought and temperature, and more indirectly impacting food prices and public transportation. Here are 10 impacts we`re seeing right now that climate change is very likely worsening, in some cases playing a major role: Rising Food Prices Over half of the Continental U.S. is now facing severe drought--the worst in fifty years. As a result of extreme temperatures and little...

URL: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/07/21/553551/ten-impacts-climate-change-is-worsening-climate-right-now/?mobile=nc

True to stereotype, Generation X apathetic about climate change

LiveScience: A survey in 2009 found members of Generation X were largely disengaged from climate change. Two years later, these American adults became slightly more so, a follow-up survey has revealed. Americans in this age group generally are not well-informed about climate change, nor are they highly concerned about or paying much attention to it, both surveys indicated. "We found a small but statistically significant decline between 2009 and 2011 in the level of attention and concern Generation X adults...

URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0720/True-to-stereotype-Generation-X-apathetic-about-climate-change
Enclosure: http://www.sampler.isr.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/GenXReport.pdf

Southwestern Drought, in Fact and Film

New York Times: While relatively low flow into Lake Powell has been a constant in recent years, an improvement in 2011 has helped mask the effects of the severe drought this year. Like the actors in "A Chorus Line," different regions of the United States have had their moments in the spotlight as droughts gave them stories to tell. Last year it was the Deep South and especially Texas and Oklahoma. As a 50-year chart by my colleagues Haeyoun Park and Kevin Quealy reflects, this year unusually large swaths of...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/southwestern-drought-in-fact-and-film/
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/20/science/river/river-blog480.jpg

United States: Mountaintop removal exports on the rise

Charleston Gazette: As U.S. coal demand continues to drop, the share of mountaintop removal-produced coal that is exported overseas is on the rise, according to a report issued by Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee. Exports still account for a relatively small percentage of U.S. and Appalachian coal markets, about 12 percent of all coal nationally and 11 percent of surface-mined coal in the region. But nationally the amount of coal shipped to foreign countries has doubled since 2009, to 107 million...

URL: http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201207190108

Drought Has Ties to La Niña, with Global Warming Assist

Climate Central: Driven by a combination of natural climate variability, manmade global warming, and plain old bad luck, drought conditions are so widespread in the U.S. that it's possible to take a cross-country flight from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco -- a distance of approximately 2,400 miles -- without once overflying an unaffected area. With about 81 percent of the lower 48 states experiencing at least abnormally dry conditions, and 63 percent mired in moderate-to-exceptional drought, it's becoming harder...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/scientists-weigh-in-on-global-warmings-role-in-us-drought/

Plug-in hybrid sales soar; all-electric car sales stay slow

LA Times: Since a new generation of electric cars went on sale 18 months ago, the results have been far from jolting. Sales of what are considered "pure" electric cars -- they run off just a battery -- have risen to slightly over 4,100 during the first six months of this year, up just 6% from the same period a year earlier, according to auto information company Edmunds.com. The gain, which amounts to just 234 cars, comes even though Ford, BMW, Honda and Mitsubishi all have joined pioneer Nissan in offering...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-0721-autos-electric-vehicles-20120721,0,6581128.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-500a0624/turbine/la-512227867.jpg-20120720/600

Dicing With The Climate

New York Times: Via Michael Roberts, a new paper (pdf) by James Hansen and associates that helps clear up a couple of points about climate change. The first is the relationship between extreme weather events and climate change. The normal, cautious thing is to say that there`s no way to attribute any particular event, like a heat wave in the Ukraine, to global warming - and news media have basically been bullied by this argument into rarely mentioning climate change even when reporting on extreme weather. But...

URL: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/dicing-with-the-climate/
Enclosure: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2012/20120105_PerceptionsAndDice.pdf

Drought grips U.S., including Indian country

Indian Country: Two-thirds of the United States is gripped in drought, the most severe bout since the 1950s, the National Climatic Data Center says in its latest report. June's hot, dry weather not only spawned devastating wildfires but is also hitting the cornbelt, USA Today reported, and we can expect to see that reflected in food prices later in the year. "In the 18 primary corn-growing states, 30 percent of the crop is now in poor or very poor condition," meteorologist Rich Tinker of the Climate Prediction...

URL: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/07/20/at-least-two-thirds-of-u-s-in-drought-worst-in-50-years-124589
Enclosure: http://ictmncdn1.tgpstage1.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Screen-shot-2012-07-20-at-12.37.56-PM-615x383.png

United Kingdom: Government confirms new feed-in tariff rates

BusinessGreen: The government has today revealed new support levels for small scale wind, hydroelectric, anaerobic digestion, and micro combined heat and power (CHP) systems under the feed-in tariff incentive scheme. The new rates paid for renewable electricity generated by small scale systems, which were outlined in a response to a consultation earlier this year, will affect tariffs for all newly eligible FITs technologies from 1 December 2012 onwards. Hydroelectric schemes between 100kW and 500kW appear...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2193207/government-confirms-new-feedin-tariff-rates?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Government+confirms+new+feed-in+tariff+rates

E.P.A. to Consider Relaxing an Air Pollution Rule

New York Times: The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Friday afternoon that it would review its new standards for mercury, soot and other emissions for a handful of proposed new coal-burning power plants. The review will delay the implementation of the regulation for the new plants for at least three months while experts determine whether the emissions limits may safely be relaxed. The agency said the action was a "routine" reconsideration of technical standards based on new information received...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/e-p-a-to-consider-relaxing-an-air-pollution-rule/

Climate change opens up Arctic fisheries – but should Canada cut bait?

Globe and Mail: Pangnirtung, a solitary hamlet of 1,500 clinging to the granite mouth of Pangnirtung Fjord in Baffin Island's Cumberland Sound, seems like a quintessential, isolated Arctic community. Low, weather-battered board homes punctuate its dirt streets. Some are literally cabled to the ground against the wind. Often, they are cramped with people. "Overcrowding is a big problem," Mayor Sakiasie Sowdlooapik tells me, speaking in his small office in a narrow corridor of the community centre. Not many here...

URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/climate-change-opens-up-arctic-fisheries-but-should-canada-cut-bait/article4431852/

Food prices are at the mercy of global pressures that we struggle to control

Guardian: The British like cows. We like to see them in fields and regard the dairy industry as much more than merely a part of our food system. Rolling green fields filled with the familiar dots of black-and-white Friesian hide are a key part of our cultural identity. Which explains why, late last week, Twitter came alive with demands from far beyond the farming community for us all to get behind the nation's dairy farmers in their fight for a fair deal. The announcement by the major processors of a 2p per...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/21/jay-rayner-consumers-must-back-farmers
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/7/20/1342802312322/dairy-cows-grazing-008.jpg

There’s Still Hope for the Planet

New York Times: YOU don't have to be a climate scientist these days to know that the climate has problems. You just have to step outside. The United States is now enduring its warmest year on record, and the 13 warmest years for the entire planet have all occurred since 1998, according to data that stretches back to 1880. No one day's weather can be tied to global warming, of course, but more than a decade's worth of changing weather surely can be, scientists say. Meanwhile, the country often seems to be moving...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/sunday-review/a-ray-of-hope-on-climate-change.html

We’re All Climate-Change Idiots

New York Times: CLIMATE CHANGE is staring us in the face. The science is clear, and the need to reduce planet-warming emissions has grown urgent. So why, collectively, are we doing so little about it? Yes, there are political and economic barriers, as well as some strong ideological opposition, to going green. But researchers in the burgeoning field of climate psychology have identified another obstacle, one rooted in the very ways our brains work. The mental habits that help us navigate the local, practical...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/opinion/sunday/were-all-climate-change-idiots.html

Greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb in 2011

LiveScience: International talks to address human-caused global warming began 20 years ago in Rio de Janeiro. But despite attempts to curb emissions of the greenhouse gases responsible, they have continued to pour into the atmosphere since then. Last year was no exception. In 2011, the burning of fossil fuels, as well as other activities such as cement and oil production, produced 3 percent more carbon dioxide in 2011, bringing this segment of emissions to an all-time 37.5 billion-ton (34 billion-metric tons)...

URL: http://www.livescience.com/21727-greenhouse-gas-emissions-continue-to-climb-in-2011.html

U.S. drought could have global impact on food prices

Marketplace: Jeff Horwich: The weather forecast offers no relief for weeks across much of the U.S. breadbasket. Corn and soybean prices are at new records today -- wheat is rising too. And when we have this kind of farming weather, the whole world suffers with us. Rob Bailey is a senior research fellow on energy, environment and resources with the Royal Institute of International Affairs in the UK. Good to talk with you. Rob Bailey: Hello. Horwich: We're very focused on how our drought effects us here at home,...

URL: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/us-drought-could-have-global-impact-food-prices
Enclosure: http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/marketplace/segments/2012/07/20/marketplace_segment11_20120720_64.mp3

Canada: Ontario's corn crop withers under drought

Toronto Star: Beneath the blistering sun the parched cornfields of Ontario are "wavy like a roller-coaster.' In a few grateful pockets (mostly south and west of London) the million-dollar rain has come, giving some fields tall, green stalks and potentially bumper yields. In others, "the crops look completely burnt off, as if they've been dead for two weeks,' says Greg Stewart, a corn specialist at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The months of drought plaguing southern Ontario...

URL: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1229812--ontario-s-corn-crop-withers-under-drought
Enclosure: http://i.thestar.com/images/98/0f/7f12fdd14d69b6585fbfd3a156db.jpg

Australia: Sea rise threatens 'paradise' Down Under

Agence France-Presse: WHEN Elaine Pearce left Sydney for the seaside peace of Old Bar 12 years ago she was assured her new house was a solid investment, with a century's worth of frontage to guard against erosion. But three neighbours have already lost their homes to the rising ocean and there are scores more at risk as roaring seas batter the idyllic beachside town, ploughing through 40 metres (131 feet) of foredune in just eight years. "I wanted water frontage, and frontage I'm going to get," Pearce joked. Property...

URL: http://www.mmail.com.my/story/sea-rise-threatens-paradise-down-under-23507
Enclosure: http://www.mmail.com.my/sites/default/files/imagecache/medium/000_Hkg7314730.jpg

Australia: Emails show government wary of ethanol target

Sydney Morning Herald: THE state government was told a year ago there was not enough ethanol in Australia to fulfil its law requiring that ethanol make up 6 per cent of all petrol in NSW. The Herald revealed this month that oil companies have been unable to source enough ethanol to comply with state law. Senior government figures had warned last year that the 6 per cent targets, adopted in September, were unachievable, emails obtained by the Herald under freedom of information laws show. ''There is insufficient...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/emails-show-government-wary-of-ethanol-target-20120720-22fdj.html
Enclosure: http://images.smh.com.au/2012/07/20/3473400/ethanol-300x0.jpg

Arctic drilling close for Shell, but still elusive

Washington Post: Seven years and $4.5 billion after it bought leases to explore for oil off Alaska's Arctic coast, Royal Dutch Shell is finally close to drilling a well in the pristine Chukchi Sea, confident that it will discover a vast oil reservoir buried thousands of feet below the seafloor. "This is kind of like Christmas Eve," said Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (R). "We can't wait to see if Santa comes." But Santa's path has not been smooth. The thickest ice in a decade, along with problems in obtaining a permit...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/arctic-drilling-close-for-shell-but-still-elusive/2012/07/20/gJQATHdRyW_story.html

Belch of laughing gas could heat up our planet

New Scientist: HERE'S one less-than-funny warm-up act. The last ice age may have ended partly because of the release of vast quantities of laughing gas, or nitrous oxide. A similar release could be on the cards later this century, although we cannot predict how much Earth will warm as a result. Europe warmed by 5 °C about 14,500 years ago, towards the end of the last ice age, and ice cores show that this triggered a pulse of nitrous oxide. This sped up the warming process, as the gas has 310 times the warming...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528744.000-belch-of-laughing-gas-could-heat-up-our-planet.html

Vancouver plans to face climate change head-on

Vancouver Sun: The city of Vancouver has designed a climate change "adaptation" strategy to tackle a potential increase in street flooding, sewer backups, damaged forests and heat-related illnesses by 2050. The strategy, scheduled to go to council for approval in principle Tuesday, suggests nine measures to address the potential impacts of climate change, which is expected to bring more intense rain and windstorms, hotter and drier summers and rising sea levels, affecting the city's economic prosperity and livability....

URL: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Vancouver%20plans%20face%20climate%20change%20head/6968006/story.html
Enclosure: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/5540823.bin

US crops bake in searing heat, no relief for weeks

Reuters: Midday weather updates indicate extreme heat and drought conditions were set to continue baking already scorched corn and soybean crops in America's breadbasket through early August. "It's the same old general theme, dry in the southwest Corn Belt and some showers in the north and east," said Drew Lerner, meteorologist for World Weather Inc. The most expansive drought in over a half century was drying up waterways and beginning to slow down river shipments of commodities to U.S. Gulf export...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-usa-drought-crops-idUSBRE86H0MP20120720
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20120720&t=2&i=632440644&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE86H0ZQI00

Midwest braces for another heat wave next week

Reuters: The Midwest power grid operator on Friday issued a hot weather alert for Monday, telling the region's generators and transmission owners to prepare plants and power lines for another heat wave next week. The alert also tells transmission owners not to conduct any unnecessary maintenance on their equipment during the heat wave, the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) said in a release. High temperatures in Chicago, the biggest metropolitan area in the Midwest were expected...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-utilities-midwest-heatwave-idUSBRE86J13720120720?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Melting The World's Biggest Ice Cube

National Public Radio: IRA FLATOW, HOST: This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, I'm Ira Flatow. Think of Antarctica as the world's largest ice cube. Ninety percent of the world's ice is locked up down there. But Antarctica is also home to one of the fastest-warming spots on the planet, the Antarctic Peninsula. That's the tip that points towards South America. See a problem here? What happens when the ice in Antarctica melts? That's what one of my next guests has been trying to figure out by studying glaciers and ice sheets as they...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/20/157113398/melting-the-worlds-biggest-ice-cube?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=157113398&m=157113391

China’s Per Person Carbon Footprint Growing Rapidly

redOrbit: China's per capita carbon emissions are now on par with those of Europe as the country's carbon footprint skyrocketed in 2011, rising by 9 percent, or the equivalent of an extra 6.5 tons of gas for each resident, according to data released on Wednesday. China has long been a powerhouse when it comes to carbon emissions, becoming the largest emitter of CO2 in 2006. However, the per capita emissions have always remained lower than those in developed countries such as Europe and the US. But a...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112660454/china%e2%80%99s-per-person-carbon-footprint-growing-rapidly/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2012/07/117652584-617x416.jpg

EPA to review mercury rule on new power plants

Reuters: The U.S. environmental regulator said on Friday it will review recently finalized limits on mercury emissions on new coal-fired power plants in a process that could ease the rules for companies building five new projects. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized the first-ever rules on mercury pollution from coal plants late last year. But the EPA has also delayed or eased a number of recent measures for the energy industry after Republicans in Congress and businesses said they were too...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-usa-epa-mercury-idUSBRE86J1DF20120720?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Searching for Clues to Calamity

New York Times: SO far 2012 is on pace to be the hottest year on record. But does this mean that we've reached a threshold — a tipping point that signals a climate disaster? For those warning of global warming, it would be tempting to say so. The problem is, no one knows if there is a point at which a climate system shifts abruptly. But some scientists are now bringing mathematical rigor to the tipping-point argument. Their findings give us fresh cause to worry that sudden changes are in our future. One of them...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/opinion/the-climate-change-tipping-point.html

Himalayan glaciers melting more rapidly

IRIN: The Himalayan glaciers that feed major south Asian rivers like the Indus, the Brahmaputra and the Ganges are melting more rapidly, reveals a major new study which says that soaring global temperatures are not the only reason. The study, led by Yao Tandong, director of the Institute of Tibetan Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and eminent glaciologist and paleo-climatologist Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University, is the most comprehensive examination so far of the region's...

URL: http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95917/CLIMATE-CHANGE-Himalayan-glaciers-melting-more-rapidly
Enclosure: http://www.irinnews.org/images/2009/200909040915160859.jpg

Pirates and Magicians — Standing Out in a Crowded Industry

![][1] Conferences are intense. They have hundreds of booths, thousands of products, and tens of thousands of people. Cram that into the Moscone Center in San Francisco; add dozens of panel discussions and parties, mix for four days and you get Intersolar North America 2012.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/20/body-pirates-and-magicians-standing-out-in-a-crowded-industry.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/pirates-and-magicians-standing-out-in-a-crowded-industry?cmpid=rss

Indonesia Launches "Crash" Renewables Program: Boosts Geothermal FITs

![][1] The Jakarta Post reports that Indonesia substantially raised its geothermal tariffs this week across the archipelago of 240 million people, beginning what the government bills as a "crash" program.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/20/body-indonesia-launches-crash-renewables-program-boosts-geothermal-fits.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/indonesia-launches-crash-renewables-program-boosts-geothermal-fits?cmpid=rss

Video: Our Long Road to Solar Power

![][1] Prior to installing the new solar arrays we unveiled here at Jordan Winery last week, we chose to focus our efforts on a six-year program to reduce our energy consumption to the lowest possible level. I felt strongly about reducing our energy use before converting to solar power. In the rush to get off the grid, many businesses have been 'solarizin

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/20/body-video-our-long-road-to-solar-power.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/07/video-our-long-road-to-solar-power?cmpid=rss

Ex-First Solar Exec Takes Helm at Battery Start-Up

![][1] Dave Eaglesham was instrumental in the scale-up of First Solar, and he has now been tapped to lead Pellion Technologies, a startup with visions of supplanting the lithium-ion battery market with its magnesium-based technology.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/20/body-ex-first-solar-exec-takes-helm-at-battery-start-up.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/ex-first-solar-exec-takes-helm-at-battery-start-up?cmpid=rss

China Probes U.S., South Korea Solar-grade Polysilicon

![][1] China is investigating whether exporters from the U.S. and South Korea sold solar-grade polysilicon below cost, a practice known as dumping, as part of a probe following complaints from four domestic companies.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/20/body-china-probes-u-s-south-korea-solar-grade-polysilicon.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/china-probes-u-s-south-korea-solar-grade-polysilicon?cmpid=rss

BNDES Shuts Five Firms Out of Brazil Wind Turbine Market

![][1] Five of the biggest wind-turbine makers have been shut out of Brazil's $3.5 billion market by the national development bank BNDES after failing to meet local- content requirements.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/20/body-bndes-shuts-five-firms-out-of-brazil-wind-turbine-market.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/bndes-shuts-five-firms-out-of-brazil-wind-turbine-market?cmpid=rss

Alaskan Glaciers Are Rapidly Melting

Subtitle:

This summer brings worrisome signs of global climate change: shrinking glaciers, record-breaking heat waves, and unprecedented droughts

Images:

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I recently returned from a two-week family vacation trip to Alaska. This was my first trip to Alaska; of course, two weeks is a very brief time to visit such a vast state. We were able to spend some time in Fairbanks, Denali National Park, Anchorage, and Seward. We also spent several days fishing along the Salcha River and at Lower Paradise Lake on the Kenai Peninsula.

My visit to Alaska sparked ideas for several possible blogs:

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[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Surprise Glacier 5.jpg (Photo of Surprise Glacier)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/alaskan-glaciers-are-rapidly-melting
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Exit Glacier 2.jpg (Photo of Exit Glacier on the Kenai Peninsula)
[4]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Exit Glacier sign - Lenny.JPG (Photo of the road to Exit Glacier)
[5]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Jack Hebert 2.jpg (Photo of Jack Hébert)

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/alaskan-glaciers-are-rapidly-melting

Widespread Drought Is Likely to Worsen

New York Times: The drought that has settled over more than half of the continental United States this summer is the most widespread in more than half a century. And it is likely to grow worse. The latest outlook released by the National Weather Service on Thursday forecasts increasingly dry conditions over much of the nation's breadbasket, a development that could lead to higher food prices and shipping costs as well as reduced revenues in areas that count on summer tourism. About the only relief in sight was...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/science/earth/severe-drought-expected-to-worsen-across-the-nation.html?pagewanted=all
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/20/us/DROUGHT-REFER/DROUGHT-REFER-articleLarge.jpg

Global Warming's Terrifying New Math

Rolling Stone: If the pictures of those towering wildfires in Colorado haven't convinced you, or the size of your AC bill this summer, here are some hard numbers about climate change: June broke or tied 3,215 high-temperature records across the United States. That followed the warmest May on record for the Northern Hemisphere – the 327th consecutive month in which the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average, the odds of which occurring by simple chance were 3.7 x 10-99, a number considerably...

URL: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719
Enclosure: http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719/1000x600/main.jpg

Intersolar's Solar Battle of the Bands, Round 2: When the Solar Industry Really Comes Together

![][1] It may be a "battle," but the entire industry is really the winner in "Solar Battle of the Bands: Round 2," a new tradition at Intersolar North America. I didn't think a solar industry event could shine any better than the first Solar Battle of the Bands, but this year's second edition establishes SBOB as the single solar industry community event t

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/19/body-intersolars-solar-battle-of-the-bands-round-2-when-the-solar-industry-really-comes-together.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/07/intersolars-solar-battle-of-the-bands-round-2-when-the-solar-industry-really-comes-together?cmpid=rss

Experts: sustainable logging in rainforests impossible

Mongabay: Industrial logging in tropical forests that is both sustainable and profitable is impossible, argues a new study in Bioscience, which finds that the ecology of tropical hardwoods makes logging with truly sustainable practices not only impractical, but completely unprofitable. Given this, the researchers recommend industrial logging subsidies be dropped from the UN's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) program. The study, which adds to the growing debate about the...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0718-hance-sustainable-logging.html
Enclosure: http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/indonesia-java/600/java_0888.jpg

Amonix Closes 150-MW Las Vegas HCPV Plant

![][1] Amonix, the clear market leader in installed high concentrating photovoltaics (HCPV), has shut down its Las Vegas manufacturing operation a little more than a year after its much-hyped opening.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/19/body-amonix-closes-150-mw-las-vegas-hcpv-plant.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/amonix-closes-150-mw-las-vegas-hcpv-plant?cmpid=rss

France's 20th century radium craze still haunts Paris

Reuters: The Belle Epoque, France's golden era at the turn of the last century, bequeathed Paris elegant landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, but also a more sinister legacy of radioactive floors and backyards which the capital is only now addressing. When the Franco-Polish Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium in 1898, she set off a craze for the luminescent metal among Parisians, who started using it for everything from alarm clock dials to lipsticks and even water fountains....

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-france-radium-decontamination-idUSBRE86I0AH20120719?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

For Ecuadorian village, a struggle to adapt to changing climate

McClatchy: Frosts aren't on time for the 960 people living in this tiny, remote village, hidden on a chilly, windswept mountain ridge in South America. A minor problem? Maybe for some. But in the Andean community, 8,800 feet above sea level, frosts -- and their impact on crop cycles -- are kind of a big deal. In this agricultural community, crops are planted during the full moon, a tradition meant to help ensure a full harvest. But these days, the harvests aren't as full. Village residents say it's...

URL: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/18/156646/for-ecuadorian-village-a-struggle.html

U.S. Navy's "Great Green Fleet" debuts in Pacific

Reuters: The U.S. Navy's "Great Green Fleet," a group of warships and fighter jets burning an expensive blend of biofuels and petroleum, made its operational debut on Wednesday as the Senate prepared for a political fight over the program's cost. Dozens of F/A-18 Super Hornets and other aircraft powered by conventional jet fuel mixed with recycled cooking grease and algae oil screamed off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz during international military exercises in the central Pacific....

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-usa-navy-greenfleet-idUSBRE86I0B220120719?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Siemens to Supply 300, 6 MW Offshore Wind Turbines to DONG Energy for UK Projects.

The agreement is based on the new SWT-6.0-154 direct drive wind turbine that will be installed in wind power plants off the British coast between 2014 and 2017. The world's largest rotor blade measuring 75 meters in length equaling a total rotor diameter of 154 meter will be deployed.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips712/jul12018.html

Average Chinese person's carbon footprint now equals European's

Guardian: The average Chinese person's carbon footprint is now almost on a par with the average European's, figures released on Wednesday reveal. China became the largest national emitter of CO2 in 2006, though its emissions per person have always been lower than those in developed countries such as Europe. But yesterday's report, which only covers emissions from energy, by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) show that per capita...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2192779/average-chinese-persons-carbon-footprint-now-equals-europeans?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Average+Chinese+person%27s+carbon+footprint+now+equals+European%27s

United Kingdom: People power: why we believe in championing community energy

Guardian: Let's face it, in the UK, we're largely passive consumers of energy, subject to the vagaries of wholesale gas prices and large profit-making providers. But this state of affairs doesn't necessarily have to endure or be endured. Is it not possible to conceive of a model where the relationship between people and energy is reconstituted, so that communities own, control and benefit from their own renewable energy projects? We at the Co-operative think it is, and the bar set by other European countries,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/social-enterprise-network/2012/jul/19/co-operative-championing-community-energy
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/18/1342615656585/South-Uist-008.jpg

Argentine court puts brakes on mining project by Canada's Osisko

Reuters: An Argentine court has ordered Canada's Osisko Mining Corp to halt work on a gold exploration project in the country's north, an official said on Wednesday. Authorities in the province of La Rioja, supported by environmental activists and residents, had asked a judge to put the brakes on the project near the town of Famatina, which has triggered protests locally. "We asked for the precautionary measure, which means that no work can be carried out and suspends the agreement between (the provincial...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-argentina-mining-osisko-idUSBRE86I03E20120719?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Drought to drive up cost of dairy

USA Today: The heat and drought ravaging much of the nation will soon hit America at the supermarket counter: Cheese and milk prices will rise first and corn and meat are probably not far behind. Price hikes in basic food staples are causing huge concern to milk producers and others who rely on dairy to sustain an important part of the national farming economy. The rises foreshadow price hikes in coming months for other food staples, such as meat, says Bruce Jones, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison....

URL: http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2012-07-19-milk_ST_U.htm

The Navy's Green Strike Group Sails on Biofuels Blend: Will It Sail Again?

![][1] In Hawaii, the US Navy demonstrated its Green Strike Group as part of the 2012 Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise that includes 40 surface ships, six submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel from 22 different nations.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/19/body-the-navys-green-strike-group-sails-on-biofuels-blend-will-it-sail-again.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/the-navys-green-strike-group-sails-on-biofuels-blend-will-it-sail-again?cmpid=rss

Keystone XL: Fears, suspicions join landowners at negotiating table

Greenwire: When Byron Steskal first saw it on the land where he was born nearly six decades ago -- land that his parents bought for $5.15 an acre -- he recalled writing down a statement on Post-it notes before calling the sheriff's office. It was still standing, just inside the fence that marks Steskal's family property, during his trip home with a reporter on a recent summer afternoon. Scribbled on the bright pink surveying stake were two letters, "T.C.," that he couldn't help but read as a message. With...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/07/18/1

Drought Puts Food at Risk, U.S. Warns

New York Times: The Obama administration warned Wednesday that food supplies were at risk from the worsening drought afflicting more than half of the country and called on Congress to revive lapsed disaster aid programs. President Obama reviewed the situation with Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, who called it "the most serious situation" in about 25 years and added that he was praying for rain. "I get on my knees every day, and I'm saying an extra prayer now," Mr. Vilsack told reporters at the White House...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/us/drought-puts-food-at-risk-us-warns.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/19/us/19drought/19drought-articleLarge.jpg

Landslide should be a 'wakeup call'

Vancouver Sun: A massive landslide in tiny Johnsons Landing that killed four people should be a "wakeup call" that climate change is increasing the risk of these types of incidents, says a former terrain stability expert with the B.C. forests ministry. Gregory Utzig, now a Nelson-based private consultant who has a home in Johnsons Landing, suggests the province should upgrade its slide hazard mapping to account for climate change. For residents living in highrisk areas, early warning systems should be triggered...

URL: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Landslide%20should%20wakeup%20call/6956898/story.html

United States: Two Years After Pact to Restore River, No Changes

New York Times: Almost since the Bureau of Reclamation first began plumbing the Klamath River in 1906, creating a vast and fertile farming region out of arid southeastern Oregon and northeastern California, people have fought over what the river provides: water for farming, water to preserve one of the West Coast's largest salmon runs and a source of hydroelectric power. Then, suddenly, a truce was announced. In February 2010, after five years of confidential negotiation, an unlikely alliance of American Indian...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/us/two-years-after-pact-to-restore-river-no-changes.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/19/us/DAM/DAM-articleLarge.jpg

Iceberg break off Greenland 'backs up evidence of global warming'

Telegraph: A massive iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken off of a glacier in Greenland, according to Nasa satellite imagery, in what could be the latest indication of global warming. The massive chunk of ice broke off of the Petermann Glacier on the northwestern coast of Greenland, which produced a similar ice island twice as large in 2010. Nasa said the crack in the glacier had been visible since 2001, and that its polar-orbiting Aqua satellite had observed the break on July 16-17. The Telegraph's...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9411986/Iceberg-break-off-Greenland-backs-up-evidence-of-global-warming.html

This is What the Beginning of the End of the Planet Feels Like

Huffington Post: This summer 34,500 people were forced to evacuate their homes in my home state of Colorado. I watched as a dozen wildfires raged through the state with some contained in days or weeks, while others are still not extinguished. The extremely hot weather, dry climate and dramatically reduced water supply that all led to the wildfires are part of a pattern that has been unfolding for more than a decade. In fact, the past 10 years have been unequivocally the hottest on record in the history of weather...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dion-rabouin/climate-change-minority-communities-_b_1678411.html

The Continuing Revolution in LED Lighting

Subtitle:

LED lighting keeps on improving as yet another record efficacy is announced.

Images:

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A few days ago I got yet another press release about a new efficiency record with LEDLight-emitting diode. Illumination technology that produces light by running electrical current through a semiconductor diode. LED lamps are much longer lasting and much more energy efficient than incandescent lamps; unlike fluorescent lamps, LED lamps do not contain mercury and can be readily dimmed. lighting. These are almost commonplace as we ride the revolution that is redefining electric lighting.

To back up, let me provide a short synopsis of lighting technologies and history.

Incandescent lamps provided the first electric lighting, with Thomas Edison inventing the first commercially viable light bulb around 1880 (building on the inventions of many others), and the technology has changed relatively little since General Electric introduced tungsten-filament light bulbs in 1911. Electric current flows through a very thin, coiled filament made of tungsten wire and glows white-hot, producing light. With incandescent lighting, roughly 90% of the electricity is converted into heat, only 10% into light.

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Cree_XP-G2.jpg (Cree's new XLamp XP-G2 LED)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/continuing-revolution-led-lighting
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/CreeCS18.JPG (Cree's CS18)

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/energy-solutions/continuing-revolution-led-lighting

Carbon prices plunge yet again amid backloading delay rumours

BusinessGreen: Analysts have warned carbon prices in the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) could plunge to new depths of below EUR6 (£4.70) a tonne if uncertainty around the commission's plans to solve a glut of permits in the market continues. Reports earlier in the week suggested details on how to fix the market's current oversupply problem would not come until after the commission's August recess, prompting prices to fall by more than seven per cent in an already heavily depressed market. Permits traded...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2192841/carbon-prices-plunge-yet-again-amid-backloading-delay-rumours?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Carbon+prices+plunge+yet+again+amid+backloading+delay+rumours

Wind Farm Operators Adjust to Noise Responses

![][1] Over the past several years, wind farm developers have been facing increasing complaints about wind turbine noise. After many years of successfully placing turbines in proximity to homes in farm and ranch country, where typical setbacks of 800 to 1,200 feet, and noise levels of 50dB or more, were well tolerated, wind energy companies are finding that residents in rural areas in the upper Midwest and Northeast are far more likely than farmers and ranchers to respond negatively to turbine sound of 40dB or even less. For some in areas where nighttime ambient noise levels are low, any audible noise is found to be intrusive, creating a challenging new reality for wind energy to come to grips with.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/18/body-wind-farm-operators-adjust-to-noise-responses.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/wind-farm-operators-adjust-to-noise-responses?cmpid=rss

What the Wonderful Wizard of Oz Can Teach Solar

![][1] In the classic children's book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy's dog Toto pulls back a curtain to reveal the Wizard as nothing but a normal man. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," the man says. With solar energy, that man behind the curtain could be the hidden subsidies that conventional energy enjoys, but, it could also be the promises of low prices for photovoltaic (PV) technology that are proving disastrous to all solar technologies.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/18/body-what-the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-can-teach-solar.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/what-the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-can-teach-solar?cmpid=rss

The Endless Summer

New York Times: Here's what American exceptionalism means now: on a per-capita basis, we either lead or come close to leading the world in consumption of resources, production of pollutants and a profound unwillingness to do anything about it. We may look back upon this year as the one in which climate change began to wreak serious havoc, yet we hear almost no conversation about changing policy or behavior. President Obama has done nicely in raising fuel averages for automobiles, but he came into office promising...

URL: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/the-endless-summer/?ref=opinion

Petermann glacier in Greenland: Is it serious?

BBC: The increasingly detailed and immediate pictures that we get of vast movements of ice at the Earth's poles make for a dramatic sight. But whether that drama is cause for worry is an open question. Floating "tongues" of ice, like the one that has broken off the Petermann glacier reported on Thursday, extend beyond the glaciers, and are constantly fed by ice pouring off the ice sheet. Eventually parts of these tongues break off under the forces surrounding them and become free-floating icebergs....

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18901068#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61682000/jpg/_61682560_tv015336338.jpg

Calculating the Embodied Energy Payback for Passivhaus Buildings

Subtitle:

The payback period for the embodied energy of the incremental construction materials needed to meet the Passivhaus standard is surprisingly short

Images:

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A common PassivhausA residential building construction standard requiring very low levels of air leakage, very high levels of insulation, and windows with a very low U-factor. Developed in the early 1990s by Bo Adamson and Wolfgang Feist, the standard is now promoted by the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt, Germany. To meet the standard, a home must have an infiltration rate no greater than 0.60 AC/H @ 50 pascals, a maximum annual heating energy use of 15 kWh per square meter (4,755 Btu per square foot), a maximum annual cooling energy use of 15 kWh per square meter (1.39 kWh per square foot), and maximum source energy use for all purposes of 120 kWh per square meter (11.1 kWh per square foot). The standard recommends, but does not require, a maximum design heating load of 10 W per square meter and windows with a maximum U-factor of 0.14. The Passivhaus standard was developed for buildings in central and northern Europe; efforts are underway to clarify the best techniques to achieve the standard for buildings in hot climates. topic that rears its head every now and again is the [embodied energy][4] of construction. While this can be an important issue, we generally feel it's a moot point for Passivhaus projects – especially the ones we design (owing to better optimized assemblies and less insulation!).

[1]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/S-house 2.JPG (Photo of the straw-bale floor assembly of the S-house)
[2]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/calculating-embodied-energy-payback-passivhaus-buildings
[3]: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog-river/Eliason bar graph.jpg (A bar graph comaring the cumulative primary energy input of various building types)
[4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embodied_energy

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/calculating-embodied-energy-payback-passivhaus-buildings

Drought brings misery to Arkansas River basin

National Public Radio: Drought has set in early and hard across the Midwest, parching the Arkansas River basin. The river trickling out of the mountains is dry before it reaches some of the major agricultural uses downstream. And the drought is torching crops, sapping tourism and threatening supplies of drinking water. High in the Rocky Mountains, about 10 miles north of Leadville, Colo., the Arkansas River starts as a trickle running off some of the tallest peaks in the continental United States. In a normal year,...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/18/156936495/drought-spreads-misery-through-arkansas-river-basin
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=156936495&m=156993551

Could geoengineering stop heat waves?

Scientific American: When Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, the injection of sulfur particles into the atmosphere cooled the planet. Taking inspiration from nature, some scientists have begun studying whether a man-made injection of such sulfate aerosols might stave off the worst of global warming. But could the technology also be used more locally to beat the heat? That's the question explored by three U.C.L.A. scientists in a manuscript submitted to the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. Back in 2006, California...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=could-geoengineering-stop-heat-wave-12-07-16
Enclosure: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/podcast.mp3?e_id=6EEC6F53-9A25-8C23-4814B3CC85931C55

Dumping iron sulphate in sea a cure for climate change: study

Press Trust of India: Dumping iron sulphate into the sea can bury carbon dioxide for centuries, reducing the impact of climate change, according to a new study. A team of researchers led by a German scientist found that carbon can be kept out of the atmosphere for many centuries if released in sea, where phytoplankton when sinking to the sea floor takes the carbon with it, ''The Guardian'' reported. The team added seven tonnes of iron sulphate to the ocean near Antarctica, where iron levels are extremely low. Addition...

URL: http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=250365464

Solar Acquisitions Doubled to Record $10.8 Billion

![][1] The value of acquisitions of solar photovoltaic plants more than doubled to $10.8 billion in 2011 as developers sold projects to longer-term investors, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/19/body-solar-acquisitions-doubled-to-record-10-8-billion.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/solar-acquisitions-doubled-to-record-10-8-billion?cmpid=rss

Should the Wind Turbine Industry Head for the Hills?

![][1] At dusk outside Limon, an isolated interstate interchange on Colorado's vast eastern frontier, a string of active wind turbines lines the southwest horizon --- their red aviation warning lights almost keeping time with their rotating blades. And more are on the way; the local hotels are packed with summer wind farm construction workers pulling three shifts a day.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/19/body-should-the-wind-turbine-industry-head-for-the-hills.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/should-the-wind-turbine-industry-head-for-the-hills?cmpid=rss

Report: Generation X Doesn't Care About Climate Change

U.S. News and World Report: Even with most of the country mired in a historic drought, a spate of storms that left millions without power in the mid-Atlantic, and seemingly more frequent natural disasters, people have better things to worry about than global warming, according to a new study of Generation X-ers. And they're beginning to think about global climate change even less. Just two percent of those aged 37 to 40 said they follow climate change "very closely," a 50 percent drop from 2009. More than half said they follow...

URL: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/19/report-generation-x-doesnt-care-about-climate-change

Generation X: Too cool to care about climate change?

KPCC: In the early '90s, the burgeoning youth culture that came to be known as "Generation X' (due in large part to Douglas Copeland's popular book of the same name) was typified as disenfranchised yet more open-minded and politically active than aging Baby Boomers, with a penchant for flannel shirts and grunge bands like Nirvana. But a new study from the University of Michigan reveals that members of Gen X--people born between the early 1960s and early 1980s--are "surprisingly unconcerned' about climate...

URL: http://www.scpr.org/blogs/environment/2012/07/18/9054/generation-x-too-cool-care-about-climate-change/
Enclosure: http://a.scpr.org/i/f0ca13c7d745acb325da907f5fee4f90/37086-six.jpg

Australia: Conservation areas to be opened up to logging

Brisbane Times: State forests set aside as conservation areas by the previous Labor government could be declassified and reopened for commercial logging and grazing in a bid to revitalise the industries. National Parks Minister Steve Dickson said tracts of land, including former cattle stations, which had been "locked up" by Bligh government and earmarked to be national parks, had little conservation value. Mr Dickson said the Newman government would undertake a scientific review of more than 12 million hectares...

URL: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/conservation-areas-to-be-opened-up-to-logging-20120719-22bs9.html
Enclosure: http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2012/07/19/3468162/Qld_forest_729-620x349.jpg

Massive iceberg breaks off Greenland glacier

Agence France-Presse: A massive iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken off of a glacier in Greenland, according to NASA satellite imagery, in what could be the latest indication of global warming. The images released Wednesday show the massive chunk of ice breaking off of the Petermann Glacier on the northwestern coast of Greenland. The glacier produced a similar ice island twice as large in 2010. NASA said the crack in the glacier had been visible since 2001, and that its polar-orbiting Aqua satellite had observed...

URL: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/75682

United Kingdom: Government's environmental plans stall local sustainable economies

Guardian: If low-carbon industries across Britain's local economies are to grow it will require hi-tech, skilled jobs. Designing wind turbines or energy-efficient materials requires high-level skills; politicians know this, and talk up the potential of the country's transition to a low-carbon economy. Three years ago David Cameron said the country needs to revolutionise the energy sector or see "other countries take these valuable, skilled jobs". Cameron is right about the potential of low-carbon jobs to...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2012/jul/19/green-deal-local-sustainable-economies

ElectraTherm Completes Demonstration of Green Machine at University of Alaska.

UAF Alaska Center for Energy & Power estimates that one Green Machine can generate more than 413,000 kWh/year with 24/7 daily operation.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips712/jul12017.html

US pushed to reform cotton subsidies in farm bill as Brazil watches

Guardian: US lawmakers have been busy this summer shaping the latest version of the farm bill, the far-reaching legislation that governs how the US treats its farmers and feeds its poor people, among many other things. Discussions and hearings have been going on for weeks, but there is one topic that few people on Capitol Hill seem to be paying attention to: how Congress's failure to reform US cotton subsidies may hurt millions of farmers in other countries, along with Hollywood, American pharmaceutical...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/jul/19/us-cotton-subsidies-farm-bill-brazil
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/7/18/1342628855472/MDG--Cotton-subsidies-dis-003.jpg

Drought spreads, boosts corn to record price

Reuters: The worst drought in a half century will continue to plague most of the U.S. Midwest crop region for at least the next 10 days, with only occasional showers providing some relief mainly in the east, an agricultural meteorologist said on Thursday. America's top two corn and soybean producing states, Iowa and Illinois, are now in the center of the drought as the dryness spreads to the northwest to leech what little moisture remains in already parched soils. "It looks a little wetter today for...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-usa-drought-crops-idUSBRE86H0MP20120719?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=20120719&t=2&i=631976568&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE86H0ZQI00

Greenland: Petermann glacier calves huge iceberg - interactive

Guardian: Watch as an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan breaks free from Greenland's massive Petermann glacier

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2012/jul/19/greenland-glacier-iceberg-interactive

In North Dakota, the gritty side of an oil boom

Washington Post: Donny Nelson is the epitome of old-time North Dakota. A lean, sharp-featured man sporting a thick goatee, jeans and dirty boots, Nelson is the grandson of homesteaders. Over the past century his family has collected 8,000 acres of prime cattle grazing acreage and cropland. But now Nelson has some unwanted company: Oil prospectors. This remote corner of North Dakota is the site of the biggest U.S. oil rush in decades. It is pumping new supplies into oil markets and swelling state coffers; advocates...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-north-dakota-the-gritty-side-of-an-oil-boom/2012/07/18/gJQAZk5ZuW_story.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/07/18/National-Economy/Images/Bakken02_1342638840.jpg

Society's Response to Climate Change Is Critical

ScienceDaily: Lancaster University (UK) scientists have proposed a new way of considering society's reactions to global warming by linking societal actions to temperature change. Using this framework to analyse climate change policies aimed at avoiding dangerous climate change, they suggest that society will have to become fifty times more responsive to global temperature change than it has been since 1990. The researchers, Dr Andy Jarvis, Dr David Leedal and Professor Nick Hewitt from the Lancaster Environment...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120718073733.htm

Israel plans to revive ailing Jordan river

Reuters: The River Jordan is neither deep nor wide these days. The Biblical river, which has inspired countless spirituals and folk songs, is just a narrow stream in many parts - polluted and stagnant. But that's about to change. Thanks to desalination and wastewater recycling, there is more fresh water to go around and the Jordan will slowly be returned to its former glory. From a dusty overlook in 40 degree (104 degree farenheit) heat, Ramon Ben Ari, head of Israel's Southern Jordan Drainage Authority,...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/us-israel-environment-jordanriver-idUSBRE86I0KA20120719?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Review of coal export proposals needed, senator says

Oregonian: Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, following in the footsteps of Gov. John Kitzhaber, called today for a sweeping federal review of coal exports from the Northwest. Merkley's letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Land Management requested an expedited "programmatic environmental impact statement." The government should look at the effects of large-scale exports from all the Northwest coal export projects in the hopper, and evaluate mining, local impacts such as train and barge...

URL: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/07/oregon_senator_jeff_merkley_ca.html
Enclosure: http://www.merkley.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=88EC36C8-E3A4-4BDF-977F-246C98E7B0A7

A Way to Trap Carbon Deep in the Ocean

New York Times: After an eight-year analysis, an international team of scientists has announced a breakthrough in the understanding of how algae and iron interact to sequester atmospheric carbon. By adding iron to the ocean, the researchers induced a massive algal bloom. A significant portion died and sank to the ocean floor, carrying its sequestered carbon along with it to the depths. The finding contributes to science's understanding of the global carbon cycle and has implications for potential ways of mitigating...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/a-way-to-trap-carbon-deep-in-the-ocean/
Enclosure: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v487/n7407/full/nature11229.html

Mapping the US drought

National Public Radio: Texas experienced its worst drought on record last year. Now that the state is seeing some relief, drought conditions have consumed more than half the United States. Use this interactive map and chart to see how conditions have changed over time.

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/18/156989764/interactive-mapping-the-u-s-drought
Enclosure: http://npr.github.com/us-drought/img/maps/2012-07-10.png

Davey Rules Out 25% Reduction for Onshore Wind Subsidy in U.K.

![][1] U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Davey ruled out a 25 percent cut in subsidies for onshore wind projects, saying the coalition government is working on the details of a smaller reduction that he hopes will underpin investment in renewables.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/19/body-davey-rules-out-25-reduction-for-onshore-wind-subsidy-in-u-k.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/davey-rules-out-25-reduction-for-onshore-wind-subsidy-in-u-k?cmpid=rss

Would Gordon Gekko Go Green?

![][1] Energy books tend to be either jargon-filled tomes or hand-wringing, end-of-the-world, please-just-shoot-me-now reprimands. So it was a relief to see that Brian Keane avoids both of these worn-out roads in his new book, "Green is Good: Save Money, Make Money, and Help Your Community Profit from Clean Energy." Keane expertly tells the clean energy s

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/19/body-would-gordon-gekko-go-green.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/07/would-gordon-gekko-go-green?cmpid=rss

Ocean Power Technologies and Lockheed Martin to Develop Wave-Energy Project In Australia.

This is one of the largest wave-energy projects announced to date, and leverages a grant from the Commonwealth of Australia.

URL: http://www.green-energy-news.com/nwslnks/clips712/jul12016.html

In Parts of India, Wind Energy Proving Cheaper Than Coal

![][1] The cost of wind power has dropped below the price of coal-fired energy in parts of India for the first time as improved turbine technology and rising fossil-fuel prices boost its competitiveness, Greenko Group Plc said.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/18/body-in-parts-of-india-wind-energy-proving-cheaper-than-coal.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/in-parts-of-india-wind-energy-proving-cheaper-than-coal?cmpid=rss

China Could Be Rare Earth Metals Importer by 2014

![][1] U.S. and Canadian producers of heavy rare earth metals are poised to benefit as China becomes a net importer of some of the materials as early as 2014, said Peter Cashin, chief executive officer of Quest Rare Minerals Ltd.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/18/body-china-could-be-rare-earth-metals-importer-by-2014.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/china-could-be-rare-earth-metals-importer-by-2014?cmpid=rss

Hybrid Solar Heat and Power Systems On the Rise

![][1] According to "Residential Combined Heat and Power," a new study by Pike Research, the market for residential combined heat and power (resCHP) systems – defined as small, distributed energy generation systems that produce electricity for residences while also capturing heat that would otherwise be treated as waste – is still very small, but growing rapidly.

[1]: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2012/7/18/body-hybrid-solar-heat-and-power-systems-on-the-rise.jpg

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/07/hybrid-solar-heat-and-power-systems-on-the-rise?cmpid=rss

Coal-rich province launches emission monitoring system

Xinhua: A monitoring system for greenhouse gas concentrations has been launched in north China's coal-rich Shanxi province as local authorities hope to better deal with climate change by using first-hand emission data. It is the first such monitoring system that has been built among provincial-level regions in the country. The system can monitor the concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, oxynitride and particulate matter in the air and publish the data in...

URL: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2012-07/18/content_25939504.htm

Indonesia: Peat land preservation in indonesia saves the earth

Antara News: The preservation of peat land in Indonesia saves the Earth because damage would supply more emission to the Earth compared to the mineral soil, a researcher from Soil Research Center, Fahmuddin Agus said here Friday. According to him the area of peat land in Indonesia reach 14 million hectares. Most of the land is in Kalimantan and Sumatra islands. Unfortunately due to land peat use conversion 50 percent emission are supplied to the Earth. "Peat land must not be converted in any form because...

URL: http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/83412/peat-land-preservation-in-indonesia-saves-the-earth

Wild flowers thriving in wet summer

BBC: Some species of native wildlife including bees and bats have struggled to survive in the wet summer weather. The Scottish Wildlife Trust say wild flowers have been thriving in the warm summer rain. BBC Scotland's Laura Bicker has been finding out at a wildlife centre in Grangemouth.

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-18870085#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

U.S. Drought is Most Severe Since 1950s, Report Says

Climate Central: The drought that is delivering a punishing blow to corn growers, farmers, and ranchers across the Midwest and High Plains is among the most intense drought events to occur in the U.S. since the 1950s, according to a federal report released on Monday, placing it among the top 10 droughts in U.S. history. According to the most recent drought outlook, the drought is likely to persist -- if not further intensify -- during the next few months. On Monday, the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/us-drought-is-most-severe-since-1956-report-says/

Punishing drought in Midwest shows no sign of abating

Reuters: Broiling heat blanketed much of the Midwest again on Tuesday, exacerbating the region's worst drought in more than 50 years and devastating corn, soy and other vital crops. Across the country's agricultural heartland, elected officials met with farmers and ranchers affected by the growing disaster promising government relief. In Missouri, Governor Jay Nixon announced on Tuesday that all 114 counties in the state have been designated as natural disaster areas due to the drought, making farmers...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/18/us-usa-drought-idUSBRE86F1D420120718?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

EU carbon rescue plan may not help U.N. offset slump

Reuters: Any lifeline European Union regulators throw to the bloc's own troubled carbon market may do little to help the United Nations' ailing emissions offset scheme. The EU emissions trading scheme and the U.N.-backed offset market have been in an interdependent relationship since 2005, particularly since most of the demand for offset credits comes from the 12,000 or so big polluters in the EU scheme. Both markets are flooded with supply. The European Commission is expected later this month to propose...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/17/us-offsets-un-eu-idUSBRE86G0LA20120717

So, How Hot Was It?

New York Times: It was so hot last week, a twin-unit nuclear plant in northeastern Illinois had to get special permission to continue operating after the temperature of the water in its cooling pond rose to 102 degrees. It was the second such request from the plant, Braidwood, which opened 26 years ago. When it was new, the plant had permission to run as long as the temperature of its cooling water pond, a 2,500-acre lake in a former strip mine, remained below 98 degrees; in 2000 it got permission to raise the...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/so-how-hot-was-it/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/07/17/realestate/braidwood/braidwood-blog480.jpg

US faces worst drought since 1956

BBC: The US is currently suffering its widest drought since 1956, according to data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). On Monday, NOAA reported that by the end of June 55% of the continental US was in a moderate to extreme drought. Crops including corn and soybeans have been hit by the dry conditions, and several states have seen wildfires. High temperatures across much of the country in June contributed to the spread of the drought. As much as 80% of the...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18864753#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61608000/jpg/_61608223_61608222.jpg

Study Calculates Health Impacts Of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Yale Environment 360: Roughly 130 people are likely to die from radiation exposure and another 180 die from cancer as a result of the March 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear power station in Japan, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers. The researchers presented a wide range of possible fatalities from the disaster, estimating that 15 to 1,300 people could die from direct radiation exposure. The scientists also said that an estimated 24 to 2,500 people could contract cancer from exposure...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/study_calculates_health_impacts__of_japans_fukushima_nuclear_disaster/3551/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

Coastal communities tackle climate change

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The inaugural First Stewards Symposium is taking place in the United States, with the aim of bringing coastal Indigenous people together to tackle climate change. Representatives from Hawaii, New Zealand, Guam, Alaska, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas and Indian nation tribes are attending the symposium. Manuel Duenas is a moderator at the symposium and the chair of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and president of the Guam Fishermen's Co-operative Association. ...

URL: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-17/an-coastal-communities-symposium/4135834

NASA statellite reveals iceberg twice the size of Manhattan breaking off Greenland's ice sheet

Mongabay: A 119-square-kilometer (46-square-mile) iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken off Greenland's Petermann Glacier, report researchers from the the University of Delaware and the Canadian Ice Service. The break in the ice sheet, which has been anticipated for years, was detected Monday by the MODIS sensor onboard Terra and Aqua satellites. The iceberg was first reported by the Canadian Ice Service. While large, the iceberg is only half the size of an ice island that broke off the same...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0717-greenland-iceberg-2012.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/12/0717iceb.jpg

Proposed coal terminals in Washington draw negative feedback

Seattle Times: The continued use of coal to meet energy needs can be compared to someone dying of emphysema, hooked up to an oxygen tank, chain-smoking cigarettes. Irrefutably, carbon emissions accelerates global warming, subsequently contributing to climate change, just as nicotine has the capacity to destroy lives. On July 1 in The Seattle Times, Michael Riordan touched on many sound argumentative points opposing the exportation of coal ["The cost of the coal boondoggle," Opinion]. Largely underemphasized is...

URL: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/northwestvoices/2018702414_coalterminalslet17.html?syndication=rss

Merkel Says World Must Increase Climate Efforts or Risk Warming

Bloomberg: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said nations must increase climate-protection efforts or risk warming the planet by as much as 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 Fahrenheit). Current voluntary pledges to cut emissions are insufficient to meet a target to limit warming since industrialization to 2 degrees, Merkel said today at a climate meeting in Berlin. A United Nations summit this year in Qatar "must urgently provide us with new momentum" toward a new climate treaty, she said. Envoys from more than 190...

URL: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-16/merkel-says-world-must-increase-climate-efforts-or-risk-warming

Nuclear Restart Generates Power, Protest in Japan

National Geographic: Every Friday evening they gather before Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's residence. The first rally in March was modest: a few hundred citizens joined against nuclear power, marking the anniversary of the earthquake- and tsunami-triggered Fukushima Daiichi disaster a year earlier. But in recent weeks, since Noda decided to restart two of Japan's 54 idled nuclear reactors, the protest has swelled into a mass demonstration blocking the streets of Japan's political center. Building on their Friday...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/07/120716-japan-nuclear-restart-protests/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/565/overrides/energy-japan-restarting-nuclear-power-plant_56573_600x450.jpg

Severe U.S. Drought Is Worst Dry Spell Since 1956

Yale Environment 360: The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) says that 55 percent of the Lower 48 states suffered from moderate to extreme drought in June, the largest area affected by drought since 1956. With searing heat and drought conditions only intensifying in July, corn and soybean crops in the U.S. Midwest are suffering badly, threatening to increase food and fuel prices and cut food aid and grain exports from the world's top producer of key crops. "We're moving from a crisis to a horror story," said Purdue...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/severe_drought_in_us_is_the_worst_dry_spell_since_1956/3550/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29