http://www.enn.com/ ENN RSS News http://www.enn.com/business/article/40163 Officials from a 17-member body which account for the lions share of the world's carbon emissions will hold urgent talks next Tuesday to iron out differences on the eve of a July 8-10 summit of the G8. Group of Eight diplomats and climate change officials told Reuters the meeting of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) was called to narrow the gap between rich countries and developing nations such as India over long-term targets on global warming and emissions. http://www.enn.com/business/article/40162 Two NASA probes are on their way to the moon in the hopes of finding water ice and safe landing sites that could pave the way for the return of astronauts to the lunar surface. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and a piggyback mission called Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) took off at 2132 GMT on Thursday aboard an Atlas V rocket from a launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40154 The US Environmental Protection Agency today announced the next steps in a coordinated strategy to reduce emissions from ocean-going vessels. EPA is proposing a rule under the Clean Air Act that sets tough engine and fuel standards for U.S. flagged ships that would harmonize with international standards and lead to significant air quality improvements throughout the country. "These emissions are contributing to health, environmental and economic challenges for port communities and others that are miles inland. Building on our work to form an international agreement earlier this year, we’re taking the next steps to reduce significant amounts of harmful pollution from getting into the air we breathe," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "Lowering emissions from American ships will help safeguard our port communities, and demonstrate American leadership in protecting our health and the environment around the globe." http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/40153 http://www.enn.com/energy/article/40145 Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced measures on Monday to hasten the development of solar energy on public lands in six western states. Salazar expects to have 13 commercial-scale projects with solar power arrays under construction by the end of 2010. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40144 Dust in the wind is rewriting the cycle of life in the mountains. Throughout memory the warmth of spring has begun the mountain snowmelt, bringing life-giving water to greening plants so they can blossom and renew their species. But now, scientists say, the timing is being thrown off by desert dust stirred as global warming dries larger areas and human activity increases in those regions. http://www.enn.com/energy/article/40143 US President Barack Obama on Sunday expressed his opposition to a provision in the clean energy bill that would impose trade penalties on countries that do not accept limits on global warming pollution, The New York Times reported late Sunday. http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/40139 Desperate to halt the erosion of Louisiana’s coast, officials there are talking about breaking Mississippi River levees south of New Orleans to restore the nourishing flow of muddy water into the state’s marshes. But in a new analysis, scientists at Louisiana State University say inland dams trap so much sediment that the river no longer carries enough to halt marsh loss, especially now that global warming is speeding a rise in sea levels. http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40135 President Barack Obama scored a major victory on Friday when the House of Representatives passed legislation to slash industrial pollution that is blamed for global warming. The Democratic-controlled House passed the climate change bill, a top priority for Obama, by a vote of 219-212. http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40127 A new regulation adopted today will force more than a dozen California landfills to install equipment that captures methane gas created by decomposing solid waste. The California Air Resources Board’s newly adopted measure will also impact other landfills by forcing them to change their operating practices to reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere. http://www.enn.com/business/article/40123 Grant competitions opened Wednesday for $500 million in Recovery Act funds for training programs that will help retool the U.S. workforce for a clean energy economy. http://www.enn.com/business/article/40118 President Obama says the greenhouse-gas emissions cutting Waxman-Markey bill before Congress will "spark a clean energy transformation." But a new analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency casts doubt on that claim. http://www.enn.com/business/article/40115 Ten companies received Business Week’s (BW) Greener China Business Awards. Although still the world’s biggest user of coal powered energy, China is emerging as an "incubator for clean technology," as BW puts it. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40110 The new Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators is an updated and expanded version of the award-winning (2001 Public Relations Society of America Bronze Anvil Award for Interactive Communications and 2002 Telly Award) and very popular (over 40,000 kits distributed in all 51 states and territories and over a dozen countries across the world) Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Teachers and Interpreters first published in 2001. http://www.enn.com/energy/article/40106 Climate change legislation pending in Congress would cost U.S. households only about $175 annually in higher energy and consumer prices, far less than the $3,100 "burden" opponents have claimed would result, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate. http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40104 Before you deposit the next beer or wine bottle into your blue bin, here are a few things to know about recycling your favorite sand-based product: 1. It has the quickest turnaround of any curbside product, back on store shelves in as little as 30 days 2. There’s a strong market for recycled glass, and the demand is not currently met 3. A good portion of glass that you place in your recycling bin is not actually recycled http://www.enn.com/business/article/40103 The potential energy savings achievable through state actions is significant. EPA estimates that if each state were to implement cost-effective clean energy-environment policies, the expected growth in demand for electricity could be cut in half by 2025, and more demand could be met through cleaner energy supply. This would mean annual savings of more than 900 bilĀ­lion kilowatt-hours (kWh) and $70 billion in energy costs by 2025, while preventing the need for more than 300 power plants and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to emissions from 80 million of today’s vehicles. http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/40101 Arctic nations are promising to avoid new "Cold War" scrambles linked to climate change, but military activity is stirring in a polar region where a thaw may allow oil and gas exploration or new shipping routes. http://www.enn.com/energy/article/40100 If you've been waiting for the chance to get more done during the day, today, Sunday is your day, but only by a fraction of a second. Like a giant timepiece, Earth and sun are configured for the summer solstice once again. This year it happens June 21, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun will be up a fraction of a second longer than the day prior or the day after. (The length of the full day, including night, does not change, of course.) http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40097 Nissan Motor Co plans to launch production of electric vehicles and their batteries in the United States to tap low-interest loans for green vehicles, the Nikkei business daily said. The overall investment is estimated at 50 billion yen ($516.4 million) and may rise to 100 billion yen, it said. http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40095 Deutsche Bank has erected a seven-story sign in the heart of New York City that ticks off the tons of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere — a public relations move designed to raise awareness of global warming. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40094 The ocean is warming about 50 per cent faster than reported two years ago, according to an update of the latest climate science. A report compiling research presented at a science congress in Copenhagen in March says recent observations are near the worst-case predictions of the 2007 report by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/40092 A team of NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University, and the University of Michigan is forecasting that the “dead zone” off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be one of the largest on record. The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where seasonal oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters. http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40085 A Senate committee on Wednesday approved an energy bill that would open large tracts of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling and provide federal loan guarantees for a gas pipeline project in Alaska. The measure, which cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a 15-to-8 vote, would also require utilities to produce up to 15 percent of electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar power by 2021. That standard is somewhat weaker than one in a House energy and climate change bill that is headed for a floor vote as early as next week. http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/40079 The US Federal government released a major report today. The report summarizes the science and the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. It focuses on climate change impacts in different regions of the U.S. and on various aspects of society and the economy such as energy, water, agriculture, and health. The report is the work of 12 federal agencies including the EPA, DOD,COMMERCE, NASA, and others.It’s written in plain language, with the goal of better informing public and private decision making at all levels.