News
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Critical List: Groundhog says six more winter weeks; zoos need more elephants
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter. But that dude has since his shadow more than 100 times; he’s only not seen it 16 times. Honestly, getting your weather forecast from a giant rodent is like getting your climate science from a weather forecaster. Locusts thrive on overgrazed lands. Accredited […]
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Critical List: Connecting climate change to the Texas heat wave; ditching plastic straws
Climate scientist James Hansen says he can prove that climate change caused the Texas heat wave. Maine fishermen caught more lobster last year than ever before. Wave and tidal energy could provide enough electricity to meet 15 percent of current demand in the United States. In London, plastic straws are the new plastic bags. No […]
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Critical List: Illinois installed the most wind turbines in 2011; Weathercasters aren’t climate scientists
Illinois installed the most new wind turbines in 2011. In five years, there could be 39 million “micro-hybrids” — cars that have a battery to increase cars’ efficiency, but that aren’t quite as awesome as Priuses or other full hybrids. Weather forecasters don’t understand climate science. Don’t believe them when they say climate change doesn’t […]
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Critical List: Republicans still pushing Keystone; Yosemite to limit Half Dome hikes
House Republicans just can’t let go of the Keystone XL pipeline. Speaker Boehner now says it could be part of a bill expanding domestic energy production. The value of renewable energy deals grew by two-fifths last year, which means, according to analysts, that businesses like wind and solar are “maturing.” Yosemite could limit the number […]
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Critical List: Finding a town to host nuclear waste; 3-D Amazon map
Now that the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage plan has been scrapped, a nuclear commission needs to find a town that wants to host the repository. Transocean isn’t legally responsible for some of the pollution from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Scientists mapped the Amazon in 3-D. The plan for protecting New Orleans from hurricanes requires […]
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Critical List: Big trees suffer more from deforestation; Japan’s version of Al Gore
Deforestation is disproportionately killing off the world’s largest trees. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif., a.k.a. the Mustache of Justice) wants to subpoena Koch Industries executives to force them to testify about the company’s connection to Keystone XL. The National Academy of Sciences wants to find out more about nanomaterials and their effects on humans, since the […]
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Critical List: Obama boosts clean energy; Bingaman energy standard coming soon
“I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy,” President Obama said in his State of the Union. He didn’t talk about fighting climate change, though. The state of the union is: unsurprised. Sen. Jeff Bingaman says he’ll release his proposal for a clean energy standard in the next few weeks. Durban could […]
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Boehner invites pipeline pals to State o’ Union
As the camera pans around the Capitol chamber for President Obama’s State of the Union address, see if you can spot the representatives from the state of Oil: four avid supporters of the Keystone XL Pipeline who will attend the speech as the guests of House Speaker John Boehner.
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Critical List: Sumatran elephants critically endangered; Al Gore goes on a cruise
Sumatran elephants are critically endangered. Watch out for the solar flare that’s supposed to hit Earth today! It’s the strongest since 2005. President Obama might pump increased domestic oil and gas production in his State of the Union.