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The amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic has reached a record low in three decades of satellite data, scientists reported Tuesday, with one of them describing recent warm years there as creating a "less polar pole."

Check out http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/27/13509837-a-less-polar-pole-arctic-sea-ice-at-record-low?lite

It may come as little surprise with this summer's sweaty nights and blistering days across much of the country, but July marked the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States, according to government scientists. Furthermore, drought now covers nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48 states, where average precipitation is 0.19 inch below average.

Over the weekend the fires that burned across the state damaged nearly 94,000 acres and on Monday a body was found in a Norman home. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.

Check out http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/08/13182298-july-is-hottest-month-on-record-drought-expands-to-63-percent-of-united-states?lite

Drought, wildfires, hurricanes and heatwaves are becoming normal in America because of climate change, Congress was told on Wednesday in the first hearing on climate science in more than two years

In a predictably contentious hearing, the Senate’s environment and public works committee heard from a lead scientist for the United Nations’ climate body, the IPCC, on the growing evidence linking extreme weather and climate change.

“It is critical to understand that the link between climate change and the kinds of extremes that lead to disaster is clear,” Christopher Field, a lead author of the IPCC report and director of global ecology at the Carnegie Institute for Science, said in testimony.

“There is no doubt that climate has changed,” he went on. “There is also no doubt that a changing climate changes the risks of extremes, including extremes that can lead to disaster.”

He later told the committee that those climate-related disasters would have profound effects on industry and agriculture.

Field was the first IPCC scientist to appear before the committee since February 2009. It was a time when there was real optimism about prospects for action on climate change under the new Obama Administration.

By Wednesday, however, it was universally acknowledged there was no prospect of moving climate change legislation through Congress. There was also little chance the scientists’ presentations would persuade the most prominent Republican climate contrarian, Senator Jim Inhofe, who told the committee: “The global warming movement has completely collapsed.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the committee, also noted she had deliberately avoid calling any administration officials or government scientists.

The Republican’s campaign against Obama’s green agenda, with their attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency and his clean energy loans, would make their presence a political distraction, she indicated.

The U.S. experienced 14 billion-dollar disasters in 2011, a record that surpasses the previous maximum of nine,” he said. “The 2011 disasters included a blizzard, tornadoes, floods, severe weather, a hurricane, a tropical storm, drought and heatwaves, and wildfires. In 2012, we have already experienced horrifying wildfires, a powerful windstorm that hit Washington D.C., heat waves in much of the country, and a massive drought.”

Check out http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/congress-climate-change/

San Francisco has a nationwide reputation for sustainable dining, but that’s not enough for many of its restaurants, which go to extra lengths to demonstrate their green practices.

“I’ve been handed a two-page printout, detailing how a particular fish came to be on my table,” says Michael McColl, the Bay Area founder of Ecotourism-Newswire.com.

Such attention to detail helps explain how San Francisco secured its spot among the top 10 of America’s Greenest Cities, according to the Travel + Leisure community. As part of the annual America’s Favorite Cities survey, readers ranked 35 metropolitan areas on a variety of travel-friendly qualities, from hotels to local microbrews and good wireless coverage.

To determine the greenest cities, we tallied the results from three survey categories: cleanliness, pedestrian-friendliness and public transit, and great public parks, which offset that urban asphalt and improve air quality. The high-ranking cities support other green initiatives that benefit travelers as well as locals: in Denver, the Brown Palace Hotel uses water from its own artesian well. Minneapolis offers cheap, easy-access bike rentals.

Then there’s Portland, OR, rated America’s No. 1 greenest city, where every day feels like Earth Day. One fourth of the city is shaded by tree canopy, and the ground itself features 288 parks. The Heathman Hotel, near light-rail and streetcar stops, completed a green overhaul and now even recycles “gently used” soap and shampoos, having them treated before sending them to area shelters.

Other American cities, of course, are eco-friendly in ways that aren’t always readily obvious. In a Siemens 2011 study that measured CO2 emissions, land use, air quality, and environmental governance, San Francisco came out on top—the city currently recycles 78 percent of its waste—and New York City ranked in the top 3 for its efficient land use and mass transit.

The Big Apple, however, didn’t crack the top 20 with Travel + Leisure voters, who were perhaps distracted by a rude welcome or subway stations in need of a good scrubbing. To be fair, the survey is based on readers’ perceptions, which can be skewed, and may not take into account recent improvements like New York’s expanding bike lanes and the High Line, a former rail track converted into an extraordinary park.  

So which did make the green grade with T+L’s community?

From America's Greenest Cities - Articles | Travel + Leisure:

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Portland is No. 1 for bike commuting in the U.S., according to 2010 Census figures for cities with more than 250,000 workers. A study of the data by Bloomberg Rankings shows that bicycles carry 5.4 percent of workers in Portland, ahead of second-place San Francisco, at 3 percent. Seattle is third at 2.8 percent, and Washington, D.C., is fourth, with 2.2 percent.

Portland, on the Columbia River across from Vancouver, Washington, is also the fastest-growing city for bike commuting, up 1.3 percentage points since 2006. San Francisco, by comparison, grew 0.7 percentage points in the same period.

From Portland Top Bike-to-Work City as Lawyers Pedal - Businessweek:

Portland Top Bike-to-Work City as Lawyers Pedal

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#1 New York City, USA
The ultra-hip city that never sleeps offers an array of international mix in vegetarian food - cafes, bistros, diners, gourmet restaurants, and bakeries as diverse as its inhabitants! Eat on the cheap or dine extravagantly, NYC offers exotic and abundant choices for the veggie food lover. Enjoy The Big Apple.

#2 San Francisco , USA
Wonder why young and old progressives meet and stay here? Beautiful weather with hilly streets offering glimpses of downtown, the bay and its famous bridges, San Francisco boasts dozens of cozy cafes, trendy vegetarian restaurants, and health food stores that offer raw, vegan, vegetarian, and vegetarian-friendly fare. Eating is easy here, and so is getting around by public transit, bicycle, or by foot.

#3 London, England
Since the outbreak of mad cow disease in the early 2000s, more people than ever in the UK are embracing vegetarianism. New London vegetarian restaurants are sprouting up all throughout the city all the time. To see what kinds of vegetarian and vegan fare the English are serving, click on the city name (above).

#4 Singapore
HappyCow lists over 100 vegetarian and vegan restaurants serving a variety of vegetarian Asian and Chinese cuisine in Singapore! Check out the list for yourself.

#5 Portland, USA
Recognized as one of the most livable cities in the world, Portland is commonly referred to as a haven for vegans and vegetarians. It's also family friendly, pedestrian friendly, and ecologically friendly in its public policies. With over 20 solid veggie places to find something to eat, vegheads can easily explore without starving (and you don't need a car to get around).

Did your city make the list?

HappyCow's list of cities with the most Listings:

Check out http://www.happycow.net/travel/top_five.html

After being named runner-up in our last round of best bike city rankings in 2010, Portland reclaims the top spot. The only large city to earn Platinum status from the League of American Bicyclists is a paragon of bike-friendliness, with 180 miles of bike lanes and 79 miles of off-street bike paths. Always quick to embrace cyclist-friendly innovations, Portland was the first city in the United States to implement bike boxes at intersections and elementary-school bike commuting trains. Among the city's many bike shops is newcomer Go By Bike, which is located under the aerial tram and offers valet parking, rentals, and repairs.

Check out http://www.bicycling.com/ride-maps/featured-rides/1-portland-or

Today, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) introduced the “Managed Carbon Price Act of 2012″ (MCP), a bill imposing a tax on carbon dioxide-equivalent  greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from producers of coal, oil, and natural gas, refineries, and other covered sources. The MCP has roughly the same long-term goal as the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, the Copenhagen climate treaty, and California Assembly Bill 32 — an 80% emissions reduction below 2005 levels by 2050.

Check out http://www.globalwarming.org/

Check out http://www.iucnredlist.org/search

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on plants and animals that have been globally evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. This system is designed to determine the relative risk of extinction, and the main purpose of the IUCN Red List is to catalogue and highlight those plants and animals that are facing a higher risk of global extinction (i.e. those listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable). The IUCN Red List also includes information on plants and animals that are categorized as Extinct or Extinct in the Wild; on taxa that cannot be evaluated because of insufficient information (i.e., are Data Deficient); and on plants and animals that are either close to meeting the threatened thresholds or that would be threatened were it not for an ongoing taxon-specific conservation programme (i.e., are Near Threatened). http://www.iucnredlist.org/about

From The Venus Project:

The Venus Project is an organization that proposes a feasible plan of action for social change, one that works towards a peaceful and sustainable global civilization. It outlines an alternative to strive toward where human rights are no longer paper proclamations but a way of life.


We operate out of a 21.5-acre Research Center located in Venus, Florida.


When one considers the enormity of the challenges facing society today, we can safely conclude that the time is long overdue for us to re-examine our values and to reflect upon and evaluate some of the underlying issues and assumptions we have as a society. This self-analysis calls into question the very nature of what it means to be human, what it means to be a member of a "civilization," and what choices we can make today to ensure a prosperous future for all the world's people.


At present we are left with very few alternatives. The answers of yesterday are no longer relevant. Either we continue as we have been with our outmoded social customs and habits of thought, in which case our future will be threatened, or we can apply a more appropriate set of values that are relevant to an emergent society.


Experience tells us that human behavior can be modified, either toward constructive or destructive activity. This is what The Venus Project is all about - directing our technology and resources toward the positive, for the maximum benefit of people and planet, and seeking out new ways of thinking and living that emphasize and celebrate the vast potential of the human spirit. We have the tools at hand to design and build a future that is worthy of the human potential. The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture. What follows is not an attempt to predict what will be done, only what could be done. The responsibility for our future is in our hands, and depends on the decisions that we make today. The greatest resource that is available today is our own ingenuity.


While social reformers and think tanks formulate strategies that treat only superficial symptoms, without touching the basic social operation, The Venus Project approaches these problems somewhat differently. We feel we cannot eliminate these problems within the framework of the present political and monetary establishment. It would take too many years to accomplish any significant change. Most likely they would be watered down and thinned out to such an extent that the changes would be indistinguishable.


The Venus Project advocates an alternative vision for a sustainable new world civilization unlike any social system that has gone before. Although this description is highly condensed, it is based upon years of study and experimental research by many, many people from many scientific disciplines.


We propose a fresh, holistic approach - one that is dedicated to human and environmental concerns. It is an attainable vision of a bright and better future, one that is appropriate to the times in which we live, and both practical and feasible for a positive future for all the world's people.


The Venus Project calls for a straightforward approach to the redesign of the culture, in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt, environmental degradation and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but totally unacceptable.


One of the basic premises of The Venus Project is that we work towards having all of the Earth's resources as the common heritage of all the world's people. Anything less will simply result in a continuation of the same catalog of problems inherent in the present system.


Throughout history, change has been slow. Successive groups of incompetent leaders have replaced those that preceded them, but the underlying social and economic problems remain because the basic value systems have gone unaltered. The problems we are faced with today cannot be solved politically or financially because they are highly technical in nature. There may not even be enough money available to pay for the required changes, but there are more than enough resources. This is why The Venus Project advocates the transition from a monetary-based society to the eventual realization of a resource-based global economy.


We realize to make the transition from our present culture, which is politically incompetent, scarcity-oriented and obsolete, to this new, more humane society will require a quantum leap in both thought and action.

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