The U.S. Geological Survey had a novel idea about how to better understand climate change and its impacts: ask the people most likely to be experiencing it. These researchers asked a group of people from Alaska's indigenous communities what their observations of climate change had been. Their basic response: Everything's all messed up. More specifically, they noticed more variability in temperatures … "Those old people noticed it first. … They used to tell me, 'What’s going on with this weather?' They noticed, sometimes it’s too hot, sometimes it’s too cold." … changes in weather patterns … “[August is the] month …

Lawmakers want to talk about Solyndra, its federal funding, and its bankruptcy. Solyndra execs realized that if they don't come to Washington, they don't have to talk about any of that. For good measure they may build a pillow fort to hide in. Congress is still going to talk about it, of course. And probably use some strongly worded language. A day before this hearing, Bill Gates and a bunch of other rich guys urged Congress to invest more in clean energy. #badtiming More than 250 of the world’s largest companies say they “put climate change central to their business.” …

In its recent report on the company's carbon footprint, Google said that it offsets its emissions with high-quality offsets. We are happy as a pig in shit about that. Which is appropriate, because here's one example of what that means: energy powered by pig poop. The company has invested in a North Carolina project which collects the methane from the waste of 9,000 hogs. A power plant burns the methane to create power for 35 homes a year. This isn't an energy solution that will power the entire country (too many hogs required), but it does keep the methane, a …

The scariest horror movies end with a hint that the killer or monster, though defeated, isn't dead and will rise again. With tropical storms sweeping through the Gulf, coastal residents are finding that zombie residues of the BP oil spill are coming out of their lairs to re-terrorize beach-goers, boaters, and the fishing industry. Tides hustled up by tropical storms are bringing oily residues, tar mats, and tar balls onto the beach. It's as bad as it sounds. Check out these pictures that NRDC collected — if you want to brave the sight of oozy, giant, black tar creatures. NRDC …

Boehner's got his hands all sooty with coal money. Uh, guys? Maybe we should check up on the safety of  nuclear plants? Kthx. XOXO, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. California chose solar PV projects over solar thermal projects because the latter use more water. If Cuba’s new drilling project is possibly going to spill oil into the Gulf of Mexico, just by existing, can't we just get permission to go on vacation there and call it sorta kinda even? The Fish and Wildlife Service is protecting parts of the Florida Everglades' headwaters by buying away development rights from landowners. Stick it …

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is threatening to hold up the passage of the transportation bill over a tiny portion of its funding, which (of course!) happens to be the portion dedicated to forms of transportation other than cars and highways. Streetsblog explains what's at stake here: Sen. Coburn, and possibly other members of Congress, are declaring their willingness to throw the entire transportation industry, as well as commuters, under the bus while they quibble about the pennies spent on bike paths. According to the White House, if the bill is delayed just 10 days, the country would lose over $1 …

Environmentalists are always looking for allies who can blast away treehugger stereotypes. They should consider reaching out to the community of anyone who's ever gone snorkeling in a coral reef. (You remember that part of your Cancun vacation, don't you? It happened sometime between the margaritas and the … margaritas.) According to a new book called Our Dying Planet, humanity is on track to wipe out all coral reefs. No more bright, awesome fish and crazy plants. Ever. The book, written by Peter Sale, a former professor at the University of Sydney who’s now at the United Nations University, says …

Enviros are hoping Lisa Jackson, their one stalwart ally high up in the administration, will keep on keeping on, despite the White House's decision to undermine her work on smog regulations. A Pennsylvania town could vote to ban natural gas drilling. One organizer of Rio+20, a U.N. summit next year on climate issues, says the conference should split environmentalism away from climate change issues. Basically, he says, we’re at the point where it’s much more important to embrace sustainability and prepare for climate change than it is to resolve the Green vs. Brown faceoff. New Yorkers may have thought bike …

Take solace, Los Angelenos, in others' pain: In the larger scheme of horrible, horrible commutes, Los Angeles barely rates as moderately painful. On IBM's Commuter Pain Index, L.A. rates a 34. New Delhi, at 72, is more than twice as torturous, and in Mexico City, which ranks the worst, the pain index hits 108. No matter where you live, though, commuting just sucks and makes the rest of your life suck as well, Infrastructurist reports: 86% of respondents in Beijing, 87% in Shenzhen, 70% in New Delhi and 61% in Nairobi said traffic was a key inhibitor to their work …

Eric Cantor thinks that bike sharing is siphoning off way too much of the country's gas tax revenue. And for a Republican like him, raising the tax is out of the question, never mind that, as Greater Greater Washington's Matt Johnson points out, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the gas tax has gone down by 34 percent since 1994, the last time it was raised. And, again in inflation-adjusted dollars, the gas tax was actually highest in 1960. Johnson: In fact, at present we're on the cusp of dropping below the value of the gas tax when it was implemented in 1932. …