environment – News Stories About environment - Page 28

Apr 21, 2008 2:30 PM CDT

Live It Up While Going Green

10 luxury ways to cut carbon waste

(Newser) - You don't have to give up the high life to be green. Forbes finds 10 luxurious ways to reduce your carbon footprint:

Wear cashmere at home so you can turn down the thermostat.
Buy carbon offsets for your private jet.
Drive a hybrid Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Use occasional perfumed candles

...

SF Bay Area Businesses Face Penalties for Pollution

Apr 17, 2008 11:32 AM CDT

SF Bay Area Businesses Face Penalties for Pollution

Fines would range from $1 to $195K per year

(Newser) - San Francisco Bay Area businesses could face major fines—the first ever imposed by a local government—based on the amount of climate-changing emissions they produce annually, the New York Times reports. The move, which the Bay Area Air Quality Management District could make official May 21, would skirt plodding...

Trash Fouls World's Beaches

Apr 15, 2008 8:27 PM CDT

Trash Fouls World's Beaches

Environmental group reports 6M tons picked up in one-day effort

(Newser) - One day of beach cleanup last year netted 6 million pounds of trash worldwide, an environmental group says. Volunteers in 76 countries collected an average of 182 pounds per mile of beach; the US weighed in at 390 pounds per mile, the AP reports. "We're the bad guys,"...

Melting Empties Chile Lake

Apr 11, 2008 3:58 PM CDT

Melting Empties Chile Lake

Initial swelling causes 'river tsunami'; global warming blamed

(Newser) - Melting ice in a remote Chilean lake caused it to swell and suddenly empty, creating a “river tsunami,” the AP reports. Water from a melting glacier filled the lake and tunneled through the ice, emptying into a nearby river.

Slow Down!
Autobahn Hits a Limit

Apr 10, 2008 10:16 AM CDT

Slow Down! Autobahn Hits a Limit

Germany rolls out first 75mph speed limit

(Newser) - The German autobahn is one of the world's last stretches of open road where a driver can learn how it feels to coax a Porsche to 200 mph and beyond—legally. But those days are numbered. the German state of Bremen has imposed a 75 mph speed limit and others...

Roadblocks Zap Electric
Carmakers' Momentum

Apr 6, 2008 3:12 PM CDT

Roadblocks Zap Electric Carmakers' Momentum

Infighting and broken promises mar ambitious companies

(Newser) - The more than two dozen startups racing to produce viable electric cars face a bumpy road, the Los Angeles Times reports, as they navigate infighting, skyrocketing costs, and lack of mass-production know-how. Meanwhile, a successful car would face serious competition from several major automakers working on innovations of their own....

EPA's New Rules Allow Wetlands Trade-Offs

Mar 31, 2008 3:46 PM CDT

EPA's New Rules Allow Wetlands Trade-Offs

Developers can destroy if they create others elsewhere; environmentalists dismayed

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency today issued new wetlands-protection rules with a focus on “mitigation banking”— creating marshes elsewhere in compensation for those destroyed by development, the AP reports. The EPA argues that mitigation banking ensures the most overall wetlands protection because wetlands are often irrevocably damaged by construction,...

Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses

Mar 25, 2008 5:40 PM CDT

Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses

Sudden break fuels climate change concerns

(Newser) - A mammoth chunk of ice has collapsed in Antarctica, leaving an ice shelf the size of Connecticut "hanging by a thread" and providing more evidence of global warming, scientists say. The sudden collapse of the 160-square-mile piece of ice threatens the Wilkins ice shelf, which has been in place...

Late-Night Charges
Keep Hybrids Greener

OPINION

Mar 19, 2008 11:29 AM CDT

Late-Night Charges Keep Hybrids Greener

Power grids can handle recharging if done after hours

(Newser) - Nighttime is the right time to plug in a hybrid, Michael Graham Richard writes in TreeHugger. If recharged after 10pm, the green cars exert less drain on power grids and may not require new power plants—meaning gas-guzzlers could be replaced without any extra pollution. But researchers at Oak Ridge...

Feds Indict
Pilot in SF
Oil Spill

Mar 17, 2008 6:17 PM CDT

Feds Indict Pilot in SF Oil Spill

Attorney vows to battle misdemeanors, calling them premature

(Newser) - The pilot of a ship that dumped 53,000 gallons of oil in San Francisco Bay last year was indicted today, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. John Cota faces two federal misdemeanor charges, for releasing a pollutant and killing migratory birds; at least 2,000 birds died in the spill....

Glacial Melt Hit Record in '06

Mar 17, 2008 8:33 AM CDT

Glacial Melt Hit Record in '06

Study finds glaciers lost an average of 4.9 feet of ice

(Newser) - Glaciers shrank an alarming average of 4.9 feet in 2006, the UN Environment Program says—a dramatic difference from ice loss numbers in the ‘80s and ‘90s, when glaciers lost an average 11.8 inches a year. UNEP’s director pointed to "many canaries in the...

Plastic Bags Getting the Sack Across US

Mar 15, 2008 8:42 PM CDT

Plastic Bags Getting the Sack Across US

San Francisco ban in effect; taxes, prohibition likely elsewhere

(Newser) - The party's over for plastic bags, USA Today reports. A San Francisco ban on petroleum-based bags already has imitators from coast to coast. Massachusetts is eyeing a bill that would "nudge" consumers with a 2-cent tax on each bag; Connecticut could slap retailers with a $1,000 fine for...

Bush Stepped
In to Weaken Ozone Rules

Mar 14, 2008 11:22 AM CDT

Bush Stepped In to Weaken Ozone Rules

President overruled EPA scientists on pollution guidelines

(Newser) - President Bush personally intervened this week to loosen the EPA's new guidelines on pollution-causing ozone, the Washington Post reports. By law, separate ozone standards are mandated for protecting the "public health" and the "public welfare," which includes wildlife, parks, and farmland. According to EPA documents, Bush overruled...

Green Homes Gain Heat
in Cool Housing Market

Mar 9, 2008 7:55 PM CDT

Green Homes Gain Heat in Cool Housing Market

Buyers willing to pay for eco-upgrades, survey says

(Newser) - Eco-friendly homebuilders are faring well despite the plunging US housing market, Newsweek reports. With home sales at a 15-year low, a national survey showed that buyers last year were ready to spend an extra $8,964 on a home that cuts utility bills. "It's taken almost as a fait ...

Japanese 'Frankenwhale' Experiments Slammed

Mar 8, 2008 11:14 AM CST

Japanese 'Frankenwhale' Experiments Slammed

Scientists say whale research is bizarre, useless

(Newser) - Scientists have reviewed the research Japan uses to justify hunting whales, and they've concluded that it is mostly useless—and very weird, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reports. Researchers tried to fertilize cow and pig eggs with whale sperm, and to create test-tube whales from frozen sperm. "It's totally...

EU Steels for Global Warming Conflict With Russians

Mar 7, 2008 6:21 AM CST

EU Steels for Global Warming Conflict With Russians

Climate change will multiply trouble: report

(Newser) - The already-fraught relationship between Europe and Russia is bound to get worse in the next few decades. That's the sobering conclusion of a new European Union report on global warming and international politics, which concludes that climate change will act as a "threat multiplier," exacerbating today's problems and...

Feds Flood Grand Canyon

Mar 5, 2008 6:27 PM CST

Feds Flood Grand Canyon

Controlled deluge may help rebuild vanishing sandbars

(Newser) - Government officials sent a flood of water surging through the Grand Canyon today in a bid to mimic Mother Nature and rebuild sandbars and other natural habitat for endangered fish. The deluge will continue for three days, increasing by about four or five times the usual flow from the Grand...

Texas Tops US
in CO2 Emissions

Feb 29, 2008 3:35 PM CST

Texas Tops US in CO2 Emissions

Activists fight to clean things up

(Newser) - Texas—the land of big oil, big agriculture, pickup trucks, wide-open spaces, and little mass transit—not only is the biggest emitter of CO2 among states, it ranks eighth in the world, a new study says. It’s also one of the few states without any climate plan in the...

Zoos Leap Into Year of Frog

Feb 29, 2008 9:23 AM CST

Zoos Leap Into Year of Frog

Activists bring attention to decline of amphibians

(Newser) - How could any zoo resist? Leap Day, in the Year of the Frog, is being celebrated by zoos and conservationists everywhere as the perfect time to draw attention to the plight of amphibians. "We want to get people talking about frogs and thinking about them," said one zookeeper....

Beijing Opens Giant Air Terminal

Feb 27, 2008 11:25 AM CST

Beijing Opens Giant Air Terminal

World's largest building transforms Chinese capital's airport

(Newser) - Ahead of this August's Olympics, Beijing is set to open a new airport terminal that has been billed as the world's largest building. Designed by Norman Foster, who also designed Hong Kong's airport, the new Terminal 3 was built in only 4 years and, unlike many buildings in China, incorporates...