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  • Grimy to green: Three cities that have cleaned up their acts

    Jad Daley with the Trust for Public LandPhoto: Hanna Welch All right, we know that no place with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants deserves to be described in these terms — but let’s face it, some cities are known for being dumps. Yet every dump can be cleaned up. Few understand this better than Jad […]

    Greg Hanscom Science

  • What is the price of an environmentalist’s vote?

    Photo: Tar Sands ActionThe Obama administration has decided to delay a decision on the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline until after the 2012 election. This is only a temporary, inadequate victory, but an extraordinary achievement for the thousands of grassroots activists who put ourselves on the line. It’s also clear evidence for the environmental movement that […]

    Glenn Hurowitz Science

  • Are we all toast after 2017?

    Cross-posted from Council on Foreign Relations. The annual International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Outlook (WEO) was published yesterday with an attention-grabbing headline: The chance of avoiding dangerous climate change will “be lost forever” unless the world changes course by 2017. The basic argument is simple. The world is constantly accumulating more fossil fuel-based infrastructure […]

    Michael Levi Science

  • Critical List: Rick Perry is a flake; all sorts of rhinos are dying

    As president, Rick Perry would eliminate the Department of Energy, if he could remember he wanted to eliminate the Department of Energy. Do countries have to officially declare a trade war? How will we know when the U.S./China trade war over solar power actually starts? Canada continues to prove that it’s just masquerading as a […]

    Sarah Laskow Science

  • IEA’s bombshell warning: Act now or climate change is here to stay

    Cross-posted from Climate Progress. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has issued yet another clarion call for urgent action on climate. Their 2011 World Energy Outlook (WEO) release should end once and for all any notion that delay is the rational course for the nation and the world. The U.K. Guardian‘s headline captures the urgency: World […]

    Joseph Romm Science

  • Study: We have five years to stop climate change, or it will be too late

    According to a comprehensive analysis by the International Energy Agency, the point of no return on climate change is fast approaching. Either we halt it in five years, or … well, imagine I'm drawing my finger across my throat while making a "kkkkkhhhhhh" sound. Basically, any fossil fuel infrastructure that goes up in the next […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • China committing climate blackmail with super-powerful greenhouse gas, say critics

    China is threatening to vent super-powerful greenhouse gases if Europe cuts off its supply of valuable carbon credits next year. The climate Kryptonite in question is hydrofluorocarbon-23. One ton of this stuff has the same greenhouse gas punch as 11,700 tons of carbon dioxide. Most of China’s $6 billion in carbon credits have been intended […]

    Christopher Mims Science

  • Study: Climate-related events cost the health-care system $14 billion

    A new study, spearheaded by the Natural Resources Defense Council and published in the current issue of Health Affairs, puts a price tag on climate-related health effects — and it is steep. All told, the study says, climate change-related events have burdened the U.S. health-care system with $14 billion in costs, and accounted for 1,689 premature […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • Here’s a black rhino flying across South Africa

    This photo, by Green Renaissance for the World Wildlife Fund, shows a sedated black rhino being airlifted across South Africa. The WWF's Black Rhino Range Expansion Project aims to move the rhinos into safer habitats, which may mean transporting the beasts more than 900 miles.

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • Texas drought threatens to take away pecan pie

    First it came for the wine and bacon. Then it came for the coffee and chocolate. Now, climate change (or, to be specific, the drought in Texas that's consistent with weather patterns that climate scientists have predicted) is threatening to take away pecan pie and RUIN THANKSGIVING. According to the Southwest Farm Press, early reports […]

    Sarah Laskow Science