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• More Americans view oil drilling higher priority than energy conservation. • World is enjoying a “green energy gold rush.” • Donation will help Princeton tackle energy and environment issues. • India spells out vague climate plan. • Portland bike-rental scheme hits the wall. • Goodyear offers refunds for misleading ads.

Satellite images show rapid deforestation in Papua New Guinea and Amazon

The following post is by Ken Levenson, guest blogger at Climate Progress.

Pushed from center stage by the expected record arctic ice and permafrost melt, tropical rain forest destruction has been elbowing its way back through the smoke and into view. This Mongabay article, "Papua New Guinea's rainforests disappearing faster than thought," is one such look:

Previously, the forest loss was estimated at 139,000 hectares per year between 1990 and 2005. But now?

Using satellite images to reveal changes in forest cover between 1972 and 2002 ... Papua New Guinea lost more than 5 million hectares of forest over the past three decades ... Worse, deforestation rates may be accelerating, with the pace of forest clearing reaching 362,000 hectares (895,000 acres) per year in 2001. The study warns that at current rates 53 percent of the country's forests could be lost or seriously degraded by 2021.

Stunning. Adding insult to injury -- the good news as reported last Thursday in the New Straits Times:

Penguin declines don’t bode well for the rest of us

Penguin populations are declining, which is bad news not just for the tuxedoed birds but for, well, the world in general. A new scientific review published in the journal BioScience shows that everywhere they live, penguins are suffering from a combination of climate change, ocean pollution, overfishing, tourism, and development. “Many penguins we thought would […]

A quick read on green lifestyle magazines

Choices are good, but good choices are better. Periodically, I find myself wandering the ever-expanding magazine aisles at local newsstands and bookstores. And I’m often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of, well, volumes. You’ve got mags for every hobby, interest, celeb, fetish, and lifestyle. So when I set out to grab some light reading about […]

New edition of AP American Government book retains false information about climate change

Back in April, we reported that the American Government textbook in use in classrooms across the country implies that the cause of climate change is in doubt, and that global warming could even be a net benefit for the planet and all who dwell upon it. At the time, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt assured concerned […]

More use of growth hormones would boost sustainability of dairy industry, says study

Shooting up cows with artificial growth hormones increases the sustainability of the dairy industry, claims a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Giving rbST to 1 million cows would enable the same amount of milk to be produced using 157,000 fewer cows,” says the study, thus easing the impact that […]

High Line Park

What’s going on in New York with the High Line Park is extremely cool. Check out this video: Yeah, some grumps will argue that public money could be better spent elsewhere, but when is that not true? Sometimes you gotta do something pretty even though it doesn’t make sense. Hardly worth being human otherwise.

An interview with Bonk author Mary Roach

Photo: cybertoad Ah, sex. Source of carnal bliss, domestic harmony, cute infants … and global population problems. (Oh, environmentalists are such killjoys.) Overpopulation aside for the moment, sex is fundamental to humanity, and to the rest of the natural world — and besides, it’s a dang fascinating subject, as Mary Roach found out while researching […]

Celeb chef clarifies his relationship with Greenpeace

A couple of weeks ago, we ran an interview with Food Network chef Alton Brown about his new sustainability efforts. In the course of the piece, Roz Cummins asked him if he'd be willing to crew on a Greenpeace boat, and he said yes -- an answer that's apparently been repeated and miscontextualized all over the place.

Brown dropped us a note to clarify his position. Here's what he has to say:

R.I. court reverses ruling, says paint companies not responsible for lead cleanup

Three paint companies should not have to clean up lead contamination in Rhode Island homes, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The decision reverses a landmark 2006 ruling in which the state was victorious in alleging that Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries Inc., and Millennium Holdings LLC created a public nuisance by manufacturing and selling lead-based […]