http://www.enn.com/ ENN RSS News http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40675 U.S. Midwest weather is seen mostly dry through the next week, ideal for the corn and soybean harvest, a forecaster said on Friday. "This is outstanding weather. Considering the time of the year, this is about as good as you're going to get," said Mike Palmerino with DTN Meteorlogix. http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/40674 Some 40 heads of state plan to attend a U.N. meeting in December in Copenhagen meant to agree a global warming deal, the U.N. climate chief said on Friday. http://www.enn.com/climate/article/40673 A U.N. climate treaty may need an extra year beyond a December deadline to agree details, delegates at U.N. talks said on Thursday even as a U.S. Senate committee approved a carbon-capping bill. The Nov. 2-6 meeting of 175 nations in Spain, turned gloomy about salvaging a strong deal after two years of negotiations. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40672 Dr. Ken Caldeira, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington provided a balanced look at the potential benefits and also the costs and possible harm that geoengineering techniques could offer in our quest to find a “Magic Bullet”� to counter global warming. Can global warming be mitigated by a technological fix such as injecting light-blocking particles into the atmosphere or chemically “scrubbing”� excess greenhouse gases from the atmosphere? Department of Global Ecology scientist Ken Caldeira addressed this question in his testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology in a hearing titled “Geoengineering: Assessing the Implications of Large-Scale Climate Intervention”� on November 5, 2009. http://www.enn.com/business/article/40671 U.S. clean energy legislation could help create 850,000 manufacturing jobs around the country, a report from a group representing business and environmental interests said on Wednesday. http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40670 Las Vegas has far from a clean reputation, but in Forbes' list of America's Most Toxic Cities, Las Vegas is named the least toxic of 40 major metropolitan areas. Forbes ranked the cities based on the number of Superfund sites in the principal city, number of facilities that release toxic chemicals, amount of toxic chemicals released in the area and air quality ranking. http://www.enn.com/energy/article/40669 Up to $30.6 million in economic stimulus funds will be used to finance seven hydroelectric projects nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The additional funding means Voith Hydro, a manufacturer of hydroelectric turbines, will be able to retain 40 jobs at its manufacturing facility in York, Pennsylvania http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40668 As the last round of "intersessional" climate talks before Copenhagen opened today in Barcelona, all eyes were looking in the same direction they were when we left Bangkok three weeks earlier: at the United States. Without American numbers on mitigation (or emissions reductions) and finance (for developing nations to build their own clean energy economies, and also to adapt to the impacts of climate change), any real forward progress in the talks is just about impossible. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40666 A 10-ton fishing boat has been sunk by gigantic jellyfish off eastern Japan. The crew of the fishing boat was thrown into the sea when the vessel capsized, but the three men were rescued by another trawler. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40665 The latest global assessment of biodiversity ruled yesterday that an additional 11 species are either fully extinct or extinct outside of captivity. As climate change, invasive species, and habitat destruction place greater pressure on wildlife, more species are disappearing at rates faster than conservationists can react to ensure the species' survival. http://www.enn.com/climate/article/40664 Negotiators meeting this week in Barcelona for the last round of UN climate talks before a big conference in Copenhagen next month are working on negotiating texts that have no reference to water and its management as tools for climate change adaptation. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40663 A new study reported by the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and the University of Rochester sheds light on how the continents move, and oceans are created. In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial. Now, scientists from several countries have confirmed that the volcanic processes at work beneath the Ethiopian rift are nearly identical to those at the bottom of the world's oceans, and the rift is indeed likely the beginning of a new sea. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40662 President Lyndon Johnson and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made stark warnings about global warming decades ago, but convincing evidence for action only amassed in recent years, experts say. A 190-nation U.N. conference in Copenhagen in December is due to agree a new U.N. pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions to slow a rise in temperatures to prevent floods, droughts, wildfires or rising sea levels. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40661 In an unprecedented collaboration, over thirty major organizations have joined forces to invite young Americans to discover nature by entering the Robert Bateman "Get to Know" Contest. These partners include the US Forest Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, National Wildlife Federation, the Children & Nature Network, the Wyland Foundation, and many others. The Get to Know Contest invites any American age 18 or younger to go outdoors, to "get to know" their wild neighbors, and then to share their experience by creating art, writing, or photography. http://www.enn.com/lifestyle/article/40660 Do your part to help shape the course of local and world events by casting your vote for your candidate of choice this Election Day. Your decision could have a big impact on the environment, as well as on other important issues, from the economy to healthcare, education, taxes, human rights and much more. http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40659 BARCELONA, Spain - African nations boycotted U.N. climate talks on Tuesday in a protest to urge rich countries to set deeper 2020 cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. "Africa believes that the other groups are not taking talks seriously enough, not urgently enough," said Kabeya Tshikuku, of the Democratic Republic of Congo delegation. http://www.enn.com/business/article/40658 California-based company Cereplast has revealed that it is developing breakthrough technology to transform algae into bioplastics, and predicts that it could replace 50% or more of the petroleum content used in traditional plastic resins. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40657 Ice cores are important tools to identify Earth’s past climate. They enable us to peer back in time to identify species of insects trapped in ice as well as isotopes oxygen and dust particles that were deposited at various time in the past. The ratio of oxygen isotopes in the ice allows researchers to determine whether temperatures were warmer or cooler when the snow that eventually turned to ice was deposited on the glacier. The dust content gives scientists clues about the rate of precipitation at the site. The thicker the core (longer cores) the longer into the past we can see. http://www.enn.com/agriculture/article/40656 A fight is brewing over the practice of feeding chicken feces and other poultry farm waste to cattle. Farmers feed 1 million to 2 million tons of poultry litter to their cattle annually, according to FDA estimates. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40654 Hundreds of birds are washing up on the shores of the U.S. Pacific Northwest coated with a foamy sea slime, scientists say. Research suggests that recently, the blooms are larger, lasting longer, and happening with greater frequency. http://www.enn.com/agriculture/article/40653 Kraft Foods recently announced it is launching a type of chocolate derived from sustainable cocoa farming. The premium dark chocolate, Cote d’Or, contains cocoa from farms that meets Rainforest Alliance Certified standards. http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/40652 The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may still be considered as one of the most conservative from a religious standpoint. But with the opening of the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, otherwise known as KAUST, a new era in academic learning, combined with new innovations in ecological architecture and design, has begun in which both men and women students will benefit jointly. http://www.enn.com/business/article/40650 A $400 billon plan to provide Europe with solar power from the Sahara desert moved a step closer to reality with the formation of a consortium to carry out the work. Known as the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DDI), the German-led consortium believes it can deliver solar power to Europe as early as 2015. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40649 Chinese workers are trying to clean up dangerous chemicals in the central reaches of the Yangtze river and an oil spill near an eastern Chinese port, after two shipping accidents this weekend. http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/40648 Radioactive debris has been found in canyons that drain into the Rio Grande, but officials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory say there's no health risk. More than 60 years after scientists assembled the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, lethal waste is seeping from mountain burial sites and moving toward aquifers, springs and streams that provide water to 250,000 residents of northern New Mexico. Isolated on a high plateau, the Los Alamos National Laboratory seemed an ideal place to store a bomb factory's deadly debris. But the heavily fractured mountains haven't contained the waste, some of which has trickled down hundreds of feet to the edge of the Rio Grande, one of the most important water sources in the Southwest.