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Combative Start to Senate Climate Hearings

"The Senate is holding its first hearings on pending climate change legislation, and disagreements among senators are stark. Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat and the chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, accused Republicans of blocking climate and energy solutions and perpetuating “a pattern of no — no, we can’t. No, we won’t.”  Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican, fired back. “Once the American public realizes what this legislation will do to their wallets, they will soundly reject it,” he said." [Green, Inc. - New York Times]  http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/combative-start-to-senate-climate-hearings/

Researchers Float Plan To Target Individual Carbon Emitters

"US researchers proposed Monday a new strategy to tackle the global climate dilemma: target the biggest polluters in a country, who also tend to be the wealthiest individuals.  Under the framework, a universal cap—rather than different caps for different countries—would be placed on carbon emissions and countries would then be tasked with getting individuals living beyond that cap to reduce their carbon footprint...'We estimate that in 2008, half of the world’s emissions came from just 700 million people,' aid lead author Shoibal Chakravarty, noting that many emissions owe to lifestyles that involve airplane flights, car use and the heating and cooling of large homes." [AFP - Grist]

Pickens Scales Back Ambitious Wind Farm

"In a sign of the difficulties facing the development of wind energy, the legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens is suspending plans to build the world’s largest wind farm...Mr. Pickens cited several factors that caused him to alter his plans, including lack of transmission lines and a fall-off in the price of natural gas, with which wind competes as a power source. " [New York Times]   http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/business/energy-environment/08wind.html?ref=energy-environment

The Greenland Ice Sheet Is an 'Awakening Giant'

"The Greenland ice sheet is, like some regions in Antarctica, an awakening giant. In the coming centuries it will add significantly to the global sea-level rise. It matters to a huge number of people around the globe, as there are definitely regions that are very sensitive to even the slightest changes in the global sea level." [Spiegel Online]

"The White House is trying to make Americans' food safer after recent recalls of popular products like peanut butter and cookie dough.  A food safety working group established by President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the government will try and boost the safety of some of the nation's most popular foods, announcing stricter rules for the production of eggs, poultry, beef, leafy greens, melons and tomatoes. The new standards are an effort to reduce instances of salmonella and E. coli contamination." [Associated Press]