13 More Green Stories of the Week: Liger Cubs Born, Climate Scientists Being Harassed, Catastrophic Floods in Colombia

Not a painting -- this is a photo (click to enlarge)

Aside from the 73 or so stories we’ve covered in the past week, here are 13 more great green news stories I wanted to highlight (but didn’t have the time to):

  1. Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel laureate and president of the extremely prestigious UK Royal Society, one of the most respected overarching scientific bodies in the world, says that climate scientists are being targeted and freedom of information laws are being abused by people trying to slow down climate science research and intimidate some of the world’s leading climate scientists. Guardian has more (via the link above). (See my post including his hour-long show on BBC about essentially the same thing, Science Under Attack, for more.)
  2. A few liger cubs (yes, the result of tigers and lions mating) were born in China this week. Only two survived. Because lions and tigers are part of the same genus, they are able to mate, though they are only known to have done so in captivity.
  3. After 2 pilot whales were found dead off the British coast and with a pod of over 60 more swimming close to the Irish coast, many were concerned of a mass beaching like was seen in the area last year. So far, that has not come about.
  4. Streetsblog Capitol Hill had a great post this week on “Five Media Myths that Perpetrate Car Culture” — check it out!
  5. Believe it or not, the picture above, below the liger cub video, is not a painting, it’s a photo. It was taken by National Geographic‘s Frans Lanting. A little more info: “Tinted orange by the morning sun, a soaring dune is the backdrop for the hulks of camel thorn trees in Namib-Naukluft Park.” One of the most beautiful pieces of photography I’ve ever seen.
  6. Climate Denial Crock of the Week’s Peter Sinclair has a nice piece on John Abraham, a true Climate Hawk, one of the best out there. The interview he posted is a model for anyone who has to deal with serious climate deniers. The interview is the first video below. Of course, the last bit the interviewer at the end snuck in and didn’t let Abraham reply to was completely false, as has been shown repeatedly.
  7. I touched on the relationship between climate change and tornadoes this week, but I’m not the only one who did. Joe Romm of Climate Progress ran down the variety of media coverage on this link and one of the pieces is a standout piece by Bill McKibben in the Washington Post that I highly recommend.
  8. Joe Romm also has a tremendous piece on the catastrophic Colombia floods (which I also touched on and included a video of this week) and how they make it clear that we aren’t ready for climate change. As Columbian president Santos states:Β “The tragedy the country is going through has no precedents in our history.”
  9. A bike enthusiast, James Schwartz, has calculated how much it costs to bike commute per year. The figure, compared to how much auto commuters pay, is astounding (but not surprising): $350 compared to $11,000.
  10. Our friends over at CalFinder showed this week how a house cut its energy bills 80% — score!
  11. Looking for a green computer. A new line of Hewlett Packard (HP) computers might be what you’re looking for. “HP says that its newΒ Β x2301 23-inch Micro Thin LED backlit monitor has been made with arsenic free glass and usesΒ mercury-free LED backlights. The monitor is reportedly Energy Star 5.0 qualified and meets the criteria necessary to earnΒ EPEAT Silver registration.” The new computers should be available in June and start at $279.99.
  12. Joshua Freed, Director of the Clean Energy Program, Third Way, has a nice piece on Huffington Post. I’ll let you get the idea from the title — Gas Prices:Β Fool Us Fourteen Times, Shame on Us.
  13. And, to wrap up, Kaid Benfield of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has a nice piece highlighting a great new video on “the case for smart growth” (the second video below). Worth a peak.

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