RECOMMENDED READING

Not So Windy: Research Suggests Winds Dying Down

"The wind, a favorite power source of the green energy movement, seems to be dying down across the United States. And the cause, ironically, may be global warming — the very problem wind power seeks to address."  [USA Today] 

Army Corps Orders Thousands of Trees Chopped Down

"The Army Corps of Engineers is on a mission to chop down every tree in the country that grows within 15 feet of a levee — including oaks and sycamores in Louisiana, willows in Oklahoma and cottonwoods in California.  The corps is concerned that the trees' roots could undermine barriers meant to protect low-lying communities from catastrophic floods like the ones caused by Hurricane Katrina."  [AP - Yahoo]

Arctic Indigenous Peoples Being Poisoned by Industry Thousands of Miles Away

"Arctic indigenous peoples often have levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in their blood and breast milk that are 10 times higher than the residents of major American cities...The pollution is the result of what scientists call the “grasshopper effect”, in which transboundary pollution, dispersing at the point of origin and driven by wind, re-volatilizes (or comes down to earth and oceans) thousands of miles away in the Arctic." [SolveClimate]

Green Jobs Sector 'Poised for Explosive Growth'

"Green-collar workers -- who include everyone from energy-efficiency consultants to wastewater plant operators -- constitute a tiny but fast-growing segment of the U.S. economy, according to a study published today by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The "clean-energy economy" grew 9.1 percent between 1998 and 2007 to 777,000 jobs" [Greenwire- New York Times]

IN MEMORIAM

Luke Cole, Court Advocate for Minorities, Dies at 46

"Luke Cole, an early leader of the environmental justice movement, which holds that many minority neighborhoods have become toxic dumping grounds because their residents are poor and powerless, died Saturday in Uganda...As executive director of the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, an organization based in San Francisco that he founded in 1989 with Ralph Abascal, Mr. Cole played a key role in several significant environmental law cases."  [New York Times]