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Coca-Cola to begin using hybrid trucks in Florida: While other companies are shying away from the considerable costs involved, Coca-Cola announced Monday it is rolling out 10 heavy-duty hybrid trucks in South Florida, part of a national campaign to put 142 of these so-called green trucks on the road in North America in the next [...]

Seeded at Newsvine: New evidence deep beneath the Arctic ice suggests that a series of underwater volcanoes have erupted in violent explosions in the past decade.

Seeded at Newsvine: A record 36 percent of the U.S. commercial bee colonies have been lost so far to mysterious causes this year and the worse may be yet to come, experts told a congressional panel Thursday.

Seeded at Newsvine: In an effort to compel oil and gas companies to produce on the 68 million acres of federal lands, both onshore and offshore, that are leased but sitting idle, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J.

Newsvine – Ga. Artwork of ‘Fragile’ Earth Collapses: “ATLANTA %u2014 A million-dollar stone sculpture, intended to remind future generations of the Earth’s fragility, made its point a bit early, just three months after its unveiling, it collapsed. The 175-ton ‘Spaceship Earth’ lay in ruins at Kennesaw State University after mysteriously falling to pieces last week. [...]

The Raw Story | NY Times: Justice investigating whether Interior officials steered oil-trading contracts to favorites: “Federal investigators are scrutinizing whether government officials made choice consulting arrangements with oil companies, The New York Times is reporting. ‘The Justice Department is investigating whether the director of a multibillion-dollar oil-trading program at the Interior Department has been [...]

Study Finds The Air Rich With Bacteria: “Want biodiversity? Look no further than the air around you. It could be teeming with more than 1,800 types of bacteria, according to a first-of-its-kind census of airborne microbes recently conducted by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy%u2019s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The team used [...]

Chicago Tests Rubber Sidewalks – Travel: “CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s green initiative is gaining ground yet again — this time with two new infrastructure technologies. Cheri Heramb with the Chicago Department of Transportation said the aim of the initiative is to become the ‘greenest city in the world.’ Chicago is taking one [...]

Bush to sell off federal land: It’s always OK to cut funds from the poor and then have sales like this but heaven forbid this administration gets serious about finances or thinks twice about delivering tax cuts that primarily only benefit the wealthiest Americans. We’re a big country, so how about thinking about everyone and [...]

‘Clear’ human impact on climate: A report funded by the US government finds “clear evidence” of human-induced climate change. (Via BBC News | Science/Nature | World Edition.) How many times can he demand more study in this area? How many times can the part of industry and the body politic that Bush represents claim that [...]

Philadelphia discovers it pays to recycle trash: [tag]PHILADELPHIA[/tag] (Reuters) – When you can’t get people to [tag]recycle[/tag] trash by appealing to their [tag]environment[/tag]al conscience, there’s a simple solution that seems to work: pay them. (Via Reuters: US News.) Humans in general, and [tag]America[/tag]ns in particular, are relatively short-sighted. This probably isn’t an inherent evil as [...]

How the Bush administration muzzles the…: How the Bush administration muzzles the world’s top global warming scientist: “In my more than three decades in the government, I’ve never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public.” (Via towleroad.) A couple excerpts from the linked article at Think Progress: CICERONE: I [...]

Crocodile blood shows anti-HIV activity: SCIENTISTS in Australia’s tropical north are collecting blood from crocodiles in the hope of developing a powerful antibiotic for humans, after tests showed that the reptile’s immune system kills the HIV virus. (Via mongabay.com.) And from the same site: Frogs may help in fight against HIV: A new weapon in [...]

Environmental groups win water suit: “An Austin judge has ruled in favor of several environmental groups that hope to preserve Texas waterways by applying for water rights but not actually pumping any water — an effort led by a group that wants rights for the San Marcos and Guadalupe rivers.” (Via Statesman – Latest News [...]

Every once in a while, people make some small action that really encourages me. I’m really a very optimistic person; I believe in the intrinsic goodness of most people, given appropriate education and guidance. There are many, many times where it seems that either this is not the case, or that the entrenched systems currently [...]

Lost whale swims further inland: “Concerns grow for the safety of a whale stranded in the Thames as it is seen moving further upstream.” (Via BBC News.) What is it with the whales this month? First Corpus, no London. The BBC guy on NPR called it the new Prince of Whales. Get it?

Dead whale left outside embassy: “A huge beached whale is dumped outside the Japanese embassy in Berlin in a Greenpeace protest.” (Via BBC News | Science/Nature | World Edition.) You almost have to give it to them for sheer cheek. Everyone the world over knows the Japanese are full of shit when it comes to [...]

Ex-EPA Chiefs Blame Bush in Global Warming:: “WASHINGTON — Six former heads of the Environmental Protection Agency _ five Republicans and one Democrat _ accused the Bush administration Wednesday of neglecting global warming and other environmental problems.” (Via The Washington Post.) It’s a stupid article title (theirs, not mine) in my opinion. It’s a dumb [...]

Rare right whales make surprise visit to Texas coast: “CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (Reuters) – Researchers were surprised this week by the sudden appearance — and quick disappearance — of two rare Northern right whales in the busy industrial port of Corpus Christi Bay.” (Via Reuters: Science.) Damn tourists. I bet they backed up traffic in [...]

I’ve never really understood the Republican obsession with ruining wilderness areas. They like to use words like stewardship when what they really want to do effectively equates to pillaging the landscape. Just because the square footage of the roads and improvements themselves will only take up a few hundred acres does not mean that the [...]