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 several weeks.

(Via McClatchy.)

Now there’s no reason to hate Coca Cola for contributing to environmental devastation, just for contributing to obesity, tooth decay, and other associated health problems.

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 engraved phrase ‘our fragile craft’ was still visible amid the debris.

‘Kind of ironic,’ said Mary-Elizabeth Watson, a university employee.”

(Via Newsvine.)

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 paid as a consultant for oil companies hoping for contracts,’ writes Edmund L. Andrews. ‘The director of the program and three subordinates,’ the article continues, ‘have been ordered to cease all contacts with the oil industry until the investigation is completed.’”

(Via The Raw Story.)

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 an innovative DNA test to catalog the bacteria in air samples taken from the Texas cities of San Antonio and Austin. Surprisingly, they found a widely varied bacterial population that rivals the diversity found in soil. They also found naturally occurring relatives of microbes that could be used in bioterrorist attacks – although many of these relatives are harmless. “

(Via Medical News Today.)

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 more step toward that goal with new green infrastructure technology.

The DOT has kicked off a pilot program to test 550 feet of recycled rubber sidewalk over the next year, right across the street from the Chicago Center for Green Technology on the city’s West Side. “

(Via http://www.wsbtv.com/.)

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 not just special interests?

The land is on a list of about 300,000 acres of national forest the Bush administration has proposed selling to help fund the operation of rural schools and offset cuts in federal aid.

Forest Service officials said yesterday that they do not expect to sell more than about 175,000 acres in order to reach their goal of raising $800 million. But auctioning any of the land would reverse more than a century of federal policy and law barring such sales of national forests.

Bamford and other critics contend that selling the public lands would not only be a betrayal but could set a dangerous precedent of liquidating federal property to fund other struggling programs, such as Medicare, as the government wrestles with an outsized budget deficit.

(Via AMERICAblog.)

I’m of the opinion this is a horrible idea. The national federal land system is truly one of the best examples of long-term planning this country has ever undertaken. Maintaining open and wilderness space is a crucial part of the legacy that we hand down to future generations (not just our children, but our descendants 1000 years from now).

The federal government may have millions of acres under management, but it is still, in total, a relatively miniscule percentage of our land (and much of it is not very representative of the diversity of ecosystems in this country, being composed significantly of land in the western US). The last thing we need to do is sell off this legacy, piece by piece, because this president has royally fouled up the federal budget through massive spending increases and unfair tax cuts.

‘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 there is still uncertainty about global climate change. OF COURSE there’s some uncertainty. But the direction is clear. The path we’re on is certain enough that not doing anything is so mistaken as to be nearly criminal.