I'm a dog person: Behold the dog with a human face! Tonik, an “eerily humanoid poodle/Shih Tzu mix” is up for adoption after a um, short-lived stay in a Kentucky kill shelter. Those eyes! That mouth! So why do human brains anthropomorphize animals like this creepy cute pooch? Some scientists explain. Gawker, Christian Science Monitor

Old Warmers' Almanac: The USDA would like you to know that global warming is going to take a toll on American agriculture and cost farmers billions of dollars. While this falls into the “no duh” category for most of us, it’s still a big deal when the agency overseeing our entire ag system releases a rigorously scientific study on just how bad it will be. USA Today

Grimson tide: A stew of filthy flotsam is washing ashore in Alaska. The trash that’s making the coast a makeshift landfill is thought to have floated across the Pacific from Japan's tsunami-ravaged coastline. While the debris may not be radioactive (as some initially feared), the refrigerators, Styrofoam, and unlabeled bottles of God-knows-what are raising some real toxic concerns. Morning Edition

Answering Nature's call: Last week, greens got all worked up about an op-ed in the science journal Nature that called on President Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Yesterday, David Roberts took a bazooka to its less-than-convincing arguments. Grist

A need for speed: Lo, the future of rail travel in America! -- or what might be if only our government took rail travel more seriously. As the country is barely able to cobble together a single run of high-speed rail (and no, slow-poke Acela does not count), you may feel more frustrated than inspired by this map's imagined, fast-paced trips. But, hey, it’s still an awesome thing to peep, perchance to dream. Fast Company

Priority fail: Perhaps you’ve heard that you won’t be getting your mail on Saturdays anymore (a crushing blow, we know). But it does sound like a good way for the U.S. Postal Service to save a whole bunch of money in fuel costs and reduce a whole bunch of greenhouse gas emissions. Except, it won’t. Christian Science Monitor

An examined life: We’ve all toyed around with those carbon footprint calculators that are so ubiquitous on environmental websites. Saul Griffith went a whole lot further. This inventor/engineer/designer converted every single action of his life in 2007 into Watts and then calculated the most comprehensive, hyper-detailed personal carbon footprint ever. He even made nifty charts! Based on the calculations we just took three seconds to scribble on our Today OnEarth notepads, we came to the same conclusion: Yeah, we emit too much CO2. GOOD

Kids take the darndest photos: You’d be hard-pressed to click through this slideshow of the winning entries in the National Geographic Kids photo contest and not be wildly impressed and optimistic about the future of nature, wildlife, and cultural photography. (And wildly embarrassed about the current state of your Instagram account.) National Geographic Kids

Tips: @OnEarthMag
Image: Petfinder.com