Swim at your own risk: The EPA is tightening its guidelines for the “acceptable” levels of gross pollutants like E. coli and Enterococci (from y'know, poo and other things you'd prefer not to bathe your body in) at public beaches. Maybe next year’s Testing the Waters report, conducted by NRDC (which is our publisher as well), won’t be quite so disturbing. Los Angeles Times
Fracking field trips: What does it look like when a "Museum of Nature and Science” gets a $10 million gift from Big Oil and Gas? Picture enormous drill bits (above), virtual voyages to shale deposits, and maybe even a “Fracking is Fun!” t-shirt. Dallas News
Fatal attraction: It can get messy out there in nature. How messy? How about sexually-frustrated seals trying to mate with penguins before tearing them to shreds and eating them? Yeah, that kind of messy. And creepy seals are not the only perpetrators of misdirected mating. Sometimes "an animal’s mate-recognition radar is imperfect," says one evolutionary biologist. We think anyone in the online dating scene can empathize with that. New York Times
Let it snow, please?: If you’re a skier or snowboarder in the Northeast, your day (and possibly, your entire winter) is about to be ruined. Here's a piece about the long, slow, and inevitable climate change consequences to New England ski resorts. Boston Globe
Brain drain: Canada's recent clamp-down on funding for climate research isn’t just setting back the science, it's hurting itself. The country is now “hemorrhaging scientists,” as they go abroad to find backers who actually value their expertise. Inside Climate News
In deep: We might not be totally clear on whether global warming will actually cause more big hurricanes, but scientists are pretty certain that the big storms that do hit will come with much more dangerous storm surges. Everyone’s favorite big storm meteorologist Jeff Masters explains. WunderBlog
Far East frack attack: If you think America’s gas boom has been impressive (or terrifying), wait ‘til you see what China has planned. Mother Jones
Warming upside: Now that we’re locked in to at least some degree of global warming, we might as well look around for some bright sides. Urban plants and trees, says one optimistic New York City researcher, could fare pretty well in a carbon-heated world. Well then, us treehuggers should stop making such a fuss. Nah... New York Times
Down and out in Doha: Another December, another round of frustrating, mind-numbing U.N. climate talks. This year they are kicking off in Doha, Qatar. Here’s what to expect: not much. Guardian
Crack the code: And while you follow along with the non-news coming out of those climate talks, here’s a handy guide to navigating the U.N.'s bureaucratic acronym alphabet soup. Get to know your COPs from your QELROs. AP
ips: @OnEarthMag (tag it #greenreads)
Image: Perot Museum of Nature and Science
