RECOMMENDED READING

Entrepreneurs Wade Into the 'Dead Zone'

"Every spring, fertilizer runoff from the U.S. Mississippi River floods into the Gulf of Mexico, causing a massive algae bloom that leads to a giant oxygen-deprived "dead zone" where fish can't survive. Now, this annual problem is getting new attention, not from marine scientists but from entrepreneurs looking for a new domestic source of fuel. And one start-up sees fish themselves being part of the process." [Wall Street Journal]

U.S. and Mexico To Work on Border Conservation

"When the United States and Mexico talk of cooperation over their shared border, that usually means working to stamp out drug trafficking and gun running. But this week the two neighbors put their shoulders behind a gentler effort: safeguarding a unique area of wilderness straddling the Rio Grande River. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar  and Mexico’s Environment and Natural Resources Minister Juan Elvira on Tuesday announced a plan to enhance conservation in the area around Big Bend, in Texas, and El Carmen in the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila." [Reuters]

Oil Lobby's 'Energy Citizens' Astroturf Campaign Exposed

"An internal memo obtained recently by Greenpeace USA details polluting interests’ plans to launch a nationwide astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation at public events scheduled throughout the final weeks of recess before the Senate returns to debate the issue in September...The email memo asks API’s member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors and contractors to attend “Energy Citizen” rallies in key Congressional districts nationwide in the closing weeks of the August recess."  [Huffington Post]

French Winemakers Sound Alarm Over Climate Change

"Leading figures from the French wine and food industries are urging their government to push for a strong global agreement at a United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in December, warning that failure to cut greenhouse gases will devastate their sector. 'The jewels of our cultural heritage, French wines, elegant and refined, are today in danger,; a group of 50 winemakers, sommeliers and chefs wrote." [Green Inc. - New York Times]

Exxon Fined for Causing Bird Deaths

"Exxon Mobil has agreed to pay $600,000 in penalties after approximately 85 migratory birds died of exposure to hydrocarbons at some of its natural gas facilities across the Midwest. The fine amounts to about $7,000 per dead bird." [Green Inc.- New York Times]