Latest News on Environment, Climate Change, & Activism (Weekly Roundup)

latest news

10 of the latest green news stories from around the web (that we didn’t cover in more depth earlier in the week).

Have more to add, stick them in the comments below!

Climate Change Science

The 00’s was the hottest decade on record, the NOAA just reported. Bad news, but nothing new for those actually following the real science on climate change and not just nonsensical climategate hysteria.

Math wiz and environmental science expert Inez Fung is aiming to delve deeper into the world’s carbon sinks than anyone has ever done. Good luck, Inez.

Climate Change Action

Terreform announced winners of its One Prize competition. “The competition called for technical, urbanistic, and architectural strategies not simply for the food production required to feed the cities and suburbs, but the possibilities of diet, agriculture, and retrofitted facilities that could achieve that level within the constraints of the local climate and conditions.” Two great projects won $5000 (check them out on the One Prize webpage).

The Mayor of London launched a big “cycle hire scheme” the other day, sponsored by Barclays Bank.

Though the U.S. Senate has fallen through on a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill, several states and Candian jurisdictions are steaming ahead.  “The Partner jurisdictions of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) today released a comprehensive strategy designed to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), stimulate development of clean-energy technologies, create green jobs, increase energy security and independence, and protect public health,” the Western Climate Initiative recently announced. What are the partner jurisdictions? California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico in the US; and British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec in Canada.

The Oceans are In Trouble

The world has seen a 40% decline in the ocean’s phytoplankton in the last 100 or so years, and scientists conclude it is likely due to global warming.

Massive coral bleaching closed several world-renowned dive sites in Malaysia in this week, and as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) puts it, this is no short-term issue. “Mass coral bleaching caused by global warming is threatening the health of the Coral Triangle, a vast marine region that is home to 76% of all known corals in the world.

A Little Help for the Oceans (& Renewable Energy)

The House of Representatives passed an Oil Response Bill this week. The bill “toughens offshore drilling safety rules and lifts caps on oil industry liability for spills, overcoming claims by Republicans and some Democrats that the sweeping bill would slow domestic energy production.” The final vote was 209-193, with a disgraceful 39 Democrats opposing it and two courageous Republicans supporting it.

And on the activist front, WWF Solar, a solar-powered boat owned by the World Wildlife Fund, has started going around the Mediterranean advocating for renewable energy and conservation of marine ecosystems. It will do so every summer for the next three years.

A Downer

In a heated battle over a Russian forest that is being (illegally?) cut down, Evgenia Chirikova, a 33-year-old engineer and mother of two has been unjustly imprisoned for her activist efforts to protect the forest and her fellow activists this week.

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Image Credits: hurleygurley via flickr; NOAA

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