e360 digest
10 Feb 2012:
Wastewater Reuse Could Increase
U.S. Supplies 27 Percent, Report Says
Advanced treatment of municipal wastewater could increase available water supplies in the U.S. by 27 percent, according to a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences. Of the 32 billion gallons of municipal wastewater discharged each day nationwide, about 12 billion gallons of effluent is emptied into an ocean or estuary, the report said. Existing treatment technologies would allow municipalities to reuse that water for a variety of purposes — including irrigation, industrial use and drinking water — while posing no increased risk of exposure to microbial or chemical contaminants than in some existing drinking water systems. As reported in the New York Times, an increasing number of U.S. communities are utilizing wastewater reuse technologies — including a pilot plant in San Diego that produces about 1 million gallons of clean drinking water daily — or are considering it. According to the National Academy report, increased stress on water supplies as a result of climate change and population growth will require many municipalities to consider alternative sources of water.
10 Feb 2012:
Early Humans Played Role in
Central African Deforestation, Study Says
A new study says that the activities of early humans — and not simply a dramatic shift in climate — played a significant role in transforming the ancient rainforests of Central Africa into savanna. In an analysis of sediment cores taken from the mouth of the Congo River, a team of scientists found evidence that weathering of clay sediment samples, which had been consistent for thousands of years, intensified abruptly about 3,000 years ago, indicating a significant increase in deforestation. According to their study, published online in Science, this shift coincided with the arrival of Bantu-speaking farmers from present-day Nigeria and Cameroon. While this forest disturbance was likely triggered by prolonged dry spells that destroyed rainforest, as previous research has concluded, the Science study indicates that climate change was exacerbated by human land use, including the clearing of forests for farming and iron-smelting. Germain Bayon, of the French Research Institute for Exploration of the Sea and lead author of the study, said the findings illustrate how a combination of climate and human activity can affect the environment. “Humans can have a huge impact on natural processes,” he said.09 Feb 2012:
Glaciers, Ice Caps Losing
150 Billion Tons of Ice Annually
A new analysis of global satellite data has found that the world’s glaciers and ice caps — excluding Antarctica and Greenland — lost about 150 billion tons of ice per year between 2003 and 2010, adding about 0.4 millimeters to global sea rise annually. Using data from the twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, researchers at the University of Colorado-Boulder compiled what they say is the most comprehensive data on planetary ice loss. The satellites, which are part of a joint project between NASA and Germany, travel around Earth in tandem 16 times a day and are capable of sensing subtle variations in the planet’s mass and gravitational pull. While the new calculations are significantly lower than earlier land-based studies, the researchers say the findings still show the planet’s ice is melting and causing sea levels to rise. “These new results will help us answer important questions in terms of both sea rise and how the planet’s cold regions are responding to global change,” said John Wahr, a CU-Boulder physics professor and lead author of the study, published in Nature.09 Feb 2012:
Largest Offshore Wind Farm
Is Opened Off the British Coast
A coalition of European companies today opened a 367-megawatt wind farm off the British coast, a massive project that developers say will power as many as 320,000 households annually and is the world’s largest offshore wind project to date. The Walney Wind Farm, located nine miles (15 kilometers) off Cumbria in the Irish Sea, is comprised of 102 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 3.6 megawatts. The £1 billion ($1.58 billion) project was developed by some European utility giants — including British power company SSE and Denmark’s Dong Energy — and financial service companies. According to developers, it was built more cheaply and quickly than previous offshore wind projects, with its turbines and cables installed in less than six months. While Britain’s new energy secretary, Ed Davey, called the project the “newest, biggest, and fastest built jewel” in the UK’s offshore wind sector, the project will be dwarfed by the 630-turbine London Array off Kent, which is expected to be online by the end of the year. 08 Feb 2012:
Louisiana Report Urges State
To Brace for 3 Feet of Sea Level Rise
A new report released by the administration of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal projects that the state’s already vulnerable coastline could face 3 feet of sea level rise by the end of the century. Based on current sea rise models, a science panel with the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority suggests that rising seas and coastal land changes will increasingly expose lowlands to storm surges, with some regions facing as many as 4 feet of sea level rise. Their report, part of ongoing efforts to guide coastal zone management, urges state officials to integrate the latest data on sea level rise into planning and engineering activities. “We’re going to have to make adjustments and deal with it,” Denise Reed, a coastal geologist at the University of New Orleans told the Associated Press. The state has lost about 1,900 square miles of land since the 1930s and loses about 25 square miles annually. Although the report does not acknowledge climate change, a former science advisor to five Louisiana governors welcomed a report on sea level rise in a state where most elected officials have been largely dismissive of global warming.08 Feb 2012:
Russian Scientists Confirm
They Have Reached Ancient Antarctic Lake
Russian researchers say they have drilled through more than 2 miles of ice on Antarctica’s polar plateau and reached an ancient subglacial lake that has been sealed off for as many as 15 million years. Reaching the lake caps a two-decade drilling effort at Russia’s Vostok Station in Antarctica, which in 1982 recorded Earth’s coldest temperature of -129 degrees F. The chief of the Vostok Station, A.M. Yelagin, confirmed in a statement that Russia’s drilling team had reached the lake on Sunday, when water shot up from 12,365 feet below the surface and froze as it reached the -67 degree F air. Scientists are hoping that the lake could contain a wide variety of evolutionary secrets, including evidence of previously unknown prehistoric life forms. But Russian researchers said that clean water samples from the lake will not be taken until the next Antarctic summer, in December, since the water released over the weekend was contaminated by drilling fluids. Vostok is also the site of some of the deepest ice core samples ever taken on earth, revealing 800,000 years of climate data.
Interview: California’s Car Rules
Help Remake U.S. Auto Industry
With the passage last month of strict new auto emission and air pollution standards, California once again demonstrated its role as the U.S.’s environmental pacesetter. The driving force behind these new “clean
ARB
Mary Nichols
Read the interview
07 Feb 2012:
Nearly Half of Electricity
At UK Businesses Wasted During Off Hours
A UK report says that nearly half of the electricity consumed by British businesses is wasted when employees are not at work. In an analysis of more than 6,000 smart meters, British Gas found that 46 percent of electricity use occurs from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., when most businesses are typically closed. Common examples of unnecessary electricity use include the lighting of parking areas on weekends, keeping the lights on at retail stores after shopping centers are closed, and running vending machines around the clock. The UK utility also released a series of thermal images illustrating how much energy is lost from energy-inefficient buildings in London, Manchester, and Liverpool during evening hours. According to British Gas, the average business could save £1,200 ($1,900) on its annual electricity bill by simply switching off lights at parking lots on weekends. 
07 Feb 2012:
Nigerian Children Perish
From Exposure to Lead in Gold Mining
Lead contamination from hundreds of gold mines across northwestern Nigeria has caused the deaths of 400 children under the age of five and exposes thousands more children to lead poisoning, according to a report from the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch. Across the state of Zamfara, where hundreds of artisanal mines are now in operation, young children processing ore are exposed to toxic levels of lead, the report said. Many others are exposed when family members return home from work covered in the toxic dust, when lead-filled ore is crushed in their homes, or when exposed to contaminated water and food. In some villages, mortality rates were as high as 40 percent among children who showed signs of lead poisoning. “Zamfara’s gold brought hope for prosperity, but resulted in death and backbreaking labor for its children,” said Babatunde Olugboji, a deputy program director at Human Rights Watch. 
06 Feb 2012:
Political Discourse Driving
Public Opinion on Climate, Report Finds
U.S. opinion on climate change over the last decade has been affected more by the discourse of political leaders than by media reports about global warming or extreme weather events, according to a new study. Using results from 74 separate surveys conducted from 2002 to 2010, researchers compiled an index that measured the changing level of concern over global warming and its relation to weather events, access to scientific information, media coverage, advocacy group campaigns, and cues from major political leaders. More than any other single factor, the content and tone of political discourse about climate change impacted public opinion, according to J. Craig Jenkins, a sociologist at Ohio State University and co-author of the study, published in the journal Climate Change. “It is the political leaders in Washington who are really driving public opinion about the treat of climate change,” he said. 06 Feb 2012:
EU Wind Energy Capacity
Grew 11 Percent in 2011, Report Says
More than 9,600 megawatts of wind power capacity was installed in European Union member states in 2011, accounting for about 21 percent of all new power capacity installations, according to an industry report. 
EWEA
03 Feb 2012:
Indian Clean-Energy Growth
Was Fastest in World in 2011, Report Says
Renewable energy investments in India increased by more than 52 percent in 2011, the fastest growth among major global economies, according to a new report. More than $10.3 billion was invested in renewable energy projects in India last year, with about $4.6 billion targeting wind energy projects and another $4.2 billion going toward solar projects, the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) report said. For solar, that represented a seven-fold increase from 2010, when investments totaled about $600 million. According to a separate report, the declining price of solar panels has now made solar powera cheaper energy option than diesel generators in India. “India’s record performance in 2011, and the momentum it is carrying into 2012, is one of the bright spots in the clean energy firmament,” said Michael Liebreich, BNEF’s chief executive. According to the BNEF report, India is likely to exceed its target of adding 12.4 gigawatts of grid-connected renewable energy as set out in its current five-year plan, which ends next month.
03 Feb 2012:
Sierra Club Accepted Millions
From Natural Gas Industry, Report Says
The Sierra Club, the largest and oldest environmental group in the U.S., accepted more than $25 million from the natural gas industry from 2007 to 2010 while promoting the fuel as a “bridge” to a clean-energy future, according to a Time magazine report. The organization used the funds — which largely came from Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon — to support its Beyond Coal campaign. Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club when the donations were made, was a vocal supporter of natural gas as a “bridge” fuel. He accompanied McClendon — whose company is deeply involved in extracting natural gas through the controversial process of hydrofracturing shale formations — on trips to promote natural gas over coal, though Pope never divulged the large anonymous donations from McClendon, Time reports. Michael Brune, who became executive director of the Sierra Club in 2010, persuaded the group’s board to stop taking money from McClendon and to refuse millions of additional dollars that McClendon was reportedly prepared to give the Sierra Club. He told Time, “The first rule of advocacy is that you shouldn’t take money from industries and companies you’re trying to change.”02 Feb 2012:
Road-based Charging Network
Could Charge EVs While They Drive
U.S. researchers have designed a wireless charging system for electric vehicles they say could ultimately lead to all-electric highways capable of charging cars and trucks as they drive down the road. The system, developed by a team at Stanford University, uses magnetic fields to transmit large electric currents between metal coils embedded a few feet apart under the surface of the road. Based on magnetic resonance coupling technology, the process involves one coil that is connected to an electric current, which generates a magnetic field that causes the second coil to resonate, triggering an invisible transfer of electrical energy. The developers say there is a potential to eventually create a wireless network across highway systems, a step that would drastically increase the range of electric vehicles since they would theoretically never have to plug into a charging station. “You could actually have more energy stored in your battery at the end of your trip than you started with,” said Richard Sassoon, managing director of the Stanford Global Climate and Energy Project and co-author of the study published in the journal Applied Physics Letters.
02 Feb 2012:
Harsh Roadside Environments
Creating Hardy Salamanders, Study Suggests
The old adage — “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” — seems to apply to salamanders evolving to survive in contaminated environments near roads. Yale University researcher Steven Brady compared 
Steven Brady/Yale University
A spotted salamander
01 Feb 2012:
Earth’s First Plants
May Have Triggered Ice Ages, Study Says
The first plants to colonize the planet about 470 million years ago may have plunged Earth into a series of ice ages, according to a new study. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team of researchers suggests that the earliest plants — including the ancestors of today’s mosses — caused silicate rocks, such as granite, to release calcium and magnesium ions. This process removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and formed carbonate rocks in the oceans, a phenomenon that would have caused the global climate to cool by about 5 degrees C, researchers say. In addition, because new plants also extracted phosphorous and iron from the rocks, the plants would carry those elements into the seas after they died, fueling the growth of plankton that would ultimately sequester carbon at the sea bottom. “Although plants are still cooling the Earth’s climate by reducing the atmospheric carbon levels, they cannot keep up with the speed of today’s human-induced climate change,” said Exeter University researcher Timothy Lenton, the study's lead author.01 Feb 2012:
New Gorilla Habitat
Discovered Using Satellite Images
Satellite and land surveys of the mountainous terrain along the Nigeria-Cameroon border have revealed that the world’s rarest gorilla, the Cross River gorilla, has access to more suitable habitat than previously believed, including vital corridors that allow the gorillas to move 
WCS
A Cross River gorilla
31 Jan 2012:
Tropics Store More Carbon
Than Previously Believed, Study Says
A new analysis calculates that vegetation in the world’s tropical regions stores about 229 billion tons of carbon, which is about 21 percent more carbon than previously believed. Using remote sensing satellite data — including cloud-penetrating LiDAR — and field observations from forests, woodlands and savannas across Africa, Asia, and South America, researchers say they were able to create the first “wall-to-wall” map depicting carbon density. According to their results, Brazilian rainforests store about 53.2 billion tons of carbon, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (22 billion) and Indonesia (18.6). “For the first time we were able to derive accurate estimates of carbon densities using satellite LiDAR observations in places that have never been measured,” said Alessandro Baccini of the Woods Hole Research Center the lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The results could help improve the accuracy of reporting carbon emissions as part of the UN-based REDD initiative, which provides incentives to developing nations to prevent large-scale deforestation.
31 Jan 2012:
Depictions of Natural World
Declining in Children’s Books, Study Says
A new study finds a significant decline in the depiction of the natural world and animals in U.S. children’s books in recent decades, a trend researchers say may reflect society’s increasing isolation from nature. In an analysis of 296 Caldecott Medal-winning books from 1938 to 2008, a team of researchers led by University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologist J. Allen Williams Jr. found that images of natural environments and interactions with wild animals have declined steadily. Meanwhile, depictions of built environments, such as houses and buildings, have become increasingly prevalent since the late 1960s, according to the study published in the journal Sociological Inquiry. “These findings suggest that today’s generation of children are not being socialized, at least through this source, toward an understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the place of humans within it,” the authors wrote.30 Jan 2012:
Wheat Yields in India
May Drop as Region Warms, Study Says
An analysis of satellite images has revealed that extreme temperatures are cutting wheat yields in northern India, indicating that the adverse impacts of rising temperatures on wheat production in warmer climes may be more severe than previously believed. Using nine years of imagery of India’s fertile Ganges plain, Stanford University researcher David Lobell found that wheat turned from green to brown earlier when average temperatures were higher, an indication that the warmer conditions are causing the crops to age prematurely. The effects were particularly strong when temperatures exceeded 34 degrees C (93 degrees F), Lobell found. He calculated that an average temperature increase of 2 degrees C could trigger a 50 percent greater yield loss than existing models suggest. Earlier studies calculated that wheat-growing areas could see yield drops of 5 percent for every 1 degree C that the average temperature rises above 14 degrees C. Wheat is the world’s second-biggest crop and provides about one-fifth of the world’s protein. 30 Jan 2012:
Renewable Energy Deals
Surged 40 Percent in 2011, Report Says
The value of renewable energy deals worldwide increased 40 percent in 2011, as solar, wind, and energy efficiency investments surpassed hydropower for the first time, a new report says. According to a report by PriceWaterHouse Coopers, deals for renewable energy reached $53.5 billion last year, compared with $38.2 billion in 2010, a rate of growth that reflects a maturing market. While hydropower projects have historically dominated deal flow in the renewable energy sector, wind, solar, biomass and energy efficiency outnumbered hydro seven to one in 2011, the report said. “The trend is all the more noteworthy given the uncertainy in the market and in government policies on renewables,” Paul Nillesen. PwC’s renewables partner, told Reuters. “We believe that deal flow will continue to be significant in the medium term.” In the U.S., energy developers installed 6,810 megawatts of new wind capacity in 2011 — 31 percent more than in 2010 — as the industry sought to capitalize on an expiring federal tax grant, according to a separate report.
27 Jan 2012:
Wide Variety of Threats
Wiping Out World’s Big Trees, Expert Says
A litany of environmental threats, from forest fragmentation and logging to climate change and disease, are wiping out the world’s biggest trees, according to a published report. In forest ecosystems worldwide, research shows that giant trees have become particularly vulnerable to a changing environment, ecologist and tropical forest expert William Laurance writes in New Scientist magazine. Increased fragmentation has left big trees exposed to stronger winds, while dry conditions and warming temperatures have forced the giants of the forest to consume more energy simply to survive, allowing less energy for growth, Laurance writes. Climate change is also promoting the spread of exotic pathogens, such as Dutch Elm disease, which are devastating native forests. “The decline of big trees foretells a different world where ancient behemoths are replaced by short-lived pioneers and generalists that can grow anywhere, where forests store less carbon and sustain fewer dependent animals, where giant cathedral-like crowns become a thing of the past,” Laurance writes.26 Jan 2012:
California ‘Clean’ Car Rules
Mandate Boost in Electric Vehicle Sales
California regulators are expected to pass new rules today requiring that 15 percent of all new cars sold by 2025 be powered by electricity, hydrogen, or other reduced-emission sources. The new rules proposed by the California Air Resources Board would also require a 75-percent reduction in smog-creating emissions from new cars, SUVS, pickups and minivans, and a 50-percent reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 2025. According to the board, the initiative would put about 1.4 million low-emission vehicles on California roads by 2025, compared with current levels of about 10,000. They predict the new rules will add about $1,900 to the price of a new car, but will save about $5,900 in fuel costs during the life of the vehicle. “This is a really large step. It’s transformational,” Tom Cackette, the board's chief deputy director, told the San Jose Mercury News. “Ten years from now the market is going to look quite a bit different.” The new standards will be introduced in 2018 and strengthened over the next seven years.
26 Jan 2012:
Panel Urges Comprehensive
Study Of Nanotechnology Safety
A U.S. scientific panel is calling for a systematic study of the growing use of nanomaterials in industry, saying little is known about the risk of the microscopic particles increasingly being used in everything from cosmetics to clothing and paint. The National Research Council (NRC), part of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, noted that the use of nanomaterials — measured on the scale of billionths of a meter — is growing rapidly, rising from $225 billion in nanotechnology-based products in 2009 to an estimated $3 trillion by 2015. But the NRC said that little is known about the potential risks posed by nanomaterials, the pathways of exposure, and the severity of such exposure. The NRC called for a systematic research effort to identify sources of nanomaterials releases, the different industrial processes that affect exposure, and nanomaterial interactions from a sub-cellular to an ecosystem level. Nanomaterials — often made from minerals such as gold, silver, carbon, zinc, and aluminum — have unique electrical, chemical, and optical properties. “The number and variety of nanomaterials is just mind-boggling,” said Mark R. Wiesner, an engineering professor at Duke University and a panel member.25 Jan 2012:
South Pacific ‘Free-for-All’
Decimating Fish Stocks, Report Says
Years of lax oversight, corruption, and political rivalry have allowed industrial fishing fleets from Asia, Europe, and Latin America to decimate fish stocks across the southern Pacific, a “free-for-all” that has pushed one 
Getty Images
A Peruvian fishmeal factory
25 Jan 2012:
President Obama Calls For
‘All-of-the-Above’ Energy Strategy
President Obama called for a comprehensive energy policy that would boost production of offshore oil and increase unconventional drilling for natural gas, while also building new clean energy projects on federal land and revising regulations to promote the growth of wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources. “This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy,” Obama said in his State of the Union address. He vowed to open more than 75 percent of potential offshore oil and gas resources to exploration and expressed support for the boom in hydraulic fracturing of shale gas, provided drilling chemicals are disclosed and water pollution rules tightened. “But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy,” the president said, announcing the development of renewable energy projects on public lands that will power 3 million homes and new clean energy initiatives at the Department of Defense. Obama also called for ending subsidies to oil and gas companies and increasing federal investment in renewable energy.24 Jan 2012:
Geoengineering Scheme
Could Boost Crop Production, Study Says
Spraying particles into the stratosphere to help cool the planet could increase crop yields in most regions of the world, but could also introduce unintended risks, according to a new study. In a paper published in the online journal Nature Climate Change, researchers used computer models to test the effects of adding sulfate aerosols to the stratosphere to deflect some sunlight from reaching the Earth — one of many so-called geoengineering schemes proposed to reduce global warming. The study said the technique would likely improve crop yields, since it would reduce some of the climate change effects most harmful to plants — including excessive heat — while allowing the plants to benefit from higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, the study found that the process could increase political conflict and would do nothing to alleviate the effects of ocean acidification. “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is likely a safer option than geoengineering to avert risks to global food security," said Julia Pongratz of the Carnegie Institution for Science and lead author of the study.
24 Jan 2012:
Real-Time Fisheries Information
Could Reduce Waste, Company Says
A Japanese fisheries company has equipped some of its boats with technology that enables crews to publish details of catches online in real time, an innovation they say could significantly reduce waste and allow for more sustainable management of fish stocks. Using webcams and laptop computers on four fishing boats, the company, Sanriku Toretate Ichiba, allows fishermen to match their catch to consumer demand, and enables customers to buy fish before it even reaches port. The system could also allow fishing crews to dump live fish back into the sea if there is not ample demand on shore, the company says. “The hard reality is most caught produce goes to waste and in extreme cases this results in fishermen increasing their catch to compensate for lost revenues,” said Kenichiro Yagi, the company president. Some experts question whether such technologies are feasible at industry scale, particularly in the case of large trawlers, whose harvesting processes are often lethal to fish as soon as they’re caught.23 Jan 2012:
Ocean Acidity Rise Unprecedented
in Past 21,000 Years, Researchers Say
Carbon dioxide emissions caused by human activities over the last century have increased the acidity of the world’s oceans far beyond the range of natural variations, which may significantly impair the ability of marine organisms such as corals and mollusks to form their skeletons or shells, a new study says. Using computer modeling to simulate climate and ocean conditions from 21,000 years ago to the end of the 21st century, an international team of researchers calculated that current saturation levels of aragonite — a form of calcium carbonate and key indicator of ocean acidification — have already dropped five times below the pre-industrial range of natural variability in several critical coral reef regions. As the acidity of seawater increases, the saturation level of aragonite drops. If human combustion of fossil fuels continues at current rates, saturation levels can be expected to decrease further, possibly reducing calcification rates of some marine organisms by more than 40 percent within the next century, researchers say. “Our results suggest that severe reductions are likely to occur in coral reef diversity, structural complexity and resilience by the middle of this century,” said Axel Timmermann, a researcher at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
23 Jan 2012:
A Snowy Owl Boom
Is Hitting the Northern U.S. This Winter
Wildlife experts say an unprecedented number of snowy owls have ventured south into the northern U.S. this winter, a spike that may be driven by a dearth of 
Wikimedia Commons
A snowy owl
Interview: Monitoring Grim Rise
In the World’s Illegal Ivory Trade
Last year was the worst year for ivory seizures since an international ivory ban went into effect in 1989. During 2011, authorities seized more than 23 tons of ivory, 
Tom Milliken
Read the interview
20 Jan 2012:
NASA Graphic Depicts
Significant Spike in Temperatures in 2011
A new NASA graphic shows that temperatures in several global regions were appreciably higher in 2011 than at mid-century, with large swaths of Siberia and the Arctic experiencing temperatures as much as 4 degrees C (7 degrees F) above the 1950 to 1981 average. The planet’s average temperature in 2011 was nearly 1 degree F warmer than the mid-20th century baseline, according to the annual global analysis by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Nine of the top 10 warmest years on record — including last year — have occurred since 2000. Much of Europe, North America, and Central Africa were up to 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) warmer in 2011 than during the 1950-1981 base period. One area that experienced lower temperatures in 2011 was the Pacific Ocean, which was under the influence of a La Niña cycle.
20 Jan 2012:
Value of Conserving Habitats
Could be Worth $500B to World’s Poor
A new study says that compensating the world’s poorest communities for helping conserve the planet’s most vital habitats would help solve two major challenges: biodiversity loss and poverty. In fact, if global leaders were to put an economic value on the preservation of the world’s biodiversity hotspots — including such benefits as providing food and water and absorbing carbon emissions — it could be worth more than $500 billion annually for 330 million of the world’s poorest people. Since the people who live near these resources typically don’t have the means to protect them, the urgency for such economic mechanisms becomes increasingly critical, according to the study, published in the journal BioScience. “Developed and developing economies cannot continue to ask the world’s poor to shoulder the burden of protecting these globally important ecosystem services for the world’s benefit,” said Will Turner, vice president of Conservation International and lead author of the study.19 Jan 2012:
Satellite Images Depict
Transformation of Siberian Tundra
A pair of satellite images taken four decades apart shows the shifting ecological landscape of the Siberian Arctic, where warming temperatures have enabled a swath of thick shrubs to thrive in once-open tundra. The
photos, posted by the NASA Earth Observatory, show the fundamental shift that occurred in a lake-covered region near Russia’s Yennisey River between 1966 and 2009. In the 1966 image — a declassified spy satellite photo — the region between lakes is visibly open tundra. By 2009, thick shrubs had colonized the entire area, a shift that scientists say has triggered a cascade of ecological changes, including the loss of plant diversity and a more difficult landscape for deer and caribou to forage. Whether the spread of the shrubs will accelerate or slow the melting of the region’s permafrost — an outcome that could have global impacts if large amounts of methane are released — depends on the balance of two competing effects: Shrubs provide shade in summer, keeping permafrost cooler, but they also trap snow and warmth in winter, raising the temperature of permafrost.
19 Jan 2012:
Keystone Pipeline Decision
Aimed at President Obama’s Political Base
Top aides to President Obama say that his desire to satisfy two key political constituencies — environmental advocates and affluent Democratic donors — played a major role in his decision to reject an application to build a pipeline to carry tar sands oil from Alberta to Texas. The president’s political advisers said that approval of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline would have alienated his political base and would have created nowhere near the 20,000 jobs that oil industry advocates claimed it would. Although the president expected sharp criticism from Republicans, labor unions, and business, one top Obama aide told the Web site, Politico, “There was never the slightest doubt we were going to say, ‘No.’” Environmentalists praised the president’s decision, with Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, adding, “I think it shores up his base — definitely.” Obama denounced a “rushed and arbitrary” deadline of Feb. 21 that congressional Republicans had set for his decision during negotiations over a payroll tax extension.18 Jan 2012:
Warming Temperatures Help
Trumpeter Swans Thrive, Study Says
The trumpeter swan, nearly hunted to extinction across much of North America during the 19th century, has experienced a strong resurgence with the help of a warming climate, U.S. researchers say. The large bird, 
Wikimedia Commons
A trumpeter swan
18 Jan 2012:
Natural Gas Boom to Slow
Growth of U.S. Renewables, Report Says
The sheer abundance of recently discovered natural gas resources in the U.S. could drive down gas and electricity prices in the next few decades, yield an overall increase in energy use, and stunt the nation’s still-emerging renewable energy sector, a new report says. Using economic modeling, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that relatively cheap natural gas — much of it to be extracted from underground shale formations — could represent an increasingly large share of U.S. electricity use, particularly in the face of a weak national climate policy. By 2050, the report says, this growth could cause national energy use to increase, possibly leading to a jump in greenhouse gas emissions of 13 percent above 2005 levels. Absent this supply of natural gas — which has become increasingly available as a result of improved drilling methods, including the emergence of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — the U.S. could have expected emissions to decline 2 percent, the report says. The ascendance of natural gas could also retard the development of carbon capture technology, the report says.17 Jan 2012:
U.S. Bans Import of Snakes
That Are Invading the Everglades
U.S. officials have announced a national ban on the import of four large exotic snake species, including the Burmese python, which wildlife officials say are devouring endangered species across the Florida 
Wikimedia Commons
A Burmese python
17 Jan 2012:
China Sets First-Ever Cap
On Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The Chinese government has ordered five cities and two provinces to set caps on greenhouse gas emissions in preparation for a series of regional carbon markets. Last week, China’s National Development and Reform Commission urged Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen, as well as the provinces of Hubei and Guangdong, to set “overall emissions control targets” and submit strategy proposals on how to achieve them. A plan developed by Guangdong — which commits the province to achieving 20 percent of its total energy consumption from non-fossil fuels by 2015 — has already been approved by the central government. The province must also cut its “carbon intensity,” or the CO2 emissions per unit of economic growth, by 19.5 percent. China as a whole, which has already passed the U.S. as the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has committed to reducing its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020.16 Jan 2012:
Mandatory Roof Gardens Urged
As Solution to Singapore Flooding
A panel formed to study solutions to increased flooding in Singapore has urged the government to require green roofs on new and retrofitted buildings. The 12-member panel, which was created after torrential rains caused flash flooding across eastern and central Singapore last year, said improved weather modeling and infrastructure improvements are needed to handle a surge in stormwater runoff caused by urbanization in Singapore. In the meantime, however, the panel urged simpler steps to reduce and delay flooding, including better storage tanks, porous pavements, and rain gardens. Such rooftop gardens, which are often added to reduce heat or for aesthetic reasons, can absorb six to 34 liters of water per square meter and limit water flow, local contractors said. After flash floods inundated large areas of Singapore last June for the second consecutive year, a government official warned that the nation’s drainage system is not equipped to handle the region’s “changing” weather patterns.13 Jan 2012:
More Efficient Solar Design
Draws Inspiration from a Sunflower
Finding inspiration in the structure of a sunflower, a group of scientists has designed a concentrated solar power plant (CSP) that will require 20 percent less land than existing plants while increasing the amount of
Shutterstock
13 Jan 2012:
Reducing Methane and Soot
Will Reduce Warming, Study Says
A team of scientists says that governments can significantly reduce global warming, and prevent millions of premature deaths, by targeting emissions of methane and soot. In a new study published in the journal Science, the researchers say strategies that target those emissions and use existing technologies could shave nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit off the warming projected by mid-century. And with efforts to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the main cause of climate change, largely stalled, it represents a cheaper and more attainable approach. Strategies to reduce methane emissions include improving methods of capturing gas from mines and oil and gas facilities and reducing leaks from pipelines and landfills; soot levels can be cut with more efficient filters for diesel vehicles, cleaner-burning cook stoves, and bans on burning agricultural land. “Ultimately, we have to deal with CO2, but in the short term, dealing with these pollutants is more doable, and it brings fast benefits,” said Drew Shindell, the lead author and researcher at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.12 Jan 2012:
New EPA Website Tracks
Biggest U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emitters
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled an interactive website that allows users to track the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases in their states. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data project, which is based on 2010 data from more than 6,700 facilities nationwide, can be used to sort through data by facility, location, sector, and emissions type. The online tool was modeled on the EPA’s toxins release inventory map, which enables users to monitor which toxic chemicals are located within their communities at the zip code level. According to the database, carbon dioxide emissions accounted for about 95 percent of greenhouse gas emissions among large emitters, followed by methane (4 percent). The nation’s top three emitters, located in Georgia and Alabama, are owned by Atlanta-based Southern Co., with the rest of the top 10 located across the Midwestern and Southern states. 
12 Jan 2012:
Quota Market to Save Whales
Proposed by U.S. Researchers
A team of U.S. researchers has suggested that a system of tradable quotas for whales could significantly reduce the number of the animals killed each year. Writing in the journal Nature, researchers from the University of
Veer
A humpback whale
11 Jan 2012:
Automakers Unveil New Hybrids,
But U.S. Consumer Demand Still Sluggish
While the major automakers have unveiled new electric plug-in and hybrid cars at this week’s North American International Auto Show, including a cheaper version of the Toyota Prius, industry observers say 
Getty Images
The new Toyota Prius C
11 Jan 2012:
‘Dust Suppressant’ Sprayed
On London Streets to Improve Air Quality
Transportation officials in London have begun using a so-called “dust suppressant” at construction and industrial sites in an effort to improve air quality in some of the city’s more polluted areas. A biodegradable saline solution, which contains calcium magnesium acetate, is sprayed by trucks onto roadways where it acts like a glue, preventing some particulate matter from drifting into the air where it can be inhaled by humans. According to Transport of London, the municipal transportation agency, the solution will be sprayed in small amounts several times a week at 15 sites citywide. In early tests, city officials say, it has reduced particulate matter levels by as much as 14 percent. Mayor Boris Johnson said the dust suppressant is just one of many “short and long measures” the city will introduce to improve London’s air quality in 2012. Unless improvements occur, London could face fines for violating European Union limits on particulate matter.10 Jan 2012:
Brazil Gains in Food Production
Coincided With Drop in Deforestation
A new study of land use in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso shows that deforestation rates decreased significantly from 2006 to 2010 even as agricultural production in the region reached an all-time high. The study found that growers in Mato Grosso, where more than a third of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon occurred in the 1980s, have increasingly used previously cleared pasture land. Using satellite data and government statistics on deforestation and production, researchers from Columbia University calculated that 26 percent of the increase in soy production within Mato Grosso from 2001 to 2005 was the result of cropland expansion into forested areas, accounting for 10 percent of total deforestation; during the second half of the decade, however, soy expansion accounted for just 2 percent of total deforestation. According to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this shift coincided with a drop in commodity markets, as well as a series of high-profile policy initiatives to reduce deforestation and improved methods in monitoring illegal clearing, including satellite-based tracking systems.10 Jan 2012:
Giant Tortoise Thought Extinct
Is Likely Still Alive, Yale Study Says
A giant tortoise thought to have been hunted to extinction more than 150 years ago — and whose distinctive saddle-shaped shell helped inspire Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection — may still be living in the Galápagos Islands, according to a new Yale University study. Using blood samples collected from tortoises currently living on Isabela Island, the largest of the Galápagos islands, researchers found in 84 animals the genetic signature of the missing Chelonoidis elephantopus. Researchers say this suggests that one of these hybrid tortoises’ parents were purebred members of the missing species, which had lived on the nearby island of Floreana until their numbers were decimated through hunting by whalers and settlers. Since many of the tortoises tested were likely younger than 15 years old, researchers say there is a high probability that some of their purebred parents, which can have a lifespan of more than 100 years, are still alive. “If we can find these individuals, we can restore them to their island of origin,” said Gisella Caccone, a senior Yale researcher and lead author of the study, published in the journal Current Biology.
09 Jan 2012:
U.S. Imposes Catch Limits
On All Managed Fisheries For First Time
For the first time ever, the U.S. this year will impose catch limits for all 528 federally managed species, a new policy one official said will become an “international guidepost” for sustainable fisheries practices. After years of political wrangling, a coalition of lawmakers, environmental groups, fishing groups, and scientists were able to insert language into a reauthorized version of the Magnuson-Stevens Act — which governs all U.S. fishing — that will include annual limits on all fish stocks by the time the 2012 fishing year begins for all species. Some species, including mahi-mahi and wahoo, will have catch limits for the first time. “This simple but enormously powerful provision has eluded lawmakers for years and is probably the most important conservation statute ever enacted into America’s fisheries law,” Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, told The Washington Post. Because the new limits were achieved in cooperation with regional fisheries councils, advocates predict a greater probability of success.09 Jan 2012:
Mountain Plants Disappearing
As The Climate Warms, New Study Says
A new study says that a warming climate is having a more profound effect on the world’s mountain vegetation than previously believed and that some alpine meadows could vanish altogetherwithin a few
decades. After comparing vegetation samples from 60 mountain summits in 13 European nations — collected in 2001 and then again in 2008 — a team of scientists found that cold-loving plants are being pushed out by plants that thrive in warmer temperatures. While earlier studies have made this conclusion at regional levels, researchers say this is the first time the phenomenon has been shown on a continental scale. And they say it is happening more quickly than expected. “Many cold-loving species are literally running out of mountain,” said Michael Gottfried, of the Austria-based Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments, which coordinated the study, which was published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
06 Jan 2012:
Seal Populations Plummet as
North Atlantic Sea Ice Thins, Study Says
A new study says that thinning sea ice in the north Atlantic has caused a catastrophic decline in harp seal populations, a trend animal advocacy groups say should 
Wikimedia
Seal pup06 Jan 2012:
Renewables Yield Greater Share
Of U.S. Power Than Nuclear, Report Says
Renewable sources of energy provided a greater share of U.S. domestic energy production than nuclear during the first nine months of 2011, according to a new report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). In its latest monthly energy review, the EIA reports that renewable energy — including solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass/biofuels — provided 11.95 percent of energy production during the first three-quarters of 2011, compared with 10.62 percent from nuclear. During the same period in 2010, about 10.85 percent of domestic energy production came from renewables; in 2009, it was 10.33 percent. Among renewable sources, hydropower produced the largest contribution of total domestic energy, with 4.35 percent, followed by biomass (3.15 percent) and biofuels (2.57 percent). In the electricity sector, renewable sources provided 12.73 percent of net electrical generation in the U.S., according to the report.
05 Jan 2012:
U.S. Limits Antibiotics Use
In Livestock to Prevent ‘Superbugs’
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will prohibit the use of a class of antimicrobial drugs in livestock, citing concerns that overuse of the drugs could promote the development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens that could infect humans. Beginning April 5, the FDA will limit the use of cephalosporin in cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys, allowing the antibiotic to be used to treat illness but not for disease prevention. Studies have linked the prevalent use of such drugs in livestock — mainly to prevent disease and promote weight gain — to the creation of disease-resistant “superbugs” that can spread to humans. In 2008, the FDA banned the use of cephalosporin for livestock, but withdrew the plan after industry opposition. The new proposal will allow exceptions, including approved limited doses when prescribed or administered by veterinarians. While public health advocates supported the FDA decision, they say it deals with just one aspect of the use of antibiotics in animals and does not address the use of antibiotics in animal feed.
Interview: Putting a Price
On the Real Value of Nature
How do you put a price on the value of nature? That’s the question Indian banker Pavan Sukhdev and 
Pavan Sukhdev
Read the interview
04 Jan 2012:
Parasitic Fly May Be a Factor
In Honeybee Decline, New Study Says
U.S. scientists say a parasitic fly may be a factor in the mysterious “colony collapse disorder” that has caused a decline in honeybee populations worldwide. In a study published in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers at the University of San Francisco suggest that the fly, Apocephalus borealis, lays its eggs in the abdomens of bees, causing the “zombie-like” bees to abandon their hives and congregate near bright lights. Within days, the newly hatched larvae push their way out, killing the bees. Earlier studies suggest hive abandonment is a primary feature of so-called colony collapse disorder. While honeybee numbers have been declining for decades, the rate has been accelerating, with U.S. populations plummeting 35 percent between 2006 and 2009 and die-offs occurring in Europe, China, and Japan. Scientists have cited numerous possible causes, including a decline in flowering plants, increased use of insecticides, bee-killing mites, and air pollution.04 Jan 2012:
Teeming Ecosystem Found
Near Vents in Southern Ocean
Researchers exploring deep-sea hydrothermal vents near Antarctica in the Southern Ocean say they have discovered an ecosystem teeming with life, including hundreds of hairy-chested yeti crabs, stalked barnacles,
Oxford University
Pale octopus03 Jan 2012:
Steep Growth in Smart Meter
Installations Predicted for Europe
A new report predicts that 100 million new smart meters will be installed across Europe between now and the end of 2016 as nations continent-wide aim to achieve greater energy efficiency and increased reliance on renewable sources of energy. According to GTM Research, European investment in smart grid improvements will reach €6.8 billion annually, with much of that money targeting advanced meter infrastructure, energy distribution automation, and electric vehicle technology. Among those sectors, the report says, smart meters, which allow consumers to track energy use in real time and relay that information to utilities, are currently the most developed technology. According to the report, many European utilities hope to use smart meter technology to improve their relationships with customers. Meanwhile, U.S.-based Pike Research reports that 19.2 million smart meters were shipped worldwide during the third quarter of 2011, a 5.3 percent increase over the previous quarter; growth was particularly strong in North America and China, according to the Pike report.03 Jan 2012:
Return of Wolves Has Helped
Ecosystem Recovery in Yellowstone Park
The return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park has caused significant ecosystem recovery by curbing populations of elk that for decades had over-browsed 
U.S. Fish & Wildlife
29 Dec 2011:
New Innovation System
Urged for Developing Renewable Energy
Two U.S. energy experts are calling for a new strategy to develop renewable energy, including the creation of regional programs to drive innovation of new technologies. Richard Lester of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and David Hart of George Mason University say that current strategies — which have failed to create broad public support for bold action — should be replaced with programs that highlight the benefits of energy innovation to individuals and the nation. In a new book, Unlocking Energy Innovation, the two men call for a bottom-up approach to energy innovation that begins with an emphasis on energy efficiency and improving gas mileage, moves to a mid-range strategy of reducing the costs and risks of developing low-carbon sources of energy and better electricity-storage technologies, and then ends in several decades with the deployment of fundamentally new energy technologies based on advances in fields such as materials science and catalysis. The pair recommends that a regional, rather than a federal, approach be taken to manage and finance this three-stage process of innovation.
Read the interview
28 Dec 2011:
Map Projects When U.S. Cities
Will Achieve Grid Parity for Solar
If energy cost trends remain consistent — with the price of retail electricity rising and solar power falling — solar energy could become cheaper than power from the grid in most major U.S. metropolitan areas by 2027, according to a recent projection. In a new map published on the Energy Self-Reliant States website, energy policy analyst John Farrell has predicted which U.S. cities will achieve so-called “grid parity” first — and the order in which other cities will follow through 2027. Farrell, a researcher with the group, Local Self-Reliance, based his projections on recent regional retail rates for electricity, which have seen the cost of solar energy decline by an average of 7 percent per year and the cost of retail electricity increase by 2 percent annually. If that trend holds, Farrell predicts that San Diego will become the first city to achieve grid parity, in 2013, followed by New York in 2015. By 2020, 17 metropolitan areas nationwide will have reached grid parity; the number will jump to more than 40 by 2027, he projects.
From NASA Satellites: The Year in Images
The past year will go down as one in which extreme weather, and major natural disasters, took a heavy toll across the globe. Some of the most unforgettable images of these events — and of the planet’s natural cycles — were taken high above Earth by NASA satellites. In March, satellite photos captured the devastation of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Satellites also documented the continued melting of polar ice, the ever-widening footprint of human civilization, the beauty of a 500-mile-long phytoplankton bloom, and the enduring forces that have shaped the planet for eons, from volcanoes to wind storms. View some of the memorable images of 2011.
22 Dec 2011:
The Top Ten Trends
In Clean Technology for 2011
The Web site, earth2tech, has named the top clean-tech trends of the year, with the plummeting cost of solar panels topping the list, followed by India’s emergence as a renewable energy powerhouse. Earth2tech reports that the price of solar panels dropped 40 percent in 2011, in large part because Chinese manufacturers flooded the market with low-cost solar panels. That should help spur the installation of more solar panels on rooftops, and also means that some solar power developers are foregoing large solar-thermal power projects in favor of residential solar. Other top trends include a sharp slowdown in initial public offerings (IPOs) for clean-tech companies, with the exception of biofuel companies, which offered some IPOs. The Web site said that sales of electric vehicles were slow, and that battery technology for EVs continued to be a drag on development and sales of electric cars. Earth2tech also noted that investors and start-ups were becoming increasingly interested in the “cleanweb” — mobile device and Web applications to manage energy use and other resources.22 Dec 2011:
Ocean Acidification Varies
Widely Across Globe, New Study Shows
The deployment of sensors in 15 regions of the world’s oceans shows an extremely wide variation in how rapidly waters are becoming acidified, according to research conducted by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Scripps scientists have deployed more than 50 of the sensors, which measure pH and temperature in the top 230 feet of the ocean, as part of a continuing study to see how rising atmospheric CO2 levels are impacting the world’s oceans. Initial findings show great variation in ocean acidification. Around Antarctica and the Line Islands of the South Pacific, for example, there is limited variation in pH. But in regions where large upwellings bring CO2-laden water to the surface from the deep, such as off the coasts of California and the U.S. Pacific Northwest, the waters are more acidic. Indeed, in some regions, Scripps scientists measured levels of acidity that were not expected to be reached until the end of the century, according to the study, published in the journal PLoS One. Acidic waters can inhibit organisms, such as oysters and coral reefs, from forming shells. Scripps scientists said their long-term study will help document how marine organisms are responding to changes in ocean pH.
Video Footage Shows Success
Of Thailand's Anti-Poaching Fight
Conservationists say video footage from a series of camera traps in western Thailand confirm that recent anti-poaching efforts are working in the biodiverse region. The footage, taken at several locations over the last year, provides an intimate glimpse of numerous rare species within the region’s Western Forest Complex, including video of a tigress and her cubs feeding on a kill, the elusive clouded leopard, and a group of Asian elephants rumbling within inches of the camera. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which set up the cameras in coordination with the Thai government, said that the sheer quantity of footage shows that Thailand’s anti-poaching efforts have been making progress. Earlier this year, WCS trained and equipped park rangers who were able to arrest poachers found with cellphone images of a dead tiger. When the poachers said the tiger was captured in another country, WCS was able to use camera trap footage to show that the animal had lived in Thailand’s forests. The 18,000-square-kilometer Western Forest Complex, which contains 17 contiguous protected areas, is home to an estimated 125 to 175 tigers and one of the most endangered elephant populations in Southeast Asia.
21 Dec 2011:
New Power Plant Rules
Are Unveiled by Obama Administration
The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled long-awaited rules for the nation's 1,400 coal- and oil-fired power plants that will require much tougher pollution control equipment to reduce emissions of mercury, acid gases, and particulate matter. At a press conference in Washington, D.C., EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the new rules, which the agency says will annually prevent up to 17,000 premature deaths, 11,000 heart attacks, and 120,000 asthma attacks. The EPA also maintains that the new rules will return financial and health benefits many times their $11 billion annual cost, including the creation of 9,000 new jobs as coal-fired power plants install pollution-scrubbing systems or build cleaner natural gas plants. Power generators will have several years to install the new pollution control equipment, which the EPA says will slash mercury emissions by 90 percent. But some utilities and Republican members of Congress have warned that the new rules will place an onerous burden on power producers, leading to the shutdown of some power plants, a loss of jobs, and possible interruptions in power supplies.
Interview: Development Expert
Relies On Resilience of Villagers
Geographer Edward Carr has spent much of his time working in sub-Saharan Africa, where climate change and other environmental threats present a growing 
Edward Carr
Read the interview
20 Dec 2011:
Mexico City Closes Dump
In Push to Boost Recycling and Reuse
Mexico City has announced plans to close one of the world’s largest open-air garbage dumps as part of an initiative to convert more of the city’s waste into reusable materials or energy. By the end of the year, garbage trucks will no longer be allowed to drop trash at the Bordo Poniente, a massive dump that has received more than 76 million tons of trash since it opened after the devastating 1985 earthquake. At its peak, the dump received about 12,700 tons of garbage daily. A recycling separation facility and composting plant will remain open at the site. According to a plan announced by city officials, a large concrete company, Cemex SAB, will buy 3,000 tons of trash daily to convert into energy. Mexico City is searching for other dump sites to use until a new recycling program is instituted in 2012. Meanwhile, Seattle became the latest U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags and also passed a 5-cent fee on paper bags in an attempt to reduce its waste stream.
20 Dec 2011:
In Year of Extreme U.S. Weather,
Texas Paid The Highest Cost, Report Says
In a year marked by an unprecedented number of extreme weather events in the U.S., from relentless droughts to deadly tornadoes, no state paid a higher price than Texas, a new report says. Of 12 weather events that caused more than $1 billion in damage nationwide in 2011, eight affected Texas, according to an analysis by Climate Central, a nonprofit journalism and research organization. The analysis was based on numerous factors, including the number of deaths, economic costs, disruption of daily activities, and the degree to which 2011's weather varied from the norm. In Texas, extreme events during the year included a historic stretch of hot weather — including a record 70 consecutive days in some regions when temperatures reached 100 degrees — and an unprecedented drought that has caused groundwater levels to hit a 60-year low. Other states most affected by extreme weather this year included Alabama, where more than 100 tornadoes killed 240 people; Missouri, where a devastating tornado killed 160 people; and North Carolina, where a U.S.-record 753 tornadoes occurred in April alone. 19 Dec 2011:
Brazil's Forest Code Will Lead
To Rise in Deforestation, Critics Say
Environmental advocates say a controversial overhaul of Brazil’s Forest Code will lead to an increase in illegal deforestation and send a mixed message about Brazil’s commitment to preserving its rainforests. While advocates of the legislation approved by the Senate last week say it will require property owners to preserve 80 percent of their forested land, opponents say loopholes will allow farmers to clear a significantly larger portion of forest and to replace as much as 50 percent of illegally cleared forest with exotic species rather than native trees. Nationwide, opponents predict, farmers will be required to restore only about half of the 212,000 square miles of forest they would have been required to restore under the current law. The changes come as Brazil pledges to reduce carbon emissions by nearly 40 percent below projected levels by 2020. “Brazil has positioned itself as a country that’s committed itself to saving the forest cover to the benefit of the world,” Christian Poirier, the Brazil director for Amazon Watch, told the Washington Post. “The new forest code flouts all that.” According to a pair of Russian scientists, similar revisions to Russia’s forest code in 2007 produced a spike in illegal deforestation.19 Dec 2011:
Light Bulb Manufacturers
Unhappy With Republican Intervention
U.S. light bulb manufacturers are displeased that Republican lawmakers have delayed efforts to introduce more efficient bulbs, a move that was supposed to have taken effect January 1. According to the Web site Politico, manufacturers like General Electric, Philips, and Osram Sylvania have been planning for four years to meet the new efficiency standards, which would have banned 100-watt bulbs and required other incandescent bulbs to be 30 percent more energy-efficient. But in negotiating a year-end spending bill last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate included language that blocks the Energy Department from enforcing those rules at least until Sept. 30, 2012. Many Republicans argue that dictating what kinds of light bulbs Americans can buy is an infringement on their personal freedoms. But the National Electric Manufacturers Association has been urging lawmakers not to delay enforcement of the new standards, arguing that manufacturers have been planning to introduce new, more efficient bulbs since the passage of an energy law in 2007 under President George W. Bush that would gradually phase out incandescent bulbs by 2015.16 Dec 2011:
Time Ranks ‘Fracking’ Rap
Among Most Creative Videos of 2011
An online video featuring an unlikely fusion of hip-hop lyrics and the natural gas extraction technology known as “fracking” was ranked number 2 on Time magazine’s list of most creative videos in 2011. Produced by a team of students from New York University’s Studio 20 journalism program, the video, “My Water’s on Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song),” features a rap-style description of the hydraulic fracturing drilling process — and its possible environmental consequences — over animated graphics. Lisa Rucker, a Los Angeles-based editor who helped produce the video, said the video has the potential to introduce the controversial fracking debate to a wide audience. The video has attracted more than 200,000 viewers since it was posted on YouTube in the spring.
16 Dec 2011:
MIT Study Shows Large Potential
of 3D Solar Energy Generation
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say that replacing flat solar panels with three-dimensional structures could make photovoltaic systems as much as 20 times more effective. In a series of tests, the researchers found that such 3D structures are able to pick up light even when the sun is at lower angles, and that internal reflections within the 3D panels help increase the amount of captured light. The structures also can double the number of peak hours of generation. Scientists say even a simple cube shape, open at the top and covered with photovoltaic cells, could produce 3.8 times more power than a flat panel covering the same area. (By comparison, costly solar-tracking mount technology — which moves photovoltaic panels to follow the path of the sun — generates only 1.8 times more energy). While the more complex structures would be more expensive than typical flat panels, researcher Marco Bernardi says the extra power would compensate for the cost difference. 15 Dec 2011:
China Solar Energy Goal
Is Increased by 50 Percent for 2015
The Chinese government has increased its solar energy target for 2015 by 50 percent, setting a new goal of 15 gigawatts annually, state media reports. The new target, which was reported by China National Radio, follows a rapid surge in Chinese solar power installation in recent months after the government unified grid feed-in tariffs for solar projects in July. At the end of 2010, installed solar capacity in China was less than one gigawatt. But China, the world’s top exporter of photovoltaic products, had already doubled its solar energy target to 10 gigawatts by 2015 following the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan, and the government now has boosted that goal to 15 gigawatts. Meanwhile, a new industry report shows that U.S. solar installations jumped by nearly 40 percent during the third quarter of 2011, pushing the nation’s total annual installation beyond one gigawatt for the first time.15 Dec 2011:
Wind Power Variability
Is Focus of U.S.-Funded Research
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are studying ways to better forecast the sharp increases and decreases in wind speeds so that electricity generation from wind farms can be more effectively integrated into the grid. The variability of wind power presents a significant challenge to utilities; surges in wind power generation, for example, can overload the grid at certain times. But researchers at the Lawrence Livermore lab in California are using advanced computer software and sensors to determine what meteorological conditions are likely to cause so-called “ramp events,” when winds rise or fall sharply. The project, called WindSENSE, is using data from two regions where wind power generation is increasing rapidly: the Tehachapi Pass in Southern California and the Columbia River Basin in Oregon. In such windy regions, ramp events can cause wind energy generation to fluctuate by more than 1,000 megawatts an hour.14 Dec 2011:
Group Urges Stricter Rules
For Wind Industry on Bird Safety
A leading U.S. bird conservation group is urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to impose stricter regulations on the wind energy industry to prevent birds from being killed in collisions with turbine blades and transmission lines. In a 100-page petition, the 
ABC
14 Dec 2011:
Smaller Nuclear Reactors
Recommended as Good Option for U.S.
A U.S. government-funded report has concluded that small, modular nuclear reactors may be the best option for continuing to develop the U.S. nuclear power industry in the wake of the disaster at Fukushima, Japan. The report, prepared by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, said that smaller reactors that can essentially be mass-produced could be a safe, economically viable alternative to building larger nuclear reactors. Larger reactors produce gigawatts of power and can cost $10 billion to build, while the modular reactors would generate 600 megawatts or less and could replace aging, 200- to 400-gigawatt coal plants that will be phased out in the coming decades, according to the report. Co-authored by Robert Rosner, former director of the Argonne National Laboratory, the report said the smaller reactors could be factory-built as modular components and then shipped to sites for assembly. Rosner said a key safety aspect of the modular reactors is that they are designed to eliminate the need for human intervention during an emergency, as the reactors can be cooled by thermal convection, rather than manually-operated pumps.
Interview: Defender of Whales
Sees Only a Tenuous Recovery
Biologist Roger Payne first came to prominence more than 40 years ago, when he and a colleague made the
discovery that whales sing eerily beautiful songs as a way of communicating. Since then, he has continued his groundbreaking work on whales, including recent studies showing that whales worldwide have high levels of pollutants in their bodies. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Payne talks about current threats to whale populations, including the continued killing of whales by Japan and other nations, and discusses the mystery of the songs sung by whales, whose haunting strains have the power, he says, to move people to tears.
Read the interview
13 Dec 2011:
200 New Species Identified
in Mekong, Including ‘Elvis’ Monkey
World Wildlife Fund researchers say that more than 200 new species of wildlife and plants have been identified in Southeast Asia’s Greater Mekong region since early 2010, including a self-cloning skink, five carnivorous plants, and a black and white monkey nicknamed the “Elvis monkey” because of its distinctive tuft of hair. The report, released by the organization on the eve of economic talks among regional leaders, says that the “Elvis” monkey — Rhinopithecus strykeri — is known to bury its head between its knees during wet weather to prevent rain from running up its upturned nose. Among 28 new species of lizards identified by scientists is an all-female species that reproduces via cloning, without the need for male lizards. The report suggests that a commitment by region’s national leaders to a more sustainable “green” economy is critical to preserving the Greater Mekong’s extraordinary biodiversity.
13 Dec 2011:
Huge Methane Plumes
Are Discovered in Arctic Ocean
Russian scientists sampling the waters of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf have discovered enormous plumes of methane, some more than a kilometer wide, bubbling up from the thawing seabed. Igor Semiletov, an oceanographer from the Russian Academy of Sciences, said a research cruise late this summer detected more than 100 of these extensive methane “fountains” in an area of less than 10,000 square miles. Semiletov, who has been studying the region’s seabed for 20 years, said the scale and volume of the plumes far surpasses anything he had seen previously and could indicate that slushy methane hydrates on the seabed are thawing at an intensifying rate as Arctic Ocean ice disappears and sea temperatures rise. In 2010, Semiletov estimated that the emissions of methane — a powerful heat-trapping gas — bubbling from the seabed in this region were about 8 million tons a year, but he said the recent expedition has shown that methane releases could be far higher. “We carried out checks at about 115 stationary points and discovered methane fields of a fantastic scale,” Lemiletov told the UK’s Independent.12 Dec 2011:
Increased Bicycling Will Help
EU Meet Climate Targets, Report Says
If all Europeans bicycled as much as the people of Denmark, the European Union could achieve up to one-quarter of its target for carbon emissions reductions in the transportation sector by 2050, a new report says. According to the European Cyclists’ Federation, the average Dane cycles about 2.6 kilometers a day. If that rate were achieved across the EU, it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 55 million to 120 million tons annually, or 5 to 11 percent of the EU’s overall emissions target, by 2020. (By 2020, the EU has vowed to reduce emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels). By 2050, a large-scale shift to cycling would represent a cut in C02 emissions of 63 million to 142 million tons, or 12 to 26 percent of the target reduction for the transportation sector. Since the EU is unlikely to meet its targets with more efficient technology alone, the report says that a shift away from cars is critical.
12 Dec 2011:
Durban Yields Little
As Climate Deal is Again Delayed
Delegates at UN-sponsored climate talks in Durban, South Africa, agreed to extend the Kyoto climate accords for another five years and promised to forge some sort of legally binding treaty — due to take effect in 2020 — to slow global warming. But for the second time in as many years, representatives from the world’s major economies were unable to agree on concrete commitments to reduce planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, which last year grew at a record pace of nearly 6 percent. “We avoided a train wreck and we got some useful incremental decisions,” said Alden Meyer of the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists. “The bad news is that we did very little here to affect the emissions curve, which is accelerating, and the impacts of climate change, which are climbing day by day.” In addition to extending the 1997 Kyoto Protocols, due to expire at the end of 2012, delegates from nearly 200 countries agreed in principal to establish a fund to help poor countries deal with global warming.09 Dec 2011:
ExxonMobil Forecasts
Major Shift to Greener Vehicles
A new report from ExxonMobil predicts that nearly half of the world’s cars will either be hybrids or powered by alternative fuels by 2040. While hybrids now account for just about 1 percent of all vehicles worldwide, the oil giant forecasts that hybrids and alternative energy vehicles will move to the mainstream as governments increasingly push for better fuel efficiency. The ExxonMobil report, “The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040,” predicts that overall energy demand will remain flat in developed nations over the next three decades, but demand in developing nations such as China and India will increase nearly 60 percent from 2010 to 2040. The report also predicts a worldwide boom in shale gas production and forecasts that 30 percent of the world’s electricity will be produced from natural gas, while demand for coal will peak before seeing “its first long-term decline in modern history.”08 Dec 2011:
Cost of Solar Energy
Lower Than Usually Reported, Study Says
The cost of photovoltaic solar energy systems is not nearly as expensive as some energy analysts have projected, according to a new study from Queen’s University in Ontario. In fact, Queen’s researcher Joshua Pearce predicts that solar photovoltaic systems are approaching the “tipping point” at which they will be capable of producing energy at about the same price as traditional energy sources. In a study published in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Pearce says that many recent analyses of the costs of photovoltaic solar power — which typically include factors such as installation and maintenance costs, finance charges, life expectancy of the system, and the amount of electricity — have ignored the 70-percent reduction in solar panel costs since 2009. While one 2010 study calculated the cost at $7.61 per watt of electricity produced, Pearce says the cost is actually less than $1 per watt for panels purchased in bulk, although system and installation costs can vary significantly. Pearce also created a calculator to determine the cost of solar power, which is available for download.08 Dec 2011:
Rampant Marijuana Cultivation
Is Damaging U.S. National Forests
U.S. officials say widespread marijuana cultivation in national forests has caused “severe” damage to some ecosystems and wildlife in 20 states. In testimony before the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, U.S. Forest Service Director of Law Enforcement David Ferrell said federal officials have uncovered large-scale marijuana operations in 67 different national forests across the U.S. At these sites — which typically cover 10 to 20 acres and include armed guards and counter-surveillance methods — operators usually clear large areas of native vegetation; spray voluminous amounts of herbicides, rodenticides, and pesticides; and divert thousands of gallons of water daily from streams, lakes, and drinking water supplies. In California alone, Ferrell said, the Forest Service has removed more than 130 tons of trash, 300 pounds of pesticides, and nearly 260 miles of irrigation piping from 335 illegal cultivation sites. Cleaning and restoring the sites costs about $15,000 per acre, Ferrell says. 07 Dec 2011:
Project Uses Satellite Data
To Better Predict Flooding in South Asia
A new NASA project will use satellite data to better monitor how much water is fed into river systems across the Himalayan region through snow and glacier melt, an initiative that could help provide early warnings on flooding and drought across South Asia. Using satellite observations of snow and glacial melt, the so-called HIMALA project will generate daily snow/water equivalence maps that will then be fed into other hydrological models that monitor how much freshwater is entering the region’s major rivers, including the Ganges and the Indus. While the Himalayan glaciers serve as a freshwater reservoir for more than 1.3 billion people, scientists say those water resources will increasingly be affected by climate change, population growth, urbanization, and changes to land use. Results from the HIMALA project also could be used to improve drinking water quality and availability and devise climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. A report on the project was published in the journal BioOne. 
Interview: Exploring Humanity's
Place in the Journey of the Universe
As a pioneer in the field of religion and ecology, Mary Evelyn Tucker has long believed that science and policy alone are not enough to deal with the Earth’s most pressing environmental challenges. What’s also needed, 
Mary Evelyn Tucker
Read the interview
06 Dec 2011:
‘Merging Tsunami’ Doubled
Destructive Power Along Japanese Coast
A detailed analysis of satellite data shows that the devastating tsunami that struck the coast of northeastern Japan last March doubled in intensity because two wave fronts generated by an undersea earthquake merged before making landfall. Researchers from NASA and Ohio State University discovered that three satellites — all carrying radar altimeters that can measure sea level changes to within a few centimeters — passed over the tsunami waves as they formed last March 11. The rare coverage by several satellites enabled the researchers to determine that ocean ridges and undersea mountain chains helped create two large tsunami waves that merged into one enormous wave as the tsunami bore down on the coast. Such a huge wave was able to travel long distances without losing power, according to the researchers, who presented their findings at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. 
06 Dec 2011:
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon
Dropped to Record Low Last Year
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped to a new record low during the year ending in July, according to preliminary government data. About 2,408 square miles (6,238 square kilometers) of rainforest were cleared from August 2010 to July 2011, a 10.9 percent reduction from the previous year, when about 2,700 square miles of forest were destroyed, an analysis of satellite data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research shows. While Brazilian leaders attributed the trend to stricter enforcement of logging rules and sustainable development initiatives, analysts said slow economic growth was also a factor. The results reflect the continuation of a trend of significantly declining deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, where forest destruction peaked at about 9,650 square miles (25,000 square kilometers) annually in 2003 and 2004. The new findings come as Brazilian lawmakers prepare to vote on legislation that would ease the nation’s Forest Code, which requires property owners in the Amazon to maintain 80 percent of their holdings as forest.05 Dec 2011:
Hidden Contours of Antarctica
Depicted in Map of ‘Ice-free’ Continent
Scientists with the British Antarctic Survey have published the most detailed map yet of what Antarctica’s landscape would look like without its thick covering of ice, showing that large portions of the frozen continent actually rest on the sea bed rather than on land. Using data collected by aerial flights, satellite technology, and research ships over 50 years, British researchers were able to illustrate mountain peaks that are the size of the European Alps but are hidden below thousands of feet of ice. Less than 1 percent of the continent’s rock base is currently visible above the ice, which is three miles thick in places. Known as BEDMAP, the imagery will be shown at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union this week. With increasing evidence that Antarctica's edges are warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, the new imagery could help scientists forecast future melting. 
05 Dec 2011:
CO2 Emissions in 2010
Show Biggest Increase Ever Recorded
Global carbon emissions soared 5.9 percent in 2010, the largest increase ever recorded, according to the Global Carbon Project, an international collaboration of scientists that tracks carbon emissions. The increase comes after a short-lived decline in emissions in 2008 and 2009 and is a sign that global CO2 emissions are once again on the rise as world economies bounce back from recession. The overall jump of more than 500,000 million tons of CO2 emissions from 2009 to 2010 was likely the largest absolute increase since the Industrial Revolution, according to the Global Carbon Project. Emissions in China, the world’s largest source of CO2 releases, rose by 10.4 percent to 2.2 billion tons of carbon injected into the atmosphere. Emissions in the U.S., after dropping 7 percent in 2009, rose by 4 percent last year, according to the report. On average, fossil fuel emissions increased about 3.1 percent from 2000 to 2010, about three times the rate during the 1990s. 02 Dec 2011:
New Interactive Network
Maps Pollution, Noise Levels Across Europe
The European Environment Agency (EEA) and Microsoft this week introduced a network of online sites that map air, water, and noise pollution levels across the continent based on government data and information uploaded by users. The Eye on Earth network includes three separate interactive services: AirWatch, WaterWatch, and NoiseWatch. Using geospatial mapping technology, WaterWatch displays the 22,000 locations across Europe where the EEA monitors the quality of water at beaches, rivers, lakes, and other swimming areas. By zooming in on flagged monitoring stations, users can compare government rankings with public comments on water quality. AirWatch provides information from more than 1,000 air-monitoring stations, while NoiseWatch allows users to instantly upload noise level readings from their mobile devices.
02 Dec 2011:
Arduous Life of Wolverines
Documented in Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park’s wolverines live a harsh life high in the Rocky Mountains, with females giving birth in snow caves at 9,000 feet, males ranging over territories covering 500 square miles, and the scrappy animals doing battle with grizzly bears many times their size, according to a new study. Biologists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) used radio-tracking technology to observe 30 wolverines over eight years. While other species either hibernate or move to lower terrain in the winter, WCS biologists found that wolverines continue to patrol their high-mountain terrain throughout the coldest months. With large feet that allow them to walk atop deep snow, wolverines — the largest member of the weasel family — are able to move from one side of Wyoming’s Teton Range to the other in just hours, according to the study, published in the Journal of Wildlife Management.
01 Dec 2011:
Southern U.S. Groundwater
Dips To Record Low Levels, NASA Map Shows
A new map released by U.S. scientists illustrates a steep drop in groundwater levels across much of Texas and other southern states following record-breaking drought conditions. Using groundwater calculations based on satellite observations and other meteorological data, scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Nebraska have shown that ground moisture in some regions of the U.S. — including much of Texas — has dipped to levels significantly lower than the long-term average since 1948, when levels of soil moisture and groundwater were first recorded. In eastern Texas, for instance, the ground has been as dry as it currently is only 2 percent of the time over the last 63 years. According to scientists, groundwater supplies are “extremely depleted” across more than half of Texas and parts of New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia.
01 Dec 2011:
Permafrost Thaw Will Cause
Faster Warming than Previous Estimates
A survey of 41 international experts on permafrost shows that the amount of greenhouse gases released as frozen soils melt in a warming world will be 1.7 to 5.2 times larger than previous estimates. In the survey, published in the journal Nature, the scientists significantly raised their estimates of the impact of melting permafrost because recent studies have shown that permafrost in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions holds far more organic carbon, and at greater depths, than previously thought. As these frozen soils melt, they will release large quantities of methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. University of Florida scientist Edward Schuur, lead author on the paper, said that northern soils store more organic carbon than all living things combined and hold four times more carbon than all the carbon ever released by modern human activity. Thawing permafrost will release about as many greenhouse gases as those caused by deforestation, which accounts for about 15 percent of human-caused carbon emissions.30 Nov 2011:
Carbon Capture Project
Is Launched at UK Yorkshire Plant
A coal-powered plant in West Yorkshire has launched the UK’s largest carbon-capture initiative, a pilot project expected to siphon off about 100 tons of carbon dioxide daily. The equipment, which was added to the 200-megawatt Ferrybridge Power Station, will capture only 2.5 percent of the plant’s total emissions, but is a sign of some progress in a carbon capture and sequestration industry that has endured setbacks this year. The project will not attempt to store the carbon, but instead test the CO2 scrubbing, or removal, phase of the process. Proponents hope it will represent a bridge between smaller-scale pilot projects and commercially viable CO2-capture technology. UK officials this week postponed the investment of £1 billion into a full-scale pilot project, and earlier this year the most ambitious carbon-capture project at a U.S. coal-fired plant was shelved because of a lack of climate legislation and state support.30 Nov 2011:
Second Canadian Pipeline
Poses Major Threats, Report Says
A new report warns that a proposed $5.3 billion pipeline that would link Canada’s tar sands to the Pacific coast poses potential threats to native communities, wildlife, and the region’s salmon fisheries. Enbridge Inc., whose 730-mile Northern Gateway Pipeline would transport 525,000 barrels of crude oil across British Columbia daily, has not addressed the vulnerability of the pipeline to rupture in the face of natural threats, including extreme weather and rockslides, according to the report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Pembina Institute, and the Living Oceans Society. For instance, a major storm could trigger a rock avalanche that could rupture the pipeline while also hampering response efforts — particularly along remote stretches of the pipeline. The report comes just weeks after the White House delayed approval of another controversial pipeline, the Keystone XL project, which would run from Alberta to refineries along the Gulf Coast in Texas. 29 Nov 2011:
Map Shows Population Density
As Planet Reaches 7 Billion People
With the world’s population now surpassing 7 billion, a Boston-based design firm has published a map illustrating the planet’s population density, including
detailed visualizations of the most densely populated cities. Dencity, created by Fathom Information Design, uses circles of various sizes and hues to represent population density, with larger, darker circles showing areas with fewer people, and smaller, lighter circles representing the world’s most crowded cities and regions. China, home to eight of the world’s 20 most populated cities, contains a series of tightly packed orange and yellow dots. Likewise, the populous nations of India and Pakistan are almost uniformly dense until they reach political boundaries or geographic features, such as the Himalayas. Meanwhile, the larger, darkly hued dots illustrate less populated regions, including Saharan Africa and Siberia.
29 Nov 2011:
Carbon Sinks in Estuaries
Have Been Degraded by Industrial Activity
The ability of the world’s estuaries, salt marshes, and mangrove swamps to sequester carbon has been seriously degraded by industrial activity, according to a study by Australian researchers. Scientists at the University of Technology, Sydney, examined layers of estuary sediment in Sydney’s Botany Bay for the past 6,000 years. They found that sea grass abundance has declined sharply, while quantities of micro-algae have soared. Increasing nitrogen deposition and pollution are the main culprits in destroying seagrass beds, which have the capacity to store as much as 100 times more carbon than micro-algae. The researchers dated the sediments using radiocarbon dating and determined the plant makeup of the Botany Bay estuary by examining isotopic ratios of seagrass versus micro-algae. Reporting in the journal Global Change Biology, lead researcher Peter Macreadie said the results show the importance of preserving and restoring so-called “blue carbon habitats” in wetlands and estuaries. The partial loss of these carbon sinks has “severely hampered the ability of nature to reset the planet’s thermostat.”28 Nov 2011:
World's Largest Marine Reserve
Proposed in Australia’s Coral Sea
Australia has proposed the creation of the world’s largest marine park in the Coral Sea, a 382,000-square-mile area where fishing would be limited and oil and gas exploration would be banned. The so-called Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve would begin in waters about 36 miles off Australia’s northeastern coast, an area known for its array of coral reefs, sandy cays, sea plains, and canyons. According to Tony Burke, Australia’s Environment Minister, the waters of this area have become increasingly vulnerable to overfishing and habitat degradation. “In the space of one lifetime, the world’s oceans have gone from being relatively pristine to being under increasing pressure,” Burke said. According to the plan, 196,000 of the reserve square miles will be designated as “no take” areas where fishing is banned. Larissa Waters, a Queensland senator and Green Party member, said the plan doesn’t go far enough, with only two out of every 25 reefs receiving “full protection.”
28 Nov 2011:
Durban Climate Talks Begin
With Dim Hopes for a Global Deal
Climate talks began in Durban, South Africa on Monday amid downplayed expectations for any meaningful agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions or progress on finding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. With the Kyoto Protocol’s mandatory carbon targets now covering less than a third of the world’s carbon emissions, some observers say that a global, top-down approach may increasingly be replaced by local, incremental climate policies, from Australia’s new carbon tax to Colombian initiatives to replace polluting truck fleets and promote renewable energy. “The situation has never been weaker for [a global] vision,” said James L. Connaughton, who chaired the Council on Environmental Quality under President George W. Bush. In 1997, nearly 200 industrialized nations agreed to the Kyoto Protocol, pledging a 5.2 percent reduction in carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2012. But the U.S. never ratified the protocol, and the targets did not apply to emerging countries like China and India.23 Nov 2011:
Google Green Energy Program
Is Cut as Company Narrows Focus
Google Inc. says it is abandoning its ambitious program to drive down the cost of renewable energy, one of seven major initiatives canceled by the Internet giant this week as it looks to focus on its core projects. Launched four years ago through Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm, the so-called Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal (RE < C) initiative included a team of engineers dedicated to researching renewable energy technologies, with a focus on solar energy. The Google program invested in Brightsource Energy and eSolar, companies working on concentrated solar power projects, and also invested in potentially breakthrough technologies. “At this point, other institutions are better positioned than Google to take this research to the next level,” the company announced on its corporate blog. Google posted the results of its energy research online, encouraging other companies to use it to advance the renewables industry. The changes come as Google, the world’s top search engine, faces increasing competition in mobile phone technology and social media. 23 Nov 2011:
Court Restores Protections
For Yellowstone Park’s Grizzly Bears
A federal appeals court has ruled that Yellowstone National Park’s population of 600 grizzly bears was improperly removed from the endangered species list, saying the bears face an unprecedented threat from the widespread die-off of a key food source, the white bark
USFWS
Video: In Drought-Stricken West,
A War Against an Invasive Tree
In an e360 video, journalist Jon Brand reports on the controversy over the tamarisk tree, or salt cedar, which has been a fixture in West Texas since the late 1800s, when settlers imported it from the Mediterranean. As salt cedar has spread throughout the southwestern U.S., it has been vilified as a water-sucking menace in an already arid region. States in the Southwest spend millions of dollars each year on pesticides and herbivorous beetles to control salt cedar. Now, however, studies suggest that salt cedar uses up no more water than native species and that its spread is largely due to changes in hydrology caused by building dams and irrigation canals. This video explores both sides of the debate over salt cedar and examines whether the war against it is a misguided use of public funds.
Watch the video
22 Nov 2011:
New Cache of Emails
Leaked In Advance of Durban Climate Talks
An anonymous source has released a new cache of private emails from some of the world’s leading climate scientists, a leak apparently timed to disrupt international climate talks beginning next week in Durban, South Africa. While it remains unclear who shared the 5,000 emails — which are available for download on a Russian server — the unauthorized release echoes the online posting of hundreds of similar emails in the days leading up to Copenhagen climate talks in 2009. Those emails, which purported to show scientists attempting to silence dissenting views in the climate debate, were a setback to climate talks; however, a later series of U.S. and UK inquiries largely vindicated the scientists. The emails released this week seem to be from the same period as the emails released in 2009. They include a list of excerpts that apparently suggest disagreements between the scientists and efforts to block the release of documents in response to freedom of information requests.22 Nov 2011:
Majority in U.S. Support
Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax, Survey Says
A majority of Americans across the political spectrum support policies that reduce carbon emissions, including a revenue-neutral carbon tax, according to a new survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. In a survey conducted between Oct. 20 and Nov. 6, 65 percent of respondents said they would support a revenue-neutral carbon tax to help “create jobs and decrease pollution” — including 51 percent of those identifying themselves as Republicans, 69 percent of independents, and 77 percent of Democrats. Sixty percent said they would support a $10-per-ton carbon tax if the money was spent reducing federal income taxes. That support continued even when respondents were told the carbon tax would “slightly increase the cost of many things you buy, including food, clothing, and electricity.” Support for the tax dipped to 49 percent if the revenue was instead returned to each family as an annual check, and to just 44 percent if it was spent paying down the national debt.
21 Nov 2011:
Garbage Pickers Protest
New Wave of Trash Incinerators
A growing coalition of poor workers who earn a living by scouring trash heaps for recyclables in the world’s poorest cities are protesting new incinerators being built to convert that trash into electricity. While the UN has encouraged the incinerators as a means of generating electricity and preventing methane emissions — and the Kyoto Protocol provides nations carbon credits for such projects — many workers say they depend on picking recyclable materials from the waste heaps for their livelihoods. In New Delhi this month, hundreds of waste workers gathered outside UN offices to protest 21 proposed incinerator projects for which India hopes to receive carbon credits. Similar coalitions are forming in Brazil, South Africa, and Colombia. In India alone, an estimated 1.7 million people earn a living by picking through garbage.
21 Nov 2011:
Rising Use of HFCs Could
Accelerate Global Warming, UN Says
The increased use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in the production of refrigerators, air conditioners, and other products could play a significant role in accelerating global warming, a new UN report warns. Without stricter regulations, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report says, the projected emissions of HFCs by 2050 could equal pouring nearly 9 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — or about one-third of current CO2 emissions. While introduced in the 1990s to replace ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), HFCs are also potent greenhouse gases — about 1,600 times more powerful in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. And with the increase in world population and the continued growth of emerging economies, annual consumption of HFCs has doubled over the last decade to about 400,000 tons, according to the UNEP report. The most common type of HFC increased 10 percent annually from 2006 to 2010. 18 Nov 2011:
Extreme Weather to Increase
As Climate Changes, IPCC Says
A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that an increase in heat waves is “virtually certain” as a result of global warming and that extreme weather events — including hurricanes, floods, and droughts — will likely become more intense in the next century. The IPCC's “special report on extreme weather,” which includes a range of possible scenarios based on future greenhouse gas emissions, urges governments worldwide to draft plans to minimize the likely human and economic costs of these events. The report contains grim warnings for developing nations, in particular, which will be more vulnerable to the effects of global warming and have less economic resilience to respond to extreme events. “Some important extremes have changed and will change more in the future,” said Chris Field, co-chair of the IPCC working group that produced the report. “There is clear and solid evidence (of this).” The report, compiled over two years by more than 200 scientists, was released ahead of global climate talks to be held next month in Durban, South Africa.
18 Nov 2011:
Award-Winning Fisheries Design
Reduces Bird Mortality by 90 Percent
A new system for longline fishing that reduces seabird mortality by nearly 90 percent in tuna fisheries was named the winner of the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Smart Gear contest, an international competition that 
WWF
Kazuhiro Yamazaki
17 Nov 2011:
Camera Traps Document
Wild Cats in Unprotected Sumatran Forest
Using a network of camera traps, researchers captured images of five wild cat species within the same Sumatran forest corridor, an unprotected area rich in biodiversity but threatened by industrial logging and
clear-cutting for illegal palm oil development. During a three-month survey in a region known as Bukit Tigapuluh, or Thirty Hills, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the World Wildlife Fund collected more than 400 photos of wild cats, including the Sumatran tiger, the Sunda clouded leopard, the marble cat, the Asian golden cat, and the leopard cat. All of the cats were found within a stretch of forest linking the Bukit Tigapulu forest and the Rimbang Baling Wildlife sanctuary in Riau Province. Four of the species are protected by the Indonesian government and listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said Karmila Parakkasi, coordinator of WWF-Indonesia’s Tiger Research Team.
17 Nov 2011:
Deforestation in Boreal Region
Has Net Cooling Effect, Study Says
While deforestation is considered a critical factor in global warming since it causes the release of carbon, scientists say that in northern latitudes tree loss may actually have a net cooling effect. In an analysis of temperature data collected from Florida to Manitoba, researchers from 20 institutions found that in the boreal region — north of 45 degrees latitude — the surface temperatures in open grassy areas were cooler than in adjacent forests because the snow reflected the sun’s rays back into space. In those areas, researchers say, the darker forests absorbed the sun’s heat. “The cooling effect is linear with latitude, so the farther north you go, the cooler you get with deforestation,” said Xuhui Lee, a professor of meteorology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the lead investigator of the study, published in the journal Nature. For instance, in regions north of Minnesota (45 degrees latitude) temperatures in deforested areas decreased by an average of 1.5 degrees F, while in areas south of North Carolina (35 degrees latitude), deforestation appeared to cause warming.
16 Nov 2011:
Restoration of UK Peatlands
Is Advocated by Conservation Group
The UK’s extensive peatlands and peatbogs must be protected and restored to avoid large-scale releases of carbon dioxide and to protect water supplies, according 
iStock Photo
16 Nov 2011:
Major Investment Needed
To Avert Food Crisis, Study Says
An international commission says billions of dollars must be invested in agriculture and food distribution to avoid a catastrophic increase in hunger worldwide in the coming years. In a new study, the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change said a coordinated series of responses is needed to feed a growing world population in the face of climate change, ecosystem degradation, and rising food prices. By significantly increasing sustainable agriculture, the group says, the world can use farming as a tool to fight climate change since healthy soils could absorb carbon dioxide rather than releasing it. Other recommendations include intensifying agricultural production while reducing greenhouse gas emissions; targeting populations that are most vulnerable; improving access to nutritional foods; and improved efficiencies to reduce loss and waste in food production. 15 Nov 2011:
States Exert Little Enforcement
Of Gas Drilling Boom, Report Says
Even as a push for unconventional oil and gas has triggered a drilling boom not seen in the U.S. for decades, a published report finds that enforcement of environmental regulations associated with this drilling has been minimal. In a review of data from major drilling states, Greenwire has found that a small percentage of environmental infractions actually result in fines. And even when penalties are imposed, they typically represent a small portion of the overall profits of these drilling operations. In Texas, the report says, 96 percent of the 80,000 violations in 2009 resulted in no enforcement action. In West Virginia, where there are 56,000 wells in operation, only 19 penalties were issued last year. In Pennsylvania, officials have levied fines for 117 of last year’s 2,704 violations, including a $900,000 fine for a drilling company that contaminated the drinking water for 16 homes. That amount, Greenwire reports, is less than the profit the company earns in three hours.15 Nov 2011:
Regional Cap-and-Trade Scheme
Creates Economic Growth, Study Says
A regional cap-and-trade program launched in the northeastern U.S. three years ago has saved customers nearly $1.1 billion on electricity bills, helped create 16,000 jobs, and retained more than $765 million in local economies by reducing the demand for fossil fuels, according to a new analysis. While the future of the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) remains in jeopardy — with New Jersey planning to drop out and other states also considering leaving — the study by the Boston-based Analysis Group finds the project has had real benefits for the ten participating states. The program requires power plants to buy allowances for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit. Since mid-2008, plant owners have spent $912 million to buy those allowances, generating funds that were used to improve energy efficiency, train workers, and launch renewable energy projects. “We tracked the dollars spent, and RGGI generates greater economic growth in every one of the 10 states that participate in RGGI than would occur without a carbon price,” said Susan Tierney, one of the authors of the study, which will be published in The Electricity Journal. RGGI’s participants include the six New England states, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.14 Nov 2011:
Air Pollution Alters Frequency
And Intensity of Rainfall, Study Says
A new study says that air pollution can significantly alter the frequency and intensity of precipitation in a region, inhibiting the chances of light rain while exacerbating heavy storms in some cases. Using a decade of atmospheric data, U.S. scientists found that high levels of aerosols — including soot, dust and other particulate matter — can more than double the mean cloud height of deep convective clouds in comparison to clouds located in cleaner skies. While cloud drops forming around aerosol particles tend to be larger in cleaner air — and thus more likely to collide and form rain drops — in dirty air there are more and smaller drops, which tend to float and are slow to coalesce into rain drops. “The probability of heavy rain is virtually doubled from clean to dirty locations, while the chance of light rain is reduced by 50 percent,” said Zhanqing Li, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic science at the University of Maryland and lead author of the study, which is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
14 Nov 2011:
Space-Based Solar Technology
Feasible Within 30 Years, Study Says
An international group of scientists says space-based solar plants could help meet the world’s energy needs within 30 years if governments are willing to provide the early funding. Space-based solar technology, in 
©Mafic Studios, Inc.
11 Nov 2011:
Wood Smoke Is Linked To
Severe Pneumonia and Cognitive Impacts
A new study finds that reducing exposure to smoke from open fires and wood-burning cook stoves significantly reduces the incidence of pneumonia, the leading of death for children five and under in developing countries. In an assessment of families in the western highlands of Guatemala, researchers found a one-third reduction in severe pneumonia diagnoses among children in homes with smoke-reducing chimneys compared with homes that use dirtier, poorly ventilated stoves, which are the primary source of cooking and heat for 3 billion people, or 43 percent of the global population. “The amount of smoke exposure babies were getting from the open woodfire stoves is comparable to having them smoke three to five cigarettes a day,” said Kirk Smith, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and principal investigator of the study, published in the journal The Lancet. “The chimney stoves reduced that smoke exposure by a half, on average.”
11 Nov 2011:
New Irrigation Device Pulls
Water From the Air in Driest Conditions
A student at Australia’s Swinburne University this week received the James Dyson Award for a device he says is capable of harvesting moisture from the air for use in
irrigation, even in the world’s driest places. Developed by Edward Linnacre, the Airdrop is a wind- or solar-powered device that sucks air underground through a coiled metal pipe, where the cooler temperature of the surrounding soil slowly causes it to condense. The device ultimately collects the water in an underground tank before it is pumped back to the roots of nearby crops via a sub-surface drip irrigation system. According to Linnacre, a prototype that he developed in his mother’s backyard was able to produce about one liter of water per day. He hopes the technology can be used for agriculture in even the driest conditions. “There are water-harvesting technologies out there, but there’s very few low-tech solutions,” he said. “A low-tech solution is perfect for rural farmers, something that they can install, something that they can maintain themselves.” 
10 Nov 2011:
Rhino Subspecies Extinct;
25 Percent of Mammals at Risk Globally
One-quarter of the world’s mammal species are at risk of extinction, and a subspecies of rhinoceros — the Western Black Rhino — has officially gone extinct, according to the new Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In addition to the loss of the Western Black Rhino, which was found in west-central Africa, at least two other subspecies of rhinoceros are “teetering” on the edge of survival in the face of increased illegal poaching of the animals for their horns, according to the IUCN. Numerous plant species are also disappearing, the group said, including the West Himalayan yew, or Taxus contorta, a tree that is used to produce the chemotherapy drug Taxol. The IUCN list changed the status of the tree, which is found in Afghanistan, India, and Nepal, from “vulnerable” to “endangered” because of over-exploitation. Of the more than 61,900 species the IUCN reviewed for its latest assessment, 801 species are extinct, 64 are extinct in the wild, and another 3,879 are “critically endangered.”
09 Nov 2011:
River Basins Can Hold
Carbon for 17,000 Years, Study Says
Researchers say the soils and sediments of the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin are able to store carbon for thousands of years, a fact they warn could portend increased rates of carbon dioxide emissions as such vulnerable regions are exposed to the effects of climate change. Using radiocarbon dating, scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found that organic carbon can remain for 500 to 17,000 years, despite extraordinarily high rates of physical erosion and sediment transport within the basin that drains the Himalayas. Downstream, within the Gangetic floodplain, the carbon resides from 1,500 to 3,500 years. The longer the carbon remains within the soil, the longer it is kept out of the atmosphere, said Valier Galy, a WHOI researcher and one of the authors of the study published in Nature Geoscience. But as rising temperatures destabilize soils and “ancient” carbon stored within the Ganges basin and elsewhere in the world, this could lead to more carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere, hastening warming.
Interview: A Power Company CEO
Ties His Future to Green Energy
David Crane, the CEO of NRG Energy, is not your typical power company executive, as becomes clear when he calls climate change a “slow-moving 
NRG Energy
David Crane
Read the interview
08 Nov 2011:
Australian Parliament Passes
Landmark Tax on Carbon Emissions
The Australian government has passed the world’s first tax on carbon emissions, a landmark reform proponents say will promote better energy efficiency and increased reliance on renewable sources of energy, while also significantly cutting air pollution. The legislation, which was passed by the Senate in a 36-32 vote, will require the nation’s 500 biggest carbon emitters to pay a price of 23 Australian dollars ($23.78 U.S.) per ton of carbon beginning in July 2012. It then will shift to an emissions trading scheme beginning in 2015. Those companies — most of which are electricity generators, heavy industry manufacturers, and mining companies — will need to obtain a permit for each ton of carbon they emit. According to government officials, the new tax will reduce carbon emissions by at least 160 million tons annually by 2020 — or the equivalent of taking 45 million vehicles off the road. Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who staked her political career on the controversial legislation, called it a significant victory for the environment and for the emerging green energy economy. “It’s the right thing to do,” she said. 08 Nov 2011:
Extreme Weather Events
Exact Huge Health Toll, Study Says
Catastrophic weather events in the U.S. over the last decade have exacted a toll of $14 billion in health care costs and could portend even greater burdens in the future, researchers say. In a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, researchers say six extreme events that they link to climate change — including Hurricane Katrina, Florida’s devastating 2004 hurricane season, and North Dakota river flooding in 2009 — combined to cause 1,689 premature deaths and 760,000 medical visits in the U.S. Researchers calculated that medical expenses totaled $740 million, while they valued the lives lost at $13.3 billion. The study was conducted by researchers from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Francisco. With extreme weather likely to become more frequent and severe, the authors suggest that policymakers help communities more effectively prepare for the impacts, including expanded health surveillance programs, heat wave warning systems, and efforts to reduce air pollution.07 Nov 2011:
Waterless Fracking Technology
Is Said to Reduce Water Pollution
A small Canadian company has developed a waterless form of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas that experts say could prevent some of the pollution problems that have fueled concerns about the controversial drilling technique. Unlike typical hydraulic fracturing technologies, which pump large amounts of water into deep shale formations to extract trapped natural gas reserves, the technology developed by Calgary-based company GasFrac pumps a thick gel made from propane into the ground. Unlike water-based technologies, the gel from so-called liquefied propane gas (LPG) fracturing, or gas fracking, reverts to a vapor while underground before it returns to the surface in a recoverable form. The gel also reportedly does not carry back to the surface the chemicals used in drilling, a problem associated with traditional fracking. “We leave the nasties in the ground, where they belong,” Robert Lestz, chief technology officer for GasFrac told InsideClimate News and the Albany Times-Union. The technology, which is awaiting a patent in the U.S., has been used about 2,000 times since 2008, mainly in Canada. But the industry has been slow to adopt LPG fracturing, because it is more costly and because of a lack of data on the technology’s performance.07 Nov 2011:
Cloud Computing Can Reduce
Carbon Emissions By Half, Report Says
Major companies could reduce their carbon emissions by as much as 50 percent and significantly increase energy efficiency by shifting to cloud computing, according to a new report. In an analysis of UK, French, and U.S. firms that have used cloud computing for at least two years, the Carbon Disclosure Project calculated that by 2020 U.S. companies with annual revenues of more than $1 billion can save $12.3 billion in energy costs and achieve carbon reductions equivalent to 200 million barrels of oil a year if they shift to shared data networks. The report said that large UK companies could achieve annual energy savings of £ 1.2 billion if they move to cloud computing. Cloud computing — in which data can be stored, managed, and processed on external servers as needed — allows companies to buy less hardware and also improves efficiency and flexibility. According to the report, which was conducted by the independent firm Verdantix and sponsored by AT&T, large companies plan to accelerate their adoption of cloud computing from 10 percent to 69 percent of their IT spending by 2020.
New Website Features Leading Scientists
and Writers Talking on Natural History
A recently launched website, The Natural Histories Project, explores the value of natural history in the 21st century as articulated by some of the field’s leading voices. In a series of conversations recorded earlier this year, dozens of scientists, writers, and educators discuss the role of natural history in society and how it should be taught to the next generation, as well as innovative directions in research, technology, and environmental management. “I feel that it’s an incredibly exciting time to be a naturalist, perhaps the most exciting time to be a naturalist that’s ever existed on this planet,” says Joshua Tewksbury, a University of Washington biologist and one of the organizers of the project.
03 Nov 2011:
Mass Change in Tree Species
Occurring in Western North America, Study Says
A huge shift in tree species is taking place across the western United States and Canada as global warming, drought, insect infestations, and fire are driving certain species out of some regions and allowing new species to take their place. Using remote sensing data, U.S and Canadian scientists analyzed the condition of 15 coniferous tree species in 34 different “eco-regions.” The study found that once-common tree species, such as lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce, are being replaced by species that can survive in warmer, drier conditions, such as ponderosa pine and Douglas fir. The most intense shifts are occurring in the northern and southern extremes of western North America. In central California, for example, half of the species now present are not expected to survive future climate conditions, with temperatures expected to rise by 5 to 9 degrees F this century, according to the study, published in the journals Ecological Modelling and Remote Sensing of Environment. Already, more than 70,000 square miles of forest in the western U.S. and Canada have been destroyed by outbreaks of beetles that thrive in warmer temperatures. “Some of these changes are already happening pretty fast and in some huge areas,” said lead author Richard Waring of Oregon State University. “The forests of our future are going to look quite different.”02 Nov 2011:
European Coalition Selects
Morocco for Massive Solar Plant
A German-led initiative to tap solar energy in the deserts of Northern Africa and the Middle East to meet Europe’s long-term energy needs has targeted a site in Morocco for its first large-scale solar farm. The Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) — whose members include 
02 Nov 2011:
U.S. Car Dealers Fight
Ambitious Auto Mileage Standards
One of the Obama administration’s signature environmental proposals — requiring tough new fuel efficiency standards for cars — is under attack from a powerful lobby of car dealers. President Obama had forged an agreement with major U.S. automakers requiring that cars would get an average of 54 miles-per-gallon by 2025, nearly double current standards. After taking billions in government bailout money, carmakers like General Motors and Chrysler were under intense pressure to agree to the new standards, which are currently being formulated. But now thousands of U.S. automobile dealers are supporting Republican legislation that would upend that agreement and soften the fuel efficiency standards. The bill, introduced in the House of Representatives, would block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from being involved in fuel efficiency decisions, leaving the matter to the Department of Transportation. The car dealers say the agreement between Obama and the automakers bullies them and consumers into accepting overly strict mileage standards that will significantly increase car costs.01 Nov 2011:
New Bridge in Wales
Made from Recycled Plastic Waste
European engineers have completed a 90-foot bridge over the River Tweed in Wales that is made completely from recycled plastic, the first thermoplastic bridge to be built outside the U.S. The bridge, which consists of 50 tons of recycled high-density polyethylene materials that would have otherwise been buried in landfills, is able to support vehicles as heavy as 44 tons. Because it is made of plastic, it will never rot or rust, and will not require chemical treatment, painting, or regular maintenance, according to Vertech Composites, the UK-based firm that designed and built the bridge. And with an expected lifespan of about 50 years, that would yield a savings of $300 per-square-foot during its lifecycle compared with bridges made of standard building materials, the firm says. In completing the project, Vertech engineers worked with several groups, including Rutgers University’s Advanced Polymer Center, which also helped construct a thermoplastic composite bridge at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
01 Nov 2011:
Extreme Weather Events
Likely Linked to Warming, IPCC Says
A draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says there is a 2-in-3 probability that human-caused climate change is already leading to an increase in extreme weather events. The draft summary, obtained by the Associated Press, said that increasingly wild weather, such as the downpours that have caused recent extreme flooding in Thailand, will lead to a growing toll in lost lives and property damage, and will render some locations “increasingly marginal as places to live.” The report says scientists are “virtually certain” that continued warming will cause not only an increase in extreme heat waves and drought in some regions, but will generate more intense downpours that lead to severe flooding. The report, which wades into the contentious subject of whether climate change is already causing more extreme weather, will be issued in several weeks in advance of global climate talks to be held in South Africa next month.31 Oct 2011:
New U.S. Satellite to
Monitor Global Climate Change
U.S. scientists say a next-generation weather satellite launched by NASA last week will provide critical new insights into global climate change. The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, launched on Oct. 28, will orbit the planet at an altitude of 512 miles, traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole 14 times daily. While technically a NASA mission, the $1.5 billion satellite will provide key data for a series of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projects, marking a key step in the creation of a U.S. climate monitoring system. The project’s key objectives include creation of long-term global environmental data, daily measurements of the ozone layer, monitoring of changes to the planet’s sea ice and glaciers, and collection of data on air pollution. Officials hope the satellite will serve as a bridge between NOAA’s current polar orbiting satellites and the next generation of satellites, the Joint Polar Satellite System. 31 Oct 2011:
Maps Depict Changes
In Ranges of Trees in Eastern U.S.
The U.S. Forest Service has released a series of maps showing, under different emissions scenarios, how the ranges of various tree species in the eastern U.S. may shift as the climate warms. Forest types traditionally associated with particular regions will migrate north, shifting the ecosystems they support. Beyond impacting the foliage that attracts tourists during the fall season, the researchers say the shifts will also affect local biodiversity in unpredictable ways. The maple, beech, and birch forests that characterize New England, New York, and Pennsylvania will give way to oak/hickory-dominated forests, squeezing fauna that depend on the former, and changing the overall character of the landscape. The picturesque paper birches, aspens, spruces, and firs that dominate far-northern portions of the east will also retreat, with the southern tail of the spruce/fir range crossing into Canada completely. The models predict a number of scenarios for changing forests, with the worst-case showing a near-total takeover by oak and hickory by 2100.
28 Oct 2011:
U.S. Identifies Solar Zones
Open For Development in Western States
The Obama administration has unveiled a plan detailing where utility-scale solar power projects can be developed in the western U.S., with 17 proposed solar energy zones in six western states given the highest priority for solar development. The blueprint of the plan, released by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), identifies about 445 square miles of desert in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. “That’s where the sweet spots are, so that’s where development will be driven,” said U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The BLM identified another 31,250 square miles where large-scale solar power projects could be potentially be sited if environmental impacts are minimal. The plan would not apply to 13 solar energy projects already being built or dozens more awaiting approval.
28 Oct 2011:
Film of Extinct Woodpecker
Unearthed by Cornell Researchers
U.S. scientists searching for the rare imperial woodpecker, once considered the world’s largest woodpecker species but now thought to be extinct, have
unearthed an 85-second film of the bird in its long-vanished habitat. It is the only known footage of the bird, which was two feet high and the closest relative of the ivory-billed woodpecker, which is also believed to be extinct. The 16mm color film — shot in 1956 by Pennsylvania dentist and amateur ornithologist William Rhein in Durango, Mexico’s old-growth pine forest — captures an adult female as she quickly scales the trunk of a pine tree, takes four pecks at the tree, and then launches into flight. The film was discovered by Martjan Lammertink, a researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who has authored a new paper in the journal The Auk about a 2010 expedition to the same region of Durango in search of the imperial woodpecker. 
27 Oct 2011:
Camera Traps in Arctic
Show Impact of Oil Development on Birds
Using a network of camera traps, scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have documented how oil development in the Arctic tundra can increase the presence of predators that attack nesting bird populations. WCS biologist Joe Liebezeit placed camera traps — automated cameras that take photos whenever an animal triggers an infrared sensor — near drilling sites in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay oilfields and in a remote, undeveloped location in the tundra. The traps showed a larger number of predators — including foxes, ravens, and gulls — preying on nesting birds near the oilfields. Oil drilling structures not only provide nesting and denning territory for predators, but garbage from the drilling areas also provides food, increasing the predators’ numbers. “The presence of people and structures enable these [predators] to live in areas that otherwise would not be preferred or suitable habitat, or to do so in greater numbers than would normally be the case,” said Liebezeit. “As a result, they have more access to the nests of migratory birds and can exploit a vulnerable food source.”
27 Oct 2011:
Scientists Identify Fungus
That Causes Deadly Bat Disease
U.S. researchers say they have conclusive evidence that the fungus Geomyces destructans is the cause of the deadly white-nose syndrome that has taken a heavy toll on North American bat populations in recent years. In a study published in the journal Nature, a coalition of scientific organizations reported that 100 percent of healthy brown bats exposed to the fungus while hibernating developed the mysterious ailment, which has killed more than 1 million cave-dwelling bats in the U.S. since it was first identified in 2006. In the northeastern U.S., scientists say white-nose syndrome has caused an 80-percent decline in bats. The latest research confirmed that G. destructans can be spread from infected bats to healthy bats through direct contact, said David Blehert, a microbiologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and one of the study's authors.26 Oct 2011:
New Smart Thermometer
Programs Itself to Control Energy Use
The inventor of the iPod has developed a smart thermometer that can program itself based on your behavior patterns, knows when you’re not home, and 
Nest Labs
Nest Learning Thermostat
26 Oct 2011:
U.S. Geothermal Potential
Mapped in New Interactive Database
U.S. researchers have released an interactive database of the nation’s geothermal resources, mapping in detail the areas of exploration that they say could produce roughly 3 million megawatts of energy using existing technologies. Researchers at the Southern Methodist University Geothermal Laboratory assembled geological data from 35,000 sites nationwide, including the depth and temperature of geothermal resources for each state. Those projections, which can be viewed using Google Earth software, suggest there is significantly more potential for geothermal energy than previously believed, particularly in the eastern two-thirds of the nation. While geothermal production in the U.S. has typically been limited to heat-producing, tectonically active regions of the West, recent advancements in drilling and extraction technologies have made it possible to tap into a wider range of geologic regions. The study was funded by Google’s non-profit arm, Google.org.
25 Oct 2011:
China to Invest $90 Billion
In Smart Grid Technologies by 2020
Chinese officials have outlined plans to invest nearly $500 billion in electric power infrastructure — including roughly $90 billion in smart grid technologies — by 2020, a strategy experts say could significantly improve the nation’s energy efficiency and cement a dominant position in the smart grid market. According to a report by the Center for American Progress, Chinese leaders view smart grid technology as “the next industrial revolution,” and see an opportunity to emerge as the world leader in the supply chain for smart grid equipment and technology. Using increasingly sophisticated sensors, computers, and wireless devices, smart grid technology is able to transmit and distribute electricity more efficiently to customers and adapt operations to fit changing conditions, from shifting weather to user demand. Experts say this ability will become increasingly critical as renewable energy technologies are integrated into energy delivery networks. That is particularly true in China, where energy demand continues to increase and government leaders have set a target of obtaining 9.5 percent of total electricity production from renewable sources by 2015.25 Oct 2011:
More than 3.8 Million Trees
Cut Annually for Disposable Chopsticks
A published report calculates that about 3.8 million trees in China are cut annually for the production of disposable chopsticks, contributing to the loss of China’s 
Disposable chopsticks
24 Oct 2011:
Study Offers New Insights
Into Planting Flood-Tolerant Crops
Scientists say they have identified the molecular mechanism that enables plants to detect and cope with low oxygen levels that occur when roots or shoots are 
University of Nottingham
Water added to the Arabidopsis plant
24 Oct 2011:
Automated Vehicle Innovations
May Hold Promise Of Greater Fuel Efficiency
An industry push to design vehicles that can drive themselves to make them safer and more convenient could offer the added benefit of making them more fuel efficient, researchers say. By the end of the decade, consumers could see partially automated vehicles in which the vehicle’s electromechanical system controls the steering and acceleration, essentially taking the steering wheel out of the driver’s hands and assuring better fuel management, Nady Boules, director of GM’s Electrical and Controls Integration Lab, told MIT’s Technology Review. Some vehicles already include systems that prompt drivers to control their acceleration to encourage greater fuel efficiency. But the real fuel benefits will arrive with the emergence of fully automated vehicles that will increasingly rely on a complex system of sensors, control systems, computers, and communication with external sources, Boules said. Possible innovations, which are currently being researched, include the development of vehicles that can park themselves — allowing drivers to avoid driving around the block searching for a spot — and vehicle-to-vehicle communication that would allow highway drivers to travel close together at consistent speeds to reduce fuel consumption.
21 Oct 2011:
Database Highlights Projects
That Convert Runoff into Public Resources
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has launched a public database of 479 projects that use green infrastructure techniques to divert and process urban stormwater before it reaches rivers, lakes, estuaries and other waterways. By using such methods as rain gardens, green roofs, and bioretention — which replicates the uptake and storage of chemicals and sediment by wetlands — designers say the projects have improved the quality of water in their cities and towns, while converting urban stormwater into a valuable resource for communities. Most of the projects listed — including the restoration of an Atlanta brownfield site into a public park and the transformation of a dilapidated Bronx playground into a recreation area that captures and filters stormwater — represent redevelopment or retrofits that have returned unproductive or out-of-use space to the public. Significantly, ASLA found that the deployment of such “green infrastructure” strategies tended to lower development costs, primarily by doing away with expensive, hard runoff-treatment options.
21 Oct 2011:
NASA Videos Give Virtual
Tour of Earth’s Fires from Space
NASA has released a series of videos illustrating the tens of millions of fires that have occurred worldwide over the last decade, from the seasonal burns that torch
stretches of African savanna each year to the rampant fires that devastated western Russia in 2010. The visualizations — which were created using satellite data, aircraft and ground resources, and NASA’s MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) technology — provide a glimpse of the huge impact that fires have on the global environment each year. They also provide critical insights into where and how the distribution of fires is responding to climate change and population growth, says Chris Justice, a University of Maryland researcher who leads the project for NASA. One video takes viewers on a narrated virtual tour of major fires detected between July 2002 and July 2011, panning from wildfires in Australia’s grasslands, to massive agricultural fires in China, to the path of destructive flames that burned across Europe and western Russia.
20 Oct 2011:
Waterways Emit More CO2
Than Previously Believed, Study Says
Rivers and streams in the U.S. release substantially more carbon into the atmosphere than previously assumed, a new study finds. According to the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, a significant amount of carbon absorbed by plants and trees ends up in waterways before ultimately being released into the atmosphere. Using geospatial data to model the movement of carbon dioxide from more than 4,000 rivers and streams across the U.S., researchers calculated that the CO2 emitted from waterways is roughly the same as burning 40 billion gallons of gasoline. “These rivers breathe a lot of carbon,” said David Butman of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and co-author of the study. According to researchers, the findings should alter the way scientists model how carbon is cycled at regional and global levels.
20 Oct 2011:
Americans Think U.S. Headed
Wrong Way on Energy, New Poll Finds
The vast majority of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction when it comes to energy policy and want more leadership when it comes to dealing with future needs, according to a new poll. In survey of 3,406 Americans conducted by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, less than 14 percent of respondents said they think the country is headed in the right direction on energy, with 76 percent saying they are worried about the nation’s lack of progress on energy efficiency and development of renewable energy sources. Eighty-four percent said they were worried about the nation’s reliance on foreign oil. When asked to rate the performance of numerous institutions and individuals, respondents were most satisfied with their own personal performances, followed by scientists and engineers, and then research institutions. They were least satisfied with the government and business leaders; Congress ranked last with only 8 percent of respondents calling its performance satisfactory.19 Oct 2011:
Trawlers Kill 2,000 Sharks
For Fins in Colombian Marine Sanctuary
As many as 2,000 sharks have been slaughtered for their fins in the protected waters of Colombia’s Malpelo wildlife sanctuary, government officials say. A team of researchers studying sharks in the region reportedly witnessed a fleet of about 10 fishing trawlers in the waters around Malpelo, a rock island about 500 kilometers from the mainland. “When the divers dove, they started finding a large number of animals without their fins,” said Sandra Bessudo, environmental advisor to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. “They didn’t see any alive.” A Colombian navy ship later reported seizing an Ecuadorian fishing boat containing an illegal catch, including sharks and other species. The remote 8,570-square-kilometer sanctuary — which is home to hammerhead, Galápagos, and whale sharks — attracts illegal fishing boats that trap the sharks and strip their fins, before dropping them back into the water. In Hong Kong, where shark fin soup is considered a delicacy, 22 million pounds of shark fins are traded annually and a bowl of soup can fetch £63.19 Oct 2011:
Earth’s Coldest Regions
Have Best Solar Potential, Study Says
Some of the coldest places on Earth, including the high altitudes of the southern Andes and the Himalaya, could also have the best potential for solar power using
photovoltaic technology, a new study finds. In a global assessment of photovoltaic potential, researchers found that high-altitude regions could generate high levels of solar power not just because they are sunny — and thus are exposed to high levels of solar irradiation — but also because the low temperatures actually improve the performance of some solar panel technologies. For example, developing solar plants within just 4 percent of the Himalaya’s high-potential region — or about 12,000 square kilometers — could provide enough power for all of China, according to the study. While the high cost of installing solar plants in these remote regions would currently make large-scale projects impractical, the results could provide an incentive for small-scale projects in remote, rural areas, said Kotaro Kawajiri of Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and lead author of the study published in Environmental Science & Technology.
Interview: An Activist Who
Is Riling Up His Green Allies
In his new book, The God Species: Saving the Planet in the Age of Humans, British journalist and environmental activist Mark Lynas argues that the 
Mark LynasRead the interview
18 Oct 2011:
Study of CO2 ‘Supply Line’
Urges Carbon Price at Point of Extraction
A study quantifying each nation’s contribution to global carbon emissions based on its role in the supply chain of energy production — from resource mining to burning of fuels — suggests that pricing carbon at the point of extraction would simplify global efforts to curb emissions. In an analysis of global data on the trade of fossil energy resources, researchers found that extraction is highly concentrated, with seven nations (China, the U.S., Russia, Canada, Australia, India, and Norway) and the Middle East accounting for more than two-thirds of the world’s resources of oil, gas, and coal. According to the authors, enacting carbon pricing mechanisms at the point of extraction would prevent the relocation of industries, which would likely occur if regulations were put in place at the point of combustion. While the manufacture of products may shift from one country to another, they say, fossil fuel resources are geographically fixed. “No emissions exist in isolation, and everyone along the supply chain benefits from carbon-based fuels,” said Steven Davis, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science and one of the study's authors. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.18 Oct 2011:
Bluefin Tuna Trade Exceeded
Legal Quotas by 141 Percent, Study Says
A new analysis commissioned by the Pew Environment Group has found that the amount of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna traded on the global market last year 
Getty Images
17 Oct 2011:
‘Fertilizer’ Trees Provide
Boost to African Crop Yields, Study Says
The planting of so-called “fertilizer trees,” indigenous tree species that draw nitrogen from the air and replenish the soil, has significantly improved the crop yields in five African nations over the last two decades, researchers say. Since the 1980s, when the World Agroforestry Centre started working with local farmers to identify trees that can help improve soil fertility, more than 400,000 small farmers in parts of Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have planted these “fertilizer” trees, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. In some cases, farmers who have planted these tree species — including fast-growing varieties of acacia — had twice the maize yields as those who did not, increasing incomes and food security. In Zambia, for instance, the income for farmers using fertilizer trees were $233 to $327 per hectare, compared with $130 for unfertilized fields. Across the region, the higher yields produced 57 to 114 additional days of food. The trees also improved water efficiency, said Oluyede Ajayi, senior scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre and lead author of the study. “The trees are helping reduce the runoff and soil erosion that is a key factor behind food production shortfalls in Africa,” he said. 17 Oct 2011:
U.S. Water Agencies Eye
Water Alternatives Across Mexico Border
Four water districts in the western U.S. are working with Mexican officials to develop two huge desalination plants in Playas de Rosarito, a coastal city located in the Mexican state of Baja California, as communities on both sides of the border look to wean themselves from the drought-prone Colorado River. One group — including the water agencies that provide water to much of Southern California, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Tijuana — is now studying the costs of a plant that would provide about 50 million gallons daily, while a second project would provide nearly 100 million gallons daily to the U.S. via a new pipeline, with operation set to begin in 2014. While some environmental groups have expressed concerns about the proposals, including charges that American water agencies are targeting Mexico to avoid stricter U.S. review, proponents say the plants could provide a freshwater alternative to the Colorado River, which for decades has been the lifeblood for seven U.S. states and northwest Mexico but has been running increasingly low in recent years as a result of rising demand.14 Oct 2011:
Electricity from Cow Manure
Has Market Potential, Case Study Says
A case study in Vermont suggests that it is economically feasible for dairy farms to convert cow manure into electricity using anaerobic methane digestion, provided 
Shutterstock
14 Oct 2011:
Ocean Changes Could Diminish
Phytoplankton’s Role as Carbon Sink
Warming seawater temperatures and ocean acidification could diminish the capacity of a critical species of phytoplankton to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in the deep ocean, the world’s biggest carbon sink, according to a new study. Under typical conditions, the phytoplankton Emiliania huxleyi develops plates of calcified armor called coccoliths while floating in the ocean’s upper layers before eventually sinking, a process responsible for about 80 percent of inorganic carbons trapped at the bottom of the sea. In a study published in the journal Global Change Biology, researchers at San Francisco State University found that exposure to higher levels of carbon dioxide, which makes seawater more acidic, and higher ammonium levels altered the phytoplankton’s biology and growth. Signficantly, they found that the coccoliths formed under those conditions were “incomplete or hollow,” containing lower amounts of inorganic carbon and making them less likely to sink. “Without this, the carbon is more likely to be recycled into the Earth’s atmosphere,” said Jonathon Stillman, an assistant professor of biology and lead author of the study.
13 Oct 2011:
Offshore Wind Projects
Moving Forward Along U.S. East Coast
Two U.S. energy companies attempting to build the nation’s first offshore wind farms reported progress on their plans at an industry conference this week, providing hope for an industry still trying to assert itself in the U.S. energy market. Speaking at the American Wind Energy Association’s annual conference, Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind unveiled plans to buy five, six-megawatt turbines built by Siemens for a proposed $205 million wind farm near Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island. “Believe it or not, the first offshore wind farm will probably happen in little Rhode Island,” CEO William Moore told Reuters. However, Fishermen’s Energy, which hopes to take advantage of a federal subsidy that may expire, announced it is targeting a 2011 ground-breaking for its own six-turbine farm off Atlantic City, New Jersey. Perhaps the biggest development for the industry, however, is progress on a proposed undersea transmission line that would link future offshore wind farms along the mid-Atlantic coast.
13 Oct 2011:
Five-point Plan Proposed
To Feed World in a Sustainable Fashion
An international team of scientists has unveiled a plan that they say would double food production by 2050 while reducing the global environmental impact of agriculture. Reporting in the journal Nature, scientists from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Germany said that the only way the world community could sustainably feed the estimated 9 billion to 10 billion people expected on the planet later this century would be by taking the five following steps: halt expansion of farmland into tropical forests and wild lands; more efficiently use large swaths of underutilized farmland in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, boosting current food production by nearly 60 percent; make more efficient use of water, fertilizers, and chemicals, which are currently overutilized in some areas and underutilized in others; shift diets, especially in the developed world, from excessive meat consumption; and reduce the amount of food that is discarded, spoiled, or eaten by pests, which currently amounts to about a third of the food supply. “For the first time we have shown that it is possible to both feed a hungry world and protect a threatened planet,” said the study's lead author, Jonathan Foley, of the University of Minnesota.12 Oct 2011:
Global Meat Production
Increased 20 Percent Since 2000, Report Says
Global meat production has grown by 20 percent in the last decade and tripled since 1970, increases that have far exceeded the rate of population growth during the same periods and pose significant threats to the environment, the economy, and public health, a new report says. According to the Worldwatch Institute report, much of that growth is due to the rise of large-scale factory farming in developing countries such as China. Such industrial-scale farming not only poses health risks to livestock and ultimately introduces massive amounts of antibiotics into the environment, it also generates significant emissions of potent greenhouse gases, including methane and nitrous oxide, the report says. Earlier reports have found that livestock operations account for as much as 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. While the new report says people in the developed world consume more than twice as much meat as those living in developing nations (80 kilograms annually per person, compared with 32 kilograms), it predicts that demand for livestock products in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia will nearly double by 2050.
12 Oct 2011:
Australia Edges Closer
To Carbon Tax After Key Vote
The Australian government has taken a critical step toward adopting a tax on carbon emissions, with the lower house of Parliament approving the controversial plan by a narrow margin. The bill, which survived a late push by opponents to delay a vote, would require the nation’s 500 biggest carbon emitters to pay a price of 23 Australian dollars ($23 U.S.) per ton of carbon. Most of the biggest emitters are electricity generators, heavy industry manufacturers, and mining companies. While the initiative will increase living costs for the average household by about $9.90 per week — including $3.30 for electricity — advocates of the plan say those hardships will be offset by reductions to the income tax and other benefits increases. The measure, which has been aggressively pushed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, is expected to pass the Senate with ease sometime next month. If approved, Australia would become the first nation to impose a direct tax on carbon, as opposed to an emissions trading scheme like the one now in effect in the European Union.
Interview: The Unthinkable Option
Of Engineering the Earth’s Climate
A blue-ribbon U.S. panel recently called for a concerted effort to study proposals to manipulate the climate to slow global warming — a heretical notion 
LLNL
Jane LongRead the interview
11 Oct 2011:
Rising Gold Prices Drive
Rampant Clearing of Peruvian Amazon
The spread of illegal gold mining in southern Peru has driven a growth in deforestation so rampant that government officials may declare an environmental emergency, according to a news report. As the global price of gold has climbed, mining operations in the Amazon have extended into the fringes of Tambopata Nature Reserve, an important region for ecotourism, with miners beginning operations without necessary permits, according Mongabay.com. In some cases, miners have started operations within the reserve itself, using dredges and massive suction equipment to search for gold in rivers and creeks. Ecologists warn that enormous swaths of remote and biodiverse forest are being cleared before scientists have even been able to completely assess their value. “This [area] is often blanketed in clouds. It’s poorly known to science,” said ecologist Gregory Asner of the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University. “We don’t know the composition of the ecosystems.” 
11 Oct 2011:
Virgin Plans Flights
Using Fuel from Industrial Waste
Virgin Atlantic Airways has announced plans to fly commercial routes using a waste-based, synthetic gas fuel that produces half the carbon emissions of the typical jet fuel. Using technologies developed by partners LanzaTech and Swedish Biofuels, Virgin says it will capture and chemically treat gas waste from industrial steel production facilities into an ethanol that can be be converted into jet fuel. The company plans to run test flights in New Zealand within the next 18 months and begin commercial operations in China by 2014. LanzaTech, a New Zealand-based biotechnology firm, estimates that the process will be able to utilize gas waste from 65 percent of the world’s steel mills. In addition to using waste that would otherwise be burned, the technology would not rely on agricultural biofuels that could drive up global food costs. “With oil running out, it is important that new fuel solutions are sustainable,” said Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, “and with the steel industry alone able to deliver over 15 billion gallons of jet fuel annually, the potential is very exciting.”
10 Oct 2011:
Urban Growth in China
Will Test Social Welfare System, Report Says
A new report predicts that more than 100 million people will move from China’s countryside into cities and towns over the next decade, a wave of urbanization that could strain the nation’s social welfare system. According to the government’s National Population and Family Planning Commission, China’s total urban population will likely reach more than 800 million by 2020, compared with about 670 million in 2010, as an increasing number of rural residents seek higher incomes in China’s cities. The report, based on a survey of migrant populations in 106 cities, warns that China’s “overall urban capacity” must be strengthened to handle such a surge in population. Even after migrant workers move into cities and towns, they are typically still registered as rural residents, and thus receive little or no social security and must pay high fees to send their children to public schools. “The migrant population strongly desires to be absorbed into the areas where they live, but there is a stark conflict between supply and demand of urban public services,” the report warns.10 Oct 2011:
Amazon Drought Released
More CO2 than India’s Annual Emissions
A drought that affected large areas of the Amazon rainforest in 2010 triggered the release of about 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide, more than the total annual CO2 emissions of India, according to a new 
Environmental Research Letters
Decline in Amazonian forest net primary production, 2008-2010
07 Oct 2011:
Europeans View Climate Change
As Second-Biggest Threat, Poll Finds
Europeans believe climate change is an even greater threat than the current economic crisis, and second worldwide only to poverty, a new poll says. According to the Eurobarometer poll, which was conducted in June, 89 percent of respondents said climate change is a “serious” problem, while 68 percent consider it a “very serious” problem, up from 64 percent in 2009. Twenty percent said it is the most important problem facing the planet. Nearly eight in 10 said addressing climate issues could provide an economic boost and create jobs, with more than two-thirds (68 percent) supporting tax-supported initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The poll was commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action. While numerous U.S. polls have shown declining public concern about climate change over the last three years, a poll released by Reuters/Ipsos in September found that the percentage of Americans who believe the climate is warming had increased from 75 percent to 83 percent during the previous year, a shift that followed one of the warmest summers in U.S. history.
07 Oct 2011:
Desalination Equipment Rushed
to Drought-Stricken Pacific Nation
Military airplanes from Australia and New Zealand are delivering a large desalination unit to the drought-stricken Pacific nation of Tuvalu, where water supplies have nearly run dry after six months without rain. The tiny island nation, which has a population of about 11,000 people, has declared a state of emergency, with officials predicting that drinking water could run out within days. In addition to record drought conditions caused by the La Nina weather phenomenon, officials say rising seas have contaminated groundwater supplies. While New Zealand had already sent desalination equipment to the remote island nation, its foreign minister said more capacity is needed to meet the nation’s needs. On the main island of Funafuti, where the majority of the population lives, water is already being rationed. “At present the two operating desalination plants at Funafuti are producing a combined volume of 43,000 liters a day,” said New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully. “The minimum requirement for the 5,300 residents is 79,500 liters a day.” The Australian government has also sent 1,000 rehydration packs for Tuvalu’s hospitals and provided money to fuel the desalination plants. 06 Oct 2011:
Green Buildings in Europe
To Quadruple by 2016, Report Says
European mandates for improved energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions will help drive a steep growth in the market for green construction in the coming years, with the amount of certified green building space projected to nearly quadruple by 2016, according to a new market study. With all new building construction and major renovations subject to nearly zero-energy standards by 2020, a report from U.S.-based Pike Research projects that the percentage of total building space certified as green will increase from less than 1 percent to more than 2 percent, to 687 million square meters. That market will largely be shaped by ambitious European Union targets, including a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all buildings by 20 percent by 2020, increase the use of renewable energy sources by 20 percent, and reduce overall energy consumption by 20 percent. Another critical factor, however, will be unstable energy costs, the report says. “Price volatility and future carbon legislation present significant risks to organizations as future energy costs could rise unpredictably,” said Eric Bloom, a senior research analyst. The largest markets for green construction in Europe will be France and Germany, according to the report.06 Oct 2011:
New Arctic Survey Reveals
Sharp Decline in Old, Thick Sea Ice
A four month sea-ice survey conducted across the central Arctic Ocean this summer has revealed a steep decline in thick, multi-year sea ice, with large areas once composed of thicker ice floes now covered with thin
AWI/Ingo Arndt
The research vessel Polarstern
05 Oct 2011:
European Commission Could Ban
Oil From Tar Sands and Other ‘Dirty’ Sources
The European Union says crude oil extracted from Alberta’s tar sands should be ranked as a dirtier fuel source than oil tapped from conventional oil wells, a move that could effectively ban the import of the controversial oil. The European Commission endorsed a measure that would essentially rate fossil fuels based on the CO2 emited during extraction, refining, and combustion. The EU has proposed that tar sands oil be ascribed a greenhouse gas value of 107 grams per megajoule of fuel, compared with 87.5 grams for ordinary crude oil. “With this measure, we are sending a clear signal to fossil fuel suppliers,” said Connie Hedegaard, the EU's climate change commissioner. “As fossil fuels will be a reality in the foreseeable future, it’s important to give them the right value.” Such a ratings system may eventually be applied to natural gas extracted from shale oil formations. The exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands has generated increasing protest from environmental groups. In addition to destroying large swaths of forest, the extraction and processing of the sludgy bituminous material typically requires more energy and water than conventional production.
05 Oct 2011:
China’s CO2 Emissions Growth
Mainly Driven By Construction, Study Says
A new study says the explosive growth in China’s construction sector is now driving the country’s steep increase in carbon emissions, reversing a long-term trend in which consumption and exports were the dominant factors. According to the study, published in journal Environmental Science & Technology, increased capital investment in infrastructure projects has fueled an expansion of the energy-intensive construction industry in recent years. Until 2002, the most critical factor driving Chinese CO2 emissions was the growth of consumption and factory production for exports, said Jan C. Minx of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and lead author of the study. From 2002 to 2007, however, researchers found that improved energy efficiency actually offset the rise in emissions from increased consumption. But emissions continued to skyrocket during that period — with the average annual CO2 emissions growth rivaling the UK’s total CO2 emissions— largely because of growth in the construction sector and related energy-intensive products such as steel and concrete.04 Oct 2011:
Pacific Nation Creates
World’s Largest Shark Sanctuary
The Marshall Islands, a small archipelago nation in the Pacific Ocean, has established what will become the world’s largest shark sanctuary, banning commercial shark fishing across 750,000 square miles of ocean — an area eight times as large as the UK — and outlawing the trade in shark products. In addition to a ban on shark fishing, the legislation bans the use of certain fishing gear in national waters. Government leaders say protection of sharks and rays is critical to the small nation’s tourism-driven economy. “There is no greater statement we can make about the importance of sharks to our culture, environment and economy,” said Senator Tony deBrum, a member of the Marshall Islands parliament and co-sponsor of the legislation. The Marshall Islands follow Palau, which established a nationwide shark sanctuary in 2009. Scientists say that more than a third of the world’s 1,044 shark species are threatened with extinction, with millions of sharks slaughtered annually to feed a thriving global market for their fins, used in shark fin soup. The new protected zone expands the total area worldwide where sharks are protected from 2.7 million square kilometers to 4.6 million square kilometers.
04 Oct 2011:
Panel in U.S. Urges Research
Into Climate Geoengineering Options
A bipartisan panel of scientists, former government officials, and energy experts is urging the U.S. government to explore the potential benefits, costs, and risks of geoengineering schemes to slow global warming. In a new report, the 18-member panel convened by the Washington, D.C.-based Bipartisan Policy Center concedes that the use of technology to slow or reverse global warming — such as scattering light-reflecting aerosols into the atmosphere or seeding the oceans with iron to trigger CO2-absorbing algae blooms — is “no substitute” for cutting carbon dioxide emissions. But with the failure of the U.S. and the international community to take meaningful measures to reduce CO2 emissions, the panel recommends that the U.S. government should begin researching and testing alternatives in case the Earth’s climate system reaches a “tipping point” and immediate remedial action is required. “The federal government is the only entity that has the incentive, responsibility, and capacity to run a broad, systematic, and effective program,” the report says. “It can also play an important role in effectively establishing international research norms.”
03 Oct 2011:
Arctic Ozone Hole
Is Largest Ever Recorded
Scientists say a hole in the Arctic’s protective ozone layer last winter was the largest ever recorded, reaching an extent typically observed above Antarctica. While so-called ozone “holes” have occurred each summer since the mid-1980s over Antarctica — where extreme cold and powerful wind patterns trigger reactions that convert chlorine from human-produced chemicals into ozone-destroying compunds — warmer stratospheric temperatures in the Arctic have typically limited ozone loss. According to a new study, published in the journal Nature, unusually low stratospheric temperatures and powerful high-altitude wind patterns above the Arctic earlier this year created the conditions for an unprecedented ozone hole over northern Russia and parts of Norway and Greenland, exposing populations across the region to high levels of UV radiation. “Arctic ozone loss events such as those observed this year could become more frequent if winter Arctic stratospheric temperatures decrease in future as the Earth’s climate changes,” said Kaley Walker, a University of Toronto physicist who participated in the study.03 Oct 2011:
E-Mails Reflect U.S. Bias
In Favor of Tar Sands Pipeline, Group Says
Environmental groups say newly released e-mails between U.S. State Department officials and a lobbyist for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline reveal a disturbing level of “complicity” and a bias by the regulators who will soon decide the fate of the project. The e-mails, the second batch to be obtained by the group Friends of the Earth through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal at times an almost collaborative relationship between Marja D. Verloop, an energy and environment counselor for the State Department, and Paul Elliott, a lobbyist representing TransCanada, the company looking to build the 1,800-mile pipeline that would deliver crude oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast. In one exchange, Verloop congratulates Elliott over a recent project endorsement by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana). “Go Paul!” she wrote. “Baucus support holds clout.” Damon Moglen, director of climate and energy projects for Friends of the Earth, said the e-mails suggest that the agency sees itself as “a facilitator of TransCanada’s plans.” The State Department, which will have final approval of the pipeline, said in August that the project would have “limited adverse environmental effects” if operated according to regulations. 30 Sep 2011:
Green Coalition Files Lawsuit
Over U.S. Arctic Drilling Approval
A coalition of environmental groups and Alaska natives has filed a lawsuit challenging U.S. approval of Shell Oil’s plans to drill off the Alaska coast. The lawsuit — led by Earthjustice, the Alaska Wilderness League, and the Natural Resource Defense Council — alleges that Shell’s plans to drill three exploratory wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas next year lack an adequate response in the case of an oil spill. “Allowing Shell to drill when it has no credible plan to cleanup an oil spill in the Arctic’s icy waters, and instead simply assumes it can clean up 95 percent of oil spilled isn’t just unrealistic, it’s insulting and irresponsible,” said Holly Harris, an attorney for Earthjustice. The coalition argues that a major spill could devastate polar bears, bowhead whales, and other marine species, and pose a threat to native communities that rely on the Arctic ecosystems. The lawsuit was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Shell officials responded that the chances of a spill during exploration are minimal and that response plans meet federal requirements.30 Sep 2011:
Controversial $3.6 Billion Dam
Shelved by Myanmar Government
The Myanmar government has suspended construction of a controversial $3.6 billion dam project following weeks of protests by opposition forces. The Myitsone dam project, which was being developed in part by Chinese investors, would have flooded about 296 square miles (766 square kilometers), with about 90 percent of the power reportedly destined for export to China. According to reports, President Thein Sein told members of parliament “that his government, being born out of people’s desire, has to act according to the desire of the people.” The dam, which would have been built near the head of the Irrawaddy River, had emerged as a symbol of growing public resentment over China’s increasing influence in Myanmar. Critics argued the project would have disrupted the flow of the Irrawaddy, a lifeline for millions of people, and displaced 12,000 residents from 63 villages.
29 Sep 2011:
New Process Converts
Plastic into Synthetic Crude Oil
A U.S. startup says it has developed a process to convert plastic waste into synthetic crude oil, a system that company officials say will provide a new fuel alternative while also removing massive amounts of industrial and 
Agilyx
Waste plastic ready for processing
29 Sep 2011:
Scientists Identify 8 Changes
That Precipitate Collapse of Coral Reefs
After analyzing data from coral reef systems in the western Indian Ocean, an international team of scientists has documented an eight-step process — much of it linked to overfishing — that leads to reef collapse. The group, which includes researchers from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, said the health of the coral reefs was directly tied to the density of fish in those ecosystems. The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said that thriving, well-protected reefs typically have 1,000 to 1,500 kilograms of fish per hectare, and that as the density drops below 1,000 kilograms, early warning signs appear, including seaweed growth and sea urchin activity. Below a density of 300 kilograms of fish per hectare, reef ecosystems face collapse, the scientists said. Fish are vital to reef ecosystems because they crop back the algae that would otherwise smother the reefs. The study found that reefs where fishing was strictly prohibited were the most healthy and that unprotected reefs fared the worse. But the study concluded even modest restrictions on fishing around reefs can help maintain healthy ecosystems.28 Sep 2011:
Canadian Ice Shelves
Have Lost Half Their Size in Six Years
Canada’s Arctic ice shelves, which extend from land onto the Arctic Ocean, have lost about half of their size in the last six years, according to scientists. Using satellite imagery to monitor ice loss, researchers at Carleton University in Ottawa said the Serson Ice Shelf, which measured 205 square kilometers in 2008, has now broken into two shelves covering a total of just 32 square kilometers. The Ellesmere Island ice shelves, which covered 8,900 square kilometers a century ago and shrunk to 1,043 square kilometers in 2005, now cover just 563 square kilometers. Derek Mueller, a Carleton researcher, says rising temperatures are not only causing the shelves to crack and melt, but also are exposing the shelves to wave action because the pack ice that once surrounded the shelves is disappearing, as well. The shelves have been around thousands of years and are typically more than 125 feet thick. The scientists say that about 3 billion tons of ice have been lost.
28 Sep 2011:
China’s Per Capita Emissions
Could Rival U.S.’s By 2017, Report Predicts
The carbon footprint for the average Chinese individual is quickly approaching levels common in the world’s industrialized nations and, if current trends continue, could match or exceed U.S. levels by 2017, a new report says. Since 1990, CO2 emissions in China have increased from 2.2 tons per capita to 6.8 tons, roughly equal to those in Italy and greater than in France, according to a report conducted by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and sponsored by the European Commission. During that period, CO2 emissions in the U.S. decreased from 19.7 tons per capita to about 16.9 tons, according to the report. While China passed the U.S. as the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2007 — and has doubled its total carbon emissions since 2003 — Chinese officials have argued that the steep rise is reasonable for a developing nation on a per-person basis. But some conservationists now contend that, based on its CO2 emissions, China should be treated as a developed nation in future climate change talks.27 Sep 2011:
Catch Rates Masked Collapse
Of Two Critical U.S. Fisheries, Study Says
Relatively stable fish catches have masked the collapse of two critical fisheries off the Southern California coast, a new study says. While the catch rates of the barred sand bass and kelp bass — favorites of recreational 
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Kelp bass
27 Sep 2011:
U.S. to Shift More Funds
To Electric Vehicle Technology Research
The U.S. Department of Energy is expected to shift more of its research spending into the development of electric vehicle technologies, a strategy that officials hope will significantly reduce oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades. The new strategy, which is to be announced today by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, comes as the Obama administration endures heated criticism over its clean energy initiatives following the failure of the solar company Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy despite receiving more than $500 million from the government. “Currently [the Energy Department] focuses too much effort on researching technologies that are multiple generations away from practical use,” according to the government’s first-ever Quadrennial Technology Review. According to the review, which prioritized research that can be developed within a decade, the Energy Department “underinvested” in transportation, with only 26 percent of its $3 billion research budget targeting that sector. According to the review, government spending will now target technologies that do not require new fueling infrastructure, and will focus on advanced biofuels for heavy-duty trucks rather.26 Sep 2011:
Major Rivers Have Enough Water
to Sustain Growing Populations, Study Says
A new study says the world’s major river systems contain more than enough water to meet global food production needs in the 21st century. Following a five-year study of 10 river basins — including the Nile, Ganges, Andes, Yellow, and Niger — scientists with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) found that the greatest water challenge facing the planet is not scarcity but the inefficient and inequitable distribution of water. “Huge volumes of rainwater are lost or never used,” said Alain Vidal, director of CGIAR’s Challenge Program on Water and Food. In regions of sub-Saharan Africa, he said, even “modest” improvements in rainwater harvesting could yield two to three times more food production. Elsewhere, regions in Asia and Latin America exist where food production could be increased by at least 10 percent, according to the report, which is published in the journal Water International. According to a recent UN report, global food output will have to increase 70 percent by 2050 to feed a growing world population.26 Sep 2011:
Wangari Maathai, Nobel Laureate
And Environmental Activist, Is Dead at 71
Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist whose advocacy for social justice and ecosystem preservation in post-colonial Africa earned her the 2004 Nobel Peace 
Getty Images
Wangari Maathai
23 Sep 2011:
Arctic Shipping Route
Will Soon Rival Suez Canal, Putin Says
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says that his country’s Northern Sea Route across the increasingly ice-free Arctic Ocean will soon rival the Suez Canal as a global trade route. “The shortest route between Europe’s largest markets and the Asia-Pacific region lies across the Arctic,” Putin told the Arctic Forum, a conference meeting in the White Sea port of Arkhangelsk. “I want to stress the importance of the Northern Sea Route as an international transport artery that will rival traditional trade lanes.” Putin noted that with the northern trade route now largely ice-free in summer, the number of test runs along the route is increasing. Last month, a tanker traveling from the U.S. to Thailand navigated the Northern Sea Route in a record eight days, and a vessel carrying 120,000 tons of natural gas condensate became the largest vessel ever to make the crossing. Requests for Russia’s nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet to escort ships across the Arctic increased from four in 2010 to 15 this summer. “I have no doubt this is just the beginning,” said Putin, noting that a voyage across the Northern Sea Route from Europe to Asia is a third shorter than traveling through the Suez Canal. But environmentalists warn that a shipping rush in pristine Arctic waters poses serious environmental threats, and that Russia and other Arctic nations must vastly upgrade their ability to react to oil spills and other maritime accidents.23 Sep 2011:
Nitrogen Pollution Soaring
In Waters Off of China, Study Shows
Levels of nitrogen in the East China Sea, Yellow Sea, and Sea of Japan have risen sharply over the last 30 years because of growing industrial and agricultural pollution, according to a new study in the journal Science. Analyzing data from the 1980s to the present, Korean researchers found that nitrogen levels had quadrupled in many areas, increasing the threat that these Pacific Ocean waters will suffer from algal blooms and dead zones with low oxygen levels. Nitrogen pollution was particularly acute in the waters close to China, where nitrogen oxide pollution from coal-burning power plants and nitrogen runoff from fertilizers have soared in recent decades as China’s economy has boomed. In one area, the Korean researchers measured nitrogen concentrations of 8 micromoles per liter of water — 30 times higher than concentrations found in the Gulf of Mexico, which has experienced massive algal blooms in recent years. The Korean scientists said they were surprised to see high nitrogen levels in such large, deep bodies of water as the Sea of Japan, adding that their results offered evidence that growing nitrogen pollution is altering the chemical balance of the oceans. Algal blooms have also plagued many inland bodies of water in China.22 Sep 2011:
Camera Traps in Sumatra
Depict Vibrant Diversity of Rainforest
Using camera traps deployed in the rainforests of Leuser in northern Sumatra, conservationists are amassing a video inventory of the rich biodiversity in a region increasingly imperiled by logging, palm oil plantations, and poaching. The ten cameras, which were installed in June and will be checked monthly as part of the so-called Eyes on Leuser project, have already captured stunning video footage of 26 species, including rare Sumatran tigers, muddy Eurasian pigs, a Great Argus pheasant displaying its vibrantly colored feathers, and nocturnal animals rarely filmed in the wild. The project was initiated by Dutch conservationist Marten Slothouwer in cooperation with the Leuser Ecosystem Management Authority, an organization created by the governor of Aceh Province to help preserve the Leuser rainforests in the face of growing development pressures.
22 Sep 2011:
CO2 Emissions Soared
45 Percent from 1990 to 2010, Report Says
Global carbon dioxide emissions increased by 45 percent between 1990 and 2010, reaching a record high 33 billion tons last year, according to a report by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center. The report said that increased energy efficiency, renewable energy, and nuclear power are not compensating for a surge in emissions from developing countries, most notably China — with a 257 percent increase in CO2 emissions from 1990 to 210 — and India, whose emissions increased by 180 percent. By contrast, the European Union’s emissions declined by 7 percent from 1990 to 2010, and Russia’s dropped 27 percent. U.S. emissions increased by 5 percent from 1990 to 2010. After a slowdown in CO2 emissions at the height of the recession in 2008 and 2009, global emissions saw a record-breaking increase of 5.8 percent from 2009 to 2010, the report said. Meanwhile, a study in the journal Climate Change Letters said that even if average global temperature increases can be held to 2 degrees C (3.5 F) this century — an increasingly unlikely prospect — 70 to 80 percent of the globe’s land surface will experience summertime temperatures that exceed observed historical extremes in at least half of all years.21 Sep 2011:
Burning Oil from BP Spill
Emitted Millions of Pounds of Black Carbon
The deliberate burning of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster released 1.4 million to 4.6 million pounds of black carbon into the atmosphere during a nine-week period, 
USCG
Smoke billows from controlled burn
21 Sep 2011:
Bowhead Whale Interaction
Made Possible by Melting Arctic Sea Ice
The loss of Arctic sea ice in the Northwest Passage is making it easier for bowhead whale populations from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to interact, according to a new study. Using satellite tags attached to more than 100 whales, researchers at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources confirmed that one whale from the Greenland side of the passage and another from the Alaskan side migrated to the same area north of the Canadian mainland last August as the sea ice neared its annual minimum. According to their findings, published in the journal Biology Letters, the two animals spent 10 days circling the same area of water before swimming back to their native ranges. While fossil records and whale skeletons suggest that bowhead whales from both oceans have migrated across the Arctic Ocean in earlier periods of warming, the satellite tag data is the first direct evidence that whale species from either side of the Arctic have been able to pass through the ice-clogged waterway to mingle. Lead author Mads Peter Heide-Jorgensen said decreasing Arctic sea ice made the migration possible.
20 Sep 2011:
Biodiversity Loss in SE Asia
Highest Among Tropical Regions, Study Says
The forests of Southeast Asia have suffered the greatest biodiversity loss of any tropical region over the last 50 years, according to a study by researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia. According to the study, published in the journal Nature, the region has experienced the highest rates of deforestation for agricultural use, palm oil plantations, timber production, and other human uses, and now has the highest densities of human population among major tropical regions. In an analysis of 138 studies, the Adelaide researchers found that most forms of forest degradation have had an “overwhelmingly” detrimental impact on biodiversity. The authors say the link between human interference and biodiversity loss suggests that restoration or revegetation of disturbed forest is no substitute for maintaining natural, or so-called primary, forests. “We’re kidding ourselves if we think the damage can be reversed,” said Barry Brook, a researcher at the university’s Environment Institute and co-author of the study.
20 Sep 2011:
Global Energy Consumption
To Grow 53 Percent by 2035, Report Says
A new report by the U.S. Energy Information Agency predicts that worldwide energy consumption will surge 53 percent between 2008 and 2035, with China and India accounting for about half of the growth. As their economies continue to expand, China and India are expected to double their energy demand by 2035, and combined they will consume about 31 percent of the world’s energy, according to the report, International Energy Outlook 2011. The report calculates that global energy use, which was about 505 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2008, will rise to 619 quadrillion Btu in 2020 and reach 770 quadrillion Btu in 2035. China, which passed the U.S. as the world’s largest energy consumer in 2009, will use about 68 percent more energy than the U.S. within 25 years. The report says that renewable energy is the fastest growing source of electricity, with an annual growth of about 2.8 percent. By 2035, about 15 percent of the world’s power will come from renewable sources, the report estimates. Eighty percent will come from fossil fuels, especially coal, with China accounting for 76 percent of the world’s projected net increase in coal consumption.
19 Sep 2011:
Chinese Solar Company Vows
Toxic Cleanup After Four-Day Protest
A Chinese solar panel company has apologized for a devastating toxic spill at one of its manufacturing plants in August and vowed to clean up the pollution after four days of protests outside its headquarters. According to reports, solid waste contaminated with high levels of fluoride leaked from a plant owned by JinkoSolar Holding Company in Haining, located about 80 miles southwest of Shanghai, and was swept into a nearby river by heavy rains on Aug. 26. Residents say the pollution caused a massive fish-kill in the river, and that pigs whose sties were washed with river water also died. Following a four-day protest that at times became violent, a JinkoSolar spokesman admitted that the incident occurred and vowed “appropriate” steps to clean up the contamination. “We cannot shirk responsibility for the legal consequences which have come from management slips,” the spokesman, Jing Zhaohui, told a news conference. The demonstrations in response to the spill are the latest example of growing public outrage
over pollution in China. Last month, thousands of demonstrators forced the closure of a paraxylene plant in northeastern China’s Dalian.19 Sep 2011:
30 Million People in Asia
Displaced by Extreme Weather in 2010
More than 30 million people across Asia were displaced by environmental disasters and weather-related events in 2010, a new report warns, and the region will become increasingly vulnerable as the effects of climate change grow. And with the frequency of extreme weather events expected to increase in the coming years — including floods, droughts, and major storms — the Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicts that tens of millions more people across Asia and the Pacific will be forced to migrate to other regions. While it is impossible to predict the scale and scope of the potential threats, governments can identify which areas are most vulnerable and start planning for the effects on services and infrastructure, said Bart W. Edes of the ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department. The cost of adaptation efforts, including construction of sea walls and the restoration of mangrove swamps to reduce storm surges, could exceed $40 billion, the group predicts. But the bank, which is working on developing policy solutions, says the displacement of populations will lead to increasing economic volatility, regional conflict, and human suffering.
16 Sep 2011:
Costs of Solar Installation
Continue to Plummet, U.S. Report Says
The cost of installing solar power in the U.S., which fell by a staggering 17 percent in 2010, is on pace to fall even faster this year, according to a new report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The installation of solar systems on homes and businesses, excluding government incentives, dropped from $7.50 per watt in 2009 to about $6.20 last year, the fastest decrease in the 13 years since the Berkeley Lab started tracking the data. During the first six months of 2011, the cost fell by another 11 percent, the report says. A major factor has been a continued decrease in the price of solar panels since 2008 as a result of increased global competition, including the growth of manufacturing in China. Other associated costs — including construction, wiring, marketing, and other components — have also fallen, the report says. While federal and state incentives cut installation costs by between 25 to 30 percent last year, such subsidies have been declining. The U.S. was the fourth-largest solar market in 2010. Earlier this week, an energy research firm reported that the decreasing cost of panels has spurred a significant increase in the number of planned non-residential projects in the U.S. 16 Sep 2011:
More Americans Believe
Climate is Warming, Poll Finds
A new poll finds that the percentage of Americans who believe that the climate is warming has increased in the past year, a shift in opinion that follows one of the warmest summers in U.S. history and increased debate about climate change among Republican presidential candidates. According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted from Sept. 8 to 12, 83 percent of respondents said they believe the climate is getting warmer, compared with 75 percent last year. Seventy-one percent said they believe human activities are partly or mostly to blame for climate change, while 27 percent said they believe it is the result of natural causes. Stanford University Professor Jon Krosnick said this summer’s wild weather — including prolonged heat waves, droughts in some regions, and flooding in others — is changing public opinion. He also said that discussion of climate issues during recent Republican presidential debates seems to paradoxically have caused more people to believe the climate is warming; most of the Republican candidates have attacked climate science, but Krosnick said those attacks appear to have led more Americans to think about global warming and conclude that, in fact, its is real.15 Sep 2011:
Empire State Building
Becomes The U.S.’s Tallest LEED Structure
The Empire State Building in New York City has been awarded LEED Gold certification following a two-year retrofit that is expected to cut energy use in the landmark building by 38 percent by 2013. Two years 
Wikimedia
Empire State Building
15 Sep 2011:
Evaporation from Trees
Helps Cool the Global Climate, Study Says
Water that evaporates from trees and forests not only has a significant local cooling effect, but also plays a role in cooling the global climate, according to a new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Global Ecology department. Reporting in Environmental Research Letters, the scientists found that evaporation from trees cooled the global climate by causing clouds to form low in the atmosphere, which reflects the sun’s rays back into space. Scientists have long known that evaporation had a local cooling effect, but have been unsure of the global effect of evaporation from trees, since water vapor also acts as a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. But Carnegie scientists devised a climate model on the impact of tree evaporation showing that the overall global impact of evaporation is to stimulate the formation of more low-level clouds. This finding has important implications for land-use decision-making and underscores the importance of preserving forests and planting trees, the researchers said. “This shows us that the evaporation of water from trees and lakes in urban parks, like New York’s Central Park, not only help keep our cities cool, but also helps keep the whole planet cool,” said Carnegie scientist Ken Caldeira.14 Sep 2011:
Majority of Big Companies
Adopt Climate Strategies, Survey Finds
A new survey conducted by the UK-based Carbon Disclosure Project finds that for the first time a majority of the world’s largest public corporations are including steps to combat climate change as part of their business strategies. In a survey of 396 of the world’s 500 largest companies, 68 percent said they now have strategies for dealing with climate change, compared with 48 percent last year. And 45 percent of respondents reported reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as a result of climate strategies, compared with 19 percent last year. The Carbon Disclosure Project also found a correlation between companies with focused carbon strategies and stock market performance, with those companies addressing the issue earning double the average return from 2005 to 2011. “Companies yet to take action on climate change will have to work hard to remain competitive as we head towards an increasingly resource constrained, low-carbon economy,” said Paul Simpson, CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project. The survey found that the energy sector had the lowest proportion of companies setting emissions targets in the latest survey, while the utilities sector delivered the best climate change performance.
14 Sep 2011:
Shift from Coal to Gas
Will Not Slow Warming, Study Says
While a greater reliance on burning natural gas instead of coal would reduce carbon emissions worldwide, it would have a negligible effect on slowing the effects of climate change, according to a U.S. study. Using a series of computer simulations, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) calculated that a partial shift from coal to natural gas worldwide would in fact slightly accelerate climate change through at least 2050. That’s because natural gas contains methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and also because the sulfur particles produced by coal-burning provide a cooling effect for the planet. The NCAR study said that if methane leaks from natural gas drilling are significant, natural gas burning would slightly accelerate warming through 2140. After that, the greater reliance on natural gas would slow the rate of global warming, but only by a few tenths of a degree, the study says. “It would be many decades before [the burning of natural gas] would slow down global warming at all, and even then it would just be making a difference around the edges,” said Tom Wigley, a senior research associate at NCAR.
13 Sep 2011:
Large-Scale Solar Sector
Surges in U.S. as Panel Costs Drop
A steep drop in the cost of solar panels in recent months has spurred a significant increase in the number of planned non-residential projects in the U.S., an energy research company reports. According to Solarbuzz, the number of new, industrial-scale solar projects being planned has increased to 24 gigawatts of solar capacity, up from 17 gigawatts just two months ago. This growth has occurred as the price of solar panels has plunged 25 percent since the beginning of the year, a trend that analysts say is likely to continue. And while the market has crippled some manufacturers who have unable to keep pace — including three major U.S. companies that were forced to file for bankruptcy in recent weeks — it has made solar projects more attractive to many consumers, businesses, and utilities. Citing the latest market data, Solarbuzz identified 1,865 non-residential projects that are either installed, being installed, or in development since Jan. 1, 2010. “Utility expectations for improved installed pricing measured either in per watt peak or kilowatt hour have vastly increased over the past quarter,” said Craig Stevens, president of Solarbuzz.13 Sep 2011:
Major CO2 Storage Project
Planned by U.S. Company in Illinois
The agribusiness giant, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), will soon begin construction on what is expected to be the largest carbon dioxide sequestration project in the U.S. The company will sequester CO2 emitted from a facility that will process corn into ethanol, converting the CO2 to a liquid and then pumping it underground for permanent storage in deep rock reservoirs. ADM executives and officials from the U.S. Department of Energy say the project is critical, since other U.S. experiments with large-scale CO2 sequestration — including one planned by American Electric Power — have been scrapped because of high costs and other issues. “We are developing the model that others will follow,” said Scott McDonald, project manager for ADM’s Illinois project. Should large-scale sequestration prove successful at the ethanol plant, the technology may be used at the many coal-fired power plants in the Midwest, which sit atop similar geological formations as the ADM ethanol plant. Meanwhile, a study by University of Edinburgh scientists of natural CO2 seeps from volcanic regions of Italy shows that, contrary to some fears, there is little danger that leaks of sequestered CO2 pose a threat to human health.12 Sep 2011:
Decades of Deforestation
Contributed to Africa Famine, Group Says
Decades of forest destruction have turned once-productive lands into desert across the Horn of Africa, worsening a devastating famine that has killed tens of thousands of people in Somalia and elsewhere, forestry experts say. A new study by the Center for International Forestry Research, conducted in 25 countries, shows that forests provide about one-quarter of household income for people living in or near them, offering a critical defense against poverty. In parched regions like the Horn of Africa, forests help retain moisture and soil nutrients, providing a defense against wind erosion and a source of food and energy. According to an international coalition, the clear-cutting of forests and degradation of land across the region have done more than the drought to convert once-productive grazing areas into a barren landscape. The group, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, has called for increased investments in reforestation and agroforestry projects across the region, saying similar efforts in Kenya and Niger have revitalized forests and provided critical food and other resources.12 Sep 2011:
Record-low Sea Ice Extent
Was Reached in Arctic Ocean This Summer
European scientists say the extent of Arctic sea ice melt this summer reached a level not observed since satellite tracking began in 1972 and is probably at its lowest level in at least 8,000 years. In an analysis of satellite data, researchers at the University of Bremen in Germany calculated that sea ice covered an area of about 4.24 million square kilometers on Sept. 8. The previous summer minimum occurred in September 2007, when ice covered about 4.27 million square kilometers. While Arctic sea ice melts and refreezes annually, the rate of melt is now twice as great as in 1972, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The NSIDC is expected to release its own data on sea ice extent in the next week. A University of Washington study released last week showed Arctic sea-ice volume has reached its lowest level in recorded history. According to the study, the volume of sea ice last month was about 2,135 cubic miles, roughly half the average volume in 1979. If current trends continue, scientists say the Arctic could be largely ice-free during the summer within three decades.
09 Sep 2011:
Second-Warmest U.S. Summer
Recorded in 2011, Federal Agency Says
U.S. scientists say the summer of 2011 was the nation’s second-warmest on record, with an average temperature of 74.5 degrees F from June through August — about 2.4 degrees higher than long-term averages — and with four states setting new summer records. Heat conditions were particularly blistering during August, with an average temperature of 75.7 degrees F, about 3 degrees warmer than the average between 1901 and 2000, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Across the southern U.S., record temperatures and below-average precipitation combined to create destructive drought conditions, with some areas experiencing a drought of greater intensity — though not yet duration — than during the 1930s and 1950s, according to the Palmer Hydrologic Drought Index. Meanwhile, states across the northeastern U.S. experienced wetter-than-normal conditions in August, with Hurricane Irene contributing to the wettest recorded Augusts for four states — New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire.
09 Sep 2011:
Google Shares Data
On Electricity Use and Emissions
Internet search giant Google says that it consumed about 2.26 billion kilowatt hours of electricity last year, equal to the energy used in 200,000 homes. But while that represents an enormous amount of energy, Google says the services supported by its expanding data centers reduce energy use globally and allow users to improve their own energy efficiency. In its official blog, the company said the typical user of Google’s products — including search, Gmail, and YouTube — uses about 180 watt-hours monthly accessing those services, or less than “a light left on for three hours.” It’s the first time Google has shared information on its energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, an attempt to be more transparent as it expands its data center operations worldwide — including a new center in Finland — and promotes its cloud-based data services. The company also disclosed that it emitted about 1.46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2010, but said that about one-quarter of its electricity came from renewable energy sources. The company also buys carbon offsets for its emissions.08 Sep 2011:
Effects of Greenhouse Gases
Shown in Pole-to-Pole Research Flights
A series of pole-to-pole research flights conducted by U.S. researchers have provided the most comprehensive picture of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and confirmed some of climate scientists’ more dire concerns about human-caused global warming. Using sophisticated instruments capable of detecting a wide range of atmospheric components, scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research found evidence that the melting of Arctic ice is leading to significant releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, and that the releases could have significant impact on the climate. Data collected during the mission, known as HIPPO, also suggests that black carbon particles — released by diesel engines, industrial activities, and fires — are more widely distributed than previously known, particularly in large plumes that travel from Asia, over the central Pacific Ocean, and onto the U.S. West Coast. “Levels were comparable with those measured in megacities such as Houston or Los Angeles,” said Ryan Spackman, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a member of the research team.07 Sep 2011:
Scientists Calls for Ban
On Industrial Deep-Sea Fishing
A new report by a team of international scientists calls for a ban on industrial deep-sea fishing, saying that decades of overexploitation have depleted fish stocks that take longer to recover than other species. The report, published in the journal Marine Policy, says that depletion of global fish stocks near shore has led to increased operations in deeper, unregulated waters. Even at these greater depths, technological innovations have made it easier to locate and harvest productive areas, including the use of massive nets that scrape the sea bottom, decimating fish populations and destroying deep-sea corals. “We’re now fishing in the worst places to fish,” Elliott Norse, president of the Marine Conservation Institute and lead author of the study, told The Washington Post. “These things don’t come back.” The scientists say that some species — such as orange roughy, sablefish, and Patagonian toothfish — can lives for decades or centuries but take many years to reach sexual maturity. According to the UN, the catch of deep-sea fish increased sevenfold from 1960 to 2004.
07 Sep 2011:
New Global Warming Survey
Finds Skepticism Among Tea Party Members
A new survey on U.S. views concerning global warming based on political party affiliation finds agreement across party lines for the need to fund renewable energy research, but wide disparity over whether global warming is even happening. The survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communications — the first to include detailed views of those identifying themselves as Tea Party members — finds that only 34 percent of Tea Party members say they believe global warming is happening, compared to 78 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of independents, and 53 percent of Republicans. In addition, the survey found that Tea Party respondents are much more likely to say they are “very well informed” about global warming than other groups, and are much more likely to say they “do not need any more information” about global warming to make up their minds. A majority in all four groups said they support funding for research into renewable sources of energy, as well as tax rebates for those who buy energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels.
06 Sep 2011:
Debt-Ridden Greece Proposes
Huge Expansion of Solar Power Production
Greek officials are calling for an ambitious expansion of solar power generation in their sunny country, hoping that large-scale production of renewable energy will generate significant revenues and green jobs for the country’s troubled economy. Greek Energy Minister George Papaconstantinou says his country’s solar power plan, Project Helios, would boost Greece’s solar power production from a paltry 206 megawatts today to 2.2 gigawatts by 2020 and up to 10 gigawatts by 2050. Speaking at an energy conference in Germany, Papaconstantinou said Greece is hoping to attract 20 billion euros ($28 billion) in foreign and domestic investment to launch Project Helios, which could export solar-generated electricity to other European states. Papaconstantinou said that the potential for solar power generation in Greece is enormous, as the country enjoys 300 days of sunny weather a year — 50 percent more than Germany. At present, however, Germany’s solar power production is 80 times greater than Greece’s.06 Sep 2011:
Post-Hurricane Irene Sediment
Clouds Hudson River and New York Harbor
This NASA satellite image, taken after Hurricane Irene deluged the New York City area with heavy rains, shows
massive amounts of sediment mixing with the darker waters of New York Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the pale green, brown, and tan sediment visible in this image came from the Hudson River and its tributaries, which drain parts of upstate New York and Vermont that experienced severe flooding. The color of the water varies depending on the amount and type of sediment. A single major event like Irene can move and deposit as much silt, sand, and mud as might occur during several years of regular flow on the Hudson, said David Ralston of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Similar sediment plumes also occurred in Delaware Bay and along the Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina coasts in the storm's aftermath.
02 Sep 2011:
Process Uses Plastic Bottles
To Remove Arsenic from Drinking Water
U.S. researchers say they have developed a simple, inexpensive process that uses common plastic bottles to remove arsenic from drinking water, a problem facing nearly 100 million people in developing nations. In the process, pieces of plastic soda or water bottles are coated with cysteine — an amino acid found in dietary supplements and foods — and dropped into arsenic-contaminated water. After the mixture is stirred, the coated plastic bits grab hold of the arsenic like a magnet, stripping significant levels of the contaminant from the water, said Tsanangurayi Tongesayi, a professor of analytical and environmental chemistry at Monmouth University and leader of the study. During tests, researchers found that they could reduce arsenic levels from 20 parts per billion — or nearly twice the U.S. safe drinking standard — to 0.2 parts per billion. Also, Tongesayi said, the simplicity of the method makes it especially advantageous in regions that do not have access to expensive purification methods. In many parts of the world, arsenic enters drinking water supplies from natural deposits in soil and rock. A 2010 study found that one in five deaths in Bangladesh is associated with exposure to arsenic in the drinking water.02 Sep 2011:
Hobbled U.S. Solar Sector
Puts China in Dominant Global Position
The bankruptcies of three major U.S. solar companies in recent weeks have propelled China into a dominant position in the global market for solar panel production, with the Chinese now commanding nearly three-fifths of the world’s production capacity. While many U.S., Japanese, and European solar companies maintain technological advantages in the increasingly important renewable energy sector, analysts say a combination of low-interest loans, inexpensive land, and massive economies of scale has given China a huge cost advantage. Earlier this week, California-based Solyndra Inc. announced that it was suspending operations and filing for bankruptcy protection because it was unable to compete with larger competitors. Two other U.S. companies, Evergreen Solar and SpectraWatt, also filed for bankruptcy protection in August. The three companies represented about one-fifth of the U.S.’s solar panel manufacturing capacity. Meanwhile, China’s three biggest solar power companies recently announced sales increases of 33 to 63 percent from a year ago. With increased manufacturing capacity worldwide and disappointing demand, prices of solar panels have dropped more than 40 percent in the last year.
01 Sep 2011:
American Pika Holding On
In Southern Rocky Mountains, Study Says
A new study has found that the American pika, a hamster-like mammal whose numbers are plummeting in some mountainous habitats of the U.S. West, is 
Peter Erb
An American pika
01 Sep 2011:
Green Energy Use in Germany
Passes 20 Percent of Total Power Mix
During the first half of 2011, Germany for the first time generated more than 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, a new report says. While the country’s total electricity demand remained stable during the first six months of 2011, the share generated by renewable sources increased from 18.3 percent to 20.8 percent, according to the German Association of Energy and Water Industries. That increase provides a boost to government initiatives to produce 35 percent of the country’s electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020, while phasing out all of the nation’s nuclear reactors, an aggressive target announced after the Fukushima disaster in Japan. According to the report, wind power increased to 20.7 billion kilowatt hours, or about 7.5 percent of total usage, while biomass accounted for 5.6 percent and hydroelectric energy provided 3.3 percent. But the most significant increase was for photovoltaic solar, which increased more than 76 percent since the first half of 2010, generating 3.5 percent of electricity production.31 Aug 2011:
Invasive Beetle Threatens
New England Maple Forests, Study Says
Invasive beetles that have infested maple trees in U.S. cities could pose a threat to New England’s iconic hardwood forests, a new study says. While earlier outbreaks of the Asian longhorned beetle have occurred on tree-lined streets in city neighborhoods, including in Chicago, New York and Boston, the study by U.S. researchers says the pests could disperse into natural forest landscapes. While the insect feeds on numerous types of hardwood trees in urban areas, in forests it disproportionately attacks maples, researchers say. In 2008, scientists first detected the beetle in Worcester, Mass., a city surrounded by heavily wooded forest that is part of a corridor stretching from New York to Vermont and Maine. Since then, foresters have established a 98-square-mile containment area to prevent the spread of the beetle. “The [beetle] apparently has been in the Worcester area for at least 10 years, and, undetected, could have easily spread to even larger tracts of continuous forest,” said David A. Orwig, a forest ecologist at the National Science Foundation’s Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research site and co-author of the study, published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research.31 Aug 2011:
First New U.S. Bird Species
Identified in Decades May Be Extinct
Scientists have been able to confirm the first new bird species identified in the U.S. in nearly four decades, but say the tiny seabird discovered in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands may have gone extinct since its last sighting. Using DNA tests on a single sample found at 
Reginald David/Smithsonian Institution
The P. bryani, in its last known sighting
30 Aug 2011:
UK Bank Launches Fund to
Help Farmers Tap into Renewable Energy
The UK-based bank Barclays has launched a £100 million fund ($163 million) to help farmers finance renewable energy projects on their land after a survey found growing interest among farm owners in installing 
Getty Images
30 Aug 2011:
Deforestation Rates Higher
In ‘Protected’ Forests, Study Says
A new study says deforestation rates in tropical forests designated as “protected” areas are typically much higher than in community-managed forests. In a comparison of recent studies covering 40 protected areas and 33 community forests in 16 countries — including 11 in Latin America, three in Asia, and two in Africa — researchers found that protected areas lost an average of 1.47 percent of forest cover annually while community-managed forests lost only about 0.24 percent per year. “Our findings suggest that a forest put away behind a fence and designated ‘protected’ doesn’t necessarily guarantee that canopy cover will be maintained over the long term compared to forests managed by local communities,” said Manuel Guariguata, a senior scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research and co-author of the study, published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. While the researchers do not contend that the designation of forest areas as protected is “useless,” they say the evidence suggests community-based efforts can lead to increased local participation, reduced poverty, and greater economic opportunities and are a key part of forest conservation efforts globally. 29 Aug 2011:
Tar Sands Pipeline Passes
Key Hurdle as Protests in D.C. Continue
A controversial 1,711-mile pipeline that would link Canada’s tar sands to refineries in Texas and the Gulf Coast has passed a critical hurdle, even as environmental advocates continue to demonstrate outside the White House in opposition to the project. While the project must still must pass several key steps, State Department officials said Friday that the owners of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada, had agreed to take steps to minimize the risks of spill, and many expect the Obama administration to approve the project in some form by the end of the year. The State Department report, which said the project would not cause significant environmental damage, falls short of addressing concerns by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about the effects on air quality, drinking water, and endangered species. Environmental advocates have condemned the project, saying it will commit the U.S. to a dirty form of oil and pose ecological risks across the length of the pipeline for decades to come. Nearly 400 protesters have been arrested so far in the ongoing demonstration in Washington, D.C., including activist Bill McKibben and longtime environmental leader James Gustave Speth.29 Aug 2011:
Preserving 4 Percent of Ocean
Would Benefit Most Marine Mammal Species
A new study says the preservation of just 4 percent of the world’s oceans would protect critical habitat for most of the world’s marine mammal species. After comparing maps of where each of the planet’s 129 marine mammal 
NOAA
A humpback whale
26 Aug 2011:
Open Source Ecology Project
Targets Blueprint for Sustainable World
A team of U.S. volunteers is developing an open-source database they say will ultimately provide a do-it-yourself guide on how to construct each of the 50 industrial machines needed “to build a small civilization with modern comforts.” Launched in 2003 by Marcin Jakubowski, who describes himself as a “self-made industrial engineer,” the Open Source Ecology project so far has made prototypes of eight of the 50 machines, including a high-volume brick press, a hydraulic tractor, and a 3D printer. All the designs, instructional videos, and budgets are posted to an online wiki. The project, which is supported through small donations, ultimately hopes to provide inexpensive, accessible, and materially sustainable technologies for any setting, whether urban or rural, or in the developed or developing world. “We want a repository of published designs so clear, so complete, that a singleburned DVD is effectively a civilization starter kit,” Jakubowski said during a TED presentation this year. He hopes to prototype all 50 machines by early 2013, and by 2014 to exhibit a functional, small-scale, industrialized community demonstrating that “we can lead self-sustaining lives without sacrificing our standard of living.”
25 Aug 2011:
On-Road Charging Could Allow
‘Unlimited’ EV Driving, Researchers Say
Japanese researchers are developing a new system that they say could ultimately power electric vehicles (EVs) for travel across “unlimited” distances without the hindrance of heavy batteries. While based on railway infrastructure in which individual cars are powered through overhead wires, the new EV technology would convert energy from overhead power lines into radio frequencies and transmit these frequencies to a metal track embedded under the surface of the road. The prototype electric vehicle, being developed by Toyota Central R&D Labs and Toyohashi University of Technology, is able to convert this radio frequency to functional voltage through a circular steel belt installed inside the tires. The researchers have already demonstrated the feasibility of their design through low-power laboratory experiments and argue that achieving an energy transfer of tens of kilowatts would make possible unrestricted expressway driving for EVs.
Interview: Finding Common Ground
In the Contentious Climate Debate
Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, of Texas Tech University, is well known not only for her scientific work on the regional impacts of global warming in the
TTU
Katharine Hayhoe
Read the interview
24 Aug 2011:
NASA Satellite Captures
Huge Algal Bloom in Barents Sea
This NASA satellite image shows a massive phytoplankton bloom — more than 500 miles long and several hundred miles wide — in the Barents Sea, a frigid body of water located north of Norway and Russia.
The bloom occurred north of the Scandinavian peninsula, an area where multiple ocean current systems merge into the North Cape Current. While it is common for blooms to spread hundreds, or even thousands, of miles across the North Atlantic and Arctic waters — especially in August in the Barents Sea — it is rare to get such a clear view since the sea is covered by clouds most of the summer. The milky blue color suggests the presence of coccolithophores, a microscopic plankton containing white calcium carbonate, which when viewed through ocean water appears bright blue. In the Arctic, the annual spring phytoplankton blooms, triggered by melting sea ice, play a key role in the region’s marine ecology
Video: Illegal Logging Is Pushing
Rare Madagascar Lemur to the Brink
For the last 10 years, researcher Erik Patel has focused on the plight of the silky sifaka lemur, an endangered primate whose forest habitat in a remote corner of Madagascar is being cleared by rampant illegal logging. Now a new video, Trouble in Lemur Land — shot in Madagasgar’s Marojejy National Park and Masoala National Park — features Patel and captures scenes of the rare lemur in the mountainous habitat that has kept it safe for thousands of years and of the logging operations that are feeding a robust market for rosewood, ebony, and pallisandre. According to scientists, as few as 300 of these lemurs remain — none outside this remote region.
Watch the video
22 Aug 2011:
Growth of Urban Areas
Poses Long-Term Threats, Study Says
A new study says the explosive growth of urban areas worldwide over the next two decades poses significant risks to human populations and the global environment, from the loss of agricultural land and wildlife habitat to increased vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Using satellite data on urban growth, the study calculates that the world’s total urban area quadrupled in size from 1970 to 2000 — an increase of about 22,400 square miles. By 2030, that urban footprint will expand by another 590,000 square miles to accommodate the more than 1.47 billion additional people expected to be living in the world’s cities, according to the study, conducted by researchers from four U.S universities — Yale, Arizona State, Texas A&M, and Stanford. “[Cities are] going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas, coastlines — sensitive and vulnerable places,” said Karen Seto, an associate professor of urban development at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and lead author of the study, published in the online journal PLoS ONE.19 Aug 2011:
Antarctic Ice Movement
Is Fully Mapped for the First Time
Scientists at the University of California, Irvine, have for the first time fully mapped the movement of Antarctica’s vast ice sheets and glaciers, which comprise 90 percent of the ice on Earth. Using data gathered by satellites from Europe, Canada, and Japan, the researchers have assembled a color animation depicting how the glaciers flow from the vast polar plateau to the Southern Ocean, with some ice sheets moving up to 800 feet a year. Lead researcher Eric Rignot said that the study showed conclusively that the rivers of ice move by slipping along their beds. “This is like seeing a map of all the ocean’s currents for the first time,” said Rignot. He and other scientists said that the glacial mapping project will be vital to understanding how Antarctica’s ice sheets and glaciers will react to warming temperatures, which will help scientists forecast future sea level rise. If glaciers and ice sheets melt more rapidly along Antarctica’s coasts because of rising ocean and air temperatures, that loss is likely to accelerate the flow of ice from Antarctica’s interior to the sea along the routes mapped by Rignot and his colleagues.
19 Aug 2011:
Species Moving Rapidly
In Response to Climate Change, Study Says
A new study finds that animal and plant species are responding to the effects of climate change at a rate two to three times faster than previously believed. Researchers at the University of York in the UK found 
University of York
Comma butterfly
18 Aug 2011:
Extreme Weather Disasters
Take Record Toll in U.S. in 2011
The U.S. has already tied the record for the number of extreme weather events causing more than $1 billion in damage in one year, with the cumulative tab so far reaching $35 billion, government officials said. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there have been nine separate natural disasters causing damages that totaled more than $1 billion, including summer flooding along the Missouri River, a crippling drought across the southern plains and Southwest, and a series of devastating tornadoes across the Midwest in April. “I don’t think it takes a wizard to predict 2011 is likely to go down as one of the more extreme years for weather in history,” Jack Hayes, director of the National Weather Service, told reporters, noting that the hurricane season has barely begun. While NOAA officials said there is an urgency to make the U.S. more “weather ready,” its administrator, Jane Lubchenco, warned that failure to fund a new satellite would make it impossible to forecast severe weather events far enough in advance to save lives. In Texas, this summer’s record drought has caused an estimated $5.2 billion in crop and livestock losses, by far the largest annual loss in state history.18 Aug 2011:
UK Otter Populations Rebound
Two Decades After Near Extinction
Environmental officials say otter populations have returned to every county in the United Kingdom, just two decades after pollution had nearly wiped them out. At least two otters have been found building homes
The Independent
17 Aug 2011:
Nations Set Heat Records
As Summer Temperatures Scorched Asia
Six nations across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa experienced record high temperatures this summer, as for the second consecutive summer meteorologists reported some of the highest temperatures in Forum: Is Extreme Weather
Linked to Global Warming?
READ THE e360 REPORT
17 Aug 2011:
Water Risk Mapping Project
Attracts Major Global Companies
Several global corporations have joined a World Resources Institute project that is developing a new database and mapping tools to help companies manage their water resources and reduce risk. The Aqueduct project — which so far has enlisted companies such as Coca-Cola, General Electric, and Dow Chemical — will
use hydrological modeling and a wide range of data to identify water supplies globally, track water use trends, and provide insights into regions facing potential risks, including physical, regulatory and socioeconomic factors. So far, the project has developed a water risk atlas that calculates risks associated with the Yellow River Basin in northern China. Later this year, the project will release similar mapping tools for other high-priority river basins, including the Colorado River in the U.S., the Murray Darling River in Australia, the Orange-Sequ River in Africa, and China’s Yangtze River. In addition to helping heavily water-dependent companies identify potential supply problems, the tool is expected to assist water and wastewater solutions companies in identifying regions and clients in need of risk mitigation.
16 Aug 2011:
U.S. Carbon Capture Projects
Selected for Further Development
The U.S. Department of Energy has selected four projects for continued research into developing carbon capture technologies, with the goal of achieving 90 percent carbon dioxide removal. While existing carbon capture technologies require enormous amounts of energy — adding as much as 80 percent to the cost of electricity for a new coal plant and significantly reducing the efficiency of the operation — federal officials hope new advancements will reduce that to no more than 35 percent. According to the department’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE), the $67 million commitment over four years will focus on advanced solvent-based, post-combustion carbon capture technologies, which could provide the most near-term benefits since they can be added to existing power plants. The projects, managed by the FE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, include a pilot project that uses an amine-based process being developed by Linde LLC; carbon absorber retrofit equipment being tested at a Colorado Springs power plant by the Neumann Systems Group, Inc.; and waste heat integration methods being developed by Southern Company and the University of Kentucky Research Foundation.16 Aug 2011:
Rising Food Costs Compounding
East African Famine, World Bank Says
The volatility of global food prices has contributed to the growing humanitarian tragedy in the Horn of Africa and will continue to keep the world’s poorest populations on the edge of starvation, according to a new report by the World Bank. While the emergency was triggered by prolonged drought conditions, near-record prices for staple crops such as maize, sugar, and wheat have compounded the situation, the Food Price Watch report says. According to the report, global food prices overall are nearing the record levels of 2008 and remain 33 percent higher than last summer, with the price of maize 84 percent higher, and wheat prices up 62 percent. “Persistently high food prices and low food stocks indicate that we’re still in the danger zone, with the most vulnerable people the least able to cope,” World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said in a statement. About 29,000 children under the age of five have died in Somalia in the last three months, and 600,000 more children across the region remain at risk. Contributing to the rising prices, the report warns, is the extensive use of agricultural lands for biofuel production, specifically the U.S.’s corn ethanol sector.15 Aug 2011:
Initiative Asks Companies
To Assess Their ‘Plastic Footprint’
An international initiative this fall will encourage hundreds of organizations to assess their use and recycling of plastics in a push to call more attention to the vast amounts of plastic waste entering the environment. While many companies and organizations are familiar with their “carbon footprint” and are taking steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the founders of the Plastic Disclosure Project say there is less awareness of just how many non-biodegradable plastics in the global supply chain end up in the planet’s ecosystems. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), only about 10 percent of the roughly 300 million tons of plastic produced each year is recycled, and about 7 million tons end up in the world’s oceans. The new plastics project, created during last year’s Clinton Global Initiative, will send annual surveys to participating organizations to assess their use of plastics and their recycling programs. “What we’re trying to do is to have companies manage and use plastic much more wisely, and to receive recognition for doing so from both customers and investors,” Doug Woodring, a Hong Kong-based entrepreneur and one of the project’s leaders, told the New York Times.
15 Aug 2011:
‘Legal’ Trade in Tiger Skins
Reopened in China, Investigative Group Says
The Environmental Investigation Agency reports that the Chinese government has reopened the trade in tiger and leopard skins obtained from “legal” sources, including controversial tiger farms. While Chinese officials vowed to combat poaching and the smuggling of tiger products as part of last year’s Global Tiger Recovery Program, the EIA says the government has reinstated the so-called Skin Registration Scheme, which allows skins from captive-bred cats to be registered, labeled, and sold. According to the group, which says it found several examples of skins for sale online, the scheme will only encourage the illegal trade in wild cat parts and makes a “complete mockery” of the nation’s tiger conservation pledge. “It’s doing nothing to actually help tiger and leopard conservation, instead providing a cover for illegal trade and creating a confused consumer market,” said Debbie Banks, head of the EIA’s Tiger Campaign. In the last century, wild tiger populations have plummeted from 100,000 to 3,500, and experts predict the animal will go extinct by 2022 if strong measures are not taken. The group’s warning comes as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) prepares to meet in Switzerland this week.
12 Aug 2011:
Mussels Near Deep-Sea Vents
Convert Hydrogen to Energy, Study Says
Researchers have discovered evidence that mussels living near deep-sea hydrothermal vents are capable of converting hydrogen into energy, acting as living “fuel cells” that provide insights into harnessing hydrogen energy for everyday use. While scientists already knew that organisms were able to convert hydrogen sulfide and methane into energy through a process known as chemosynthesis, a research team from the Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology and the University of Bremen found that mussels living in a vent field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge also consume hydrogen. After collecting specimens from teeming mussel beds located deep beneath the ocean’s surface, the scientists were able to identify the key enzyme used by the mussels in hydrogen oxidation. The researchers estimate that the more than half-million mussels living in the region could consume up to 5,000 liters of hydrogen per hour. “The hydrothermal vents along the mid-ocean ridges that emit large amounts of hydrogen can therefore be likened to a hydrogen highway with fueling stations for symbiotic primary production,” said researcher Jillian Peterson. Their findings are published in the journal Nature.12 Aug 2011:
Map Documents Stresses
Facing the World’s Coral Reefs
An international team of marine scientists has produced a comprehensive map that documents the world’s coral reefs and categorizes the stress factors that threaten the survival of many of their ecosystems, from increased
temperatures to overfishing and ultraviolet radiation. Using satellite data and mathematical analysis of coral physiology, the researchers ranked coral resources on a scale from 0 to 1 based on their overall exposure to stresses, factors that counteract those stresses, and the extent to which they can be managed through human intervention. “The key to effectively identifying where conservation efforts are most likely to succeed is finding reefs where high biodiversity and low stress intersect,” said Joseph M. Maina of the Wildlife Conservation Society and lead author of the study published in the journal PLoS ONE. According to the study, coral regions facing the greatest threats are located in Southeast Asia and the eastern Pacific, where radiation stress is high and temperature variability is low, as well as the Middle East and western Australia, where high levels of sedimentation and phytoplankton threaten coral reefs. 
11 Aug 2011:
Wildlife Conservation Projects
Achieving Success Worldwide, Study Says
Conservation efforts to save endangered species worldwide, from the creation of protected areas to campaigns against the illegal trade of wildlife, have had some positive impacts, a new study says. According to 
Shutterstock
A bald eagle
11 Aug 2011:
U.S. Panel Endorses Fracking
As Members Are Faulted for Industry Ties
A U.S. Energy Department advisory panel has issued a qualified endorsement of the controversial shale gas exploitation technique of hydraulic fracturing, but a group of scientists charges that the panel’s recommendations are tainted because six of its seven members have current financial ties to the natural gas industry. The panel’s report says that hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” could be a productive way of extracting natural gas if the industry follows a set of strict guidelines. These include disclosing the chemicals used in the fracking process, adopting rigorous standards for air pollution emissions from fracking wells, and monitoring nearby water supplies for contamination from fracking. But the panel is largely silent on which state or federal agencies should regulate fracking, and whether regulators should apply to it laws such as the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) issued a letter, signed by 28 scientists from 22 universities, criticizing the panel for its industry ties, including more than $1.4 million paid to panel chairman John Deutch of MIT from 2006 to 2009. The EWG accused the panel of conducting “advocacy-based science” and said that at a minimum Deutch should be replaced by a person with no industry ties.
Interview: Emerging Challenges
In U.S. Environmental Health
From understanding the cumulative impacts of widely used chemicals to preparing for life in a warming world, 
George Washington University
Lynn GoldmanRead the interview
10 Aug 2011:
New Trees Will Rejuvenate
Declining Midwestern Forests, Study Says
A new generation of native trees is poised to rejuvenate the aging forests in the U.S.’s Upper Great Lakes region, providing a critical source of carbon capture in the 21st century, according to a new study. While some research suggests that mature forests store less carbon over time, Ohio State University researchers say the aging trees across the upper Midwest — which they likened to baby Boomers — are being replaced with a more diverse and complex mix of trees. “They may even outdo the boomer generation and be more productive,” said Peter Curtis, an Ohio State professor and lead researcher. In a comprehensive study conducted in northern Michigan, scientists stripped the bark off thousands of aging trees to accelerate a generational shift, and then observed the characteristics of the trees replacing them. Among other preliminary findings, they determined that the canopy created by the new trees uses light more efficiently to produce carbohydrates and release oxygen than the canopy of their predecessors. And using sophisticated instruments, they found that nitrogen losses throughout the system were small even after the deaths of thousands of trees, suggesting that the forests will robustly regenerate and remain an effective carbon sink. 10 Aug 2011:
‘Bubble Curtains’ Proposed
To Protect Whales from Noise Pollution
German officials are investigating methods to protect whales and porpoises from the noise pollution associated with the construction of offshore wind farms 
Wikimedia Commons
A harbor porpoise
09 Aug 2011:
New MIT Battery Design
Could Double Range of Electric Cars
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a new battery technology that they say would significantly reduce the size of electric car battery 
Dominick Reuter/MIT
“Cambridge crude”
09 Aug 2011:
Israel Expands Desalination;
Study Touts New Salt-Removing Technology
Israel has announced plans to build a $423 million (1.5 billion shekel) desalination plant in the Mediterranean coastal city of Ashdod that officials say will provide 100 million cubic meters of water annually, or about 15 percent of the nation’s drinking water needs. When completed in 2013, the reverse osmosis plant will join four other Israel plants that combined will meet three-quarters of the nation’s household water needs. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said expansion of desalination operations is critical as Israel looks to prevent depletion of its main freshwater source, the Sea of Galilee. Meanwhile, a recent Yale University study found that desalination technology could provide the best hope for meeting the world’s growing water needs. But rather than using reverse osmosis technology, which researchers say is nearing its potential for maximum energy efficiency, researchers suggest that the greatest efficiency gains could occur in pre- and post-treatment stages of desalination. “All of this will require new materials and a new chemistry, but we believe this is where we should focus our efforts going forward,” said Menachem Elimelech, a Yale professor of chemical and environmental engineering.
08 Aug 2011:
Emissions from Tar Sands
Will Dwarf Carbon Cuts in Canada
Carbon dioxide emissions from the exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands will far outweigh emissions reductions in other sectors of Canada’s economy and will be a major contributor to the country missing As Alberta’s Tar Sands Boom,
Foes Target Project’s Lifelines
READ THE e360 REPORT
08 Aug 2011:
Effects of Texas Drought
Could Be Felt for Years to Come
Scientists predict the effects of a historic one-year drought in Texas could have profound ecological impacts that will be felt for years to come. Only about six inches of rain have fallen since January, compared with a norm 
Getty Images
05 Aug 2011:
U.S. Conditionally Approves
Shell’s Oil Drilling Plans in Arctic Ocean
U.S. government regulators have conditionally approved Shell Exploration’s plans to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska. Drilling could begin as early as next July. The decision is a setback for various environmental groups and indigenous people, who are concerned that drilling activity and the potential for oil spills in the icy region could threaten a highly sensitive ecosystem that is home to whales, seals, walruses, polar bears, and migratory seabirds. Shell and Alaska’s U.S. senators praised the decision, which brings Shell a big step closer to drilling after years of legal battles. Shell must still clear some regulatory hurdles, including developing an oil spill response plan. Holly Harris, attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice, said the decision could open a warming Arctic to an unprecedented level of oil drilling, adding, “This is a disaster waiting to happen.” Meanwhile, the United Nations issued a report that criticized Shell and the Nigerian government for contributing to 50 years of oil pollution in the Niger delta. The UN said that reversing damage there would be the world’s largest oil clean-up, costing at least $1 billion and taking up to 30 years.05 Aug 2011:
Rising CO2 Levels Could Offset
Drying Effects of Higher Temperatures
As the world warms, rising temperatures are expected to dry out the planet’s semi-arid rangelands. But a new study by U.S. scientists suggests that the effects of that drying are likely to be offset by the way in which plants react to elevated concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere. Higher temperatures increase water loss to the atmosphere, but scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that higher CO2 levels also cause leaf pores, or stomata, to partially close, which actually slows the evaporation process. The scientists are conducting an 8-year study on dry grasslands in Wyoming, and are simulating future climate conditions — when temperatures could rise by 5 degrees F and atmospheric CO2 concentrations could soar from today’s 390 parts per million to 600 ppm — by using infrared heaters and CO2 piped into experimental plots. The preliminary results of their studies, published in the journal Nature, show that dry grasslands are likely to experience no change in soil water and that warm season grasses may actually grow more quickly under future climate conditions. Dry rangelands make up roughly one third of the Earth’s surface and USDA scientists say their research may help ranchers and farmers plant grasses and crops that are likely to fare better as temperature and CO2 levels increase.04 Aug 2011:
Link Between Dust, Plankton,
And Cooling Probed in Research
New research by Swiss scientists shows a strong correlation over the past 4 million years between the amount of iron-rich dust in the oceans — which fertilizes plankton growth — and periods of global cooling and glaciation. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, examining marine sediment cores in the South Atlantic that reveal climate conditions dating back 4 million years, said that dust levels in the ocean have been twice as high during deep glaciations as during warmer periods. The Swiss scientists said that when large amounts of iron-rich dust blow from Central Asia and other parts of the globe and are deposited in the sea — particularly in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica — the iron stimulates the growth of phytoplankton. Those phytoplankton blooms absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the water, enabling the oceans to then absorb even more carbon from the air, which cools the planet. The finding, reported in the journal Nature, adds support to the idea that seeding the oceans with iron could be one way to stimulate phytoplankton blooms and cool the planet by removing some of the atmospheric CO2 generated by human activity.03 Aug 2011:
Crops With Deeper Roots
Could Boost CO2 Storage, Study Says
Breeding crops with deeper roots could significantly reduce atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and make crops more drought resistant, according to a study by a researcher at the University of Manchester. Reporting in the journal, Annals of Botany, professor Douglas Kell calculated that breeding crops whose roots extend 2 meters underground, rather than the 1-meter roots common to many crops, could double the amount of carbon captured from the atmosphere. Kell reported that creating crops and plants with deeper and bushier roots would also lead to more water and nutrient retention and produce more sustainable plant yields as the world warms and droughts increase in water-stressed regions. “This doubling of root biomass from a nominal 1 meter to 2 meters is really the key issue,” said Kell. 03 Aug 2011:
New Method Makes Tar Sands
Removal Cheaper and Cleaner, Group Says
A Canadian consortium says it has developed technology that could double the amount of oil that can be extracted from Alberta’s abundant tar sands and cut greenhouse gas emissions associated with the process by 85 percent. Existing technologies to extract and process the sludgy bituminous material from tar sands deposits use chemicals and intense heat and require enormous amounts of energy. The Alberta-based consortium, N-Solv, says it has introduced a system that uses a solvent, such as propane, instead of steam. According to the group, the solvent can be heated to relatively low temperatures and injected into the tarry deposits, breaking down the bitumen, and allowing it to be pumped out with the solvent, which can then be reused. They say the process will require less energy, slash CO2 emissions, and deliver a crude requiring less refining. Also, they say, the lower costs will make it economically feasible to extract more than twice as much oil from the oil sands. The researchers received $10 million from the Canadian government to develop a cleaner method of extracting oil from the vast Alberta reserves, which are by far the largest petroleum deposit in North America.
02 Aug 2011:
Energy Programs Brace for
Deep Spending Cuts After Debt Deal
The debt deal reached by the White House and Congress will likely trigger deep spending cuts for many energy and environmental programs for years to come, a shift many fear could have long-term repercussions on public health and the emergence of new energy technologies. With Congress poised to make spending reductions in exchange for raising the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion — including $917 billion in discretionary cuts over the next decade — experts predict environmental agencies at the federal and state levels and grant-funded programs should brace for significantly reduced budgets. While it remains unclear where cuts will occur, one former Republican congressman told Politico he expects the U.S. Department of Energy could see less funding for programs dealing with fuel cells, biofuels, wind and nuclear energy. In addition, Environmental Protection Agency grants for critical programs, including drinking water and pollution monitoring efforts, could see dramatic cuts, while the EPA’s regulatory authority could also “take a whack,” said James Walsh, a former congressman who chaired the subcommittee that handled the EPA’s budget.02 Aug 2011:
Facial Recognition Software
Used in Research of Apes, Elephants
Researchers are developing software that will help them better identify individual apes and elephants in their natural habitat, an innovation they say could improve 
Tobias Deschner/MPI EVA
Arctic Blog: As Climate Warms,
A Shifting Landscape for Wildlife
In his fourth and final blog from the field, biologist Steve Zack, of the Wildlife Conservation Society, writes
about the impacts of a warming Arctic landscape on the birds and other wildlife that live and breed in the region. As temperatures rise, invasive species from the south, including red fox, are moving in, while breeding birds are advancing their reproductive season to adapt to earlier springs.
Read more
01 Aug 2011:
Nuclear Meltdown Would Cause
Fewer Deaths than Thought, NRC Finds
A new analysis being produced by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) estimates that a meltdown at a nuclear plant would cause far fewer human fatalities than previously believed. While earlier studies calculated that a meltdown caused by a prolonged loss of electric power could release as much as 60 percent of the radioactive cesium contained in a typical plant’s reactor core, the new study suggests that just 1 to 2 percent of the radioactive material would likely escape, with most of the material remaining inside the reactor building. And even large-scale nuclear releases would occur over a long period of time, allowing people living within a 10-mile radius enough time to evacuate, according to the New York Times, which received a draft copy from the watchdog group, the Union of Concerned Scientists. According to the report, which officials intended to release next spring, just one person in 4,348 living within 10 miles would be expected to develop “latent cancer” as a result of exposure to radiation. Critics called the NRC calculations overly optimistic. Among other things, the calculations assume successful evacuation and “average” weather conditions, said Edwin Lyman, a nuclear physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists.01 Aug 2011:
Leatherback Turtles
Forage Over Vast Area, Study Shows
Using GPS tracking devices, U.S. scientists have demonstrated that endangered leatherback turtles migrate and forage over a far wider area in the Pacific and Indian oceans than previously believed, 
Scott R. Benson/NMFS
Leatherback turtle
29 Jul 2011:
Greenland’s Ice Sheet May Be
More Stable than Previously Thought
Research into the last prolonged warm spell on Earth — an interglacial period roughly 125,000 years ago — shows that Greenland’s ice sheet may be more stable and Antarctica’s less stable than previous studies have shown. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin conducted a detailed study of the behavior of Greenland’s ice sheet during the previous interglacial era and discovered that the melting of Greenland’s glaciers probably accounted for about half of the 13 to 20 foot increase in global sea levels during that period. Geoscientist Anders Carlson and other researchers had believed that Greenland was probably responsible for the overwhelming majority of the rise in sea levels, because the far larger Antarctic ice sheets would have been more stable. But Carlson says his latest research, published in Science, shows that Antarctica, and particularly the less-stable West Antarctic Ice Sheet, probably accounted for half of sea level increases 125,000 years ago — which could mean that melting Antarctic ice will contribute significantly to sea level rise in the coming century or two.29 Jul 2011:
Vietnam Army a Key Player
In Illicit Laos Timber Trade, Report Says
A new report says that the Vietnamese military is playing a central role in a multi-billion dollar operation to smuggle illegally cleared timber from neighboring Laos. During a two-year investigation, agents from the 
EIA
28 Jul 2011:
New Fuel Economy Standard
Agreed to by White House, Automakers
The Obama administration and U.S. automakers have agreed on a new fuel economy standard that would require cars and light trucks to achieve an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, a target that officials say will reduce U.S. fuel consumption 40 percent below today’s levels and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent. Sources familiar with the negotiations told the Washington Post that the new standards would require a 5 percent annual improvement in mileage standards for cars between 2017 and 2025, while trucks must improve 3.5 percent annually between 2017 and 2021, and 5 percent per year from 2022 to 2025. Last year, the U.S. Transportation Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a mileage standard goal of 47 to 62 mpg. In 2010, U.S. cars and trucks averaged 28.3 miles per gallon. The White House said it will unveil details of the new program on Friday.
Read more
28 Jul 2011:
‘Land Grab’ in Africa Threatens
Continent’s Food Security, Study Says
China, India, Libya, Saudi Arabia and other countries are buying up vast amounts of farmland in Africa, threatening the food security of millions of impoverished people on the continent, according to a new study. The Worldwatch Institute reports that to ensure the food security of their own people, nations across Asia and the Middle East are gobbling up African land. The Washington, D.C.-based group reports that from 2006 to mid-2009, foreign investors purchased 15 to 20 million hectares (37 to 50 million acres) of African land and that millions of additional acres are being sold to governments and not being officially documented. “People are always saying that Africa needs to feed itself,” said Danielle Nierenberg, director of Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet Project. “It can’t do that if the Chinese and the Saudis are taking up the best land for production of food.” The Worldwatch report was based on more than 17 months of interviews with 350 farmers’ groups, NGOs, government agencies, and scientists in 25 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. The land boom also is threatening African wildlife as foreign firms plant crops on wetlands and other wild lands.27 Jul 2011:
UK Offshore Wind Sector
Is The Fastest-Growing in Europe
The vast majority of new offshore wind turbines built in European waters this year have been installed in the UK, according to the European Wind Energy EWEA
27 Jul 2011:
Metabolism Model of Rapeseeds
Offers Clues to Optimal Oil Production
U.S. scientists have developed a model for analyzing the metabolic processes of rapeseed plants, an innovation that they say may provide insights into more optimal 
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Rapeseed embroyos
26 Jul 2011:
Warming Arctic Temperatures
Are Causing Release of Long-Buried Toxins
Warming temperatures in the Arctic are causing the release of toxic pollutants long trapped in the region’s ice, snow, and ocean waters, a new study says. In an analysis of air-monitoring data collected at sites in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago and the Canadian province of Nunavut, researchers say there is evidence that man-made chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been “remobilized” into the Arctic atmosphere over the last 20 years. They say there is a risk that the chemicals, some of which were banned decades ago, will eventually reach food and water supplies and accumulate in the body fat of humans and other animals. “The chemicals are known to be semi-volatile,” said Haley Hung, a scientist with Environment Canada’s Air Quality Division and co-author of the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. “They have the ability to evaporate out of storage” if temperatures are warm enough.
Arctic Blog: A Place for Wildlife
In the National Petroleum Reserve
In the third in a series of blogs from the Arctic, biologist Steve Zack, of the Wildlife Conservation Society, explains how he and other scientists are assessing key
wildlife habitats within the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve, a remote area in northern Alaska that could soon be opened to oil and gas drilling. The U.S. Department of Interior is expected to rule within a year on which parts of the reserve can be developed and which, if any, should be protected.
Read more
25 Jul 2011:
Dow Targets Large-Scale
Production of Plastics from Sugarcane
Dow Chemical is planning construction of a bioplastics plant in Brazil that the company says will produce plastic from sugarcane in volumes competitive with 
Dow Chemical
Brazilian sugarcane
25 Jul 2011:
U.S. Land in Flood Plains
Could Increase 45 Percent, Study Says
The amount of U.S. land located within flood plain zones is expected to increase by 40 to 45 percent by the end of this century, according to a study of the impacts of climate change on the federal flood insurance program. The study, which will be released later this summer, projects that a widening threat of rising waters along ocean coastlines and in river valleys as a result of climate change — including rising seas, greater downpours and more intense coastal storms — could double the number of policies in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by 2100, ClimateWire reports. The federal program now insures about 5.6 million homes and businesses and is valued at $1.2 trillion. Mark Crowell, a geologist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told a conference that the findings suggest “a need for FEMA to incorporate the effects of climate change more directly into various aspects of the NFIP.” A recent study predicted that rising sea levels could inundate 9 percent of the land in 180 U.S. cities by 2100.22 Jul 2011:
Stratospheric Pollution
Is Slowing Global Warming, Study Says
Sulfur dioxide being spewed into the stratosphere by coal-fired power plants and volcanic eruptions has blunted the impact of global warming over the past decade, offsetting roughly one third of the increased heat caused by greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study. Researchers at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that stratospheric aerosols formed by sulfur dioxide have nearly doubled in the past decade, and that those aerosols have been reflecting a significant amount of heat back into space. “Aerosols acted to keep warming from being as big as it would have been,” said NOAA atmospheric scientist John Daniel, a co-author of the study published online in Science. Much of the sulfur dioxide that rose into the stratosphere six miles above the Earth came from coal-fired power plants, the study said. The aerosol finding, along with a weaker sun due to the most recent solar cycle, may help explain why global warming has not accelerated as rapidly in the past decade as it did in the 1990s. But scientists say that if major polluters such as China add better scrubbing technology to their power plants, then aerosols in the stratosphere are likely to decrease, which could accelerate warming.21 Jul 2011:
Hillary Clinton Advocates
For Clean Cookstoves in India Visit
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged India to rapidly adopt inexpensive, clean-burning cookstoves and said that two major Indian trade federations had agreed to help disseminate the technology throughout the country. Clinton, who last year launched a $50 million U.S. program to expand clean cookstove technology in the developing world, said the stoves would significantly reduce the ill health effects from burning wood and other biomass and slash emissions of CO2 and other pollutants. Cooking fires are blamed for causing 400,000 premature deaths in India each year, mostly of women, and of creating as much as one-quarter of India’s emissions of “black carbon,” which contributes to global warming and air pollution. Clinton used her visit to a demonstration site for clean cookstoves to announce that two Indian trade federations would join in the effort to expand use of the stoves, which will be sold for as little as $10 to consumers through micro-lending programs.21 Jul 2011:
Bloomberg Gives $50 Million
To Sierra Club’s Anti-Coal Campaign
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that his main charitable organization will give $50 million over the next four years to the Sierra Club to expand the group’s campaign to retire coal-burning power plants and replace them with renewable energy. Appearing with Sierra Club President Michael Brune near a coal plant in Virginia, Bloomberg said the gift would help the organization’s Beyond Coal Campaign retire as many as a third of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants by 2020. Brune said the Sierra Club, which claims to have stopped construction of more than 150 new coal-fired power plants in recent years, will use the Bloomberg Philanthropies money to expand its anti-coal initiative from 15 to 45 states and to increase the staff of the Beyond Coal Campaign from 100 to 200 full-time employees. Calling pollution from coal a “self-inflicted health risk,” Bloomberg said, “If we are going to get serious about reducing our carbon footprint in the U.S., we have to get serious about coal." Brune said the expansion of the club’s anti-coal campaign reflected the reality that the fight to slow CO2 emissions and reduce dependency on coal had moved from the federal level, where little action has been taken, to the local level.20 Jul 2011:
Extreme North Pole Heat
Contributing to Rapid Loss of Sea Ice
North Pole temperatures that have been 11 to 14 degrees F higher than normal, coupled with an early melting of sea ice and low snow cover in the Far North, have caused a swift retreat of sea ice this summer and could mean that the Arctic Ocean in 2011 will have the smallest sea ice extent ever recorded. The National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado (NSIDC) reported that as of July 17, sea ice covered 2.92 million square miles in the Arctic Ocean, 865,000 square miles below the 1979 to 2000 average. Sea ice extent is now lower than it was in mid-July 2007, which saw the record minimum set that year. The NSIDC attributed the accelerating sea ice loss to several factors: Above-average temperatures over much of the Arctic Ocean, a sea-ice melt season that began two weeks to two months earlier in much of the Arctic basin, and low snow cover over northern Eurasia, which further intensified regional warming.20 Jul 2011: Solar Panels Cool Buildings
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have discovered an added benefit to solar panels: In summer, they cool the buildings on which they are installed. Using thermal imaging, the scientists found that solar photovoltaic panels act like giant sun shades and that building ceilings under the panels were 5 degrees F cooler than top-floor ceilings of buildings with exposed roofs. Reporting in the journal Solar Energy, the researchers also found that tilting the solar panels allowed for the efficient passage of air underneath, further cooling the buildings. In winter, the solar panels prevent some sunlight from warming buildings, but at night the panels trap heat and warm buildings, essentially offsetting any reduction of solar heating during the day. Solar panels reduced the amount of heat reaching the roof by 38 percent, the study said. Overall, the study said that the energy savings from the cooling effect of solar panels amounted to getting a 5 percent discount on the price of the panels.19 Jul 2011:
Shipping Industry
Agrees to CO2 Emissions Standards
The shipping industry has become the first global business sector to agree to mandatory carbon dioxide emissions reductions. At a meeting of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, member countries agreed to set CO2 emissions standards on new ships beginning in 2019, with the goal of improving energy efficiency by 30 percent by 2024. The member countries also agreed to more modest efficiency improvements and emissions reductions in the world’s 60,000 exiting ships. Of the world’s top 10 shipping nations, only China voted against the agreement. Brazil, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Chile also opposed the accord, and it remains to be seen if these countries will adhere to the majority decision. The agreement allows developing nations to apply for a waiver from the rules until 2019, and the Clean Shipping Coalition warned that the agreement could result in most new ships registering with countries that get a waiver. Overall, however, environmental advocates said the agreement was a positive step that could reduce CO2 emissions from shipping by 50 million tons by 2020. Shipping accounts for about 3 percent of human CO2 emissions.19 Jul 2011:
Whitebark Pine Faces
Extinction, U.S. Agency Declares
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the whitebark pine, a keystone species in the mountains of western North America, faces an "imminent" risk of extinction because of outbreaks of pests and disease caused by rising temperatures. The agency’s decision is significant because it marks the first time the U.S. government has cited global warming as a driving factor behind the possible disappearance of a wide-ranging tree species. But while it declared that climate change was steadily pushing the whitebark pine to oblivion, the agency said budget cutbacks and staff shortages meant that it did not have the resources to undertake the studies needed to place the tree on the endangered species list; the agency said a listing was “warranted but precluded” at this time. Whitebark pine, found at higher elevations in the Rocky Mountains and other mountain ecosystems in the West, are a critical part of those environments, providing food to species such as the grizzly bear. But increasingly warmer winters have led to outbreaks of pests, such as the mountain pine beetle, that have destroyed 70,000 square miles of pine forest. A recent study found 80 percent of whitebark pine forests in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem are dead or dying.
Arctic Blog: Tracking the Impact
Of Oil Development on Wildlife
In the second in a series of blogs from the Arctic, Steve Zack, a biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, explains how scientists are working
to gauge the effect of Alaska’s sprawling Prudhoe Bay oilfields on caribou, nesting birds, and other wildlife. In his next blog, Zack, who reports from remote field camps on the North Slope, will describe efforts by researchers to identify and protect key wildlife habitats in a large area of Alaska that could soon be opened to oil drilling and mining.
Read more
18 Jul 2011:
Meat Eater’s Guide
Highlights CO2 Footprint of Food Choices
Beef, dairy products, and lamb produce the most greenhouse gases of 20 popular meat, fish, dairy, and vegetable proteins, according to a new study by the non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG). Analyzing the entire life cycle of food production, the EWG said in its newly released Meat Eater's Guide that beef generates more than twice the CO2 emissions of pork, nearly four times that of chicken, and 13 times that of vegetable proteins, such as beans and lentils. Production of lamb and dairy products also caused high greenhouse gas emissions, the study said. The study showed that 20 percent of the emissions involved in meat production resulted from meat being wasted and thrown away. The EWG, working with renowned chef Mario Battali, recommended that consumers not eat meat one day a week for an entire year, an action that cumulatively in the U.S. would equal taking 7.6 million cars off the road. The report also recommended that consumers eat grass-fed and pasture-raised animals whenever possible since those methods of meat production produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than fattening livestock in feedlots.
18 Jul 2011:
Long-Distance Swims Are
Increasing Mortality of Polar Bear Cubs
Rapid sea ice loss in the Arctic is forcing polar bears to swim ever-longer distances and is leading to greater mortality of their cubs, according to a new study. From 2004 to 2009, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and other institutions placed 68 GPS collars on polar bears in the southern Beaufort and Chukchi seas. 
Paul Nicklen/National Geographic Society
Adult polar bear.
15 Jul 2011:
Forests Absorb One-Third
Of Fossil Fuel Emissions, Study Finds
Forests play an even greater role in Earth’s climate system than previously known, according to the most comprehensive assessment yet of the carbon storage potential of the world’s wooded areas. Between 1990 
Wikimedia Commons
15 Jul 2011:
Loss of Large Predators
Has Sweeping Impact on Ecosystems
The loss of top predators in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments has had a major impact on ecosystems worldwide, leading to changes in vegetation, more wildfires, a decline in water quality, and an increase in infectious diseases and invasive species, according to a study published in Science. “The loss of apex consumers is arguably humankind’s most pervasive influence on the natural world,” said the study, conducted by an international team of scientists. Their review cited numerous examples of how the loss of top predators cascades through ecosystems, creating significant disturbances. In Yellowstone National Park, the extirpation of wolves led to a flourishing elk population, which then overgrazed trees. Reductions in numbers of lions and leopards in parts of Africa has led to a rise of olive baboons, increasing contact with humans and the spread of intestinal parasites in humans and baboons. The decimation of sharks in the Chesapeake Bay has led to a proliferation of cow-nosed rays, which have over-consumed oysters. The authors said that to restore healthy ecosystems, land managers must also restore or reintroduce large predators.
14 Jul 2011:
Population of Snow Leopards
Discovered in Afghanistan Mountains
Researchers say they have discovered a population of endangered snow leopards in the remote mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, a promising development for a species whose numbers have plummeted in recent decades. Using camera traps operated by local rangers, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) documented the big cats at 16 locations in Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, according to a study published in the Journal of Environmental Studies. Researchers have calculated that populations of the snow leopard — which live in some of the world’s highest mountains and are found in a dozen countries across central Asia — have dropped by about 20 percent over the last 16 years, with an estimated 4,500 to 7,500 cats surviving in the wild. And while the snow leopard seems to be thriving in the Wakhan Corridor, WCS conservationists say the cat remains vulnerable to numerous regional threats, including poaching for their pelts, retaliatory killings by shepherds, and capture for the illegal pet trade. The New York-based wildlife group has developed a series of initiatives to protect the snow leopard, including training of rangers and proposed “predator-proof” livestock corrals to prevent conflicts with shepherds.
14 Jul 2011:
Key CO2 Capture Project
Is Suspended by Major U.S. Utility
The U.S.’s most ambitious project to capture and sequester carbon from a coal-fired power plant has been shelved by a large utility company, which says that the lack of climate legislation and support from state governments has rendered the $668 million project financially untenable. American Electric Power (AEP), which serves 5 million customers in 11 states, will announce today that it is indefinitely suspending its carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project at its Mountaineer plant in West Virginia. The utility has been running a smaller CCS pilot project at the site for two years, but executives at the utility said the lack of federal climate legislation had diminished incentives for CCS projects. In addition, AEP said the refusal of state regulators to allow the utility to pass on the cost of carbon sequestration to its customers had made it impossible to continue the project. “We are placing the project on hold until economic and policy conditions create a viable path forward,” said AEP chairman Michael G. Morris. AEP’s action is a major setback to efforts to slow global warming using CCS technology, which faces numerous logistical and technological challenges.13 Jul 2011:
Analysis Suggests Ways to
Dramatically Increase Wind Farm Output
A new analysis by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) finds that the power output of wind farms can be increased tenfold — and with fewer environmental impacts — through better positioning of vertical-axis turbines. Because the large turbines used in most modern wind farms are placed far apart to prevent aerodynamic interference, much of the potential wind energy that enters the farms is wasted, according to the paper, published in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy. And the common steps taken to compensate for that problem, including construction of bigger blades or taller towers, generate higher costs and greater environmental impacts. Using a test array of vertical-axis wind turbines on a Southern California field, the Caltech researchers showed that more strategic placement of turbines closer to the ground maximizes energy production. The vertical-axis turbines can be placed closer together without causing aerodynamic interference, and researchers found that having each turbine spin in the opposite direction of its closest neighbor increased efficiency, perhaps because the opposing spins decreased the drag on each turbine, allowing them to spin faster.
13 Jul 2011:
New Potato Genome Map Could
Yield Better, More Disease-Resistant Crops
A consortium of scientists has completed a new map of the potato genome that could help scientists and breeders develop more nutritious and disease-resistant variations of the crop, helping feed rapidly growing 
Wikimedia
12 Jul 2011:
Cities Absorb More CO2
Than Previously Estimated, Study Says
A new UK study says that cities and towns provide a large and underestimated amount of carbon storage, and can soak up even greater amounts of CO2 if city groups and gardeners plant more trees. Using satellite data and information collected during visits to locally owned or managed properties — including playing fields, golf courses, and abandoned lands — researchers from the University of Kent calculated that the city of Leicester, located in central England, stores about 231,000 tons of carbon, about 10 times more than previous estimates. “Currently, once land in the UK is considered to be urban, its biological carbon density is assumed to be zero,” said Zoe Davies, a Kent researcher and lead author of the study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. “Our study illustrates this is not the case.” The planting of more trees is critical in expanding the size of carbon storage, Davies said. In Leicester, for example, most of the publicly controlled land is grassland. But if trees were planted on 10 percent of that land, the city’s carbon storage would increase by 12 percent. Currently, about 4 percent of the planet’s land surface is considered urbanized.12 Jul 2011:
Low Levels of BPA Found
In Some Metal Bottles, Study Says
A new study finds that some reusable metal drinking bottles contain low levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic estrogen-mimicking chemical, even though such bottles are often marketed as a safer alternative to BPA-containing plastic bottles. In a comprehensive analysis of numerous types of bottles, University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers found that stainless steel- and co-polyester-lined aluminum bottles did not contain the controversial chemical, which has been shown in numerous studies to disrupt human and animal hormone production. However, the researchers found that aluminum bottles lined with epoxy-based resins did leach some levels of the chemical. “Consumers should not think that just because a bottle isn’t polycarbonate plastic that it is safe from the dangers of BPA,” said Scott Belcher, associate professor in UC’s pharmacology and cell biophysics department. Meanwhile, a new study by University of Michigan researchers found that increased exposure to BPA and phthalates, a group of chemicals used to make plastics, increases the chance of thyroid function impairment.
A Scientist’s Blog from the Arctic:
Unraveling Mysteries of Migration
Steve Zack, a biologist with the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, works extensively in Arctic Alaska. In the first of a series of reports for Yale Environment 360, Zack describes how he and his colleagues are using the latest in miniaturized technology to track the remarkable global migrations of birds that nest on Alaska’s North Slope. In subsequent blog posts, Zack will report on how oil and gas development are affecting Arctic wildlife, how global warming is altering the region’s ecosystems, and how scientists are working to identify and protect key wildlife habitats in a large area of Alaska that could soon be opened to oil drilling and mining.Read more
11 Jul 2011:
New Nissan System
Charges Electric Cars with Solar Power
The Japanese automaker, Nissan, has developed a charging system that generates electricity from solar power and stores it in the lithium-ion batteries used in 
Getty Images
The Nissan Leaf
11 Jul 2011:
Australia Unveils Plans to
Tax Carbon Emissions by Next Summer
The Australian government has unveiled a proposal to tax its heaviest carbon dioxide emitters as of July 2012, a plan that would make Australia the first nation to put a price on carbon. The plan, which is expected to pass both houses of parliament before the end of the year, would require the nation’s 500 biggest CO2 emitters to pay $24.60 (AU$23) per ton of carbon dioxide, with that price increasing by 2.5 percent annually until July, 2015. At that point, an emissions trading scheme will be introduced. By 2020, government officials say, the carbon tax would reduce Australia’s carbon emissions 5 percent below 2000 levels; by 2050, the plan will reduce emissions by 80 percent, officials said. About AU$10 billion of the anticipated revenue will be funneled into energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. “Failing to do so means that we would be passing on lower living standards to our children and grandchildren,”said Prime Minister Julia Gillard. With a population of about 22.6 million, Australia produces about 1.3 percent of the world’s carbon emissions.08 Jul 2011:
Global Renewables Investments
Surged 32 Percent in 2010, Report Says
More than $211 billion was invested in renewable energy technology worldwide in 2010, a 32-percent increase from 2009, according to a new UN report. And for the first time, developing nations outpaced wealthy economies in renewables investment, with China accounting for about one-fifth of total investment, at about $48.9 billion — a 28-percent increase from 2009. In developing countries, about $72 billion was invested in utility-scale renewable energy projects and provision of equity capital for renewable energy companies, compared with $70 billion by developed economies. In 2004, by comparison, total renewables investments by developing countries was one-quarter of those in developed countries. Other factors contributing to global growth last year includes an infusion of economic stimulus dollars finally trickling into markets, high prices for fossil fuels, and government incentives, such as feed-in tariffs for green energy projects. The report, Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2011, was compiled by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), the Frankfurt School of Finance, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance.08 Jul 2011:
Biggest U.S. Waste Hauler
Expands Fleet of ‘Trash Gas’ Trucks
Waste Management Inc., the largest hauler of waste in the U.S., next week a will add its 1,000th truck fueled by natural gas, a landmark that reflects a trend toward new trucking fleets powered by alternative energy sources. About half of those trucks, including the newest, run on so-called trash gas — captured and converted methane from landfills, which generates 80 to 90 percent fewer carbon emissions than diesel fuel. The other half of the fleet is powered by compressed natural gas, which emits 10 to 20 percent fewer carbon emissions. The Houston-based company operates 300 landfills nationwide and runs 22,000 trucks daily, including 720 in Southern California. All of the trucks run out of the company’s Los Angeles fueling station are powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) generated by the company’s landfill in Altamont, Calif., which produces up to 13,000 gallons of LNG daily. The company intends to build another LNG facility in Southern California that officials say will power another 300 waste-fueled trucks.07 Jul 2011:
Iowa Plant Receives U.S. Backing
To Convert Corn Waste into Motor Fuel
The U.S. Department of Energy plans to make a $105 million loan guarantee to support the expansion of an Iowa ethanol factory into the nation’s first commercial-scale plant to convert corn waste into motor fuel. The Emmetsburg, Iowa plant, which is being built by Poet LLC, will convert corncobs, leaves, and husks rather than edible corn into about 25 million gallons of ethanol annually. If such production of cellulosic ethanol proves economically viable, it would reduce the use of corn for ethanol, a practice criticized for reducing food supplies. Eventually, the company estimates the project will displace more than 13.5 million gallons of gasoline annually. “Our ultimate target is to be competitive with corn ethanol and gasoline,” said Jeff Lautt, president of Poet. First the company will have to scale up its production from a pilot plant that processes a ton of plant material per day to one that can handle 700 tons daily. Also, the pilot plant currently produces ethanol at a cost of about $2.50 to $3 per gallon, at least 50 cents higher per gallon than the price of ethanol from corn.07 Jul 2011:
Brazil Offers Protection for
Activists Targeted with Death Threats
The Brazilian government says it will provide security protection for at least 131 people threatened with murder over land use disputes in the Amazon rainforest after a series of killings in recent months. Those 
Via Amazoom Press
José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva
06 Jul 2011:
Future Computers Could Use
1 Million Times Less Energy, Researchers Say
Emerging computer technology that would use magnetic microprocessors instead of silicon-based chips has the potential to consume 1 million times less energy per operation than existing computers, according to an analysis by University of California, Berkeley researchers. Unlike existing microprocessor technology, which relies on electric currents that generate enormous amounts of wasted heat, the new technology, currently under development, would instead use closely packed magnetic chips to store and process information that would not require any moving electrons, the researchers say. According to their paper, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, such microprocessor chips have the potential to dissipate only 18 millielectron volts of energy per operation at room temperature — or the minimum allowed by the second law of thermodynamics, known as the Landauer limit. “Even if we could get within one order of magnitude, a factor of 10, of the Landauer limit, it would represent a huge reduction in energy consumption for electronics,” said Jeffrey Bokor, a UC Berkeley professor and codirector of the Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science, which is trying to develop magnetic computers.
06 Jul 2011:
New Electric Car in Israel
Includes Battery Swap Subscriptions
A California-based start-up will begin selling electric cars in Israel next month that include a subscription package for a leased battery and the costs of recharging the vehicle. Instead of owning the batteries, consumers will be able to purchase a subscription for a certain 
Better Place
A Better Place battery swap station
05 Jul 2011:
Effects of Global Warming
‘Masked’ by Asia Pollution, Study Says
A new study says rising sulfur emissions from the growth of Asian industry triggered a cooling effect that partially offset the effects of global warming for a decade. While carbon dioxide emissions increased by nearly a third from 1998 to 2008, global surface temperatures did not rise sharply during that period. A key reason, researchers said, is that increased sulfur emissions — particularly from coal combustion in Asia, which grew by more than 100 percent during the decade — allowed the formation of aerosols that reflect the sun’s heat back into space, cooling the surface of the Earth. Such effects have long been recognized by scientists studying volcanic eruptions, which in the past have caused cooling and significant crop failures. “Anthropogenic activities that warm and cool the planet largely cancel after 1998, which allows natural variables to play a more significant role,” according to the paper, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That natural cooling effect may abate, however, when nations impose stricter emissions standards, possibly releasing a rapid, pent-up climate change, according to the researchers.05 Jul 2011:
Rare Earth Mineral Deposits
Discovered on Pacific Seafloor
Japanese geologists say they have located vast deposits of rare earth minerals — crucial to the production of high-tech electronics and components of the emerging green energy industry — 2 to 4 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. A team led by University of Tokyo researcher Tasuhiro Kato found as many as 100 billion tons of recoverable minerals at 78 sites in international waters near Hawaii and Tahiti. According to Kato, an associate professor of earth science, just one square kilometer of deposits — which may include such rare earth elements as cerium and praseodymium — could supply one-fifth of the current global annual consumption of some rare earth metals. With China accounting for about 97 percent of the world’s rare-earth supplies — and prices rising sharply — companies and nations are racing to find new sources of rare earth minerals, which are used in everything from smart phones to hybrid car batteries; some firms are preparing to begin deep sea mining operations. A report on the discovery was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
01 Jul 2011:
New Database of Plant Traits
Emerges as Potential Tool in Climate Studies
A consortium of scientists has compiled a database that categorizes millions of traits for nearly a quarter of the world’s plant species, a resource they say will help researchers more accurately model the effects of climate change in different environments. The project, known as TRY, has so far compiled plant traits, including structural and physiological properties, for more than 69,000 of the planet’s 300,000 known plant species. Those traits determine how plants compete for light, water, and soil resources; where they grow; and how fast they grow. Project organizers say the resource will be an essential tool for biodiversity research and earth-system sciences, particularly as scientists attempt to understand the effects of climate change on ecosystems. “This huge advance in data availability will lead to more reliable predictions of how vegetation boundaries and ecosystem properties will shift under future climate and land use change scenarios,” said Ian Wright, a biologist at Macquarie University in Australia. The first set of data, which includes the work of scientists from 106 research institutions, will be published in the journal Global Change Biology.
01 Jul 2011:
Nearly 10 Percent of Fish
Caught for Study Contain Plastic
Nearly 1 in 10 fish collected in the Pacific Ocean during a recent study contained plastic debris, in what researchers call troubling evidence of the significant amount of plastic entering the food chain. The study, 
Scripps Institution
Two lanternfish and plastic debris collected in study
30 Jun 2011:
Premium U.S. Wine Regions
Face Climate Risk Within 30 Years
Warming temperatures could significantly impact some of America’s premium wine growing regions within three decades, including counties in California that produce some of the nation’s most expensive wines, 
Shutterstock
Grapes on the vine