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Come catch the hotness!

As you may or may not know, this weekend the progressive website Daily Kos is holding its annual convention — YearlyKos — in Chicago. According to noted advocate of moderation […]

Spaghetti Midwestern

Citizens, politicians, EPA face off over BP refinery discharges Good old-fashioned fury continues to build over Indiana’s decision to grant oil giant BP permission to increase discharges of ammonia and […]

One Swamp Forward, Two Swamps Back

Everglades, stripped of U.N. endangered status, may see federal funding The Florida Everglades may get a budgetary boost from the U.S. government, a month after being removed from the U.N. […]

Get the facts, dispel the myths

Did you know you're more likely to die from a falling coconut than a shark bite? It's true.

Sharks kill an average of five people annually, which is unfortunate to say the least. But when you think about the tens of millions of sharks that are killed each year for their fins, meat, liver oil, and hides, it's easy to see people are a bigger threat to sharks than sharks are to people.

All this week the Discovery Channel will broadcast special programming about these misunderstood masters of the underwater universe. Some of the footage is extraordinarily compelling. Viewers should remember that they need more protection from us than the reverse.

What are you seeing out there?

Saw a black bear with two very cute cubs today. Stopping by a local grocery to pick up some things, I went to note the sighting on their nature sightings board ("what are you seeing? when? where?") and was amazed by the number and types of animals people were recording: there were so many that there wasn't a scrap of room for mine: there were moose, bear, foxes, fishers, mink, eagles, and even a goshawk already up there ... none of which is remarkable in western Mass., which went from being largely deforested for agriculture as late as a century ago, to now being roughly 70 percent wooded. But the ritual of noting in such a public place what's scampering around strikes me as a good one.

So if you're seeing interesting wildlife near you, or have spotted some on your summer trips, leave your fellow Gristers a comment about it.

Any Report on a Storm

New study ties hurricane increase in Atlantic to climate change A new study has linked rising hurricane and tropical storm activity in the Atlantic Ocean to climate change. Noting that […]

Organo Failure

California study suggests link between autism and pesticide exposure A “very preliminary” study from the California Department of Public Health suggests that higher rates of autism can be seen in […]

Army brings blenders to figure out what’s killing off bees

Scientists have pondered whether cell phones are the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, which has wiped out about a quarter of the North American honeybee population and poses a threat […]

Russia stakes claim to North Pole, and more

Read the news items highlighted in this week’s podcast: How Green Is Your Candidate? Will Santa Be Evicted? We Wouldn’t Kid About This Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Crappiness […]

Liquid Dreams

Could “renewable petroleum” be coming our way? Picture a liquid fuel that is derived from the same feedstocks as cellulosic ethanol (switchgrass, sugarcane, corn stover) but contains 50 percent more […]