e360 digest
21 May 2013:
Large Majority of Americans
Believe Global Warming Should be a Priority
Roughly 70 percent of Americans say global warming should be a priority for President Obama and Congress and 61 percent support requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a carbon tax that would be used to help reduce the national debt, according to a new survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. In a national survey conducted in April, 87 percent of respondents said that the president and Congress should make developing clean sources of energy a priority, 68 percent favored regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and 71 percent supported providing tax rebates for people who buy solar panels and energy-efficient vehicles. Seventy percent said global warming should be at least a “medium” priority, while 28 percent said it should be a low priority. The poll showed that 7 in 10 Americans support funding more research into green energy sources. One surprising finding was that half of those polled had never heard of the Keystone XL pipeline, a controversial 1,711-mile proposal that would carry tar sands oil from Alberta to refineries in Texas.
Interview: For Solar Sisters,
Off-Grid Electricity is Power
For Katherine Lucey, the lack of electricity in many parts of the developing world is not just an economic issue, it is a gender issue. A former investment banker,
Solar Sister
Mother in Uganda with a solar lamp.
Read the interview
20 May 2013:
System Converts Pig Waste
Into Biogas at Chinese Pig Farms
An international team of researchers has developed a system that will help Chinese farmers convert massive amounts of pig waste into a renewable source of energy 
Getty Images
17 May 2013:
‘Artificial Forest’ Nanosystem
Mimics Photosynthesis, Researchers Say
U.S. scientists have developed what they say is the first integrated nanosystem capable of replicating the process of photosynthesis, a sort of “artificial forest” that could one day lead to the production of hydrogen that could be used to power fuel cells. Composed of nanowire structures — including silicon “trunks” and titanium oxide “branches” — the system mimics the role played by chloroplasts in promoting photosynthesis in green plants. By assembling the “trees” in a dense array, resembling a miniature forest, the network lowers sunlight reflection and provides more surface area for hydrogen-producing reactions, the scientists say. “We’ve integrated our nanowire nanoscale heterostructure into a functional system that mimics the integration in chloroplasts and provides a conceptual blueprint for better solar-to-fuel conversion efficiencies in the future,” said Peidong Yang, a chemist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-author of the study, published in the journal NANO Letters. The lab of Daniel Nocera at Harvard University is doing related research into so-called artificial leaves.16 May 2013:
Scientist’s U.S. Road Trip
Reveals Unexpected Methane Emissions
Methane measurements collected during a scientist’s road trip across the U.S. indicate that local emissions of the potent greenhouse gas are higher than previously known in many regions. Using a gas chromatograph mounted to the roof of a rented camper, Ira Leifer of the University of California, Santa Barbara, collected air samples from Florida to California, finding the highest methane concentrations in areas with significant refinery activity — such as Houston, Texas — and in a region of central California with oil and gas production. He found that methane concentrations exceeded the levels estimated by the U.S. Department of Energy, particularly in areas near industrial fossil fuel extraction sites. The results point to the importance of targeting these “fugitive” methane emissions in parallel with efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. Leifer's findings were published in the journal Atmospheric Environment.15 May 2013:
Glaciers on Everest Disappearing
As Temperatures Rise, Snowfall Declines
The glaciers on Mount Everest and the surrounding region have shrunk by 13 percent in the last five decades as temperatures have risen and snowfall has declined in 
Pavel Novak
14 May 2013:
Shifting Petrel Diets Suggest
Effect of Humans on Ocean Food Web
An analysis of the bones of ancient and modern Hawaiian petrels has revealed that modern petrels, which forage in the open ocean, are eating prey lower on the food chain than in centuries past, a dramatic shift 
USGS
Interview: Climate Pioneer’s Son
Ponders a Worrisome CO2 Milestone
Climate scientist Ralph Keeling has followed in the footsteps of his renowned father, Charles David Keeling, who in 1958 became a pioneering figure in humanity’s struggle to combat climate change when he developed an accurate method of measuring CO2 in the atmosphere and 
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Ralph Keeling
Read the interview
13 May 2013:
Project Looks to Quantify
Power Emissions Through Crowdsourcing
A team of scientists is enlisting public support to help produce a more comprehensive inventory of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants globally, urging citizens to identify power plants in their communities with a new digital app. While data from some of the 
Google Earth
10 May 2013:
U.S. Web Tool Aims to Bolster
Research on Climate and Health Links
The Obama Administration this week introduced an online tool to improve research into the link between climate change and human health and promote innovative responses to future threats. As climate change triggers more extreme weather events and temperature shifts, it is becoming increasingly important to determine how these changes will affect respiratory illnesses, infectious diseases, allergies, and other human ailments, said Tom Armstrong, executive director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Writing on the department’s blog, Armstrong said the so-called Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health, or MATCH, will provide an accessible portal of metadata from more than 9,000 health, environment and climate science data sets. “MATCH will help researchers and public health officials integrate the latest information from across environmental and health disciplines in order to inform more effective responses to climate and health threats,” he said.09 May 2013:
Third Coal Export Proposal
Falls By Wayside in Pacific Northwest
A large U.S. pipeline developer has dropped plans to build a $200-million coal export facility in northern Oregon, the third major terminal proposal to be shelved or canceled in the Pacific Northwest. Officials at Houston-based Kinder Morgan say the Columbia River site could not optimally accommodate the 30 million tons of coal that were expected to run through the site annually, largely for markets in Asia. While the company said the decision had nothing to do with public opposition to transporting massive amounts of coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to the coast, critics of the plan say growing protests affected the decision. “If that site didn’t meet their physical constraints, they would have known that… years ago when they proposed this,” Brett VandenHeuvel, director of the group Columbia Riverkeeper, told the Los Angeles Times. Thousands of residents have signed petitions to block the project, citing concerns that the coal trains would cause pollution from coal dust and create traffic congestion. Three other coal export projects — two in Washington and one in Oregon — are still on the table.08 May 2013:
Declining Snow Cover Imperils
Plant and Animal Species, Study Says
Declining winter and spring snow cover in parts of the Northern Hemisphere poses a growing threat to the plant and animals species that depend on the snow to survive harsh winters, a new study says. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, a 
Shutterstock
07 May 2013:
Battery-Equipped Wind Turbine
Better Integrates Green Energy Onto Grid
General Electric recently introduced a wind turbine equipped with a storage battery, creating a type of “hybrid” turbine that industry leaders hope will improve the integration of intermittent energy sources onto the grid and reduce the costs of wind power. The GE battery is able to store less than one minute of the turbine’s energy potential, but by pairing the battery with advanced wind-forecasting algorithms, wind farm operators could guarantee a certain amount of power output for up to an hour, MIT’s Technology Review reports. Even small amounts of storage are able to compensate for rapid changes in output from renewable sources — such as when wind speeds fall — and thus exert less stress on conventional power plants in responding to the variability of wind and solar. This flexibility will become increasingly important as renewable energy accounts for a greater share of grid capacity, since major shifts in output can trigger voltage problems or blackouts. 06 May 2013:
Solar-Powered Airplane Finishes
First Leg of Coast-to-Coast U.S. Trip
A Swiss pilot this weekend completed the first portion of a five-leg trip across the U.S. in an airplane powered by solar energy. The so-called Solar Impulse aircraft, which runs on energy collected from 12,000 solar cells
Solar Impulse
View from the cockpit
03 May 2013:
Seawater Energy Technology
Is Focus of Pilot Project in China
The U.S. defense and aerospace giant, Lockheed Martin, is partnering with a major Chinese company to build a pilot project off the southern Chinese coast that will use temperature differentials between the deep and shallow ocean to generate electricity. The technology, known as ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), uses the heat from warm surface waters to boil a fluid with a low boiling point, such as ammonia, producing steam to drive turbines. Colder water is then pumped from 2,500 to 3,000 feet under the sea, which condenses the steam into liquid; the liquid can then be boiled again to produce more steam and power. Lockheed Martin and its Chinese Partner, the Beijing-based Reignwood Group, said their project — the largest OTEC plant ever built — will produce 10 megawatts of power when it opens in 2017, enough to provide electricity for a large, planned resort that Reignwood is building.02 May 2013:
Five Southeast Asian Nations
Have Lost One-Third of Forests in 33 Years
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam have lost one-third of their forests since 1980 and could be left with only 10 to 20 percent of their original forest cover by 2030, according to a review of satellite data by WWF. The conservation group warned that if present trends continue only 14 percent of the greater Mekong region’s remaining forest cover will consist of contiguous habitat capable of sustaining viable populations of many wildlife species, such as tigers and Asian elephants. The WWF researchers calculated that since 1980, Thailand and Vietnam have lost 43 percent of their forests, Laos and Burma have lost 24 percent, and Cambodia has lost 22 percent. Since 1973, areas of core, undisturbed forest — defined as having at least 3.2 square kilometers of uninterrupted forest — have declined from 70 percent to 20 percent of the region. Peter Cutter, landscape conservation manager with WWF-Greater Mekong, said the region is at a crossroads and that to preserve its remaining forests and biodiversity it must expand protected areas and better safeguard those that already exist.01 May 2013:
Program Targeting Diesel
Emissions Will Be Cut by 70 Percent
A federal program that has cleaned up or removed 50,000 high-polluting diesel engines from U.S. roads is scheduled to be cut by 70 percent under President Barack Obama’s latest budget. The program eliminated 230,000 tons of soot and smog-causing pollutants, slashed more than two million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and saved 205 million gallons of fuel. But the program’s budget has faced steady cuts in recent years, falling from $50 million in fiscal year 2011, to $20 million in 2013, to a proposed $6 million in fiscal year 2014. The diesel cleanup program has succeeded in removing only a fraction of the 11 million dirty, pre-2006 diesel vehicles on the road. But environmentalists say that the program has been successful in helping clean the air in low-income communities that often are situated near ports, highways, and other areas with high diesel traffic.
Interview: Telling the Life Story of
Ginkgo, the Oldest Tree on Earth
Botanist Peter Crane sees the ginkgo as more than just a distinctive tree with foul-smelling fruits and nuts prized 
AJYI
Ginkgo leaves in autumn
Read the interview
30 Apr 2013:
U.S. Government Backs
New Way to Make Diesel from Biomass
The U.S. Energy Department is investing up to $4.3 million in a pilot biomass project that will convert the stalks and leaves of corn plants into diesel fuel using a new chemical process. The pilot plant in Indiana will be run by Mercurius Biofuels, whose goal is to convert the corn biomass into fuel at prices cheap enough to compete with petroleum. Mercurius’s process uses recyclable acids to break down cellulose and make a chemical called chloromethylfurfural, which can be converted into diesel or jet fuel. The inventor of the process, Mark Mascal, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Davis, says the technology makes more efficient use of the carbon in cellulose and avoids the significant releases of carbon dioxide involved in a common way of making fuel from biomass — converting the cellulose into sugar and fermenting it to make ethanol. Mercurius says the corn stalks and leaves can be converted into chloromethylfurfural at small, local plants and then shipped to larger refineries to make diesel fuel, thus avoiding the high cost of shipping the biomass itself to a central refinery.29 Apr 2013:
Ocean off the U.S. Northeast
Was Warmest in 150 Years, Report Says
Sea surface temperatures along the northeastern U.S. were warmer in 2012 than during any year in the last 150 years, a new report finds. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) latest Ecosystem Advisory for the Northeast Shelf, sea surface temperatures across the region — which extends from Cape Hatteras, N.C., to the Gulf of Maine — averaged 14 degrees C (57.2 degrees F) last year, significantly higher than the average temperature over the last three decades, which was 12.4 degrees C (54.3 degrees F). It was also the biggest one-year increase since records were first kept in 1854. While the data historically has been collected by ship-board instruments, NOAA now also incorporates satellite remote-sensing technology. “Changes in ocean temperatures and the timing and strength of spring and fall plankton blooms could affect the biological clocks of many marine species, which spawn at specific times of the year based on environmental cues like water temperature,” said Kevin Friedland, a NOAA scientist.26 Apr 2013:
NASA Tests Affirm Viability
Of Biofuel-Powered Commercial Jets
In recent test flights, NASA researchers have confirmed that commercial airliners can safely fly on an alternative jet fuel blend and that under some conditions the biofuel mix produced 30 percent fewer emissions than 
NASA
Contrails from a NASA DC-8 aircraft
25 Apr 2013:
Metal Demand Could Increase
Nine-Fold as Developing Economies Grow
Global demand for metals could increase nine-fold in the coming years as the world’s developing economies continue to grow, a trend that could have profound negative environmental impacts, a new UN report says. As populations in these countries continue to adopt modern technologies, and nations increasingly construct metal-intensive renewable energy projects, the need for raw metal materials will likely be three to nine times larger than the current global demand, said Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). While the current demand is typically met by mining for more metals, large-scale mining operations can have adverse environmental consequences, and the supply of some rare earth metals is running low. Saying that there is an urgent need for a more sophisticated approach to recycling the planet's increasingly sophisticated products, the UN suggested that mining companies be enlisted to help sort out valuable metals when the products reach the end of their usefulness. 24 Apr 2013:
New Web Site to Track
CO2 Levels As Planet Approaches 400 PPM
As atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide approach the milestone of 400 parts per million (ppm), a scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has launched a Website that will publish daily readings of CO2 concentrations, an online resource he hopes will drive home the urgent threat of rising greenhouse gas emissions. Ralph Keeling, director of the Scripps CO2 program and son of the first scientist to measure CO2 concentrations, hopes the daily tracker will attract more attention than weekly or monthly postings, providing a stark index of humanity's effect on the global climate. “I hope that many people out there in decades to come will say, ‘Gosh, I will remember when it crossed 400,’” Keeling told ClimateWire. The measurements will come from the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii. Keeling’s father, Charles David Keeling, first started collecting CO2 concentrations in the 1950s from the same observatory, when few believed that carbon dioxide concentrations were in fact rising. His ongoing recording of CO2 concentrations came to be known as the “Keeling Curve.” As of April 22, CO2 concentrations had reached 398.36 ppm, according to the site, well above pre-industrial concentrations of about 280 ppm.23 Apr 2013:
Conservation of Forests
Can Prevent Malaria Spread, Study Says
The conservation of woodlands and biodiversity can actually help prevent the spread of malaria in tropical forests, a new study says. Using a mathematical model of different conditions in a forest region of southeastern Brazil, scientists found that the circulation of the parasite Plasmodium vivax — which is associated with 80 million to 300 million malaria cases worldwide — is likely to decrease in less developed forests where populations of non-malarial mosquitoes and warm-blooded animals are abundant. While no malaria cases have been reported in 30 years within the biodiverse study area, located in the Atlantic Forest, researchers say a primary malaria mosquito is found nearby. According to their study, published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the findings suggest that malarial and non-malarial mosquito populations are likely to compete for blood feeding, and that the animals act as “dead-end reservoirs” of the malaria parasite. “These aspects of biodiversity that can hinder malaria transmission are services provided by the forest ecosystem,” Gabriel Zorello, an epidemiologist at the University of Sao Paulo and lead researcher of the study, told ScieDev.Net.
22 Apr 2013:
Green Energy Investments
To Triple by 2030, Analysis Predicts
Annual investment in renewable energy is predicted to triple between now and 2030, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. In an analysis of several factors shaping the global energy future —
First Solar Inc.
19 Apr 2013:
New Solar Cell Process
Achieves Record Efficiency, MIT Says
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they have achieved a major breakthrough in the conversion of sunlight into electricity, surpassing what was long believed to be an absolute limit to the efficiency of solar cell devices. While the process used in the typical photovoltaic (PV) cell process knocks loose one electron inside the PV material to produce an electrical current — but wastes any excess energy carried by a photon — a new process described in the journal Science utilizes that extra energy to produce two electrons. That exploits so-called singlet exciton fission and makes the process far more efficient, creating more electrical energy. An exciton is the excited state of a molecule after absorbing energy. While the material used in the organic solar cell, known as pentacene, was previously known to produce two so-called excitons from one photon, researchers say this is the first time anyone has demonstrated the principle within a photovoltaic device. While the typical solar panel achieves efficiencies no greater than 25 percent, the scientists believe this process can be utilized to achieve efficiencies of more than 30 percent. 18 Apr 2013:
Reducing Short-Lived Pollutants
Could Slow Sea Level Rise, Study Says
Reducing the emissions of four critical pollutants in the coming decades could at least temporarily slow the rate of global warming and reduce projected sea level rise by as much as 50 percent, according to a new study. Building on previous research that found that reducing the emissions of four short-lived pollutants — tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons, black carbon, and methane — could slow the rate of global warming by 50 percent, the new study projects that sea-level rise could, in turn, be reduced by 24 to 50 percent by 2100, depending on the level of emissions cuts. Unlike carbon dioxide, which persists in the atmosphere for centuries, these four pollutants remain in the atmosphere anywhere from a week to a decade, so altering their atmospheric concentrations can have a more immediate effect on the global climate, scientists say. “Society can significantly reduce the threat to coastal cities if it moves quickly on a handful of pollutants,” said Aixue Hu, a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. 17 Apr 2013:
Outdated Management, Drought
Threaten Colorado River, Report Says
Drought, mismanagement, and over-exploitation of its waters have made the Colorado River — the lifeblood of the arid Southwest and drinking water source for 36 million people — among the most vulnerable rivers in
the U.S., according to the group American Rivers. In its annual report on “America’s Most Endangered Rivers,” the organization placed the 1,400-mile Colorado at the top of the list of threatened rivers, saying the iconic river “is so dammed, diverted, and drained that it dries to a trickle before reaching the sea.” Proposals to remove more than 300,000 acre-feet of new water from the river and its tributaries, coupled with a projected reduction in its flow of 10 to 30 percent because of global warming, will add further stress to the Colorado system. According to the report, outdated water management systems also threaten the Flint River in Georgia, the San Saba River in Texas, and the Little Plover River in Wisconsin. In the U.S. Southeast, storage ponds for coal ash pose a threat to the Catawba River, a major source of drinking water for parts of North Carolina and South Carolina.
Interview: Using Citizen Power
To Fund a U.S. Solar Revolution
Billy Parish is the president of Mosaic, an Internet “crowdfunding” service that lets individual investors put their money into commercial solar projects and earn a rate of return that
Billy Parish
Read the interview
16 Apr 2013:
U.S. Offshore Seismic Testing
Threatens Many Marine Species, Study Says
The proposed use of seismic air guns in the search for offshore oil and gas reserves along the U.S. East Coast could injure or kill nearly 140,000 marine animalsannually and disrupt the vital activities of other species,
Moira Brown/New England Aquarium
North Atlantic right whale
15 Apr 2013:
Renewable Energy Generated
70 % Of Portugal’s Electricity in Quarter
Portugal generated more than 70 percent of its electricity from renewable sources of energy during the first quarter of 2013, a record amount fueled largely by hydroelectric and wind energy sources, according to a report from the country’s grid operator. Hydroelectric generation provided 37 percent of the nation’s electricity from January to March, a 312-percent increase compared to last year, while wind energy accounted for 27 percent, a 60-percent increase, Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN) reported. While favorable weather helped drive the record levels in wind and hydroelectric power, the results also reflect Portugal’s investment in renewable energy projects — including wind farms, hydroelectric, solar and wave energy — and an improved electricity grid that allows green energy providers to connect into the system. Nearly 45 percent of the country’s electricity will come from green sources this year compared with just 17 percent five years ago, ThinkProgress reports. 12 Apr 2013:
Many Marine Mammal Species
Have Rebounded Since U.S. Protections
Forty years after the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), no marine mammal species in U.S. waters has been extirpated and the populations of
many marine animals are more abundant than in 1972, 
Shutterstock
Sea lions
11 Apr 2013:
Marine Council's ‘Eco-Labeling’
Process Is Too Lenient, Report Says
The process by which the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certifies seafood as sustainable is too lenient and discretionary, allowing for “overly generous interpretations” from third-party certifiers and adjudicators, a new report says. Launched in 1997, the UK-based MSC administers a well known eco-labeling process to inform consumers which fisheries are sustainable and provide incentives for better fisheries management. But in an analysis of 19 formal complaints against the council, a group of researchers found that several of the fisheries that received the MSC’s “sustainable” label — accounting for 35 percent of labeled seafood — apparently do not meet the council’s standards. For example, they found that Canada’s longline fishery for swordfish resulted in an extraordinary amount of incidental bycatch of other species, with the annual catch of 20,000 swordfish also netting 100,000 sharks, 1,200 endangered loggerhead turtles, and 170 leatherback turtles, according to the report, published in the journal Biological Conservation.
10 Apr 2013:
New Satellite-Based System Will
Track Illegal Deforestation in Real Time
A coalition of organizations has unveiled a digital tool its developers say will help governments, environmental groups, and local communities monitor illegal logging in the world’s forest regions in close to real time. Using satellite technology, data sharing, and a global network of local contributors, the so-called Global Forest Watch 2.0 system will enable users to track forest loss that has occurred within the last 30 days and allow local forest managers to upload geo-referenced photographs to support data on deforestation. Developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and other contributors — including Google, the University of Maryland, and the United Nations Environment Program — the technology was unveiled this week at a UN forum on forests and will be available next month. WRI hopes the system will allow government leaders and companies to make more timely forest management decisions.
09 Apr 2013:
Artificial Leaf’s ‘Self Healing’
Could Expand Its Practical Use Globally
The so-called “artificial leaf,” a solar cell being developed by MIT and Harvard scientists to produce low-cost electricity, is now capable of “self healing” the damage that occurs during energy production, clearing 
Dominick Reuter/MIT
The artificial leaf
08 Apr 2013:
Project to Test Promise of
Small, Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines
A wind farm being planned in a remote Alaska village will seek to demonstrate that small, vertical-axis turbines can produce more energy than conventional wind turbines and cause less environmental damage. 
Caltech
Vertical-axis wind turbines
05 Apr 2013:
South Africa Game Reserve
Poisons Rhino Horns to Halt Poachers
Officials at a private game reserve in South Africa say they have injected into the horns of more than 100 rhinos a parasiticide that will make humans sick if they ingest the horns. As the rhinos’ death toll continues to escalate in South Africa, where nearly 700 animals were
Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images
Injured rhino in South Africa
04 Apr 2013:
U.S. Company Shelves Solar
Thermal Plant as Utility Cancels Contract
U.S.-based BrightSource Energy has shelved its second major solar thermal project this year as the company and Pacific Gas and Electric terminated the utility’s contract to buy power generated by the plant in south-central California. In an email, a BrightSource spokesman said the $2.9 billion Hidden Hills project, which would have been built in Inyo County near the Nevada border, was suspended due to “uncertainty around the timing of transmission upgrades,” Bloomberg News reports, although regulators' environmental concerns also seemed to play a role. Like another project canceled by BrightSource earlier this year, the 500-megawatt Hidden Hills plant would have utilized thousands of mirrors reflecting sunlight onto central towers to produce steam. The California Energy Commission, which was reviewing the project, found last year that the solar installation would have “significant” environmental impacts, suggesting that the use of photovoltaic solar panels would be “environmentally superior.” Officials at BrightSource, which recently completed a solar thermal plant in the Mojave desert, disputed that analysis.03 Apr 2013:
Arctic Air Pressure System
Causes Unusual March Temperatures
A pronounced shift in Arctic air pressure systems has triggered unusually cold temperatures across North America, Europe, and northern Asia, while allowing a
flood of warmer air into Greenland and northeastern Canada, according to NASA. In recent weeks, the so-called Arctic Oscillation (AO) index — which tracks the relative pressure differential between the Arctic and mid-latitudes — dropped to the fifth-lowest reading ever recorded, NASA scientists said. When the AO reaches this “negative” phase, scientists say, the pressure gradient between the Arctic and mid-latitudes weakens, allowing Arctic air to stream south. This NASA graphic depicts unusual land surface temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere, with Europe, Russia, and the U.S. experiencing temperatures as high as 5 to 15 degrees C below normal, while temperatures in Greenland were as high as 15 degrees C above normal. Britain recorded its fourth-coldest March since 1962, Germany experienced its coldest March since 1883, and Moscow had its coldest March since the 1950s.
02 Apr 2013:
Air Pollution Linked to
1.2 Million Chinese Deaths in 2010
Air pollution contributed to the premature deaths of more than 1.2 million people in China in 2010, or about 40 percent of early deaths worldwide caused by dirty air, according to a newly released analysis. The findings, based on data from a study on the distribution and causes of death globally, categorized “ambient particulate matter pollution” as the fourth-leading factor in premature deaths in China, behind dietary risks, high blood pressure, and smoking. Worldwide, air pollution was the seventh-leading cause of premature death, contributing to 3.2 million deaths, according to the study. While the study was published in The Lancet, a UK-based medical journal, the summary of China statistics was reported at a forum in Beijing, the New York Times says. The findings come as public outrage grows in China as residents of many cities endure choking air far in excess of safe levels. 01 Apr 2013:
Genetic Discovery May Allow
Lettuce Growth Even in Hot Temperatures
A team of scientists has identified the specific gene in lettuce that causes the plant’s seeds to stop germinating in warm temperatures, a discovery they say could allow production of the food crop year-round even in the planet’s hotter regions. Writing in the journal The Plant Cell, the researchers say they identified a chromosome in the wild ancestor of commercial lettuce varieties that enabled seeds to germinate even in warm temperatures. When the chromosome was crossed with commercial varieties of lettuce, they too were able to germinate at warmer temperatures. After further testing, the scientists found the specific gene that governs a plant hormone known as abscisic acid — which inhibits seed germination in most lettuce plants when exposed to moisture at warm temperatures — and were able to “silence” the mechanism. Because this mechanism occurs in many plant species, the results suggest similar modifications can be made in the growth of other crops, said Kent Bradford, of the University of California Davis, who is one of the study’s authors
Interview: Tracking Causes of
The Decline of the Monarch Butterfly
University of Kansas insect ecologist Orley R. Taylor, who has been observing monarch butterflies and their spectacular migrations across North America for 
Monarch Watch/ Catherine I Sherman
Orley Taylor
Read the interview
28 Mar 2013:
California City to Require
Solar Energy Systems on All New Homes
A city in southern California this week passed a zoning regulation that requires developers to install solar power systems on every new house they build. Beginning next year, all new homes built on lots at least
Shutterstock
27 Mar 2013:
Natural Gas Extraction
Causing More Earthquakes in Netherlands
Extraction of natural gas from the deep soil in a region of the Netherlands has triggered an increase in minor earthquakes, similar to seismic effects that have raised concerns about drilling operations, including hydraulic fracturing, in other countries. While the extraction of gas has occurred for decades in the northern Netherlands, including in the province of Groningen, quakes have become more frequent in the last few years, the New York Times reports. The region experienced as few as 20 quakes a year before 2011, but there were 18 during the first six weeks of 2013, with some strong enough to cause significant property damage. According to Chiel Seinen, a spokesman for a local gas consortium known as NAM, natural gas extraction has created at least 1,800 faults in the region’s subsoil, although he said the controversial drilling technique known as fracking is not used in the Dutch region. A new study by Columbia University’s Earth Institute found that a 5.7-magnitude earthquake that occurred in Oklahoma in 2011 may have been the largest quake yet that can be linked to the injection of wastewater as part of an energy extraction project.26 Mar 2013:
China’s Utility Giants
Vulnerable to Water Scarcity, Report Says
China’s five largest power utilities, which depend on water-intensive, coal-fired stations to generate electricity, are vulnerable to water supply disruptions because they are centered in the country’s water-scarce northern regions, a new report says. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the five power generators — Huaneng, Datang, Huadian, Guodian, and China Power Investment — operate hundreds of gigawatts of thermal plants in the industrial northeast, where water resources are increasingly strained. Eighty-five percent of China’s power-generating capacity is in water scarce regions, said Maxime Serrano Bardisa, one of the report’s coauthors. The report said that major technical and policy shifts will be required to avert serious disruptions, including the addition of systems that use less water, such as closed-cycle or air-cooled systems. Such improvements could cost the utilities $20 billion in retrofit costs, the report said.25 Mar 2013:
Peach Genome Offers Hints
For Better Biofuel Production, Study Says
A long-term genomic analysis of the common peach has revealed important insights into how scientists can improve the biofuel potential of other plant species, including the fast-growing poplar tree, a new study says. 
Wikimedia Commons
22 Mar 2013:
Expansion of Chinese City Poses
Environmental and Safety Risks, Critics Say
An ambitious plan to expand the western Chinese city of Lanzhou into a regional industrial hub is raising concerns over what critics call lax government oversight of the environmental and safety impacts, including worries that it will siphon huge amounts of water from an already parched region and devastate nearby mountains. Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, is a city of 3.6 million and a gateway to Tibet and the Xinjiang region. It is known as one of the most polluted cities in China, and now the government is working to expand the city’s footprint by at least 70 percent, according to Caixin Online. That expansion involves the flattening of mountaintops, and the additional 1 million people and increased industrial activity will draw water from the already polluted and over-stressed Yellow River. Opponents of the plan say buildings will also be constructed on loose soil that will be vulnerable to collapse. “It was a rash decision to begin construction on the new city before receiving environmental approvals or seeking opinions from the Lanzhou public,” said Zhao Zhong, a local activist.21 Mar 2013:
U.S.-Spain Energy Companies
Plan World’s Largest Solar Towers
A U.S.-based company that will soon finish construction of one of the world’s largest solar thermal power plants in the Mojave Desert, is now looking to build an even larger plant in Southern California. BrightSource Energy, which is expected to begin producing up to 370 megawatts of electricity per day from its Mojave plant beginning this summer, last week announced plans to build, in partnership with Spain-based Abengoa Solar, a 500-megawatt plant in Riverside, California. Like the Mojave project, the new solar array will utilize thousands of mirrors that reflect sunlight onto central towers to produce steam. While the company's first project, the so-called Ivanpah plant, will use three towers to generate 130 megawatts each, the new $2.6 billion project involves construction of two 750-foot towers capable of producing 250 megawatts each, which combined would provide enough electricity to power 200,000 households and prevent 17 million tons of carbon emissions during the life of the plant, BrightSource says.
20 Mar 2013:
High-Speed Trains Provide
Environmental, Social Benefits, Study Says
Bullet trains fuel real-estate booms, improve quality of life, reduce air pollution and traffic congestion, and provide a “safety valve” for crowded cities, especially in the developing world, according to a study by Chinese and U.S. economists. The study was based on China’s rapidly expanding high-speed rail network, but the researchers said the benefits experienced there would be similar for California’s proposed high-speed rail system. Bullet train systems connecting China’s largest cities to nearby smaller cities have made these “second tier” cities more attractive for workers and alleviated traffic congestion and pollution in megacities, according to the study, carried out by economists at Tsinghua University and the University of California, Los Angeles. The study found that the trains created a new category of exurbs within 60 to 470 miles of urban centers such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, helping keep people from moving to already crowded megacities. The study was published in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Interview: A Marine Biologist
Works to Create a ‘Wired Ocean’
Even as populations of sharks, bluefin tuna, and other large fish are being severely over-exploited, scientists still know surprisingly little about when and where the ocean’s biggest predators congregate to feed and spawn, 
Barbara Block
Read the interview
19 Mar 2013:
New Carbon Storage Method
Reduces Earthquake Risk, Study Says
A team of researchers says it has demonstrated a method of underground carbon storage that reduces the risk of triggering earthquakes, a safety concern cited by some scientists about the emerging field of carbon capture and sequestration. While often cited as a potentially key option in reducing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, earlier studies have suggested that the use of carbon sequestration technologies in some rock formations can result in leaks that ultimately cause minor tremors. But in a new study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, Yale University researchers say that storing carbon in a common type of volcanic rock, known as reactive mafic rock, offers a far safer alternative. According to their findings, injecting carbon into the mafic rock causes a chemical reaction that generates carbon minerals, creating a so-called “mineral-trapping” phenomenon that reduces fluid pressure and distributes the stress load, which in turn minimizes seismic risks.18 Mar 2013:
New Chinese Premier
Vows To Tackle Pollution With ‘Iron Fist’
China’s new premier, Li Keqiang, has vowed aggressive government action to curb the rampant pollution that has provoked growing public outrage, saying the country would phase out “backward production 
Getty Images
Smog covers Beijing in January
15 Mar 2013:
Obama Unveils New Actions
To Combat Climate Change in Second Term
Making good on his promise to fight climate change more aggressively in his second term, President Obama is unveiling two major initiatives to reduce the U.S.’s reliance on fossil fuels, including a new $2 billion Energy Security Trust to fund the next generation of green vehicles, as well as new reviews of federal projects to assess their climate impacts. During an appearance at Argonne National Laboratory, Obama unveiled details of the proposed energy trust, which would shift $2 billion in royalties from oil and gas operations on federal lands into research into vehicles powered by renewable energy sources. An administration official said the policy will keep the U.S. at the forefront of the emerging green technology sector and will help the nation wean itself off fossil fuels. Obama is also expected to expand a Nixon-era law to require federal agencies to assess the climate effects of large projects, including pipelines and highways.14 Mar 2013:
U.S. Grants Will Promote
Small-Scale, Modular Nuclear Reactors
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) this week announced a new series of cost-sharing grants to promote the development of small-scale, factory-made nuclear reactors, an emerging energy source that Obama administration officials say could help replace the coal-fired plants expected to cease operations in the coming decades. The administration, which has allocated $452 million for the program, hopes to spur the production and licensing of as many as 50 so-called modular reactors annually by 2040, said Rebecca Smith-Kevern, director of light water reactor technology at the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. DOE officials say these modular reactors, which would be about one-third the size of typical nuclear power plants, also include scalable designs that will provide safety and economic benefits. “We have a vision of having a whole fleet of [modular reactors] produced in factories,” Smith-Kavern said at a conference. “We envision the U.S. government to be the first users.” Citing a 2011 paper, she said plants could cost $3 billion to $5 billion apiece.
13 Mar 2013:
New Desalination Process
Slashes Costs of Producing Fresh Water
Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest military contractors, has developed a process that company officials say significantly reduces the amount of energy needed to desalinate water, an innovation that could help communities worldwide tackle the growing threat of water scarcity. According to the company, the new process uses ultra-thin carbon membranes with holes large enough to allow water to pass through, but small enough to block the salt molecules in seawater, Reuters reports. Because the membranes have holes as thin as a single atom, the process would require far less energy than existing desalination technologies, which rely on reverse osmosis, the company says. “It’s 500 times thinner than the best filter on the market today and a thousand times stronger,” said John Stetson, a Lockheed Martin engineer. “The energy that’s required and the pressure that’s required to filter salt is approximately 100 times less.” A 2011 study found that desalination technology could be the cheapest approach to meeting the planet’s growing water needs.
Interview: An Advocate for
Environmental Justice at EPA
Matthew Tejada brings on-the-ground experience to his new job as director of the Office of Environmental Justice at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Tejada, 33, took over his EPA post
Matthew Tejada
Read the interview
12 Mar 2013:
Mass Scale of Renewables Shift
Is Evident in Blueprint for New York State
A new study concludes that it would be technically and economically feasible for New York State to meet all of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2030, but 
Shutterstock
11 Mar 2013:
New Arctic Survey Shows
Major Advances of Vegetation to North
Declining snow and ice coverage in the northern latitudes and rising temperatures have triggered a significant increase in vegetation across large swaths of the Arctic, with some circumpolar regions seeing the
type of plant growth that just a few decades ago occurred hundreds of miles to the south, according to a new study. In a comprehensive analysis of ground and satellite-based data, a team of scientists found that across a region covering more than 9 million square kilometers — roughly equal to the size of the U.S. — vegetation is growing more vigorously and spreading north. The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, said that since the early 1980s, the kind of vegetation that was once found at 57 degrees north — typified by tall shrubs and trees — is now spreading into former regions of tundra as far as 64 degrees north. The paper said that 17 climate model simulations suggested that bv the end of this century rising temperatures could lead to northward shifts of vegetation of more than 20 degrees latitude compared with the period 1951 to 1980.
08 Mar 2013:
Largest U.S. Dam Removal
Releases Huge Amount of Sediment
Scientists tracking the aftermath of the largest dam removal in U.S. history say the dismantling of a dam in northwestern Washington state has unleashed about 34 million cubic yards of sediment and debristhat built up
for more than a century. While about one-third of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam on the Elwha River still stands, vast amounts of sediment are already flowing downstream, allowing University of Washington (UW) scientists a rare opportunity to track the discharges and study their ecological impacts. Scientists say it is unclear where much of the sediment will end up — or what the environmental consequences will be. In an ongoing study, they will use sophisticated technology to track particles in the water and monitor their accumulation on the ocean floor. Scientists say the sediment — enough to fill 3 million truckloads — could create murkier water conditions, threatening the reproduction of salmon and blocking light for marine life.
07 Mar 2013:
Shale Gas Boom Drives
Surge in Propane-Fueled Vehicles
The U.S. satellite TV provider DISH Network Corporation has announced it will introduce 200 propane-fueled vans to its fleet in 2013, another sign that propane, like natural gas, is offering an increasingly cost-effective transportation fuel alternative to gasoline and diesel. While there are already more than 13 million propane-fueled vehicles worldwide, propane historically has been considered a niche fuel because of high production costs. But driven by the surge in domestic shale oil and gas production, the wholesale cost of propane is now only about 85 cents per gallon — about half of 2011 costs. And while the vehicles cost about 10 percent more than diesel-fueled trucks, propane-fueled trucks ultimately can save $50,000 in fuel costs over the life of a vehicle, according to Reuters. In addition, DISH officials say their new propane-fueled vans will reduce the fleet’s overall emissions of carbon dioxide by 12.5 million pounds over the lifetime of the vehicles. According to Pike Research, sales of natural gas-fueled vehicles are projected to increase 10 percent annually through 2019 while propane-fueled vehicles are expected to climb 8 percent per year.06 Mar 2013:
Atmospheric CO2 Concentration
Shows Second-Largest Annual Increase
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased by 2.67 parts per million in 2012, marking the second-biggest jump since levels were first recorded in 1959 and decreasing the chances that the planet will 
Wikimedia Commons
05 Mar 2013:
African Forest Elephant
Populations Fell 62 Percent in a Decade
Populations of forest elephants in central Africa plummeted by more than 60 percent from 2002 to 2011, with dwindling habitat and an acceleration in poaching driving the elephants toward extinction, according to a
new study. An international team of 60 scientists found that while elephants historically ranged across a 772,000-square-mile region in Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Republic of Congo, they now exist in just 25 percent of that area, said John Hart, scientific director for the Lukuru Foundation and co-author of the study published in the journal PLoS ONE. The decade-long survey, which involved the work of many local conservation staff members who walked more than 8,000 miles conducting censuses, is the largest ever conducted on forest elephants. According to the survey, the remaining 100,000 forest elephants are increasingly scarce in regions with high human populations, heavy poaching, and weak governance.
04 Mar 2013:
U.S. Educational Standards
To Urge Teaching About Climate Change
A new set of U.S. educational standards that is expected to be released this month will recommend that global warming be included in the science curriculum for all U.S. public schools. The Next Generation Science Standards, which are being developed by a coalition that includes the National Research Council and 26 individual U.S. states, will recommend that teachers introduce evidence of human-caused climate change in all science classes, beginning in elementary school, according to Inside Climate News. According to the standards, by eighth grade all students should understand that “human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature.” With an additional 15 states indicating that they will also adopt the standards, the report says, the U.S.’s biggest educational publishing companies are already expected to incorporate the new standards into their textbooks and other teaching materials.01 Mar 2013:
Loss of Wild Pollinators
Affecting Global Crop Production
Research data from 600 fields in 20 countries shows that wild bees and insects are more effective pollinators than domesticated honey bees, suggesting that the continuing loss of wild insects in many agricultural
Wikimedia Commons
28 Feb 2013:
Earth Unlikely to Face
An Ecological Tipping Point, Study Says
A team of international scientists has rejected the idea that the planet could face a sudden and irreversible ecological shift as a result of largely human-driven pressures, suggesting that such global transformations are more likely to occur over a long period of time. While earlier studies have warned that ecological pressures — including climate change, biodiversity loss, and over-exploitation of resources — could drive the planet toward a dangerous “tipping point,” the new paper says the ecosystems of different continents are not sufficiently interconnected for such a global shift to occur. And while as much as 80 percent of the biosphere includes ecosystems that have been affected by human activities, major ecological shifts driven by these human pressures “depend on local circumstances and will therefore differ between localities,” said Erle Ellis, a scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and co-author of the paper, published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
27 Feb 2013:
Oxfam Ranks Food Giants on
Sourcing and Environmental Policies
The group Oxfam has published an online scorecard assessing the agricultural sourcing of the world’s biggest food and beverage companies, rating them on factors that include water resource management, climate 
Oxfam
26 Feb 2013:
Major U.S. Utility Will Close
Three Coal-Burning Plants in Midwest
One of the U.S.’s largest electric utilities has agreed to close three coal-fired power plants in the Midwest, the latest sign of how the U.S.'s electricity supply is shifting away from coal to natural gas and renewable energy. American Electric Power (AEP) will shut down the three plants in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky by 2015 — retiring a total of 2,011 megawatts of coal-burning capacity — and replace some of the power generation with wind and solar investments in Indiana and Michigan. According to the agreement, which settles a lawsuit originally filed in 1999 over the environmental costs of pollution that drifts east from the plants, the Ohio-based company will also spend $5 billion to install pollution-control technologies at its aging coal-burning plants in the eastern U.S. and cut its annual sulfur dioxide emissions from 828,000 tons to 174,000 tons within 12 years. With the latest shut-downs, utilities have now closed or announced the closing of 142 coal-burning plants since 2010.25 Feb 2013:
Labor Capacity To Fall as World
Gets Warmer, More Humid, U.S. Study Says
Increasingly warm and humid conditions that are predicted in the coming decades could slash worker productivity 10 percent worldwide by mid-century and could eliminate worker capacity altogether in some regions during the hottest months, a new U.S. study predicts. In an analysis of labor capacity based on existing military and industrial heat stress standards, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that the amount of work that people can do in some regions has already dropped by 10 percent over the last six decades and that the lost labor capacity could double by 2050 based on global warming projections. According to their analysis, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, a temperature increase of 6 degrees C (11 degrees F) would “eliminate all labor capacity in the hottest months in many areas,” including the U.S.’s lower Mississippi Valley. “This planet will start experiencing heat stress that’s unlike anything experienced today,” Ronald Stouffer, co-author of the study, told Reuters. According to the study, temperature increases must be limited to less than 3 degrees C (5 F) to maintain labor capacity in all areas during the hottest months.22 Feb 2013:
A 1.5 C Temperature Rise Could
Release Greenhouse Gases in Permafrost
A global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius could unleash more than 1,000 gigatons of carbon and methane currently trapped beneath Siberian permafrost and accelerate global climate change, a new study says. In a study conducted in a frozen cave in Siberia, researchers analyzed stalactites and stalagmites which, since they form only when rainwater and snowmelt drip into the caves, provide a glimpse into 500,000 years of changing permafrost conditions. According to their findings, records of an especially warm period 400,000 years ago suggest that a 1.5-degree increase compared to current temperatures would trigger the thawing of permafrost far north of its existing southern boundary. And since permafrost covers 24 percent of the exposed land surface in the Northern Hemisphere, significant thawing could release huge amounts of methane and carbon dioxide, said Anton Vaks, a scientist at Oxford University and lead researcher on the study, published in Science Express. In addition to the effects the loss of permafrost could have on climate, it could have major regional implications, affecting roads, railways, and natural gas facilities built on the frozen landscape.21 Feb 2013:
Chinese Air Pollution Triggers
Steep Rise in Nitrogen Deposition
A spike in Chinese air pollution over the last three decades has caused a 60 percent increase in the levels of nitrogen pollutants that ultimately end up back on the nation’s land and in its water, a new study has found. In an analysis of 270 monitoring sites across the country, researchers found that the annual deposition of nitrogen, as measured in precipitation, had increased from 13.2 kilograms per hectare in 1980 to about 21.1 kilograms per hectare in 2010. Scientists say so-called nitrogen deposition occurs when nitrogen in the atmosphere is washed back to the planet’s surface by rain and snow in the form of pollutants such as nitrates and ammonium. Elevated nitrogen levels can trigger harmful ecological effects, from soil acidification to feeding algae blooms. According to the study, published in Nature, leaves of herbaceous and woody plants absorbed 33 percent more nitrogen in 2010 than in 1980, while rice, wheat, and maize crops on unfertilized fields had a 16 percent increase. The spike in pollution levels has been driven by an increase in industrial emissions, agricultural uses, and transportation.20 Feb 2013:
Camera Trap in Amazon
Gives Stunning Glimpse of Species Diversity
Using footage from a camera trap trained on a single “colpa” salt lick in the remote jungle of the western Amazon, a Peru-based conservationist has captured a rare glimpse into the region’s robust biodiversity, documenting an array of species, some of which are threatened, in an area now targeted by loggers, miners, and other developers. During a four-week period, Paul Rosolie’s camera collected footage of dozens of species, including a troop of howler monkeys, a giant anteater, and a host of big cats — including jaguars, pumas, and ocelots — constantly on the hunt for prey. In a short film, Rosolie, a field director at a research station for Tamandua Expeditions, documents a wide array of wildlife in a region of the lower Las Piedras River in Peru.
19 Feb 2013:
New Global Standard Aims
To Reduce Water Waste by Businesses
The UK-based Carbon Trust has introduced what it calls the first global standard on water management and reduction in hopes of encouraging more sustainable water use by businesses. The new standard, created by members of the group along with four early-adopting companies, including Coca-Cola Enterprises, will require businesses to show that they are measuring their water use and reducing consumption on a year-to-year basis, Carbon Trust executive Tom Delay told BBC News. “We look at the various water supply methods: mains, surface water abstraction, groundwater, and rainwater collection,” he said. The Carbon Trust, which already helps business and governments reduce energy use and carbon emissions, decided to expand into water issues since freshwater scarcity is closely linked with climate change. According to a 2009 report, global freshwater demand will outpace currently available supplies by 40 percent by 2030. In a survey of 475 companies in the U.S., UK, China, and Brazil, the Carbon Trust found that just one out of seven businesses have set targets for water reduction and report their performances publicly. 18 Feb 2013:
BPA Levels Found in Humans
Unlikely to Pose Health Risk, Study Says
A new U.S. analysis suggests that concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA) in the blood of the general public are significantly lower than levels shown to cause toxicity or mimic estrogen in animal studies. In an analysis of 150 BPA exposure studies — covering more than 30,000 individuals in 19 countries — toxicologist Justin Teeguarden of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that BPA levels were consistently lower than levels believed to cause biological effects. According to the study, which was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, these findings suggest that animal studies may not be a good indicator of the human health effects of BPA, a synthetic chemical found in thousands of everyday products, from plastic bottles to cash register receipts. “At these exposure levels, exposure to BPA can’t be compared to giving a baby the massive dose of estrogens found in a birth control pill, a comparison made by others,” Teeguarden said. 15 Feb 2013:
Meteor Strike in Siberia
Rains Down Debris and Injures 1,000
A 10-ton meteor broke apart 20 to 30 miles above the ground in western Siberia, raining chunks of debris over a large area, causing a powerful boom that damaged buildings across a vast territory, and injuring more than 1,000 people, mostly from shattering glass. The Russian Academy of Sciences said the meteor, known as a bolide, streaked through the earth’s atmosphere near the Ural mountain city of Chelyabinsk, 950 miles east of Moscow, around 9 a.m. local time Friday. It lit up the sky with a fireball that could be seen for hundreds of miles and that was captured on video by scores of observers. Pieces of the disintegrating meteor fell into a lake about 50 miles west of Chelyabinsk, and scientists and local officials said the damage and injuries could have been far worse had chunks of the meteor fallen on Chelyabinsk itself. As it was, the meteor strike shattered windows, TV sets, and dishes across a wide area, which caused most of the injuries. Most meteors that strike Earth disintegrate in the atmosphere, but this meteor was made of exceptionally hard material and did not fully burn up as it approached Siberia, scientists said.
Why I Came to Washington to
Protest the Keystone Pipeline
By Rick Bass
It’s not exactly as if hell has frozen over, for me, an oil and gas geologist to be protesting — maybe even beyond the extent allowable by law — the folly of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. I’ve hugged a tree or two before, written some letters opposing this or that dam, mine, clear-cut, or whatnot. I’ve lived the last 26 years in the backwoods of northwest Montana, writing pretty little stories, poems and essays about the million-acre garden of the Yaak Valley, a lush wild rainforest of a place, in which I’ve pleaded, argued, scolded for its protection.Read more
14 Feb 2013:
Two New Polls Show Strong
Support for Obama Action on Climate
Roughly two-thirds of the American people support President Obama taking significant action on climate change, according to two polls released the day after Obama’s State of the Union address. A poll for the League of Conservation voters showed that 65 percent of Americans want Obama to take “significant steps” to address climate change, including 89 percent of Democrats, 62 percent of Independents, and 38 percent of Republicans. The survey said that most Americans view climate change as a tangible threat, with 61 percent saying climate change is already affecting them or will affect them sometime in their lives. A second poll, conducted for the Natural Resources Defense Council, found that 65 percent of Americans see climate change as a serious problem and that 62 percent agreed with Obama’s call for action. Obama told Congress that if it does not pass legislation to reduce CO2 emission, he will step up efforts to deal with the problem using executive actions. Despite these poll results, another recent survey showed that Americans rank climate change last on a list of 21 problems facing the U.S.
Interview: A Conservative Who
Believes Climate Change is Real
Republican Congressman Bob Inglis lost his 2010 re-election bid after telling a campaign audience he believed in human-caused climate change.
Bob Inglis
Read the interview
13 Feb 2013:
Middle East Water Loss
Is Starkly Documented by NASA Satellites
A pair of gravity-measuring NASA satellites has documented a precipitous drop in freshwater supplies in the arid Middle East over the past decade. NASA said that since 2003 parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran had lost 144 cubic kilometers of total stored freshwater, an amount roughly equivalent to the water in the Dead Sea. NASA researchers attributed 60 percent of the loss to increased pumping of groundwater from underground reservoirs. An additional 20 percent of the loss came from soil drying up and snowpack shrinking, while the remaining 20 percent came from loss of surface water in lakes and reservoirs, according to the NASA study, to be published Friday in the journal Water Resources Research. A drought in 2007 exacerbated all of these trends, but even without the drought scientists said that the rapidly growing population in the heart of the Middle East was using too much water at a time of increasing concern over intensifying droughts caused by climate change. The GRACE satellites — short for Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment — measure changes in gravity, in this case caused by the falling of water reserves, which alters the earth’s mass.12 Feb 2013:
Norwegian Retrofit Seeks
To Create ‘Energy-Positive’ Office Buildings
Two office buildings in Norway are being retrofitted so they will generate more power than they use when the project is completed next year. The three- and four-story buildings, in the town of Sandvika, near Oslo, will generate geothermal and solar energy on site, making the buildings “energy positive,” according to the project's backers. The retrofit will use a heat-retaining black façade, top-quality insulation to reduce energy use by up to 90 percent, and an interior design that will allow air to circulate without fans. “We believe this is the first time in the world that a normal office block is being renovated to such strict standards,” Svein Brandtzaeg, chief executive of Norsk Hydro, one of the project’s partners, told Reuters. According to the UN Environment Programme, the building industry has the greatest potential of any economic sector for large cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.11 Feb 2013:
Earth-Observing Satellite
Is Launched by NASA at Crucial Moment
NASA is expected to launch today its newest Earth-observing satellite, Landsat 8, at a time when previous Landsat satellites have either stopped working or have developed serious technical problems. NASA scientists say the launch of the $855 million satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is vital to the space agency’s mission of monitoring the Earth during a period of unprecedented environmental change — from disappearing glaciers and sea ice, to widespread forest loss, to intensifying destruction from natural disasters. The first Earth-observing satellite, Landsat 1, was launched in 1972. Today, two Landsat satellites remain functional, but NASA engineers have struggled to fix problems with the satellites, including the failure of transmitters to send images back to Earth and a sensor problem on Landsat 7 that blanks out a fifth of each image it collects. Ted Scambos, a senior scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, called Landsat satelites a “phenomenal” tool for documenting the loss of ice sheets and sea ice."08 Feb 2013:
Memory of Magnetic Landscape
Guides Salmon to Home Rivers, Study Shows
Although magnetism has been known to play a role in the remarkable homing ability of salmon, a new study clarifies just how the fish use magnetic fields to travel thousands of miles to their natal rivers to spawn. Researchers at Oregon State University solved this mystery by studying 56 years of fishery data involving the millions of sockeye salmon that annually pour into British Columbia’s Fraser River. Vancouver Island sits in front of the Fraser, and the routes the salmon took around the island in different years offered clues to how the fish decipher shifting magnetic fields. When the magnetic field of the northern passageway around Vancouver Island was similar to that experienced by the fish when they left the river two years earlier, the returning salmon tended to chose the northern route; the reverse was true when there was a more southerly magnectic field. Lead researcher Nathan Putnam said this showed that juvenile salmon imprint on the magnetic signature of their home rivers and then seek their way back using that signature. The research was published in Current Biology.07 Feb 2013:
Wind Energy Now Cheaper
Than Fossil Fuel Power Plants in Australia
Unsubsidized wind power is now cheaper than electricity produced from new coal- and natural gas-fired power stations in Australia, according to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The study said that electricity can be supplied from a new wind farm at a cost of 80 Australian dollars per megawatt hour, compared to 143 Australian dollars from a new coal plant and 116 Australian dollars from a new natural gas plant. Even without a recently imposed carbon price, wind energy is 14 percent cheaper than new coal power and 18 percent cheaper than new natural gas, the study said. The analysis said that Australia’s largest banks are unlikely to finance new coal plants because of concern over emissions-intensive investments and that natural gas has become expensive as Australia exports more liquid natural gas. By 2020, the report said, large-scale solar arrays will also be cheaper than coal or gas when carbon taxes are figured in. “The perception that fossil fuels are cheap and renewables are expensive is now out of date,” said Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Interview: Probing Impact of
Warming on World Food Supply
It has long been thought that climate change could enhance crop growth through the fertilizing effects of carbon dioxide.
University of Illinois
Stephen Long
Read the interview
06 Feb 2013:
More than 11,000 Elephants
Killed In Gabon Park Since 2004, Study Says
Poachers have slaughtered more than 11,000 elephants in Gabon’s Minkebe National Park rainforest since 2004, according to a new study by Gabon’s government and two leading conservation groups. The study said that in the past 9 years, two-thirds of the forest elephants in Minkebe — about 11,100 animals — have been killed by poachers for their tusks. The study comes as tens of thousands of African elephants are being killed annually to feed a growing demand for ivory jewelry and ornamental items in a fast-growing Asian economy. Gabon said that many of the poachers are infiltrating Minkebe park from Cameroon and that the forest elephants’ harder and straighter tusks are coveted by poachers and dealers.05 Feb 2013:
Sea Urchins Offer a Clue
To New Way to Capture Carbon Dioxide
British researchers have discovered that sea urchins use nickel particles on their exoskeletons to effectively capture CO2 and turn it into a solid form, an intriguing finding that could offer an inexpensive way to capture and store carbon from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Scientists from Newcastle University were studying how marine organisms absorb CO2 to make shells and skeletons when they discovered that sea urchin larvae have a high concentration of nickel on their exoskeletons, which helps them absorb CO2. When the researchers added nickel nanoparticles to CO2-saturated water, they discovered that the nickel completely removed CO2 and turned it into calcium carbonate, a chalk-like mineral. Current efforts to capture and store carbon dioxide from power plants involve either pumping it underground or using an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase to convert it to calcium carbonate. But both methods are expensive, and the Newcastle researchers say that using nickel to capture and store CO2 bubbled through water could be a thousand times cheaper than employing carbonic anhydrase. “It seems too good to be true, but it works,” said Lidija Siller, a physicist at Newcastle. The research was published in Catalysis Science & Technology.
Orphaned Siberian Tiger Cubs
Are Readied for New Life in Wild
Last November, three Siberian tiger cubs were orphaned in the sparsely populated taiga of the Russian Far East, their mother apparently a victim of poachers.
Read more
01 Feb 2013:
U.S. Carbon Emissions
Fall To The Lowest Level Since 1994
The continuing expansion of renewable energy technologies, advances in energy efficiency, and the rapid shift from coal to natural gas for generating electricity combined to bring down U.S. carbon dioxide emissions last year to their lowest levels since 1994, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The report said that CO2 emissions fell 13 percent in the last five years alone, which means that the U.S. is now more than halfway toward reaching President Obama’s goal of cutting emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. The Bloomberg report said that while the shift from burning coal to natural gas is a significant factor in the U.S.’s continued emissions reductions, the adoption of renewable energy technologies is also playing an important role. The report said the cumulative installed solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass-based energy sources in the U.S. reached 86 gigawatts last year, compared with 43 gigawatts in 2008. Another growing source of emissions cuts is adoption of hybrid and electric vehicles, with 488,000 people in the U.S. purchasing these energy-efficient cars last year.31 Jan 2013:
Massive UK Wind Turbines
Are a Sign of ‘Super-sizing’ of Wind Power
Two of the world’s largest wind turbines, with blades 60 meters (196 feet) long, have been installed off the Yorkshire coast, a sign of a growing trend toward producing colossal wind turbines to boost generating capacity. The 6-megawatt turbines, manufactured by Siemens, are so large that they had to be installed using a specially built ship, Siemens said. The pair of turbines is being erected on an experimental basis to gauge how they perform, but the operator of the offshore wind farm, the Denmark-based DONG energy group, has plans to install dozens more so that production will reach 210 megawatts at the site, located about five miles offshore. DONG says it intends to eventually install 300 of the massive turbines by 2017 at various offshore locations in the U.K., including some in deeper waters. Energy analysts say the 60-meter Siemens turbines reflect growing interest among wind energy companies to deploy ever-larger turbines, with plans in the works to manufacture turbines 100 meters long.30 Jan 2013:
Satellite Analysis Shows
Gulf Oil Spills Typically Underestimated
An analysis of satellite images has revealed that small oil spills that have become common in the Gulf of Mexico are often much larger than reported, U.S. scientists say. Using technology that calculates the size of oil slicks based on differences in the texture of water surface, as captured in publicly available satellite photos, a team of oceanographers at Florida State University (FSU) estimated that known human-caused spills in the Gulf were typically about 13 times larger than reported to the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Response Center. The spills are typically the result of minor drilling mishaps or fuel discharges from ships. “There is very consistent underreporting of the magnitude of [oil] releases,” Ian MacDonald, a FSU scientist and team leader, told Nature. While these relatively minor oil spills may not cause significant environmental damage, the cumulative damage is not known since officials are unaware of the true extent of the spills, said John Amos, president of SkyTruth, a nonprofit organization that participated in the study.
29 Jan 2013:
Continued Beijing Air Pollution
Triggers Online Call for Clean Air Act
As Beijing residents continue to endure choking air pollution that far exceeds safe levels, an online poll has found overwhelming support for new clean air legislation. Ten hours after real estate mogul Pan Shiyi
posted the poll on the popular social media platform Sina Weibo, 99 percent of respondents (more than 32,000 people) agreed that the government should enact a Clean Air Act, with many users offering specific measures to curb pollution, including car-free days, stricter auto emissions standards, and public health protections. The dangerous cloud of pollution that has hung over Beijing for about a month now covers roughly 1.3 million square kilometers, according to the government-run Xinhua news agency. In Beijing this week, visibility fell to 500 meters, and some city natives called it the “worst fog ever,” according to China Daily.
28 Jan 2013:
Megacities Alter Weather
Across Long Distances, Study Says
Heat generated in major metropolitan areas is altering the character of the jet stream and other atmospheric systems, at times affecting the weather thousands of miles away, a new study says. Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, a team of scientists reports that so-called “waste heat” produced from buildings, cars, and other sources is altering weather patterns and increasing winter temperatures across large areas of North America and northern Asia by as much as 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F). In parts of Europe, however, the changes to atmospheric circulation are causing temperatures to fall by as much as 1 degree C., the study found. “Although much of this waste heat is concentrated in large cities, it can change atmospheric patterns in a way that raises or lowers temperatures across considerable distances,” said Aixue Hu, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and one of the lead authors of the study. According to the study, this phenomenon is different than the so-called “heat island effect,” in which cities are warmer than surrounding areas as a result of heat collected and re-radiated by pavement, buildings, and other urban features.25 Jan 2013:
German Plant to Produce
Methane Using Surplus Green Energy
Audi is building a plant in Germany that will use surplus power produced from renewable sources, such as wind energy generated when demand is low, to produce methane from water and carbon dioxide. The plant, which will use technology developed by Stuttgart-based SolarFuel, reportedly will produce enough methane to run 1,500 of the new natural-gas vehicles Audi is planning to start selling this year. To produce the methane, the company will utilize a combination of technologies: electrolysis, in which water is split into its hydrogen and oxygen components, and methanation, in which the hydrogen is combined with carbon from carbon dioxide to produce methane. While the combined process would normally be considered impractical because of inefficiencies, the availability of excess energy from renewable sources in Germany, which has increased from 150 gigawatt-hours per year to 1,000 in two years, makes the process economically feasible, according to a report in MIT’s Technology Review. “That’s electricity that we could use for nothing,” said SolarFuel’s Stephan Rieke.24 Jan 2013:
Solid Electrolyte Could Lead
To Larger, Safer Lithium Ion Batteries
U.S. researchers have developed a high-performance, solid electrolyte for use in energy-dense lithium ion batteries that they say is safer than existing liquid electrolytes and could lead to batteries that are five to 10 times more powerful than existing batteries. While lithium-ion batteries typically utilize liquid electrolytes to conduct the lithium ions between the positively charged cathode and the negatively charged anode, the liquid materials pose flammability risks — especially as engineers attempt to make more powerful lightweight batteries. Utilizing a chemical process known as nanostructuring, scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) say they were able to create a nanoporous solid electrolyte that conducts ions 1,000 times faster than in its natural bulk form, enabling more energy-dense batteries. According to the researchers, this innovation could allow engineers to develop pure lithium anodes, which could yield batteries that are far more powerful than those using carbon-based anodes.23 Jan 2013:
BPA Alternative Also Disrupts
Development At Low Doses, Study Says
A synthetic chemical developed as an alternative to the controversial chemical bisphenol A (BPA), and now widely used in many products, also disrupts human development at low doses, according to a new study. Created after research indicated potential health risks associated with BPA — a component of polycarbonate plastics found in everything from plastic bottles to cash register receipts — bisphenol S (BPS) was found in the study to disrupt cellular responses to the hormone estrogen, altering biochemical pathways that affect cell growth and hormone release, according to researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. And like BPA, BPS triggers these effects at extremely low doses, the researchers found. According to UTMB's Cheryl Watson, lead author of the study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, BPS is active at doses in the range of parts per trillion or quadrillion.
Interview: Charting a New Course
For America and the Environment
Time magazine once called him the “ultimate insider,” and indeed Gus Speth has had a long career as an establishment environmentalist. And so it might be
Gus Speth
Read the interview
22 Jan 2013:
Obama Emphasizes Climate
Fight In Second Inaugural Speech
In his second inaugural address, President Obama prominently cited the need to tackle climate change, a vow Democrats say the president will carry out using his executive powers to bypass Congress. After barely addressing the issue during his reelection campaign, Obama on Monday indicated that climate would be a priority in his second term, saying that failure to address the threat of a changing climate “would betray our children and future generations.” “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science,” Obama said. “But none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.” According to a New York Times report, the president’s new climate strategy will include tougher Environmental Protection Agency rules on emissions from coal plants, as well as stricter energy standards for home appliances and buildings.21 Jan 2013:
NASA Map Shows Air Pollution
Across Asia and the Middle East
New satellite data released by NASA provide dramatic visual evidence of the dangerous air quality reported from cities across Asia and the Middle East this month.
Based on data collected from its satellite-based Ozone Monitoring Instrument, a map released by NASA scientists illustrates high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) — shown in orange — over several major cities, including Istanbul, Tehran and New Delhi, during the first week of January. Satellite measurements of nitrogen dioxide concentrations are a good indicator of air quality since NO2 is produced by the same fossil fuel-burning processes that also send sulfur dioxide and aerosols into the atmosphere, such as from vehicles, industrial sites, and power plants. The high concentrations of NO2 shown in the NASA map, based on measurements from Jan. 1 to 8, coincided with reports from several cities of hazy skies, unhealthy air quality, and elevated cases of lung ailments.
18 Jan 2013:
In Kenya Reserves, Poaching
Is Leading Cause of Death for Elephants
A 14-year study of elephants in northern Kenya has found that the animals are now more likely to die at the hands of human poachers than of natural causes. When researchers began tracking 934 individual elephants at 
TRAFFIC/Martin Harvey/WWF-Canon
African savanna elephant
17 Jan 2013:
Journals of Iconic Naturalists
Reveal Plants Are Blooming Much Earlier
An analysis of records kept by iconic naturalists Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold has revealed evidence that some native plants in the eastern U.S. are flowering as much as much as a month earlier in spring than they did even just six decades ago. Writing in the journal PLoS ONE, scientists from Boston and Harvard universities and the University of Wisconsin-Madison report that many plant species found in and around Concord, Mass. — including serviceberry and nodding trillium — are now blooming an average of 11 days earlier than when Thoreau kept copious notes in the 1850s. In Wisconsin, where Leopold and his students collected comprehensive data on spring blooms from 1933 to 1945, the evidence of earlier flowering is even more pronounced: During the unusually warm spring of 2012, the study says, plants bloomed an average of one month earlier than they did 67 years earlier. Scientists say the findings could provide critical insights into the effects of climate change on native plants, and the long-term implications this could have on the plants and the animals and insects that depend upon them.
16 Jan 2013:
Insecticides Pose Threat
To Bee Populations, Report Says
European scientists have found that imidacloprid, the world’s most widely used insecticide, poses “unacceptable” risks to bee populations, a finding that some groups hope will result in a ban on the chemical. Asked to assess the health risks of imidacloprid and two other neonicotinoids — clothianidin and thiamethoxam — as seed treatment or as granules, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that the chemicals should be used only on crops that are “not attractive to honeybees” because of possible risk of exposure through nectar and pollen. Some researchers have said the neonicotinoids make bees more vulnerable to pathogens and could be a factor in so-called “colony collapse disorder,” a phenomenon that has decimated honeybee populations for several years. A spokesman for Bayer, which manufactures imidacloprid, told the Guardian that the EFSA report does not alter existing risk assessments and warned against bans based on “an over-interpretation of the precautionary principle.” 15 Jan 2013:
Key Offshore Transmission Line
To Be Built For U.S. East Coast Wind Power
A group of prominent U.S. investors, including Google, is expected to announce today that it is moving forward with construction on the first leg of an ambitious $5 billion undersea transmission line that will connect 
Atlantic Wind Connection
New Jersey Energy Link
14 Jan 2013:
Tidal Energy Can Meet 20%
Of UK Electricity Needs, Study Says
UK officials are underestimating the vast energy potential of marine tides, a renewable and reliable energy source that could meet 20 percent of the nation’s
Kawasaki Heavy Industries
11 Jan 2013:
California Solar Rebate
Program Reaches 1-Gigawatt Milestone
California homeowners and businesses, taking advantage of a state rebate program that encourages the installation of solar panels, are now generating 1 gigawatt — or 1,000 megawatts — of electricity, roughly the equivalent of a nuclear power plant, state regulators say. Launched in 2007, the $2.4 billion California Solar Initiative has offered rebates as high as $2.50 per watt to businesses and homeowners who installed solar panels, with a target of generating 1,940 megawatts by the end of 2016. According to state data, the program so far has encouraged the installation of 1,066 megawatts, more solar capacity than any other state and more than most countries. While the state incentive has fallen by as much 92 percent since the program was introduced, the number of applications continues to increase as the price of solar power installations falls, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. When the program started six years ago, residential solar systems cost about $9.76 per watt; they now cost about $6.19 per watt.10 Jan 2013:
Up to 50 Percent of Food
Is Wasted Worldwide, Report Says
As much as half of the food produced globally is wasted each year as a result of inefficient agricultural practices, inadequate storage facilities and transportation systems, and wasteful consumer habits, a new report says. While the world community produces about 4 billion metric tons of food annually, roughly 1.2 to 2 billion metric tons of that food — or 30 to 50 percent — is never consumed, according to the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The causes of waste vary from region to region, the report says. In developing nations, much of the waste occurs at the local level as a result of inefficient harvesting, lack of transportation, and poor infrastructure and storage. In richer nations, the waste is often triggered by customer and retail behavior. For example, as much as 30 percent of UK vegetables are never harvested because their appearance doesn’t meet consumer standards. “This level of wastage is a tragedy that cannot continue if we are to succeed in the challenge of sustainably meeting our future food demands,” the report says.
09 Jan 2013:
U.S. Heat Record Was
Shattered in 2012, NOAA Reports
Last year was by far the warmest year in U.S. history, with the average temperature in the contiguous states climbing a full degree higher than the previous high and
every state recording above-average annual temperatures, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In its annual State of the Climate Report, NOAA said the average temperature during the year was 55.3 degrees F, about 3.2 degrees warmer than the 20th century average and 1 degree warmer than the previous high, recorded in 1998. While the record annual numbers were driven largely by a historically warm spring, the U.S. also experienced its second-warmest summer on record, its fourth-warmest winter, and a fall that was also warmer than average, according to NOAA.
08 Jan 2013:
Using Fireflies As a Model,
Scientists Boost Efficiency of LED Lights
Drawing inspiration from the structure of a firefly, scientists say they have improved the efficiency of a light-emitting diode (LED) by 55 percent. While studying the insects, the researchers noticed that 
Nicolas André
LED inspired by fireflies
Interview: Perils and Rewards
Of Protecting Congo’s Gorillas
It is difficult to imagine a more dangerous place to be a conservationist than the Democratic Republic of Congo, which for decades has been ravaged by war and civil
Virunga National Park/gorillacd.org
Emmanuel de Merode
Read the interview
07 Jan 2013:
New Arctic Experiments Yield
Insights Into State of Permafrost Carbon
A team of U.S. researchers recently deployed a suite of technologies in the Arctic tundra that they say will provide a better understanding of the carbon contained in permafrost soils and how much is likely to be released as the planet warms. At an experimental plot near Barrow, Alaska, scientists are using several techniques, from ground-penetrating radar systems dragged on sleds to airborne instruments that measure micro-topography, to better understand how different layers of permafrost are interrelated and react as the soil warms. Ultimately, the scientists say, the research will provide critical information on how these permafrost systems change over time, and how much of their vast stores of carbon might be released. “This approach allows us to sample over large spatial regions with minimal disturbance to the ecosystem — two important criteria when it comes to studying the vast and delicate Arctic landscape,” said Susan Hubbard, a geophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.04 Jan 2013:
Starbucks Targets Reduction
In Paper Waste with $1 Reusable Cups
Starbucks, the world’s largest chain of coffee shops, this week started selling $1 reusable plastic cups at its stores 
Starbucks
A reusable plastic cup
03 Jan 2013:
Methane Leak Data Highlights
Concerns About Natural Gas Drilling
A pair of ongoing studies show unexpectedly high methane leakage from some oil and gas fields in the U.S., findings that underscore concerns that the climate benefits of the natural gas boom may be overstated. Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder say new data indicates that as much as 4 percent of methane from a production area in Denver is leaking into the atmosphere, echoing findings first reported in a much-disputed study published last year in the Journal of Geophysical Research. A separate field study in Utah suggested even higher methane leakage rates of 9 percent. The calculations were made based on aerial and ground-based measurements and atmospheric models that estimated the level of emissions required to produce the recorded concentrations. “We were expecting to see high methane levels, but I don’t think anybody really comprehended the true magnitude of what we would see,” said Colm Sweeney, of the federal Earth System Research Lab Aircraft Program.02 Jan 2013:
U.S. Wind Tax Credit
Extended in ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Compromise
The last-minute tax deal brokered by U.S. lawmakers to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” included a one-year extension of the wind energy tax credit, a subsidy that industry officials say is critical for the growth of the wind energy sector. The bill, which now awaits President Obama’s signature, preserves the 2.2-cents-per-kilowatt-hour credit for all wind energy projects that begin construction in 2013, allowing projects that are not completed until 2014 to qualify, as well. While the wind energy sector achieved record growth in 2012 — accounting for 44 percent of all new electricity generating capacity in the U.S. — industry leaders say the possible expiration of the tax credit forced some turbine manufacturers to idle factories and lay off workers during the latter half of 2012. The lack of a long-term federal policy has created “a ‘boom-bust’ cycle” in the wind energy sector for more than a decade, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), a trade organization. 31 Dec 2012:
Network of Smartphone-Based
Sensors Track Air Pollution Levels
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a network of smartphone-based air pollution monitors that allow individuals to track 
UCSD
CitiSense device
27 Dec 2012:
Group Collecting DNA Codes
Of Endangered Species Gets Google Boost
The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL), a global initiative assembling the “DNA barcodes” of the world’s endangered species, received $3 million from Google this month to create an online database organizers hope will emerge as a critical tool in the enforcement of international wildlife protection laws. Since it was formed in 2004, the consortium’s 200 participating organizations have collected genetic information for more than 100,000 species. With tens of thousands of species currently in danger of extinction, project organizers hope the database will provide a quick and inexpensive way to identify species, including many that are regularly smuggled through airports. In some cases, law enforcement officials would be able to send a small tissue sample to a laboratory for identification rather than requiring an expert to identify the species.
Interview: What’s Damaging U.S.
Salt Marshes and Why It Matters
For centuries, salt marshes along the U.S. coast have been disappearing, with some experts estimating that 70 percent have been lost to development, rising seas,
MBL
Linda Deegan
Read the interview
21 Dec 2012:
Changing Oceans May Be Adding
To U.S. Fisheries Decline, Scientists Say
As U.S. fishing regulators weigh stricter catch quotas to allow time for critical species to recover in the waters of New England, scientists say that changing ocean conditions may be a factor in historic fish declines, not just decades of overfishing. Warmer ocean temperatures and changing ecosystems are contributing to declining populations of cod and flounder in the northeastern U.S., government officials say. In the Gulf of Maine this year, water temperatures were the highest ever recorded, according to the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists say that about half of 36 fish stocks — including cod and flounder — have been shifting northward into deeper, cooler waters for four decades. And while some regulators say the only chance of restoring populations is for tougher quotas on bottom-dwelling “groundfish” species, the New England Fishery Management Council this week delayed a vote on such cuts after fishermen said the reductions would devastate their industry.20 Dec 2012:
‘Peel-and-Stick’ Solar Cells
Expand Potential for Photovoltaic Systems
Stanford University researchers say they have developed a “peel-and-stick” solar cell that can be attached to a variety of hard surfaces, an innovation they say could vastly expand the potential for solar
energy technology. Normally, thin-film solar cells are attached to rigid, often heavy, silicon and glass substrates because most unconventional surfaces aren’t compatible with the thermal and chemical processes involved in producing the cells. The new process gets around that challenge, the scientists say, because it does not require any fabrication to occur on the final substrate surface. Instead, it involves pressing an ultra-thin film of nickel, a silicon/silicon dioxide wafer, and a protective polymer into a “sandwich,” and then attaching a layer of thermal release tape. When dipped in water, the thin-film solar cell can be peeled from the original wafer and attached to a wide range of surfaces, from window glass to cellphones, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
19 Dec 2012:
Climate Already Altering
Ecosystems and Biodiversity, Report Says
Climate change is causing plant and animal species across the U.S. to shift their geographic ranges and life events — from flowering to migration — are being transformed at a faster rate than observed even a few years ago, a new analysis by 60 scientists says. According to the report, “Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services,” some terrestrial species are moving up in elevation at rates 2 to 3 times greater than previously believed, while the range shifts for some marine species have been even greater. These rapid changes in ranges, distributions, and life cycles are forcing species to interact in ways that they never have before and could alter the timing and availability of natural resources critical to biodiversity and ecosystem health. “These geographic range and timing changes are causing cascading effects that extend through ecosystems... creating mismatches between animals and their food sources,” said Nancy Grimm, a scientist at Arizona State University and lead author of the report.18 Dec 2012:
Coal May Rival Oil As
World’s Top Energy Source by 2017, IEA Says
Coal could rival oil as the world’s largest energy source within five years as consumption continues to climb in most regions of the world, a trend that could have profound effects on the climate, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. While coal consumption is expected to decline in the U.S., where it increasingly has been displaced by ample supplies of natural gas, that reduction in U.S. coal burning has helped drive down coal costs globally. According to the IEA’s annual Medium-Term Coal Market Report, the world will burn about 1.2 billion more tons of coal annually by 2017 than it does today. The surge in coal consumption will be driven largely by China and India, with China projected to pass the rest of the world in coal demand within five years, and India predicted to pass the U.S. as the world’s second-biggest coal consumer. Without a high carbon tax, the report says, only competition from cleaner natural gas will reduce coal demand.17 Dec 2012:
‘Peak Farmland’ Reached, as
Yields Rise and Growth Slows, Report Says
The amount of agricultural land needed to feed the world’s population has reached its peak as a result of improved crop yields and slower population growth, and as much as 10 percent of the land currently used for farming could be “restored to Nature” within 50 years, a team of experts says. In an analysis published in the journal Population and Development Review, three researchers from Rockefeller University’s Program for the Human Environment (PHE) predict that the 1.53 billion hectares (3.78 billion) acres of arable land and farming areas that existed in 2009 could drop to 1.38 billion hectares (3.41 billion acres) by 2060. “Happily, the cause is not exhaustion of arable land, as many have feared, but rather moderation of population and tastes and ingenuity of farmers,” said Jesse Ausubel, director of the PHE and lead author of the report. The PHE study stands in stark contrast to a recent UN report, which predicted that by 2050 another 70 million hectares of land would have to be cultivated to feed a growing population.14 Dec 2012:
Car-Mounted Sensor Able to
Pinpoint Sources of Natural Gas Leaks
A U.S.-based company has developed a sophisticated sensing technology capable of detecting and pinpointing the source of even minor natural gas leaks from great
distances, an innovation that could provide critical insights into the still largely unknown climate impacts of natural gas drilling. Using a car-mounted system — which combines an advanced methane detector, wind-direction sensors, isotope detectors, and specially developed algorithms — technicians from California-based Picarro are able to collect data on concentrations of methane, a major component of natural gas, at regular driving speeds. The so-called Picarro Surveyor technology logs the data and, in real time, plots the source of natural gas leaks using Google Maps. In a recent survey, the system identified more than 3,350 specific locations in Boston where methane levels were 15 times higher than normal, according to MIT’s Technology Review.
13 Dec 2012:
U.S. Awards $28 Million
To Offshore Wind Farm Projects
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced plans to provide $28 million in grants to seven proposed offshore wind projects, a financial commitment the Obama administration hopes will provide a boost to a green energy sector that has yet to gain a foothold in American waters. Each of the seven projects — located in Maine, New Jersey, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, and Oregon — will receive $4 million during the engineering, design, and permitting phases. Eventually, if Congress approves, three of the projects could each receive up to $47 million over four years for later phases, including siting, construction, and installation. In contrast to Europe, where offshore wind projects are growing, no offshore wind projects are currently being built in the U.S., although two projects have been approved in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is urging lawmakers to extend the Production Tax Credit, a 2.2-cent per kilowatt-hour incentive that has helped the land-based wind sector to surge past 50,000 megawatts but is set to expire at the end of the year.
Interview: Creating Clouds in a Lab
To Better Forecast Climate Change
At the CERN research laboratory in Switzerland, scientists are conducting experiments to help solve a key riddle: the role of clouds in future
CERN
Jasper Kirkby
Read the interview
12 Dec 2012:
Large Cellulosic Biorefinery
Will Convert Corn Stalks into Biofuel
Chemical giant DuPont has started construction of a large-scale cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Iowa capable of converting corn stalks and leaves into 
USDA
Corn stover in bales
11 Dec 2012:
NASA Visualization Captures
Record Year for Wildfires in the U.S.
This year has been an unusually severe one for wildfires in the U.S., with more than 9.1 million acres of land burned through the end of November, federal officials say. The total affected area, which is depicted in a new NASA map, is already the third-largest since records were first kept in 1960, and will likely break previous records by year’s end. The most intense fires occurred in the western U.S., where several major fires during the early summer — sparked by a combination of drought, light winter snow pack, and the long-term effects of climate change — forced evacuations in some areas. In the visualization, which shows all fires that occurred between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, areas of yellow and orange indicate larger and more intense fires, while many of the less intense fires, shown in red, represent prescribed burns started for brush clearing or agriculture and ecosystem management. The visualization was based on data collected by NASA satellites. 
10 Dec 2012:
Doha Talks Preserve Kyoto,
But Achieve Few Meaningful Commitments
As the latest round of global climate talks ended over the weekend in Doha, Qatar, delegates approved a weakened extension of the Kyoto Protocol, as expected, but obtained no commitments from major emitting nations on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While nearly 200 nations agreed to extend through 2020 the emissions-limiting Kyoto accord, which would have expired at the end of this month, three previous signatory nations — Canada, Russia, and Japan — all abandoned the agreement. The U.S. had never ratified the accord. So while the continuation of Kyoto preserves a framework for emissions reductions, with the next critical round of negotiations scheduled for 2015, the Doha deal left many increasingly pessimistic about whether the UN process can achieve meaningful results. “Much much more is needed if we are to save this process from being simply a process for the sake of process, a process that simply provides for talk and no action,” said Kieren Keke, foreign minister for the Pacific island state of Nauru. The Doha talks did yield, for the first time, assurances of financial aid for poor nations that incur “loss and damage” — including from extreme weather events — as a result of climate change.07 Dec 2012:
Populations of Large, Old Trees
Are Dying Off Worldwide, Report Says
Populations of large, old trees, which provide critical ecosystem services, are declining across the planet and could eventually disappear altogether in some regions, according to a report by three leading ecologists. Writing in the journal Science, the scientists say the loss of large trees is occurring in all kinds of forests and at all altitudes, from Yosemite National Park in the U.S., to African savannahs, to Amazon rainforests and northern boreal forests. The losses are being driven by numerous factors, including land clearing, agricultural expansion, human-designed fire regimes, logging, invasive species, and climate change. “We are talking about the loss of the biggest living organisms on the planet, of the largest flowering plants on the planet, of organisms that play a key role in regulating and enriching our world,” said Bill Laurance, a scientist at James Cook University in Australia, who coauthored the report.06 Dec 2012:
Google Images Document
Devastation of 2011 Tsunami in Japan
As part of an ongoing project to digitally archive the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami in northeastern Japan, Google has published several new panoramic images that provide a sobering glimpse of the widespread
devastation in communities across the region. The images, taken with the company’s Street View technology in four cities in the Tōhoku region, allows users to take a virtual tour of seriously damaged buildings before they are demolished. One panoramic view of a public housing project illustrates the height of the tsunami wave, which ruined everything up to the fourth floor of the building. Another image, of the condemned Ukedo Elementary School, shows the collapsed auditorium floor beneath the banner of a graduation ceremony that was never held. The images were added to Google’s “Memories for the Future” website, which is chronicling the affected areas from before and after the tsunami.
05 Dec 2012:
African Lion Populations
Plummet as Habitat Disappears, Study Says
More than two-thirds of Africa’s lions have disappeared over the last 50 years as the continent’s once-vast savannah regions have been lost to human
Getty Images
A lion in South Africa
Interview: Designing Green Cities
To Meet 21st Century Challenges
Landscape architect Martha Schwartz is a passionate believer in the role that landscape can play in urban sustainability. Great landscape design, she says, can 
Martha Schwartz Partners
Martha Schwartz
Read the interview
04 Dec 2012:
Air Quality Improvements
Continue to Yield Health Benefits
While the rate of improvement of U.S. air quality has slowed during the last decade, even those small improvements have had a beneficial effect on life expectancy, according to new research. In a study of 545 counties across the U.S., researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that a slight decrease of fine particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter — known as PM2.5 — from 2000 to 2007 was associated with an average increase in life expectancy of 0.35 years. During that period, researchers say, concentrations of PM2.5 decreased by 10 micrograms per cubic meter. While that improvement in air quality was far less significant than the pollution reductions observed between 1980 and 2000, the new findings suggest that continued improvements have additional health benefits. “It appears that further reductions in air pollution levels would continue to benefit public health,” said Harvard researcher Andrew Correia, lead author of the study published in Epidemiology.03 Dec 2012:
An Advocate's Novel Campaign
To Call Attention to Rhino Slaughter
A South African artist has launched an unorthodox campaign to call attention to the mounting slaughter of rhinoceroses — by sending toenail clippings to the Chinese embassy. Frustrated that petitions and other protests have done little to curb the poaching of rhinos for their horns, Mark Wilby decided to target the illegal markt in Asia, where the horns are believed to have healing properties. Rhino horns are composed largely of keratin, a protein also found in human nails and hair. Wilby, who is encouraging others to also send nails to the embassy address in Pretoria, concedes the protest is “disrespectful,” but says he wants to put pressure on the Chinese government in hopes that it can help stop the killing of Africa’s rhinos. According to reports, nearly 600 rhinos have been killed illegally so far this year in South Africa alone. “I’m sending this to the Chinese Embassy in South Africa not because I’m blaming the Chinese government or the Chinese people,” he said in a video posted on YouTube. “I just don’t know who else to appeal to.”
30 Nov 2012:
Accelerated Ice Sheet Melt
At Both Poles Documented in Study
The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are losing three to five times as much ice annually as they did two decades ago, a rate of ice loss equivalent to sea level rise of 0.04 inches per year, according to a new study supported by NASA and the European Space Agency. In an analysis of data from 10 different satellite missions, the international team of 47 experts calculated that the rate of melt in Greenland is five times greater than during the mid-1990s. While the new findings on total ice loss fall within the range produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, the new study provides a more definitive assessment that Antarctica’s ice sheets, like Greenland’s, are shrinking. Combined, these ice sheets have added .44 inches (11.1 millimeters) to sea levels worldwide since 1992, accounting for about 20 percent of total sea-level rise during that period. “This will give the wider climate science community greater confidence in ice losses and lead to improved predictions of future sea-level rise,” said Andrew Shepherd, a scientist at the University of Leeds and co-leader of the study, which is published in the journal Science.29 Nov 2012:
China is Largest Importer
Of Illegally Harvested Timber, Report Says
China has become the world’s leading importer of illegally harvested timber, even as the growing economic giant has made strides in protecting its own forests, according to a new report. Drawing on its own investigative research and the work of Interpol, the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) estimates that China now imports about $4 billion in illegal timber annually to meet rising demand for construction materials and furniture. According to the report, more than half of China’s raw timber imports are now coming from nations with “a high risk of illegal logging and poor forest governance,” including Cambodia, Laos, and Madagascar. Meanwhile, the report said, the Chinese government has taken critical steps in preserving and re-growing its own forests. “China is now effectively exporting deforestation around the world,” said EIA's Faith Doherty.28 Nov 2012:
Scientists Develop Standardized
Analysis of City Pollution Emissions
A team of Israeli researchers has developed a method to track pollution over the world’s mega-cities, a satellite-based process they say could help hold nations accountable for their pollution and promote cleaner
NASA
Smog over Beijing
27 Nov 2012:
Pine Beetle Attacks Cause
Temperature Rise in Canadian Forests
The decimation of trees by mountain pine beetles in British Columbia has caused air temperatures in affected areas to climb by an average of 1 degree Celsius during the summer months, according to a new study.
iStock
A mountain pine beetle
26 Nov 2012:
Snails in Southern Ocean
Showing Effects of Ocean Acidification
The shells of some sea snails in the Southern Ocean are already dissolving as a result of ocean acidification, according to a new study. In an analysis of free-swimming pteperods collected from Antarctic waters in 2008, scientists found that the outer layers of the animals’ shells showed signs of unusual corrosion, potential evidence that ocean acidification caused by excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may already be disturbing vulnerable marine species. Laboratory tests have shown that acidic water threatens many invertebrate marine species, such as clams and corals, since it hinders their ability to grow shells and exoskeletons. The most vulnerable species are those, like pteropods, that build their shells from aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate that is sensitive to increased acidity, according to the study, published in Nature Geoscience.26 Nov 2012:
Giant Galapagos Tortoise
May Not Be Extinct After All, Tests Reveal
The death of an iconic, century-old giant tortoise on the Galapagos Islands earlier this year may not have meant the end of his species, an upcoming study suggests. In
Galapagos National Park
‘Lonesome George’
21 Nov 2012:
Solar-Equipped ‘iShacks’ Offer
Cheap, Sustainable Housing in South Africa
South African researchers say they have developed a low-cost and sustainable housing alternative to the flimsy corrugated iron shacks found in the country’s growing settlements. Developed by an interdisciplinary
team at Stellenbosch University’s TsamaHUB center, the so-called iShack is insulated with inexpensive, natural materials such as mud and cardboard boxes and has a sloped roof for harvesting rainwater. A photovoltaic cell on the roof provides the energy for motion-sensitive exterior lighting, interior lighting, and a cellphone charger. So far, a mother and her three children are living in a prototype iShack in Ekanini, an informal settlement of 8,000 residents in Cape Town that lacks access to electricity and an adequate water supply. Project developers also taught six residents in the community how to install and maintain the solar power system in hopes they can use the skills for future entrepreneurial ventures. Researchers look to apply the iShack’s design to upgrade settlements in other regions.
Interview: UN Climate Chief Says
Talks are Steadily Making Progress
Few jobs on the international stage are more daunting than that held by Christiana Figueres, the woman in
UNFCCC
Christiana Figueres
Read the interview
20 Nov 2012:
U.S.-Mexico Reach Accord
On Sharing Colorado River Water
The U.S. and Mexico have reached an agreement on how to share water from the Colorado River, a five-year deal crafted to help both nations prepare for future droughts. Under the agreement, regional water agencies in California, Arizona, and Nevada will purchase nearly 100,000 acre-feet of water from Mexico’s share of the river, enough to cover 200,000 households for a year. In return, Mexico will receive $10 million to repair damage along hundreds of miles of irrigation canals caused by a 2010 earthquake — repairs that will bring thousands of acres of farmland back into production, according to the Los Angeles Times. The U.S. will also promise to buy additional water and allow it to flow to the delta south of the border, a region that has seen reduced water flow in recent years as U.S. water demands upstream have increased. In addition, Mexico will agree to take lesser water during periods of drought, but will be allowed to keep some of its water in Lake Mead, the vast reservoir that straddles Nevada and Arizona, providing badly needed storage capacity.19 Nov 2012:
Breeding Birds in UK
Have Declined 20 Percent Since 1960s
The population of breeding birds in the UK has plummeted by 21 percent since 1966, losing more than 44 million birds in less than a half-century, according to the newly released State of the UK’s Birds 2012report. According to experts, the number of house sparrows has
State of the UK's Birds 2012
The yellow wagtail
Five Questions for Bill McKibben:
On the Road for ‘Do the Math’ Tour
Bill McKibben — author, climate activist, and founder of 350.org — is in the midst of a 21-city “Do the Math” tour to build grassroots support for combating climate change. The target of the campaign is the fossil fuel industry, and McKibben and 350.org are calling for universities, colleges, and governments to divest themselves of oil and coal company assets. Yale Environment 360 caught up with McKibben by email in Boston recently and asked him five questions about his tour.
Read more
16 Nov 2012:
Majority of Marine Species
Still Remain Unknown to Scientists
While more new marine species were identified over the last 10 years than during any previous decade, as many as two-thirds of the plant and animal species living in the oceans may still be unknown to scientists, a new study says. Writing in the journal Current Biology, a team of international scientists estimates that there are
Hans Hillewaert/Flickr
The marbled swimming crab
15 Nov 2012:
GM to Make 500,000 Vehicles
With Electric Technology Within 5 Years
General Motors aims to build as many as 500,000 vehicles that utilize some sort of electric technology by 2017. Speaking to reporters this week, GM’s product development chief, Mary Barra, said the company’s fleet of cleaner vehicles will include the plug-in Chevrolet Volt; the all-electric Spark EV, which will go on sale in some markets next year; and cars that utilize the eAssist technologies, which can improve efficiency in some vehicles by as much as 25 percent. A half-million vehicles would represent about 5 percent of the company’s global sales last year; GM expects to sell 50,000 vehicles equipped with electric technologies this year. While the market for electric cars is sluggish, Barra said plug-in vehicles remain central to the company’s strategy. “We have every intention of maintaining our leadership position in plug-in vehicles,” she said. Like all automakers, GM will need to offer more fuel-efficient vehicles to meet stricter U.S. auto emissions standards that will be in place in 2025.14 Nov 2012:
Brazilian Scientists Investigate
Cloning of Eight Endangered Species
Scientists in Brazil are taking steps toward cloning the jaguar and seven other endangered species, a program they hope will ease pressure on wild populations of the animals. Embrapa, the country’s agricultural research
Wikimedia Commons
The maned wolf
14 Nov 2012:
Algal Biofuel Blend
Reaches Market at California Gas Stations
A U.S. company this week began pumping a mix of an algae-based biofuel and gasoline at gas stations in California, a pilot project the company hopes will be a first step in providing a large-scale alternative to fossil fuels. The fuel, known as Biodiesel B20, contains 80 percent petroleum and 20 percent algae grown by San Francisco-based Solazyme. The fuel is produced in a fermentation process at Solazyme’s Illinois plant that combines sugar with an organism company officials will not identify. According to the company, the new fuel blend produces 30 percent fewer particulates, 20 percent less carbon monoxide, and 10 percent fewer hydrocarbons than other biodiesel fuels. So far, the fuel is being sold for diesel vehicles at four gas stations in the Bay Area for $4.25 per gallon, which is also the average price right now for diesel fuel in California. But Propel Fuels, which is providing the infrastructure for the fuel delivery, hopes to make the fuel available at hundreds of California stations, said Matt Horton, Propel’s CEO.13 Nov 2012:
Gains in Antarctic Sea Ice Cover
Triggered by Wind Shifts, Study Says
Scientists say they have the first direct evidence that changes in Antarctic sea ice drift caused by changing winds have produced an increase in Antarctic sea ice
cover over the last two decades even as historic declines have been observed in the Arctic. Using more than 5 million measurements of daily sea ice movement collected over 19 years, researchers from NASA and the British Antarctic Survey detected long-term changes in sea ice drift, a phenomenon that has caused overall increases in sea ice cover. While sea ice around Antarctica is constantly being blown away from the continent by northerly winds, the rate of ice movement in some areas has doubled since 1992, causing total sea ice, which reflects heat from the sun, to expand out from Antarctica, according to their findings, which were published in Nature Geoscience. “The Antarctic sea ice cover interacts with the global climate system very differently than that of the Arctic, and these results highlight the sensitivity of the Antarctic ice coverage to changes in the strength of the winds around the continent,” said Ron Kwok of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
12 Nov 2012:
U.S. Could Be World’s Largest
Oil Producer Within a Decade, Report Says
Advances in drilling for unconventional fossil fuels could make the U.S. the world’s biggest oil producer within a decade, a shift that could transform the global flow of energy for all regions of the world, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). According to the organization’s World Energy Outlook, the U.S. could become a net exporter of natural gas by 2020 as a result of advances in drilling, including for shale gas, and “almost self-sufficient” in energy by 2035. In addition, once North America becomes a net oil exporter and no longer reliant on countries such as Saudi Arabia, nearly 90 percent of Middle Eastern oil will be exported to China and other Asian nations. While the report projects that energy demand worldwide will increase by one-third by 2035, it also suggests that the global market can achieve energy savings equivalent to nearly 20 percent of total current demand during that period. “In other words, energy efficiency is just as important as unconstrained energy supply,” said Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the IEA. “And increased action on efficiency can serve as a unifying energy policy that brings multiple benefits.”
09 Nov 2012:
U.S. Pledges Stronger Role
in Stemming Global Trade in Wildlife
The Obama Administration has vowed renewed commitments to help stem the international trade in wildlife, including the use of U.S. intelligence agencies to track poaching of elephants, rhinos, and other 
TRAFFIC/Martin Harvey/WWF-Canon
African savanna elephant bull.
08 Nov 2012:
Molecular ‘Trap Door’ Method
May Reduce Costs of Carbon Capture
Australian scientists have developed a method for trapping carbon dioxide that they say could ultimately reduce the costs of separating and storing carbon from fossil fuel emissions. Writing in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers from the University of Melbourne say they have produced an ultra-fine sieve that separates only carbon dioxide from a gas stream, acting as a sort of “molecular trapdoor.” According to the study, the new method — which can be used in power plants or during natural gas extraction — uses a chemical called a chabazite that allows carbon dioxide to pass through but blocks other chemicals. While many such existing carbon capture technologies use similar “sieves,” they often require additional stages of refining and extraction before yielding a pure form of CO2. “Because [the new process] allows only carbon dioxide molecules to be captured, it will reduce the cost and energy required for separating carbon dioxide,” said Paul Webley, a professor at the University of Melbourne and one of the study’s authors.
07 Nov 2012:
Green Ballot Initiatives
Rejected by Voters in California, Michigan
Two closely watched state ballot initiatives endorsed by environmental groups went down to defeat on Tuesday, as voters in California rejected a proposal that would have required the labeling of all genetically modified crops and Michigan voters soundly defeated a measure that would have required stricter renewable standards on electric utilities. In California, Prop. 37 was backed by the organic food industry and consumer groups but faced rising opposition in recent weeks in the form of a $44 million advertising campaign funded largely by the biotechnology sector, including agribusiness giant Monsanto. While advocates said they have the right to know what’s in the their food, opponents warned voters that the initiative would cost families hundreds of dollars annually in higher grocery costs. According to the Los Angeles Times, the measure was losing, 57 percent to 42 percent, with most precincts reporting. In Michigan, a ballot initiative that would have required utilities to generate 25 percent of their power from green sources by 2025 also triggered a major ad blitz by opponents, including the state’s utilities.06 Nov 2012:
World’s Rarest Whale Species
Identified After New Zealand Beaching
Scientists have confirmed that two whales that washed onto the New Zealand coast two years ago were spade-toothed beaked whales, an enigmatic species so rare that no human is known to have ever seen one alive. Writing in the journal Current Biology, New Zealand and U.S. researchers provide the first full description of the species, which previously was known only from three skull fragments recovered over a 140-year span, the most recent of which was found 26 years ago. When conservation workers initially found the adult whale and her 11-foot male calf on a New Zealand beach in December 2010, they thought they were Gray’s beaked whales, a far more common species. But DNA tests of tissue samples collected from the animals revealed that they were actually spade-toothed beaked whales (Mesoplodon traversii), a species whose males have blade-like tusk teeth, and researchers later exhumed the whales to conduct additional tests.05 Nov 2012:
China and Russia Block
Proposal to Protect Antarctic Waters
International talks to protect large areas of the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica collapsed last week after several nations, including China, blocked the proposal over concerns about fishing access, according to reports. Representatives from 25 member states — including China, Russia, the U.S., the European Union — gathered in Australia to negotiate plans that would have protected approximately 4 million square kilometers in the Southern Ocean, including provisions that would have banned industrial fishing operations. Some regions would have also been set aside for scientific research into the effects of climate change on polar ecosystems. According to The Australian newspaper, China and Russia were among the nations that rejected the plans. Alex Rogers, a conservation biologist at the University of Oxford, told Nature that the stalled talks reflect a wider “global dichotomy” about how to manage marine resources, with some states looking to impose greater conservation and management policies and others targeting increased exploitation. “Time really is running out on these issues,” he said. “If we don’t get protection in place now, exploitation of these systems will increase.”05 Nov 2012:
Reduced Snowpacks Allowing
Trees to Invade U.S. Mountain Meadows
Some mountain meadows in the U.S. Northwest are steadily disappearing as the effects of climate change have allowed trees to invade the ecosystemsin recent decades, a new study says. In an analysis of Jefferson
Park, a 330-acre subalpine meadow complex in the Oregon Cascades once covered with grasses, shrubs and wildflowers, researchers found that tree occupation increased from 8 percent in 1950 to 35 percent in 2007, a rapid shift they say reflects a wider trend in many areas of the U.S. West. According to scientists, rising temperatures and a reduction in snowpack duration were critical factors in the invasion of mountain hemlocks, saying the extended growing season significantly increased chances of the trees’ survival. “Once trees become fully established, they tend to persist, and seed banks of native grass species disappear fairly quickly,” said Harold Zald, of Oregon State University’s College of Forestry, the lead author of the study published in Landscape Ecology. “The meadows form an important part of forest biodiversity, and when they are gone, they may be gone forever.”
02 Nov 2012:
Sea-Level Rise Projections
Ignored Critical Feedbacks, Researcher Says
A U.S. researcher says projected sea-level rise over the next century has been underestimated because current models fail to consider several critical feedbacks that might accelerate rising seas in the coming decades. While the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted that global sea levels could rise 0.2 to 0.5 meters by 2100, current projections suggest that seas could rise a meter or more. One of the factors ignored by earlier models, says University of Colorado geologist Bill Hay, is the influx of warm, briny ocean water into the Arctic that occurs when melting fresh water is released, a phenomenon he says acts as a sort of “heat pump” in the Arctic, adding more ice-free waters, which then absorb more solar energy. According to Hay, who will present his findings at the annual meeting of The Geological Society of America, another factor that was ignored is the potential melting of large ice sheets in Greenland and western Antarctica. A third feedback, he said, is the vast amounts of groundwater being removed to address humankind’s surging water needs, much of which ultimately ends up in the oceans.01 Nov 2012:
Family Tree for Birds Reveals
Steady Diversification of Avian Species
A team of scientists has compiled what it calls the most comprehensive “family tree” of birds ever assembled, an evolutionary history that reveals that the world’s avian species have become increasingly biologically diverse in recent geological epochs, challenging the conventional wisdom of biodiversity experts. Using fossil evidence, DNA data, and geographical information collected from across the globe, the researchers categorized each of the 9,993 known bird species into a comprehensive lineage, creating a “full global picture of diversification” in space and time. While other types of species have seen declines in biodiversity as available “niches” become filled, the researchers found that the speciation of birds has actually accelerated over the last 50 million years. “Many parts of the globe have seen a variety of species groups diversify rapidly and recently,” said Walter Jetz, a Yale University biologist and lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature. The authors suggest this accelerated rate of diversification may be the result of group-specific adaptations, the opening of new habitats, and the inherent mobility of many bird species that has allowed them migrate to new regions and exploit ecological opportunities.01 Nov 2012:
Timelapse of Hurricane Sandy
Shows Birth and Death of Historic Storm
As the storm that was Hurricane Sandy weakened over Pennsylvania, NASA released a timelapse animation of the lifespan of the massive storm, tracking its path from the Caribbean, where it developed, to its violent landfall on the mid-Atlantic coast of the U.S. The collection of images, taken by the NASA GOES-13 satellite from Oct. 23 to Oct. 31, illustrates the storm gaining intensity as it traveled north, at times reaching nearly 1,000 miles in width. When the storm reached the mid-Atlantic on Oct. 29, it became wedged between a cold front over the Appalachian Mountains and a high-pressure air mass over maritime Canada, preventing it from moving north or east and instead driving it ashore. At that point Sandy became a Nor’easter, triggering historic storm surges in coastal areas of New York and New Jersey and blizzard conditions in the mountain regions. Meteorologists say the swath of high winds produced by Sandy while it was a hurricane covered nearly 2 million square miles.
Photo Gallery: A Quest to Document
The Earth’s Disappearing Glaciers
Since 2007, photographer James Balog has deployed dozens of time-lapse cameras on four continents to chronicle one of the starkest examples of global warming — the rapid melting of the world’s glaciers. That project, known as the Extreme Ice Survey and carried out in collaboration with leading glaciologists, is captured in an e360 gallery of his photos selected from his new book, Ice: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers. In an accompanying interview with Yale Environment 360, Balog discusses what has driven him to devote so much of his life to “preserving the visual memory” of a vanishing landscape. “We’re telling a story about what’s happening right here, right now, as a consequence of human action,” he says. “I think it’s vital to keep telling that story.”
View a photo gallery
31 Oct 2012:
U.S. Honeybees Have Developed
Resistance to Antibiotic, Study Says
Honeybees in the U.S. have developed widespread resistance to the antibiotic tetracycline, likely as a result of decades of exposure to preventive antibiotics in domesticated hives, a new study has found. In tests conducted on bees in several countries, scientists from Yale University say they identified eight tetracycline resistance genes in U.S. honeybees that were largely absent in bees found in places where the antibiotics are banned. In the U.S., the use of oxytetracycline — a compound similar to tetracycline — has been common since the 1950s to help prevent outbreaks of “foulbrood,” a bacterial disease that can devastate honeybee hives. “There’s a pattern here, where the U.S. has these genes and the other [countries] don’t,” said Nancy Moran, a lead author of the study published in the journal mBio. The authors warn that the treatment meant to prevent disease and strengthen honeybee hives in the U.S. may have actually weakened the bees’ ability to fight off other pathogens.
In New York, The Rising Threat Of
Flooding Was Predicted for Years
While climate experts hesitate to say Hurricane Sandy was caused by climate change, scientists for years have predicted that such devastating events would become increasingly common as sea levels rise and ocean
MOMA
Rising Currents: A 2010 exhibit showed visions of New York adapting to climate change.
30 Oct 2012:
Vulnerability of Infrastructure
Revealed During Hurricane Sandy
The storm that crippled the New York City region has revealed the extreme vulnerability of its transportation and electricity infrastructure and highlights the need to better protect subways, tunnels, low-lying roads, and power substations as sea levels rise and storms produce higher seawater surges in the future. New York City and the surrounding area experienced unprecedented damage to its transportation infrastructure, with the subway system knocked out for an estimated four to five days, several major tunnels flooded, regional rail lines crippled, and highways and roads underwater. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday morning that the city and the state may have to consider building a levee to protect lower Manhattan, where waters rose 10 feet above flood stage. Other experts suggested that other significant steps will have to be taken to protect New York City, including building sea gates that would keep surging storm waters out of New York Harbor. Climate scientists said that the impact of hurricanes can be expected to become more severe as temperatures increase and sea levels rise by an estimated three to six feet this century.
29 Oct 2012:
Photos Reveal Finch Species
Long Thought Vanished on Tibetan Plateau
Photos taken in a remote region of the Tibetan Plateau have revealed the existence of a rare species of finch long thought to have vanished. During a trip to Xinjiang, China in June, a French photographer snapped images of what ornithologists believe is a Sillem’s mountain finch (Leucosticte sillemi), a species that previously was known only by two specimens collected from the same region of China, located about 16,400 feet above sea level, in 1929. When the photographer, Yann Muzika, was unable to identify the bird, he sent the photographs to the UK-based Oriental Bird Club (OBC), where editor Krys Kazmierczak immediately thought of the mysterious finch. “The words ‘Sillem’s Mountain Finch’ simply popped into my head, and I sat there for a little while somewhat awestruck,” Kazmierczak wrote to OBC supporters. It wasn’t until 1992 that, based on the two specimens collected in 1929, a Dutch ornithologist determined that the finch represented a distinct species. Ornithologists say additional field research, perhaps including the collection of blood samples for DNA testing, will be required to confirm the bird’s identity.
26 Oct 2012:
Digital Atlas App Documents
Human Effects on the Natural World
A team of UK-based developers has created an interactive app that enables users to explore a trove of global data on several critical issues, including how human populations are impacting the natural world and
the production and consumption of energy resources. Released this month, Atlas by Collins uses a series of 3D globes to illustrate seven topics, including energy, the environment, politics, and population. The digital atlas contains data from every nation and more than 200,000 geographical sites, including cities, landmarks, and natural features. Users can compare trends in population, pollution, and forest loss, and trace the shifting dynamics of the distribution of energy resources. The app allows viewers to swipe across the planet’s surface and click key points to zoom to street-level detail using Apple Maps and Google Maps. 
25 Oct 2012:
Rapid Thinning of Glaciers
Seen After Collapse of Antarctic Ice Shelf
NASA has released satellite photos that vividly depict the precipitous thinning and retreat of two Antarctic glaciers following the disintegration of the Larsen B Ice Shelf. That ice shelf — which floated on top of the Weddell Sea and once was the size of Connecticut — collapsed in 2002 after several years of warm summer temperatures. The Larsen B had acted as a buttress slowing the flow of numerous glaciers into the sea. The NASA satellite images, taken in 2002 and in 2012, demonsrate how swiftly the Green and Hektoria glaciers behind the ice shelf surged into the ocean. The 2002 photo shows the glaciers covering much of nearby mountain ridges and the termini, or end points, of the glaciers are not visible. The 2012 photo shows that the thinning glaciers now cover considerably less of surrounding mountain ridges and the termini of both glaciers are visible. The 2012 image also shows the numerous crevasses that have formed as the glaciers have thinned.
24 Oct 2012:
Plastic Waste Increasing
On Remote Arctic Seabed, Cameras Reveal
Deep-sea cameras deployed to monitor biodiversity on the Arctic seabed have documented a significant rise in the amount of plastic waste and other litter on the remote sea floors of the Far North, according to a new study. While looking at many thousands of seabed photos taken in 2011 between Greenland and the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen, deep-sea expert Melanie Bergmann of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research was struck by the number showing plastic waste. In a detailed analysis of the photographs — which are taken every 30 seconds by a deep-sea observatory reaching depths of 2,500 meters — Bergmann and her colleagues found that while plastic waste was seen in only one percent of photographs taken in 2002, that number had jumped to 2 percent in 2011. Two percent may not seem like a high occurrence, Bergmann said, but the quantities observed in this remote Arctic region were greater than recorded in a deep-sea canyon near Lisbon, Portugal. According to the study, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, about 70 percent of the plastic litter had come in contact with deep-sea organisms.23 Oct 2012:
French Panel Rejects Study
That Linked GM Corn to Cancer in Rats
An independent state panel in France has rejected the findings of a recent controversial study that linked genetically modified corn to cancer in rats, but the panel did recommend long-term research into the risks of genetically engineered food. In the report, requested by the French government, the Higher Biotechnologies Council (HCB) found “no causal relationship” between an increase in tumors in rodents and the consumption of GM corn or the widely used herbicide, Roundup, both of which are produced by the biotech giant Monsanto. The study, published in September in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, had claimed that the consumption of Roundup-tolerant GM corn increased the incidence of cancer in rats. On the contrary, the HCB researchers said, “the data are insufficient to establish scientifically a causal link... or to support the conclusions or pathways suggested by the authors.” To address public concerns, however, the panel did recommend that a “long-term, independent, transparent study, with adversarial views, be undertaken under government auspices.”
22 Oct 2012:
Shifting Arctic Wind Patterns
May Cause Increased Melt, Study Says
U.S. scientists say unusual air pressure patterns over the Arctic during the month of June in recent years have altered wind patterns in the region, funneling warmer air into the Arctic and contributing to record low Arctic
summer sea ice extent from 2007 to 2012. Writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, a team of researchers illustrated how the formation of two unusual high pressure areas over the North American Arctic and Greenland disrupted the normal westerly flow of winds, creating “blocking highs” that led to an unusually strong flow of warm southerly air. That sent more warm air into the central Arctic and Greenland, which may have been a factor in unusually dramatic summer thaws beginning in 2007. While it is unclear why these unusual patterns of high pressure have occurred in each of the last six Junes, NOAA researcher James Overland believes it may be related to declining snow cover in the Canadian Arctic in recent years. “We don’t know that part of the story yet,” he said.
Solar Geoengineering Projects
Could Be More Effective on Regional Scale
A new modeling study by several geoengineering experts suggests that injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to block more of the sun’s energy and reduce temperatures could be most effective when done on a region-by-region basis. The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, said that injecting aerosols over the Arctic Ocean in summer, for example, might be an effective way to not only slow the rapid loss of Arctic sea ice but possibly even restore it to pre-industrial levels. The researchers — led by David Keith of Harvard University, Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science, and Douglas McMartin of the California Institute of Technology — cautioned that their models were rough and that bringing about changes in regional climate patterns can have global effects. But they said the study shows the need for more detailed research into how solar geoengineering techniques could be used to slow or reverse the effects of climate change on rapidly warming areas. “Our research goes a step beyond the one-size-fits-all approach to explore how careful tailoring of solar geoengineering can reduce possible inequalities and risks,” said Keith.19 Oct 2012:
Increased Ocean Acidification
May Alter The Acoustics of Seawater
Increased ocean acidification over the next century could alter the acoustic properties of seawater, giving the planet’s oceans the same hi-fi sound they had during the age of the dinosaurs. In an analysis of ocean acidity over 300 million years, U.S. researchers David G. Browning and Peter M. Scheifele calculated that increased ocean acidity as a result of global warming will have a negative effect on the absorption of low-frequency sounds. By 2100, they predict, sounds near the oceans surface, such as whale songs or sounds created by ships, will travel perhaps twice as far as they do today. The scientists based their calculations on historic levels of boron in seafloor sediments and an analysis of its sound-absorption traits and impacts on low-frequency transmission. “[This knowledge] impacts the design and performance prediction of sonar systems,” said Browning, who will present the findings at the annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. “It affects estimation of low frequency ambient noise levels in the ocean. And it's something we have to consider to improve our understanding of the sound environment of marine mammals and the effects of human activity on that environment."18 Oct 2012:
Increased Nutrient Levels
May Drive Collapse of Salt Marsh, Study Says
Increasing levels of nutrients seeping from septic systems and lawn fertilizers may be driving the steady decline of salt marshes that has occurred along the U.S. East coast in recent decades, a new study has found.
David S. Johnson/MBL
17 Oct 2012:
Chinese Report Acknowledges
Nuclear Safety Concerns at Reactors
In a new report, the Chinese government has laid out a plan to upgrade the security at its nuclear power reactors over the next decade, suggesting that the country may be ready to resume a planned expansion of
Feng Li/Getty Images
Inspector at a Zhejiang construction site
17 Oct 2012:
Elevated Levels of CO2
May Impair Cognitive Abilities, Study Says
Elevated levels of carbon dioxide in indoor settings can have a detrimental effect on decision-making abilities and work performance, according to a new study. In a series of tests, U.S. researchers exposed 22 healthy adults to different levels of carbon dioxide concentrations (600 parts-per-million, 1,000 ppm, and 2,500 ppm) in an office-like room. Under each condition, the participants were asked to take a computer-based test that measured their decision-making abilities. According to the findings, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives
, the participants’ performance declined notably on six of nine tests when CO2 levels were increased to 1,000 ppm; performance declined substantially on seven of the tests when levels were bumped to 2,500 ppm. Earlier research has associated increased student absences and poorer performance with higher CO2 levels, said William Fisk, a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-author of the study. “But we never thought CO2 was actually responsible,” he said. “We assumed it was a proxy for other [pollutants].”16 Oct 2012:
Increasingly Severe Droughts
Could Transform U.S. Forests, Study Says
Severe drought conditions in the southwestern U.S. in recent years could become normal in the years to come, a shift that could trigger increased tree mortality and ultimately transform the region’s forests, a new study says. In an analysis of tree-ring data from conifer trees dating back to A.D. 1000, a team of scientists concluded that while the region endured several “mega-droughts” over the last 1,000 years, the long-term drought that began in the late-1990s could end up being the worst yet and may portend even drier periods in the future. After modeling the level of stress caused by droughts on forests — and considering other factors caused by these changes, including bark-beetle outbreaks and wildfires — the researchers calculated that tree mortality over the next four decades will be worse than at any time over the last 1,000 years. “With increasing drought stress, our forests of tomorrow will hardly resemble our forests of yesterday,” said Henri Grissino-Mayer, a geography professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and one of the authors of the study
published in the journal Nature Climate Change.16 Oct 2012:
Online Atlas Illustrates
Critical Areas for World’s Seabirds
A new online atlas provides the first global inventory of ocean sites critical to the world’s seabirds, a free digital resource that its creators hope will help guide protective policies and the creation of conservation areas globally. The site (www.birdlife.org/datazone/marine), which
was created by the group BirdLife International, identifies 3,000 important sites that are critical to seabirds, from penguins to sandpipers, including breeding grounds, foraging areas, and migration routes. These so-called “important bird areas” (IBAs) comprise about 6.2 percent of the world’s oceans, according to BirdLife International. While seabirds are particularly vulnerable to threats because of the great distances they travel across international waters, many conservation groups have cited a lack of data as a reason for inaction in protecting these areas, Ben Lascelles of BirdLife International told Reuters.
15 Oct 2012:
‘Rogue’ Geoengineering Scheme
In Pacific Violated UN Rules, Groups Say
A project sponsored by a controversial U.S. businessman dumped about 100 tons of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean this summer, an experiment in geoengineering that environmental groups say violated international agreements, The Guardian has reported. According to the report, satellite images appear to confirm that the iron dumped from a fishing boat sponsored by Russ George, the former CEO of Plankton Inc., triggered a nearly 10,000-squre-kilometer plankton bloom off Canada’s west coast. Some researchers believe this technique could emerge as a critical strategy in reducing the effects of climate change since such blooms are capable of sucking carbon out of the atmosphere and ultimately trapping it deep in the ocean. The experiment took place west of the islands of Haida Gwaii, where George convinced the council of an indigenous village to approve the project. Critics say it should not have taken place without proper scientific assessment and violated existing UN resolutions. Scientists say it is unclear whether such iron fertilization damages ocean ecosystems, triggers toxic tides, or worsens the effects of ocean acidification.12 Oct 2012:
New Disney Paper Policy
Promises Responsible Use and Sourcing
The Walt Disney Co., the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, has announced a dramatic shift in how the company will use and source paper, vowing to minimize the amount of paper it uses overall and eliminate its purchase of irresponsibly harvested timber products. In an announcement, the multinational media company, which had been under pressure from forest activists, said it would increase its use of recycled paper and paper products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and will avoid products coming from what it called “high conservation-value” and “high carbon-value” forests. In addition, executives say they will work with the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and other groups to identify "regions with poor forest management and high rates of deforestation,” including Indonesia, where rampant deforestation for pulp and paper products is decimating rainforests. The policy shift comes two years after RAN launched a campaign against Disney, citing evidence that its publishing arm, which produces 50 million books and 30 million magazines annually, was using hardwood pulp likely sourced in Indonesia rainforests.11 Oct 2012:
Norway Proposes CO2 Tax Hike
To Increase Climate Mitigation Funds
Norway has announced plans to nearly double its carbon tax on the nation’s offshore petroleum sector to create a £1 billion fund to help combat the effects of climate change, including in developing nations. In a draft budget released this week, government officials proposed a climate program that would increase the tax on oil companies from about £24 per ton of carbon dioxide to £45 (Nkr410) per ton. The plan would allocate about £1 billion (Nkr10 billion) to promote green energy initiatives, reduce carbon emissions, and improve food security in developing countries. In addition, Norway would pledge about £44 million to help developing nations preserve tropical forests, which play a critical role in storing carbon. Norway has previously helped fund efforts to reduce deforestation in Brazil, Indonesia, and Ethiopia. These new plans come as the oil-rich nation looks to expand its oil exploration into the Barents Sea between Norway and Russia.
11 Oct 2012:
Group Calls for Swift Growth
Of Carbon Capture-and-Storage Facilities
An industrial group says that to avoid “dangerous climate change” an additional 55 facilities that capture carbon from power plants and store it underground must be built by 2020. The group, the Global CCS Institute, said that only one new carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) plant was built in the past year, bringing the current number to 75. The institute acknowledged that the goal of building 130 CCS plants by 2020 was unlikely, but argued that the technology is a proven method of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and vital to future strategies to slow global warming. The institute said that just eight of the 75 plants now in operation have achieved a greater reduction in CO2 emissions that all other greenhouse gas reduction efforts instituted in the UK and Australia. CCS Institute President Brad Page said that governments should treat CCS technology as they do other low-carbon initiatives, like solar and wind power, which often receive subsidies and other government aid designed to encourage the growth of renewable energy.10 Oct 2012:
Software Maps CO2 Emissions
Down to Building and Street Levels
A team of U.S. researchers has developed a software system that they say documents carbon dioxide emissions in urban areas down to the level of individual buildings or street segments. Using publicly available data on local pollution, traffic counts, and building uses — as well as models of building-by-building energy consumption — the researchers from Arizona State and Purdue universities were able to create three-dimensional maps detailing carbon emissions. The researchers hope the software will provide insights into urban CO2 sources and help guide public policy on climate change and sustainable energy use. “Cities have had little information with which to guide reductions in greenhouse gas emissions — and you can’t reduce what you can’t measure,” said Kevin Gurney, an assistant professor at Arizona State University. So far, the so-called Hestia software has been used to produce visualizations for the city of Indianapolis, but the group is also developing maps for Los Angeles and Phoenix.
10 Oct 2012:
U.S. Supreme Court Refuses
Chevron Challenge of Ecuador Damages
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear Chevron Corp.’s challenge of an $18.2 billion judgment issued by an Ecuadorian court over large-scale damages caused by oil drilling in the Amazon. The Supreme Court decision is the latest development in a long legal battle that led to a ruling last year by an Ecuadorean court that Chevron had to pay the damages for massive oil dumping by Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001. Chevron was challenging a ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that would have effectively opened the way for worldwide enforcement of the judgment against Chevron. An Ecuadorean court found that an oil consortium run by Texaco dumped billions of gallons of oil and toxic sludge in the Amazon rainforest from 1964 through 1992, badly polluting water supplies and causing health problems among some of the 30,000 plaintiffs in the Lago Ario region. Chevron vowed to continue to fight the Ecuadorean court’s decision, which it called “fraudulent” and tainted by judicial misconduct. Chevron contends that the decision is not enforceable under New York law.09 Oct 2012:
Facing Opposition at Home,
UK Looks to Build Wind Project in Ireland
Faced with growing opposition to land-based wind turbines in England, UK officials are looking to build hundreds of wind farms in Ireland that would generate electricity exclusively for the UK. Government officials say the £8 billion proposal, which includes the construction of more than 700 turbines in a rural area west of Dublin, would provide more than 3 gigawatts of electricity to the UK and help the nation meet its green energy goals. Officials say the project already has the approval of the government of Ireland, where there is less public resistance to wind turbines. More than 1,100 turbines are now operating in Ireland, most of which are located at 176 land-based wind farms. Costs for the proposed project are estimated at about €8 billion, about two-thirds of which would be for construction of the wind farms, with the other third used to install two large underwater cables beneath the Irish Sea. Officials say the project could be operational by 2018.08 Oct 2012:
Indonesian Palm Oil Is
Growing Source of CO2 Emissions
The rapid expansion of palm oil plantations in the world’s tropical regions, particularly Indonesian Borneo, is becoming an increasingly significant source of global carbon emissions, a new study says. Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers from Stanford and Yale universities project that the continued expansion of plantations will add more than 558 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by 2020 — an amount greater than all of Canada’s current fossil fuel emissions. Much of the expansion in recent decades has occurred in Indonesia, particularly on the island of Borneo, also known as Kalimantan. According to researchers, the loss of forest for palm oil plantations in Kalimantan led to the emission of more than 140 million metric tons of CO2 in 2010 alone, or the equivalent of the annual emissions of 28 million vehicles. About 80 percent of planting leases remained undeveloped in 2010, the study says. If all these leases are developed, more than one-third of Kalimantan’s lowlands outside of protected areas would be covered with palm oil plantations. 05 Oct 2012:
Northern Conifers Are Younger
As a Result of Extreme Climate Shifts
Extreme climate cycles in the Northern Hemisphere over millions of years altered the evolutionary history of the hemisphere’s conifer trees, encouraging the formation of new species that are millions of years younger than their counterparts in the Southern 
Wikimedia Commons
04 Oct 2012:
Blue and Green Honey
Is Linked to an M&M’S Factory in France
Beekeepers in northeastern France say they have produced batches of unusually colored honey in recent months as a result of bees carrying unknown substances from a nearby plant processing waste from an M&M’S candy factory. Since August, beekeepers in the region of Alsace say they have noticed bees returning to their apiaries with colorful substances that have altered the color of their honey, turning it blue and green. After conducting some research, they discovered that a nearby biogas plant has been processing waste from a Mars candy factory that produces colorful M&M’S. The beekeepers, who are already dealing with declining bee populations, are not amused by the batches of colorful honey. “For me, it’s not honey,” Alain Frieh, president of the apiculturists’ union, told Reuters. “It’s not sellable.” While Mars did not respond with a comment, a co-manager for the biogas plant said the company has cleaned its containers and will begin storing incoming waste in a covered facility.
04 Oct 2012:
New Cleanup Method Offers
Major Solution to Oil Spills, Study Claims
Scientists have developed a superabsorbent material they say offers a cost-effective way to remove, recover and clean up large oil spills. Writing in the journal Energy & Fuels, Pennsylvania State University
researchers Xuepei Yuan and T. C. Mike Chung describe a polymer material that they say can absorb 40 times its own weight in oil, transforming spilled material into a solid, oil-containing gel that is strong enough to be collected and transported to oil refineries for reprocessing. While many of the methods typically used to clean up oil spills — including booms, skimmers, burning, and the use of dispersants — waste most of the spilled oil and leave behind significant levels of environmental pollution, the scientists say their so-called polyolefin oil-SAP technology offers a potentially “complete solution” to dealing with oil spills. They say the material does not absorb water, is buoyant, and is relatively inexpensive.
03 Oct 2012:
Major Policy Shifts Needed
To Maintain Decline in U.S. CO2 Emissions
A decline in U.S. carbon emissions in recent years is unlikely to continue over the long term unless there is a significant shift in how the nation produces and uses its energy, according to a new analysis. While several factors have triggered a 9 percent decline in annual carbon emissions in the U.S. since 2005 — including a decrease in the use of coal-fired electricity as a result of the natural gas boom — the most significant factor has been the economic recession, according to the group Climate Central. As the economy recovers, any reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will likely be offset by increased incomes that drive an greater demand for vehicles, electrical appliances, and other consumer products.
The report calculates that U.S. carbon emissions can be reduced 38 percent below 2005 levels by 2035 if several hypothetical changes occur. These include the number of miles driven remaining at today’s level and average vehicles achieving fuel efficiency of 55 miles-per-gallon; significant gains being made in the efficiency of energy-consuming equipment; and natural gas continuing to reduce the share of coal-burning technologies.
03 Oct 2012:
NASA Map Illustrates
Effects of Drought on U.S. Vegetation
A new NASA map shows the major effects of this summer’s record droughts on vegetation across much of the U.S., leaving a swath of parched earth that caused a shortage of food for wild and domesticated animals alike. In the map, which shows the contrast between plant health during August and the average conditions for the month from 2002 to 2012, a vast brown area from the Rocky Mountains to the Ohio River valley illustrates regions where plant growth was below normal. The map is based on satellite data fed into the so-called Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, which measures the extent to which plant leaves absorb visible light and reflect infrared light. Drought-impacted vegetation reflects more light than healthy vegetation. “I am struck by the extraordinary depth and spatial scale of this drought,” said Molly Brown, a vegetation and food security researcher with NASA. “There is very little fodder out there for animals to eat.” Almost two-thirds of the contiguous U.S. experienced some level of drought by the end of August, with 39 percent of the nation enduring severe to extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
02 Oct 2012:
Genetically Modified Cow
Reportedly Lacks Allergy-Causing Protein
Scientists in New Zealand have produced a genetically modified cow whose milk lacks a protein that causes allergic reactions in people, particularly children. Researchers at the government-owned AgResearch 
AgResearch
Genetically modified Daisy
02 Oct 2012:
Great Barrier Reef Lost
Half of Coral Cover Since 1985, Study Says
The Great Barrier Reef has lost half of its coral cover in just 27 years, with most of that decline coming as a result of heavy storms, predation by crown-of-thorn starfish, and coral bleaching caused by warming ocean temperatures. In a comprehensive survey of 214 reefs, researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) found that coral cover declined from 28 percent in 1985 to 13.8 percent this year. Intense tropical storms, particularly in the central and southern parts of the reef, have caused about 48 percent of the coral loss, researchers say. An explosion in populations of starfish along the reef caused about 42 percent of the decline; about 10 percent was caused by major bleaching events. Reefs are typically able to regain their coral cover after such disturbances, said Hugh Sweatman, a lead author of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But recovery takes 10-20 years, he noted. The study found efforts to reduce starfish populations could help increase coral cover at a rate of 0.89 percent per year.01 Oct 2012:
Organized Crime Groups Drive
Increase in Illegal Logging, Report Says
Illegal logging accounts for 15 to 30 percent of the global logging trade, with an increasing number of illegal operations in the world’s tropical regions being driven by organized crime, a new report says. According to the report, released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and INTERPOL, the illegal logging trade is now worth between $30 billion and $100 billion each year and is undermining global efforts to protect forests in the world’s most important tropical regions, including the Amazon, central Africa, and Southeast Asia. “Illegal logging is not on the decline, rather it is becoming more advanced as cartels become better organized, including shifting their illegal activities in order to avoid national and local police efforts,” wrote Achim Steiner and Ronald Noble, the heads of UNEP and INTERPOL, respectively. In the Brazilian state of Pará, for example, illegally obtained permits allowed logging cartels to steal an estimated 1.7 million cubic meters of forest in 2008. A year later, Brazilian investigators uncovered a scam involving 3,000 companies illegally exporting logged timber as allegedly “eco-certified” wood.28 Sep 2012:
Biodegradable Electronics Could
Lessen Environmental Impact of Devices
A team of U.S. scientists says it has developed a class of biodegradable electronics technology that could be utilized for a wide range of products — from consumer devices to medical implants — and that ultimately would dissolve completely, leaving no environmental 
University of Illinois and Tufts University
An integrated circuit dissolves in water.
28 Sep 2012:
Decline in Fisheries
Can Still be Reversed, Study Says
Although the majority of global fisheries remain in decline, they can still rebound if managed sustainably, according to a new study. In a comprehensive statistical analysis of the world’s 10,000 fish stocks, nearly 80 percent of which are not regulated, a team of U.S. scientists found that the world’s smaller, managed fisheries are in far worse shape than larger, regulated ones. But while those smaller fisheries, such as those for snapper, are in steep decline, “they’re not yet collapsed,” said Christopher Costello, an economist at the University of California at Santa Barbara and lead author of the study, published in the journal Science. According to the analysis, effective management of unregulated fisheries could boost global fish abundance by 56 percent. “If we turn things around now, we can recover them in a matter of years, not decades, and that has big implications for conservation and food security,” Costello said. According to the study, major gains have been made in large fisheries, such as skipjack and albacore tuna, where strong science-based management policies have been enacted, including the closing of some areas to let stocks recover.27 Sep 2012:
High-Arctic Summers
Are Warmer than Any Time in 1,800 years
Summer temperatures on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the High Arctic are now higher than during any time over the last 1,800 years, including a period of higher temperatures in the northern hemisphere known as the Medieval Warm Period, according to a new study. In an analysis of algae buried in deep lake sediments, a team of scientists calculated that summer temperatures in Svalbard since 1987 have been 2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 4.5 degrees F) warmer than during the Medieval Warm Period, which lasted from roughly 950 to 1250 AD. The Medieval Warm Period is often cited by climate change skeptics as proof that the planet has experienced periods of high temperatures in recent centuries unrelated to the burning of fossil fuels. The algae, which make more unsaturated fats in colder periods and more saturated fats in warmer periods, reveal critical clues about past climates. Scientists were able to date the lake specimens by analyzing grains of glass emitted by a series of well-known Icelandic volcanoes that left unique chemical time markers. The study is published in the journal Geology.27 Sep 2012:
Unusual Series of Quakes
Indicate Tectonic Breakup in Indian Ocean
Two massive earthquakes in April in the Indian Ocean and an unusual series of aftershocks may signal the formation of a new tectonic plate boundary within Earth’s surface. Reporting in the journal Nature, French scientists say that an analysis of the two April 11 earthquakes — one of magnitude 8.6 and the other of magnitude 8.2 — shows that they were not typical quakes that occur when one plate slides under another or two plates slip horizontally along a fault line. Instead, the earthquakes, caused by breaks along four faults in the Indian Ocean and accompanied by an unusually large number of aftershocks, indicate that the Indo-Australian tectonic plate may be breaking up. “It’s the clearest example of newly formed plate boundaries,” said Matthias Delescluse, a geophysicist at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. The researchers said that the massive and deadly 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, as well as another earthquake in 2005, may also have been related to the April quakes and the breakup of the Indo-Australian plate.
Interview: Using the Internet
To Identify Millions of New Species
Each year, about 18,000 new species of plants and animals are discovered and described by science — a number considered woefully inadequate by entomologist and taxonomist Quentin Wheeler. Along 
Thomas Geissmann/Fauna & Flora International
Snub-nosed monkey, identified in 2010
Read the interview
26 Sep 2012:
European Solar Capacity
Grew in 2011 Despite Subsidy Cuts
Installed solar capacity continued to grow across Europe in 2011 despite a decline in subsidies for green energy continent-wide, according to a new report. Roughly 18.5 gigawatts of new solar photovoltaic energy capacity were installed in the European Union during 2011, about two-thirds of the world’s increase in PV capacity, according to the Joint Research Center of the European Commission. The EU’s overall PV capacity increased to 52 gigawatts, supplying about 2 percent of the continent's electricity needs, according to the report. Although European companies remain world leaders in the development and production of photovoltaic technology, the report projects that they will suffer in future years in the face of increased competition, particularly from Chinese companies. And while Europe remained the leading region worldwide in terms of renewable energy investment last year, the rate of investment grew faster in Asia, particularly in India, Japan, and Indonesia, the report said.
26 Sep 2012:
Self-Driving Vehicles
Approved for California Roadways
California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a law that will allow self-driving vehicles on the state’s public roadways by next year. While fully automated vehicle technology may be years away, the California law establishes safety and performance regulations for testing these cars next year — provided that the driver is ready to take control of the vehicle if needed. Several companies, including Google, are developing self-driving cars that utilize a series of sensors — including GPS, cameras, lasers, and radar — as well as data from other vehicles to learn what is around the vehicle and guide its navigation. Developers say the innovative technology has the potential to improve safety, reduce congestion, and improve fuel efficiency. “We’re looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow’s reality,” said Brown, who drove to the signing ceremony at Google’s Mountain View headquarters in the passenger seat of a vehicle that steered itself.
25 Sep 2012:
Sluggish Electric Car Market
Forces Discounts and Cuts by GM, Toyota
With electric vehicles still struggling to find a foothold in the mainstream market, General Motors has offered major discounts on its Chevrolet Volt to move cars off sales lots, and Toyota has scrapped plans for widespread sales of its new all-electric minicar. While 
Courtesy of GM
A Chevrolet Volt charges
25 Sep 2012:
Coral Biodiversity Hotspot
Is Found in Western Indian Ocean
The western Indian Ocean, especially the waters between Madagascar and Africa, contain one of the highest levels of coral diversity worldwide, with 369 coral species identified in a recent study and more still to be identified. Scientists say the western Indian Ocean may contain as much coral biodiversity as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, though not as much as the world’s richest region for corals, the so-called coral triangle in Southeast Asia. Reporting in the journal PLoS ONE, David Obura, a scientist with the Group Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean, said that 10 percent of the species are found only in the western Indian Ocean. He said the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between Madagascar and mainland Africa, contains roughly 250 to 300 coral species. Meanwhile, Australian scientists report that water temperatures around the Great Barrier Reef have increased steadily in the last 25 years, in some places rising as much as .5 degrees C. Such increases can contribute to coral bleaching, which can lead to mass coral die-offs.24 Sep 2012:
Air Pollution in Europe
Shortening Lives of Urban Dwellers
Air pollution in Europe is shortening lifespans by an average of eight months and by as much as two years in the most polluted cities and regions, according to a report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). While the European Union has cut emissions of many harmful pollutants over the last decade, the report finds that nearly a third of urban dwellers are still exposed to harmful levels of airborne particulate matter, tiny pollutants small enough to penetrate the respiratory system and cause serious health ailments. About 21 percent of city dwellers are exposed to particulate matter above EU health standards. And 17 percent were exposed to higher levels of ozone, which can cause respiratory problems. “In many countries, air pollutant concentrations are still above the legal and recommended limits that are set to protect the health of European citizens,” said Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the EEA. According to the report, humans living in industrial regions of Eastern Europe face the highest exposure to harmful pollutants.24 Sep 2012:
Majority of Undecideds Say
Global Warming Important in U.S. Election
The majority of undecided voters in the U.S. presidential race say that the candidates’ views on global warming will be an important factor in determining how they vote, according to a new poll. While very few participants called global warming their single-most important issue, about 61 percent of undecided voters say it will be one of several important issues that influence their decision. Probable voters for President Obama were far more likely to consider global warming important (75 percent) than likely Mitt Romney voters (32 percent), according to the poll, which was conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. From two-thirds to three-quarters of undecided and likely Obama voters also said they believe the president and Congress should be “doing more” about global warming. Only about a third of likely Romney voters said the president or Congress should be doing more.21 Sep 2012:
U.S. Fishing Catch Reached
17-Year High in 2011, NOAA Says
U.S. commercial fishermen landed more than 10.1 billion pounds of fish and shellfish in 2011, a 17-year high attributed in part to policies aimed at rebuilding fisheries nationwide, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The annual catch was 22.6 percent greater than 2010 and, with a value of $5.3 billion, a 17-percent increase in value compared with a year earlier. Officials say catch increases are evidence that fish populations are increasing due to better fisheries management. While all nine of NOAA’s fishing regions saw an increase in catch volume and value, much of the overall increase was a result of increased catches of Gulf of Mexico menhaden, Alaskan pollock, and Pacific hake. NOAA said key fisheries remain at risk, with disasters declared for the cod fishery in New England, oyster and blue crab fisheries in Mississippi, and Chinook salmon in Alaska’s Yukon and Kukokwin rivers.20 Sep 2012:
Arctic Sea Ice Extent
Reaches a Dramatic New Low
As the summer melt season ends, Arctic sea ice extent has now fallen to an exceptionally low level, covering an area only half the size of the 1979 to 2000 average. The Colorado-based National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported that as of September 16, Arctic sea ice extent was only 1.32 million square miles, which is 18 percent below the previous record low of 1.61 million square miles, set in September 2007. “We are now in uncharted territory,” said NSIDC director Mark Serreze. “While we’ve long known that as the planet warms up, changes would be seen first and be most pronounced in the Arctic, few of us were prepared for how rapidly the changes would actually occur.” A key reason for the precipitous decline of sea ice extent is that Arctic Ocean ice has become so thin after years of rapidly rising temperatures in the region, with thick, multi-year ice being replaced by thin, year-old ice that swiftly melts in summer.
Interview: Shining a Light
On Africa’s Elephant Slaughter
With the mass killing of African elephants sharply escalating recently as global prices for ivory have risen, few articles have conveyed the scope and brutality of 
Jeffrey Gettleman
Read the interview
19 Sep 2012:
Fuel Consumption in New Cars
Can Be Halved by 2030, Report Says
With advanced technologies and innovative government policies, fuel consumption in new vehicles can be cut in half by 2030, saving billions of dollars in fuel costs worldwide and significantly reducing CO2 emissions, a new report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency says. According to the report, many of the technologies that could significantly improve fuel efficiency over the next two decades are already commercially available but are not widely used. For these technologies to penetrate markets globally, the report says, governments will have to introduce stronger policies, including tougher fuel economy standards and financial incentives. The report notes that strong fuel efficiency standards have been adopted in some major markets, including the U.S., the European Union, and China, but that most of the world’s emerging markets lag far behind. The report also recommends increased research, development, and demonstration of emerging technologies, including waste heat recovery devices.
Video: Debating the Complex
Impacts of Natural Gas Fracking
At a recent panel discussion at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, a group of experts tackled the controversial drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and questions about its impacts on the environment, human health, and the U.S.’s energy future. During the discussion, which can be viewed here, former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister said the gas made accessible by fracking is more than a “bridge fuel.” Natural gas, he said, is “a highway to the future, and yes, a highway to a clean, more sustainable future.” But environmental activist Bill McKibben countered that the fracking boom is stunting the U.S.’s emerging green energy sector and does nothing to stem climate change. “Fracked gas is not a bridge into the future,” he said, “but a rickety pier out further into the lake of hydrocarbons.”
Watch the video
18 Sep 2012:
San Francisco Plan Would Give
Consumers Option of 100% Green Power
City officials in San Francisco, Calif. are considering a $19.5 million program that would give consumers the option of buying 100-percent renewable power at a higher cost. The so-called CleanPowerSF plan, which would be done in partnership with Shell Energy North America, would also invest about $2 million into the exploration of local green energy generation possibilities. If approved, city officials say, the program would slash carbon emissions during the first year by nearly 10 times the amount already achieved by the city’s green energy initiatives. According to the proposal, which is subject to a vote by the city’s Board of Supervisors, the program would increase utility bills for average customers by about $9 per month. About half of the city’s residents would automatically be enrolled in the program, but would have the chance to opt out at no charge within five months, city officials say. Neighboring Marin County has already initiated a similar program with Shell that allows customers the option of choosing renewable power.18 Sep 2012:
Explosive Urban Growth
To Put Major Strain on Biodiversity
The world’s urban areas will expand by more than 1.2 million square kilometers by 2030, nearly tripling the area of urban development that existed worldwide in 2000, according to a new study. That development surge, researchers say, will coincide with construction of new roads, buildings, and energy and water systems, causing considerable habitat loss in critical biodiversity hotspots — including many regions that were relatively undisturbed by development only a decade ago. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Yale, Texas A&M, and Boston University predicted that nearly half of that urban expansion will occur in Asia, particularly in China and India. Urban growth will occur fastest in Africa, they say, with a projected six-fold increase in land development compared with 2000. “Given the long life and near irreversibility of infrastructure investments, it will be critical for current urbanization-related policies to consider their lasting impacts,” said Karen Seto, an associate professor at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and lead author of the study.
17 Sep 2012:
Most Coral Reefs At Risk
Even if Warming Limited to 2 Degrees C
Most of the world’s coral reefs will likely be subject to long-term degradation even if global warming is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, and as much as one-third of coral reef systems will likely be vulnerable to threats even under the most optimistic climate projections, a new study says. In an analysis of the potential effects of heat stress on coral reef systems under different climate change scenarios, a team of researchers found that most potential outcomes will likely trigger more frequent and intense mass-bleaching events. If global mean temperature increases exceed 2 degrees C, coral reefs “might no longer be prominent coastal ecosystems,” said Katja Frieler, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and lead author of the study, published in Nature Climate Change. Under the most optimistic scenarios — including aggressive climate mitigation and assumptions that coral systems can adapt to warming conditions — one third of the world’s coral systems would still be subject to severe degradation, the study said.17 Sep 2012:
Forest Mortality in U.S. Declines
As Beetles Run Out of Food, Report Says
Tree deaths caused by insect infestation and disease in the western U.S. declined significantly last year, largely because mountain pine beetles have devoured so many 
iStock
A mountain pine beetle
14 Sep 2012:
Japanese Set Goal
To Phase Out Nuclear Power by 2040
The Japanese government says it will seek to phase out all nuclear power plants by 2040, although officials suggested that the target remains flexible. The new energy strategy, which places a 40-year lifespan on nuclear reactors and limits construction of new plants, would continue a national shift away from nuclear power following last year’s disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power station. Earlier this year Japan suspended operations at the last of its 50 nuclear power stations over public safety concerns. Most of the plants remain off-line. In announcing the new plan, Motohisa Furukawa, Japan’s minister of state for national policy, left open the possibility that five reactors that will be younger than 40 at the end of the 2030s will be allowed to remain in operation. In addition, Furukawa indicated that the central government would ultimately bow to a newly formed nuclear panel over such policy questions, the New York Times reported. Nuclear power provided nearly 30 percent of the nation’s electricity before the 2011 disaster, and many have questioned whether the country can meet its power needs without a nuclear sector.14 Sep 2012:
New Monkey Species
Identified in Remote Region of Congo
A team of scientists has identified a new species of monkey in a remote area in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a discovery that researchers say confirms the remote African region as a biodiversity hotbed. After encountering one of the monkeys in captivity in a village, the researchers observed the animal, known locally as the “lesula,” in the wild and, after conducting DNA tests, confirmed that it is a unique species. Scientists say the new species has a naked face and muzzle, a blond chin, a reddish lower back and tail, and a “brilliant blue” patch of skin in the buttocks and scrotum area. The monkey, which researchers named Cercopithecus lomamiensis, is just the second new species of African monkey identified in the past 28 years. Researchers believe it was likely not identified by scientists earlier because of the remoteness of its 6,500-square-mile range. “If we’re finding new species of primates, then who knows how many new species of small mammals or lizards or insects, just to name a few, might be out there,” said Eric Sargis, a professor at Yale University and one of the co-authors of the study. The findings are published in the journal PLoS ONE.
13 Sep 2012:
In Himalaya Mountains,
A Mixed Picture of Glacial Melting
A new study says that glaciers in the Himalayas are reacting to climate change in different ways, with glaciers in the eastern and central Himalayas retreating at accelerating rates, while glaciers in the western Himalaya and Hindu Kush region are more stable and possibly even growing in places. According to a report by the National Research Council, many of the glaciers of the Himalayan region are retreating at rates comparable to other parts of the world, but changes to glacial meltwater are not likely to make a significant difference in water availability at lower elevations, which rely more on monsoon rains and snowmelt. If the the current rate of glacial retreat continues, however, the report said that high-elevation areas of some river basins could see altered seasonal water flow. In addition, researchers say the melting of glaciers could affect regional water security during periods of drought or “similar climate extremes.” The Himalaya/Hindu Kush region is the source of several river systems — including the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra — that supply drinking water and irrigation to 1.5 billion people.12 Sep 2012:
U.S. Big-Box Retail Stores
Lead Surge in Solar Power Installations
A growing number of major U.S. companies, led by the nation’s largest big-box retailers, are installing rooftop solar power systems to help cut energy costs and increase profits, a new report says. According to the report, released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Vote Solar Initiative, more than 3,600 non-residential systems were activated in the U.S. during the first half of 2012, led by retail giants such as Walmart, Costco, and Kohl’s department stores, all of which have sharply increased their solar power installations in recent months. Among the top 20 U.S. companies by solar capacity, almost half are big-box retailers, according to the report. “Five or six years ago, you probably would have read about a pledge in an annual report about what they’re doing for the environment,” Rhone Resch, SEIA’s chief executive, told the New York Times. “Now what you’re seeing is it’s a smart investment that they’re making for their shareholders, and this is a standard business practice.”
Interview: On the Trail of
South Florida’s Python Invaders
Just three decades after the invasive Burmese python became established in southern Florida, scientists believe there may now be tens of thousands of these 
Robert Sullivan/AFP/Getty Images
Burmese python
Read the interview
11 Sep 2012:
Small Forage Fish Species
Worth 20 Percent of Global Fisheries
The world’s forage fish species — small, schooling fish such as herring and sardines that play a key role in the food web in marine ecosystems — represent about 20 percent of the global values of all marine fisheries, according to a new study. In a comprehensive analysis of dozens of food web models from around the planet, scientists from the State University of New York at Stony Brook calculated that these small fish contribute $16.9 billion to global fisheries each year, either as direct catch or as food for larger fish. According to their findings, the direct catch value for forage fish worldwide is $5.6 billion — with the largest market being the Peruvian anchoveta fishery — while the value of fisheries depending on these small fish is about $11.3 billion. “In addition to their value to commercial fishing and other industries that depend on them for their products, forage fish play valuable roles in global ecosystems while they are still in the water,” said Ellen K. Pikitch, co-lead author of the study, published in the journal Fish and Fisheries. 10 Sep 2012:
Wind Resources Could Meet
Global Energy Demands, Study Says
The earth contains enough wind energy to meet all of humanity’s power needs if future technologies are able to tap into high-altitude winds, a new study says. Using models to quantify wind energy potential, researchers at
Wikimedia
07 Sep 2012:
LED Bulbs Widening Gap
In Energy Efficiency, Report Says
While today’s light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs are slightly better for the environment than compact fluorescent lamps, the energy efficiency gap will widen over the next five years as the technology and manufacturing methods of LEDs improve, according to a new report. In an analysis of the impacts of the light technologies in 15 categories — including the energy and resources required to manufacture, operate, and dispose of the bulbs — researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that CFLs caused slightly more environmental harm than existing LED technologies in all but one of the areas studied. The one exception, they said, was hazardous waste generation because existing LEDs utilize a component, called a heat sink, which requires mining, refining, and processing of the aluminum. Improved efficiencies in emerging LED technologies, however, will reduce the amount of heat produced and, in turn, the size of heat sink required. As a result, they say, LED bulbs are expected by 2017 to have 50 percent less environmental impact than today’s bulbs and 70 percent less than existing CFLs.07 Sep 2012:
Key Asian Species Need
Urgent Recovery Plans, Group Says
The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has called on Asian nations to work together to save a handful of critically endangered species, including tigers, Asian rhinos, orangutans, Asian vultures, Batagur turtles, and the Mekong giant catfish. Speaking at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress in South Korea, WCS President Christian Samper called on delegates to intensify recovery plans or face the possible extinction of some of these iconic species. The WCS painted a stark portrait of the situation: Only 3,200 Asian tigers remain in the wild, Sumatran and Bornean orangutans are experiencing steep declines, only about 40 Javan rhinos survive, Asian vultures have declined by more than 90 percent across the Indian subcontinent, populations of Mekong giant catfish have declined by more than 80 percent since 1990, and numerous species of Bagatur turtles across Asia are on the brink of extinction because of hunting and harvesting of eggs.
06 Sep 2012:
Destruction of Tropical Forests
Reduces Regional Rainfall, Study Says
A new study has found that destruction of the world’s tropical forests may significantly reduce regional rainfall across large regions, a phenomenon researchers say could have devastating effects for people living in and around the Amazon and Congo basins. Using satellite observations of rainfall and vegetation, as well as atmospheric wind flow patterns, researchers from the University of Leeds and the NERC Center for Ecology & Hydrology found that across 60 percent of the Amazon and Congo rainforests, air passing over extensive forest areas produces twice as much rain as air passing over areas with little vegetation. According to their findings, published in the journal Nature, this effect in some cases can increase rainfall thousands of miles away. After combining these findings with projected deforestation rates and current trends, the researchers calculated that tropical forest loss could reduce rainfall across the Amazon basin during the wet season by 12 percent by 2050, and 21 percent during the dry season. 05 Sep 2012:
Major Chinese City
Restricts the Number of New Cars
Government officials in Guangzhou, China’s third-largest city, have enacted measures to limit the number of new cars on city streets, a policy some analysts say reflects a broader effort by Chinese cities to protect public health and well-being in the face of worsening highway congestion. In Guangzhou, a city of 15 million people and a center for auto manufacturing, officials last week introduced license plate auctions and lotteries, a strategy that is expected to cut the number of cars by half, according to The New York Times. While the restrictions will have short-term economic impacts, government officials say they could also help reduce air and water pollution, cut long-term healthcare costs, and alleviate the city’s notorious traffic jams. “From the government’s point of view, we give up some growth, but to achieve better health for all citizens, it is definitely worth it,” said Chen Haotian, the vice director of Guangzhou’s top planning agency. Guangzhou’s efforts come as other major Chinese cities are requiring cleaner gasoline and diesel fuels, closing dirty factories, and removing older, more polluting cars from roads.04 Sep 2012:
High Levels of DDT Found
In Breast Milk of Women in South Africa
A new study has found record levels of DDT in the breast milk of nursing women living in South African villages where the toxic pesticide has been used for decades. In samples taken from women in three malaria-stricken villages where spraying occurs inside homes, researchers found that DDT levels in their breast milk were more than 100 times greater than the highest daily dose recommended by the World Health Organization. In one sample, DDT levels were more than 300 times greater than allowed for cow’s milk, according to the study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution. “Based on the argument that ‘malaria is worse than DDT,’ people accept this spray treatment program,” said Henrik Kylin, a professor at Linköping University and one of the study’s authors. “The purpose of our project is to study the side effects, thereby creating a better basis for decisions.” Though officially banned by the UN in 2001, DDT is still used in Africa and elsewhere to eradicate malaria-carrying mosquitoes that kill nearly 900,000 people a year.04 Sep 2012:
A Quarter of Liberian Land
Ceded to Logging Companies in Two Years
One quarter of Liberia’s total land area has been sold to logging companies over the last two years, a development that threatens widespread devastation in West Africa’s most heavily forested nation, a new investigation has found. According to a report by Global Witness, Save My Future Foundation and the Sustainable Development Institute, logging companies have used what the investigators call a legal loophole in the nation’s forest laws to secretly parcel out dozens of logging contracts covering 26,000 square kilometers. Created to allow landowners to cut trees on their land, these so-called Private Use Permits contain no sustainability requirements and have left 40 percent of the nation’s forests, including nearly half of Liberia’s most pristine forests, open to clearing, the report says. Under the terms of the contracts, the companies are required to pay only 1 percent of the timber’s value to the Liberian government. In response, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has suspended the head of the nation’s Forestry Development Authority and opened an investigation.31 Aug 2012:
Method Uses DNA Technology
To Track Marine Life From Water Samples
Danish scientists say they have developed a process to detect the presence of fish and whales in local waters through the DNA analysis of water samples, an innovation that will help researchers more safely monitor biodiversity in the world’s oceans. Using sophisticated DNA sequencing technology, researchers from the University of Copenhagen say they were able to detect DNA from 15 different fish species from a half-liter sample of seawater. According to Philip Francis Thomsen, one of the authors of the study published in the journal PLoS ONE, tests of the water revealed the presence of small and large fish — including common species and species rarely or never recorded by conventional monitoring — in the waters off Denmark. “Cod, herring, eel, plaice, pilchard and many more have all left a DNA trace in the seawater,” he said. The researchers say the use of DNA technology may offer a less invasive way of monitoring marine populations than traditional methods, such as the use of trawls and pots. In addition, such DNA tests could be conducted almost anywhere and on any species, unlike typical monitoring methods that focus mostly on commercial fish species.
31 Aug 2012:
EU Ban on Incandescent
Bulbs Goes into Effect on September 1
The incandescent light bulb, in use for more than a century, will be officially banned across the European Union on September 1. Over the past three years, the 
Wikimedia Commons
30 Aug 2012:
Better Use of Fertilizer, Water
Can Feed Growing Population, Study Says
A new study suggests that the the world can meet the surging demand for food in the coming decades without rampant deforestation if farmers make better use of fertilizer and water resources. In an analysis of management practices and yield data for 17 major crops worldwide, researchers from McGill University in Montreal and the University of Minnesota estimated that yields for most crops can be increased 45 to 70 percent on lands already used for agriculture through more efficient fertilizer application and irrigation. Writing in the journal Nature, the scientists found that the deployment of best-practice farming could boost global yields of corn, wheat, and rice by 64 percent, 71 percent, and 47 percent, respectively. In some parts of the world, including the U.S., China, and Western Europe, the study found that far more fertilizer is used than necessary, with much of it ultimately washing into waterways. Through more efficient use of that fertilizer, nutrients could be made available for use in Eastern Europe and Western Africa without adversely affecting communities in the U.S. and China. 30 Aug 2012:
Brazilian Deforestation
Falls Sharply in Past Eight Years
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 77 percent from 2004 to 2011, but carbon emissions did not drop as steeply because of complex processes revealed during on-the-ground studies, scientists say. While analysis of satellite images showed the three-quarters drop in deforestation, researchers said that several factors — including the slow decay of roots and the later burning of wood biomass — meant that carbon emissions from deforestation fell by 57 percent during the same period, according to a study published in the journal Global Change Biology. Another reason for the 20-percent lag in carbon emissions reductions is that logging in recent years has been moving into denser Amazon forests, so even the reduced amount of deforestation is leading to higher carbon emissions, researchers said. U.S. scientists praised their Brazilian colleagues for the sophisticated new techniques used to tease out the differences between reduced deforestation and lagging emissions reductions. “That’s where you’d like the rest of the world to be, where Brazil is,” said Richard Houghton of the Woods Hole Research Center.29 Aug 2012:
India Approves $4 Billion Plan
To Add 6 Million Green Vehicles by 2020
The government of India has approved a 230-billion rupee strategy ($4.13 billion) to spur increased production of electric and hybrid vehicles over the next eight years, setting a target of 6 million green vehicles by 2020. The new plan, designed to reduce the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels and cut carbon emissions, would attempt to close the gap between the costs of producing green vehicles in India and what consumers can afford to pay. The country’s nascent electric and hybrid car sector slowed dramatically earlier this year when the government removed subsidies of up to 100,000 rupees per vehicle, Reuters reports. According to sources, the new plan would likely include cash subsidies for consumers, increased funding for research and development, and the creation of a charging network, sources said. While specific plans remain to be worked out, S. Sundareshan, the secretary of India’s Heavy Industries ministry, said the government would provide 130 to 140 billion rupees, while private corporations would cover the rest. 28 Aug 2012:
Germany May Need to Slow
Shift to Green Energy, Official Says
Germany’s environment minister said Tuesday that the country might have to slow its shift to renewable energy to quell concerns about rising consumer costs. A year after the government decided to phase out nuclear power following Japan’s Fukushima disaster, Germany has indeed been able to increase renewable energy generation, with solar and wind incentives helping the country produce more than 25 percent of its power from cleaner sources. But that rapid growth is causing higher costs for consumers and placing an increased strain on the energy grid, Environment Minister Peter Altmaier told the Financial Times Deutschland. “These are costs that can be avoided with good planning,” Altmaier said. While a senior Social Democrat called a slower shift to renewable energy “unacceptable,” members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration are seeking legislation that would reduce the burden on consumers. On Monday, the energy group Vattenfall reported that Germany’s current green energy targets would likely require an investment of 150 billion euros by 2020, causing a 30-percent increase in electricity costs.28 Aug 2012: Arctic Ice Reaches Record Low
The extent of ice covering the Arctic Ocean has reached a new record low and will likely continue to retreat until mid-September, when re-freezing begins to occur, according to satellite observations. NASA and the U.S.-funded National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported that sea ice extent fell in the past few days to 1.58 million square miles (4.1 million square kilometers), breaking by 27,000 square miles the previous record low extent, set in September 2007. Summer sea ice extent has declined by more than 40 percent since satellites began tracking it in 1979, and sea ice now covers less than 30 percent of the Arctic Ocean. Sea ice experts say that both the extent and thickness of Arctic summer sea ice has declined so precipitously in the face of rapidly rising temperatures that the Arctic basin appears to be heading for largely ice-free summers within a decade or two. “Parts of the Arctic have become like a giant slushy,” said Walt Meier, a research scientist at the NSIDC. The disappearing sea ice is creating ever-larger areas of dark, heat-absorbing waters, which is further increasing temperatures in the Arctic and hastening the melting of Greenland’s massive ice sheets.
27 Aug 2012:
Desalination Sector Surges as
Technology Improves, Demand Grows
A new report predicts that global investment in water desalination projects will triple over a five-year period from 2011 to 2016, driven by improvements in technology and a surge in companies entering the sector. According to Global Water Intelligence, investments in desalination plant installations will grow from $5 billion last year to $8.9 billion this year; by 2016, the report says, the sector could reach $17 billion. A critical factor has been the emergence of technologies that require less energy to make potable water from seawater, including a process called forward osmosis that uses less heat and power than existing reverse osmosis plants and could cut the cost of desalination by as much as 30 percent. Also driving this surge is growing demand in developing nations already facing water shortages, including China and India. “Those huge economies will not be able to step forward without a solution to water scarcity, and one of the solutions is going to be desalination,” Avshalom Felber, CEO of Israel-based IDE Technologies, told Bloomberg News.24 Aug 2012:
Drought Conditions Trigger
Smallest Gulf ‘Dead Zone’ in Years
U.S. scientists say the nation’s worst drought in five decades has had at least one positive effect: the smallest so-called “dead zone” seen in the Gulf of Mexico in years. In a 1,200-mile research cruise conducted in the
NASA.
Algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico
23 Aug 2012:
U.S. Solar Panel Maker to
Build Solar Farms in Energy-Hungry India
First Solar Inc., the U.S.-based solar panel manufacturer, plans to expand its role in the global energy industry by developing solar power farms in India, where an emerging industrial sector is looking to
First Solar Inc.
22 Aug 2012:
New Canadian Law Removes
Federal Oversight From Smaller Projects
Major revisions to Canada’s Environmental Assessment Act have stripped nearly 500 projects of federal oversight in British Columbia alone, including major dam projects, gravel extraction operations, and the sinking of former warships as artificial reefs, according to a news report. The new screening assessments, the latest in a series of initiatives by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration seen as weakening environmental regulation, give an increased role in environmental oversight and enforcement to provinces. Speaking to the Vancouver Sun, a spokesperson for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency said that the “numerous small, routine projects… posed little or no risk to the environment.” But Canadian environmental advocates warn that a reduced federal role in monitoring these hundreds of projects will ultimately place the province’s environment, particularly fish habitat, at increased risk. “The cumulative impacts of all the projects that they will no longer review will be great and it will take a few years for Canadians to appreciate that,” said Otto Langer, a former official with the federal fisheries department.22 Aug 2012:
Solar Shingles Made from
Common Metals Offer Cheaper Energy Option
U.S. scientists say that emerging photovoltaic technologies will enable the production of solar shingles made from abundantly available elementsrather than rare-earth metals, an innovation that would make solar
Dow Chemical
Solar shingles
21 Aug 2012:
NASA Image Shows Low Waters
Of Drought-Stricken Mississippi River
A pair of NASA satellite images comparing water flow along the Mississippi River this month with August 2011 illustrates the effects of a severe summer drought along the critical waterway. The recent photo, taken just south of Memphis, Tennessee on Aug. 8, reveals extensive sandbars that are newly exposed or far larger than they were a year ago. Numerous stretches of the river have become significantly narrowed by decreased water flow. The drought, the worst in 56 years, has left the Mississippi River at its lowest levels since 1988, with some areas more than 12 feet lower than normal conditions at this time of year. Ninety-seven vessels were stranded by low waters near Greenville, Mississippi, where an 11-mile stretch of the river was closed for dredging. Near St. Louis, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been forced to stop river traffic for up to 12 hours at a time in order to keep the shipping lane wide enough, according to Reuters. 
21 Aug 2012:
Cloud Brightening Scheme
Should Be Tested Over Oceans, Scientists Say
An international group of scientists has urged a small-scale experiment to test the viability of creating human-made clouds as a way to counter the effects of global warming. Writing in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the scientists say
John McNeill
20 Aug 2012:
Process Turns Starbucks’ Waste
Into Ingredients for Consumer Products
A team of scientists is working with the Starbucks coffee chain to develop a bio-refinery process that would convert the company’s discarded coffee grounds and day-old bakery goods into a key ingredient for making plastics and other products. The process, which will be described at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, builds on existing technology that converts corn, sugar cane, and other plant-based products into the ingredients for biofuels and other consumer products. According to researchers, the process involves blending the bakery waste with a mixture of fungi that breaks down carbohydrates in the food into simple sugars. They are ultimately converted into succinic acid, a material that can be used to make a range of products, including plastics, detergents, and medicines. While most experts say using crops for such purposes would not be sustainable, targeting food waste is an attractive alternative, said Carol S. K. Lin, of the City University of Hong Kong, who was leader of the research team. 20 Aug 2012:
German Shift from Nuclear
Triggers an Increase in Coal Burning
The German government’s decision to phase out all of the nation’s nuclear power plants following the 2011 Fukushima disaster has led to an increase in coal-burning within Europe’s largest economy. Coal consumption in Germany has grown by 4.9 percent since Chancellor Angela Merkel announced plans to shift away from nuclear power over the next decade, according to a Bloomberg News report. While German leaders intended the new policy to strengthen the nation’s reliance on renewable energy, Germany’s largest utilities have built coal plants instead of cleaner-burning natural gas projects because coal plants are cheaper. The collapse of the European Union's carbon permit costs also means that there is little penalty for burning coal. “Angela Merkel’s policy has created an incentive structure which has the effect of partially replacing nuclear with coal, the dirtiest fuel that’s responsible for much of the growth in the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions since 1990,” Dieter Helm, an energy policy professor at the University of Oxford told Bloomberg News.17 Aug 2012:
Triage System for Plant Species
Devised Based on Geographic Range
With an increasing number of plant species worldwide facing growing threats, from climate change to invasive species, a team of U.S. scientists has developed a process to more rapidly evaluate those plants facing the greatest risks of extinction. Writing in the journal 
Bill Carr/NYBG
17 Aug 2012:
TransCanada Begins Building
Southern Leg of Keystone Pipeline in Texas
The Canadian company, TransCanada, has begun construction on the U.S. leg of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, installing segments in east Texas even as the fate of the pipeline’s northern leg remains in question. Company officials confirmed that work began Aug. 9 on the section of the pipeline that will run from Oklahoma to Texas, just weeks after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the final construction permit. TransCanada, which ultimately hopes to build a pipeline to carry tar sands oil from Alberta to refineries in Texas, has agreed to relocate the northern section of the pipeline after the Obama administration, citing possible threats to Nebraska’s ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region, rejected a permit for the entire project. If U.S. officials approve the revised northern section of the pipeline, construction could begin in early 2013, a company spokesman said. Pipeline opponents have already launched protests at construction sites in Texas, and say they will stage future demonstrations in an effort to block the pipeline. 16 Aug 2012:
Large Utah Tar Sands Mine
A Threat to Water Supplies, Groups Say
Two environmental organizations are fighting a Canadian company’s plan to mine a massive reserve of oil sands in eastern Utah, saying the project would tax water supplies in what is already the U.S.’s second-driest state. In what would be the U.S.'s first large-scale oil sands mining operation, Calgary-based U.S. Oil Sands Inc. has already excavated a two-acre test mine at site called PR Spring and ultimately hopes to establish a sprawling, 6,000-acre mine as early as 2014. According to the Utah Geological Survey, about 25 billion barrels of bitumen are buried on state and federal land in this region — enough to meet the nation’s oil needs for more than three years. But according to a report by Inside Climate News, it remains unclear whether there will be enough groundwater to support the industry long-term — not to mention the water needs of municipalities and private industries nearby. Two groups, Living Rivers and the Western Resource Advocates, are appealing U.S. Oil Sands’ mining permit, arguing that the state of Utah ignored the threat to groundwater supplies. According to a letter from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, the mine is expected to use “116 gallons of water per minute on a 24-hour basis.”16 Aug 2012:
Ocean Health Index Evaluates
State of Waters Around the Globe
An international team of researchers has released a new tool that evaluates the state of the world’s oceans, a so-called Ocean Health Index that its creators say provides the first comprehensive assessment of the relationship
between the planet’s marine regions and human communities. While previous assessments of ocean health were based on the level of “pristineness,” this index is framed in terms of the benefits humans derive from the oceans and the extent to which communities maintain a sustainable marine environment. Using a wide range of criteria — including water quality, marine biodiversity, and the condition of coastal areas — the researchers ranked ocean areas worldwide on a scale from 0 to 100. According to their analysis, published in the journal Nature, the global ocean received an overall score of 60, while scores for individual areas ranged from 36 to 86. The waters around Jarvis Island, near Hawaii, ranked highest; the waters off the West African nation of Sierra Leone ranked lowest.
15 Aug 2012:
Belo Monte Dam Halted By
Brazilian Judge Over Lack of Consultation
A Brazilian judge has ordered a suspension of the controversial Belo Monte dam project, saying that local indigenous people who will be affected by the massive hydroelectric project were not sufficiently consulted 
Divulgação/Norte Energia
Illustration of the Belo Monte proposal
Watch an e360 video report
15 Aug 2012:
Wildlife Vanishing in Brazil’s
Fragmented Atlantic Forest, Study Says
The fragmentation of tropical forests in eastern Brazil as a result of agricultural expansion and other human activities has decimated biodiversity even within the pockets of forest that still remain, a new study has found. Using wildlife surveys and interviews conducted at 196 forest fragments across a 253,000-square-kilometer region inside Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a team of researchers estimated that only about 22 percent of the animals that once inhabited the region are still there — far lower than earlier estimates. According to their findings, published in the journal PLoS ONE, white-lipped peccaries have been “completely wiped out,” while jaguars, lowland tapirs, woolly spider-monkeys and giant anteaters are essentially extinct. The loss of wildlife has even extended to areas where forest canopies are still relatively intact, said Carlos Peres, an ecologist at the University of East Anglia and lead author of the study. While the Atlantic Forest once covered more than 1.5 million square kilometers, about 90 percent has been cleared for agriculture, pasture, or urban expansion. Most remaining patches of forest, researchers say, are about the size of a football field.14 Aug 2012:
Radiation from Fukushima
Caused Butterfly Mutations, Study Says
Radioactive materials emitted during the Fukushima disaster caused physical mutations and genetic damage to butterfly populations living near the nuclear plant, a
University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa
Mutated butterfly
14 Aug 2012:
Interior Department Unveils
Drilling Plan for Alaska Petroleum Reserve
A proposed management plan for the U.S.’s National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) would allow new drilling on half of the 23 million-acre reserve while placing the rest of it off-limits to oil and gas exploration. The plan, unveiled by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, also would not preclude construction of a pipeline on the reserve. Salazar said the plan, which was praised by environmental groups but criticized by oil industry officials, would strike a balance between the nation’s energy needs and the protection of wildlife and native Alaskan subsistence culture. “This will provide a road map to help facilitate the transition from leasing and cautious exploration to production and smart development,” he told reporters in Anchorage, Alaska. The reserve, located west of oil fields on Alaska’s North Slope, is the home to a some of the largest caribou populations on the planet and millions of migratory birds from around the world. The region is also estimated to contain 549 million barrels of recoverable oil and 8.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Oil companies have been exploring the the reserve in recent years, but full production was suspended pending the Interior Department’s plan.
13 Aug 2012:
Shifting Climate Makes Frogs
More Vulnerable to Disease, Study Says
Increasingly unpredictable swings in the weather are making frogs more vulnerable to the deadly chytrid fungus, according to a new study. In a series of tests, scientists at Oakland University in Michigan exposed Cuban treefrogs living under a variety of conditions in laboratory incubators to chytridiomycosis, a highly infectious fungal disease that has decimated amphibian species globally. The scientists found that frogs that were exposed to unpredictable temperature changes were more susceptible to the disease. For example, frogs that were shifted to incubators at a temperature of 15 degrees C (59 degrees F) after spending four weeks at a temperature of 25 C (77 F) were far more likely to suffer infections than those frogs already accustomed to living at 15 C. According to Thomas Rafell, an Oakland University researcher and lead author of the study, the fungus was likely able to adapt faster to the temperature shift because it is smaller and has a shorter generation time than its host. The study was published in the journal Nature Climate Change.13 Aug 2012:
Auto-Related Pollution in L.A.
Declined 98 Percent Over 50 Years
Levels of some automobile-related pollutants in Los Angeles have plummeted by 98 percent since the 1960s, even as gasoline consumption nearly tripled during the same period, a new study says. Levels of volatile organic
Spensatron 5000/Flickr
10 Aug 2012:
U.S. Wind Energy Capacity
Equal to 11 Nuclear Plants, Group Says
Electricity produced by wind energy in the U.S. now equals the output of 11 nuclear power plants, according to a new report from the American Wind Energy 
Jim Parkin
09 Aug 2012:
Overuse of Groundwater
Threatens Global Supplies, Study Says
A new study finds that nearly one-quarter of the world’s population lives in regions where water is being used faster than it can be replenished. Using computer models of global groundwater resources and water use data, scientists from Canada and the Netherlands calculated that the planet’s “groundwater footprint” — the area above ground that relies on water from underground sources — is about 3.5 times larger than the aquifers themselves. The study found that in most of the world’s major agricultural regions — including the Central Valley in California, the Nile delta region of Egypt, and the Upper Ganges in India and Pakistan— demand exceeds these reservoirs’ capacity for renewal. For example, the groundwater footprint for the Upper Ganges aquifer is more than 50 times the size of aquifer. “This overuse can lead to decreased groundwater availability for both drinking water and growing food,” said Tom Gleeson, a hydrologist at McGill University in Montreal and lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature. According to the scientists, about 1.7 billion people, mostly in Asia, live in areas where water needs for humans and ecosystem services outstrip the ability of aquifers to replenish themselves.09 Aug 2012:
New Atmospheric Compound
Tied to Human Health and Climate Change
An international team of researchers says it has discovered a new atmospheric compound that reacts with sulfur dioxide to form sulfuric acid, which produces acid rain, has negative respiratory effects on humans, and causes increased cloud formation. Reporting in Nature, the scientists from the U.S., Finland, and Germany identified the new compound as a type of carbonyl oxide, formed by the reaction of ozone with natural and manmade hydrocarbons, known as alkenes. When the carbonyl oxide compounds react with sulfur dioxide — which is primarily produced by coal and other fossil fuel combustion at power plants — large amounts of sulfuric acid are produced. The scientists say it is the first time that this complex new interaction of atmospheric compounds has been documented. Sulfuric acid creates acid rain that is harmful to terrestrial and aquatic life, and airborne sulfuric acid particles play the main role in the formation of clouds, an increase of which could help cool the planet. Smaller sulfuric acid particles near the planet’s surface have been shown to cause human respiratory ailments.08 Aug 2012:
Aging, Diseased Trees
A Large Source of Methane, Study Says
Aging and diseased trees emit significant amounts of methane into the atmosphere, a phenomenon that may be contributing to global climate change, a new study says. In samples collected from a forest in northeastern Connecticut, researchers at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies found that some trees emitted methane — a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide — at levels up to 80,000 times greater than ambient air levels. According to their findings, the emissions rate from the forest site may be the equivalent of burning 40 gallons of gasoline per hectare of forest per year, offsetting about 18 percent of the forest’s carbon sequestration capacity. “Because the conditions thought to be driving this process are common throughout the world’s forests, we believe we have found a globally significant new source of this potent greenhouse gas,” said Kristofer Covey, a Yale researcher and lead author of the study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The researchers found that trees producing methane were commonly older — 80 to 100 years old — and diseased with fungal infections that promote increased methane production.
Interview: The Need to Think Big
In Global Conservation Efforts
Steven E. Sanderson, who stepped down as president and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) this summer, has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in his 12 years as head of one of the world’s largest
WCS
Read the interview
07 Aug 2012:
New Bird Species Discovered
In Cloud Forest of Eastern Andes
A team of researchers says it has identified a new bird species, a barbet marked by its colorful scarlet breast and black mask, in the eastern Andes of Peru. The bird, which scientists named the Sira barbet (Capito fitzpatricki), was discovered during a 2008 expedition,
led by recent Cornell University graduates, to a remote ridge in the Cerros del Sira range. Although scientists recognized that the bird was closely related to the scarlet-banded barbet, subsequent genetic tests confirmed that it is a distinct species within the barbet family, distinguishable by the differences in color on its flanks, lower back and thighs, and its dark scarlet breast band. The researchers believe the bird may only be found in a 30-kilometer region of montane cloud forest within the range, located on an outlying ridge of the Andes. The scientific name, Capito fitzpatricki, was selected to honor John W. Fitzpatrick, a former executive director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who named seven bird species in Peru during the 1970s and 1980s. The bird is described in the July 2012 issue of The Auk, a publication of the American Ornithologists’ Union.
07 Aug 2012:
Dozens of Small Earthquakes
Detected Near Texas Drilling Sites
A new study by researchers at the University of Texas has found that dozens of small earthquakes occurred in a shale region of north Texas within a two-year period, with many occurring close to injection wells associated with oil and gas drilling projects. In an analysis of seismic data, study author Cliff Frohlich found that 68 earthquakes had occurred between November 2009 and September 2011 — all with a relatively weak magnitude of 3 or lower — in the Barnett Shale region, a large area that covers several Texas counties and contains a geological formation increasingly targeted for extraction of oil and gas from shale formations. According to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 23 of those quakes occurred within two miles of high-volume injection wells that pump wastewater from controversial hydrofracturing drilling technology deep underground. “You can’t prove that any one earthquake was caused by an injection well,” Frolich said. “But it’s obvious that wells are enhancing the probability that earthquakes will occur.”06 Aug 2012:
California Meets 20 Percent
of Electricity Demand With Clean Energy
California power utilities are now achieving more than 20 percent of the state’s electricity needs with renewable energy sources, state regulators say. In its latest quarterly report, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said that the state met 20.6 percent of its 
Getty Images
06 Aug 2012:
Rise in Extreme Heat Events
Linked to Climate Change, Study Says
A new NASA study has found that extreme heat events are far more likely to occur than five decades ago, a phenomenon that researchers link to climate change. In an analysis of long-term statistical trends, a team of researchers led by James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies describes how “extremely hot” summers — defined as abnormally high mean summer temperatures that affected less than 1 percent of the planet’s land area between 1951 and 1980 — have become far more routine in the last three decades. According to their analysis, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, about 10 percent of land areas in the Northern Hemisphere have experienced such temperatures since 2006. And while the chances of experiencing extreme heat events from the 1950s to the 1980s were less than 1 in 300, the odds now are closer to 1 in 10. “This is not some scientific theory,” Hansen told the Associated Press. “We are now experiencing scientific fact.” The shifting trend, he said, was behind last year’s Texas drought and the 2010 Russian heat wave. This summer, Hansen said, is also shaping up to fit into the new “extreme” category.03 Aug 2012:
NASA Study Quantifies
Vast Amount of Dust Reaching North America
A new NASA study calculates that nearly 64 million tons of dust, pollution, and other tiny particles enter the atmosphere above North America from other continents each year, nearly as much as the 69 million tons of 
NASA
02 Aug 2012:
Planet’s Carbon Storing Capacity
Keeping Pace with Human Emissions
A new study finds that earth’s oceans and lands continue to absorb more than half of the human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, suggesting that the planet has not yet reached its carbon-storage capacity even as emissions continue to escalate. Writing in the journal Nature, a team of U.S. scientists calculate that the world’s natural systems — including seas, forests, and soils — have absorbed about 55 percent of the roughly 350 billion tons of greenhouse gases emitted during the last 50 years. With human-based emissions rising steadily over five decades, those systems have had to absorb an ever-increasing amount of carbon, storing an estimated 5 billion tons in 2010 compared with 2.4 billion tons in 1960, the study found. These calculations are consistent with findings by the Global Carbon Project, according to Reuters. The planet’s capacity to store carbon has been a critical factor in preventing an even greater increase in global temperatures, but authors of the new study say that storage capacity will not remain indefinitely. “It’s not a question of whether or not natural sinks will slow their uptake of carbon, but when,” said Ashley Ballantyne, a researcher at the University of Colorado and lead author of the study.
Interview: Dreaming of a Place
Where the Buffalo Roam
Sean Gerrity, president of the American Prairie Reserve, has been working for more than a decade to turn a 5,000-square-mile swath of Montana prairie into an American Serengeti of rolling grasslands teeming with 
Shutterstock
Read the interview
01 Aug 2012:
Historic Blackouts Reveal
Troubling Holes in India’s Power Network
The historic blackouts that left more than 670 million people in India without electricity this week revealed profound problems with a power network struggling to keep pace with one of the world’s fastest growing economies, experts say. While it’s unclear what specifically triggered this week’s massive grid failures, which knocked out power in 20 Indian states, government officials accused several northern states of drawing more power from the grid than their allocated amounts. Another factor may have been increased electricity usage caused by unusually high water pumping for irrigation as a result of weak monsoon rains. Experts say the blackouts reveal a fundamental gap between supply and demand in a nation that aspires to be a global economic leader. While India has increased its power capacity more than 35 percent in the last five years, a peak-hour electricity shortfall of about 10 percent exists and hundreds of millions of people in rural areas have no access to electricity. As much as two-thirds of India’s electricity comes from the burning of coal and some plants are struggling to meet demand because of a coal shortage.01 Aug 2012:
New Whale Recordings Hint
at Bowhead Recovery off Greenland
A wide array of whale songs recorded in the icy waters off Greenland indicates that populations of the endangered bowhead whale, nearly hunted to extinction in the last two centuries, may be experiencing a rebound. After 
Kate Stafford
A bowhead whale
Listen to the bowheads’ song
31 Jul 2012:
Low Levels of Caffeine Found
In Waters of U.S. Pacific Northwest
In a new study, scientists document low levels of caffeine pollution in the waters off the Oregon coast, fresh evidence that contaminants from human waste are entering marine ecosystems with unknown risks to wildlife and human health. In a series of tests conducted at 14 coastal locations, researchers found that caffeine levels were higher — about 45 nanograms per liter — in remote waters, while levels were below reporting limits (about 9 nanograms per liter) near “potentially polluted” areas such as sewage treatment plants, the mouths of rivers, and larger communities, National Geographic reports. According to the findings, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, the higher levels are likely occurring near sites with on-site waste disposal systems that are subject to less monitoring than larger wastewater treatment plants. While the environmental effects of such low-level contamination are not known, experts say they are a reminder of the range of pollutants — from pharmaceuticals to artificial sweeteners — entering natural ecosystems through human waste.31 Jul 2012:
U.S. Meat Producers Call for
Pause in Ethanol Quotas in Wake of Drought
U.S. meat, poultry, and dairy producers are urging the Obama administration to suspend a quota for corn-based ethanol production, warning that the renewable fuels standard could trigger a food crisis as a prolonged 
Getty Images
30 Jul 2012: Scheme Opens Papua New Guinea Forests to Foreign Loggers, Report Says
More than 5 million hectares (12.3 million acres) of community-held land in Papua New Guinea have been signed over to foreign and domestic corporations through a government leasing scheme, accelerating
©Paul Hilton/ Greenpeace
30 Jul 2012:
Recent Historic Drought
May Be the ‘New Normal,’ Study Says
A multi-year drought from 2000 to 2004 that lowered crop productivity and reduced water levels across western North America may become “the new normal” over the next century as the climate warms, a new study says. In an analysis of climate models and precipitation projections, a team of scientists predicts that 80 of the 95 years between 2006 and 2100 will have precipitation levels as low, or lower, than levels experienced during the recent historic drought. That drought — which, based on tree ring data, was worse than any other experienced by the western U.S. in many centuries — caused crop productivity to drop by 5 percent, reduced runoff in the upper Colorado River basin by half, and triggered increased mortality in forests. In addition, the dry conditions cut the carbon sequestration capacity of forests across the western U.S., Canada, and Mexico by 51 percent, said Beverly Law, a scientist at Oregon State University and co-author of the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience. As forest vegetation wilted, it caused more CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, amplifying global warming, according to the study.
Unusual Number of Grizzly and
Hybrid Bears Spotted in High Arctic
Two Canadian biologists have reported sighting a handful of grizzly bears and hybrid grizzly/polar bears at unusually high latitudes in the Arctic, indicating that the interbreeding of the two bear species is becoming more common as the climate warms and grizzlies venture farther north. The sightings of three grizzly bears and two hybrid bears, made in late April and May by biologists from the University of Alberta, represent an unprecedented cluster of these animals at such high latitudes. The biologists even took DNA samples from a grizzly bear at 74 degrees North latitude. Scientists suggested that some grizzly bears may be leaving the Canadian Arctic mainland and traveling roughly 400 miles over sea ice as they pursue a caribou herd that annually migrates over ice from the mainland to Victoria Island in the High Arctic. Unable to get back because of rapidly melting ice, some of these grizzly bears have evidently managed to adapt to life in the polar bear’s world, eating seals as they overwinter and mating with polar bears. 
Read more
27 Jul 2012:
Powerful Storms Linked to
Depletion of Ozone Layer, Study Says
A new study warns that a surge in powerful storms, perhaps linked to a warming climate, could be causing a depletion of the planet’s protective ozone layer. Writing in the journal Science, Harvard researchers explain that water vapor inserted into the normally dry stratosphere by strong thunderstorms is triggering chemical reactions with now-banned chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs, essentially creating ozone-destroying conditions identical to those occurring over the Antarctic, high southern latitudes, and parts of the Arctic. That, in turn, could lead to an increase in UV radiation reaching the earth’s surface, posing a higher risk of skin cancer for humans as well as potentially harmful conditions for some plants and crops. Lead author James G. Anderson said more research is necessary, including direct measurements of the effects of water vapor on ozone chemistry. But he said that given recent research linking climate change to an increase in extreme weather events, these findings could portend increased ozone loss in years to come. “It’s the union between ozone loss and climate change that is really at the heart of this,” Anderson told the New York Times. “Now, they’re intimately connected.”26 Jul 2012:
Pulling Carbon From Air
Should Be Pursued Despite Costs, Study Says
Columbia University scientists say that technologies to extract carbon dioxide from the air will likely become a critical part of any strategy to stabilize the global climate and should not be abandoned because of high costs. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers from the university’s Earth Institute argue that the use of technologies to remove emissions at the source — such as at coal-powered plants — will not go far enough because they don’t address the transportation sector, which accounts for up to half of global CO2 emissions. In addition, the scientists say that the shift to renewable energy sources will likely not occur fast enough. Technologies that remove CO2 from the atmosphere on a large scale — such as forests of artificial trees or the use of absorbent liquids that extract CO2 — could help avert potentially dangerous warming. While the costs will likely be high at first, the paper said, they will come down as the technologies are more widely deployed. “The field of carbon sequestration as a community is too timid when it comes to new ideas,” said Klaus Lackner, lead author of the paper.
Maya Lin’s Memorial to
a Vanishing Natural World
The woman who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is now focused on the mass extinction of 
Photo by Walter Smith
Maya Lin
Read the interview and listen to an audio podcast
25 Jul 2012:
U.S. Identifies Zones for
Solar Development on Public Lands
The Obama administration has identified 17 sites on public lands across six Southwestern states that officials say are most suitable for utility-scale solar projects. In a report, federal officials vowed to expedite applications for solar projects on these sites — located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah — which were targeted because of access to existing or planned transmission lines, minimal resource conflicts, existing development incentives, and solar potential. The sites,covering a total of 285,000 acres, have the potential to produce nearly 5,900 megawatts of energy, enough to power 1.8 million homes, according to the U.S. Interior Department. While the government also created a process for quicker approval of “well-sited projects” on another 19 million acres outside these zones, the plan excluded more than 78 million acres of public land from solar development.
25 Jul 2012:
Entire Greenland Ice Sheet
Experiences Significant Surface Melting
New NASA satellite images show that the surface of virtually the entire ice sheet covering Greenland experienced melting in mid-July, a phenomenon not seen in three decades of satellite observations. Temperatures rose so high that ice on the Greenland’s highest peak, Summit Station, turned to slush, NASA said. Until the severe melting earlier this month, the greatest extent of surface melting observed by satellites over the past three decades covered about 55 percent of the ice sheet; on July 12, 97 percent of the ice sheet experienced surface melting. Ice cores from Greenland show that such melting events have occurred roughly every 150 years, but Greenland’s ice sheet has been experiencing rapid melting in the past decade and if another major melting event occurred within the next 10 years it could disrupt the stability of the ice sheet, said Thomas Mote, a climatologist at the University of Georgia. “When we see melt in places that we haven’t seen before, at least in a long period of time, it makes you sit up and ask what’s happening,” NASA scientist Waleed Abdalati told the BBC.
24 Jul 2012:
Conservation Efforts Spur
Comeback of Pakistan’s Iconic Markhor
Conservation efforts in Pakistan have helped foster the resurgence of the markhor, a species of large wild goat found along cliff faces in the western Himalayas and 
©Grahm Jones/Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
A male markhor
24 Jul 2012:
Evolution of Polar Bear
Followed Changes in Climate, Study Says
An analysis of sequenced polar bear genomes provides new insights into how climate change and interbreeding with brown bears led to the evolution of the modern-day polar bear. In an analysis of the nuclear genomes of 28 
Photo courtesy of Andrew Derocher
23 Jul 2012:
Some University Fracking Studies
Funded by Industry Groups, Report Says
Several university-led studies that have downplayed concerns about the controversial drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing have been funded in part by drilling companies themselves, Bloomberg News reports. Bloomberg cited, for example, a 2009 report published by Pennsylvania State University predicting that drilling companies would shun projects in that state if required to pay a 5 percent tax on drilling revenues. But researchers did not disclose that their study had been funded in part by a $100,000 grant from a drilling industry group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition. A University of Texas researcher who found no evidence of groundwater contamination from fracking received more than $400,000 from a Texas fracking company, Bloomberg said. And a study from the State University of New York at Buffalo concluding that regulations have helped curb the environmental impacts of fracking did not acknowledge extensive industry ties. “It’s a growing problem across academia,” Mark Partridge, a professor of rural-urban policy at the Ohio State University, told Bloomberg. “Universities are so short of money, professors are under a lot of pressure to raise research funding in any manner possible.”
Maya Lin: A Memorial to
A Vanishing Natural World
The woman who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is now focused on the mass extinction of species, a threat she is highlighting on a dynamic interactive Web site. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Maya Lin talks about the origins of her What is Missing? project, the media techniques she and her collaborators are using to draw attention to the biodiversity crisis, and the actions that give her hope that we can reverse the tide of nature’s destruction. “I am going to try to wake you up to things that are missing that you are not even aware are disappearing,” Lin said.
Read more and listen to an audio podcast
20 Jul 2012:
Smog Rules Could Have
Saved Thousands of Lives Annually
By declining to implement tougher regulations on smog last fall, President Obama rejected measures that could have saved several thousand lives a year and prevented millions of cases of asthma attacks and other acute respiratory problems, according to a new study. Reporting in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, scientists from Johns Hopkins University said that the tougher smog rules would have prevented 2,400 to 4,100 additional deaths annually from cardiac and respiratory problems. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson was about to announce a new standard last fall that would have required a reduction in ozone concentrations from 75 to 70 parts per billion, but Obama rejected the change, saying it would have cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars for air pollution cleanup at a time of economic recession. Johns Hopkins scientists said the tougher standards for ozone, the main lung-irritating ingredient in smog, “would result in dramatic public health benefits,” particularly in large cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.19 Jul 2012:
Iron-Seeding Experiment
Shows Ability to Trap CO2 in Ocean
An eight-year German research effort has shown that under the right conditions seeding the ocean with iron can trigger phytoplankton blooms that suck carbon out of the air and trap it deep in the ocean, a potentially important breakthrough in the nascent field of climate geoengineering. Reporting in the journal Nature, scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research said that adding 14 tons of iron sulfate to the Southern Ocean near Antarctica resulted in a significant phytoplankton bloom extending more than 300 feet deep. That bloom consisted of large masses of algae, mainly composed of diatoms, which absorbed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. More than 50 percent of the carbon-rich algae then sunk to a depth of more than 3,000 feet, where it is likely to be trapped for centuries. The German research team conducted the iron-seeding experiment in 2004 and then spent eight years analyzing the data. Previous iron-seeding experiments have had difficulty tracking the path of CO2 pulled out of the atmosphere because of swirling currents and other complications. But the Wegener team said its experiment had succeeded because scientists found a 40-mile-wide column of water that was isolated from other ocean currents.19 Jul 2012:
`Great Green Fleet’ Trial
Launched by U.S. Navy in the Pacific
The U.S. Navy this week held military exercises in the Pacific Ocean that used an expensive blend of biofuels and conventional fuels to power 71 aircraft and three warships, part of an ongoing effort by the Navy to develop alternative fuels for its global operations. The so-called “Great Green Fleet” initiative is a top priority of Navy Secretary Ray Maybus, who contends that the U.S. military must eventually free itself from dependence on fossil fuels “because unpredictable and increasingly volatile oil prices could have a direct impact on readiness.” But numerous critics, including U.S. Senator John McCain, criticize Maybus’ initiative as unnecessary and costly, noting that the 50-50 biofuel/conventional fuel blend costs $26 a gallon — more than six times the cost of conventional fuels. A Defense Department study said that the military will spend $2 billion more annually if it continues to pursue its biofuels experiments. About 90 percent of the biofuels was rendered from cooking oil waste and the remaining 10 percent was refined from algae. Maybus, speaking aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, contended that the rising costs of oil and breakthroughs in biofuel production will eventually narrow the price gap between conventional and alternative fuels.18 Jul 2012:
Increase in Extreme Weather
Influencing Opinion on Climate Change
With 70 percent of Americans now agreeing that global warming is affecting weather in the U.S., the public is showing increasing support for measures that would tackle the problem of climate change, according to a new survey. Conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, the survey showed that 60 percent of Americans would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports legislation that would reduce the federal income tax and make up for that decrease in revenue by increasing taxes on fossil fuels. The ongoing survey — which divides the U.S. public into six categories on global warming, from the alarmed to the dismissive — showed that an overwhelming majority of people who identified themselves as alarmed, concerned, or cautious about global warming say that if people with their views worked together, they could influence politicians’ views on global warming. The people in these three groups, as well as people who described themselves as disengaged on the issue of global warming, said by a wide margin that they trusted President Obama more than Mitt Romney as a source of information on climate change. 18 Jul 2012:
Two Geoengineering Experts
Preparing Small Experiment with Sulfates
Two Harvard professors say they are developing an experiment that would release a small quantity of sulfate particles into the atmosphere to see how well they combine with water vapor to reflect some of the sun’s rays back into space. Physicist David G. Keith and atmospheric chemist James G. Anderson are proposing that the experiment be done using a balloon launched from a NASA facility in New Mexico. The researchers said they would inject “micro” amounts of sulfate particles into the atmosphere and that there was no chance they would affect climate, either locally or globally. The men vehemently denied a report in the Guardian that they were planning to inject tens or hundreds of pounds of sulfate particles into the atmosphere. Keith, a leading scientist in the controversial field of geoengineering the planet’s climate to counter global warming, said the experiment was designed to measure the impact of releases of sulfate particles, including the possibility that they would interact with chlorine and harm the earth’s ozone layer. Keith said outdoor geoengineering experiments should be conducted only with public funds and after a thorough public review. 17 Jul 2012:
Study Calculates Health Impacts
Of Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
Roughly 130 people are likely to die from radiation exposure and another 180 die from cancer as a result of the March 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear power station in Japan, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers. The researchers presented a wide range of possible fatalities from the disaster, estimating that 15 to 1,300 people could die from direct radiation exposure; they also said an estimated 24 to 2,500 people could contract cancer from exposure to radiation following the meltdown. Reporting in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, the researchers settled on the figures of 130 direct exposure fatalities and 180 cancer fatalities as their best estimates. Nearly all of the people affected live in Japan. The Stanford scientists said only 19 percent of the released radioactive material fell on land, noting that mortality rates would have been far higher if most of the radiation had not been blown out to sea. The researchers came up with their estimates by using a 3-D global atmospheric model to predict the transport and concentrations of material released from the stricken reactors.17 Jul 2012:
Severe Drought in U.S.
Is The Worst Dry Spell Since 1956
The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) says that 55 percent of the Lower 48 states suffered from moderate to extreme drought in June, the largest area affected by drought since 1956. With searing heat and drought conditions only intensifying in July, corn and soybean crops in the U.S. Midwest are suffering badly, threatening to increase food and fuel prices and cut food aid and grain exports from the world’s top producer of key crops. “We’re moving from a crisis to a horror story,” said Purdue University agronomist Tony Vyn. “I see an increasing number of fields that will produce zero grain.” The current drought now covers a larger area than the famous 1936 drought, although other droughts in the Dust Bowl years — particularly the extreme drought of 1934 — still rank higher, the NCDC said in a report. Several years of drought in the mid-1950s were also worse than the current dry spell, which is the sixth most severe drought since the U.S. began keeping records in 1895.16 Jul 2012:
Warmer Ocean Waters
Lead To a Glut of Lobsters in Maine
Warmer Atlantic Ocean temperatures off the coast of Maine have caused the state’s bountiful supply of lobsters to shed their shells and come onto the market six weeks earlier than normal, creating a glut that has driven prices sharply down. The state’s 5,000 lobster fishermen are receiving less than $3-per-pound at the dock for their catch, which is below the $4-per-pound break-even point. As a result, many lobsterman have stopped fishing and are waiting for the oversupply of lobster to ease before heading back out on the water. An extremely mild winter and spring in New England has increased ocean temperatures, which in turn has caused Maine’s lobsters to shed their shells far earlier than normal. The abundance of so-called soft-shelled lobsters led to the largest lobster harvest on record in June, state officials said. The warmer temperatures also caused a boom in lobsters in Canada, which has exacerbated the glut. Soft-shelled lobsters are more difficult to ship out of state than hard-shelled ones, meaning Maine’s processing plants are overflowing with the crustacean, causing prices to plummet.16 Jul 2012:
Beetle's Rapid Evolution
Helps Control Invasive Shrub, Study Says
Scientists say that a species of beetle has rapidly altered its life cycle to more efficiently devour the invasive tamarisk tree in the southern United States.
UCSB
Tamarisk leaf beetle
13 Jul 2012:
Majority of Americans Believe
Climate is Warming, Weather Less Stable
The majority of Americans believe the climate is getting warmer and that global weather patterns are becoming more unstable, according to a new poll. In a poll conducted by the Washington Post and Stanford University last month, six in 10 respondents said that weather patterns have been more unstable during the last three years than in the past; almost as many respondents said that average temperatures had increased during the last three years. According to the poll, more than half believe that “a great deal” or a “good amount” can still be done to reduce future warming, although 70 percent opposed tax increases on electricity use or gasoline to change individual behaviors. This latest poll comes just days after a new report from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that climate change has increased the probability of extreme weather events. The NOAA report noted that the changing climate made last year’s historic drought in Texas 20 times more likely to occur than conditions during the 1960s.12 Jul 2012:
Urban Noise May Increase
Mortality of Songbirds, Study Finds
A new study says that urban noise may cause an increase in mortality among young sparrows, suggesting that adult birds are less able to hear their hungry offspring above the clamor of their surrounding environment. In a long-term study conducted on a small, remote island off the UK coast, scientists from the University of Sheffield found that birds nesting in noisy areas were less effective at feeding their chicks than those living in quiet areas, and actually produced fewer offspring. Chicks that were reared in a loud barn, for instance, were lighter when they were ready for flight, a factor that could affect a young bird’s chances for survival, said Julia Schroeder, co-author of the study published in the journal PLoS ONE. “There are lots of studies on great tits and urban noise, but these tend to focus around mate choice, where the male advertises its quality to the female,” Schroeder told BBC News. “But the idea that the communication between parents and offspring could be affected in cities is fairly new.”12 Jul 2012:
Mountain Roads Trigger
Longterm Consequences in Southeast Asia
The rapid expansion of roads across the rural mountains of Southeast Asia often triggers unintended environmental consequences that in many cases 
Roy C. Sidle
Logging roads in Myanmar
11 Jul 2012:
Technique ‘Sees Through’ Clouds
To Measure Atmospheric Pollution
U.S. scientists say they have developed a technique to measure atmospheric levels of pollution, including soot, with satellite technology even when skies are cloud-covered. While clouds typically impair a remote-sensing 
NASA
Clouds over the coastline of Chile and Peru
11 Jul 2012:
New European Auto Standards
Would Cut CO2 Emissions By One Third
The European Union has introduced strict new auto emissions standards that officials say would cut carbon dioxide emissions by a third by 2020. The new standard, which must be approved by all member states and the 
Shutterstock
10 Jul 2012:
Corals Facing Open Ocean
More Vulnerable to Warming, Study Finds
U.S. scientists say coral reef systems exposed to the open ocean are most vulnerable to warming ocean temperatures. In a new study, researchers at the University of North Carolina write that three distinct coral zones located within the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System in Central America — including the foreef (closest to the ocean), the nearshore (closest to the shore), and the backreef (directly behind the reef crest) — saw an increase in average summer sea surface temperatures from 1982 to 2008. But while they observed a decline in skeletal growth in corals facing the ocean during that period, coral growth rates in the other two zones remained relatively stable. According to their findings, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the ocean-facing corals were more vulnerable to warming conditions because historically they had experienced cooler and more stable seawater. “However, because backreef and nearshore coral colonies have historically been exposed to warmer and more variable seawater temperatures, they seem to be less affected,” said Karl Castillo, a postdoctoral researcher at UNC and lead author of the study.10 Jul 2012:
Salmon More Susceptible to
Predators After Copper Exposure
Exposure to even tiny amounts of copper can impair a salmon’s ability to detect and evade predator species, a new study has found. While salmon typically become still and alert after they smell a compound called Schreckstoff, which is released when a fish is damaged nearby, Washington State University (WSU) researchers say fish exposed to just five parts of copper per billion are unable to detect the substance, making them more vulnerable to attack. In a series of tests conducted in a four-foot diameter tank, salmon that weren’t exposed to copper would freeze after smelling the Scheckstoff, delaying by 30 seconds, on average, attack from cutthroat trout also swimming in the tank. Fish swimming in tanks containing copper, however, continued to swim, and were attacked by predators in about five seconds. “A copper-exposed fish is not getting the information it needs to make good decisions,” said Jenifer McIntyre, a WSU researcher and lead author of the study, published in the journal Ecological Applications. These findings could mean that fish could face greater risk in the wild after exposure to copper from stormwater runoff or mining operations.09 Jul 2012:
Aquaculture Output To Rise
33 Percent Over Next Decade, UN Says
The global aquaculture sector could produce 33 percent more fish for human consumption over the next decade, an increase in production that will help feed a growing world population even as fisheries are overexploited, a new UN report predicts. More than 79 million tons of farmed fish, crustaceans, mollusks and aquatic plants are expected to be produced from 2012 to 2012, a 33 percent growth compared with just a 3 percent growth from capture fisheries, according to the report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. By 2018, the amount of fish raised in aquaculture will exceed the amount caught in the wild for the first time and will account for 52 percent of the total by 2021, the report states. This increased reliance on farm-raised fish comes as an increasing number of fisheries worldwide are exploited, with about 30 percent of fish stock now overexploited and another 57 percent fully exploited or very close to maximum sustainable production.09 Jul 2012:
Water Use by Tourists Outstrips
Local Use in Poor Nations, Report Says
The disproportionate use of freshwater by tourists in resorts across the developing world exacerbates the poverty of local residents and in some cases has triggered conflicts, a new report says. In a study of five tourist destinations — including Bali, Zanzibar, and Goa and Kerala in southern India — the UK-based group Tourism Concern found a wide disparity between the amount of water used by resort hotels and how much is available to local residents. In some Zanzibar villages, for instance, tourists use 16 times more water daily per person than locals, with visitors to five-star hotels consuming 3,195 liters per room compared with about 93 liters per local resident, according to the report, which will be released next week. In some cases, frustrated Zanzibar residents have attempted to sabotage water pipelines leading into hotels, forcing the hotels to hire security guards. Two years ago, a cholera outbreak in a Zanzibar village was blamed in part on sewage from hotels contaminating water supplies.06 Jul 2012:
Coral Reef Systems Collapsed
During Earlier Changes to Climate
An increase in ocean temperatures that occurred 4,000 years ago triggered a collapse of coral reef systems in the eastern Pacific that lasted for about 2,500 years, according to a new study. In an analysis of 17-foot core samples taken from the frameworks of coral reefs off the Panama coast, scientists from the Florida Institute of 
NOAA
05 Jul 2012:
U.S.’s Largest Solar Factory
Halted in Face of Dropping Prices
General Electric has halted construction of what would have been the largest solar factory in the U.S. due to the falling price of photovoltaic modules globally and says it will focus instead on developing the next generation of cadmium-telluride thin-film technologies for the developers of solar plants. Construction of the 400-megawatt factory in Aurora, Colo, which had been announced after GE purchased Primestar Solar in April 2011, will be put on hold for at least 18 months, company officials say. While the thin-film panels are less efficient than conventional silicon panels, they had emerged as a popular option for large utilities since they can be built at a cheaper cost, particularly when silicon prices are high. But with a steep drop in silicon prices and increased solar production in China, the price of conventional solar modules has dropped roughly 50 percent in recent months. “Given those dynamics… we’re focusing our efforts on developing the next generation of [cadmium-telluride] module technology so we can reach higher efficiency levels and a more competitive cost position,” Danielle Merfield, GE’s general manager for solar technologies, told Forbes.
Living Building Challenge Aims to
Revolutionize Green Architecture
In the world of green architecture, no project has more stringent design criteria than the Living Building Challenge, a rigorous certification system that requires that structures follow 20 design “imperatives” across seven categories, from water and energy use to social 
HPA
Hawaii Preparatory Academy Energy Lab
Read more
02 Jul 2012:
Leatherback Turtle Declines
Will Escalate As Climate Warms, Study Finds
A warming climate could exacerbate threats facing leatherback turtle populations in the eastern Pacific Ocean, creating conditions that could trigger a 75 percent reduction in turtle numbers by the end of the century, a new study says. Even under existing 
USFW
02 Jul 2012:
African Savannas May Shift
To Forest as CO2 Levels Rise, Study Says
Large areas of African savanna may slowly transform into forest ecosystems by the end of the century as atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide continue to rise, a new study says. While earlier studies have suggested that rising CO2 “fertilization” will not trigger global vegetation shifts, researchers from the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and Goethe University Frankfurt say that savanna ecosystems may actually be vulnerable to relatively quick “regime shifts” as plants and trees struggle for ecosystem dominance. According to their findings, savanna trees “were essentially CO2 starved under pre-industrial CO2 concentrations, and… their growth really starts taking off at the CO2 concentrations we are currently experiencing,” said Steven Higgins, lead author of the study published in Nature. According to their projections, small changes in the factors that regulate the ecosystem could potentially trigger a cascade of events that reinforce each other, causing the system to change even more rapidly.29 Jun 2012:
Recent Policies May Undermine
Brazil’s Green Progress, Scientists Say
Recent policies enacted by the Brazilian government — including changes to its Forest Code and a push to build 30 new dams in the Amazon region — threaten to undermine critical environmental progress made by the nation over the last two decades, scientists say. In a declaration published after its annual meeting in Bonito, Brazil, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) stated that government policies to reduce deforestation and protect indigenous lands had made Brazil a global conservation model over the last two decades. “But recent developments raise concerns,” said John Kress, a botanist at the Smithsonian Institution who is executive director of the ATBC. The group cited recent changes to Brazil’s forest protection laws that they say favor agribusiness and will likely increase deforestation in the Amazon, as well as numerous large-scale dam projects that will interfere with critical fish migration routes and flood vast areas of rainforest and indigenous communities.28 Jun 2012:
Wildfires Across Western U.S.
Depicted in NASA Satellite Image
A new map released by NASA depicts the large scale of wildfires sweeping across the western U.S. and Mexico, where experts say exceptionally dry conditions have made many regions a tinderbox. The map, based on
satellite data collected by the agency’s Ozone Mapper Profile Suite, illustrates high atmospheric concentrations of aerosols (including smoke particles) from Mexico to Montana. Intense fires in Colorado, Utah, and Nevada are marked by dark brown and rust-red on the map, reflecting a high concentration of smoke and aerosols. High aerosol concentrations also are visible over parts of Texas and Mexico, probably as a result to a combination of dust and fires in dry regions. A fire official in Colorado, where ten separate fires are currently burning, said that a light winter snow pack, dry conditions, and the long-term effects of climate change combined to make the region especially susceptible to fires this year.
28 Jun 2012:
Cities in U.S. Northwest
Adopt Aggressive Recycling Programs
Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland, Ore., have all adopted stringent recycling programs that have generally been embraced by citizens in these progressive cities and have significantly reduced the amount of garbage going to landfills. The New York Times reports that Portland has cut the amount of garbage going to landfills by 44 percent by recycling a wide range of materials, including food scraps, and collecting garbage only twice a month. San Francisco, which has adopted even more aggressive recycling initiatives, now reuses 78 percent of what enters its waste stream, compared with the national average of 34 percent. This summer, Seattle is opening a mammoth new waste transfer station that will enable it to sort through and recycle a large portion of its garbage, the Times reports. With citizens in these relatively small cities — all with populations under 800,000 — pushing for a zero-waste policy, Seattle says that by 2018 it will even provide some neighborhoods with containers to recycle dog and cat waste, turning the excrement into power using anaerobic digests.27 Jun 2012:
BP Oil Spill Accelerated
Erosion of Louisiana Marshlands
The 2010 BP oil spill hastened the loss of Louisiana’s already fragile salt marshlands, a new study says. In a comparison of erosion rates at three healthy marsh sites and three areas affected by the oil spill, University of Florida scientists found that oil from the spill coated thick grasses on the outer edge of some wetlands, killing off salt marsh plants 15 to 30 feet from the shoreline. When those grasses died, the deep roots that held the soil sediment died as well, causing the rate of erosion on shore banks to more than double. In Louisiana’s Barataria Bay, for instance, oiled marshes have receded nearly 10 feet per year after the spill — about twice the normal rate of erosion in a region already losing huge areas of marshland as a result of channelization of the Mississippi River and rising sea levels. “We already knew that erosion leads to permanent marsh loss, and now we know that oil can exacerbate it,” said Brian Silliman, a University of Florida biologist and lead author of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 27 Jun 2012:
Foreign ‘Land Grabs’
Scooping up Key Agricultural Lands
From 2000 to 2010, foreign investors bought or leased roughly 270,000 square miles of prime agricultural land, most of it in the developing world, according to a report by the Worldwatch Institute. Half of the land was 
CIAT
26 Jun 2012:
Forests in Southwest U.S.
Fail to Regenerate After Fires, Study Says
Mountain forests scorched by wildfires in the southwestern U.S. in recent years have failed to regenerate as forest ecosystems because of rising temperatures, decreased precipitation, and human intervention, according to a U.S. researcher. Speaking at an environmental conference this week in Colorado, Craig Allen, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, described how since the mid-1990s the Southwest’s alpine forests have increasingly been replaced by grasslands and shrublands following fires, The New York Times reports. While southwestern fires in the distant past typically remained close to the forest floor — a natural cycle that prevented the overcrowding of trees — a combination of cattle devouring grassy surface vegetation, new government policies to prevent fires, and a drier climate have significantly altered this ecosystem. As a result, Allen said, forest fires now climb to the top of the canopy and the species that live in mountainous areas, including ponderosa pines and juniper, cannot regenerate as temperatures climb and precipitation decreases. “These forests did not evolve with this type of fire,” Allen said.26 Jun 2012:
Elevated Ozone Levels
Trigger Heart Risks for Healthy Adults
Exposure to ozone at levels sometimes present in the world’s most polluted cities can trigger potentially dangerous changes to human cardiovascular systems, according to a new study. In a series of tests conducted 
Wikimedia Commons
Mexico City smog
Video: Belo Monte Dam Controversy
The Belo Monte dam, now under construction in the Amazon, is heralded as a much-needed power source for Brazil’s burgeoning economy. But critics contend the project’s benefits are outweighed by the environmental and social costs — the flooding of 260 square miles of rainforest and the displacement of more than 20,000 people. In a Yale Environment 360 video report, multimedia journalist Charles Lyons explores both sides of this controversial project.
Watch the video
25 Jun 2012:
Birth of Sumatran Rhino
Offers Hope for Endangered Species
Conservationists in Indonesia say a female Sumatran rhino gave birth to a healthy male calf at Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra over the weekend, offering 
International Rhino Foundation
Ratu
25 Jun 2012:
U.S. Atlantic Coast Already
‘Hotspot’ of Sea Level Rise, Study Says
A 600-mile stretch of the U.S. East Coast is experiencing rates of sea level rise that are three to four times greater than the global average, according a new study. In a new analysis, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found that sea levels from Boston, Mass. to Cape Hatteras, N.C. have risen 2 to 3.7 millimeters per year since 1990, compared with a global average of 0.6 to 1 millimeters per year. According to the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, sea levels appear to be rising in this mid-Atlantic region because a major Atlantic current that carries tropical water to the north is slowing down; that warmth expands seawater, which can lead to higher sea levels. “Many people mistakenly think that the rate of sea level rise is the same everywhere as glaciers and ice caps melt… [but] as demonstrated in this study, regional oceanographic contributions must be taken into account in planning for what happens to coastal property,” said Marcia McNutt, director of the USGS.22 Jun 2012:
Rio+20 Summit Ends, With
Little Faith Seen in Government Solutions
Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro promised an era of aggressive action on biodiversity loss and global warming, the United Nations Rio+20 sustainability summit ended Friday with recriminations and a growing sense that international institutions will play an increasingly diminished role in solving environmental problems. World leaders — with the notable absence of the heads of the U.S., U.K, Germany, and Russia — approved an agreement that lacked specifics, commitments, and measurable targets on how to promote sustainable economic development. Numerous conservationists and officials said that cities, local governments, the private sector, and environmental groups will now have to play the key role in fostering sustainable economic growth, slowing climate change, and preserving biodiversity. “The greening of our economies will have to happen without the blessing of world leaders,” said Lasse Gustavson, executive director of the World Wildlife Fund.22 Jun 2012:
Senate Farm Bill Curtails
Subsidies But Increases Crop Insurance
The U.S. Senate yesterday passed a new farm bill that cuts direct subsidies to farmers yet significantly increases the nation’s crop insurance program. The legislation, which passed by a vote of 64 to 35, would cut about $23.6 billion from current federal spending through the elimination of crop subsidies to U.S.
Can Reforming the Farm Bill
Help Change U.S. Agriculture?
READ THE e360 REPORT
21 Jun 2012:
A Tepid Agreement
Takes Shape at Rio+20 Summit
World leaders attending the UN’s Rio+20 sustainability summit appear prepared to rubber-stamp an agreement that has been widely criticized by environmental groups and some government officials as ineffectual. As Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other leaders arrived in Rio, participants at the conference seemed resigned to approving an agreement that fails to set concrete goals, timetables, or methods of financing for ensuring environmentally sustainable economic growth, particularly in the developing world. “Let me be frank — our efforts have not lived up to the measure of the challenge,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in opening remarks. “Nature does not wait. Nature does not negotiate with human beings.” Government officials and diplomats said that the host country, Brazil, was determined to avoid the chaos that surrounded the failed climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009. As a result, delegates from 193 countries drafted a non-committal agreement that heads of state are expected to sign with few changes on Friday.21 Jun 2012:
Drones to Be Used to Prevent
Poaching Of Endangered Species in Nepal
In Nepal, conservationists will soon begin launching low-cost, remote-controlled drones to prevent the poaching of endangered species. Developed by the
WWF
WWF Nepal staff with the drone
20 Jun 2012:
Growth of Renewables
Is Being Underestimated, Reports Say
While renewable energy sources still provide a small portion of the world's power needs, several new reports suggest the global community may be
underestimating the growth potential for the green energy sector. The Washington Post cited studies showing that global solar generation nearly doubled in 2011, with consumers using more than 55 terawatt-hours of solar power, compared with about 30 terawatt-hours in 2010. According to one analyst, solar energy has the potential to provide nearly 10 percent of global electricity by 2018 if current trends continue, although growth in recent years has been largely driven by a decline in solar panel prices and government subsidies in the U.S., China, and Germany. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has projected a slower growth for renewables, although the IEA previously underestimated the expansion of alternative energy.
19 Jun 2012:
Major World Cities
Cite Progress in CO2-Reduction Effort
Speaking at the Rio+20 sustainability summit, the mayors of New York City and Rio de Janeiro will announce that 48 of the world’s largest cities are taking steps to cut 248 tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the equivalent of removing 44 million cars from the road for a year. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes said that four-dozen cities in the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group are reducing emissions by launching energy efficiency programs, capturing methane in landfills, installing more efficient street lighting, and other initiatives. They cite the CO2 reductions as proof that cities can make significant progress on slashing greenhouse gases even in the absence of a global agreement on cutting carbon emissions. “We’re not arguing with each other about emissions targets,” Bloomberg told reporters in a teleconference. “What we’re doing is going out and making progress.” Bloomberg and Paes said that 59 cities have committed to cut their carbon emissions by a total of 1 billion tons by 2030, equivalent to the combined greenhouse gas emissions of Canada and Mexico.19 Jun 2012:
Environmentalists, Activists
Being Killed at Alarming Rate, Report Says
At least one person is killed per week in disputes over environmental protection or land rights as the competition for natural resources globally becomes increasingly violent, according to a new report. In a survey of incidents worldwide, the group Global Witness estimated that 711 environmental activists, journalists or community members have been killed during the last decade over disputes involving land and forest rights. In 2011 alone, the number was 106, which was twice the number of killings in 2009. The report's authors say it provides a stark reminder of a “hidden crisis” and highlights a culture of impunity and a lack of oversight in many countries. The greatest number of killings reportedly occurred in Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines and Peru. “It is a well-known paradox that many of the world's poorest countries are home to the resources that drive the global economy,” the report said. “Now, as the race to secure access to these resources intensifies, it is poor people and activists who increasingly find themselves in the firing line.”
Interview: Looking for Solutions
In the Fight to Preserve Biodiversity
For decades, conservation biologist Thomas Lovejoy has repeatedly warned — sometimes in dire terms — about the loss of biodiversity. But Lovejoy, who last month was awarded the prestigious Blue Planet Prize, remains an
Thomas Lovejoy
Read the interview
18 Jun 2012:
Japan Feed-in Tariffs Approved
As Government Restarts 2 Nuclear Plants
Japan’s struggle over its energy future was on display over the last two days as the government okayed restarting operations at two nuclear power plants while also approving an ambitious renewable energy feed-in tariff in which utilities will pay a premium for electricity generated by solar, wind, and geothermal power. After shutting down the country’s 50 nuclear power plants following the Fukushima nuclear power meltdown, the government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Saturday gave the green light to bring two nuclear reactors in western Japan back online. Despite public unease and a large street protest in Tokyo, the government said that post-Fukushima reforms had rendered the plants safe. Meanwhile, the government approved generous green energy feed-in tariffs as part of a drive to significantly expand renewable power generation. Under the feed-in tariffs, utilities will pay 42 yen (53 U.S. cents) per kilowatt hour for solar-generated electricity and 23 yen per kilowatt hour for wind-generated electricity.18 Jun 2012:
Online Twitter Campaign
Urges End to Fossil Fuel Subsidies
A coalition of activists today launched a 24-hour campaign on the social media network Twitter to pressure global leaders attending the Rio+20 summit to slash fossil fuel subsidies. Beginning at 8 a.m. GMT, participants started posting messages on the social media site using the hashtag #EndFossilFuelSubsidies, a so-called “Twitterstorm” that organizers hope will call attention to the issue at the global summit in Brazil. By mid-morning the hashtag was the leading trend on Twitter. The campaign comes as a new report from Oil Change International estimates that fossil fuel industries receive as much as $1 trillion in direct or indirect support from governments annually. “This world has a few problems where a trillion dollars might come in handy — and we’d have a few less problems if we weren’t paying the fossil fuel industry to wreck the climate,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, one of the groups organizing the Twitter campaign. While some countries have pushed for eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, the current draft of the Rio+20 agreement includes no such commitments. 15 Jun 2012:
As U.S. Cougars Rebound,
More of the Large Cats Are Heading East
A robust recovery of cougar, or mountain lion, populations in the American West is leading an increasing number of the large predators to recolonize former territory in the Midwest, according to a comprehensive new study. Relying on confirmed sightings from wildlife professionals, tracks, photos and video, DNA evidence, and attacks on livestock, scientists from two Midwestern universities determined that there have been 178 confirmations of the presence of cougars in states such as South Dakota, Arkansas, and Nebraska, as well as in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. In one well-publicized case, a male cougar traveled 1,800 miles through a handful of Midwestern states before winding up in Connecticut. Cougars were virtually extirpated from Eastern and Midwestern states in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but in the past few decades they have been migrating from their more rugged habitats in the West. The study was published in The Journal of Wildlife Management.15 Jun 2012:
Sharp Divisions Emerge
As Rio+20 Negotiators Seek Consensus
With the United Nations Rio+20 summit on sustainable development set to open next Wednesday, negotiators from developing nations walked out of a key working group over disagreements with wealthier nations about funding environmentally responsible development and the transfer of green technology. As negotiators attempted to forge an agreement, the G77 bloc of developing nations, led by China, proposed that wealthy countries finance a global fund for sustainable development with an initial annual budget of $30 billion. But European Union nations said they were unable to afford that because most EU states faced an economic crisis. Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, rejected that argument, saying, “We cannot be held hostage to the retraction resulting from financial crises in rich countries.” As 130 world leaders (with the notable absence of the leaders of the U.S., Britain, and Germany) prepared to arrive, a top Brazilian diplomat lamented the summit’s disparate blocs, saying the traditional north-south divide was only one of many divisions.14 Jun 2012:
Australia to Create
World’s Largest Marine Reserve
Australia has announced that it will create the world’s largest marine reserve, a network of protected areas that will cover 1.2 million square miles, more than one-third of the country’s waters. Environment Minister Tony Burke, making the announcement in advance of the Rio+20 sustainability summit, said the action will expand the number of Australia’s marine reserves from 27 to 60 and will protect waters of the Coral Sea and other key ocean habitats. “It’ time for the world to turn a corner on protection of our oceans, and Australia today is leading that next step,” said Burke. “What we’ve done is effectively create a national parks estate in the ocean.” Limited fishing and oil drilling will be allowed in some areas, and the fishing industry will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for reducing or eliminating commercial fishing in numerous tracts of ocean.13 Jun 2012:
Ban on Fish Discards
Is Approved by the European Union
The European Union has decided to end the controversial practice of allowing fishermen to select high-value species from their nets and then discard the remainder of dead fish, a practice that leads to the destruction of an estimated 1 million tons of edible fish a year in EU waters. The EU Council announced its intention to implement a discard ban, but did not set a firm date, saying discard bans for some species could be phased in as late as 2020. Although some environmental groups praised the ban, others said that allowing the practice of fish discards to continue for another eight years could be too late to save some severely overfished species, such as plaice and sole. EU officials hailed the long-sought ban, with the president of Denmark calling it “a very important step in the direction of a radical new fisheries policy — a sustainable fisheries policy.” Conservationists say the policy of allowing fishermen to meet their quotas by selecting only certain species and tossing away the rest is one of the main reasons for the precipitous decline in European fish stocks.12 Jun 2012:
Heating of Forests Releases
Large Amounts of CO2 from Soil, Study Says
An experiment that heated forests in the eastern U.S. by 10 to 20 degrees F led to an increase in the release of carbon dioxide from soils by up to eight times, according to a new study. When researchers from the University of California, Irvine and other institutions subjected experimental forest plots in Wisconsin and North Carolina to extreme warming, they found that woodland soils released unexpectedly large quantities of CO2, a finding that could have major implications as the world continues to warm. Soil, which takes its rich brown color from large amounts of decaying carbon in leaves and roots, stores twice as much CO2 as the atmosphere, and major releases of CO2 from soils could cause temperatures to rise significantly, the researchers said. “This suggests that soils could accelerate global warming through a vicious cycle in which human-made warming releases carbon from soils to the atmosphere, which, in turn, would warm the planet more,” said lead researcher Francesca Hopkins.12 Jun 2012:
Lithium-ion Battery Maker
To Announce Technological Breakthrough
The promising but financially troubled A123 Systems lithium-ion battery maker was expected to announce today it has made a significant advance in battery technology that will enable electric car batteries to last longer and cost less. A123 has been a leader in the race to develop improved batteries for electric cars and has received tens of millions of dollars in U.S. government grants. However, technological challenges have slowed its progress, forcing layoffs at its Michigan factory. But A123 is set to announce today that advances in the battery’s electrodes and electrolytes have eliminated the need for heating and cooling systems in extreme temperatures, which to date has been a major challenge. The company says it plans to begin production next year of its new battery, which uses a new electrolyte chemistry called Nanophosphate EXT. A123 also says the new battery can be used to replace traditional lead-acid batteries in conventional cars.11 Jun 2012:
Renewable Energy Investments
Grew by 17 Percent in 2011, Reports Say
A surge in investment in renewable energy in India, coupled with strong green energy growth in the U.S. and China, led to a 17 percent global surge in alternative energy investments last year, according to reports by the United Nations Environment Program and another organization. Robust investment in solar power helped India’s investment in green energy grow 62 percent last year, to $12 billion, the reports said. U.S. investments in renewable energy, dominated by solar power, totaled $51 billion last year, just $1 billion behind China’s $52 billion in alternative energy investments. Despite plummeting prices for natural gas and a decline in subsidies for renewable energy investments in developed countries, total global investments in renewable energy in 2011 reached a record $257 billion, nearly double the total five years ago, according to the reports. Even excluding large hydroelectric projects, renewable energy investment represented roughly one-third of new power generation installed in 2011.
Interview: An Influential Voice
Warns of Runaway Emissions
Fatih Birol is a man watching a clock — the clock that ticks off the years in which little is done to slow emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. As
IEA
Fatih Birol
Read the interview
08 Jun 2012:
Parasitic Mite Found to Play
Key Role in Collapse of Bee Populations
Extensive research in Hawaii has shown that a major cause of so-called colony-collapse disorder, which has sharply reduced bee populations in many parts of the world, is related to the spread of the parasitic varroa mite. Scientists at the University of Sheffield in England were able to track the arrival and spread of the varroa mite, Varroa destructor, on Oahu Island in Hawaii. Within a year of the blood-sucking mite’s arrival in 2007, 65 percent of the 419 bee colonies on Oahu were wiped out, according to the research, published in the journal Science. The following year the mites reached the big island of Hawaii and devastated bee colonies there, the study said. The Sheffield scientists said the mites spread a devastating ailment called deformed wing virus, which rapidly spread through bee colonies, killing nearly all the bees. The scientists said other factors also may be playing a role in the collapse of bee colonies worldwide, including the use of pesticides and the loss of flowering plants.08 Jun 2012:
Major NASA Discovery Finds
Phytoplankton Blooms Under Arctic Ice
For the first time, scientists have discovered extensive blooms of phytoplankton under Arctic Ocean ice, contradicting the widely held conviction that such blooms could not occur under sea ice that blocked the sun's rays from triggering the blooms. Scientists on a NASA-sponsored expedition to the Arctic Ocean say the blooms are likely related to the rapid thinning of Arctic sea ice, which allows sunlight to penetrate the ice and trigger blooms. Working on a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker last summer in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska, the scientists discovered massive blooms that extended from the sea-ice edge to 72 miles inside the pack ice. The blooms did not occur under thick ice, but rather under melt ponds and nearly translucent melting ice. “This is like finding the Amazon rainforest in the middle of the Mojave Desert,” said Paula Bontempi, NASA’s ocean biology and biogeochemistry program manager. The research, published in Science, sheds new light on how the Arctic Ocean ecosystem may be reacting to a rapidly warming climate, affecting marine life from phytoplankton at the base of the food chain to gray whales at the top.07 Jun 2012:
Environmental Tipping Point
Is Nearing, International Study Says
The rapid warming of the planet, a soaring human population, the steady loss of biodiversity, over-exploitation of energy resources, and the degradation of the world’s oceans are driving the world toward an ecological tipping point, according to a new study in Nature. Twenty-two scientists from five nations compared the major changes taking place today with previous ecological shifts — such as the end of the last Ice Age 14,000 to 18,000 years ago — that triggered mass extinctions of some species, expansions of others, and the creation of new global ecosystems. The paper said that while there is still considerable uncertainty as to whether the world is now approaching such a “state shift,” many signs point to a future of ecological upheaval. “Given all the pressures we are putting on the world, if we do nothing different, I believe we are looking at a time scale of a century or even a few decades for a tipping point to arrive,” lead author Anthony Barnosky, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an interview.07 Jun 2012:
Mexico President Signs
Ambitious Climate Targets into Law
Mexico President Felipe Calderon this week signed into law ambitious climate targets aimed at drastically cutting the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the share of clean energy in the coming decades. The law, passed unanimously by the Senate, commits Mexico to cut greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2050. In addition, it stipulates that 35 percent of Mexico’s energy will come from renewable sources by 2024 and that all government agencies will be required to use green energy sources. The law also calls for the creation of a permit-trading scheme for greenhouse gas emissions. On Twitter, Calderon said the law is part of Mexico’s efforts to become “an international leader in environmental protection.” The U.S. Energy Information Administration lists Mexico as the world’s 12th-biggest carbon emitter, producing 443.61 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. 06 Jun 2012:
Flame Retardant Triggers
Health Risks at Low Doses, Study Says
Even small doses of a flame retardant commonly used in furniture and baby products has been linked to harmful health effects, including obesity and developmental and reproductive problems, according to a new study. Speaking at a conference in Canada, Duke University chemist Heather Stapleton said baby rats whose mothers ate small amounts of the flame-retardant chemical, Firemaster 550, gained more weight than those that weren’t exposed. Female offspring exposed to the chemical were more anxious, reached puberty earlier, and were shown to have abnormal reproductive cycles. While earlier studies found that harmful effects were evident only at doses of 50 milligrams per kilogram of weight, the new study assessed exposure to doses as low as 3 milligrams per kilogram. “This raises red flags about a widely used chemical that we know little about,” said Stapleton, co-author of the study. According to the Chicago Tribune, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency next year will conduct a risk assessment of two brominated compounds found in Firemaster 550. 06 Jun 2012:
Urban Climate Adaptation
Hampered by Fiscal Restraints, Survey Finds
Cities worldwide are increasingly aware of the need to prepare for the effects of climate change — including increased variability in temperatures and extreme 
ICLEI
05 Jun 2012:
Growing Number of Farmers
Deploying Green Energy Systems in UK
A new report finds that an unexpectedly large number of UK farmers have installed renewable energy systems such as solar panels and wind turbines on their properties, a trend that could increase the profitability
Shutterstock
05 Jun 2012:
Carbon Emissions Declined
23 Percent Under Regional U.S. Program
Power plants subject to a regional cap-and-trade program in the northeastern U.S. known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) reduced their carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 23 percent during the first three years of the program, the group says. According to a RGGI report, 206 of 211 power plants participating in the program met their compliance obligations from Jan. 1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2011, the first three-year control period of the program. During that time, the average annual CO2 emissions were 126 million tons, a 23-percent decline compared with the previous three-year period. Emissions for the 2009-2011 period were about 33 percent below RGGI’s annual pollution cap of 188 million tons, which was due to a shift from coal to natural gas, the economic recession, and energy efficiency programs. The RGGI regime requires major power plants to buy allowances at auction for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit. Companies that emit lower emissions can sell their unused allowances to other companies. Program participants include the six New England states and New York, Delaware, and Maryland.
04 Jun 2012:
Power Plant Production Drops
As Waters Warm and River Flows Decline
Rising water temperatures and a reduction in river flows have caused declining production at some thermoelectric power plants in the U.S. and Europe, a trend that will likely continue for decades as the planet warms, according to a new study. Writing in em>Nature Climate Change, researchers estimate the generating capacity at U.S. nuclear and coal-fired plants, which rely on consistent volumes of water flow at particular temperatures to cool overheated turbines, will fall 4 to 16 percent from 2031 to 2060 as a consequence of climate change. In Europe, scientists predict, production will drop 6 to 19 percent due to a lack of cooling water. According to the study, “extreme” drops in power generation caused by near or total plant shutdowns will triple during that time period. In the U.S., thermoelectric plants account for more than 90 percent of electricity generation. “This study suggests that our reliance on thermal cooling is something we’re going to have to revisit,” said Dennis Lettenmaier, of the University of Washington, the study's co-author.04 Jun 2012:
Rapid Greening of Tundra
Discovered in Large Area of West Siberia
Across a large area of western Siberia, shrubs are rapidly growing into trees more than six feet tall, a process that is expected to further increase temperatures in this rapidly warming part of the Arctic, according to a new study. Relying on satellite images and fieldwork, scientists from Oxford University and Finland found that in 8 to 15 percent of a 36,000-square-mile region in western Siberia, willow and alder shrubs had turned into trees over the last 30 to 40 years as temperatures have climbed. Oxford scientists said their research showed that the growth of shrubs could be an even more important factor in the greening of the tundra than the migration of trees northward from the boreal forest. The rapid growth of trees is expected to further warm the Arctic for two reasons. In the Arctic spring and autumn, shrubs are often buried under snow, but trees grow above the snow, their dark surfaces absorbing sunlight. In addition, trees create a microclimate that traps heat. “The speed and magnitude of the observed change is far greater than we expected,” said Bruce Forbes of the University of Lapland and co-author of the paper, which was published in Nature Climate Change.01 Jun 2012:
Japan Forced to Reconsider
Climate Targets Without Nuclear Power
Japanese officials say they may have to scrap long-term targets for carbon emissions reductions as a consequence of moving away from nuclear power in the aftermath of last year’s Fukushima disaster. According to the Japan Times, government officials this week conceded that goals to cut carbon emissions 25 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels were “to a fair degree” predicated on the use of nuclear power. “I have no doubt that an overall review will be necessary,” deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada said. Last month the nation shut down its last working nuclear plant more than a year after the Fukushima disaster made nuclear power unacceptable to many Japanese residents. But considering that nuclear power provided nearly 30 percent of the nation’s electricity before the 2011 disaster, many predict the idled nuclear plants will trigger a rise in greenhouse gas emissions from an increased use of fossil fuels. A report released earlier this week said that the combined electricity produced from natural gas, oil, and coal-powered plants from January to April was up 40 percent compared with the same period in 2011.01 Jun 2012:
France to Ban Pesticide
Possibly Linked to Decline of Bees
French authorities plan to ban a pesticide made by the Swiss company, Syngenta, after scientists said the pesticide’s use could be linked to a sharp decline in bee populations known as colony collapse disorder. France says it plans to withdraw the permit for farmers to spray Cruiser OSR, a pesticide used to protect rape seeds. The government took the action after the French Health and Safety Agency, ANSES, agreed with a recent scientific study suggesting that a low dose of thiamethoxam, a molecule contained in Cruiser, made bees more likely to lose their way and die. Other studies worldwide also have linked colony collapse disorder to increased pesticide use in agriculture. Syngenta has disputed the study involving thiamethoxam, saying the amounts of pesticide used in the research were far higher than the quantities used by farmers. The company has two weeks to submit its own evidence contradicting the government’s findings.31 May 2012:
Geoengineering Scheme Could
Make Sky Brighter and Whiter, Study Says
Spraying aerosols into the atmosphere, one of the so-called geoengineering schemes often proposed as a way to counteract global warming, would also make the daytime sky significantly brighter and whiter, according to a new study. Using sophisticated models, researchers estimated that a 2-percent reduction in the sun’s light — which would be approximately enough to offset warming in the case of a doubling of atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide — would have the side-effect of making the sky three to five times brighter. Depending on the size of the sulfate-based aerosol particles, the sky would become whiter during the day and trigger the types of vivid sunsets often seen following large volcanic eruptions. While the sky would still be blue, the researchers say, it would be a lighter shade than most people are used to — and more similar to the sky colors seen over urban areas. “These results give people one more thing to consider before deciding whether we really want to go down that road,” said Ben Kravitz, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science and co-author of the study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.31 May 2012:
C02 Milestone Reached
As Levels Hit 400 PPM Across Arctic
For the first time in at least 800,000 years, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have crossed the threshold of 400 parts per million (ppm), with stations across the Arctic recording these record levels, the Associated Press reports. Global concentrations have hit 395 ppm, but in recent months levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed 400 ppm in the Arctic because of the lack of CO2-absorbing vegetation in the Far North in winter and spring. Pre-industrial levels of CO2 were about 280 ppm, and numerous scientists said that hitting the 400 ppm threshold was a worrisome sign that industrial society continues to emit planet-warming greenhouse gases at an alarming rate. Jim Butler, global monitoring director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Lab in Colorado, called the new high a “troubling milestone.” Levels exceeding 400 ppm have been recorded this spring in Alaska, Greenland, Norway, and Iceland.30 May 2012:
Water Depletion Threatens
Future U.S. Food Supplies, Study Says
The rapid depletion of groundwater resources in key U.S. agricultural regions could portend future vulnerabilities in growing the nation’s food, according to a new study. In an assessment of water supplies in California’s Central Valley and the High Plains of the central U.S. — which runs from northwest Texas to southern Wyoming and South Dakota — University of Texas researchers found that in many places water is being used faster than it can be replenished, and that some regions may be unfit for agriculture within decades. According to their findings, farmers in California’s Central Valley, a region known as the nation’s “fruit and vegetable basket,” used enough water during a 2006-2009 drought to fill Lake Mead, the nation’s largest man-made reservoir. In the High Plains, a major grain-growing region, about one-third of groundwater depletion occurs in just 4 percent of the land area. At current rates of water depletion, some parts of the High Plains, including the Texas Panhandle and western Kansas, will be unable to support irrigated agriculture within a few decades, according to the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.30 May 2012:
Natural Gas Boom May Halt
Renewable Energy Growth, IEA Warns
A surge in natural gas supplies worldwide could halt any meaningful growth in the renewable energy sector over the next two decades if governments don’t take action, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns. New technologies to extract natural gas, primarily from shale formations using a technique known as hydraulic fracturing, could triple production of unconventional gas globally between 2010 to 2035, to about 1.6 trillion cubic meters, according to a new IEA report. These new sources of supply will, in turn, help keep prices relatively low, posing an increased risk to renewable energy sources, which are more expensive in part because the costs of greenhouse gas emissions are not part of the calculation of energy costs. “Policy measures by governments for renewable energy have to be there for years to come, as it is not always as cost-effective as it could be,” Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the IEA, told a conference in London, according to the Guardian. While natural gas drilling on its face produces about half of the carbon emissions of coal burning, some experts say the methane released during the drilling process may be enough to offset the global warming benefits of switching from coal to gas.29 May 2012:
Wind Farms Consider
Radar Systems to Prevent Bird Deaths
The operators of large California wind farms are considering the use of advanced radar and telemetry systems to reduce the number of birds killed by spinning turbines located in critical migration pathways. The so-called avian radar systems, which 
American Bird Conservancy
29 May 2012:
Revised Brazilian Forest Code
Puts Amazon Forests at Risk, Critics Warn
Although Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff vetoed several controversial changes to the nation’s Forest Code last week, environmental advocates say the final legislation unveiled Monday remains heavily influenced by the powerful agribusiness lobby and will result in widespread deforestation in the Amazon. If ratified by Congress, revisions to Brazil’s land-use laws approved by Rousseff would reduce the amount of forest that property owners must preserve and cut future penalties for those who violate environmental laws. The revised legislation preserves the requirement that landowners protect 80 percent of forest in rural regions of the Amazon, but eases restrictions and sanctions on landowners who break the law. Forest loss in Brazil has declined in the last decade because of stricter government laws, but those policies have met with increased resistance as the country has enjoyed growing wealth from some if its key commodities, including soybeans and beef. And while Rousseff enjoys popularity with the Brazilian public, analysts say, her ability to challenge the powerful agricultural interests were limited since her party holds just 15 percent of the seats in a divided Congress.25 May 2012:
Brazilian President Vetoes
Controversial Changes to Forest Code
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has vetoed critical revisions to the nation’s Forest Code that environmental advocates said would lead to rampant deforestation of the Amazon. Speaking to reporters, government officials said Rousseff had vetoed vetoed 12 of the 84 articles in the controversial land-use legislation that was passed by the Brazilian congress last month, including provisions that would grant partial amnesty to landowners who illegally cleared forests and would reduce the size of forested buffer zones along rivers. Those revisions had been seen as a key victory for Brazil’s powerful agribusiness lobby. Today, however, Environmental Secretary Izabella Teixeira said the proposed changes posed threats to ecosystem preservation and sustainable agriculture production. Opponents had contended the legislation would create loopholes that would enable landowners to clear significantly more forest, require them to restore only half as much forest as mandated under existing laws, and send a dangerous message about Brazil's commitment to forest preservation. The presidential veto comes just two weeks before global leaders descend on Brazil for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20. 25 May 2012:
Marine Reserves Replenish
Commercial Fisheries, DNA Tests Show
DNA testing has shown that the creation of marine reserves where no fishing is allowed helps to replenish fish stocks outside the reserve boundaries. In a study conducted at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, researchers collected tissue samples from two species of commercially popular fish — including 466 samples of adult coral trout and 1,154 samples from stripey snapper — located within three reserve areas. After collecting juveniles of both species in protected and unprotected areas over the next 15 months, the researchers found that about half of the juveniles were offspring of fish found in the reserve areas, even though the reserves accounted for just 28 percent of the study area. In other words, fish found in the reserves “punch above their weight in replenishing fishery stocks,” said Garry Russ, a researcher from James Cook University and one of the authors of the study, published online in the journal Current Biology. 24 May 2012:
Los Angeles Becomes
Largest U.S. City to Ban Plastic Bags
Los Angeles has become the largest U.S. city to impose a ban on plastic bags at supermarkets and other stores, a significant victory for environmental advocates seeking to keep plastic waste out of the region’s landfills and waterways. In a vote Wednesday, the City Council approved plans to phase out plastic bags at approximately 7,500 stores over the next 16 months. The council will conduct a four-month environmental review of the ban, after which larger stores would have six months to shift away from plastic bags while smaller retailers would have a year, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. “Let’s get the message to Sacramento that it’s time to go statewide,” said Councilman Ed Reyes. While the city backed away from a similar ban on paper bags, stores will be required to charge 10 cents for each paper bag one year after the plastic ban is enacted.24 May 2012:
Carbon Emissions Reached
Record Levels in 2011, Report Says
Global carbon dioxide emissions reached record levels in 2011, driven largely by a 9.3-percent increase in Chinese emissions, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). According to preliminary estimates, worldwide carbon emissions climbed to 31.6 gigatonnes in 2011, a 3.2-percent increase from 2010. India’s emissions rose by 8.7 percent, passing Russia to become the world’s fourth-biggest emitter (behind China, the U.S., and the European Union). Such increases offset a reduction in emissions in the EU and the U.S., where a sluggish economy and an increased shift from coal to natural gas contributed to a 1.7-percent decline in carbon emissions. “The new data provide further evidence that the door to a two degrees Celsius trajectory is about to close,” said Fatih Birol, IEA’s chief economist, citing concerns among scientists that emissions must begin being significantly reduced by 2020 to prevent potentially destabilizing temperature increases of more than 2 degrees C. According to the report, the burning of coal accounted for 45 percent of total energy-related carbon emissions, followed by oil (35 percent) and natural gas (20 percent).23 May 2012:
Street Lights Can Cause
Long-Term Ecological Changes, Study Says
The presence of artificial street lights can alter the behavior of ground-dwelling invertebrates and insects and ultimately change the structure and function of some ecosystems, according to a new study. In a series of tests in Cornwall in western England, researchers from the University of Exeter used 28 traps to capture 1,200 animals on the ground beneath street lights and in darker areas between the lights. According to their findings, published in the journal Biology Letters, invertebrate predators and scavengers were more common underneath the lights, even during the daylight hours. Thomas Davies, a researcher at the University of Exeter and lead author of the study, said these findings suggest that nocturnal behavior is affecting habitat preference overall, and could have implications for critical ecosystem services, including pollination and the breakdown of organic matter. “It’s amazing how long we’ve been using street lighting and artificial lighting, and how little research has been done on the impact of those lights on the environment,” he told BBC News.23 May 2012:
Papuans Paid a Pittance
For Palm Oil Land, Investigation Says
A major palm oil company has paid indigenous residents of Indonesian Papua $0.65 per hectare for forested land that will be worth $5,000 a hectare once cultivated, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). The EIA said that Moi 
EIA
Palm oil concession in Klawana, Sorong
Interview: The Big Scramble for
Earth’s Dwindling Natural Resources
National security expert Michael Klare devotes much of his time these days to thinking about the intensifying competition for increasingly scarce natural resources. 
Michael Klare
Read the interview
22 May 2012:
Seagrasses Hold More Carbon
Per Square Kilometer Than Forests
The planet’s seagrass meadows store more than twice as much carbon per square kilometer as forests, demonstrating that coastal vegetation can play an important role in mitigating climate change, a new study says. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team of scientists calculated that coastal seagrass beds can store up to 83,000 metric tons of carbon per square kilometer, compared with 30,000 metric tons of carbon per square kilometer in typical forests. While seagrasses occupy less than 0.2 percent of the world's oceans, they account for more than 10 percent of all the carbon trapped in the sea.Seagrasses have a unique ability to store carbon in their roots and soil in coastal areas, the study showed. In some regions, they found, seagrass beds have stored carbon for thousands of years. “Seagrasses only take up a small percentage of global coastal area, but this assessment shows that they’re a dynamic ecosystem for carbon transformation,” said James Fourqurean, a scientist at Florida International University and lead author of the study.
22 May 2012:
Rivers are Largest Source
Of Mercury in Arctic Ocean, Study Says
A new study suggests that rivers may be funneling far more toxic mercury into the Arctic Ocean than previously believed, a finding that may portend even greater mercury concentrations in the future as the effects of climate change accelerate the region’s hydrological cycle. Despite the Arctic's remoteness, scientists have long known that mercury levels in Arctic mammals are among the highest on the planet, a factor largely attributed to mercury being deposited in the Arctic Ocean from the air. But according to Harvard scientists, circumpolar rivers — particularly three Siberian rivers, the Lena, Ob, and Yenisei — may be contributing twice as much mercury as the atmosphere. According to the scientists, mercury levels in the Arctic tend to increase sharply during the spring and summer. Using a sophisticated model of atmospheric and ocean conditions, they concluded the only factor that could explain this spike was increased flow of these rivers as they melt. According to the researchers, more mercury may be entering the river systems as melting permafrost increasingly releases mercury locked in the soil. In addition, mercury is likely coming from runoff from gold, silver, and mercury mines in Siberia. The study is published in Nature Geoscience.21 May 2012:
Pebble Mine Could Devastate
Critical Alaskan Salmon Habitat, EPA Says
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warns that the proposed large-scale Pebble Mine development in the hills above Alaska’s Bristol Bay could cause devastating habitat loss for the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. In a draft report, EPA officials calculate that proposals to mine the region — which include an open-pit mine producing 2 billion to 6.5 billion metric tons of copper, gold, and molybdenum ore — could destroy up to 87 miles of streams and nearly seven square miles of wetlands. The EPA also said large-scale mining could make the region vulnerable to catastrophic accidents — including the possible release of acid, metals, and other waste from the mine sites — that could potentially destroy more than 30 miles of salmon-bearing streams leading into Bristol Bay, which hosts runs of roughly 30 million salmon annually. “We conclude that, at a minimum, mining at this scale would cause the loss of spawning and rearing habitat for multiple species of anadromous and resident fish,” the draft assessment states. Even before its release, the 339-page assessment was denounced by critics, including some in Congress who question the EPA’s authority to regulate the mine proposal.21 May 2012:
Methane Sources Found
Bubbling Up from Melting Ice Caps
U.S. scientists report that they have discovered new sources of methane percolating up from underground reservoirs as glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost melt in the Arctic. University of Alaska researchers, conducting aerial and ground surveys, said they have discovered 150,000 methane seeps in Alaska alone near the margins of retreating glaciers or thawing permafrost. In Greenland, the seeps tended to be concentrated around the margins of ice caps that have been retreating for the past 150 years, the scientists said. Katey M. Walter Anthony, lead author of the study, published in Nature Geoscience, said these seeps in the earth’s frozen zones, or cryosphere, are not currently a major source of methane emissions. But, she added, “As the cryosphere degrades further, it could be a really big source.” Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and researchers are concerned rapid warming of the Arctic could trigger a methane “time bomb” as thawing permafrost, vegetation, and land ice result in the release of huge quantities of methane.18 May 2012:
Apple’s Main Data Center
Will Use Only Green Power by 2013
Apple Inc. has received approval to build two solar power installations at its main data center in North Carolina, allowing the technology giant to run the center entirely with renewable energy by next year. The two solar farms, which will cover 250 acres near its core data center in Maiden, N.C., will utilize high-efficiency solar cells and an advanced solar-tracking system provided by SunPower Corp and startup Bloom Energy. The solar arrays will generate 84 million kWh of electricity per year. Apple, which produces the popular iPhone and iPad, says that all three of its main data centers ultimately will be powered by coal-free electricity. “I’m not aware of any other company producing energy onsite at this scale,” Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer told Reuters. The company is also developing a 5-megawatt fuel cell facility on the Maiden site. A recent Greenpeace report cited Apple, whose data centers require an ever-expanding amount of power, for lagging behind in efforts to use clean energy. 18 May 2012:
EU Fisheries Observers
Are Intimidated, Bribed by Crews
Observers placed on European Union fishing boats to reduce the amount of illegal and unreported catches are often subject to threats, intimidation, and bribes when they try to do their jobs, according to a report in the Guardian. After interviewing more than 20 former and current fisheries observers and examining EU records, the newspaper said that the threats and harassment are common on Spanish and Portuguese fishing boats, which are notorious for egregious overfishing. The observers told the Guardian that crew members would steal their records of fishing violations, threaten them with an “accident” at sea, kick their cabin doors to keep them awake at night, and take elaborate steps — including making illegal hauls while observers were eating — to conceal the extent of overfishing. Independent observers are placed aboard every vessel operating in the Northwest Atlantic Fishery Organization. But because of fishing industry pressure, observers who spot violations are only allowed to summon an inspector on board, but cannot provide the inspector with any details or records of infractions.17 May 2012:
Human-made Pollutants May Be
Expanding Tropical Zone, Study Says
U.S. scientists say emissions in the Northern Hemisphere of black carbon aerosols and ozone, both of which absorb solar radiation,
are likely causing the hemisphere’s tropical regions to expand poleward. After comparing observations of tropic expansion — which suggest that the tropics have widened 0.7 degrees per decade since 1970, largely because of global warming — with climate models, researchers at University of California, Riverside, found that the climate models tended to underestimate that shift by about a third. But when they included either black carbon or tropospheric ozone — or both — into the models, the simulations mimicked observations better, suggesting that the emissions are playing a role in tropical expansion because of their radiation-absorbing effect. “If the tropics are moving poleward, then the subtropics will become even drier,” said Robert J. Allen, a professor Earth sciences and lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature. “If a poleward displacement of the mid-latitude storm tracks also occurs, this will shift mid-latitude precipitation poleward, impacting regional agriculture, economy, and society.”
17 May 2012:
Retreat of Columbia Glacier
Vividly Captured in NASA Satellite Images
Two false-color thermal images taken by NASA satellites depict the rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska over the past 25 years. Since 1986, the
glacier’s end-point, or terminus, has retreated 12 miles up an inlet in Prince William Sound, and the glacier has lost about half its total thickness and volume. The top image, taken by a Landsat 5 satellite in 1986, shows two branches of the glacier joining together just north of Heather Island. By 2011, the terminus had retreated far up the inlet, and is identifiable in the bottom image. The blue in the water below the 2011 terminus is floating ice that has calved off the leading edge of the Columbia Glacier, which descends from a 10,000-foot ice field. By 2011, the two branches of the glacier had become separated. The turquoise in the images is snow, and it is more prevalent in 2011 because that image was taken in May, while the top image was shot in July.
16 May 2012:
Wildlife in Tropical Regions
Has Declined 60 Percent Since 1970
Wildlife populations in the world’s tropical regions have fallen by more than 60 percent during the last four decades, according to the latest version of the Living Planet Index. The Index — which tracks populations of 2,688 vertebrate species in tropical and temperate regions worldwide — found that species abundance in the tropics declined by about 44 percent on land, 62 percent in the oceans, and 70 percent in freshwater ecosystems from 1970 to 2008. Cumulatively, species abundance declined by about 1.25 percent annually every year compared with a 1970 baseline, according to the report, which is published by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London. Wildlife populations declined by 38 percent in Africa during that period; about 50 percent in Central and South America; and 64 percent in Indo-Pacific regions. Overall, the global index dropped almost 30 percent during the same period. These steep population declines are the result of many factors related to human activities, including deforestation, habitat loss, pollution, overfishing, and climate change.16 May 2012:
State Oversight Helps Reduce
Effects of Fracking, Study Says
A new study conducted by the University of Buffalo has found that state regulation helped reduce environmental problems associated with unconventional forms of natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania since 2008. In an analysis of 2,988 violations at nearly 4,000 Pennsylvania hydraulic fracturing drill sites, university researchers found that roughly 38 percent (845 violations) were environmental in nature. Among these violations, 25 were classified as “major” — including site restoration failures, contamination of water supplies, land spills, blowouts, and venting and gas migration. As the number of drilling sites increased, the percentage of environmental violations compared to the number of wells drilled dropped from 58.2 percent in 2008 to 30.5 percent in 2010, largely as a result of increased state oversight, the study said. But the total number of environmental incidents tripled from 2008 to 2011 as the number of wells increased. The report’s three lead authors have energy industry ties, but lead author John Martin said the report was funded entirely by the university.
Interview: Taking Green Chemistry
Out of the Lab and into Products
Paul Anastas is credited with coining the term “green chemistry,” the movement to make chemicals and industrial processes more environmentally friendly, and during two stints in Washington, D.C., he has worked to
Michael Marsland/
Yale University
Yale University
Paul Anastas
Read the interview
15 May 2012:
Record Number of Fish Stocks
‘Rebuilt’ in 2011, NOAA Study Says
U.S. officials say a record number of fish stocks recovered to healthy population numbers in 2011 while a declining number of species were subject to overfishing. In a reportto Congress, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Wikimedia Commons
Chinook salmon
15 May 2012:
U.S. Companies Use Steel Linked
To Amazon Destruction, Greenpeace Finds
U.S. car makers such as General Motors, Ford, and Nissan are purchasing steel made from pig iron that is smelted using large amounts of illegally logged timber from the Amazon rainforest, according to a two-year investigation by Greenpeace. The environmental group also said that the pig iron smelting, fueled by charcoal produced from tropical forest trees, has resulted in virtual slave labor and illegal logging of indigenous lands in northeastern Brazil. The Greenpeace investigation said that Brazil’s Carajas region — where three-quarters of the forests have been cleared, mainly for charcoal production — is home to 43 blast furnaces used by 18 different companies. Two of the major companies, Viena and Sidepar, sell pig iron to a U.S. steel mill operated by Severstal, Greenpeace said. That mill sells steel to General Motors, Nissan, BMW, and Mercedes, according to Greenpeace. As illegal charcoal operations have decimated the forests in Carajas, loggers have entered conservation areas belonging to indigenous tribes, who have lost 30 percent of their lands to illegal loggers, Greenpeace said.14 May 2012:
Various Uses of Wood
Determine Emissions from Deforestation
The volume of greenhouse gases released when a forest is cleared depends on how how the trees are used and in which part of the world the trees are grown, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Davis. Analyzing how 160 countries use wood from cleared forests, the researchers found that if the wood is generally used to create solid wood products, such as timber for housing, up to 62 percent of the carbon in the trees remains in storage. Temperate forests in the U.S., Canada, and Europe are cleared primarily for use in such products. But the study found that wood from tropical forests in places like Brazil and Indonesia is generally used in paper, pulp, and bioenergy production, and such uses lead to an almost complete release of the carbon stored in trees. Reporting in the journal Nature Climate Change, the researchers said that early studies assumed that most of the carbon stored in trees was released once they were felled. The new study, however, gives a more nuanced picture of carbon releases from deforestation.14 May 2012:
Americans Willing to Pay
Slightly More For Clean Energy, Study Says
A new study finds that the average American would be willing to pay slightly more for clean energy in support of government initiatives to promote low-carbon electricity generation. In a national survey conducted last year, researchers from Yale and Harvard universities found that Americans, on average, would be willing to pay $162 more per year for their electricity bills — an average increase of about 13 percent — as part of a policy requiring 80 percent of energy come from green sources by 2035. However, that willingness varies greatly depending on political affiliation, age, and geographic region, according to the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. For instance, support was significantly lower among Republicans, independents, and those with no party affiliation — by 25, 13, and 25 percentage points, respectively. Also, according to the analysis, researchers found that the additional cost per household for clean energy would have to fall below $59 per year to pass the current U.S. Senate, and drop below $48 per year to get through the U.S. House of Representatives.11 May 2012:
Eel Breeding Innovation
Sought to Conserve Wild Populations
Japanese biologists are racing to develop a type of food that would enable fish farmers to breed eels on a commercial scale using for the first time larvae produced in captivity, a step that could reduce pressures on collapsing eel populations worldwide. While farmers have long bred captive eels — a popular delicacy in many countries — until now they have only been able to do so on a commercial scale using baby eels trapped in the wild, a step that has exacerbated the catastrophic decline in wild eel populations from the Far East to North America. The reason, scientists say, is that it has been difficult and expensive to produce the foodstuff critical to the development of eel larvae: a mixture of marine detritus known as “marine snow.” Scientists so far have considered a wide range of possible ingredients, including the yolk from shark’s eggs. “Whoever gets there first has made a tremendous discovery; you’re recovering a cultural tradition,” David Righton, a scientist with the UK-based Cefas marine laboratory, told the Guardian. “Whoever does this is culturally important as well as becoming very rich.”11 May 2012:
Study Calls Selective Logging
Most Realistic Conservation Strategy
A new study says that well-managed selective logging may be the only realistic solution to conserving tropical forests in the face of a rapacious global demand for timber resources. In an analysis of more than 100 studies, researchers at the University of Florida found that while even selective logging has a significant impact on biodiversity in tropical forests and carbon storage capacity, those impacts are “survivable and reversible to a degree” if the forests are given time to recover. In fact, the researchers found that, on average, 85 to 100 percent of animal and plant species present before initial logging were still around after selective logging and that forests retained about 75 percent of their carbon after initial harvest. By contrast, the researchers say, forest loss for the planting of rubber or palm oil plantations is permanent. “We’re not advocates for logging,” said Jack Putz, a professor of biology and lead author of the study published in Conservation Letters. “We’re just acknowledging that it is a reality — and that within that reality, there is a way forward.”10 May 2012:
Lack of Profitability Drives
U.S. Company Out of Biofuels Business
A U.S.-based company that used genetic engineering to develop a technology to convert sugar into biofuel has announced that it will stop producing the fuel, at least temporarily, because the process simply isn’t profitable. Amyris, a San Francisco firm that also produces cosmetic products, had engineered a type of yeast that can eat sugar and secrete an oil similar to diesel. While the company had some success using this process in the production of biofuels, including for use by buses in Brazil, it achieved greater profits selling the chemicals for use in other products, such as moisturizers and fragrances, according to a report by MIT’s Technology Review. According to the report, the average selling price for the company’s products is about $7.70 per liter ($29 per gallon), which is far higher than the cost of petroleum-based diesel. And even the $7.70 price was propped up by the amount the company can earn by producing moisturizers. According to Amyris officials, the company will stop producing biodiesels by mid-year, but the firm remains interested in developing commercial-scale fuel plants in the future.10 May 2012:
New Interactive Web site
Maps Distribution of Global Species
U.S. scientists this week unveiled a new online resource that maps the distribution of species worldwide and will ultimately allow users to update or add species data. The so-called “Map of Life” project — which draws on 
Map of Life
The “Map of Life”
09 May 2012:
Warming Waters Attract
New Fish Species to British Waters
Warming ocean temperatures have changed the distribution of many critical marine species off the British coast, as warm water fish are increasingly expanding into northern waters and cold-water species are swimming to colder depths, according to a new report. The report of the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership, published by the UK and Scottish governments, found that warm water species such as the bluefin tuna and thresher sharks are more frequently appearing in the waters off southwest England and squid have become increasingly abundant in the North Sea. One southern species, the bib, has moved north by 212 miles (342 kilometers) in the last two decades, while common North Sea species such as cod and lemon sole are swimming at an average of 5.5 meters deeper per decade. The report, based on an analysis of scientific studies, warns these changes pose potential threats for native species and the commercial fishing industry as changing water temperatures could introduce invasive species and new diseases.09 May 2012:
Groundwater Pumping Emerges
As a Factor in Sea Level Rise, Study Says
The vast amounts of water pumped out of the ground for irrigation, drinking water, and industrial uses will increasingly contribute to global sea level rise in the coming decades, according to a new study. According to researchers at Utrecht University, humans pumped about 204 cubic kilometers (49 cubic miles) of groundwater in 2000, much of which evaporated into the atmosphere before ultimately entering rivers, canals and, eventually, the world’s oceans. While in earlier decades the rise in sea level caused by groundwater removal was canceled out by the construction of dams, that changed by the 1990s as humans pumped more groundwater and built fewer dams. By 2000, groundwater extraction resulted in a sea level rise of about 0.57 millimeters annually — compared with about 0.035 millimeters in 1990. According to the study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, by 2050 the pumping of groundwater worldwide could cause sea levels to rise about 0.8 millimeters annually. 08 May 2012:
Standard EV Charging System
Adopted by U.S., German Automakers
Eight U.S. and German automakers have agreed on a standardized technology system for electric-vehicle charging, a coordinated approach they say will allow drivers to rapidly re-charge their vehicles at most charging stations regardless of power source. The announcement is an important breakthrough for the electric vehicle industry, introducing a common technology that could foster the spread of a recharging infrastructure at gas stations, malls, office buildings, and other locations — a critical step if consumers are to adopt electric vehicle technology. The integrated single-port system — which will be utilized by Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche, and Volkswagen — allows drivers to use numerous charging technologies, including AC- and DC-charging, with one vehicle inlet. The system, which will be unveiled at the Electric Vehicle Symposium 26 in Los Angeles, will reportedly be able to recharge an electric vehicle in 15 to 20 minutes. 08 May 2012:
Highly Endangered Gorillas
Are Captured in Rare Video Footage
A camera trap video in Cameroon has captured nearly two minutes of film of the Cross River gorilla, the rarest of the four sub-species of gorillas and one that is seldom seen in the wild. The footage shows a group of eight gorillas walking through the forest in Cameroon’s Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary, their feet loudly crunching over the leaves on the forest floor. Suddenly, a silverback gorilla, perhaps sensing the camera trap, bluff-charges past the camera, pounding its chest as it runs. The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which helped set up the traps, says it is the best footage ever captured of Cross River gorillas, a sub-species with fewer than 250 individuals remaining. In the footage, one of the gorillas is clearly missing a hand, perhaps the result of it getting caught in a snare. Hunting and habitat destruction in the creatures’ last refuge — the mountainous border region of Cameroon and Nigeria — have whittled away populations of the Cross River gorilla. But the Cameroon government, WCS, and local wardens have launched an improved system of protection that seems to have halted the animals’ decline.
07 May 2012:
Japanese Tsunami Debris
Is Increasingly Washing Ashore in Alaska
Debris from last year’s tsunami in Japan, including some potentially toxic materials, is increasingly being discovered along the Alaska coastline. Since January, millions of pieces of debris have washed ashore along the Alaska coast, from soccer balls and buoys to motorcycles and large drums containing unknown materials, according to the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation (MCAF), a Juneau-based group monitoring the debris. In some areas, the group has observed mysterious sludge that apparently had leaked from the containers. “So we’re looking at a potential large-scale environmental problem, and what we’re dealing with now is just the start of it,” Merrick Burden, director of the MCAF, told the Juneau Daily News. Much of the debris that has reached Alaska so far was likely pushed by west-to-east winds, and larger materials, driven by ocean currents, will start to reach the coast next year, officials say. To help state officials better understand the future threats, MCAF is urging mariners, fishing boats, and beachcombers to take photos when they spot debris and report it to their project and the federal government. 07 May 2012:
Economic Boom Leaves Myanmar
Vulnerable to Environmental Abuses
Conservationists warn that a development boom in Myanmar resulting from a recent opening-up of the country could trigger rampant environmental destruction. Harboring some of Asia’s richest biodiversity, Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is embracing increased economic development following government reforms that have loosened military control in the impoverished nation. But environmental advocates say government corruption and a lack of strict environmental rules leave the Asian nation ripe for environmental exploitation. In recent months, international business interests have flocked to the country, targeting lucrative opportunities in land development, mining, and rubber and oil plantations. “The ‘development invasion’ will speed up environmental destruction and is also likely to lead to more human rights abuses,” Pianporn Deetes of the International Rivers Network told the Associated Press. “Industries will move very vast, while civil society is just beginning to learn about the impacts.”
04 May 2012:
Greenland Glaciers Moving
More Slowly Than Previous Estimates
A new U.S. study says that Greenland’s glaciers are sliding into the sea more slowly than previously estimated, a finding that may indicate future sea level rise will not be as high as some projected worst-case scenarios. Using satellite data to track changes to 200 outlet glaciers from 2000 to 2011, a team of scientists calculated that Greenland’s glaciers accelerated by an average of 30 percent during the decade — a significant amount but not as rapidly as feared. In an earlier study, scientists calculated that glacial flow would increase by 100 percent between 2000 and 2010, and then stabilize at the higher speed, contributing as much as 19 inches to global sea level rise by the end of the century. According to the new study, published in the journal Science, the glaciers are expected to continue gaining speed in the coming decades, possibly contributing four inches to sea level rise by 2100. The researchers cautioned, however, that a 10-year study is too short to make any conclusions on long-term behavior. 04 May 2012:
Japan Goes Nuclear-Free
For the First Time in Four Decades
Japan will shut down its last working nuclear power station this weekend, culminating — at least for now — a national shift away from nuclear energy in the aftermath of last year’s Fukushima disaster. The shutdown of the No. 3 Tomari reactor in Hokkaido will leave the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970. Given public concerns about nuclear safety, it may become difficult to switch the plants back on if the country makes it through the summer months without power shortages or blackouts. “Can it be the end of nuclear power [in Japan]? It could be,” Andrew DeWitt, a professor of energy and policy at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, told Reuters. Before the 2011 Fukushima disaster, Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors provided nearly 30 percent of the nation’s electricity. While Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has suggested the country cannot afford to go without nuclear power for the long term, the government has no timetable to switch the plants back on and the country has yet to develop a long-term, nuclear-free energy policy.03 May 2012:
Earth Observation Satellites
Threatened by Budget Shortfalls in U.S.
Budget shortfalls, launch failures, and mission changes have caused a decline in U.S. earth observation satellites over the last five years, a trend that could undermine the nation’s ability to forecast weather and monitor natural disasters and climate change, according to a new report. The report, published by the National Research Council (NRC), said that a lack of satellite-based earth monitoring technologies “will have profound consequences on science and society.” One factor slowing progress is a shortage of reliable medium-class launchers to send satellites into space, the NRC said. The report said that NASA is making up for some of the shortfalls in earth observation systems by increasing sub-orbital missions and jet flights, and by cooperating on missions with other countries that have launched earth observation satellites. “It’s likely our capabilities will decline fairly precipitously at just the time they’re most needed,” Dennis Hartmann, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington and chair of the committee that wrote the report, told the New York Times.03 May 2012:
Experiments Underestimate
Plant Responses to Global Warming
Studies designed to predict how plants and trees will react to rising temperatures have consistently underestimated those responses, with the actual flowering and leafing of plants advancing far more rapidly than most experiments forecast. That is the conclusion of new research by Canadian and U.S. scientists who analyzed 50 plant studies on four continents. By looking at field records of the timing of plant events, the researchers found that leafing and flowering advance by nearly a week for every 1 degree C rise in temperature. But when scientists create experimental plots and heat them to simulate future temperature increases, their predictions usually under-predict plant responses to global warming by at least four-fold, according to the study, published in an online issue of Nature. The timing of annual plant events, known as phenology, has major implications for crop pollination, water supplies, and ecosystem health. The researchers said that plant experiments need to be better designed to reflect the actual impact of future warming.02 May 2012:
Polar Bears Taking Long Swims
In Absence of Summer Sea Ice, Study Says
A six-year study has found that polar bears are capable of swimming great distances when foraging for food, an increasingly critical skill as Arctic sea ice declines in summer. Using GPS collars attached to 52 adult females in the southern Beaufort and Chukchi seas from 2004 to 2009, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found that about a third of the bears — including some with cubs — completed swims greater than 30 miles. Writing in the Canadian Journal of Zoology, the scientists found that in the case of 50 long-distance swims, the bears traveled an average of 96 miles, swimming from one to 10 days; one bear swam 220 miles. While such stamina will become increasingly important for polar bears as a warming climate makes resting on summer sea ice a less available option, the researchers expressed concern that traveling such great distances takes a greater energy toll on the animals. The study sample was too small to draw conclusions about the fate of entire populations, and it is unclear whether such long swims are a new behavior.02 May 2012:
Fracking Fluid Can Migrate
Into Marcellus Aquifers, New Study Says
A new study estimates that fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region can migrate into underground drinking water supplies far more quickly than experts have previously estimated. The study, based on computer modeling and funded by opponents of fracking, concluded that natural faults and fractures in the Marcellus shale, exacerbated by the effects of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” could allow chemicals to reach shallow drinking water supplies in as little as “just a few years.” Companies involved in fracking for natural gas have maintained that impermeable layers of rock in the Marcellus Shale formation would keep fracking fluids safely locked nearly a mile below water supplies. But independent hydrologist Tom Myers, who published his study in the journal Ground Water, says his modeling shows that is not the case. “Simply put, [the rock layers] are not impermeable,” said Myers. The Marcellus Shale underlies large portions of the northeastern U.S., and thousands of fracking wells have been drilled in recent years. The study was funded by two organizations opposed to gas fracking, and some scientists strongly disagree with its conclusions.
Interview: The Long Battle to Build
The U.S.’s First Offshore Wind Farm
More than a decade after he announced plans to build the nation's first offshore wind farm off Cape Cod, Cape Wind president Jim Gordon is on the verge of finally starting construction. During a 10-year fight to get 
Cape Wind
Jim Gordon
Read the interview
01 May 2012:
Oil and Gas Companies See
Offshore Wind Potential in North Sea
An increasing number of oil service companies are working with renewable energy companies to develop offshore wind projects in the North Sea as the region’s fossil fuel resources dwindle and demand for clean energy rises. According to a report by Bloomberg News, companies such as Technip and Subsea 7 are seizing on the similarities between developing deepsea oil installations and building offshore wind platforms. For wind energy developers, as much as 25 percent of capital spending includes services that can be performed by oil and gas companies, said Jayesh Parmar, a UK-based consultant at Baringa Partners LLP. “The synergies available between offshore wind and oil and gas are most apparent in the North Sea,” Parmar said. “It makes sense here to be operating in both areas.” With numerous offshore wind projects planned, the European Wind Energy Association predicts that more than 446,000 people will work in the North Sea’s offshore wind sector by the end of the decade, twice the current workforce. 01 May 2012:
Fukushima Begins Restoration
Of Coastal Forests Destroyed by Tsunami
Fukushima Prefecture will soon begin a nine-year restoration of coastal forests devastated by last year’s tsunami, including the planting of 4.6 million seedlings over a 90-mile stretch of coastline. With the financial assistance of other prefectures, the Fukushima government will begin collecting pine cones this year that officials hope will grow into the seedlings of new pine forests within two years. While the tsunami triggered by the March 2011 earthquake swamped coastal forests in six prefectures, none was hit harder than Fukushima, where 70 percent of flooded forests were destroyed, according to a report in The Asahi Shimbun. Even trees in areas that survived the disaster are expected to die because of the high levels of salt that saturated the soil. In some areas, including Matsukawaura beach in the town of Soma, the presence of thick forests served as a breakwater, preventing even greater damage inland from tsunami waves and debris.30 Apr 2012:
Leaf-Mimicking Design
Boosts Output of Solar Panels
By adding microscopic folds onto the surface of photovoltaic materials, a design variation borrowed from a natural leaf, researchers say they have been able to boost the solar output of flexible plastic solar cells by 47 percent. According to the scientists, who published their 
Frank Wojciechowski
Folded solar cell
30 Apr 2012:
Australia Lists Koala As
Threatened Species for First Time
The Australian government has added the koala to the list of threatened species in parts of the country for the first time, saying the iconic species is under threat from habitat loss, urban expansion, disease, and climate change. Following a three-year study, Environment Minister Tony Burke announced that koalas will be listed as vulnerable in Queensland, where populations have declined by 40 percent in two decades; New South Wales, where numbers have dropped by one-third; and the Australian Capital Territory. In addition to the listing, which will impose restrictions on development in areas where the species is threatened, the government committed $300,000 for koala monitoring and habitat research. Not only are koalas facing declining food sources as eucalypt plants are aggressively cleared for development, but scientists say the nutritional value of remaining eucalypts has diminished as a result of climate change. While the government says there are about 200,000 remaining koalas nationwide, the Australian Koala Foundation estimates there are likely fewer than 100,000.27 Apr 2012:
Warming Climate Has Caused
Water Cycle to Intensify, Study Says
A new study published in the journal Science suggests that the cycle of evaporation and rainfall over the world’s oceans has accelerated 4 percent in the last half-century as a result of global warming, a development that could portend more extreme weather in the decades to come. In an analysis of salinity in oceans from 1950 to 2000, scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California found that the salty areas of the ocean have gotten saltier and fresher areas have gotten fresher, a phenomenon they attribute to stronger patterns of evaporation and precipitation over the ocean. The researchers suggest a 1-degree F increase in global temperatures during that period was enough to trigger the 4 percent intensification of the water cycle. If that trend continues, they say, projected increases in temperatures by 2100 could cause the water cycle to intensify by as much as 20 percent, which means regions already receiving a lot of rainfall will receive even more and areas prone to drought will be even drier. 27 Apr 2012:
Pacific Shark Survey Shows
90 Percent Decline Near Human Populatons
A comprehensive census of Pacific reef shark populations has found that shark abundance has plummeted by roughly 90 percent in waters located near islands inhabited by humans. Using underwater surveys 
P. Ayotte
Gray reef sharks at Hawaii’s Kure Atoll
26 Apr 2012:
Borneo Oil Palm Plantations
Threaten Surge in Emissions, Study Says
A new study warns that the continued expansion of large-scale oil palm plantations in Indonesian Borneo, particularly on the island’s peatlands, will became a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions without stricter forest protections. According to researchers from Yale and Stanford universities, about two-thirds of unprotected lands in the Ketapang District of West Kalimantan are now leased to agribusinesses. If those lands are converted to oil palm plantations at current expansion rates, palm stands will cover more than one-third of regional lands by 2020, and intact forests will decrease to about 5 percent, compared with 15 percent in 2008. In addition, researchers found that about half of oil palm development through last year occurred on peatlands, a process that involves draining and burning of peat soils — a major source of CO2 emissions. According to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, if current trends persist, about 90 percent of emissions associated with oil palm development will come from peatlands by 2020.26 Apr 2012:
Warm Ocean Currents Play
Key Role in Melting Antarctic Ice Shelves
Warm ocean currents are melting many of Antarctica’s floating ice shelves from beneath, which in turn is speeding up the flow of land-based glaciers into the ocean and increasing global sea levels, according to a new study. An international team of scientists, led by researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), used 4.5 million measurements from a satellite-based laser altimeter that precisely measures the changing thickness of ice shelves. Using those readings and other data, the researchers determined that 20 of 54 ice shelves that flow off the Antarctic continent and float on the Southern Ocean are melting and thinning from below. Most of the 20 ice shelves are in West Antarctica, where air and ocean temperatures have been steadily rising in recent years. Along the western Antarctic Peninsula, eight ice shelves have fully or partially collapsed in the past several decades, allowing inland glaciers to surge into the sea. But the study, published in Nature, found that even the thinning of ice shelves, without total collapse, speeds up the flow of inland glaciers, increasing global sea levels. 25 Apr 2012:
A State-by-State Roadmap
To Climate-Friendly Automobiles
The U.S.’s continued reliance on coal and natural gas to generate electricity makes efficient gasoline-powered vehicles a lower-carbon alternative to electric vehicles in most states, according to a new report by Climate Central. In an analysis of life-cycle emissions from vehicles, based on how electricity is generated in each state, researchers found that the hybrid Toyota Prius remains a more fuel-efficient option than the all-electric Nissan Leaf in 36 states because the electricity used to charge the Leaf in most states comes largely from the burning of fossil fuels. In fact, the Climate Central study said that in the 10 states where electricity generation is most heavily reliant on coal, 20 hybrid and fuel-efficient gas-powered cars produce fewer CO2 emissions than the Leaf. The report’s authors say the findings suggest the importance of “fuel-efficient, gasoline-powered vehicles as a practical, immediate, and technologically viable” strategy to reduce carbon emissions.
25 Apr 2012:
Urban Heat Effect Drives
Faster Tree Growth, Study Says
In a new study, researchers say native red oak seedlings planted in New York City grew far faster than in cooler rural settings. After planting seedlings in two city locations, including Central Park, and in separate locations in the Hudson River Valley and the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, researchers from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory found that the city trees produced eight times more biomass than those planted in the country. According to their study, published in the journal Tree Physiology, the city trees were exposed to maximum daily temperatures 4 degrees F warmer than the country trees, and minimum averages more than 8 degrees F warmer, driven largely by the well-known “urban heat island” effect. The warm city nights, in particular, allowed the seedlings to perform more of the chemical reactions needed for photosynthesis. The seedlings were planted in the spring and, after caring for all the trees with fertilizer and weekly watering, biomass was measured the following autumn.
Interview: Standing Up Against
A Massive Dam Project in Africa
The Gibe III dam project in Ethiopia — which, if completed, would be the world’s fourth-largest dam — was moving steadily forward when it collided with a 31-year-old Kenyan woman named Ikal Angelei. Since learning of
Goldman Environmental Prize
Ikal Angelei
Read the interview
24 Apr 2012:
European Satellite Provides
Precise Data On Arctic Sea Ice Thickness
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) CryoSat satellite is now providing highly accurate data on the thickness and volume of Arctic Ocean ice. Using a high-resolution
synthetic aperture radar that sends down pulses of microwave energy, the satellite can measure the difference between the top of the ice and water in the cracks, or leads, that separate the floes. By measuring the height of the ice above water, which usually represents only one-eighth of total ice thickness, the satellite can provide data on ice thickness to within 10 to 20 centimeters, or 4 to 8 inches. The CryoSat satellite was launched in 2010, and since then scientists have been validating the measurements against other data from plane-based instruments and direct, on-ice measurements. "We now have a very powerful tool to monitor the changes taking place at the poles,” said Volker Liebig, the ESA’s director of Earth Observation.
24 Apr 2012:
‘Glowing’ Fish Provides Insights
Into Effects of Endocrine Disruptors
UK researchers say they have genetically engineered a zebrafish to produce a fluorescent green glow under a special microscope in response to exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, a technique that could provide new 
University of Exeter
A microscopic view of the glowing zebrafish
23 Apr 2012:
Warming May Trigger
More Volatility in Corn Prices, Study Says
The effects of climate change across the U.S.’s corn belt could have a far greater effect on the volatility of corn prices over the next three decades than fluctuating oil prices or federal policies on biofuel production, according to a new study. In an analysis of economic, climatic, and agricultural data, researchers from Stanford and Purdue universities calculated that even if global temperature increases are limited to 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) above pre-industrial levels — a target some climate scientists have suggested is key to averting catastrophic changes — such increases would lead to more damaging heat waves in the nation’s major corn-growing regions. And if farmers do not adjust to changing climate conditions — either by moving crops to the north or increasing the heat-tolerance of crops — these changes could cause sharp increases in corn price volatility from 2020 to 2040, which could affect food prices, farmer incomes, and livestock prices. “Severe heat is the big hammer,” said Noah Diffenbaugh, an assistant professor at Stanford and lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
23 Apr 2012:
Floating Wind Farm Research
Receives Boost from U.S., UK Leaders
U.S. and UK officials have announced plans to work together in developing floating wind turbine technology, an innovation that could open new areas of the world’s oceans to wind energy generation. In a collaboration announced in London, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and UK Energy Secretary Edward Davey said they would help fund research into floating platforms that would support turbines in waters as deep as 500 feet, where wind speeds are consistently higher than near-shore wind farm sites. Officials hope floating turbine technology will reduce the costs of offshore wind, avoiding expenses associated with building on seabed foundations and allowing turbine repairs to occur in port rather than on the water. “Floating wind turbines will allow us to exploit more of our wind resource, potentially more cheaply,” Davey said.
20 Apr 2012:
Solar-Powered ATM Machines
Expand Banking Options in Rural India
For many villagers in rural areas of India, personal banking comes at a high cost. In addition to the expense of traveling to the nearest branch, often in distant cities, they must often forego a day’s work. Vortex Engineering, a start-up incubated at Chennai’s Indian Institute of Technology, has come up with a solution that not only saves rural Indians the day’s hassle but cuts down on energy use. Combining solar panels with innovative mechanical design requiring far less power, Vortex’s ATMs are capable of running on about 10 percent of the energy used by conventional machines. And because the low-power design produces very little heat of its own, the “Gramateller” — “gram” is Hindi for “village” — functions as well in the heat of a Rajasthani June as in the snowy winters of the hill station Nanital. To date, 450 Gramatellers have been installed, most in small towns between 30 and 60 kilometers from bank headquarters. Vortex officials say 10,000 more are slated to be in place within the next two years.
19 Apr 2012:
151 Planned Dams Threatens
Balance of Andean Amazon, Study Says
A new study warns that 151 hydroelectric dams planned along six major rivers in the Amazon basin over the next two decades, including dozens of so-called mega-dams, could significantly disrupt the region’s ecological connectivity. Writing in the online journal PLoS ONE, researchers say 60 percent of the dams currently being planned would cause the first major break in river connectivity between the Andean headwaters and the lowland Amazon, possibly threatening the free flow of several Andean-Amazon rivers. The Andes provide most of the sediment, nutrients, and organic matter to the vast, species-rich Amazonian floodplain. The study also found the majority of the projects would increase forest loss because of new roads and transmission lines. “There appears to be no strategic planning regarding possible consequences to the disruption of an ecological connection that has existed for millions of years,” said Matt Finer of the Center for International Environmental Law and the study's lead author.19 Apr 2012:
U.S.-Based First Solar to
Close German Factory, Lay Off 2,000
First Solar, Inc., the U.S.’s biggest solar manufacturer, will lay off 2,000 workers and close its German factory, citing what the company called fundamental changes to the industry and “deteriorating market conditions” in Europe. The Arizona-based company, which had been the world’s leading manufacturer of photovoltaic panels until 2010, has been staggered by declining demand in Europe as the economy continues to struggle, as well as lower government subsidies and the influx of cheaper panels from China into the global market. According to PV Insights, the onetime global leader in photovoltaic panels was eclipsed by China-based Suntech two years ago. The layoff represents about 30 percent of First Solar’s workforce. “After a period of robust growth, First Solar is scaled to operate at higher volumes than currently exist following the reduction of subsidies in key legacy markets,” interim chief executive Mike Ahearn said in a statement. A new report by GTM Research said that the non-silicon thin film technologies used by First Solar accounted for only 11 percent of global solar panel production in 2011, down from 18 percent in 2009, partly because of dropping silicon prices.
18 Apr 2012:
Destructive Emerald Ash Borer
Edges Closer to New England Forests
The emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle that has destroyed millions of ash trees from the U.S. Midwest to western New York over the last decade, has been found east of the Hudson River for the first time, the closest the pest has comes to the forests of New England. New York environmental officials, who have undertaken an aggressive research and control campaign across 225 square miles since the pest was first found in New York state in 2009, say they found small infestations of the beetle in three “trap” trees east of the Hudson last month. Fortunately, they told the Associated Press, the colony was discovered less than a year after it was established, making it easier to curb the beetles’ spread. Typically, the beetle larvae tunnel under the bark and kill trees before foresters know the trees have been infested. While the main population of the beetle, which originated in China, has been moving toward the northeastern U.S. at a pace of about 2 to 3 miles per year since the beetle was first found near Detroit in 2002, smaller colonies have been leapfrogging ahead, most likely in truckloads of logs or firewood. 18 Apr 2012:
Majority of Americans Link
Extreme Weather and Climate Change
More than two-thirds of U.S. adults believe global warming made several recent extreme weather events even worse, according to a new survey. According to the report, released by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communications and George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication, 82 percent of respondents said they had experienced one or more types of extreme weather events in the last year, and 35 percent said they were personally harmed either a great deal or moderately. In the case of several high-profile weather events, a majority of respondents believe that climate change exacerbated the events, including unusually high temperatures during the past winter (72 percent), record-high temperatures last summer (70 percent), the 2011 droughts in Texas and Oklahoma (69 percent), and the Mississippi River floods during the spring of 2011 (63 percent). “Americans may be starting to ‘internalize’ climate change,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.17 Apr 2012:
New Solar Panel System
Could Double as a Tinted Window
A German startup has developed a new type of lightweight solar panel its developers say can be integrated into the design of buildings and even used in electricity-producing tinted windows. Designed by Dresden-based Heliatek, the technology utilizes small, organic molecules in the production of the solar cells. While such organic solar cells have become commonplace, this technology uses molecules called oligomers. They are more stable than the commonly used polymers, which developers say will make the cells more efficient and longer-lived. Because they are lighter and have greater flexibility than most panels, the company hopes they can be integrated into building construction as a cheaper alternative to mounted panels, according to MIT’s Technology Review. The company also is working with a manufacturer to use the semi-transparent panels as windows.16 Apr 2012:
Waterless Fracking Technology
May Be Used at New York Shale Gas Site
A planned shale gas drilling project in New York state would utilize a waterless form of hydraulic fracturing, a new technique designed to reduce the potential pollution associated with the controversial natural gas drilling process. Rather than using typical hydraulic fracturing technologies — in which a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals is pumped into deep shale formations to extract trapped natural gas reserves — developers of a site in Tioga County, N.Y. hope to utilize a technology that 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. According to its developers, Calgary-based GasFrac Energy Services, the gel also does not carry back to the surface the chemicals used in the drilling. While the plans are still being reviewed by state officials, if approved it would avert the state’s moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which was imposed in 2010 after environmentalists expressed concerns that the drilling process poses a threat to regional water supplies.16 Apr 2012:
Glaciers in Asian Range
Are Gaining Ice, Study Says
A new study has found that a series of glaciers located in a mountain range along the rim of the Tibetan plateau may actually be gaining mass, in contrast to global trends. In an analysis of satellite data, a team of French researchers found that numerous glaciers in the Karakoram mountain range, which straddles China’s border with India and Pakistan, increased in ice thickness from 1999 to 2008. While it is unclear why glaciers in this mountain range are getting thicker as most of the planet’s glaciers are losing ice, recent studies suggest that the region’s climate has actually cooled; from 1961 to 2000, weather stations recorded increases in winter precipitation and lower summer temperatures. Otherwise, “we have no idea what’s behind the odd behavior of these glaciers, or when it started,” said Julie Gardelle, a glaciologist at the University of Grenoble in France and lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience.13 Apr 2012:
Lack of Sound U.S. Policies
Threatens Clean Energy Lead, Report Says
A new report says that a surge in wind and solar power pushed the U.S. past China in renewable energy investment in 2011, but predicts that the U.S. edge could be short-lived in the absence of consistent, long-term policies to promote clean energy. According to the report published by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the U.S. invested more than $48 billion in clean energy sector last year — up from $34 billion in 2010 — to move past China, which invested about $45.5 billion. But that surge in U.S. investment was largely driven by developers racing to complete projects before renewable energy incentives expire, the authors of the report said. A U.S. tax break for wind energy projects will lapse in 2012. In China, meanwhile, government officials have set a target of installing 160 gigawatts of wind power and 50 gigawatts of solar power by 2020. “China is sending that important policy signal which the United States is failing to do to investors,” Phyllis Cuttino, Pew’s clean energy director told Bloomberg News. “Even though China has fallen to number two, it seems as thought investment there is going to continue at a very significant level for the foreseeable future.” 13 Apr 2012:
Wind Farms Little Threat
To Most Bird Species, New Study Says
A new study has found that wind farms do not have long-term detrimental effects on most bird species, but that populations of some species can decline during site construction. In a long-term analysis of breeding and population trends for 10 bird species at 18 wind farms
ABC
12 Apr 2012:
Drilling of Arctic Could Pose
Ecological Risks, Lloyd’s Report Warns
A new report by Lloyd’s of London, the world’s largest specialist insurance market, warns that rapid development of Arctic oil resources threatens to cause huge ecological damage without strict oversight and appropriate risk management. The report, Arctic Opening: Opportunity and Risk in the High North, projects that as much as $100 billion ((£63 billion) will be invested in the Arctic region over the next decade as the melting of sea ice opens up vast areas to oil and gas exploration and creates new shipping routes. And while this phenomenon will create significant business opportunities, the report says it is “highly likely” that it will also further disturb ecosystems already stressed by climate change and create risks associated with oil spills, particularly in ice-covered areas. “The resilience of the Arctic’s ecosystems in terms of withstanding risk events is weak, and political sensitivity to a disaster is high,” a summary of the report on the Lloyd’s Web site says. “As a result, companies operating in the Arctic face significant reputational risk.”12 Apr 2012:
Doctors’ Group Urges Caution
On Growing Use of Wireless Technology
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine is calling for increased study and expanded public education of the possible health effects of the growing use of cell phones and wireless technology. In a position paper on the issue, the academy said that effects of electromagnetic fields and radiofrequency fields “have not been adequately studied and are not fully understood regarding human health... In an era when all of society relies on the benefits of electronics, we must find ideas and technologies that do not disturb bodily function.” Among its recommendations, the academy called for “immediate caution” on installation of smart meters because of their potentially harmful radiofrequency exposure; research into the cumulative health effects of the “electrical environmental bombardment” of society; and the use of safer technologies, such as hard wiring or fiber optics where possible. The academy said that “multiple studies correlate RF (radiofrequency) exposure with diseases such as cancer, neurological disease, reproductive disorders, immune dysfunction, and electromagnetic hypersensitivity” — a claim that is contested by the cellphone industry and other medical experts.11 Apr 2012:
Warming Boosts Plant Growth,
Then Causes Long-Term Decline, Study Says
A new study has found that some plant systems may thrive initially in a warmer climate but then deteriorate over the long term. During a decade-long study, researchers from Northern Arizona University (NAU) transplanted four grassland ecosystems from higher to lower elevations to simulate a warming climate, and also introduced a range of predicted precipitation changes. After observing a boost in plant growth during the first year, the researchers say the positive effects of warming diminished over the next nine years before ceasing altogether. According to their study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, exposure to warmer temperatures over several years caused the loss of some native species and encroachment of alien species better adapted to warmer environments. And while the ecosystems cycled nitrogen more rapidly, much of the nitrogen did not boost plant growth but rather was converted to nitrogen gases or leached out by rainfall.11 Apr 2012:
NASA Biofuel Algae
Grown Inside Floating Plastic Bags
NASA has developed a system capable of growing large amounts of algae for biofuel production within a network of floating plastic bags, an innovation its developers say could ultimately produce a new fuel source. By pumping wastewater and carbon dioxide into four nine-meter plastic bags at a demonstration plant in California, researchers have shown that the system can grow enough algae to produce nearly 2,000 gallons of fuel per year under ideal conditions, according to a report in MIT’s Technology Review. If built near wastewater plants, the technology would overcome two of the challenges associated with large-scale algae biofarms — access to huge amounts of fertilizer and large areas of land. One significant challenge, however, is that the technology currently would require an enormous amount of plastic. For instance, a scenario capable of producing 2.4 million gallons of algae per year would also require five square kilometers of plastic bags, which would likely have to be replaced annually.10 Apr 2012:
Loss of Large Predators
Altering Forest Ecosystems, Study Says
A new study has found that the decline in large predators, particularly wolves, in forest systems across the Northern Hemisphere has triggered major ecosystem disruptions and loss of biodiversity. In a survey of 42 
iStock
10 Apr 2012:
Natural Gas Drilling
Causes Sizeable Methane Leaks, Study Says
A new study says that methane leaks from natural gas drilling, particularly hydraulic fracturing, are likely higher than previously estimated and concludes that converting vehicles from gasoline to compressed natural gas will actually produce more greenhouse gas emissions unless methane leaks are significantly reduced. The study, authored by scientists from the Environmental Defense Fund and several universities, says that replacing coal-fired power plants with natural gas-fired power plants does lead to a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, though not as steep a drop as gas industry advocates contend. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examines the “technology warming potentials” of different fossil fuels and concludes that better research needs to be undertaken to determine exactly how much methane — a far more potent but shorter-lived greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide — leaks during the cycle of natural gas drilling and transport. The U.S. government has estimated the leakage rate at 2.4 percent, but some studies suggest it is higher.
Interview: Ma Jun on Social Media
And Cleaning Up China’s Dirty Air
One of China’s best-known environmentalists, Ma Jun, recently played an important role in the successful effort to force the government to more strictly monitor air 
Getty Images
Ma Jun
Read the interview
09 Apr 2012:
California Might Reap Billions
Of Dollars From Cap-and-Trade Auctions
The state of California stands to raise billions of dollars annually — and as much as $14 billion a year by 2015 — after it launches its ambitious carbon cap-and-trade system later this year. According to a report by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, the auctioning of CO2 pollution credits, which will begin this fall, could raise $1 billion to $3 billion in 2012 and 2013, and jump to $14 billion within three years. By comparison, the current state budget deficit is $9 billion. State officials say, however, that they will be limited to spending the funds on projects related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, several business and taxpayer groups are preparing lawsuits to kill the system altogether. The auctions are part of the state’s ambitious Global Warming Solutions Act, passed in 2006, which commits the state to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Beginning this year, the law allows companies to bid for emissions allowances.09 Apr 2012:
Algae Biofuel Startup
Is Expanding Operations in New Mexico
A U.S. startup says it has raised enough funding to significantly expand what it calls the world’s first commercial-scale algae biofuel farm, a 300-acre project its developers say could produce 1.5 million gallons of algae-based crude oil by 2014. Sapphire Energy, which so far has received more than $300 million — including U.S. government funding — to develop its technology, has already begun building the plant in New Mexico. While many consider algae-based oil a promising fuel alternative since it can produce large amounts of oil without consuming fresh water supplies or farmland, the technology has not been shown to work on a commercial scale because of costs. Sapphire Energy hopes that by reducing the production costs at every stage of the process — from construction of the algae ponds to harvesting — it will be able to produce a product that’s competitive with oil priced at $85 per barrel within six years. Recent studies by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that the larger-scale production of algae-based diesel through scaled-up versions of existing technology would cost several times more than conventional diesel.06 Apr 2012:
Natural Wastewater Treatment
Gains Favor in Nepal, With Nearly 30 Plants
Wastewater managers in Nepal are increasingly turning to natural, decentralized wastewater treatment to prevent the mass discharge of raw sewage into urban water bodies and rivers. Almost 30 systems have been constructed in the last 15 years, and recent efforts to institutionalize decentralized treatment may see these numbers rise. The pervasive plant design in Nepal is a constructed wetland — a shallow bed of gravel, stone, and specialized reeds that filter contaminants. Some of the treated wastewater is reused for toilet flushing, and the dried sludge applied as fertilizer on land. More recently, biogas reactors affixed to treatment plants have provided additional energy recovery. The plants can serve communities of up to 2,000 people. Experts with the Asian Development Bank say decentralized systems are well suited for developing countries that often cannot afford larger, centralized sewage treatment plants, but note that the natural treatment wetlands require sizeable amounts of land and may not be suitable for densely populated urban areas.
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05 Apr 2012:
New iPad App Will Help
Mariners Avert Right Whale Collisions
A coalition of conservation groups has created an iPad/iPhone app capable of warning mariners when they are approaching areas of high risk for collision with endangered North Atlantic right whales. The so-called Whale Alert app, which is available for free
download, sends the latest information on right whale detections and relevant management advisories to the mariners’ devices. One feature links near real-time acoustic buoys that listen for right whale calls to the mobile devices. Theoretically, mariners will be able to slow down or alter course when whales are detected. Developers of the technology hope the system will prevent fatal collisions between vessels and right whales, which are vulnerable to being struck by ships because they live near shore, feed near the surface, and are slow swimmers. Scientists say populations of the species have dropped to between 350 and 550.
05 Apr 2012:
End of Last Ice Age
Driven by Surge in CO2, Study Says
Large releases of carbon dioxide, primarily from oceans in the Southern Hemisphere, were the main factor in ending the last Ice Age, according to a study that confirms the key role of CO2 in warming the planet. Researchers from Harvard and Oregon State University collected 80 samples from ice and sea sediment cores to reconstruct CO2 and temperature levels as the last Ice Age ended beginning about 20,000 years ago. Previously, ice cores from Antarctica showed temperatures rising on that continent before CO2 levels started to climb, leading global warming skeptics to contend that CO2 was not the main driver of warming. But the new study, published in Nature, says that Antarctica was an anomaly and that the global ice and sediment cores unequivocally show that CO2 rose first, which then sparked temperature increases of 6 degrees F. The initial trigger to the end of the Ice Age was a change in the tilt of the Earth’s axis, which warmed land masses in the Northern Hemisphere and melted Arctic Ice, releasing huge amounts of cold, fresh water that changed global ocean circulation. That in turn warmed the Southern Hemisphere, which melted sea and terrestrial ice there, releasing CO2 trapped under the ocean and land, the study said.
04 Apr 2012:
Model Shows Debris Field
In Pacific From Japanese Tsunami
A new animation developed by researchers at the University of Hawaii’s International Pacific Research Center illustrates the likely path of the spreading field of debris caused by retreating waves from last year’s gigantic tsunami in Japan. The model —
based on satellite data and a network of scientific buoys showing sea surface height, ocean surface winds, and ocean currents — shows that debris swept into the Pacific by the event now likely stretches across an area covering 5,000 kilometers by 2,000 kilometers. Much of the debris was initially pulled by the strong Kuroshio Current, which travels past eastern Japan before shifting east and then into the North Pacific Current. The Japanese government estimates about 5 million tons of debris was pulled into the ocean; about 70 percent sank to the seafloor, with about 1.5 million tons still floating.
04 Apr 2012:
Cracking of Matterhorn
Is Linked to Warming Climate
An increase in glacial meltwater atop the Matterhorn is causing large pieces of rock to tumble from the iconic Alpine mountain, a new study has found. Using a series of monitoring devices on 17 areas, researchers from the University of Zurich found that an increasing amount of water has penetrated exposed cracks and fissures on the 14,690-foot mountain, which straddles the Swiss-Italian border. During subsequent cycles of freezing and thawing, that water is triggering subtle movements beneath the rock surface, causing wider fissures. “There has been a big increase in the number of rock falls in the past decade that can’t be explained simply by the fact that we’re looking out for them more now,” Stephan Gruber, lead author of the study, told The Independent. The findings, he said, may suggest that similar processes are occurring at the same altitude elsewhere in the Alps. The study, which was initiated after a massive rock fall from the mountain in 2003, is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.03 Apr 2012:
Weed Killer Can Alter
Shape of Amphibians, Study Says
A new study has found that exposure to the popular weed killer Roundup can alter the morphology of some amphibian species, triggering unexpected changes in body shape of young tadpoles. In a series of tests conducted in large outdoor tanks that mimicked wetland ecosystems, scientists at the University of Pittsburgh found that tadpoles exposed to caged predators developed larger tails — an expected adaptation to help the amphibians better escape the predators. But to their surprise, they found that exposure to Roundup, an herbicide produced by biotech giant Monsanto, induced the same change in two species of amphibians, and that exposure to a combination of the pesticide and predators caused the tadpoles’ tails to grow twice as large as normal. Since tadpoles alter their body shapes to match their environment, the scientists say an exaggerated adaptation that does not fit the environment could put a species at a disadvantage. The study was published in the journal Ecological Applications.03 Apr 2012:
UK Revives £1 Billion Contest
To Boost Carbon Capture Sector
The UK has re-launched a £1 billion ($1.6 billion) competition to promote the large-scale adoption of carbon-capture technology, an investment that government officials hope will make the UK a global leader in the emerging low-carbon energy sector. Launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the program will offer funding for the development of one or more plants capable of removing carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants and storing them underground. While some call such carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology a potentially critical part of reducing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, the sector remains unproven and costly at a large scale. Ed Davey, secretary of the DECC, predicted the sector could be worth £6.5 billion annually to the UK by the end of the 2020s and become operational at 12 to 20 large power plants, producing up to 30 gigawatts of power. An earlier CCS competition in the UK faltered when the final bidder withdrew because of disagreements over government funding.02 Apr 2012:
Some Corals More Resilient
To Increased Acidification, Study Shows
Some coral species may be better able to cope with the increasingly acidic condition of the world’s oceans than previously believed, a new study says. Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, an international team of scientists describes an internal mechanism by which many coral species are able to buffer against the rising pH levels and still form healthy skeletons. According to the scientists, coral species with skeletons made of aragonite — including the well-known Porites and Acropora corals — contain molecular “pumps” that enable them to regulate internal acid balance. Corals that form calcite skeletons, however, do not have this mechanism. Also, the researchers found that coralline algae — which they describe as the “glue” that holds coral reefs together — remain vulnerable to ocean acidification. In another study, scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have documented how temperatures in the upper regions of the world’s oceans have increased by an average of .59 degrees F (.33 degrees C) over the last 140 years, with the greatest temperature increases occurring at surface levels, where temperatures rose by an average of 1.1 degrees F.30 Mar 2012:
Scientists Clone Elm Trees
That Survived Dutch Elm Outbreaks
Scientists say they have successfully cloned American elm trees that survived epidemics of Dutch elm disease, a fungal infection that has decimated the iconic tree species across eastern Canada and the U.S. Using tissue 
©Mike Rollinger/Flickr
30 Mar 2012:
Scientists Unlock Mystery
Of Where CO2 Was Hidden During Ice Ages
The question of why atmospheric concentrations of CO2 fall during ice ages, and where that CO2 is stored, seems to have been answered by Swiss and German scientists. Using a new method of measuring isotopes in CO2 trapped in Antarctic ice cores, the scientists determined that in periods of global cooling, the oceans absorb more CO2 and store it deep underwater. As the Earth warms because the tilt of its axis enables it to absorb more energy from the sun, changes in ocean circulation transport CO2 from the deep sea to the surface, where it is released into the atmosphere. The Swiss and German scientists were able to determine through an isotopic “CO2 fingerprint” that the released carbon dioxide came from the deep ocean. The research, published in Science, holds important lessons for climate science today, since atmospheric concentrations of CO2 — now close to 400 parts-per-million — are higher than they have been in 800,000 years and are warming the planet. Since warmer oceans absorb less CO2 than colder oceans, the mechanism of deep-sea storage of CO2 could be disrupted, further increasing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.29 Mar 2012:
Shell’s Spill Response Plan
For the Beaufort Sea Is Approved by U.S.
The U.S. Department of the Interior has approved Shell Oil’s plan to respond to an oil spill in the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea, clearing the way for exploratory drilling this summer. The decision follows similar U.S. government approval for a spill response plan in the Chukchi Sea, and Shell said that separate exploratory drilling ships will begin working in the two seas off Alaska when ice melts this summer. Shell’s response plan calls for the exploratory vessels to be accompanied by more than a dozen ships that will carry oil-soaking skimmers and booms, as well as a capping stack that could be lowered into the ocean to control a blowout. The Interior Department estimates that 26.6 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion feet of natural gas lie under the continental shelf off Alaska. But environmental groups criticized the Interior Department for approving Shell’s spill response plans, saying there is no viable way to clean up an oil spill in the extreme, icy conditions of the Arctic Ocean.29 Mar 2012:
New Microbial Fuel Cell
Converts Raw Sewage into Electricity
U.S. scientists have developed a fuel cell capable of converting 13 percent of the energy found in sewage into electricity, a process that its developers say could also more efficiently treat municipal wastewater. In a report released at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute describe a so-called microbial fuel cell that uses naturally existing microbes that produce electrons and protons as they metabolize the organic waste. The electrons are collected by an anode in one container, while the protons pass through a permeable membrane to a cathode in a separate container; the voltage between the electrodes produces an electric current. The process is also capable of removing about 97 percent of the organic matter, the scientists say. While that would not be clean enough for re-use as drinking water, the researchers say the results suggest the technology could one day emerge a wastewater treatment alternative. Treatment of wastewater and sewage currently consumes about 2 percent of the U.S. energy supply, at a cost of about $25 billion annually.28 Mar 2012:
Fracking of Shale May Impair
Carbon Storage Projects, Study Says
The fracturing of shale rock formations associated with the drilling process known as fracking might undermine future attempts to store carbon dioxide underground, according to a new study. While many have called carbon storage a promising solution to reducing atmospheric levels of greenhouse gas emissions — by essentially pumping captured CO2 into deep, permeable geological formations — Princeton University researcher Michael Celia says that process would only work if there is a layer of impermeable caprock to prevent the CO2 from escaping. But according to his study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, about 80 percent of the U.S. areas suited for carbon storage overlap with regions of potential shale-gas production. The hydraulic fracturing of those shale-gas areas involves blasting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals deep underground to shatter the shale formations and free the natural gas trapped within. While it is unclear how much of the potential storage volume would be lost, shale gas drilling could “significantly affect” the sequestration capacity for carbon storage operations, the study said. 28 Mar 2012:
Brazil Policies Helped Drive
Decline in Deforestation, Report Says
Brazilian conservation policies were responsible for about half of the 70 percent decline in deforestation within the Amazon rainforest from 2005 to 2009, according to a new study. In an analysis conducted by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), researchers found that a series of government policies — including stricter monitoring and enforcement of land use laws, the expansion of protected areas, and stronger incentives for local governments to meet environmental standards — helped prevent the clearing of nearly 24,000 square miles (62,000 square kilometers) of forest and avoided 620 million tons of carbon emissions that would have otherwise occurred during that period, Mongabay reports. Those policies — which included the creation of blacklists for municipalities with high deforestation rates — were enacted following a spike in deforestation in 2004, when a record 10,425 square miles were cleared. The study found that falling agricultural prices also slowed deforestation rates.27 Mar 2012:
Common Herbicide a Threat
To Great Barrier Reef, Report Says
A popular herbicide used widely in coastal regions of Australia has been found at dangerous levels in the Great Barrier Reef, posing a toxic threat to the world’s largest coral reef system. The chemical Diuron, which is used largely by sugar cane farmers along the Queensland coast, was found at levels 55 times higher than safety standards in creeks that drain into the reef, and at levels 100 times the safe standards in the reef itself, according to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund. After a decade-long review, the Australian government on Tuesday announced it would continue a suspension of the chemical except in the country's tropical regions. A decision on a permanent ban will be made by November, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority said. In a recent report, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority called a decline in the quality of water in catchment areas one of the greatest threats facing the reef. Nick Heath, the WWF freshwater and reef coordinator, said the widespread use of the chemical and the length of time it persists in the environment pose a significant threat.27 Mar 2012:
New EPA Rules Will Limit
CO2 Emissions from Power Plants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to impose a limit on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants, a strict new regulation that could prevent conventional coal-fired power plants from being built. In new rules to be announced as soon as Tuesday, the EPA will require that new power plants generate no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of electricity produced. While the typical natural gas plant — which emits 800 to 859 pounds of CO2 per megawatt — would meet the new requirement, coal plants, with an average of 1,768 pounds of CO2 per megawatt, would fail to meet the standard, according to the Washington Post. The rules would exempt coal plants that are already permitted and scheduled to begin construction within a year. About 20 additional projects are seeking permits, two of which would meet the new standard because they would employ pollution control technologies. Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, hailed the rule, saying the it marked the “end of an era” during which coal has provided about 40 percent of U.S. electricity.26 Mar 2012:
Auction of Ivory in China
Spurring Illegal Market, Report Says
A new report says that the illegal trade in ivory has risen sharply in China in recent years, with nearly 90 percent of the ivory purchased at “legal” auctions obtained from illegal sources. According to the report, published by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a decision by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to allow legal auctions of ivory stockpiles in Asia has not only failed to stem the poaching of elephants but stimulated an illegal ivory market. While the international trade in ivory was banned in 1989, closely regulated auctions were approved on the premise that they would undercut the illegal market. According to the EIA, these approved auctions have instead encouraged the illegal market and the continuing slaughter of elephants, particularly in central and western Africa. The report says the Chinese government has not only failed to eradicate the black market, but has profited from it. Since January 2011, more than 30 tons of ivory have been seized, representing more than 3,000 dead elephants. 26 Mar 2012:
Denmark Aims to Achieve
35 Percent Green Energy by 2020
The Danish government has approved a series of goals to significantly reduce its carbon emissions and increase its use of green energy by 2020, an “ambitious green transition” officials say will affect all levels of society. The agreement, which was approved by parliament last week, targets cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, and reducing gross energy consumption by 12 percent compared with 2006 levels. By 2020, Denmark plans to obtain 35 percent of its energy from renewable sources and 50 percent of its electricity from wind power. To achieve these goals, the agreement calls for improvements to Denmark’s smart grid, the retrofitting of buildings, expansion of biogas, and increased use of electricity and biomass for the transportation sector. “This will prepare us for a future with increasing prices for oil and coal,” Martin Lidegaard, Denmark’s minister for Climate, Energy and Building, told the Guardian. The Danish government has set a target to meet all of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2050. 23 Mar 2012:
Google Street View Offers
Virtual Tour of Amazon Basin
Google this week expanded its popular Street View feature to the forests of the Amazon basin, posting more than 50,000 photos that allow online users a virtual tour of the world’s largest tropical region. The photos, taken last summer in the Rio Negro Reserve, provide a panoramic view of tropical forest trails and village pathways — and a “virtual board ride” down the Rio Negro. Like many areas of the Amazon, the Rio Negro Reserve is under strict government control and has restricted access to the public, Amazon project leader Karin Tuxen-Bettman wrote on the Google blog. “We’re thrilled to help everyone from researchers and scientists to armchair explorers around the world learn more about the Amazon, and better understand how local communities there are working to preserve this unique environment for future generations,” she wrote. The project is part of a Google partnership with the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation.
23 Mar 2012:
Australian Mammal Extinctions
Tied to Human Hunting, Not Climate Change
The disappearance roughly 40,000 years ago of dozens of large mammals in Australia — including rhinoceros-sized wombats and tapir-like marsupials — was caused by human hunting and not by climate change, according to a new study by Australian scientists. 
©Science/AAAS/Drawing by Peter Murray
Diprotodon optatum
22 Mar 2012:
India’s Wind Energy Potential
30 Times Greater Than Believed, Study Says
A new report says that the wind energy potential in India may be 30 times greater than previous government estimates, a finding that the authors say could provide a critical solution for a country facing chronic electricity shortages. In an analysis of land actually suitable to wind power development, researchers from the U.S. Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found a potential for 2,006 megawatts of energy with the deployment of 80-meter (262 feet) turbines and 3,121 gigawatts using 120-meter (393 feet) turbines. The Indian government had previously estimated that the nation’s on-land wind energy potential was 102 gigawatts. Improved turbine efficiency and the inclusion of a wider area of land suitable for wind energy development contributed to the significantly higher estimates. “The main importance of this study, why it’s groundbreaking, is that wind is one of the most cost-effective and mature renewable energy sources commercially available in India, with an installed capacity of 15 gigawatts and rising rapidly,” said Amol Phadke, lead author of the report.22 Mar 2012:
Beekeepers Urge U.S. Ban
On Pesticide Toxic to Honeybees
A coalition of commercial beekeepers and environmental groups is urging U.S. regulators to suspend the use of a pesticide they say may be contributing to a sharp decline in honeybee populations. In a petition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the group called for a ban on clothianidin, which belongs to a class of chemicals that disrupts the central nervous system of insects. Some researchers say the chemicals — known as neonicotinoids — make the insects more vulnerable to pathogens by weakening their immune systems and could be a factor in so-called “colony collapse disorder,” a mysterious phenomenon that has taken a heavy toll on U.S. honeybee populations since 2006. The EPA granted a conditional registration for clothianidin in 2003, contingent upon further field studies to confirm that the chemicals did not cause “unreasonable adverse effects” on pollinators. While clothianidin is toxic to honeybees, EPA officials say there is no proven link between the chemical and colony collapse disorder.21 Mar 2012:
Proposed UK Plant Would
Capture 90 Percent of CO2 Emissions
A U.S.-led consortium has announced plans to build a new coal plant in Scotland that it says will be able to capture 90 percent of its carbon emissions. The so-called Caledonia Clean Energy Project, which would be built near Edinburgh, is perhaps the most ambitious carbon capture and storage (CCS) proposal so far in the UK, where earlier projects have struggled to get off the ground. The proposal — which would be developed by the Seattle-based Summit Power Group — received qualified endorsements from some UK environmental groups, but is expected to meet resistance since current plans would use some of the captured CO2 to increase oil production near the North Sea. Summit Power is already developing a similar $450 million project in Texas. In the UK, several carbon-capture projects have been dropped in recent years, and last year the government scrapped plans to invest £1 billion in a full-scale pilot project. While carbon-capture technology is in its early stages — and remains cost-prohibitive on a commercial scale — advocates say it could become a critical option in reducing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere.
21 Mar 2012:
NASA Map Depicts Unusual
Warm Stretch Across Much of the U.S.
A new NASA map of temperature anomalies recorded across the U.S. in mid-March illustrates just how unusual the recent stretch of warm weather has been, particularly in Midwestern states where thousands of sites have reported record highs. The map, which depicts the difference between recent land surface temperatures and average temperatures during the same period from 2000 to 2011, shows that wide stretches of the region — including Wisconsin, Illinois, and the western Dakotas — have experienced temperatures roughly 15 degrees C (27 degrees F) warmer than the recent baseline. In Chicago, where temperatures exceeded 26.6 degrees C (80 degrees F) every day from March 14 to 18, the warm conditions have caused vegetation to emerge four to six weeks earlier than usual. The recent weather, attributed to a huge high-pressure system across the eastern U.S., has also shattered high temperature records along the U.S. East Coast and in Canada.
20 Mar 2012:
Local Fisheries Management
Helps Prevent Overfishing, Study Says
A new study says that co-management of fisheries at the local level is an effective strategy for curbing overfishing and preserving the world’s dwindling marine resources. In an analysis of 42 coral reef sites where the fisheries are managed by a partnership of local governments, conservation groups, and fishers, an international team of scientists found that co-management has been largely successful in sustaining fisheries and improving livelihoods. According to their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, more than half of the fishers surveyed said the strategy was “positive” for their livelihoods (compared with 9 percent who said it has a “negative” effect), and co-managed reefs were half as likely to be heavily overfished. But if the sites are located near large markets, the study said, the fisheries are far more likely to be overharvested. The researchers studied local fisheries in Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.
At MIT Energy Conference,
Innovators Make the Case for Renewables
MIT’s annual Energy Conference, held last Friday and Saturday, featured an impressive array of young engineers, scientists, and renewable energy entrepreneurs. It also included a sizeable number of more established players in the energy field. And the question left hanging at the end of the conference was whether this group of inventors and dreamers could innovate fast enough, and create green energy cheaply enough, to prove wrong the forecasts of the establishment that the world is going to continue to burn fossil fuels for a long time to come. Daniel Nocera, professor of chemistry at MIT and a founder of Sun Catalytix — a company attempting to mimic photosynthesis to create and store energy — set the tone for the conference when he told students and researchers that if they really want to help pave the way to a renewable energy economy, then “do your job, which is discovery.”Read more
19 Mar 2012:
U.S. Startup Develops Process
To Convert Plastic Waste into Oil
A U.S. startup company says it has developed a technology to convert plastic waste into a highly refined, low-sulphur oil, an innovation company officials say could provide a domestic source of fuel and keep untold amounts of plastic out of landfills. Developed by New York-based JBI Inc., the Plastic2Oil system melts up to 4,000 pounds of plastic waste per hour, producing a liquid stream that is then vaporized in a process that rearranges the materials’ hydrocarbon chains, capturing about 86 percent of the hydrocarbon content. Ultimately, the process produces a fuel that can be used in diesel engines, ship engines, and power plants. “When there have been attempts in the past to make fuel from plastic, it’s been low-quality, low-flashpoint, kind of sludgy,” John Bordynuik, the company’s founder, told NPR. “In this case, we’re making a very highly refined, consistent product that's within specifications of any standardized fuel.” The company says it has signed deals to work with companies that generate significant amounts of plastic waste. 19 Mar 2012:
U.S. Monarch Butterfly Decline
May Be Linked to GM Crop Use, Study Says
A new study suggests that the increased use of genetically modified (GM) crops across the Midwestern U.S. may be causing a decline in monarch butterfly populations. From 1999 to 2010, a period when GM crops became 
Wikimedia Commons
A monarch butterfly
16 Mar 2012:
Plants Exposed to Drought
Adapt Response to Dry Conditions
Plants that have endured drought conditions are able to “remember” the stress of dehydration and to adapt responses to future dry conditions, a new study says. Working with Arabidopsis, a member of the mustard family, scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that plants for which water was withheld over an extended period recovered more quickly to dry conditions than plants that had not experienced dehydration stress. Specifically, they found that “trained” plants respond to subsequent dehydration by increasing the transcription of a certain subset of genes. “All of this is driven by events at the molecular level,” said Zoya Avramova, a plant molecular biologist. “We demonstrate that this transcriptional memory is associated with chromatin changes that seem to be involved in maintaining this memory.” According to the scientists, these findings could help in the development of more drought-resistant crops. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.16 Mar 2012:
Africa Could Produce
More E-Waste Than Europe by 2017
Africa, typically a dumping ground for electronic waste from other nations, could produce more e-waste than the European Union by 2017, experts say. Across Africa, a combination of population growth and increased access to mobile phones and other technology will produce a surge in e-waste over the next five years, Miranda Amachree of Nigeria’s National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency told reporters at the Pan-African Forum on E-Waste. While the continent has long received thousands of tons of waste for disposal from developing nations, a recent report by the UN Basel Convention found as much as 85 percent of Africa’s e-waste is now local. That report found that in five West African nations ten times as many people have personal computers as a decade ago, and 100 times as many people have cellphones. In those countries alone, as much as 1 million tons of domestic e-waste is now generated per year. Katharina Kummer Peiry, of the Basel Convention, said African nations must “move towards more formal recycling in order to ensure precious metals are properly extracted from, say, mobile phones.”
15 Mar 2012:
Unusual Pine Beetle Breeding
Could Explain Tree Epidemic, Study Says
A new study has found that some populations of mountain pine beetles are producing two generations of tree-killing offspring each year, a phenomenon that may help explain the scale of damage being done to vast tracts of lodgepole and ponderosa pines across western North America. After observing beetle behavior during the summer months, scientists from the University of Colorado, Boulder, were surprised to see that some beetles that had been hatched just two months earlier were already attacking trees. Typically the mountain pine beetles spend a winter as larvae within the trees before emerging as adults the following summer. According to the researchers, this extra generation could produce 60 times as many beetles devouring trees in a given year. Since the late-1990s, oubreaks of the mountain pine beetles — linked to warmer winters — have devastated more than 70,000 square miles of forest in western Canada and the U.S., the largest known outbreak in history. “This thing is immense,” said Jeffry Mitton, a CU-Boulder professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and lead author of the study published in The American Naturalist.15 Mar 2012:
Young People Showing
Less Interest in Green Issues, Study Says
A new study says that young people have become increasingly less interested in the environment and conservation issues over the last four decades. In an analysis of two longstanding surveys of U.S. high school seniors and college freshmen, researchers found that today’s generation of so-called Millennials are less likely to be concerned with the government or think about social problems, particularly related to environmental issues. According to their findings, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, only 21 percent of young people today say they find it important to become personally involved in efforts to clean up the environment, compared with about 33 percent of younger Baby Boomers and about 25 percent of Generation Xers, the group of Americans born between the early 1960s and the early 1980s. About 15 percent of Millennials said they had made no effort to help the environment, compared with 5 percent of young Boomers and 8 percent of Gen Xers. “We have the perception that we’re getting through to people. But at least compared to previous eras, we’re not,” said Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and an author of the study.14 Mar 2012:
China’s Wind Energy Capacity
Reached Record Levels in 2011
China installed a record 18,000 megawatts of new wind energy in 2011, boosting its total capacity to nearly 63,000 megawatts and widening its lead in the global wind energy sector, according to the Earth Policy Institute (EPI). The U.S., which was passed by China for total wind capacity, installed about 6,800 megawatts, increasing its total capacity to 47,000 megawatts, or enough to power 10 million homes. Worldwide, energy developers installed 41,000 megawatts of capacity during the year, increasing the global total to 283,000 megawatts — enough to provide electricity to 380 million people at European levels of consumption. China is expected to widen its lead as the global leader in wind energy, with a series of mega-complexes planned in the nation’s northern provinces that could boost total capacity to 140,000 megawatts by 2020, which would surpass the total global capacity at the end of 2008. However, many turbines now stand idle in remote parts of the country as upgrades to the electric grid and transmission lines lag behind turbine construction, according to EPI. As a result, Chinese regulators have capped the allowed new wind capacity at 15,000 to 20,000 megawatts.14 Mar 2012:
Rising Seas, Coastal Flooding
Threaten 3.7 Million in U.S., Study Says
Roughly 3.7 million Americans live within a few feet of high tide and will face more frequent coastal flooding in the coming decades as a result of steadily rising seas, according to new research. Using improved estimates of land elevation near coastlines and tidal levels
throughout the U.S., as well as 2010 census data, scientists at the non-profit group, Climate Central, calculated that the 3.7 million Americans living within 1 meter — 3.3 feet — of mean high tide level will soon regularly face the kind of coastal flooding that was once exceedingly rare. Should sea levels rise more than three feet this century, which a growing number of scientists say is possible, millions more Americans in coastal communities will face outright inundation or frequent flooding, according to Benjamin Strauss, a scientist who directs Climate Central’s program on sea level rise. “We have a closing window of time to prevent the worst by preparing for higher seas,” said Strauss. A new Climate Central Web site, Surgingseas.org, enables people in vulnerable U.S. states to click on an interactive map to see what kind of sea level rise their communities may face. The study is appearing in the journal, Environmental Research Letters.
13 Mar 2012:
Nitrates Pose Threat to
California Farming Region, Study Says
Nearly 10 percent of the people living in California’s most productive agricultural areas may be drinking water contaminated with nitrates, according to a new study. In an analysis of water quality in the Tulare Lake Basin and the Salinas Valley, a rural region of about 2.6 million people, researchers at the University of California, Davis found that one in ten people rely on drinking water containing levels of nitrates that exceed the 45 milligrams-per-liter state health standard. According to the study, the number of people affected could exceed 80 percent of the region’s population by 2050 without proper actions, which would include improving fertilizer management and water treatment. According to researchers, more than 95 percent of the nitrate contamination is related to agricultural activities, including organic and synthetic fertilizers. A separate report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that farming-caused water pollution costs taxpayers worldwide billions of dollars annually.13 Mar 2012:
Thinner Silicon Wafers
Could Cut Solar Cell Costs in Half
A U.S. company has developed a new manufacturing technique that it says could cut the cost of producing solar cells in half by producing silicon wafers that are about one-tenth as thick as conventional wafers. Twin Creeks Technologies, a San Jose-based company, says it can produce crystalline silicon wafers that are only 20 microns thin — or about one-fifth the thickness of a layer of paint — compared with the 200-micron wafers commonly used in solar cells. While the conventional technologies use diamond saws to cut blocks of silicon — a process that wastes about half of the silicon — the new process essentially embeds protons at a desired depth within a block of silicon and heats the protons so that they occupy more space. Eventually the company is able to crack off the thin, 20-micron wafers, after which they are affixed to a thin metal backing that makes them durable enough to withstand the rest of the production process. The company has raised $93 million in venture capital, some of which will be used to build a solar factory in Mississippi.
Interview: Finding Strategies
To Save World’s Coral Reefs
In her four decades as a marine biologist, Nancy Knowlton has played an important role in helping document the biodiversity of the planet’s coral reefs — and the threats they increasingly face. Knowlton, a
Christian Ziegler/Smithsonian
Nancy Knowlton
Read the interview
12 Mar 2012:
Scientists Use Ancient Gene
To Create Salt-Tolerant Wheat Variety
Australian scientists have crossed a popular variety of wheat with an ancient species, producing a salt-tolerant variety they say could help reduce food shortages in the world’s arid and semi-arid regions. Using a genetic variation that had been lost in plants due to domestication before it was rediscovered a decade ago, the researchers say they were able to boost yields of durum wheat by 25 percent in salty soils. The gene, which was isolated from an ancestral cousin of modern-day wheat, Triticum monococcum, is believed to help prevent salt from traveling up the plant’s shoots, where it can cause damage, lead researcher Matthew Gilliham of the University of Adelaide, told Reuters. “Salty soils are a major problem because if soldium starts to build up in the leaves it will affect important processes such as photosynthesis,” he said. The findings could have an important impact on wheat yields worldwide, where salinity already affects more than 20 percent of soils, Gilliham said. The study was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
12 Mar 2012:
Ice on U.S. Great Lakes
Has Decreased by 71 Percent Since 1973
The average amount of ice covering the U.S. Great Lakes has dropped by 71 percent over the past 40 winters, with ice coverage on the largest of the lakes, Superior, dropping by 79 percent, according to a report
from the American Meteorological Society. Researchers used satellite photographs and Coast Guard reports to document the decline of ice coverage in the Great Lakes from 1973 to 2010. The lake with the most precipitous loss of ice has been Lake Ontario, where ice coverage has fallen by 88 percent, according to the report, published in the Journal of Climate. The report does not include the current winter, which has been extraordinarily mild, resulting in only five percent of the Great Lakes’ surface being covered in ice. Lead researcher Jia Wang of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the large loss of ice could speed the evaporation of the lakes and accelerate shoreline erosion because of the increase in open water.
09 Mar 2012:
Some Shale Formations
Impervious To Fracking, CEO Says
Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson says that a drilling method that has made vast natural gas resources accessible across the U.S. has been unable to crack some shale rock formations in Europe and China. Speaking to energy analysts, Tillerson said two attempts to tap gas-rich shale fields in Poland through hydraulic fracturing techniques have been unsuccessful despite the use of high-pressure torrents of water and sand. The drilling technique, known as fracking, involves blasting a mix of water, sand, and chemicals deep underground to shatter shale formations and free natural gas trapped within. “Some of the shales don’t respond as well to hydraulic fracturing,” Tillerson told reporters, according to Bloomberg News. “It’s going to take research and time in the lab to understand that.” Tillerson said some shale formations in the U.S. have also been impervious to fracking, and that the company is studying whether the use of different fluids or pumping techniques will make a difference. The rapid spread of the drilling technique has caused increasing concern among environmentalists and some local residents, who contend it may pollute water supplies.09 Mar 2012:
Thoreau’s Notebooks Reveal
Details of Earlier Arrival of Spring
A comparison of detailed notes taken by naturalist Henry David Thoreau with current weather and flower-blooming data has enabled scientists to document the earlier arrival of spring in eastern Massachusetts over 
Henry David Thoreau
08 Mar 2012:
Herbicides May Be Lethal For
Endangered Butterfly Species, Study Says
Common herbicides used to maintain the habitat of the endangered Lange’s metalmark butterfly may actually pose a lethal threat to the species, according to a new study. In tests requested by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — which uses the herbicides to combat invasive plants inside a northern California wildlife refuge — scientists at Washington State University found that adult populations of the closely related Behr’s metalmark butterfly dropped by as much as one-third when their larvae were exposed to regular doses of three commonly used herbicides. For small populations, “any kind of reduction like that is going to be a problem,” said John Stark an ecotoxicologist and lead author of the study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution. The scientists could not use the Lange’s metalmarks for testing because of their endangered status. While more than 25,000 of the butterflies were believed to live in the dunes of Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge a century ago, the numbers dropped to 5,000 in the early 1970s and to as low as 45 in 2006. A critical threat facing the butterfly is the loss of the naked stem buckwheat plant, which has been increasingly overgrown by non-native plants, such as the ripgut brome, vetch and yellow starthistle.
Read the interview
08 Mar 2012:
New York Roof Study Shows
Drastic Cooling with White Surfaces
A New York City roof covered in a white synthetic membrane was on average 43 degrees F cooler than surrounding black tar and asphalt roofs during times of peak heat last summer, according to a study by scientists from Columbia University and NASA. On the 
CoolRoofs.org
07 Mar 2012:
India’s Tata Group
To Favor Green Energy Over Coal Plants
The power unit of the India-based Tata Group conglomerate has said it will favor solar and wind projects over coal-fired plants in future global energy investments, citing the increasing difficulty of developing coal projects. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Tata Power Executive Director S. Padmanabhan said coal shortages in India have limited production at coal-fired plants and environmental hurdles have made it “impossible” to pursue coal plants in the U.S. and Europe with any long-term certainty. “Why would anyone want to invest at this stage in a coal project?” he said. “Investment has stopped.” Investment in renewable plants, he said, make more sense because the investment is smaller, plants are built faster, and costs are more uniform. The Tata Group, which accounts for nearly 5 percent of India’s gross domestic product, this week made its first bid for overseas wind and solar farms in South Africa.07 Mar 2012:
U.S. Biotech Firm Plans
First Large-Scale Cellulosic Biofuel Plant
A U.S. biotechnology company is planning to build the nation’s first commercial-scale cellulosic biofuels plant in Mississippi, where it will be able to use wood chips and other plant matter as an alternative to corn in the production of ethanol. Virdia, a California-based company formerly known as HCL Cleantech, says it has raised $100 million in private and public funds to build the plant, which could go into production as soon as 2014. While the technology to convert woody biomass into cheap sugars that can then be made into ethanol and other specialty chemicals has long existed, the industry has never achieved commercial scale because of the economic and environmental costs associated with the process, including large amounts of salts left over at the end of the production. Virdia officials say they have developed a technology that recycles the hydrochloric acid used in the process, creating a system that is cheaper and cleaner. The company, which plans to sell its cellulosic sugars to fermentation companies, says the technology could make cellulosic sugars cost-competitive with sugars made from corn.
06 Mar 2012:
Campbell’s To Stop Using
the Chemical BPA in Lining of Soup Cans
Bowing to pressure from consumer and health advocacy groups, Campbell’s Soup Co. says it will stop using the synthetic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in the lining of its cans. The compound, which is found in thousands of 
06 Mar 2012:
Humans Carrying Seeds
Pose Threat to Antarctic Native Plants
The tens of thousands of tourists, scientists, and support personnel who visit Antarctica every year are carrying with them large numbers of seeds from alien plants that could one day pose a threat to Antarctica’s limited array of native plant species. A team of scientists vacuumed the clothes and luggage of 850 visitors to Antarctica during the 2007-2008 summer season, finding more than 2,600 stowaway seeds from other regions of the world, including the Arctic and the Alps. That season, 33,000 tourists and 7,000 scientists and support personnel visited Antarctica, carrying with them an estimated 70,000 seeds, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The Antarctic continent only has two native species of vascular plants (a hair grass and a pearl wort), and so far scientists have discovered no alien plant species that have taken hold there. The study noted, however, that invasive species such as dandelions have taken root on some sub-Antarctic islands, and that as Antarctica continues to warm, alien species could eventually begin growing on the continent proper.
05 Mar 2012:
U.S. to Invest $180 Million
In Innovative Offshore Wind Projects
The Obama Administration will invest $180 million in innovative offshore wind projects over the next six years as part of an initiative to promote a renewable energy sector that in the U.S. remains largely untapped. The 
Kim Hansen/Wikimedia Commons
05 Mar 2012:
Protected Mediterranean Reefs
Show a Large Gain in Biomass and Diversity
A study of rocky reefs in the Mediterranean Sea shows that those accorded the highest protection, with all fishing prohibited, not only had a greater abundance and diversity of fish, but also demonstrated robust ecosystem health all the way down to the level of marine algae. Enric Sala, a National Geographic explorer-in-residence and marine ecologist at the Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes in Spain, led a study of rocky reefs in numerous regions of the Mediterranean. The study found “remarkable variation in the structure of rocky reef ecosystems,” with a three-decade-old protected area off of Catalonia in Spain showing large numbers of predatory and other fish, while unprotected reefs off the Greek and Turkish coasts were “bare.” The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, found that that there was not a significant difference in ecological health between reefs that were partially protected, allowing some fishing and other activities, and those that had no protection at all. The conclusion, said Sala, is that to fully protect reefs and nurture biodiversity on them, “no take” fishing zones must be established and strictly enforced.02 Mar 2012:
Some Scandinavian Conifers
Survived the Last Ice Age, Study Says
A new study has found that some Scandinavian conifers were able to survive the harsh conditions of the last Ice Age, a finding that upends the long-held view that the region’s landscape was wiped clean by a massive blanket of ice. While scientists have long believed contemporary 
University of Copenhagen
A Scandinavian pine
02 Mar 2012:
Ocean Acidifying Faster Than
Any Time in 300 Million Years, Study Says
The world’s oceans may be acidifying faster today than during any period over the last 300 million years, a phenomenon that could have dire consequences for marine species and ecosystems, according to a new study. In a review of hundreds of paleoceanographic studies, a team of scientists found that a steep rise in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide has driven down pH levels in oceans by 0.1 over the last century, to about 8.1, a rate 10 times faster than the closest historical comparison — a period of acidification 56 million years ago that triggered a massive ocean die-off. Oceans are vulnerable because they absorb excess CO2 from the atmosphere, turning the water more acidic, which can inhibit organisms, such as oysters and coral reefs, from forming shells. Barbel Honisch, a paleoceanographer at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and lead author of the study, published in Science, said “if industrial carbon emissions continue at the current pace, we may lose organisms we care about — coral reefs, oysters, salmon.”01 Mar 2012:
Chinese Leaders Approve
New Rules to Reduce Air Pollution
Bowing to increasing public concern about poor air quality, the Chinese government has approved strict new air pollution standards, including tougher rules for ozone and for particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. The new rules, approved during an executive meeting of the State Council and published online, order tougher air standards beginning this year in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Tinjin; 27 provincial capitals; and three heavily industrialized regions. Another 113 cities must adopt the new standards by next year, and all but the nation’s smallest cities must comply by 2015. According to the announcement, the council also pledged to improve the quality of gasoline and raise auto emissions standards. Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, called the standards “a major step forward” in addressing air pollution in China. “It doesn’t mean that the sky will turn blue automatically because at the end of the day we still need to cut off these emissions,” he said.01 Mar 2012:
NASA Images Depict
Rapid Loss of Thick Arctic Sea Ice
A new comparison of satellite images from 1980 and 2012 vividly depicts the rapid disappearance of thick, multi-year Arctic Ocean ice in winter. Over the past three decades, the extent of the Arctic’s thickest ice has declined by 15 to 17 percent per decade, according to NASA climate scientist Joey Comiso. Using passive microwave sensors and other technology from NASA and U.S. Defense Department satellites, Comiso has shown that the thickest Arctic sea ice — formed over many years — has gone from covering most of the Arctic basin in winter to covering only about a third of the basin. In the images (above), which are based on data collected from November 1 through January 31, multi-year Arctic sea ice is shown in bright white, while thinner ice — often less than two years old — is shown in light blue and milky white. By 2012, thick Arctic sea ice had retreated to an area north of Greenland and Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, according to the images, published in the Journal of Climate.
29 Feb 2012:
Study Finds Level of
Overfishing That Threatens Seabirds
A new study says that seabirds experience a precipitous drop in birth rates when fish supplies dip beneath one-third of maximum levels, a finding that could provide critical insight into how overfishing imperils numerous bird species. In an analysis of research conducted on 14 bird species — from seagulls to penguins — in seven different ecosystems worldwide, an international team of scientists found that over long periods of time the ecosystems consistently followed the same basic law: When the amount of prey fish falls beneath that critical tipping point, the birds produce fewer offspring. The researchers selected only seabirds that feed on sardines, anchovies, herrings and other small fish targeted by fishermen and currently under threat. Those small fish, which are increasingly used to make meal and oil for fish farming, comprise about 30 percent of the global catch. The study, coordinated by Philippe Cury of the University of British Columbia, was published in the journal Science.29 Feb 2012:
Rising Seas To Have Uneven
Consequences for California Beach Towns
Rising sea levels projected over the next century could trigger uneven economic gains and losses for towns along the California coast, according to a new study. 
Wikimedia Commons
South Laguna Beach
28 Feb 2012:
New Lithium-Ion Battery Could
Increase Range of Electric Vehicles
A U.S.-based company says it has developed a new lithium-ion battery with an energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram — roughly twice the density of existing rechargeable batteries — an innovation the company claims could significantly increase the range of electric cars and ultimately cut the price of battery packs by 50 percent. Using a $4 million federal grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy, scientists at Envia Systems were able to increase the battery’s energy density by including manganese in the materials of its cathode, the positive electrode to which the lithium ions are transferred. By blending carbon with silicon in the anode (the electrode from which the ions flow to create an electric current), they were able to bypass the tendency of silicon anodes to fail after a few cycles. While the denser, more-compact batteries developed at an Envia center in China could eventually cut the cost of electric vehicles, the company will first have to subject the technology to testing by automakers and independent analysts.
‘Unprecedented’ Elephant Massacre
Continues in Cameroon Park
Poachers in pursuit of ivory have killed nearly 500 elephants inside a Cameroon national park in the last six weeks, a highly organized slaughter that appears to be one of the worst elephant massacres in recent memory.
Officials at Bouba Ndjida National Park, located in northern Cameroon near the Chad border, said 458 elephant carcasses have been identified, but that number “may be an underestimate.” Bas Huijbregts, regional field program manager for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Cameroon, says that although the official number of dead elephants in the park is still unclear, “I wouldn’t be surprised if in the last six weeks that maybe more than half of the overall savannah elephant population in Cameroon has been killed.” The European Union has called for the Cameroon government to intervene, but so far no effective intervention appears to be occurring.
Read more
27 Feb 2012:
Denmark Offers Best Conditions
for Clean Technology Growth, Report Says
According to a new global index, Denmark offers the best conditions for green technology innovation and entrepreneurship, with a strong record of support for technology startups that have achieved widespread market adoption, particularly in the area of wind energy. In an evaluation of 38 countries, the so-called Global Cleantech Innovation Index, compiled by the Cleanteach Group and WWF, ranked which countries have created conditions for future clean technology growth and which have dipped “below the curve.” According to their findings, other countries in the top four are Israel, Sweden, and Finland — all small economies that, researchers note, need innovation strategies and collaboration to compensate for what they lack in market size and financing. The U.S. ranks fifth overall, though it leads in several categories, including public cleantech research and development and the number of startups and investors. 24 Feb 2012:
Warming Climate Caused
Early Horse Species to Shrink, Study Says
A new study suggests that the earliest known horse species shrank significantly in size over a 135,000-year span as a consequence of a warming climate. Using geochemical testing and measurements of fossilized teeth dating back more than 50 million years, U.S. researchers found that a 30-percent decrease in the body size of the species, Sifrihippus sandae, corresponded closely with changes in global temperatures. As the average global temperature rose by about 10 degrees F during the first 135,000 years of that period — known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) — the early horse, which lived in the forests of North America, declined in size from about 12 pounds to about 8.5 pounds, presumably because a declining amount of available oxygen. According to the study, published in the journal Science, the species regained much of its size during the final 45,000 years of the PETM, bulking up to about 15 pounds. Researchers say the so-called “dwarfing” phenomenon could provide insights into how animals will respond to a projected future increase in global temperatures.24 Feb 2012:
Conservationists Launch Drone
To Monitor Forest Loss and Wildlife
A coalition of scientists and environmental advocacy groups has developed a camera-equipped drone they say could become a key conservation tool for monitoring
forest loss and endangered wildlife. The coalition — which includes The Orangutan Conservancy, the Denver Zoo, and two Swiss scientists — has already deployed a remote-control drone to map deforestation and count orangutans in the remote forests of North Sumatra in Indonesia, according to a report in Mongabay. The drone, which was developed by ecologist Lian Pin Koh at ETH Zürich, is able to travel a pre-programmed flight route and take aerial photos and video footage. During 30 flights so far, it has collected hundreds of photos and hours of video, including images of oil palm plantings along the edge of a river.
23 Feb 2012:
Pollution from Tar Sands Sites
Comparable to Mid-Sized City, Study Says
The amounts of pollution produced by tar sands excavation sites are comparable to those of a medium-sized city or a large power plant, according to a new study by Environment Canada, the nation’s environmental agency. Using satellite remote sensing observations, scientists found elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide across a 19-by-31-mile region of surface mining. In addition to corresponding to “locations of significant emissions from large mining operations,” the researchers found that pollution levels are increasing. In the case of nitrogen dioxide, levels increased by about 10.4 percent annually between 2005 and 2010. “It stands out above what’s around it, out in the wilderness,” said Chris McLinden, a research scientist with Environment Canada and lead author of the study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
22 Feb 2012:
Amazon Subsidiary Selling
Meat of Protected Whales, Probe Finds
Amazon Japan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Internet giant Amazon Inc., is offering for sale roughly 150 food products derived from whales, dolphins, and porpoises, including canned whale meat, whale jerky, and whale stew, according to a new report. In a survey of the Amazon Japan website in December, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) found 147 different products for sale, including from fin, sei, minke, and Bryde’s whales — species protected by the International Whaling Commission’s moratorium on commercial whaling and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Japanese fishermen hunt whales under the guise of conducting scientific research, and then sell whale meat widely in Japan, conservation groups contend. The EIA urged Amazon.com President Jeff Bezos to enforce company policy not to trade in endangered species and to pull the whale products from the site of Amazon Japan.22 Feb 2012:
Near-Extinct Penguin Rookery
Recovers with Impressive Genetic Diversity
A century ago, a rookery of roughly 3 million king penguins on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island was nearly wiped out as a New Zealand blubber merchant boiled the birds to extract oil for lamps. Saved by one of the first 
Wikimedia Commons
King penguins
21 Feb 2012:
Volcanic Rock Reveals
Composition of Ancient Forest
U.S. scientists say they were able to reconstruct an ancient tropical forest, including long-extinct plant species, using fossil remains trapped beneath the ash of a volcanic eruption that occurred about 300 million years ago in northern China. While palaeoecologists typically can only infer the density and composition of ancient forest ecosystems, researchers say the volcanic ash from the ancient eruption preserved the woodland in situ, a sort of “forest Pompeii” that has revealed a “coal-forming swamp in its prime.” In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from several U.S. universities describe a teeming peat forest ecosystem consisting of six plant groups, including trees resembling feather dusters, vines, and three species of a group known as Noeggerathiales — small, spore-bearing trees that may have been relatives of early ferns. “Many of these plant groups we knew from other places, but we had no idea that they actually grew together,” said Robert Gastaldo, a palaeobotanist at Colby College in Maine and a co-author of the study. 
21 Feb 2012:
Global Permafrost Regions
Depicted in High-Resolution Maps
Swiss researchers have released a series of high-resolution maps depicting the global distribution of permafrostand highlighting those regions where thawing permafrost as a result of global warming could
have the most profound effects. In a study published in The Cryosphere, glaciologist Stephan Gruber from the University of Zurich estimated that permafrost regions cover about 22 million square kilometers worldwide — or about one-sixth of Earth’s exposed land surface — including vast regions of Siberia, Central Asia, and the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau (shown above). Using high-resolution temperature and elevation data, he produced maps documenting the probability of permafrost existing. Thawing permafrost can cause building subsidence and collapse and can trigger the release of significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. “As a result of climate change, areas with permafrost have a great potential for unpleasant surprises,” Gruber said.
20 Feb 2012:
NASA Photo Shows Shrinking
Lake In The Southern Sahara Desert
A new photo taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station shows the extent to which Lake Fitri, a terminal lake in the southern Sahara Desert in Chad, has diminished due to dry conditions. In the photo, which was taken in January, the muddy yellow-brown water is visible at the center of the basin, surrounded by a network of exposed mud, burnt vegetation, and sand dunes. The dry borders show that the lake was many times larger in years past, with the wind-shaped curves of ancient beaches now located several kilometers from the current shoreline. According to NASA, the lake, which formed as a terminus for rivers that never accumulated enough rainfall to reach the sea, is sensitive to the shifting equilibrium between inflow from rivers and evaporation. The numerous beach ridges show the different levels the lake has reached in response to the shifting climate system. 
20 Feb 2012:
‘Mobile’ Marine Reserves
Needed To Protect Far-Ranging Species
U.S. scientists say the creation of “mobile” marine reserves reflecting the migratory nature of far-ranging species will be needed to prevent the extinction of some vulnerable species. Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Larry Crowder, director of the Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford University, suggested that fixed ocean reserves do little to protect many endangered species — including loggerhead and leatherback turtles and sharks — that travel great distances across oceans. “We think of protected areas as places that are locked down on a map,” Crowder said. “But places in oceans are not locked down, they move.” For instance, he said, a shifting convergence zone in the north Pacific — where two giant currents collide, bringing plankton, small fish, turtles and large predators together — is located about 1,000 miles farther north during the summer than during the winter. Researchers are urging a policy under which fishing trawlers would avoid certain areas when vulnerable species are mating, spawning, or migrating.
Interview: Amory Lovins On
His Clean Energy Master Plan
For four decades, Amory Lovins has been a leading proponent of a renewable power revolution that would wean the U.S. off fossil fuels and usher in an era of 
Amory Lovins
Read the interview
17 Feb 2012:
EPA Releases Long-Awaited
Health Assessment of Dioxin Risks
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday released its long-awaited assessment of the toxic hazards of dioxins, a group of persistent contaminants emitted by chemical plants, waste incinerators, and other industrial facilities. While concluding that current exposure to dioxins “generally” does not pose a “significant health risk” over the course of a person’s lifetime, the EPA set a daily safe exposure rate of 0.7 picograms of dioxins per kilogram of body weight — a level that had been opposed by industry groups that contend it would stoke public concerns about food safety. Assistant EPA Administrator Paul Anastas called the assessment a “starting point” for future federal, state, and industry activities. The new standards could result in more stringent cleanup standards at contamination sites and stricter limits on allowed dioxin levels in water and air. Dioxins — which accumulate in animals and fish and can be consumed by humans — have been linked to problems with immune and reproductive systems, skin rashes, and liver damage.17 Feb 2012:
Dutch Scientists Report
Conversion of Plants into Plastics
Dutch scientists say they have developed a process that uses nanotechnology to convert plant matter into the basic components of plastics, an innovation that could ultimately provide an alternative to oil-based plastics in the manufacture of thousands of everyday products. Using a catalyst made of nanoparticles, researchers from Utrecht University and Dow Chemical Co. say they were able to produce ethylene and propylene, the precursors of materials found in everything from compact discs to carpeting. While existing bioplastics from crops such as corn and sugar are not exact duplicates of oil-based products, researchers say this process has the potential to produce chemicals like those currently used by plastics manufacturers. The researchers envision using non-food crops — such as fast-growing trees or grasses — rather than traditional food crops. According to the study, published in the journal Science, the research is still at an early stage and is at least several years from large-scale production.
17 Feb 2012:
Large Area of New Guinea
Stripped of Protection for Agribusiness
More than 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land in Indonesian New Guinea — including 350,000 hectares of carbon-storing peatland — was stripped of its protected status to facilitate the expansion of a government-based agribusiness project, according to a new report. In an analysis of revisions to Indonesia’s moratorium on new forest concessions — including a comparison of maps from when the moratorium was published in May 2011 and after revisions were adopted in November 2011 — the Jakarta-based NGO Greenomics-Indonesia found that 406,718 hectares of previously protected land have been excised for use by The Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE), a massive agricultural project in southwestern New Guinea. While government officials say the project will ensure the nation’s food and energy security, critics say the revised moratorium will mostly benefit agribusiness developers.
16 Feb 2012:
Endangered Freshwater Dolphins
To Be Protected by Bangladesh Sanctuaries
The government of Bangladesh has created three new wildlife sanctuaries for the endangered Ganges River and Irrawaddy freshwater dolphins, the last two remaining species of freshwater dolphins in Asia. 
WCS
A Ganges River dolphin
16 Feb 2012:
U.S.-Led Program Targets
Reductions in Soot, Methane Emissions
With efforts to curb global carbon dioxide emissions stalled, a group of nations, including the U.S., will unveil a new program to cut other pollutants that contribute to global warming. The program, called the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, will focus on emissions of soot, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, and other greenhouse gases that do not remain in the atmosphere as long as CO2 but are known to have significant environmental and health consequences. While the project will not set specific emissions targets, it will fund education projects and joint private-public efforts to reduce emissions, the Washington Post reports. According to sources familiar with the project, it will likely encourage nations to reduce diesel exhaust, end the burning of agricultural waste, and better capture landfill methane. The project will be administered by the United Nations Environment Programme. Other member nations include Canada, Sweden, Mexico, Ghana and Bangladesh. A recent study found that governments could shave nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit off the warming projected by mid-century — and prevent millions of premature deaths — by targeting emissions of methane and soot.
15 Feb 2012:
Short-term Exposure to Pollutants
Increases Heart Attack Risk, Study Says
A new report says that even short-term exposure to major air pollutants increases the risk of heart attack. In an analysis of more than 100 studies conducted worldwide, researchers from the Paris Cardiovascular Research Center found that increased exposure to pollutants — including fine particles, coarse particles, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide — consistently increased the health risks after even short-term exposure, or less than seven days. While the risk from pollutant exposure was relatively small, compared with factors such as high blood pressure, the number of people breathing these pollutants worldwide is so large that a sizable number of people are at risk, the study said. In the case of fine particles, the researchers found that heart attacks increased 2.5 percent for every incremental increase in pollution levels. In other words, if fine particle levels reached 10 micrograms per cubic meter in one city, and 20 micrograms in another, the rate of heart attacks would be 2.5 percent greater in the second city, according to the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Most of the pollutants are associated with the burning of fossil fuels for transportation or industry. In a separate study, MIT researchers found that air pollution associated with China’s steep industrial growth caused health care costs to jump from $22 billion in 1975 to $112 billion in 2005.15 Feb 2012:
Documents Expose Campaign
By Think Tank To Undermine Climate Science
A series of leaked internal documents from the Heartland Institute, a conservative U.S. think tank, reveal an elaborate, multi-million dollar campaign to undermine the credibility of global warming science. The documents — which were sent anonymously to several bloggers and can be viewed online at DeSmogBlog.com — describe efforts to produce scientific studies that “discredit the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Heartland Institute also allocated $100,000 to create a global warming curriculum for school teachers emphasizing “that the topic of climate change is controversial and uncertain — two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science.” According to the documents, a significant part of the campaign has been funded by a single anonymous donor, who spent more than $8.6 million on “climate change projects” from 2007 to 2011. That individual donated $3.6 million in 2008, the same year that the Heartland Institute began organizing annual climate change conferences.14 Feb 2012:
‘Virtual Water’ Reliance
Puts Nations at Risk, Study Says
A new study calculates that about one-fifth of all water goes toward the production of crops and commodities for export, part of a global phenomenon known as “virtual water” that researchers say could place pressure on finite water supplies in some nations. Using worldwide trade indicators, demographic data, and statistics on water use, researchers from the University of Twente in the Netherlands mapped the world’s water footprint, including patterns of trade they say are creating disparities in water use. According to the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, many desert and island nations are becoming increasingly dependent on water from other countries, as they import not just food products but the water needed to produce it. Some of the most water-rich nations — including the U.S. and Japan — are also among the biggest importers because the products they import require so much water to produce. 
14 Feb 2012:
Unique Antarctic Fish
Threatened by Warming Southern Ocean
A unique group of fish that has evolved to live in Antarctic waters thanks to “anti-freeze” proteins in their blood and body fluids is threatened by rising temperatures in the Southern Ocean, according to a new 
Yale University
An Antarctic notothenioids
13 Feb 2012:
Student Push for Ban on
Plastic Water Bottles Irks Industry
Student groups on some college campuses are pushing their schools to ban the sale of plastic water bottles, a campaign that so far has prompted more than 20 colleges and universities to impose partial or complete bans. The bottled water industry has responded with a sarcastic video criticizing the campaign. Student groups, citing environmental and health concerns of one-time bottle use, have worked with nonprofit groups like Ban the Bottle to have bottled water removed from vending machines and cafeterias and to push for more reusable bottle handouts and the use of water fountains. In recent months, Macalester College in Minnesota and Humboldt State University in California have imposed campus-wide bans, and the University of Vermont says it will end its contract with Dasani bottler Coca-Cola this year. In response, the International Bottled Water Association has released a video belittling the students’ cause and maintaining that a bottled water ban would leave consumers with fewer healthy beverage options.13 Feb 2012:
Electric Vehicles in China
Pollute More Than Gas-Fueled Cars
The use of electric cars in China produces more particulate matter pollution than gasoline-fueled vehicles, according to a new study. In an analysis of five vehicle technologies in 34 major Chinese cities, U.S. researchers found that the power generated to run electric cars produces significantly greater particulate matter emissions because 80 percent of China’s electricity comes from coal-burning power plants. While those plants are typically located far from population centers, the researchers nevertheless found that the difference in pollution is so great that electric vehicles are still more harmful to the public health per-kilometer traveled than conventional vehicles. The study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, emphasizes that electric vehicles are a cleaner option if powered by a clean energy source. “In China and elsewhere, it is important to focus on deploying electric vehicles in cities with cleaner electricity generation and focusing on improving emissions controls in higher polluting power sectors,” said Chris Cherry, a researcher at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and lead author of the study.
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 Web site Tracks
Biggest U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emitters
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled an interactive Web site 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