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Troubles a-Brewing
Climate change affects -- noooooooo! -- beer |
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09 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:42 PM on 09 Apr 2008 If dire warnings about the fate of global health and security don't move you to care about climate change, maybe this will: Climate change could make beer more expensive. (No! Anything but that!) Malting barley will likely be harder to grow in a warming world, especially in Australia, says climate scientist Jim Salinger. He warned at an Institute of Brewing and Distilling convention Tuesday that wit ... |
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| Topics: Australia, climate, climate change impacts, food, news (all these topics) |
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Herald Ford
Ford lays out how it will reduce fleet emissions |
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09 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:11 AM on 09 Apr 2008 Ford Motor Co. has laid out specific plans for reducing the greenhouse-gas emissions of its vehicle fleet at least 30 percent by 2020. The announcement comes in response to shareholder resolutions filed by members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (representing about 300 religious investors) and the Investor Network on Climate Risk, organized by green-minded investment group Ceres. S ... |
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| Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, news, religion and spirituality (all these topics) |
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Put It in Parks
Private land inside national parks under threat of development, report says |
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09 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:19 AM on 09 Apr 2008 Nearly 2 million acres of private land within the boundaries of U.S. national parks is at risk of being developed if it isn't purchased by the federal government soon, according to a report from the National Parks Conservation Association. Some 4.3 million acres of private land lie within park boundaries, 1.8 million acres of which are considered high priority purchases a ... |
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| Topics: national parks, news, United States (all these topics) |
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Roll On, Columbia
Tribes and Bushies reach Northwest salmon settlement |
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08 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:19 PM on 08 Apr 2008 In exchange for four Native tribes dropping lawsuits, the Bush administration will spend $900 million over the next decade to help out Northwest salmon. The settlement reached Monday ends, for the time being, a decades-long legal battle over the best balance of tribal and commercial fishing rights, protection for salmon, and regional power demands in the Columbia River basin. The new plan doe ... |
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| Topics: fishing, litigation, news (all these topics) |
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Haul From Grace
W.R. Grace will finally pay Montana asbestos victims |
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08 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:01 PM on 08 Apr 2008 W.R. Grace & Co. has agreed to pay some $3 billion in cash and equity to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of people injured or killed by asbestos in the company's products. Grace operated a vermiculite mine near Libby, Mont., from 1963 to 1990, infamously coating the town with asbestos fibers. The company went bankrupt in 2001 after more than 100,000 asbestos-related claims were filed agains ... |
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| Topics: business, litigation, mining, Montana, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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Steel Yourself
Labor and enviros join up for green-jobs campaign |
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08 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:40 PM on 08 Apr 2008 A new green-jobs campaign has been launched by the Sierra Club, NRDC, the United Steelworkers, and the Blue Green Alliance (itself a project of the Sierra Club and the steelworkers union). The Green Jobs for America campaign, moving forward on the momentum of last month's Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference, will be focused in 12 states and will aim to raise public awareness, encourage private investm ... |
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| Topics: business, energy, grassroots activism, green jobs, news, NRDC, renewable energy, Sierra Club (all these topics) |
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Democratically Challenged
Dem delegates will compete to be most eco-friendly at convention |
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08 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:25 AM on 08 Apr 2008 As if the Democratic convention wasn't fun enough on its own, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced an exciting "Green Delegate Challenge" for the August rendezvous in Denver. State delegations are encouraged to buy carbon credits to support clean-energy projects in Colorado, and the delegation that offsets the most of its travel will reportedly get a brand ne ... |
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| Topics: carbon offsets, elections, Nancy Pelosi, news, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Trying to Rubber the Right Way
Brazil aims to protect Amazon by using sustainably harvested rubber in condoms |
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08 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:53 AM on 08 Apr 2008 Photo: iStockphoto Hard up for ways to preserve the Amazon rainforest, the Brazilian government has announced it's opening a condom factory that will use rubber harvested sustainably from the imperiled rainforest -- no tree-chopping required. The latex will come from the Chico Mendes reserve, named for a well-known Amazon activist gunned down by ranching ... |
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| Topics: Amazon, Brazil, deforestation, health, news, sex (all these topics) |
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Apples to Apples
Apple Inc. files complaint over NYC's green branding |
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07 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:43 PM on 07 Apr 2008 Macintosh manufacturer Apple Inc. and a New York City environmental initiative both have apple logos, but is that an original sin? Apple Inc. thinks problems will stem from the too-similar logos, and has filed a trademark infringement complaint against GreeNYC, the Big Apple's campaign to boost environmental awareness. But a spokesperson for New York City's marketing arm disputes the core prob ... |
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| Topics: advertising, business, New York City, news, tech (all these topics) |
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Deep Impact
Uranium mine near Grand Canyon blocked |
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07 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:17 PM on 07 Apr 2008 A judge has blocked a British mining company's plan to build an exploratory uranium mine near the Grand Canyon. U.S. District Judge Mary Murguia agreed with litigious environmental groups that considering the location of the proposed mine and the risks associated with uranium mining, VANE Minerals Group should be required to conduct further environmental reviews before moving forward. sources: Associated Press, ... |
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| Topics: Arizona, energy, mining, news, public lands (all these topics) |
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Them's the Brakes
Manhattan congestion-pricing plan kicks the bucket |
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07 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:06 PM on 07 Apr 2008 Hopes had run high that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ambitious congestion-pricing plan for the Big Apple would move forward, but the measure has died a quiet death. Democratic members of the State Assembly, determining that the measure was overwhelmingly opposed, neglected to even bring it to the Assembly floor, instead shooting it down with a secret vote. The now-dead plan would have cha ... |
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| Topics: air pollution, climate, climate change mitigation, legislation, New York, New York City, news, placemaking, politics, state politics, urban planning (all these topics) |
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Seal of Disapproval
Militant activists charged in seal protest |
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07 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:15 AM on 07 Apr 2008 Two members of the militant Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have been charged with sailing too close to a Canadian vessel while protesting the country's annual seal hunt. Capt. Alexander Cornelissen and First Officer Peter Hammarstedt face up to nearly $100,000 and a year in prison if convicted. Sea Shepherd sailors say the hunters were the antagonists; Canada's Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans say ... |
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| Topics: Canada, grassroots activism, news, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Look, WHO's Talking
World Health Organization says climate change bad for world health |
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07 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 6:49 AM on 07 Apr 2008 Officials at the World Health Organization used the occasion of World Health Day today to stress climate change's negative impacts on human health, warning that warming temperatures are already affecting the spread of disease. Increased temperatures have slowly expanded the range of malaria-carrying mosquitoes into new areas, including South Korea and the highlands of Papua Ne ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, health, news, World Health Organization (all these topics) |
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An Embarrassment of Richton
Mississippi town not enthusiastic about storing strategic petroleum |
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04 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:11 PM on 04 Apr 2008 Richton, Miss., is the lucky town picked as the fifth storage site for the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. To create space to store strategic petroleum, the Department of Energy will drain 50 million gallons of water a day for five years from the Pascagoula River to dissolve underground salt caverns, pumping the resulting brine through likely-to-leak pipelines over ... |
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| Topics: Department of Energy, energy, Mississippi, news, oil, water conflicts, wetlands (all these topics) |
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Navy Crock-It
Sonar will kill some marine life but safeguards are adequate, says Navy |
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04 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:47 PM on 04 Apr 2008 Navy training exercises could expose 94,370 marine mammals to behavior-altering sonar frequencies each year, potentially injuring or killing as many as 30, according to an environmental impact statement released Friday by the Navy. But in its 1,796-page report, the Navy sticks with current safeguards for protecting marine animals, not adopting stricter standards imposed by a fe ... |
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| Topics: Department of Defense, news, oceans, politics, wildlife (all these topics) |
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The Eye of the Storm
Global temps may drop this year but, alas, world still warming |
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04 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:18 PM on 04 Apr 2008 Brace yourself for climate-change-denier delight, as the World Meteorological Organization is expecting global temperatures to drop this year thanks to a strong La Niņa. But, of course, says WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud, "When you look at climate change you should not look at any particular year. You should look at trends over a pretty long period and the trend of te ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change skepticism, news (all these topics) |
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Interest in Renewing Renewables Renewed
Boosts for renewable energy get another go-round in the Senate |
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04 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:28 AM on 04 Apr 2008 Wind- and solar-boosting folk are crossing their fingers that new Senate legislation will succeed in extending renewable-energy tax credits set to expire at the end of 2008. The Clean Energy Tax Stimulus Act is framed as an economic boon: "If both houses of Congress don't pass a bill and the president doesn't sign it into law soon, we will start to see as ... |
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| Topics: energy, legislation, news, politics, renewable energy, US Senate (all these topics) |
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As IMF!
IMF report says economic costs of climate-change action negligible |
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04 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:35 AM on 04 Apr 2008 The International Monetary Fund said in a report released today that sharply reducing the world's carbon emissions will cost relatively little economically if a carbon-pricing scheme is adopted soon that includes all the major-emitting countries. The report didn't endorse one specific pricing mechanism, but said that either a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system could work if it gradually ... |
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| Topics: business, climate, climate change mitigation, news (all these topics) |
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Cane, You Hear Me Now
Animal-welfare group backs toad-killing in Australia |
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03 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:48 PM on 03 Apr 2008 Australian politician Shane Knuth has proposed a special "Toad Day Out" for residents of the state of Queensland to kill cane toads, a poisonous invasive species that Knuth calls "the greatest environmental vermin and probably the most disgusting creature known to man." The plan even has the backing of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals -- with ... |
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| Topics: animal welfare, Australia, biodiversity, news, wildlife (all these topics) |
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A Whole New Kind of Hydroplane
Hydrogen-powered plane makes successful flight |
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03 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:20 PM on 03 Apr 2008 A plane powered by hydrogen fuel cells made three successful test flights earlier this year, Boeing officials announced Thursday. The propeller-driven two-seater, carrying passengers, climbed to 3,300 feet on the power of lithium batteries, then cruised at 60 miles per hour for about 20 minutes powered solely by fuel cells. Sounds like they've got the Wright stuff! (Ooh, that was bad e ... |
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| Topics: air travel, energy, hydrogen, news (all these topics) |
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Sack It to 'Em
Seattle mayor proposes fee for paper and plastic bags |
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03 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 11:08 AM on 03 Apr 2008 Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed a 20-cent fee for both paper and plastic bags in grocery, convenience, and drug stores in the city to discourage their use. "The answer to the question 'Paper or plastic?' should be 'Neither,'" Nickels said. "Both harm the environment. Every piece of plastic ever made is still with us in the environment, and the best way to handle waste is ... |
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| Topics: news, politics, Seattle, waste (all these topics) |
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Get Off My Porsche!
Porsche launches legal challenge to London's congestion fee increase |
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03 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 9:38 AM on 03 Apr 2008 German automaker Porsche has launched a formal legal challenge to London Mayor Ken Livingstone's scheduled tripling of the city's congestion fee for the most-polluting vehicles. The increase, slated to take effect in October, would raise the fee for the most-polluting vehicles entering the city center to about $50 a day from $16 now. Livingstone and the city's transportation ... |
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| Topics: Big Auto, climate, London, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Brood and Gore
Obama says he'd consider Gore for climate post in his administration |
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03 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:27 AM on 03 Apr 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania yesterday that he would consider asking former vice president and current climate superstar Al Gore to assume a cabinet-level position in his administration to help tackle climate change. "I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring ... |
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| Topics: Al Gore, Barack Obama, climate, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Discarded Ken Not Included
New Mattel line lets you wear Barbie's discards |
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02 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:34 PM on 02 Apr 2008 We are not making this up: Mattel is planning a new line of accessories made from "excess fabric and trimmings from other Barbie doll fashions and products which would otherwise be discarded." The "playful and on-trend" Barbie BCause collection -- including handbags, hats, pillows, and diaries "each featuring its own unique variations and kitschy patchwork details ... |
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| Topics: business, green living, green products, insanity, news, parenting, recycling, shopping (all these topics) |
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Johnson-Come-Lately
EPA sued over its procrastination |
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02 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:09 PM on 02 Apr 2008 Seventeen states and 11 green groups have sued the U.S. EPA for not yet having made a decision about whether it will regulate greenhouse gases. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, exactly one year after the Supreme Court ruled that EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson should make that decision. sources: Associated Press, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Boston Globe From the Archives Don't ... |
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| Topics: climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, litigation, news, politics, regulation, US EPA (all these topics) |
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