environment – News Stories About environment - Page 22

Score Card on Late White House Rules Changes

Nov 21, 2008 8:28 AM CST

Score Card on Late White House Rules Changes

Bush administration pushes through midnight regulations

(Newser) - With the Bush White House pushing through a raft of last-minute rules, the nonprofit journalism group ProPublica offers a running list, with the status of each:

Business-friendly safety regulations would loosen restrictions on exposure to toxic chemicals in the workplace.
Local police would get increased surveillance ability.
Loaded guns would

...

Obama Vows to 'Engage Vigorously' in Climate Fight

Nov 18, 2008 3:30 PM CST

Obama Vows to 'Engage Vigorously' in Climate Fight

President-elect surprises conference with video message

(Newser) - In an unexpected video appearance today at a conference on climate change, President-elect Barack Obama promised to fight global warming, saying the stakes are too high to continue delaying action and denying global warming. He vowed to usher in a “new era of global cooperation” come January and says...

Ravenous Beetles
Decimate West's Pines

Nov 18, 2008 1:48 PM CST

Ravenous Beetles Decimate West's Pines

Harsh winter sole hope for containing insect that has affected millions of acres—and is moving east

(Newser) - Peanut-sized bark beetles have drilled into and killed millions of acres of green pines from New Mexico to British Columbia, threatening the Rockies’ iconic lodgepoles with extinction, reports the New York Times. With only costly and temporary fixes available, preservationists are hoping for an atypically frigid winter to contain the...

Smog Costs California
$28B a Year

Nov 13, 2008 2:40 AM CST

Smog Costs California $28B a Year

Toxic air kills more than car crashes in some areas, researchers find

(Newser) - Health problems caused by pollution choke $28 billion out of California's economy every year, according to a new study. Most of the cost is linked to 3,000 smog-related deaths each year, along with days of work missed by workers with respiratory problems aggravated by pollution spewed from tailpipes and...

Supreme Court
OKs Navy Sonar
Near Whales

Nov 12, 2008 12:49 PM CST

Supreme Court OKs Navy Sonar Near Whales

5-4 decision sides with Bush administration

(Newser) - The Supreme Court sided 5-4 with the Bush administration today, exempting the Navy from switching off high-powered sonar near whales during training off California's coast. The piercing underwater sounds panic whales and make their ears bleed, environmentalists tell the Los Angeles Times. But the “public interest” in the exercises...

Gray Smog Conceals
a Greening China

analysis

Nov 11, 2008 4:26 PM CST

Gray Smog Conceals a Greening China

Green innovator gets unfair rap as environmental offender

(Newser) - The world's attitude toward China's environmentalism is "hypocritical and decidedly unfair," writes Fred Pearce in Yale Environment 360—this coming from someone who has "literally held my nose at the foul air." Yes, China's "development zeal" has it doing "the bad things that most...

Biofuels'
Green Cred
in Dispute

Nov 11, 2008 12:16 PM CST

Biofuels' Green Cred in Dispute

Some say producing more of the greener fuel makes world less green overall

(Newser) - Biofuels, once hailed as a planet-saving alternative to gasoline, are now savaged as much the opposite, the Wall Street Journal reports, with critics charging the “ripple effect” on land use globally actually adds climate-harming carbon. The EPA has signaled plans to modify biofuel emissions measurements to reflect that, but...

Mars Lander Falls Silent

Nov 10, 2008 5:11 PM CST

Mars Lander Falls Silent

Phoenix lacks the solar power to continue its mission

(Newser) - The Martian autumn has cut power to NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, ending its mission of scientific discovery, NASA reports. As anticipated, shorter days and increasingly overcast skies are preventing sufficient solar energy from reaching the lander’s power cells. It has already collected data for 2 months longer than...

Bloomberg Calls For Plastic Bag Fee in NYC

Nov 7, 2008 11:37 AM CST

Bloomberg Calls For Plastic Bag Fee in NYC

6¢ charge pleases greenies, would help city's fiscal problems

(Newser) - After an ad campaign urging New Yorkers to use greener alternatives to plastic shopping bags, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to impose a 6¢-per-bag charge, the Times reports. While environmentalists approve, and the city’s coffers stand to gain, many think the measure will be unpopular with shoppers, and critics...

Green Fight Will Be
Obama's Costliest

OPINION

Nov 5, 2008 4:43 PM CST

Green Fight Will Be Obama's Costliest

President-elect knows he must do better than Bush, and has political capital to do it

(Newser) - Barack Obama must move quickly to address climate change, and it could be very unpopular politically, Bill McKibben writes in Yale Environment 360. In fact, the measures necessary to save our planet could very well “wreck his political future, because it would involve—directly or indirectly—raising the cost...

Björk: Iceland Must Heal Itself

OPINION

Oct 28, 2008 4:25 PM CDT

Björk: Iceland Must Heal Itself

Singer rails against more aluminum smelters on island, pushes self-reliance

(Newser) - Given Iceland’s economic crisis, it would be madness to add to the country’s dependence on aluminum smelters, native singer Björk writes in the Times of London. In addition to environmental damage, lessons learned from the collapse of Iceland’s fishing industry should warn against putting “all...

How Green
Is Too Green?

Oct 19, 2008 3:19 PM CDT

How Green Is Too Green?

Is unplugging the fridge and fueling up on vegetable oil eco-friendly or just nuts?

(Newser) - How far would you go to reduce your ecological footprint? Would you run your car on waste vegetable oil? Use your lawn as a bathroom to save water? Huddle for body heat? Unplug the fridge? Some 7% of the population is “dark green,” the New York Times reports,...

Palin Can't Keep Beluga Off Endangered List

Oct 18, 2008 3:29 PM CDT

Palin Can't Keep Beluga Off Endangered List

Whale population just won't rebound

(Newser) - The beluga whales living in Alaska’s Cook Inlet were declared an endangered species yesterday over Sarah Palin’s vehement objections, the New York Times reports. The beluga population was cut almost in half during the late '90s, and hasn’t recovered despite a wave of new protections. But Palin...

How to Restore
World's Trust in US

OPINION

Oct 13, 2008 1:50 PM CDT

How to Restore World's Trust in US

Next president must lead globe on disarmament, climate change

(Newser) - The Bush administration has done wide-ranging damage to the US’ international image, pulling out of key treaties and unilaterally invading Iraq. The next president has got some work to do to restore its reputation, particularly in two areas: making a commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and setting a worldwide example in...

Oysters May
Clean East
Coast Waters

Oct 12, 2008 8:10 PM CDT

Oysters May Clean East Coast Waters

Electrified reefs could help restore the population

(Newser) - Oysters can be shocked into repopulating and cleaning up America's waterways, the Christian Science Monitor reports. A project in New York's East River is using metal reefs, powered by solar panels, to build up limestone and help oysters grow. The upside is that they filter water—up to 50 gallons...

New Solar Tech Can Top This

glossies

Oct 12, 2008 7:31 PM CDT

New Solar Tech Can Top This

Solyndra's designs can capture light from any angle

(Newser) - A California company's new, sun-sucking glass tubes aim to solve solar power's practical problems, the Economist reports. Chief among them are flat panels that miss the sun—by looking the wrong way—and cost more than $40,000 per household to install. Solyndra's new technology uses glass tubes that capture...

UK Press Grinds Starbucks for Wasting Water

Oct 10, 2008 11:50 AM CDT

UK Press Grinds Starbucks for Wasting Water

Firm vows change after tabloid claims chain uses 6.2M gallons daily

(Newser) - Starbucks is abuzz as it tests new methods of spoon-cleaning, a reaction to a UK tabloid's report that the caffeine titan wastes 6.2 million gallons of water daily, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Every store leaves a tap running constantly, the Sun said; Starbucks confirmed the claim, explaining that the...

Green Venture Capitalists Need No Bailout

OPINION

Oct 4, 2008 4:34 PM CDT

Green Venture Capitalists Need No Bailout

Far from Wall Street, investors embrace eco-friendly ideas

(Newser) - The canyons of Wall Street have been swept clean of liquidity, but the valleys of northern California are still flush with environmentally and financially green ideas, Jon Gertner writes in the New York Times' Sunday magazine. Despite market madness, venture capitalists have seen little slowdown in their businesses, which are...

How to Keep Your PC Green

Oct 3, 2008 2:27 PM CDT

How to Keep Your PC Green

New York Times offers tips on cutting computer energy use

(Newser) - You’ve got the Prius and the reusable shopping bags, but did you know a PC and monitor perpetually left on use more than twice the kilowatt-hours per year consumed by a fridge? The New York Times reports what you can do to slow your computer’s energy drain:

Turn

...

Child 'Climate Cops'
a Bit Too Green

OPINION

Oct 2, 2008 7:30 PM CDT

Child 'Climate Cops' a Bit Too Green

British site encourages kids to spy on parents' energy habits

(Newser) - A new website from British energy company Npower is encouraging children to spy on their parents—to save the environment, Mark Ontkush writes on Treehugger. After completing a series of “missions” on the Climate Cops site, kids are kitted out with the necessities for keeping careful tabs on the...