Jackson to step down from agency; legacy includes first greenhouse gas rules

Bloomberg: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced her resignation Dec. 27 after four years as the Obama administration's top environmental officer. Jackson's resignation will take effect after the State of the Union address, and EPA Deputy Administrator Robert Perciasepe will become acting administrator, the agency said (see related story). Jackson leaves behind a legacy of strong environmental regulations, including the first national greenhouse gas regulatory program, environmental...

URL: http://www.bna.com/jackson-step-down-n17179871605/

Is it morally wrong for the US to export coal?

National Public Radio: AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: Is it morally wrong for the U.S. to export coal? That's a question some people are asking in the Pacific Northwest. The region has become a transit route for coal dug up in states such as Wyoming and shipped to Asia. Those experts are growing fast. NPR's Martin Kaste has this story about the backlash. MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: The Army Corps of Engineers, along with Washington State and county officials, held seven public hearings this month in advance of the environmental...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/28/168219993/is-it-morally-wrong-for-u-s-to-export-coal
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=168219993&m=168220929

How Britain went from a drought to a deluge as south-west is drenched again

Guardian: The view through the windows of the packed 11.55 London Paddington to Penzance train was of burst rivers and drowned fields. Those on board were the lucky ones. On Friday, the train was the first to make it through to the west country for days after torrential rain plunged large parts of the UK into chaos. Rising water levels threatened to swallow the track as passengers grew increasingly bewildered. "We were told one thing at Paddington," said Chris McColm, 70, who was trying to get to Totnes...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/29/britain-drought-deluge-south-west
Enclosure: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/12/29/gu_rainfall.jpg

Electric car sales in UK expected to double in 2013 as prices start to fall

Guardian: Sales of electric cars in Britain are expected to double in 2013 as cheaper models enter the market and the number of charging points increases. Numbers of fully electric cars are expected to rise from 3,000 to 6,000, according to Ben Lane, managing editor of the website nextgreencar.com. He warned, however, that the switch to electric vehicles was still moving slowly. Lane said: "The pricing is not yet quite right and the range is still not long enough. Very few people in 2012 were willing...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/29/electric-car-sales-prices
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/guardian/About/General/2012/12/29/1356790062559/The-BMW-i3-electric-car-d-009.jpg

United Kingdom: Single men found to be rubbish at putting out the recycling

Guardian: Men who live alone are the least likely to recycle in the UK, according to a study. As many homes come to terms with a backlog of discarded wrapping paper and empty packaging after Christmas, women will take on the most responsibility for disposing of it in an environmentally friendly way, according to new research. Results showed that single people living alone are less likely to recycle – only 65% did so, compared with 79% of mixed-sex couples. Of those living alone, 69% of women recycled some...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/29/single-men-rubbish-at-recycling
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Admin/BkFill/Default_image_group/2012/12/29/1356783431068/Empty-glass-bottles-010.jpg

$60B Sandy aid package clears Senate

Politico: A $60.4 billion Hurricane Sandy disaster aid package cleared the Senate Friday evening after Democrats beat back a Republican alternative promising less than half the funding and focused more narrowly on the immediate needs over the next three months. "It would just stop dead in its tracks the recovery effort so desperately needed," warned Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "You cannot plan a recovery on a three-month basis. The bottom line is if you want to build a tunnel, you can't say, 'I'll build...

URL: http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/60b-sandy-aid-package-clears-senate-85576.html?hp=l7
Enclosure: http://images.politico.com/global/2012/11/121113_sandy_aftermath_reuters_328.jpg

Scotland slow to spend on green cars

United Press International: A spokesman for the Scottish Conservative Party called on local governments to redeploy unspent funds earmarked for green energy initiatives. "What is the point in giving councils money to be spent on environmental initiatives which are clearly not a priority for them? What's worse, this $3.22 million of unspent cash could have been used far more wisely in services people actually need and care about," said spokesman Alex Johnstone. "Instead, we have this vast sum gathering dust while people's...

URL: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2012/12/29/Scotland-slow-to-spend-on-green-cars/UPI-34991356801494/

Will climate change ever have its Sandy Hook moment?

Conversation: It's easy to bash America. Externally Americans are often characterised as loud, star-spangled, gun-toting, bible-bashing, right-wing extremists with Fox News continually on in the background and a gas-guzzling Hummer in the driveway. And the problem is, that when all you ever see are US media reports, politicians, and movies, it is easy to think that's all America is. In reality America, like most other countries in the world, is full of people. People a lot like us. When you meet them,...

URL: http://theconversation.edu.au/will-climate-change-ever-have-its-sandy-hook-moment-11458
Enclosure: https://c479107.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/18995/width668/h5z5vjp5-1356832704.jpg

Greens confront own need for diversity

Politico: The Republican Party isn't the only political force that has a diversity problem. Environmental activists say their own movement needs to step up its game if it wants to play much bigger in Washington. The green movement dreams of pushing major bills through Congress on the scale of President Barack Obama's health care reform law and the immigration overhaul expected to begin next year. But those issues enjoy something the green movement does not: wide and deep support across key Democratic...

URL: http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/greens-confront-own-need-for-diversity-85558.html?hp=t1

Ice Seals Get Endangered Species Protection

LiveScience: Six groups of seals threatened by shrinking sea ice are gaining new protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced late last week. NOAA will list as threatened two distinct bearded seal populations -- one in the Beringia region, which includes Alaska, and one in the Okhotsk region of Russia's far east -- and three subspecies of ringed seals (Arctic, Okhotsk and Baltic). Another ringed seal subspecies found only in...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/ice-seals-endangered-species-protection-002102778.html

No denying climate change

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Earth is growing warmer; the records prove that. Some still doubt human activity has anything to do with it, but it's past time for the rest of us to face reality. We need, first, good leadership. The United States should provide it, as it has repeatedly promised but failed to do. And Florida should be a leader among the states, because it is among those most threatened with ecological problems and rising sea levels. Tallahassee should take its cues from South Florida, where local governments...

URL: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorials/fl-editorial-climate-td1003-20121229,0,7232919.story

Climate Change Real & Gorgeous

Wired: When "Chasing Ice" finished, my 10-year-old son, sitting next to me in the almost empty theater, said, "That was sobering." He was right: Sobering, but also beautiful and inspiring. "Chasing Ice" documents both the earth`s current warming and one man`s obsessive efforts to show that warming in terms everyone can understand: visual, immediate, dramatic. National Geographic photographer James Balog says he was a bit of a climate skeptic himself until he took an assignment in 2005 and 2006 photographing...

URL: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/making-climate-change-real-weirdly-gorgeous/
Enclosure: http://youtu.be/eIZTMVNBjc4

United Kingdom: It never rains and then it pours. What is going on with our weather?

Guardian: The transformation of the British landscape over the last 12 months has been dramatic. At the end of 2011, the nation was caught in the grip of one of the severest droughts on record. Low rainfall over the previous year had reduced water levels in rivers and reservoirs to exceptional levels. The year ahead promised to be one of parched landscapes, hosepipe bans and streams turned to trickles. There could have been widespread consequences for farmers, food production, tourism, industry and domestic...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/29/rains-pours-weather
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Columnist/Columnists/2012/12/29/1356796219525/flooding-river-thames-010.jpg

As Biodiversity Declines, Tropical Diseases Thrive

National Public Radio: Global health advocates often argue that the tropical diseases that plague many countries, such as malaria and dengue, can be conquered simply with more money for health care - namely medicines and vaccines. But a new paper is a reminder that ecology also has a pretty big say in whether pathogens thrive or die off. Using a statistical model, researchers predicted that countries that lose biodiversity will have a heavier burden of vector-borne and parasitic diseases. Their results appear this week...

URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/12/29/168210441/as-biodiversity-declines-tropical-diseases-thrive?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/12/28/mosquito_wide-88f09cf6025ea18ec8a5bac11f010896f9a46873-s4.jpg

Sweet Potatoes Unexpected Reaction to Rising CO2 Levels

Environmental News Network: Rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere caused by human-driven emissions might lead to larger sweet potatoes, a staple food for many African and Asian countries, research reveals. Sweet potatoes could double in size with the increase in CO2 levels currently forecasted for the end of this century, according to research by a team from the University of Hawaii, United States. The team presented their finding at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, in San Francisco this month...

URL: http://www.enn.com/climate/article/45383?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29

Idle No More: Alberta Highway 63 Blockade Near Fort McMurray By First Nations Movement

Canadian Press: The leader of an aboriginal community near the Alberta oilsands says the federal government is clearing the way for development on traditional land. Chief Alan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation says Ottawa's omnibus budget legislation weakens environmental protection in Canada. He says oilsands projects have already sullied rivers and lakes in the area and the budget bill -- quote -- "gives the green light to destroy the rest." Adam's comments came as he joined a highway blockade...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/12/20/idle-no-more_n_2340893.html
Enclosure: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/848137/thumbs/r-HIGHWAY-63-TWINNING-large570.jpg?12

Will Sandy’s Legacy Loom As Large As it Should Past 2012?

Atlantic: Coastal cities have built up infrastructure over the years that cumulatively has been an engineering marvel: ports and waterways, water and sewer and electrical systems, roads and bridges and tunnels and subways. But it's all going to look modest compared to the projects necessary to deal with the impacts of climate change. Massive flood barriers straight out of a science fiction movie may rise between the north fork of Long Island and near New London, Connecticut. The Golden Gate strait may similarly...

URL: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2012/12/will-sandys-legacy-loom-large-it-should-past-2012/4259/
Enclosure: http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img/upload/2012/12/26/RTR3B1CB_1/largest.jpg

New Report Finds That West Antarctica Is Warming at an Alarming Rate

Atlantic: For more than half a century, scientists at a remote outpost in western Antarctica have been tracking the region's weather, and a new analysis published in Nature Geoscience comes to alarming conclusions: Temperatures have lept up by 4.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1958 -- twice as much as previously thought, making the area one of the fastest-warming in the world. Should temperatures continue on this path, scientists fear warmer and longer periods of melting for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which...

URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/12/new-report-finds-that-west-antarctica-is-warming-at-an-alarming-rate/266623/
Enclosure: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/assets_c/2012/12/ngeo1671-f1-thumb-615x642-109231.jpg

United States: Seattle Mayor Calls for City’s Pension Funds to Dump Oil Stocks

Grist: Student groups at 192 colleges and universities are calling on their schools` endowments to sell off stocks in fossil-fuel companies, inspired by a 350.org campaign that we`ve reported on before. Now that campaign is spreading from campus to city hall, as Climate Progress reports: Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is now calling on his city to strip fossil fuels from its two main pension funds. According to the city's finance director, Seattle has $17.6 million invested in Chevron and ExxonMobil, as well...

URL: http://grist.org/news/seattle-mayor-calls-for-citys-pension-funds-to-dump-oil-stocks/

Antarctic Ice Sheet Experiencing Nearly Twice as Much Warming as Previously Thought

EcoWatch: In a finding that raises further concerns about the future contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise, a new study finds that the western part of the continent's ice sheet is experiencing nearly twice as much warming as previously thought. Researchers have determined that the central region of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is experiencing twice as much warming as previously thought. Their analysis focuses on the temperature record from Byrd Station (indicated by a star), which provides...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/antarctic-ice-sheet/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/byrd2.jpg

United States: Death Valley Temperature Record Is Restored

New York Times: For Death Valley, a place that embraces its extremes, this has long been an affront: As furnace-hot as it gets here, it could not lay claim to being the hottest place on earth. That honor, as it were, has gone since 1922 to a city on the northwestern tip of Libya. Until now. After a yearlong investigation by a team of climate scientists, the World Meteorological Organization, the climate agency of the United Nations, announced this fall that it was throwing out a reading of 136.4 degrees claimed...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/science/earth/death-valley-temperature-record-is-restored.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/12/29/science/earth/DEATHVALLEY/DEATHVALLEY-articleLarge.jpg

Race to beat wind energy deadline

BBC: US energy companies are racing to install wind turbines before a federal tax credit expires at the end of this year. Experts say that wind power has exceeded the construction of natural gas plants in recent months. However the financial incentive for wind could be lost as congress struggles to avoid financial deadlock. Even if the credit is extended it is expected that new installations will decline in 2013. According to industry analysts, the federal government's production tax credit...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20857530#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64992000/jpg/_64992201_t1460637-wind_turbines,_california,_usa-spl.jpg

Previous climate change drove Mesa people off Alaska's North Slope

Alaska Dispatch: Alaska was once the setting for an environmental shift so dramatic it forced people to evacuate the entire North Slope, according to Michael Kunz, an archaeologist with the Bureau of Land Management. About 10,000 years ago, a group of hunting people lived on the North Slope, the swath of mostly treeless tundra extending north from the Brooks Range to the sea. These people, known as Paleoindians, used a chunky ridge of rock west of the Colville River as a hunting lookout. Michael Kunz first discovered...

URL: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/previous-climate-change-drove-mesa-people-alaskas-north-slope

African scientists call for climate change evidence

SciDevNet: African scientists urgently need to build more evidence on the impact of climate change on the continent, a conference has heard. A joint statement issued at the eighth Annual Meeting of African Science Academies last month (12--14November) in Nigeria, notes that Africa lacks much home-grown data about the impacts of extreme weather events and sea level rise. It says: "Actions required of science include contributions to the development of risk assessments and mapping for various anticipated...

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/news/african-scientists-call-for-climate-change-evidence.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment

United Kingdom: The rain falls – while the government pulls the plug on flood defences

Guardian: Should the weather over the next three months be anything like normal, we are on course for Britain's soggiest winter since records began. In England, it is already the wettest year. Even people who like to deny climate change and wish to sweep away planning rules now understand that floods can strike almost anywhere at any time. Waterlogged homes are a regular feature of British life. This year caps more than a decade of inundation. In 2012, 7,500 homes have been ruined, with one in six properties...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/28/britain-pulling-plug-flood-defences
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/12/28/1356709121547/Children-make-their-way-d-008.jpg

Is It Morally Wrong For U.S. To Export Coal?

National Public Radio: The Seattle area is seeing widespread, well-organized opposition to an export industry: coal. Thousands of people have turned out to express their disgust with a plan to build export terminals on Puget Sound to ship American coal to Asia. Opponents cite noise, traffic delays, coal dust and global warming.

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/28/168219993/is-it-morally-wrong-for-u-s-to-export-coal?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=168219993&m=168220929

Peabody Coal Sales Ticker Next to 'Clean Energy' Claim

New York Times: Electricity, including that generated by coal combustion, has been a boon for humanity. In fact, there`s much truth in the headline on Indur M. Goklany's new analysis for the anti-regulatory Cato Institute: "Humanity Unbound: How Fossil Fuels Saved Humanity from Nature and Nature from Humanity." (I`ll post more on that paper soon, including an interview with Goklany.) But that does not come close to justifying what you see on the home page of Peabody Energy, the largest coal company in the free...

URL: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/a-coal-sales-ticker-next-to-a-clean-energy-claim/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Enclosure: http://youtu.be/rM70f_x2Qvw

Fifty years after Silent Spring, are we any closer to saving the world?

Telegraph: It's the end of an important anniversary year. You already knew that? Sure, but I'm not thinking of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. For 2012, far less happily, also marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the great and growing environmental slanging match. On June 16, 1962 -- half a century before this summer's vapid Rio Earth Summit -- the New Yorker started serialising one of those rare books that make history. Published three months later, Silent Spring -- by a shy, studious scientist, Rachel...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/countryside/9769483/Fifty-years-after-Silent-Spring-are-we-any-closer-to-saving-the-world.html

Lisa Jackson leaves; EPA boss stood up to industry

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency boss Lisa Jackson, the Obama administration`s clean air champion, will leave her post at the beginning of President Obama`s second term, creating another Cabinet level vacancy to be filled in his second term. "Lisa leaves giant shoes to fill," said Frances Bienecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. An outspoken native of New Orleans` 9th Ward, later inundated by Hurricane Katrina, Jackson was an eloquent voice linking environmental protection...

URL: http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2012/12/27/lisa-jackson-leaves-epa-boss-stood-up-to-industry/

Carbon Taxes Make Ireland Even Greener

New York Times: Over the last three years, with its economy in tatters, Ireland embraced a novel strategy to help reduce its staggering deficit: charging households and businesses for the environmental damage they cause. The government imposed taxes on most of the fossil fuels used by homes, offices, vehicles and farms, based on each fuel's carbon dioxide emissions, a move that immediately drove up prices for oil, natural gas and kerosene. Household trash is weighed at the curb, and residents are billed for anything...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/science/earth/in-ireland-carbon-taxes-pay-off.html

2012: The year cities stood up to climate change — and took a beating

Grist: A year ago, as the curtain was closing on 2011, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stood in front of an audience at the United Nations and declared that it would be cities, not national governments, that would lead the fight against climate change. "As mayors - the great pragmatists of the world's stage and directly responsible for the well-being of the majority of the world's people - we don't have the luxury of simply talking about change but not delivering it," he said. 2012 would prove...

URL: http://grist.org/cities/2012-the-year-cities-stood-up-to-climate-change-and-took-a-beating/

Climate Science Makes an 11th-Hour Comeback in 2012

Inside Climate News: This was the year climate change vanished from the political agenda—and then suddenly reappeared, after Hurricane Sandy shook the country. It was just a few years ago that Pres. Obama flew to Copenhagen to rescue faltering climate treaty talks amid bipartisan calls for global warming action. But in 2012, there wasn't a single Congressional proposal or hearing on climate legislation. Neither was there mention of climate change on the presidential campaign trail, or in the debates for the first time...

URL: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20121228/climate-change-science-global-warming-hurricane-sandy-obama-mayor-bloomberg-drought-wildfires-arctic-melt-ipcc?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+solveclimate%2Fblog+%28InsideClimate+News%29
Enclosure: http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/home_page_slideshow/itsglobalwarmingstupid2_0.jpg

Rebecca Tarbotton, head of Rainforest Action Network, dies at 39

Grist: On Dec. 26, Rebecca Tarbotton, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, died while vacationing along the west coast of Mexico, north of Puerto Vallarta. In a freak accident at the beach, she got tossed around in rough surf, took too much water into her lungs, and asphyxiated. She was 39 years old. Tarbotton had been at the helm of RAN since August 2010, and had worked with the organization for almost six years. Under her leadership, RAN has focused on the intersections between forests,...

URL: http://grist.org/climate-energy/remembering-rebecca-tarbotton-head-of-rainforest-action-network-who-died-this-week/

Rapid climate change helped humans to evolve

Daily Mail: How rapid climate change helped humans to evolve: Our ancestors 'had to adapt quickly to changing habitats' Findings contradict previous theories which suggest change was gradual Terrain changed from woods to grassland 'five or six times over 200,000 years', researchers claim Rapid changes said to have triggered development of the brain as humans struggled to deal with changing environment Human evolution may have been driven by rapid climate change in Africa two million years ago, new...

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2254088/Rapid-climate-change-helped-humans-evolve-claims-new-study-Our-ancestors-adapt-quickly-changing-habitats.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Enclosure: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/12/28/article-2254088-16AC300E000005DC-915_634x425.jpg

Environmental Taxes in Ireland

New York Times: Taxes on garbage and fossil fuels are part of Ireland's novel strategy to shrink its debt.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/12/28/multimedia/100000001914798/taxing-for-environmental-costs.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Enclosure: http://nyti.ms/12TNUsJ

Global warming threatens U.S. ski industry, but Oregon unscathed

Oregonian: With snowpack accumulating steadily this week on Oregon peaks, it's hard to imagine less-than-adequate conditions for skiing and snowboarding. "Right now we've received over half our annual snowfall and it's not even the first of January," said Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort spokesman Andy Goggins. But a recent report suggests the nation's ski resorts would be wise to keep an eye on the sky, global warning trends and their supply of snowmakers. The nation's $12.2 billion winter tourism industry...

URL: http://www.oregonlive.com/playbooks-profits/index.ssf/2012/12/global_warming_threatens_us_sk.html
Enclosure: http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/climate-impacts-winter-tourism.asp

BLM approves Las Vegas water pipeline project

Associated Press: The Bureau of Land Management signed off Thursday on a massive pipeline project to carry billions of gallons of water to Las Vegas from rural counties along the Nevada-Utah line. The record of decision, signed by Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes, authorizes the BLM to issue a right of way to Southern Nevada Water Authority for the 263-mile pipeline that will stretch from the rural areas to the desert gambling metropolis that is home to some 2 million people and attracts 40 million visitors...

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50310971/ns/us_news-environment/

Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms

New Scientist: The weather outside was truly frightful across much of the US and UK this holiday season. In the US, a powerful winter storm whipped up heavy snow, icy winds and a record number of tornadoes in late December, causing at least 15 deaths. Such storms are not unusual at this time of year, but an especially strong jet stream made the storm more intense, says meteorologist Greg Carbin of the US National Weather Service. "One of the more remarkable places was Little Rock, Arkansas," says Carbin....

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23037-strong-jet-stream-supercharged-us-christmas-storms.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL%7Cclimate-change
Enclosure: http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn23037/dn23037-1_300.jpg

Head of EPA made progress, despite lack of support

Marketplace: It's turnover time for key members of the Obama administration. And this morning the head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, announced she's leaving before the second term starts. Jackson departs a day after the U.S. economy stepped on the energy scale. And, guess what, we're skinnier. According to the Energy Information agency, Americans consumed 3 percent less energy than last year. And consumption is trending down. Our cars guzzle less, in part because of Jackson's agency. "A big driver of that...

URL: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/head-epa-made-progress-despite-lack-support
Enclosure: http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/marketplace/segments/2012/12/27/marketplace_segment19_20121227_64.mp3

Nuclear power plant flood risk: Sandy was just a warm-up

Remapping Debate: As Hurricane Sandy approached the East Coast late last October, more than a dozen nuclear power plants from North Carolina stretching up to New England were in its wide-ranging path. On Oct. 29, the night that the eye of the storm made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, five nuclear plants were forced to either reduce power or make emergency shutdowns. The most serious event was at the Oyster Creek Generating Station located in Lacey Township, near Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, about 40 miles...

URL: http://www.remappingdebate.org/article/nuclear-power-plant-flood-risk-sandy-was-just-warm

Kerry's climate change credentials

LA Times: Sen. John Kerry, President Obama's nominee for secretary of State, may not be able to bring peace to the Middle East, end enduring trade and currency disputes with China or mend fences with all the anti-American leaders in Latin America. But he may be capable of redirecting the debate over an issue of equal or greater importance: climate change. Kerry is among the most forward-thinking members of the U.S. Senate when it comes to understanding both the threats of and the practical responses to...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-1228-kerry-20121228,0,4479384.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-50dcee64/turbine/la-ed-1228-kerry-20121228-001/600

Did EPA Chief Jackson resign because her secret emails are to go public next month?

Daily Mail: The EPA chief announced on Thursday that she will resign after four years on the job for 'new challenges, time with my family and new opportunities to make a difference` Chris Horner, of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said the scrutiny over the alias emails regarding the Obama administration's alleged 'war on coal,` is clearly a factor behind Jackson`s decision to step down Jackson's resignation is effective following the President's State of the Union address next month A Washington...

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253999/Did-EPA-Chief-Lisa-Jackson-resign-secret-emails-public-month.html

EPA head Lisa Jackson to step down

Marketplace: The Obama Administration announced this morning the head of the Environmental Protection Agency -- Lisa Jackson -- is stepping down. This is the time, at the start of a second term, when many Cabinet-level jobs turn over. Jackson says she's ready for new opportunities and more time with her family. The president praised her for making our air and water safer. Jackson is a Princeton-educated chemical engineer, who took over after an administration headed by an oilman president. She walked...

URL: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/epa-head-lisa-jackson-step-down
Enclosure: http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/marketplace/segments/2012/12/27/marketplace_segment08_20121227_64.mp3

UK flooding: 'It felt as if my house had died'

Guardian: The days blur into one for pensioners Les and Sheila Seaton. They get up early, spend the day cleaning, scrubbing, organising and then collapse in front of the television on their borrowed armchairs. "We get to see the first few seconds of the programme, then we fall fast asleep," said Les, a sprightly 79-year-old. "We wake up an hour or two later and go to bed, then it starts over again next morning. It's been hard work but we'll get there in the end." The Seatons are just one of the tens...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/28/uk-flooding-house-died
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/12/28/1356709871248/Kelvin-Boot-Kennford-floo-008.jpg

United Kingdom: Forest Canopy Color Reveals CO2 Uptake

Scientific American: When autumn rolls around, the leaf peepers come out in force. Armed with digital cameras, they record the most spectacular displays of fall foliage. Well according to a study in the journal Functional Ecology [Toshie Mizunuma et al, The relationship between carbon dioxide uptake and canopy colour from two camera systems in a deciduous forest in southern England], those images may be more than just pretty pictures. They may represent a new way to monitor climate change. Trees take carbon dioxide,...

URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=forest-canopy-color-reveals-co2-upt-12-12-28
Enclosure: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12026/abstract

Greens praise Jackson despite roller coaster EPA tenure

Politico: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is leaving her post after four years of battling Republicans and industry while also giving the White House some heartburn along the way over her push for new clean air rules. Jackson has won praise from greens for her tenure, but she also leaves with the Obama administration having yet to aggressively address climate change. "I will leave the EPA confident the ship is sailing in the right direction, and ready in my own life for new...

URL: http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/epa-administrator-lisa-jackson-resigns-85530.html
Enclosure: http://images.politico.com/global/news/111129_lisa_jackson8_ap_328.jpg

Superstorm lessons for adapting to climate change

New Scientist: PYRAMIDS of rubble still dominate the streets of Union Beach, New Jersey. Boats are parked in odd places, while a layer of glass and grit makes the sidewalks crunch. Down by the water everything is quiet. You can see Manhattan across the bay, framed by the skeletons of dwellings devoured by one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the US east coast. Superstorm Sandy killed more than 100 people last October, destroyed tens of thousands of homes and stranded millions without power or heat. The...

URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23036-superstorm-lessons-for-adapting-to-climate-change.html?cmpid=RSS%7CNSNS%7C2012-GLOBAL%7Cclimate-change
Enclosure: http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn23036/dn23036-1_300.jpg

Mississippi River drops, threatening barge traffic

Associated Press: The Mississippi River level is dropping again and barge industry trade groups warned Thursday that river commerce could essentially come to a halt as early as next week in an area south of St. Louis. Mike Petersen of the Army Corps of Engineers said ice on the northern Mississippi River is reducing the flow more than expected at the middle part of the river that is already at a low-water point unseen in decades, the result of months of drought. The river level is now expected to get to 3 feet...

URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iiabjLy2GJpcFWZeVD39V2GgghbA?docId=b3848ca6176c4c4f9940fccf7e31fe39
Enclosure: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5iu3fm81OkgphZRQZFSyNrH_wZTjw?docId=eb98e9c7978844cfb3f89d435faebd77&size=l

International Aid Helps Cuba Adapt to Climate Change

Inter Press Service: "Adaptation to climate change is urgent and must be part of development," said Bárbara Pesce-Monteiro, the United Nations resident coordinator in Cuba, assessing the damage done by hurricane Sandy in the eastern region of the country. She said the damage was very serious, especially in Santiago de Cuba, a city of almost half a million people and a services hub for other towns. In order to support the country at such a difficult time, the United Nations system in Cuba designed an action plan that...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/international-aid-helps-cuba-adapt-to-climate-change

Over 95 percent of Scotland's government buildings fail green test

Scotsman: THE SNP`s green energy stance has been labelled "embarrassing" after it emerged that less than 5 per cent of government buildings use specialist equipment to produce electricity and heat from renewable sources. Under the internationally recognised Microgeneration Certification Scheme, buildings can be officially classed as ones that produce their electricity and heat from renewable sources. However, ministers admitted just three Scottish Government buildings have micro-generation technology...

URL: http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/environment/over-95-per-cent-of-government-buildings-fail-green-test-1-2709483

United Kingdom: Wettest year on record for England – and more rain to come

Telegraph: Heavy downpours over the Christmas period coupled with an unseasonably wet summer meant an average of 1,095.8mm of rain has already fallen in England during 2012 -- the highest since records began in 1910. The previous high was an average of 1,093.3mm of rain in 2000. The UK as a whole will also mark its wettest ever year if an average of 46mm of rain falls before the New Year. And that is likely with more heavy rain and gale force winds expected to hit the country over coming days. It...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9767882/Wettest-year-on-record-for-England...-and-still-more-rain-and-wind-to-come.html

Big decisions loom over fracking for next US EPA administrator

Reuters: The past four years of U.S. environmental regulation was marked by a crackdown on emissions that angered coal miners and power companies. Over the next four, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency will have to decide whether to take on an even larger industry: Big Oil. Following Lisa Jackson's resignation on Wednesday, her successor will inherit the tricky task of regulating a drilling boom that has revolutionized the energy industry but raised fears over the possible contamination...

URL: http://www.thepost.co.za/fracking-usa-big-decisions-loom-1.1445638#.UN2Hmne2pTw

Chevron CEO says energy prices scarier than climate change

Associated Press: Chevron CEO John Watson notices something important as he visits his company's operations around the globe: Governments everywhere find high energy prices much scarier than the threat of global warming. And that means the world will need a lot more oil and gas in the years to come. To meet that demand, Chevron is in the midst of an enormous cycle of investment aimed at extracting oil and gas from wherever it hides in the earth's crust. Chevron Corp., based in San Ramon, Calif., is the second largest...

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Chevron-s-CEO-Affordable-energy-is-crucial-4149215.php

Schleswig-Holstein Will Double Wind Capacity on Land


The German state of Schleswig-Holstein recently approved doubling the land area devoted to wind energy. The move is significant because the North-German land or state bordering Denmark has the highest concentration of wind energy in Germany.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/schleswig-holstein-will-double-wind-capacity-on-land?cmpid=rss

Renewable Energy Review: India


Developers, manufacturers, investors and other renewable energy industry stakeholders need to know where the next big market is going to be so that they can adjust their business decisions accordingly.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/renewable-energy-review-india?cmpid=rss

Framing and Air-Sealing Tips for High-Performance Walls

Subtitle:&nbsp_place_holder;

New videos from Hammer and Hand feature framer Val Darrah, who shares his techniques for building Passivhaus walls

Images:&nbsp_place_holder;

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-blog/framing-and-air-sealing-tips-high-performance-walls)

In three new videos produced by Oregon builder Hammer & Hand, lead carpenter Val Darrah explains how he keeps air sealing in mind as he frames the walls for his current project, the Pumpkin Ridge Passive HouseA 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..

Val explains why he prefers to use a router rather than a saw when he cuts out window openings in the OSB 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. . He also shares his method of building window bucks out of 3/4-inch plywood.

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-blog/framing-and-air-sealing-tips-high-performance-walls

Renewable Energy World's Top 10 Most Watched Videos of 2012


One on one interviews, project developments, and in-depth features are just some of what envelops this year's most watched videos. Check out the top ten videos and let us know your favorite in the comments below.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/top-10-most-watched-videos-of-2012?cmpid=rss

U.S. on new track to catch Saudis in oil production

CBS News: Despite rising gas prices, oil production is surging in this country. That has some predicting the U.S. could eventually overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's largest petroleum producer by 2020. In the middle of a Colorado cornfield, sandwiched between cattle and farm houses, is the front line of an American oil boom. "We plan to invest over $8 billion over the next five years here, so we're really excited," said Mike Dickinson, who works for Noble Energy, which is doubling it's production in...

URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57561042/the-secret-to-catching-the-saudis-in-oil-production/

Lots of grandstanding on energy, little action

Chemical and Engineering News: Over the past year, Congress has accomplished little to influence the nation`s use of energy resources. Although key House of Representatives and Senate committees have held hearings and press conferences and issued statements and even passed bills, the committees cleared little legislation that had much of a real possibility of becoming law. Instead, in the Republican-controlled House, committees focused primarily on oversight hearings and passed legislation with a political goal of attacking...

URL: http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i52/Lots-Grandstanding-Energy-Little-Action.html
Enclosure: http://cen.acs.org/content/cen/articles/90/i52/Lots-Grandstanding-Energy-Little-Action/_jcr_content/articlebody/subpar/articlemedia_0.img.jpg/1356047514347.jpg

Seven months later, no progress

Chicago Tribune: It was a classic power play. In May, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, surprised representatives of the oil and gas industries with an amendment to a piece of drilling legislation that essentially killed the entire bill. He wanted to get their attention. He did. Seven months later, Illinois is no closer to realizing the potential for hydraulic fracturing that was addressed in the legislation. Also known as fracking, the controversial extraction technique involves injecting...

URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-frack-1228-jm-20121228,0,562140.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-50dcef72/turbine/ct-edit-frack-1228-jm-20121228-001/600

Japan's new government sticks to three-year nuclear safety goal

Reuters: Japan's new government said on Friday it hoped to stick to a three year deadline to decide whether to restart all nuclear reactors after safety checks, despite the country's newly formed nuclear regulator saying the deadline was impossible to meet. Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who is also responsible for energy policy, said reactors would be restarted as units received the all-clear from the atomic regulator. "We will rely on the NRA (Nuclear Regulation Authority) to judge safety from...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/28/us-japan-nuclear-idUSBRE8BR02T20121228?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=20121228&t=2&i=688863291&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE8BR0A1X00

The Unfulfilled Promise of 'Promised Land'

New York Times: I recently attended a Manhattan screening of "Promised Land," a new feature film written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski that aims to examine America`s natural gas drilling boom as a case study in "what happens when real people and real money collide," as Krasinski explained in publicity materials. The film opens Friday in New York City and Los Angeles and then expands to more theaters in early January. My sense is that it will not satisfy many people - either as a drama or a potential...

URL: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/the-unfulfilled-promise-of-promised-land/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/12/23/arts/23PROMISE3/23SUBPROMISE-articleInline.jpg

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Resigns

EcoWatch: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson announced today that she is stepping down after a nearly four-year tenure. Jackson often found herself at odds with Capitol Hill Republicans and industry groups while working to address issues including climate change, the Keystone XL pipeline, greenhouse gas regulations, pollution controls on coal-fired power plants and many other environmental and health issues impacting Americans. "I want to thank President Obama for the...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/epa-administrator-resigns/

Hunger Strike Continues as Community Demands Transparency of Petrochemical Giant

EcoWatch: Residents of the Houston neighborhood of Manchester are demanding today that the Valero refinery, which has been polluting the air surrounding their homes for decades, reveal exactly what toxins it is forcing residents to breathe. Community members were joined by Gulf Coast activists Diane Wilson and Bob Lindsey Jr., who have committed to an indefinite hunger strike until Valero agrees to divest from the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, which is linked to environmental destruction and human rights...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/hunger-strike-continues/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/valero.jpg

United States: Citizen-Scientists’ Plight to Protect Watershed from Fracking

EcoWatch: This past summer SkyTruth and the Downstream Project went up to Northern Pennsylvania to document Marcellus Shale gas development in and around the Pine Creek Watershed, a watershed known to Pennsylvanians as the "Grand Canyon of the East." Our trip was facilitated by LightHawk, a volunteer conservation pilot association who took us up in a single-engine aircraft to get an aerial perspective on unconventional shale gas wells popping up across the Northern Tier. However, one of the most unique features...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/citizen-scientists-fracking/

Why did the Antarctic drilling project fail?

BBC: A few members of the team that attempted to search for life in Antarctica's Lake Ellsworth are already beginning a long, sad and disappointed journey home. The rest will be gone, along with all the equipment, the stores and a union jack, in a few weeks' time, leaving no trace of this daring mission to reach beneath the ice. The most exciting science often carries the greatest risk and, despite three years of planning, this is a gamble that has not paid off. The talk from the team is brave,...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20850683#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64980000/jpg/_64980459_borehole91.jpg

EPA Chief Lisa Jackson Stepping Down

Associated Press: The Obama administration's chief environmental watchdog, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, is stepping down after a nearly four-year tenure marked by high-profile brawls over global warming pollution, the Keystone XL oil pipeline, new controls on coal-fired plants and several other hot-button issues that affect the nation's economy and people's health. Jackson, the agency's first black administrator, constantly found herself caught between administration pledges to solve controversial environmental...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-epa-administrator-jackson-announces-resignation-20121227,0,7040284.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-50dc6922/turbine/la-lisa-jackson-20121227/600

How Not 'Awesome' Was Lisa Jackson at the EPA?

Atlantic Wire: After almost four years of guiding controversial decisions on fracking, the Keystone XL pipeline, and coal, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is stepping down. Now, the hunt is on for a new director who won't be able to please anyone. Jackson--the EPA's first African American chief and a chemical engineer by training--wrote in a statement, "I will leave the EPA confident the ship is sailing in the right direction, and ready in my own life for new challenges, time with my family and new opportunities...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/not-awesome-lisa-jackson-epa-163849334.html

In 2012, Canada's 'Dilbit' Becomes a Contentious American Issue

Inside Climate News: This was the year "dilbit" registered on the U.S. political and public radar in a major way. Previously just a technical industry term, dilbit—short for diluted bitumen—became the center of citizens' concerns about the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline. Bitumen is a heavy crude oil mined from Canada's oil sands region. The bitumen is so thick that it must be diluted with liquid chemicals before it can flow through pipelines—hence the term dilbit. Environmental groups have long opposed oil...

URL: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20121221/dilbit-diluted-bitumen-oil-sands-tar-sands-canada-keystone-xl-pipeline-enbridge-michigan-kalamazoo-river-spill-epa?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+solveclimate%2Fblog+%28InsideClimate+News%29

Pa. climate change strategy being updated

Towanda Daily Review: With Superstorm Sandy's destruction reviving debate over global climate change, Pennsylvania's effort to fashion a response is nearing another milestone. The state Climate Change Advisory Committee released a plan in late 2009 with non-binding recommendations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent statewide by 2020. The recommendations are advisory and lack the force of law. Among them is support for production of "low-carbon" electric power from renewable sources of energy, nuclear...

URL: http://thedailyreview.com/news/pa-climate-change-strategy-being-updated-1.1421572

Human evolution driven by sudden climate change

TG Daily: Erratic changes in the East African climate around two million years ago may have been the driving force behind human evolution, say researchers at Penn State and Rutgers University. Scientists have long been aware that, around this time, the environment gradually dried out, in a process that took up to three million years. But, says the team, this wasn't a steady process: instead, the environment was highly variable. "The landscape early humans were inhabiting transitioned rapidly back and...

URL: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNH_9Q87cidbDBtjoC9uSm0ihVNWLg&url=http://www.tgdaily.com/general-science-brief/68338-human-evolution-driven-by-sudden-climate-change
Enclosure: http://img.tgdaily.net/sites/default/files/stock/450teaser/archaeology/olduvai_gorge.jpg

New Hawaii senator pledges to tackle climate change

The Hill: The replacement for the late Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye (D) said Wednesday that climate change is at the top of his legislative agenda. "For me, personally, I believe global climate change is real and it is the most urgent challenge of our generation," Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz (D), whom Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) tapped for the seat, said in brief comments Wednesday. Schatz is expected to be sworn in Thursday afternoon. He will serve until 2014, and plans to run for the special election to...

URL: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/274627-new-hawaii-senator-pledges-to-tackle-climate-change

Average Temperatures in West Antarctica Show Marked Rise Over 54 Years

Environmental News Network: Global average temperatures are rising in most places, but the rise is not uniform. In western Antarctica, temperatures have risen significantly over an extended period. In a finding that raises further concerns about the future contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise, a new study by the University of Colorado University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder finds that the western part of the continent's ice sheet is experiencing nearly twice as much warming as previously thought....

URL: http://www.enn.com/climate/article/45378?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29

Little Oversight for Enbridge Pipeline Route that Skirts Lake Michigan

Inside Climate News: In the northwestern corner of Indiana a major pipeline project is planned that will carry vast quantities of heavy Canadian crude oil across four rivers that flow into Lake Michigan, where 10 million people get their drinking water. The pipeline will cross one river just 11 miles from the lake. It crosses the other three rivers less than 20 miles from the lake. Because the pipeline runs so close to Lake Michigan—and because it is being built by a company with a history of pipeline spills in the...

URL: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20121227/indiana-enbridge-pipeline-6B-lake-michigan-rivers-dilbit-oil-spill-wetlands?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+solveclimate%2Fblog+%28InsideClimate+News%29
Enclosure: http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/home_page_slideshow/indianamap.jpg

Ukraine: Race Against Time to Build a New Tomb for Chernobyl

National Geographic: Visitors gaze overhead at the steel lattice that will underpin the new protective shelter at Chernobyl, site of the worst nuclear accident in history. The so-called New Safe Confinement, designed to seal the destroyed reactor and contain the radioactive material inside, is the latest step in a more than 26-year cleanup at the desolate plant site in Ukraine. elated Quiz: "What Do You Know About Nuclear Power?") On April 26, 1986, an explosion in one of the plant's reactors spewed large amounts...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/12/pictures/121227-new-tomb-for-chernobyl/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/626/cache/energy-new-sarcophagus-chernobyl-arch_62696_600x450.jpg

Britain suspends exploratory drilling of Antarctic lake

Reuters: An ambitious British plan to search for minute forms of life in an ancient lake beneath Antarctica's ice has been suspended because of technical problems, the scientist leading the project said on Thursday. In a move that clears the way for U.S. and Russian teams to take the lead, Professor Martin Siegert said technical problems and a lack of fuel had forced the closure on Christmas Day of the 7-million-pound ($11 million) project, which was looking for life forms and climate change clues in the...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-suspends-exploratory-drilling-antarctic-lake-154728061.html

The year in food and farming

Grist: It`s been quite a year for food and farming coverage here at Grist. Below is a wrap-up of some of the biggest stories of the year. 1. The worst drought in half a century Corn withered, farmers scowled and resorted to feeding their cows candy, and many predicted the coming of the real Hunger Games. But the country's worst drought in over 70 years was far more complex than most news sources reported. Most of that industrial corn was heavily propped up by crop insurance (supplemented with taxpayer...

URL: http://grist.org/food/the-year-in-food-and-farming/

The Dirty Secret of Climate Change

Huffington Post: Amid all the complex data and opinion about climate change, the dirty secret is quite obvious, so simple and awkward that it's rarely discussed. The dirty secret is that, under present conditions, at least in the short-term, alternative energy costs more than fossil fuels. Perhaps some unforeseen technological development will give us safe energy that is cheaper (in terms of lifetime costs) than coal, oil or natural gas; but meanwhile we continue emitting greenhouse gases, and have no clear prospect...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-k-comstock/alternative-energy-climate_b_2318712.html

Changing the Campus Climate on Climate Change

Huffington Post: Going green is nothing new at Bethany College, we like to say. Our school colors are green and white, and the splendor of our mountaintop campus, especially in the greening season of spring, is unmistakable. But there's a more urgent reason that we have chosen a green path. Along with some 700 colleges and universities throughout the nation, Bethany has joined the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). About 400 of the signatories to the Climate Commitment have...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-scott-d-miller/college-campus-going-green_b_2332566.html?utm_hp_ref=climate-change

Fukushima radiation fears are linked to increase in obesity among children

Guardian: Lingering fears of radiation have turned children from Fukushima into the most obese in Japan, according to a government study, as parents and schools continue to restrict the amount of time they spend outdoors. In a preliminary report released this week, the education ministry found that children from Fukushima prefecture aged five to nine, as well as those aged 14 and 17, toppped the nationwide obesity rankings. The report defined as obese children who were at least 20% heavier than the standard...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/27/fukushima-radiation-child-obesity-fears
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/12/27/1356634014086/fukushima-radiation-child-008.jpg

EPA chief Lisa Jackson resigns after tenure marked by friction with GOP

Guardian: The most prominent member of Barack Obama's environmental team announced she was stepping down on Thursday, after four years of running battles with industry and Republicans in Congress opposed to stricter pollution controls. Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will leave the cabinet after Obama's state of the union address in January, she said in a statement. Under Jackson, a chemist by training, the EPA produced nearly all of Obama's main environmental...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/27/epa-lisa-jackson-steps-down
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/12/27/1356621221852/Lisa-Jackson-008.jpg

Sanford: Another record-breaking year for climate change

Newsday: It's virtually certain that 2012 will be the warmest year on record for the continental United States. When scientists affirm these results, they'll no doubt make headlines. But we should put that record in perspective. North America covers just 2 percent of the Earth's surface. Globally, we're set to have another very hot year, likely in the top 10, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Looking further back, the last 35 years have all exceeded the 20th century average global temperature....

URL: http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/sanford-another-record-breaking-year-for-climate-change-1.4379579
Enclosure: http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.3660114.1356622180!/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/display_600/image.JPG

Ireland: Early 2013 deadline for climate change Bill

Irish Times: The long-anticipated draft climate change Bill will not meet its publication target of the end of 2012 but will now be published in early 2013, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan will confirm today. As part of a series of announcements and updates, Mr Hogan will say the legislation remains broadly on schedule despite the slippage. He sets out reasons for this including the complexity of the Bill, as well as the importance of getting it right with legislation that will have profound societal...

URL: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1228/1224328227036.html

Indigenous Chileans Still Fighting Pinochet-Era Highway Project

Inter Press Service: For more than two decades, Mapuche indigenous people in the Chilean region of Araucanía have been fighting the construction of the Ruta Costera (Coastal Highway), a megaproject initially conceived during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) which has already caused significant archeological and cultural losses and damages. The Coastal Highway is meant to connect one end of Chile's long, narrow territory to the other, running north to south as close to the Pacific Ocean as possible. The...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/12/indigenous-chileans-still-fighting-pinochet-era-highway-project/

Amazon Regional Alliance to Confront the Climate Emergency

Inter Press Service: "When someone in Peru sneezes, someone in Brazil catches a cold. When a barrel of oil is produced in Ecuador, a neighbouring country ends up buying it," says prominent environmentalist Yolanda Kakabadse. Everything that happens in Latin American countries is closely connected, as if they were vital organs shared by the same body, maintains Kakabadse, former environment minister of Ecuador and current regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Climate and Development Knowledge...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/12/amazon-regional-alliance-to-confront-the-climate-emergency/
Enclosure: http://ipsnews-net.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/Library/2012/12/TA-Peru-small1.jpg

EPA head Jackson says to step down

Reuters: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson, who spearheaded the Obama administration's crackdown on carbon emissions, said on Thursday she will step down after almost four years of battles with Republicans and industry over proposed regulations. Under her leadership, the agency declared for the first time that carbon dioxide was a danger to human health and could be regulated under the Clean Air Act, leading the EPA to develop a new regulatory regime to limit carbon emissions. Industry...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/27/us-usa-epa-jackson-idUSBRE8BQ0BV20121227?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=20121227&t=2&i=688763376&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE8BQ17CY00

EPA Chief Announces Resignation

National Public Radio: After a rough and tumble four years, Lisa Jackson announced Thursday that she is stepping down as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/27/168157241/epa-chief-announces-resignation?ft=1&f=1025

Antarctic drilling project cut short

BBC: An ambitious mission to drill through Antarctic ice to a lake that has been sealed off for thousands of years has been cut short. The British expedition was attempting to reach Lake Ellsworth, which lies over 3km (1.8 miles) below the ice, to see if it contained evidence of ancient life on Earth. A technical problem meant that the two bore holes failed to connect and the project was suspended. The BBC's science editor David Shukman explains what went wrong.

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20850126#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Great Arctic Cyclone in Summer ‘Unprecedented’: Study

Climate Central: It's known as the Great Arctic Cyclone, and when it roared out of Siberia last August, storm watchers knew it was unusual. Hurricane-like storms are very common in the Arctic, but the most powerful of them (which are still far less powerful than tropical hurricanes) tend to come in winter. It wasn't clear at the time, however, whether the August storm was truly unprecedented. Now it is. A study published in Geophysical Research Letters looks at no fewer than 19,625 Arctic storms and concludes...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/last-summers-great-arctic-cyclone-unprecedented-says-new-study-15415?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed

An Abundance Of Extreme Weather Has Many On Edge

National Public Radio: "I've never seen anything like that," she says. "I sat there on the couch thinking, 'Oh my God, we're all gonna die!' " Andrews says the derecho, combined with the year's unrelenting series of disasters, has instilled in her a new and visceral fear of the weather. And she's not alone. "People begin to see that pattern and are starting to say, 'Whoa. Could all these be connected? Is this something to do with climate change?' " says Anthony Leiserowitz, who directs the Yale Project on Climate...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/27/167979389/an-abundance-of-extreme-weather-has-many-on-edge?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=167979389&m=168157226

EPA Administrator Jackson Stepping Down

National Public Radio: Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is stepping down. The Associated Press reports that: "Jackson, 50, a chemical engineer by training, did not point to any particular reason for her departure. Historically, Cabinet members looking to move on will leave at the beginning of a president's second term. 'I will leave the EPA confident the ship is sailing in the right direction, and ready in my own life for new challenges, time with my family and new opportunities...

URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/12/27/168132882/epa-administrator-jackson-stepping-down?ft=1&f=1025

Zimbabwe ill-prepared for rainfall extremes, farmers say

AlertNet: Thumeliso Matshobana knows what the devastation of too much water looks like. A smallholder farmer in Zimbabwe's Midlands, he watched helplessly last year as floods destroyed crops, livestock, homes and schools. The heavy rains, he says, came as "a total surprise.' The floods left a trail of destruction in traditionally dry and impoverished rural areas of the Midlands and Matebeleland, and rebuilding has been a slow and painful process. "We want rain but not the kind that kills us and destroys...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/zimbabwe-ill-prepared-for-rainfall-extremes-farmers-say
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/3a514a59-007c-4676-bc34-b61d9e482ac4/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201212272239

Climate data 'has helped African farmers boost production'

SciDevNet: Farming communities in Africa are benefitting from an exchange programme to improve access to, and understanding of, climate science, according to a report presented at a seminar. The seminar, held in in Dakar, Senegal, last month (20--21 November), discussed the results of the programme -- which encompassed two demonstration studies in Kenya and Senegal -- and identified the opportunities and challenges faced in making better use of short-range forecasts and early-warning systems for flooding....

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/news/climate-data-has-helped-african-farmers-boost-production-.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment

Ten Solar Energy Predictions for 2013


We've been down so long almost anything starts to look like up. Be prepared for another few down years as the solar industry rationalizes production and figures out how to make money downstream; we've lost this profit-making capability upstream. Since I don't have to worry about offending any customers, suppliers, competitors or politicians this year, I can be more candid than usual. The "oversupply" theme runs heavily throughout this list, so without further ado, here are ten solar predictions for 2013.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/ten-solar-energy-predictions-for-2013?cmpid=rss

Renewable Energy Review: Germany


Developers, manufacturers, investors and other renewable energy industry stakeholders need to know where the next big market is going to be so that they can adjust their business decisions accordingly.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/renewable-energy-review-germany?cmpid=rss

Renewable Energy World's Top 10 Most Commented Articles of 2012


2012 has been a year filled with controversial topics and interesting advancements from the trade case to the presidential election, and each development spurred heated conversation in those involved in the renewable industry. Check out the top 10 most commented articles on RenewableEnergyWorld.com in 2012 -- don't be shy, lend your own voice to the conversation!

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/top-10-most-commented-articles-of-2012?cmpid=rss

Renewable Energy Review: Saudi Arabia

Developers, manufacturers, investors and other renewable energy industry stakeholders need to know where the next big market is going to be so that they can adjust their business decisions accordingly.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/renewable-energy-review-saudi-arabia?cmpid=rss

Heat Loss from Air Is No Big Deal, Right?

Subtitle:&nbsp_place_holder;

No — it's a huge deal, especially if your ceiling is peppered with recessed can lights

Images:&nbsp_place_holder;

[](http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/heat-loss-air-no-big-deal-right)

No, it's a huge deal. The photo (right) is of air streaming through recessed lights in a cathedral ceiling.

I often and exhaustively speak about air sealing as if it were a universal good. And it is, right up there with brown ale and Avengers movies. My audit customers often look confused when I address their insulation questions by bringing up air barriers and air leakage. I mean, "Why are you talking about air leaks when I asked about the insulation?"

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/heat-loss-air-no-big-deal-right

Interview: What’s Damaging Marshes Along U.S. Coast and Why It Matters

Yale Environment 360: For centuries now, the salt marshes along the U.S. coast have been disappearing, with some experts estimating that 70 percent have been lost, largely due to development. While in recent decades the U.S. has done a better job of protecting these ecosystems, even marshes spared from development are now succumbing to more subtle threats, from rising sea levels to invasive species. MBL Linda Deegan One factor scientists always thought marshes could withstand was nutrient enrichment, such as the flow...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/whats_damaging_marshes_on_us_coast_and_why_it_matters/2604/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

UK on track to hit 2020 green energy targets - DECC

Reuters: The UK is on track to meet its 2020 renewable energy targets after low-carbon electricity generation grew more than a quarter in the year to end-June 2012, thanks largely to new solar and offshore wind projects, a government report said. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said renewable energy accounted for over 10 percent of total electricity supplied in the 12 months to end-June. Renewable power output grew 27 percent from July 2011, according to the UK's latest Renewable...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/27/us-renewables-idUSBRE8BQ00620121227?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

United States: Seattle Mayor Orders City to Divest from Fossil Fuels

EcoWatch: More than 2,000 people joined 350.org in Seattle on Nov. 7 to kick-off the "Do the Math" tour and nationwide divestment campaign. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn sent a letter to the city's two chief pension funds last week, formally requesting that they "refrain from future investments in fossil fuel companies and begin the process of divesting our pension portfolio from those companies." "Climate change is one of the most important challenges we currently face as a city and as a society," wrote...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/seattle-divest-fossil-fuels/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/seattle.jpg

United States: Planners wary of coastal sea rise in St. Augustine area

Florida Times-Union: Scientists studying the effect of higher sea levels on the 100,000-acre Matanzas Basin -- which runs from Anastasia Island to Crescent Beach -- say that rising waters will turn coastal marshes into open water and coastal forests into marshes. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projections point to a potential 3- to 7-inch sea level rise along St. Johns County's coast over several decades. Kathryn Frank, assistant professor at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida,...

URL: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-12-26/story/planners-wary-coastal-sea-rise-st-augusting-area

United States: Getting the Dirt on Hurricane Sandy

New York Times: On Oct. 29, waters from Hurricane Sandy`s 13-foot surge dredged up sediment from the city's waterways and sent it barreling through the streets and into basements and backyards. As the floods receded, residents of neighborhoods with toxic Superfund canals worried that waterborne chemicals had contaminated their homes, streets and parks, rendering them unsafe. In an effort to understand the extent of potential contamination, two professors have organized a citizen science project dubbed SUDS, or...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/getting-the-dirt-on-sandy/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/12/24/blogs/sandy/sandy-blog480.jpg

Detrimental Impacts of Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Continue

EcoWatch: As 2012 draws to a close, evaluating the ongoing effects of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on the people of Japan is a difficult and depressing task. After having fled their homes due to the tsunami and resulting triple nuclear meltdown, 21 months later an estimated 160,000 citizens still have not returned home. Reports of illness in humans and livestock continue to underscore the far reaching and difficult to predict impacts that a nuclear accident can cause. In July, 36 percent...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/effects-fukushima-disaster/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/d2.jpg

Restoring Democracy in the Fight Against Fracking

EcoWatch: Same story. Different day. People are threatened by an activity that will injure them, and they work overtime to pass a law that bans the activity. An affected corporation--or industry association--then sues the municipality, contending that the community can't prohibit what the state allows, and that the ban violates the "rights" of the corporation. The upshot of these machinations is that the municipality then either repeals the ban or is bankrupted trying to defend it. Most likely, the...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/restoring-democracy-fracking/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/democracy.jpg

Erratic Environment May Be Key to Human Evolution

LiveScience: At Olduvai Gorge, where excavations helped to confirm Africa was the cradle of humanity, scientists now find the landscape once fluctuated rapidly, likely guiding early human evolution.These findings suggest that key mental developments within the human lineage may have been linked with a highly variable environment, researchers added. Olduvai Gorge is a ravine cut into the eastern margin of the Serengeti Plain in northern Tanzania that holds fossils of hominins -- members of the human lineage....

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/erratic-environment-may-key-human-evolution-135526876.html

Climate change could cut Western water runoff by 10%

LA Times: Another climate change study is projecting declines in runoff in many parts of the West, a scenario that would put more pressure on the region's water supplies. Using new model simulations, scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory expanded on 2007 research that predicted a drier future for the Southwest. The reasons involve more than a drop in precipitation -- which is actually expected to increase in some areas that are critical to Western water supplies. Rather,...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-climate-change-water-supplies-20121226,0,5925540.story?track=rss
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-50db8e86/turbine/la-sci-sn-climate-change-water-supplies2012122-001/600

Indonesia: Paper giant breaks pledge to end rainforest logging in Sumatra

Mongabay: Pulp and paper giant Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) continues to destroy large areas of rainforests and peatlands despite a commitment to end natural forest logging by 2009, says a new report issued by a coalition of Indonesian environmental groups. The Eyes on the Forest report [PDF] finds that APRIL and its suppliers cleared at least 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres) of natural forest between 2008 and 2011 in Riau, accounting for 27 percent of all forest loss in the province...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1226-april-riau-eoy.html
Enclosure: http://www.eyesontheforest.or.id/attach/EoF%20(20Dec12)%20APRIL%20Riau%20Sumatras%20biggest%20forest%20pulper%202009%20to%202012.pdf

New guide helps firms 'sSwot' up on sustainability

BusinessGreen: The World Resources Institute (WRI) has launched a tool to help green business leaders pitch projects to the board as they seek to scale up their company's sustainability efforts. The free handbook, released this month, is based on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis often used by senior executives to assess projects or investments, and is geared specifically to tackle the issue of environmental sustainability. Eliot Metzger, WRI's project lead, said an increasing...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2232987/new-guide-helps-firms-sswot-up-on-sustainability?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=New+guide+helps+firms+%27sSwot%27+up+on+sustainability

Low water may halt Mississippi River transport next week

Reuters: Commerce on a key stretch of the Mississippi River could "come to an effective halt" earlier than expected next week due to low water levels, disrupting shipments of billions of dollars of grain and other goods, a group of shippers said on Wednesday. The Waterways Council, which represents shippers and receivers of commodities, said in a message to its members that it received an advisory from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Monday that indicated water levels around Thebes, Ill., could be...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/27/us-mississippi-river-water-idUSBRE8BQ00820121227?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

India: ‘Untamed Motorization’ Wraps an Indian City in Smog

New Delhi Journal: When an acrid blanket of gray smog settled over India's capital last month, environmentalists warned of health hazards, India's Supreme Court promised action and state officials struggled to understand why the air had suddenly gone so bad. The heavy smog has dissipated for the moment, but it has left behind a troubling reality for one of India's most important cities: Despite measures to improve air quality, pollution is steadily worsening here, without any simple solutions in sight. "This is like...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/world/asia/indian-city-overwhelmed-by-air-pollution-new-delhi-journal.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/12/27/world/delhi/delhi-articleLarge.jpg

Winter storm hits eastern U.S., snarls holiday travel

Reuters: A powerful winter storm that has claimed at least five lives pounded the U.S. Midwest and Northeast and snarled post-Christmas travel on Wednesday after rare tornadoes pummeled the Gulf Coast. Heavy snow and high winds prompted National Weather Service blizzard and winter storm warnings for the Ohio River Valley and into the Northeast. Fifteen inches of snow were recorded at New Baltimore, Michigan, as the storm headed north and east. About 1,500 U.S. flights were canceled on Wednesday, according...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/27/us-usa-weather-idUSBRE8BO05K20121227?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=20121226&t=2&i=688462902&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE8BP1LF600