Climate Change

What do you buy when you buy a carbon offset? Susan Hess follows the $4.50 she paid to offset the CO2 emitted for a train trip to Seattle in Gorge Outdoors, July 24, 2009.

"In an interview with Yale Environment 360, John Kerry praises the carbon cap-and-trade legislation now being debated in the U.S. Senate, describes its importance to upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen, and explains how he plans to help the landmark legislation clear the Senate and become law."

"The world's ocean surface temperature in June rose to its warmest since 1880, breaking the previous high mark set in 2005, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville."

"The fate of major climate legislation in Congress could rest with North Dakota."

"Electric utilities boosted lobbying in the second quarter of 2009, narrowing the gap with oil and gas companies that had dominated spending on persuasion by a wide margin earlier this year."

French scientists say satellites show a glacier on a southern Indian Ocean island shrunk dramatically in recent decades. They think global warming may be a factor.

"U.S. farmers and foresters could earn more money from carbon contracts than they pay in higher costs from legislation to control greenhouse gases, the Agriculture Department estimated on Wednesday."

"The Colorado River system -- which 30 million people depend on for drinking and irrigation water -- could fully deplete all of its reservoir storage by the middle of the century, a new University of Colorado study shows."

"World climate negotiators will gather in Bonn next month to edit an 'indigestible' set of proposals into a manageable document for international consideration, the head of a key U.N. panel said on Tuesday."

"Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee will vet options this week for the sweeping energy and climate bill, which they are expected to play a significant role in shaping."