With an emphatic vote, the US Senate assured that America will take part in India's $100 billion nuclear-energy sweepstakes. The 86-to-13 vote to resume civilian nuclear trade with India for the first time since 1974 is a signature diplomatic achievement for the Bush administration, cementing ties with a nation seen as a counterweight to China. But the US and India have had to convince the world that India is a trustworthy nuclear steward. Until last month, countries that sold civilian nuclear technology to India were subject to sanctions as India hadn't signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Currently, nuclear reactors in India produce about 3 percent of the country's total power output. But on average, India's energy demands exceed its supply by about 12 percent, making power outages ubiquitous and threatening economic growth. Nuclear power is seen as a key part of the solution. By the mid-2020s, India wants 30,000 to 60,000 megawatts of nuclear power. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Rising energy prices are now squeezing consumers from a different direction: their utility bills. Consumers from California to New York are facing rate increases of as much as 30 percent. Average homeowners' electric bills are now heading towards $70 to $80 a month in some states. And low- and middle-income residents are having trouble paying their bills as evidenced by a large increase in disconnect notices. See story from Christian Science Monitor

High fuel costs are leading many more Americans to use public transportation systems. But these systems are also raising fares due to high energy costs. See story from Christian Science Monitor

An Environmental Protection Agency report warns that global warming will increase disease and other health problems nationwide in coming decades. "Climate change poses real risks to human health," says the EPA's Joel Scheraga. Some of the environmental effects will be irreversible, he says. The report details health impacts ranging from Hantavirus to wildfires to asthma, all increased by climate change. See story from USA Today

The House passed a bill renewing for five years a federal-state program that promotes citizen involvement in restoring the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. The bill authorizes about $1 million annually for the program to help restore the nation's largest estuary. See vote

Europe is far more prepared than the U.S. to adapt to the coming energy crunch. See story from Christian Science Monitor

In Great Britain, as more people opt for fewer car trips, carpooling, and public transportation, environmentalists point out that high fuel prices are also leading to reduced carbon emissions. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Two potentially important boosts to efforts to halt climate change coincided with the publication of a major scientific report and the unveiling Wednesday of a new piece of legislation in the U.S. Congress. See story from One World Net

China has overtaken the USA to become the world's No. 1 industrial source of carbon dioxide, the most important global-warming pollutant. See story from USA Today

Despite its pristine image, the Arctic has a serious smog and soot problem. Scientists from three federal agencies are now engaged in the most ambitious effort yet to measure airborne pollutants in the Arctic and gauge their effect on the region's climate. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The House voted to give force of law to an eight-year-old program designed to preserve landscapes of national significance on Bureau of Land Management acreage in the West. The bill would codify what are now administrative protections for landscapes of exceptional ecological, cultural or scientific value on the agency's 27 million acres. See vote

A beetle about the length of a well-trimmed fingernail may be challenging scientists' projections for global warming. Forests store large amounts of carbon drawn from the atmosphere, helping Earth keep cool. But an infestation of mountain pine beetles is turning more than 144,000 square miles of woods in British Columbia from a slight carbon absorber – or sink – to a net CO2 emitter. Canadian scientists unveiled projections Wednesday that between 2000 and 2020, the forest will have lost 270 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The House passed a bill  to raise taxes on the five largest oil companies by $13.6 billion over 10 years and use the revenue to fund tax breaks that would spur the development of renewable fuels and promote energy efficiencies.   See vote

The federal relicensing system used to ensure that America's 1970s-era nuclear plants are safe for future decades is coming under fire following an audit that found key safety evaluations lacked critical documentation. See story from Christian Science Monitor

President Bush proposed large increases for nuclear energy and for capturing and storing carbon from coal-burning power plants in his 2009 budget requests for funding to combat climate change. At the same time, though, his budget would cut money for solar energy research and would provide only a small increase for other renewable-energy programs. See story from McClatchy Newspapers

Converting corn and soybeans into fuels is contributing to higher food prices. The dispute is how much. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Because of climate change, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is poised to recommend that polar bears should be officially designated as a threatened species – even though the bear's numbers currently are not in precipitous decline. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Climate change and energy policy issues are prominent in this election year. See story from Christian Science Monitor

In a tumultuous, overtime finale that capped two weeks of intense talks, ministers from more than 180 countries headed home this weekend with a framework for negotiating a new global-warming agreement by 2009. In the process, the talks appear to have sealed a major shift in the geopolitics of climate change. In part, this change has come about because the US is now more intensely involved in talks than at any other time during the Bush administration. But the big shift has come from developing countries, known collectively as "the G-77 plus China." See story from Christian Science Monitor

The House sent President Bush a bill that would raise vehicle mileage requirements by 40 percent by 2020; boost residential and industrial energy-efficiency standards; phase out the incandescent light bulbs now used in most U.S. homes; and increase production of ethanol and other biofuels sixfold by 2022 See vote

Within less than a decade, national park officials have seen the federal budget for land acquisition slashed by 75 percent, making it increasingly difficult for administrators to purchase roughly 1.8 million acres of privately owned land inside national parks. The 2008 budget offers $35 million – a slight uptick, but far less than the nearly $140 million spent in 1999. See story from Christian Science Monitor

As arctic ice melts, ice is growing in the South Pole. Scientists are puzzled, but the phenomenon seems to fit the latest global-warming models. See story from Christian Science Monitor

In 2008, developing nations are expected to play a more active role in negotiations for the post-Kyoto Protocol period. See story from Christian Science Monitor

California filed suit for the right to limit greenhouse-gas emissions from autos. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Europe has led the way in a political commitment to address global warming.  From the metropolises of London and Stockholm to hamlets like Güssing in Austria, communities are showing that progress can be made even in the absence of international treaties or global rules.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Some experts believe that the recent flooding in Washington state is part of an overall pattern of climate change associated with global warming.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

In a very partisan vote, the House voted to raise vehicle mileage standards 40 percent over 12 years and require utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources.  See vote

Sometimes warnings pack more punch when they come in a concentrated form – and at the right moment.  That's the hope United Nations officials have expressed after the weekend release of the last of four reports this year on global warming and options for trying to bring it under control.   The report reflects rising scientific confidence – and remaining uncertainties – in describing current and projected effects of global warming. That, plus the report's condensed size and terse talking points, virtually ensure it will play a key role in adding urgency to negotiations that begin on Dec. 3 in Nasu Dua, on the island of Bali in Indonesia. See story from Christian Science Monitor 

Talks to frame global efforts to fight climate change began December 3, as delegates from more than 180 countries try to design an agreement that picks up where the 1997 Kyoto Protocol leaves off.  The meeting represents the most rigorous test yet of whether the UN process is nimble enough to yield the deep cuts in emissions that most scientists say could forestall the more serious economic, social, and ecological effects of global warming.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

As ministers convene in Bali to address global warming, there is widespread recognition that the Kyoto agreement is outdated as a road map to accomplishing needed CO² reductions.     See story from Christian Science Monitor

The Bush Administration position on climate change appears to be shifting. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Faster progress is needed to safeguard the ozone layer, according to one of the scientists who discovered the "ozone hole" over Antarctica. See story from BBC

One scientist believes that natural factors are more important than CO² emissions in causing climate change. See story from Christian Science Monitor

With a new application to build a new nuclear plant – the first such filing in nearly 30 years – the industry says the US is on the verge of a nuclear power renaissance. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Was 1998 the hottest year in United States history, as most reporting on climate change has presumed? Or was that record set back in 1934 before "global warming" became a scary household phrase? A corrective tweak to National Aeronautics and Space Administration's formulation shows that the hottest year on record in the US indeed was back during the Dust Bowl days.  Most scientists say the tweak is not a big deal and overall trends are in the direction of toastier days around the globe.  See story from Christian Science Monitor   

Ironically, the injection of greenhouse gases into the earth as a tactic to prevent global warming may be a boon to oil production in places like Texas where oil field production has been declining for decades.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Several states have or are about to trim autos' CO2 emissions and their combined efforts could coax Congress to pass efficiency limits.   See story from Christian Science Monitor 

A recent federal ruling to reduce the amount of water that flows through the delta is likely to boost food prices and trim jobs in agriculture.  See story from Christian Science Monitor  

Oil-sand, oil-shale, and coal-to-oil projects – alternative fuel sources that could enhance US energy security – have always faced one hurdle. They look good only when oil prices are high. Now, they have another challenge: global warming.  California has enacted new climate-change policies that make energy companies responsible for the carbon emissions not just of their refineries but all phases of oil production, including extraction and transportation. If that notion catches on – at least two Canadian provinces have already signed on to California's plan – then the futures of oil-sand, shale, and coal-to-oil projects may look less attractive.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

It's now official: China emits more greenhouse gases than any other country. Which is to say, more than the United States, which had that dubious distinction until now. But it's too simplistic to tag China as the chief climate-change culprit.   Individually, Americans produce much more carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases than the Chinese do. That's because the US has about one-fourth of China's population. Also, much of China's economic growth, driven by hundreds of new coal-fired power plants, goes to make goods shipped to advanced markets.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

The House voted to block a proposed EPA easing of the rule that all smokestack industries install the best available antipollution technology when upgrading units. See vote

The House rejected a proposal to end the 26-year-old ban on Atlantic and Pacific offshore energy drilling.  See vote

The House rejected a proposal to strip an Interior Department appropriations bill of a nonbinding call for regulations to limit the emissions that help cause global warming.  See vote  

Global warming may be the nation's latest roadside attraction, but the American obsession with the carbon-spewing automobile still seems to be charging full speed ahead.   Seventy-seven percent of workers in the United States – more than 102 million people – drive alone to and from work, up from 1990, according to recently released US Census data, based on surveys conducted in 2005. This happened despite the fact that retail gasoline prices rose by 60 cents per gallon in that same 15-year period, controlling for inflation.   See story from Christian Science Monitor

The Senate voted against allowing utilities to count nuclear-generated electricity in meeting proposed federal mandates that they produce at least 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources.   See vote 

The Senate passed a bill to raise vehicle mileage standards by 40 percent by 2020, cut federal support of fossil-fuel production, promote renewable fuels, punish any price gouging by oil firms, and improve the efficiency of appliances and lights.  See vote

Across the American landscape, a sprinkling of economists, authors, bloggers, and pundits are making the case that there's a silver lining to high gasoline prices. Instead of pain at the pump, they see payoffs: less traffic, fewer accidents, reduced air pollution, better efficiency, more reliance on renewable fuels, and less dependence on foreign oil.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

China echoed the Bush administration's stance on global warming by  refusing to set firm caps on its greenhouse-gas emissions and saying that economic growth remained its "first and overriding priority."  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Ethanol production has put the Chinese government in an unpleasant bind, as fears rise that the environmentally friendly gasoline additive is also fueling politically dangerous increases in the price of food – particularly pork, a key staple.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Four months after making headlines with its new program to fight global warming by reducing carbon-dioxide emissions from vehicles, California finds its new plan is stalled – as do 11 other states waiting to do the same.   As the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) holds a public hearing, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and other governors are accusing the federal government of blocking their efforts to institute tougher standards for tailpipe emissions than US regulations require.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Global emissions of carbon dioxide are growing at a faster clip than the highest rates used in recent key UN reports.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Dangerous climate change has not yet arrived, but the tipping point may not be far off. And it may be reached with a smaller temperature rise than recent studies suggest. Those are among the conclusions from an international team of climate scientists in a study this month, which they say bolsters the case for an alternative strategy to combat climate change. The main idea: focus intensely on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions other than carbon dioxide in the short term, giving the world a little leeway in dealing with the trickier issue of CO2.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

The UN's experts on climate change are facing the wrath of many environmental groups this week for embracing the notion that additional use of nuclear power could be helpful in the fight against global warming.  See story from One World Net

A new report indicates that curbing global warming won't bankrupt economy as aggressive measures would only trim annual world growth by 0.12.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Biofuels show promise, but also present problems.  Less than a week after a UN report touted them as part of a global warming solution, another has raised alarms about their viability.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

A boost in fuel economy to 35 miles per gallon would trim about 250 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2020 but current legislative proposals will fall short of this goal.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

For a decade, Columbia University physicist Klaus Lackner has written about a way to stave off – and even reverse – climate change from human-emitted carbon dioxide: Scrub it directly from the atmosphere. And now, after three years of R&D, a Tucson, Ariz., company has unveiled a working model of a device based on Professor Lackner's idea.     Nine-feet tall and able to remove 50 grams of CO2 from the atmosphere daily, the device is a far cry from Lackner's vision of a 300-foot-tall structure sucking 15,000 cars' worth of emissions from the atmosphere yearly. But it fulfills the basic criterion of removing more carbon than it emits.  See story from Christian Science Monitor   

Despite a fast-growing economy that could make it the world's largest carbon-dioxide emitter as early as this year, China may be essentially creating the largest greenhouse-gas-reduction plan on the planet.   Indeed, if the nation's leaders follow through, it may be the US playing catch-up with China – not the other way around.  See story from Christian Science Monitor   

With China's carbon footprint expected to outsize America's within a year, officials in Beijing appear to be backing away from their view that global warming is a Western problem that developed countries must solve.  While still insisting on their right to industrialize hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty, Chinese leaders are showing the first tentative signs of readiness to accept mandatory emissions-reductions targets. And they are setting themselves all kinds of green goals.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

At least 21 states and the District of Columbia are on track to create 46,000 megawatts of renewable power by 2020, eliminating 108 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide emissions a year that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, according to an analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). While that's a drop in the bucket of 6 billion tons of CO2 emissions that vehicles and power plants spew out annually, it is beginning to have an impact.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

In the past five years, the world has been on a coal-fired binge, bringing new generators online at a rate of better than two per week. That has added some 1 billion tons of new carbon-dioxide emissions that humans pump into the atmosphere each year. Coal-fired power now accounts for nearly a third of human-generated global CO2 emissions.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Some of the world's most distinctive and biologically diverse climate regions – from South America's Andes Mountains to southern and eastern Africa and the US Southwest – may be drastically altered by century's end, endangering plant and animal life there, according to a new climate-modeling report.  See story from Christian Science Monitor  

Global warming will affect societies around the world through more prolonged droughts, more intense rains and flooding, changes in the timing of seasonal rainfall and snowmelt, and a projected increase in the spread of animal- and insect-borne diseases, scientists say.

But it will affect plant and animal species even more dramatically. A shift in climate zones could lead to extinction of some species and the spread of others, according to a new report.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Although some are calling nuclear power a carbon-free alternative to fossil fuels, others point to significant environmental costs.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

While European leaders are at the forefront of fighting global warming, these no-carbon crusaders for building green and promoting renewable sources of energy still tiptoe around nuclear power.   It's widely unpopular among Europeans who are worried about what to do with nuclear waste.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

But hoping to regain some momentum from Europe's push to fight global warming, the nuclear power industry is redoubling efforts to promote its product as a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuels.

The mountain pine beetle is laying waste to vast swaths of the US's vulnerable lodgepole pine forests.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

American meat eaters are responsible for 1.5 more tons of carbon dioxide per person than vegetarians every year.  See story from Christian Science Monitor  

A massive international research effort has been launched to examine weather changes at the poles as there is a growing recognition that these areas are vital heat sinks and, eventually, hold the key to future rises in sea levels.   See story from Christian Science Monitor 

As China's unpopular one child policy is about to end, to be replaced by a two child policy, experts are noting that a county that was exempt from the one child policy actually has a birth rate which is lower than the national average.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

On February 2, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finalized what it calls a "comprehensive and rigorous picture" of current knowledge of global warming. The report concluded that the fact of global warming is "unequivocal," that it is "very likely" caused by human activity, and that the Earth's average surface temperature will probably rise by 3.2 degrees F to 7.2 degrees F in this century, and could rise as much as 11.5 degrees F.   See report summary

The chief executives of 10 major organizations, on the eve of the State of the Union address, urged President Bush to support mandatory reductions in climate-changing pollution and establish reductions targets.  The officials include the chief executives Alcoa Inc., PB America Inc., DuPont Co., Caterpillar Inc., General Electric Co., and Duke Energy Corp.   See story from Associated Press

Gas substitutes boost the flex-fuel car.  Soon, alternative fuels might be made from corn, soybeans, and plant fiber - and new cars would be able to run on them.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

Momentum is building in the United States to fight global warming. And the most popular proposal to do that, at the moment, is through a nationwide "cap and trade" system.  See story from Christian Science Monitor

The Union of Concerned Scientists released a report accusing Exxon Mobil of spending millions of dollars to manipulate public opinion on the seriousness of global warming. See story from New York Times

As delegates gather in Kenya for a United Nations conference to set new targets to reduce fossil-fuel emissions after 2012, climate change is a present reality for many Africans. In Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Chad, people are already seeing the repercussions - including war. The conflict between herders and farmers in Sudan's Darfur region, where farm and grazing lands are being lost to desert, may be a harbinger of the future conflicts. See story from Christian Science Monitor

With alarms bells over global warming ringing ever louder and more insistent, is it possible - or credible - for an active scientist working on climate questions to be skeptical of the cause or future severity? Amid mounting evidence that temperatures are rising on planet Earth, the "skeptics" and "agnostics" are a smaller band than they used to be. Yet those who do still harbor doubts about a looming global-warming crisis are quietly continuing to test alternative ideas about how climate works and what, if not the burning of fossil fuels, might be causing the temperature creep. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Labor leaders representing more than 10,000 Environmental Protection Agency scientists, engineers, and staff have asked Congress to hold aggressive oversight hearings on the agency's own greenhouse-gas emissions programs. The workers contend that the agency isn't doing enough to encourage the use of current technology to control carbon-dioxide emissions, the leading cause of human-induced climate change and that the voluntary program established by the Bush Administration is not working. See story from Christian Science Monitor

About 15% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions predicted for the US in 2025 could be avoided at almost no cost by expanding the use of renewables to provide 25% of the country's electricity and motor fuels, according to a Rand Corporation study. See story from Green Building

There are signs that key U.S. officials are ready to take on global warming, even as much of the world community failed to show its will to deal with the impending threat at a recent global conference. See story from One World Net

A new Rand Corp. study showing the falling costs of ethanol, wind power and other forms of renewable energy predicts such sources could furnish as much as 25% of the U.S.'s conventional energy by 2025 at little or no additional expense. And a second renewable-energy report soon to be released by the National Academy of Sciences suggests wood chips may become a plentiful source of ethanol and electricity for industrial nations because their forested areas are expanding. See story from USAgnet

A study has shown that many of the world's forests are making a comeback and are more thickly forested now than they were 200 years ago. The study published yesterday shows that the United States and China had the greatest gain in forests over the past 15 years, while Brazil and Indonesia lost the most, according to the study published in US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. See story from GameShout.com

A new British report suggests that if present trends continue, climate change will devastate the global economy in a manner similar to the great depression. The report suggests that the necessary reduction in greenhouse emissions would cost approximately 1% of the global GDP whereas the economic costs of failing to address the problem would be about 20% of the GDP in 2050. See story from BBC

Under pressure to find new ways to save energy, the US Department of Energy is speeding adoption of new efficiency standards for devices ranging from pool heaters to microwave ovens. Although that may be good news for energy advocates and states that have sued DOE for lagging years behind schedule on new appliance standards, which could curb the nation's rising appetite for electricity. But in the three standards it has proposed, the department has set a far lower bar than even industry efficiency advocates had wanted. See story from Christian Science Monitor

A new study using sophisticated computer imaging projections confirms that global warming will substantially affect weather patterns before the end of the century. The key finding is that there will be severe and costly fluctuations in weather - prolonged droughts followed by heavy rainfall - in many key areas such as the American West, Europe and Brazil. See story from Associated Press

A new Rand Corp. study showing the falling costs of ethanol, wind power and other forms of renewable energy predicts such sources could furnish as much as 25% of the U.S.'s conventional energy by 2025 at little or no additional expense. And a second renewable-energy report soon to be released by the National Academy of Sciences suggests wood chips may become a plentiful source of ethanol and electricity for industrial nations because their forested areas are expanding. See story from USAgnet

A study has shown that many of the world's forests aremaking a comeback and are more thickly forested now than they were 200 years ago. The study published yesterday shows that the United States and China had the greatest gain in forests over the past 15 years, while Brazil and Indonesia lost the most, according to the study published in US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. See story from GameShout.com

A new British report suggests that if present trends continue, climate change will devastate the global economy in a manner similar to the great depression. The report suggests that the necessary reduction in greenhouse emissions would cost approximately 1% of the global GDP whereas the economic costs of failing to address the problem would be about 20% of the GDP in 2050. See story from BBC

Under pressure to find new ways to save energy, the US Department of Energy is speeding adoption of new efficiency standards for devices ranging from pool heaters to microwave ovens. Although that may be good news for energy advocates and states that have sued DOE for lagging years behind schedule on new appliance standards, which could curb the nation's rising appetite for electricity. But in the three standards it has proposed, the department has set a far lower bar than even industry efficiency advocates had wanted. See story from Christian Science Monitor

A new study using sophisticated computer imaging projections confirms that global warming will substantially affect weather patterns before the end of the century. The key finding is that there will be severe and costly fluctuations in weather - prolonged droughts followed by heavy rainfall- in many key areas such as the American West, Europe and Brazil. See story from Associated Press

As delegates gather in Kenya for a United Nations conference to set new targets to reduce fossil-fuel emissions after 2012, climate change is a present reality for many Africans. In Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Chad, people are already seeing the repercussions - including war. The conflict between herders and farmers in Sudan's Darfur region, where farm and grazing lands are being lost to desert, may be a harbinger of the future conflicts. Seestory from Christian Science Monitor

A new combatant against global warming is the insurance industry. The world's second-largest industry, worried about losses related to climate change is offering incentives to "go green". See story from Christian Science Monitor

Summers in Boston will feel like July and August in South Carolina by the end of the century if global warming is allowed to continue unchecked, according to a new scientific report released this morning. A team of 14 scientists and the Cambridge-based Union of Concerned Scientists have produced the most detailed look at what the Northeast will feel like in an ever-warming world. They spent two years examining two scenarios: If the world switches to more renewable power that will slow global warming, and if it does not. See story from Boston Globe

A religious, business and environmental coalition is united in an effort to mobilize religious groups around global warming concerns in time for the U.S. midterm election.  They are spreading copies of a film titled “The Great Warming” into churches around the country. Voter guides and themed sermons are also part of the plan.  See story from Reuters   

A new report suggests we have less than a decade in which to halt global warming before the planet reaches a critical tipping point at which global warming could trigger an irreversible acceleration in climate change.  Arctic permafrost, which is starting to melt due to global warming, is releasing five times more methane gas than previously thought.   See story from The Guardian

A team of researchers has concluded that the ocean floor could provide storage for more excess carbon dioxide than the world can ever produce.  The proposal involves disposing of the carbon dioxide produced from burning fossil fuels by injecting it into seabed sediments nearly two miles (three and a quarter kilometers) below the ocean's surface.  See story from National Geographic  

Global warming may lower energy bills in some places, but the air-conditioning bill in others is going to hurt a lot worse, according to a new study. See story from USA Today

Researchers have demonstrated that genetically modified crop plants can spread their new genes to wild plants, with unpredictable and possibly uncontrollable effects. See story from United Press International

A significantly advance that might have potential to reverse global warming has been developed, but yet to be commercialised on a large scale. The technology provides a biochemical means to safely scrub CO2 from concentrated sources of the gas, like smokestacks of numerous types. The advance was enabled by isolation of the enzyme in animals that removes Carbon Dioxide from blood to permit exhaling CO2 gas. Application of a spot of gene cloning can make this technology fix commercially practical. See story from the Inquirer

Despite opposition in Nevada, the Yucca disposal site is coming closer to reality. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Earth's sunscreen appears poised for recovery after decades of assault from man-made chemicals. After years of decline, global concentrations of ozone in a key region of the stratosphere have held steady for the past eight to nine years, according to two new, independent studies. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Citing the public outcry over $3-a-gallon gasoline and America's heavy reliance on foreign oil, the House voted to open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, knowing the prospects for Senate approval were slim. See story from Associated Press See vote chart

The House approved a measure which many environmentalists consider a recipe for land mismanagement that could greatly increase the risk of dangerous fires -- including near residential neighborhoods -- by allowing the logging industry to dispense with or skirt an array of time-tested safeguards that promote healthy forests, such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). See story from National Resources Defense Council See vote chart

Environmental groups are split regarding immigration policy. Many greens skirt the issue. They're opposed to population growth, but aren't necessarily anti-immigrant. See story from Christian Science Monitor

More than half of U.S. streams are polluted, with the worst conditions found in the eastern third of the country, according to a study by the Environmental Protection Agency. In its first-ever study of shallow or "wadeable" streams, the agency found 42 percent were in poor condition, and another 25 percent were considered fair. Only 28 percent were in good condition, EPA said. Another 5 percent were not analyzed because of sampling problems in New England. See story from Reuters

America's national parks are a major victim of federal budget cutbacks as services and upkeep are trimmed. See story from Christian Science Monitor

As it has done with tailpipe emission standards, coastal protection, and endangered species, California is trying to become a leader on one of today's most pressing environmental concerns: global warming. A bipartisan coalition is behind measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions by forcing California businesses to measure how much they emit, and establish ways to limit them using a market based system. But some analysts believe that the rules will lead companies to locate elsewhere and damage the state's job market. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The United States emitted more greenhouse gases in 2004 than at any time in history, confirming its status as the world's biggest polluter. Latest figures on the US contribution to global warming show that its carbon emissions have risen sharply despite international concerns over climate change. See story from Independent Online

The Antarctic ice sheet is losing as much as 36 cubic miles of ice a year in a trend that scientists link to global warming, according to a new paper that provides the first evidence that the sheet's total mass is shrinking significantly. See story from Washington Post

The radioactive waste from the nation's commercial nuclear reactors is eventually slated for permanent storage in Nevada. But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as approved a temporary storage site on a barren patch of a reservation in Utah that's home to some 25 native Americans, next to a proving ground for chemical and biological weapons, and near an Air Force bombing range. There has been a predictable local outcry. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Some prominent American evangelical leaders have launched a campaign to persuade their congregants that more needs to be done to stop global warming. By embracing a cause normally advocated by environmental groups, these evangelical leaders have broken with many of their colleagues and the Bush administration on the global warming issue. See story from Voice of America

Global warming isn't just a "blue state" issue anymore. From the Rocky Mountain West to the Southeast, influential red-state voices are beginning to call for more concerted efforts at local, state, and federal levels to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Economic factors are behind a rapid development in the use of wind power in the United States. Rising natural-gas prices, new state mandates requiring clean energy, and utilities' concerns over global warming are key forces. But even more significant are advances in turbine technology which cut the cost of wind power to about 4 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour in 2004, from more than 80 cents per kilowatt hour in 1980. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Recent studies of some of nature's environmental "records" show that global warming can penetrate deep into the ocean faster than scientists have realized. In fact, some such penetration may have already begun. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The Bush Administration has announced an "Advanced Energy Initiative" - including a fresh focus on cellulosic ethanol research and attention to battery technology and plug-in hybrid cars. The concept has won plaudits from some energy experts but others called the plan "misleading" for lumping proposals for electricity generation with initiatives to save oil as most of these proposals would have negligible impact on oil consumption. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Ten years after the first significant planting of Genetically Modified (GM) crops there are no apparent benefits for consumers, farmers or the environment according to a new report from the environmental group Friends of the Earth. See story from Herald Eastern Cape

The inaugural two-day summit of what many see as an American-led alternative to the Kyoto climate treaty met in Sydney in January 2006. Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, which sets emissions targets for nations, the new Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate (the US, China, India, Australia, South Korea, and Japan) aims to reduce emissions voluntarily through the transfer of emerging technologies - including "clean coal," burial of carbon dioxide, and next-generation nuclear power - from industrialized nations to the developing world. The pact's advocates argue it is a more realistic approach than Kyoto, and commits many of the major nations not yet bound by Kyoto quotas to at least the principle of reducing emissions. The effectiveness of this effort, however, may ride on whether the high-tech systems can be developed fast enough and made commercially enticing for businesses not otherwise compelled to adopt greener methods. See story from Christian Science Monitor

New England's fish stocks are particularly threatened, and some lawmakers want tough penalties. See story from Christian Science Monitor

New measurements of tiny particles in Earth's atmosphere contain a sobering message: All those hard-won efforts to cut air pollution may unwittingly accelerate global warming. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Winter hides a chilling fact that scientists have known for years. The world is getting warmer. After three years of steady warming, the global mean temperature rose 1.36 degree Fahrenheit in 2005 to equal the record set in 1998 as the hottest year on record. See story from Voice of America

The strategy of creating partnerships between developed and developing countries for the purpose of preventing deforestation is being revived as an important tool in addressing global warming. See story from Christian Science Monitor

A fight over easing rules for reporting toxic emissions is developing. An EPA plan would reduce paperwork, but would make it hard to hold polluters to account, activists say. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Ministers at the climate change conference in Montreal made a series of breakthroughs in plans to combat global warming. On the conference's last day, Kyoto Protocol signatories agreed to extend the treaty on emissions reductions beyond its 2012 deadline.

And a broader group of countries including the US agreed to non-binding talks on long-term measures although the US had refused to accept any deal leading to commitments to cuts. Demonstrating a continuing reluctance to conform to global consensus on the issue, the Bush Administration delegation walked out of the conference at one point in the negotiations. In contrast, the remarks of former US President Clinton were well received by the representatives and may have contributed to the ultimate agreement. See story from BBC

Drilling deep into Antarctic ice, scientists have extended Earth's climate history by another 210,000 years. The new results, they say, drive home two key points: 1) today's atmosphere holds concentrations of carbon dioxide significantly higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years; and 2) the rise and fall in temperatures track the rise and fall in carbon-dioxide levels as tightly during this additional period as they have over the past 440,000 years. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The National Environmental Policy Act - known as the Magna Carta of US environmental laws - is under intense political scrutiny. The requirements of this Nixon-era act have done much for environmental protection, its supporters say. NEPA also has acted as a "sunshine law," opening the political process involving such decisions to all Americans through "environmental impact statements" allowing for public comment. But the law has also been the basis for hundreds of lawsuits, in effect becoming a tool for activists to slow or kill many projects. NEPA also has greatly added to the cost of public works, energy development, and other beneficial projects, critics say. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The organic food industry continues to grow in the United States. Organic products have moved beyond specialty stores and farmers markets into national grocery chains and discount retailers as consumers demand increases. See story from Voice of America

Developed countries, taken as a group, have achieved sizable reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but further efforts are needed to sustain these reductions in gases blamed for global warming and cut them further according to a UN report. A large part of the reductions was achieved in the early 1990s in countries of Eastern and Central Europe undergoing transition to a market economy which included abandoning polluting industries. See story from UN News Center

A new study finds that global warming is driving up rates of malaria, malnutrition and diarrhea… contributing to 5-million illnesses and more than 150,000 deaths a year. According to its lead author, Jonathan Patz of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, most of those deaths and illnesses will occur in the world's poorest countries - the nations least responsible for the increase in greenhouse gases. See story from Voice of America

The hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica has grown to near record size this year, suggesting 20 years of pollution controls have so far had little effect, according to a United Nations study. See story from Reuters

The nuclear power industry is quietly confident that the world is about to beat a path to its door in an increasingly desperate search for "clean" energy that doesn't heat up the planet. See story from Reuters

The House narrowly passed a bill offering incentives for oil companies to build new refineries by streamlining the permit process for refineries and requiring the president to designate federal land - - including former military bases -- as sites for new refineries. The bill would reduce the number of gasoline and diesel fuels refiners have to produce from 17 to six. See story from San Francisco Chronicle   See vote

The Bush Administration's lax environmental policies have spurred many states to initiate regulation and to challenge federal rules. See story from Christian Science Monitor

World sea levels could rise 30 centimeters (12 inches) by the end of the century and freak weather will become more common due to rapid global warming, according to a new study by a leading German research institute. See story from Melbourne Herald Sun

In a bid to reshape decades of U.S. environmental policy, the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation to overhaul the Endangered Species Act and make it harder to shield the habitat of plants and animals threatened with extinction. See story from San Francisco Chronicle

The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk for a fourth consecutive year and is at the lowest extent of ice cover for more than a century. See story from BBC

In a paper that shows dramatic summer warming in arctic Alaska, scientists synthesized a decade of field data from Alaska showing summer warming is occurring primarily on land, where a longer snow-free season has contributed more strongly to atmospheric heating than have changes in vegetation. See news release

Around the world, powerful hurricanes - rated Category 4 or 5 - have become more frequent compared with 30 years ago. Coastal communities can expect more of the same, researchers say, for a variety of reasons that may eventually include global warming. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Up to 15,000 Australians could die each year from heat stress, and dengue fever could spread as far south as Sydney by the end of the century unless greenhouse gas emissions are cut, a new report warns. A joint report by the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Conservation Foundation found growing temperatures would lead to increased poverty rates, more migration and large scale population movement in the Asia Pacific. See story from Sydney Morning Herald

The receding floodwaters in New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast are exposing hazardous chemicals and other dangerous waste. But they're also revealing the accomplishments - and the limits - of government programs designed to clean up such pollution. See story from Christian Science Monitor

The Senate narrowly turned back a challenge to the Bush administration's strategy on mercury pollution, leaving intact federal rules that give power plants flexibility in how they reduce emissions of the dangerous toxin. See story from Associated Press See vote

Hurricane Katrina's fury has led to renewed claims from environmental experts regarding the reality and consequences of global warming. See story from Scripps Howard

New federal pollution controls have improved the summer air breathed by 100 million Americans, according to a study released by the Environmental Protection Agency. See story from Washington Post

Officials in nine northeastern U.S. states have reached a preliminary agreement to freeze power plant emissions at their current levels and then reduce them by 10 percent by 2020. See story from Reuters

The initial expectation that genetically modified food technology would be rapidly adopted turned out to be a bit optimistic. To be sure, farmers are producing more bioengineered crops every year. Farmers have found many of these genetically modified crops quite useful. GM soybeans are cheaper to grow; GM papaya has saved Hawaiian growers from a virus that had made their traditional crop unmarketable. But these remain first-generation GM varieties with only indirect consumer benefits. The next generation - offering consumers better-tasting, more nutritious, or longer-lasting food - is taking longer than the industry's optimists expected. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Climate change threatens to put far more people at risk of hunger over the next 50 years than previously thought, according to new research. See story from BBC

The initial expectation that genetically modified food technology would be rapidly adopted turned out to be a bit optimistic. To be sure, farmers are producing more bioengineered crops every year. Farmers have found many of these genetically modified crops quite useful. GM soybeans are cheaper to grow; GM papaya has saved Hawaiian growers from a virus that had made their traditional crop unmarketable. But these remain first-generation GM varieties with only indirect consumer benefits. The next generation - offering consumers better-tasting, more nutritious, or longer-lasting food - is taking longer than the industry's optimists expected. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Large farm owners have turned Brazil into an agricultural superpower, making it the world's biggest exporter of many agricultural products. But the agricultural boom also is responsible for much of the deforestation occurring in the environmentally sensitive Amazon region. See story from Los Angeles Times

When the nuclear industry looks at the Bush administration's initiatives to promote a new generation of nuclear power plants, it sees a giant dollar sign. Critics see a giant mushroom cloud. For investors and taxpayers, who will have to pony up the cash, the sign may be a giant question mark. See story from Christian Science Monitor

China's environmental woes are so large that they've begun to generate social instability. See story from Knight Ridder

The collapse of a huge ice shelf in Antarctica in 2002 has no precedent in the past 11,000 years, according to a study to be published today that points the finger at global warming. Measuring some 3250sq km in area and 220m thick, the Larsen B iceshelf broke away from the eastern Antarctic Peninsula in 2002, eventually disintegrating into giant icebergs. See story from Australian

The United Nations Environment Programme has welcomed the new Asia- Pacific partnership to develop new technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse gases, but stressed that it was not a substitute for the Kyoto Protocol. See story from Hindustan Times

The comprehensive energy bill agreed to by the House and Senate provides tax breaks for both energy production and conservation. It would nearly double ethanol production, which advocates say would improve air quality. It provides new subsidies and tax breaks for solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear power, and it orders an inventory of offshore oil and gas resources. It requires new commercial appliances to be more energy efficient. It would strengthen the nation's energy grid in order to avoid the kind of blackouts seen in recent years, and it would extend daylight saving time by a month. On the other hand, it does not include oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR); it declines to increase auto efficiency standards to conserve gasoline and decrease pollution; it won't bail out the makers of MTB and it doesn't make much of a dent in the greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming. See story from Christian Science Monitor See House Vote See Senate Vote

Global warming linked to carbon emissions will have its worst impact in Africa. See story from Reuters

A new trend toward importing natural gas may make economic sense but causes some concern that the U.S. will begin a new dependency on foreign energy sources. See story from Christian Science Monitor

A vast majority of Americans disagree with President George W. Bush's stance on global warming and believe that the U.S. should not be a laggard, but should be ready to do as much as most other developed countries to reduce emissions that cause climate change. See story from One World Net

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush called for new consensus on how to tackle climate change as leaders of the world's wealthiest countries convened for a summit. The two agreed that a new deal should be in place to tackle greenhouse emissions before Kyoto Protocol winds up its effect in 2012. See story from People.com

More than 26 years after a near-meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, the Senate is considering an energy bill that includes financial incentives for construction of nuclear plants. See story from USA Today

A plan to make it more likely that GM crops are grown across Europe has been rejected by EU ministers - despite UK support for the idea. The UK government backed a European Commission proposal to overturn blanket bans of GM crops in five EU countries. France, Germany, Greece, Austria and Luxembourg have banned specific genetically modified crops on their territory, focusing on three types of maize and two types of rape seed. See story from BBC

The U.N.'s Kyoto protocol on curbing global warming looks utterly different when viewed from Washington, which opposes the 150-nation pact, or from its main backers in the European Union, Japan or Canada. See story from Reuters

Leaders of the world's eight major industrial nations have agreed to take immediate steps to curb global warming as part of the Group of Eight summit, though they will not set concrete heat-trapping gas reductions or specify how much money they will spend. U.S. officials resisted calls from allies to adopt a more ambitious framework for addressing climate change; foreign leaders managed to include a limited endorsement of mandatory carbon - emissions cuts and language linking global warming to human activity. See story from Washington Post

Plants in 23 states that store lung-melting or otherwise lethal chemicals are in some of the nation's most populous communities and could each endanger more than 1 million people in a worst-case disaster, congressional researchers say. Officials are concerned that the more than 100 chemical plants are tempting targets for terror attacks. See story from Associated Press

A side effect to the progress in reducing air pollution may ironically be to increase the rate of global warming to due greenhouse gas emissions. Tiny pollutant particles, once airborne, can reflect sunlight back into space, easing temperatures in what is known as aerosol cooling. By cleaning up industrial pollution, countries are reducing the effect of this cooling. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Nobody's very happy with the federal Endangered Species Act - arguably the most powerful of all environmental protection laws. Scientists and activists say it fails to protect hundreds of "candidate" species headed for extinction because agencies haven't been able to get to them yet for lack of resources or political support. Property rights advocates say the law unfairly harms farmers, ranchers, and developers who have on their land what some deride as an inconsequential bug or weed. See story from Christian Science Monitor

After the collapse of an ambitious bipartisan plan to slow U.S. greenhouse gases with an emissions trading program, the Senate approved a plan to offer generous tax breaks to U.S. utilities, refiners and manufacturing plants that develop technology to limit emissions of carbon dioxide. It would not cap U.S. emissions of carbon, which are linked to the global warming blamed for melting polar ice caps and rising oceans. See story from Reuters

More than 26 years after a near-meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, the Senate is considering an energy bill that includes financial incentives for construction of nuclear plants. See story from USA Today

A leading Republican senator, trying to shepherd a broad energy bill through the Senate, is urging the White House and other GOP senators to support a compromise proposal on global warming, including mandatory curbs on climate- changing pollution. See story from Associated Press

As part of a 2003 court settlement, the EPA agreed to have states impose limits on air pollution, often from sources hundreds of miles away, to reduce haze and visibility problems in 156 national parks and wilderness areas. The EPA estimates it will cost about $1.5 billion a year to achieve the reduction but puts the annual benefits at $8.5 billion to $10 billion through fewer premature deaths, nonfatal heart attacks, hospital admissions and lost school and workdays. See story from Associated Press

Desertification (the gradual transformation of arable land to desert) threatens to drive millions of people from their homes in coming decades while vast dust storms can damage the health of people continents away. Over-grazing and over-planting of crops, swelling human populations and misuse of irrigation were contributing to desertification, It estimated that 10-20 percent of drylands were already degraded. See story from Reuters

Blair has put climate change at the heart of his year-long presidency of the Group of Eight industrial nations, but his efforts to get radical action agreed at next month's G8 summit in Scotland are being repeatedly torpedoed by the United States. Environmental campaigners say this leaves Blair with a stark choice -- either drop President Bush and get a strong agreement with the other G8 members or stay with him, get a weak deal and be blamed for missing a crucial opportunity. See story from Reuters

Exposure to hundreds of toxic chemicals begins in the womb, finds a new study of the umbilical cord blood of 10 American newborns commissioned by the Environmental Working Group. The research and advocacy organization asked a lab to test 10 American Red Cross cord blood samples for what the group claims is the most extensive array of industrial chemicals, pesticides and other pollutants ever studied. See story from Environmental News Service

The government has provided only "limited assurance" that the 700 new chemical compounds entering the marketplace each year are safe and will not harm the environment, according to a Government Accountability Office report. The report concludes that Congress should strengthen the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act to give the Environmental Protection Agency additional authority to require more test data from chemical manufacturers and to share that data with the public. See story from Washington Post

The science academies of the world's leading nations are urging their governments to take prompt action to combat possible climate change. They have agreed that all countries could and should take cost-effective action to cut carbon dioxide emissions. See story from BBC

In recent months, it has become increasingly obvious that a critical mass is developing around perhaps the most nettlesome issue of modern American environmentalism - climate change - and that states, cities, and even some businesses are the ones taking the lead. While the Bush administration insists that human impact on climate change is far from certain, a growing number of policymakers disagree and are now taking decisive steps that the federal government has so far shunned. See story from Christian Science Monitor

In his message commemorating UN Environment day, Secretary General Kofi Annan emphasized improved urban environments. "In the next quarter-century," he says, "almost all population growth will occur in cities, most of it in less developed countries. By 2030, more than 60 per cent of the world's population will live in urban areas ... Creating environmentally friendly cities is an admittedly big challenge, but the technologies and expertise we need already exist ... Clean transport, energy-efficient buildings, safe sanitation and economical water use are possible now, not just in the future, often in a manner that is affordable for all." See story from Environmental News Service

Global warming is likely to significantly diminish food production in many countries and greatly increase the number of hungry people according to a new report from U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The report states that food distribution systems and their infrastructure would be disrupted and that the severest impact would likely be in sub-Saharan African countries. See story from Reuters

People are gobbling up more food, material goods, and natural resources than ever before and the worldwide pursuit of prosperity is stoking environmental and security problems, according to a new report. See story from Environment News Service

Nuclear power has surged back onto the agenda as a solution for global warming as leaders of the world's richest nations try to draw up a blueprint for staving off climate disaster. Nuclear may be emission-free but environmentalists say the new trend is poorly conceived, misguided and at worst dangerous. See story from Reuters

A warming climate has heated much of Alaska's permafrost to temperatures just below freezing and drastic changes are expected in the coming decades as that layer of frozen soil thaws. See story from Reuters

A majority of the Senate declared its support for allowing oil companies into the 1.5 million acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where billions of barrels of crude oil are believed to rest beneath the tundra. See story from ESPN See vote

The congressional fight over the Bush administration's clean air plan has turned into a political knock-down, drag out at several levels. Ten state attorneys general are publicly opposing it. Environmental activists and labor unions are at odds over the measure, illustrating the classic split over jobs versus the environment. State and local air- pollution control officials and agencies have weighed in, prompting the chairman of the Senate environment committee to question their motives and investigate their possible connection to activists. See story from Christian Science Monitor

World temperatures could surge in just two decades to a threshold likely to trigger dangerous disruptions to the earth's climate, the WWF environmental group said. This prediction is far earlier than it predicted by most scientists. See story from Reuters

Greenhouse gas emissions could cause global temperatures to rise by up to 19.8 degrees Fahrenheit, according to first results from the world's largest climate modeling experiment. See story from Reuters

The treaty hasn't gone into effect yet and already three countries are planning to build nearly 850 new coal-fired plants, which would pump up to five times as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Global warming is set to continue, and bring with it an increase in extreme weather such as hurricanes and droughts, scientists from the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization warned. See story from Reuters

The European Union, the heavyweight in the fight against global warming, will push for mandatory cuts in emissions after the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012 despite fervent opposition from the United States. Negotiators at the U.N. climate change talks are firmly focused on a new regime for when it ends in 2012 and what can be done to get the United States, the Kyoto drop-out, involved. See story from Reuters

The Arctic is undergoing profound ecological change. It's become the poster child for global warming. Not only are average air temperatures rising, ice sheets thinning, and permafrost melting, the whole complex interconnected network of arctic life and its environment are changing in ways not reflected in the geological record or Inuit lore. This no longer is a forecast of what might happen in future decades. It is happening right now. See story from Christian Science Monitor

In the aftermath of its perceived election mandate, the administration is eager to achieve things denied it during President Bush's first term: pumping oil out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), allowing loggers access to millions of acres of roadless national forest land, easing Clean Air Act restrictions on some pollutants, making it easier to extract oil and gas in the Rocky Mountains, and passing an energy bill put together by Vice President Dick Cheney with help from the energy industry. See story from Christian Science Monitor

In a striking trend that spans North America's key ecosystem regions - grassland, shrubland, forest, wetland, and urban - almost a third of 654 bird species native to North America are in statistically significant decline. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Demands by the United States and other wealthy nations to delay the phasing out of a pesticide that depletes the ozone layer threaten to unravel a key global environmental treaty. See story from Reuters

Rising global temperatures will threaten coastal cities, change growing patterns for vegetation and destroy habitats for some wildlife, but an energy-starved world would have new areas for oil and gas exploration, according to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report. See story from Reuters

The Environmental Integrity Project report finds that the Justice Department filed 36 lawsuits against companies for violations of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and federal hazardous waste laws in the first three years of the Bush administration. This compares with 152 lawsuits filed in the last three years of the Clinton administration against companies for violations of the same environmental laws. See story from Environmental News Service

The world is consuming some 20 percent more natural resources a year than the planet can produce according to the World Wildlife Fund. Urging governments to move rapidly to restore the ecological balance, the Swiss-based group said rich countries, particularly in North America, were largely to blame for the situation. See story from Reuters

The Kyoto pact on global warming offers too little to arrest climate change and governments should adopt more radical solutions according to the top U.N. climate expert. See story from Reuters

Japan is confident it can secure the votes needed to resume commercial trade in whale products and that this would be a step toward lifting a ban on hunting the marine giants, See story from Reuters

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is initiating a campaign to force international action on global warming, despite the reluctance of the United States. He has promised to make the issue a centerpiece of Britain's presidency of the G8 group of industrialized countries in 2005 by agreement among the G8 on the science of climate change and the threat it poses. He has identified three specific goals: 1) to reach agreement among the G8 on the science of climate change and the threat it poses; 2) to agree on scientific and technological measures to tackle it; 3) to persuade countries beyond the G8, notably China and India, to act to cut greenhouse gases. See story from Reuters

The European Commission today approved funding for 109 environmental innovation projects in 18 member states that will apply new technologies to tackle environmental problems. Hazardous waste management, wastewater treatment, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and clean technologies are all on the list for funding. See story from Environmental News Service

Some regions of the world, particularly in Asia, are consuming far beyond 100 percent of what their local ecosystems can provide. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Arctic temperatures could surge at roughly double the rate predicted by UN studies for the planet as a whole by 2100. But nations in the Arctic region -- the United States, Russia, Canada and Nordic countries -- are sharply divided about how to act on the scientists' conclusions, with Washington opposed to any major initiatives. See story from Reuters

Global warming could lead to consequences in addition to climate change, such as the increased likelihood of powerful earthquakes. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Europe is warming more quickly than the rest of the world with potentially devastating consequences, including more frequent heatwaves, flooding, rising sea levels and melting glaciers. See story from New Scientist

Ford Motor Co. is protesting California legislation that would give Japanese- built, gasoline-electric cars special access to car-pool lanes while excluding the U.S. automaker's new Escape hybrid sport-utility vehicle. The bill would let hybrids that get at least 45 miles per gallon use high- occupancy vehicle lanes even with only the driver present. That would allow access for Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius car and Honda Motor Co.'s Insight and hybrid Civic cars, the only gas-electric vehicles sold in the United States. The Escape hybrid, which began production this month and will go on sale in September, is rated at 31 m.p.g. on highways by U.S. regulators. See story from Bloomberg

California is destined to be hotter and drier a century from now, but the outlook will be far worse if emissions of greenhouse gases around the world are not curtailed, a new study says. By the end of the century, the Sierra Nevada snowpack could decline by about 90 percent if emissions are not curtailed or 30 percent if emissions are curtailed. See story from Contra Costa Times

A new report to Congress focuses on federal research indicating that emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases are the only likely explanation for global warming over the past three decades, a striking shift in the way the Bush administration has portrayed the science of climate change. See story from San Francisco Chronicle

An international scientific effort is occurring this summer to study regional and transatlantic air pollution and its potential effect on climate. The immediate goal is to provide information that will improve daily air-pollution forecasts from Boston to Brussels and give climate scientists a better idea of how pollution from North America directly and indirectly alters the amount of heat the atmosphere retains from the sun. Inadvertently, however, the research also may build a case for international cooperation in combating air pollution. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Global warming is bringing expensive and potentially dangerous erosion and floods to Native Alaskan villages. Storms tear off chunks of beach once shielded by permafrost or Arctic pack ice. Buildings are in danger of toppling into the sea, and many have already been moved, at great expense. Airstrips are swamped and ice cellars that once stored food in the permafrost are filling with water. See story from Reuters

The world is turning to dust, with lands the size of Rhode Island becoming desert wasteland every year and the problem threatening to send millions of people fleeing to greener countries, the United Nations says. Slash-and-burn agriculture, sloppy conservation, overtaxed water supplies and soaring populations are mostly to blame. But global warming is taking its toll, too. See story from Associated Press

Leading U.S. climate scientists are worried that the American public and political parties appear to be apathetic about the threat of global warming. The experts argue that action to counter it should be taken now, even though science has not answered many questions about global warming. See story from Voice of America

The House voted to let snowmobiles continue using Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, as the recreation industry dealt a defeat to environmentalists. By 224-198, the chamber beat back an effort to ban the vehicles by lawmakers who said the machines cause pollution and noise, and pose a danger to the parks' wildlife. See story from Associated Press See vote

More than 80 percent of the U.S. public supports pending legislation to cut the emission of greenhouse gases, while two thirds said they are willing to pay the U.S.$15 a month - or nearly $200 a year - that experts believe the legislation, the Climate Stewardship Act (CSA), will cost the average household, according to a nationwide poll. See story from One World Net

U.S. counties that are home to nearly 100 million people appear to flunk federal air standards because of microscopic soot from diesel-burning trucks, power plants and other sources according to the Environmental Protection Agency. See story from Associated Press

Unrestrained consumption of fossil fuels is killing tens of thousands of people in Europe. See story from One World Net

The Senate agreed to ease cleanup requirements for tanks holding millions of gallons of highly radioactive waste from Cold War-era bomb making. Critics said the change would leave poisonous sludge in underground tanks and risk contamination of groundwater. See story from Associated Press See vote

The United Nations sounded the alarm over the health of the world's oceans, warning that aggressive fishing threatens little-understood corals that may hold the key to new medicines. See story from Reuters

Governments must spend more on research and development of renewable energy before such secure and clean power can make a real contribution according to the International Energy Agency. See story from MSNBC

Summer temperatures in the Arctic have risen at an incredible rate over the past three years and large patches of what should be ice are now open water, a British polar explorer said. See story from Reuters

Will climate change trigger mass extinctions or will new life bloom in its wake? Some of the scientific scenarios are apocalyptic and see a warmer world leading to the most profound changes since the demise of the dinosaurs. Others see a wetter and hence greener world as a result. See story from Reuters

Global warming is hitting the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet in what may be a portent of wider, catastrophic changes, the chairman of an eight-nation study said. See story from Reuters

California is about to take the unprecedented step of requiring car manufacturers to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from tailpipes in an effort to combat global warming. Within the next decade, California will demand that new cars sold in the state cut those pollutants by 30 percent. See story from Christian Science Monitor

Forty-seven countries including the U.S. have taken action to create a global network to share information about the environment. The proposed network, the Earth Observation System, would allow the sharing of weather, climate and other data and would save billions of dollars a year through more efficient collection of such information. See story from Reuters

Booming Brazilian beef exports could be the main culprit behind a sharp rise in deforestation of the Amazon jungle as cattle farmers cut deeper into the forests. See story from Guardian

The Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia will be largely destroyed by 2050 because of rising sea temperatures, according to a new report. See story from BBC

The melting of glaciers in the Patagonian region at the southern tip of Latin America requires urgent international action, without waiting for the United States to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, Chilean environmentalists and government experts are saying. See story from Inter-Press

Reversing a Clinton-era policy, the Bush administration opened 300,000 more acres of Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest, to possible logging or other development. The administration will allow 3 percent of the forest's 9.3 million acres that were put off- limits to road-building by former President Clinton to have roads built on them and perhaps opened to use by the timber industry. See story from Associated Press

Despite a pledge by President Bush to make national parks the centerpiece of his environmental agenda, the backlog of repairs at park facilities is getting worse. See story from Newhouse News Services

Global warming could wipe out a quarter of all species of plants and animals on earth by 2050 in one of the biggest mass extinctions since the dinosaurs, according to an international study. See story from Reuters

The US position on global warming is flying in the face of a broad consensus of world opinion that urgent collective action is required to reduce industrial emissions that add to global warming. President Bush and Congress also know that to support legislation obliging US industrial plants to reduce emissions - as Kyoto demands - would be a vote loser, because it would mean cutting production, increasing unemployment and raising energy bills. The most recent attempt by Kyoto process supporters to introduce a Senate bill failed in October. See vote The draft, called the Climate Stewardship Bill, was dubbed "Kyoto Lite" by its detractors. It was co-sponsored across party lines by Democrat Joe Liebermann - one of next year's presidential election hopefuls - and Republican John McCain. Critics of the bill argued that it would have reduced US GDP by $106 billion and raised energy costs by at least 30%. See story from BBC

NASA scientists say soot, mostly from diesel engines, is causing as much as a quarter of all observed global warming by reducing the ability of snow and ice to reflect sunlight. See story from New York Times

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