Not awful, just really bad: "Game over for climate change" is how NASA climate scientist James Hansen has described plans to unearth Alberta's vast tar sands reserves. Two respected Canadian scientists crunched the numbers and found that, while bad, burning up all the tar sands wouldn't be catastrophic, leading to "just" 0.36 C of warming. (Many scientists believe we need to prevent 2 C of warming above pre-industrial levels in order to avoid catastrophic effects from climate change.) TIME
Climate activist and author Bill McKibben responded to the tar sands study, saying that it was akin to claiming, "True, smoking six packs a day is going to kill you. But if you want to make certain you die, smoke a hundred packs a day. And if you really want to make sure you die tomorrow, lie down in front of a train." Joe Romm calls the study "confusing" and says it doesn't actually let the tar sands off the hook. 350.org, Climate Progress
Gotta be a better way: Anxious to avoid replaying the battle over the Keystone XL pipeline on Canadian turf, another pipeline company, Enbridge, is considering alternatives to the controversial Northern Gateway route. Reuters
Out of the bag: Climate and water analyst Peter Gleick, founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, admitted to his role in obtaining and distributing internal documents from the climate-denying Heartland Institute last week. Apologizing for a "serious lapse of my own and professional judgment and ethics," he admitted to assuming a false identity in order to confirm the authenticity of documents sent to him by another unknown party (and in the process, obtaining new documents). The documents outline the right-wing think tank's fundraising strategy and its attempts to undermine science education and legitimate climate research. Huffington Post, Dot Earth
Drill, bebé, drill: The U.S. and Mexico agree to open up 1.5 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for new oil drilling. The Hill
Desert land grab: The latest source of California land rushes: solar power. Plots of land that would have gone for $500 an acre just five years ago are now being sold for as high as $20,000 an acre as large-scale solar development takes root. Los Angeles Times
Strange bedfellows: A "raucous" movement made up of Tea Partiers, environmentalists, Texas ranchers, and Occupy protesters has formed in Paris, Texas, where TransCanada is using eminent domain to seize land from private citizens for the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline route. Huffington Post
Everybody's feeling it: Over the past six years, 242 million Americans -- or roughly 80 percent of the population -- have endured some form of weather-related disaster. An Environment America report looking at government data on the county level shows the widespread impact of recent extreme weather. Wunderblog, USA Today
Betting man: The conservative head of the Conservation Hawks, a coalition of sportsmen concerned with environmental issues, offers his beloved Beretta to anyone who can convince him that global warming is not a concern. Field & Stream
Photoactivists: In this age of mass extinction, a new breed of wildlife photographer is shifting roles from capturing images of animals to leading the conservation efforts to protect them. Washington Post
Tips: @OnEarthMag (tag it #greenreads)
Image: Casey Morris
