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Snippets from the news

• Princeton Review ranks greenest colleges. • Giant chunk snaps off largest Arctic ice shelf. • Seattle will charge 20 cents for bags. • Schwarzenegger vetoes bill to add climate change to school curricula. • One-third of China’s carbon footprint is due to exports. • Anti-immigration groups go green.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens indicted over dodgy dealings with oil-services firm

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens — the longest-serving Republican in the Senate and a longtime thorn in the side of enviros — was indicted today. A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., charged the 84-year-old senator with seven counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure forms between 1999 to 2006 in order to conceal […]

Congress agrees on product-safety bill banning phthalates, lowering lead in toys

The U.S. House and Senate have agreed to a compromise product-safety bill that would ban phthalates from children’s toys, lower toy lead levels, and require third-party safety testing before toys are put on the market. In 2007, some 45 million toys were recalled for high lead levels and other safety defects, and the resulting parental […]

Why flying sux

Ever wondered why air travel sucks so bad these days? Chris Hayes, D.C. editor at The Nation, asked a source inside the industry. The answer is fascinating. You’ll not be surprised to find out high fuel prices play a big role.

Snippets from the news

• Alliance of black churches speaks out on climate change. • Beijing may ban 90 percent of cars to clear air for Olympics. • Gulf dead zone second-largest ever. • First U.S. coal-to-liquids plant to be built in West Virginia. • U.S. Army works to cut carbon bootprint. • American Trucking Association sues California ports. […]

Feds lambasted for neglecting cleanup of abandoned mines

Thousands of abandoned mines across the U.S. West pose hazards to the public, according to a strongly worded audit from the Interior Department inspector general. The Bureau of Land Management’s mine program “has been undermined, neglected, and marginalized,” says the report, and many easily accessible mines have “dangerously dilapidated structures, serious environmental hazards, and gaping […]

Wildlife so far largely safe from Mississippi River oil spill

Louisiana wildlife have so far largely escaped harm from the oil spill that shut down 100 miles of the Mississippi River last week. But biologists remain nervous as the oil slick heads downstream toward the Delta National Wildlife Refuge and neighboring marshy areas, where nearly 100,000 migratory birds will alight in the fall. Barriers are […]

Friday music blogging: Duffy

It’s a testament to how silly pop culture gets that there’s been a bit of controversy swirling around Duffy, the UK phenom who went from Spin’s “who’s next” to Spin’s cover over the course of five short months. You see, Aimee Anne Duffy is a young white girl from rural North Wales, and she sings […]

Snippets from the news

• Boston airport will test eco-asphalt. • California mountain could be named after environmentalist. • BusinessWeek wonders: Should oil be cheap? • D.C. landmarks could be in trouble. • Puffin decline unexpected.

Snippets from the news

• Voluntary programs to cut greenhouse-gas emissions not working, says watchdog. • Judge allows some haying and grazing on conservation land. • California requires ships to cut pollution. • Brooks introduces running shoe with biodegradable midsole. • Motor fuel made from waste gets running. • E.U. says level of BPA in baby bottles poses no […]