The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to rank-and-file agency scientists and park managers who oppose the plan.
The new regulations, which are likely to be finalized this summer, rewrite a provision of the […]

A new NASA-led study shows human-caused climate change has made an impact on a wide range of Earth’s natural systems, including permafrost thawing, plants blooming earlier across Europe, and lakes declining in productivity in Africa.
Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Science in New York and scientists at 10 other institutions have linked physical […]

China’s deadliest earthquake in decades could cut by up to 5 percent the country’s supply of carbon offsets under the Kyoto Protocol over the next 12 months, a market China dominates, Lehman analysts estimated on Thursday.
Rich countries can meet Kyoto greenhouse gas limits by investing in emissions cuts in developing countries, earning carbon offsets in […]

Ladies, take your battle for the environment a little closer to your heart with a solar-powered bra that can generate enough electric energy to charge a mobile phone or an iPod. Oh, it also has pouches to store water so you don’t have to carry around environmentally unfriendly plastic.
Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan Ltd unveiled […]

After delaying a decision for several weeks, the U.S. government today listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), creating new protections for the bears in their Alaskan habitat.
But officials emphasized that the decision will not be used to determine U.S. climate policy.
At today’s announcement, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne […]

Why new U.S. biofuel legislation is on track to waste billions of tax dollars, while subsidizing oil consumption
Harry de Gorter, like David Just a Cornell professor of applied economics and management, advises the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank on issues related to the impact of biofuels on food security and global […]

The aviation industry’s failure to curb its soaring carbon emissions could lead to the “worst case scenario” for climate change, as envisaged by the United Nations.
An unpublished study by the world’s leading experts has revealed that airlines are pumping 20 per cent more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than estimates suggest, with total emissions set […]

Corporate America and major green groups are starting to build ties as companies see the benefit of getting ahead of a trend toward environmental responsibility.
While partnerships have been emerging case-by-case, environmentalists are starting to ramp up their efforts to target money mangers and investors in an attempt to change how corporations do businesses.
The latest entrant: […]

Vietnam has become a hub for processing Asia’s illegally logged timber, much of which is sold in the United States as outdoor furniture, conservationists say.
In a report released in March, the U.K.-based nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner Telapak warned that the illegal timber trade is threatening some of the last intact […]

Some 60 giant pandas at a Chengdu research centre near the worst hit part of the massive China earthquake are safe, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
But there was no word yet on the fate of pandas at another research centre at Wolong, near the epicentre of Monday’s 7.9 magnitude quake.
At least 10,000 people died and the […]

Republican John McCain pledged to take the lead in combating global climate change if elected president in a speech that set him apart from the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush.
In remarks he prepared to give at a wind technology firm in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, the Arizona senator said he would seek international […]

Arctic ice is melting fast and the area covered by ice sheets in ocean could shrink this summer to the smallest since 1978 when satellite observation first started, Japanese scientists warned in a report.
Ice sheets in the Arctic Ocean shrank to the smallest area on record in late summer in 2007, researchers at the Japan […]

It was Asia’s answer to Hurricane Katrina—though with a reported 100,000 killed, it was many times more deadly.
Packing winds upward of 120 miles an hour (193 kilometers an hour), Cyclone Nargis became one of Asia’s deadliest storms by hitting land at one of the lowest points in Myanmar (also called Burma) and setting off a […]

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met privately with seven auto executives over California’s attempt to impose strict emission rules, but let it be known publicly that he told the carmakers to stop whining and start producing.
The Republican governor met Thursday with the executives, who requested the get-together. In an interview afterward, he said he told them “the […]

Fresh after last year’s release of the Hello Kitty space heater, this nearly 6”x 6”x 3″ contraption can recharge your iPod, Blackberry, or any other portable electronic device with a USB plug. The charger also has a DC battery for those unfortunate moments when sunlight just isn’t cutting it (a typical solar charge takes 6 […]