Environmental News: November 19 - November 25, 2009

State proposes trading program to cut emissions
Companies could buy and sell allowances under plan to reduce pollutants 15%.
November 25, 2009
By Margot Roosevelt
California officials on Tuesday issued the nation's first blueprint for a broad-based cap-and-trade plan, an innovative and controversial effort to use market forces to control global warming.
Read more here.

Fewer Americans believe in global warming, poll shows
November 25, 2009
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
The percentage of Americans who believe global warming is happening has dipped from 80 to 72 percent in the past year, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, even as a majority still support a national cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
Read more here.

New Endangered Species Listings Wait as Obama Admin Charts New Course
November 24, 2009
By ALLISON WINTER of Greenwire
"The administration is carrying on the Bush-era legacy of failing to grant badly needed protections to animals and plants on the brink," said Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians. "We need a dramatic shift in the administration's behavior in order to protect our nation's rich natural diversity."
Read more here.

African dust bringing toxic chemicals to U.S., Caribbean; is it killing corals? Hurting people?
November 24, 2009
It’s one of those increasingly frequent stories demonstrating that ecologically, the whole globe is connected — and why that’s not always a good thing:
Pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls are among the contaminants hitching an airborne ride to the United States and other parts of the Western Hemisphere on dust storms blowing out of West Africa. That’s according to new research presented at the just-completed annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
Read more here.

Arctic Ice Volume Lowest Ever As Globe Warms: U.N.
24-Nov-09
Robert Evans
GENEVA - Ice volume around the Arctic region hit the lowest level ever recorded this year as climate extremes brought death and devastation to many parts of the world, the U.N. weather agency WMO said on Tuesday.
Read more here.

Mothers' exposure to chemicals may affect boys
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Elevated levels of two plastic-softening chemicals in pregnant women's urine are linked to less-masculine play behavior by their sons several years later, according to a study published last week in the International Journal of Andrology.
Read more here.

United States and India Embark on a Green Partnership
Washingotn, DC, November 24, 2009 (ENS) - President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today reaffirmed the global strategic partnership between the United States and India and launched a new and greener phase in their relationship.
Read more here.

U.S. To Bring Emissions Cut Target To Copenhagen Talks
November 24, 2009
Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON - The United States will propose an emissions reduction target at U.N. climate change talks in Copenhagen in December with an eye toward winning support from U.S. lawmakers who must agree to put it into law.
Read more here.

US to specify target for emissions cuts, at talks on global warming
November 23, 2009
The US appears ready to offer emissions-reductions targets at global climate talks next month that approximate levels in the energy and climate bill working its way through the US Senate.
Read more here.

Dark Ocean Depths Home To Exotic, Unknown Life
23-Nov-09
Alister Doyle
OSLO - The permanent darkness of the ocean depths is home to a far greater range of animals, from luminous jellyfish to tubeworms that live off oil seeping from the seabed, than previously thought, scientists said on Sunday.
Read more here.

East Antarctic Ice Began To Melt Faster In 2006-study
23-Nov-09
Nina Chestney
LONDON, Nov 22 - East Antarctica's ice started to melt faster from 2006, which could cause sea levels to rise sooner than anticipated, according to a study by scientists at the University of Texas.
Read more here.

Shoppers Going Green Despite Struggling Economy
NEW YORK - Despite the worst U.S. recession in decades, sales of organic and sustainable products have continued to grow, experts say, with shoppers willing to spend a few more dollars in a bid to become more green.
Read more here.

Catalina bison going on birth control
November 20, 2009
Reporting from Avalon - Half a dozen men with walkie-talkies and cattle prods set out on foot at sunrise Thursday to coax a herd of 10 feral bison into a corral a mile away at the bottom of a Santa Catalina Island valley.
Read more here.

NIEHS Director Birnbaum: "We kind of jump from the proverbial fry pan into the fire" when replacing chemicals
November 20, 2099
Nearly a year ago, toxicologist Linda Birnbaum was named director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program.
Read more here.

Pesticides Are Everywhere: New iPhone App Helps You Avoid Them
November 20, 2009
They are one of the most environmentally harmful aspects of industrialized agriculture, and they are the reason that so many people have started to add organic foods to their diet.
Read more here.

Japan whaling fleet leaves for Antarctic waters: Greenpeace
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 19, 2009
Japanese whaling ships left port Thursday for Antarctic waters for their annual hunt of the ocean giants, Greenpeace said, setting the stage for high-seas confrontations with anti-whaling activists.
Read more here.

California Bans Sale of Energy-Guzzling Plasma TVs
November 19, 2009
By Timothy B. Hurst
In a 5-0 vote, The California Energy Commission today approved the country's first efficiency regulations for TVs of up to 58 inches. The new Appliance Efficiency Regulations will require new televisions sold in California to consume 33 percent less electricity by 2011 and 49 percent less electricity by 2013.
Read more here.

EPA Sends Ship Emission Rules to White House
By ROBIN BRAVENDER of Greenwire
November 19, 2009
U.S. EPA moved closer yesterday to finalizing new engine and fuel standards for the largest ocean-bound ships by sending the draft rules to the White House for review.
Read more here.

Dalai Lama Appeals To China On drying Tibet Rivers
Date: 19-Nov-09
Gavin Jones
ROME - The Dalai Lama on Wednesday appealed to China to take action to stop Tibet's glaciers melting, saying the environmental crisis was more urgent than a political solution over Tibet's future.
Read more here.

Seas Grow Less Effective at Absorbing Emissions
November 18, 2009
The Earth’s oceans, which have absorbed carbon dioxide from fuel emissions since the dawn of the industrial era, have recently grown less efficient at sopping it up, new research suggests.
Read more here.

Ghostly 'dance of a sea dragon'
By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News
One of the most elegant courtship rituals in the animal kingdom has been captured on film by a BBC crew.
The dance of the weedy sea dragon takes place every year in the shallow seas off the coast of Australia.
WATCH A SHORT CLIP: here.