Today's Top 5 Trending: Sea Level Rise, Naomi Klein, CO2 Spike, Fracking Suit, Cyanide Fishing

This Mind-Boggling Study Shows Just How Massive Sea Level Rise Really Is

So is there any other way to head off sea level rise? It may sound ridiculous to even contemplate. But in a new study just out in the open access journal Earth System Dynamics, scientists have actually published an idea for doing that and provided some calculations regarding the scale of what it would take. That scale turns out to be simply massive, ultimately rendering the idea about as unfathomable as the oceans themselves. But then, that’s kind of the point. - Washington Post

Naomi Klein: We Face a Series of Radical Options

There are only a few short decades left to achieve the goal agreed to at the Paris climate talks of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. To do so would mean a full transition off fossil fuels by 2050. But if we fail, a multi-metre sea level rise could wreak enough social and economic havoc to "make the planet ungovernable,"according to former NASA climatologist James Hansen. Which is why Klein is convinced that the only options we have left are radical. - The Tyee

Unprecedented Spike in CO2 levels in 2015

The annual growth rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose more in 2015 than scientists have ever seen in a single year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. It was the fourth year in a row that carbon dioxide concentrations grew by more than 2 parts per million, with an annual growth rate of 3.05 parts per million in 2015. ­The spike comes in the same year that Earth reached an ominous global warming milestone -- scientists last year measured the highest atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide ever recorded. - Climate Central

Federal Judge Awards $4.24 million to Dimock Families in Fracking Case 

An eight-member federal jury found Cabot Oil and Gas negligent and ordered the driller to pay a total of $4.24 million to two Dimock families for polluting their well water starting back in 2008. The company says it will appeal the decision. - StateImpact

The Horrific Way Fish Are Caught for Your Aquarium - With Cyanide 

Up to 90 percent of saltwater aquarium fish imported to the U.S. are caught using cyanide. A new petition is calling for the government to crack down. - National Geographic News

Today's Top 5 Trending: US-Canada Climate Commitments, Houston's Hurricane Threat, Lead in Wells, CA's Stormwater, Lesser-Known National Parks

Obama and Trudeau Unveil Climate Efforts

President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday morning new commitments to reduce planet-warming emissions of methane, a chemical contained in natural gas that is about 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide and that can leak from drilling wells and pipelines. - New York Times

'We're Sitting Ducks'

Houston, home to millions of people and one of the largest shipping lanes in the world, is unprepared for the hurricane that could bring ecological and economic disaster. - Pro Publica

The Corrosive Dangers Lurking in Private Wells

Across the country, millions of Americans served by private wells drink, bathe and cook with water containing potentially dangerous amounts of lead, Reuters reporting and recent university studies show. - Reuters

Parched California Tries to Grab Stormwater Before It Escapes

A network of basins and wells, designed by geologists, can channel storm runoff into natural underground vaults before it vanishes into the sea. - Scientific American

National Parks: Where We Go and Don't Go

Much of the Park Service’s land in the West is poorly visited and little-known. - High Country News

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The Crisis Within: How Toxic Stress and Trauma Endanger Children

It has long been known that growing up in impoverished and dangerous neighborhoods dims life prospects. But now a commanding body of medical research presents a disturbing, biological picture of why. It suggests that the stress itself — if left unchecked — is physically toxic to child development and health. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Colombian Court Bans Oil, Gas and Mining Operations in the Paramos

Colombia’s Constitutional Court has ruled against a controversial legal loophole permitting oil, gas and mining operations in the country’s paramos - high altitude eco-systems. Colombia’s paramos are the most extensive on earth and supply more than 70% of the country’s population with water, according to the Bogota-based Alexander von Humboldt Institute. - The Guardian

Scientists Urge American Geophysical Union to Cut Ties With Exxon

A letter from more than 100 researchers calls on the AGU to drop the oil giant as a sponsor of its annual earth science conference, the largest of its kind. - InsideClimate News

Ocean Acidification Expected to Cause Skeletal Deformities in 50 Percent of Juvenile Corals

Tiny juvenile corals face skeletal deformities as ocean acidification gets worse. New research shows that as more atmospheric carbon dioxide is absorbed in the ocean, corals develop deformed and porous exoskeletons, which does not provide the support required for a long and fruitful life. - International Business Times

Efficacy of Compensation for Nuclear Workers Program Under Scrutiny

An investigation by the McClatchy DC news service found that fewer than half of the people who have applied for benefits have received them, and workers’ complaints are often suspended in the complex process of paperwork or court hearings, with some claims languishing in the system for up to 10 years. A new documentary coming out in March, titled Safe Side of the Fence, questions why side-by-side workers with similar ailments would receive different judgments from the Department of Labor on the validity of their claims. - Santa Fe New Mexican

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UN Climate Chief Christiana Figueres to Step Down

Figueres' departure at the end of her term, which was announced in a letter to all the parties to the UNFCCC, means that the two main driving forces behind the Paris talks are both leaving as the agreement moves into a risky implementation phase. - Mashable

Alarming Rise in Mass Animal Deaths

Tens of thousands of wild animals have been dramatically dying around the world. Although the hows and whys often remain unexplained, climate change and pollution form part of the reason. - Deutsche Welle

Lawsuit Seeks Removal of Lead Pipes in Chicago

Chicago officials should be forced to remove thousands of lead pipes connecting homes to city's water supply, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday that accuses the city of failing to adequately warn residents how the toxic metal can leach into tap water after street repairs. - Chicago Tribune

How California Could Be Missing Pesticide Cancer Risk

California’s pesticide police could be missing a serious health concern for residents and farmworkers by failing to monitor what happens when pesticides get mixed together. - Reveal News

Is Oklahoma's New Earthquake Reduction Plan Enough to Stop the Shaking?

Following an earthquake swarm that included the state's third-largest quake ever, regulators moved to reduce wastewater disposal by oil and gas producers. - Inside Climate News

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What Will Be the Health Impact of California's Methane Leak?

One big unknown clouds the aftermath of the Los Angeles County methane disaster: the health effects for thousands of people living nearby who were exposed to the gas while it leaked for three and a half months. - InsideClimate News

As Mozambique's Rivers Dry Up, So Does Hope of a Harvest

As southern Africa grapples with devastating drought, maize fields lie empty, the soil is like sand and water must be shared between cattle and people. - The Guardian

Zika Outbreak Could Be Omen of Global Warming Threat

The global public health emergency involving deformed babies emerged in 2015, the hottest year in the historical record, with an outbreak in Brazil of a disease transmitted by heat-loving mosquitoes. Can that be a coincidence? - New York Times

Moving Beyond the Autobahn: Germany's New Bike Highways

With the recent opening of a “bike highway,” Germany is taking the lead in Europe by starting to build a network of wide, dedicated bicycle thoroughfares designed to lure increasing numbers of commuters out of their cars and onto two wheels. - Yale Environment 360

What Scalia's Death Means for Environment and Climate

Here's what Antonin Scalia's legacy on environment reveals about the importance of the next Supreme Court on the EPA Clean Power Plan and other matters. - US News and World Report

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El Niño Causing Global Food Crisis, UN Warns

Severe droughts and floods triggered by one of the strongest El Niño weather events ever recorded have left nearly 100 million people in southern Africa, Asia and Latin America facing food and water shortages and vulnerable to diseases including Zika, UN bodies, international aid agencies and governments have said. - The Guardian

Pacific Nations Desperate for Climate Action

New Zealand climate scientists have echoed desperate cries from small Pacific nations in the firing line of rising seas. Representatives from 17 Pacific states, including Kiribati President Anote Tong, have been meeting leaders and experts in Wellington this week as part of Victoria University's Pacific Climate Change Conference. - New Zealand Herald

Global Warming in Overdrive: Hottest January Ever Recorded

January was the globe's most unusually warm month ever recorded, and the past three months have been the most unusually warm three-month period on record as well, according to new findings from NASA. - Mashable

Experts Call On Feds to Re-Evaluate World's Most Heavily Used Herbicide

U.S. and European health officials need to take a fresh look at assumptions about the safety and health impacts of glyphosate herbicides, according to a group of health scientists worried about the chemicals’ explosive worldwide growth. - Environmental Health News

Six Things I Would Ask Presidential Candidates About Food and Farming 

Slow-motion ecological crises haunt the country's main farming regions, and diet-related maladies generate massive burdens on the US health care system. Over the next three frantic weeks—with five debates and more than two dozen primaries—the two major-party candidates may well emerge. If Tom Philpott were a debate moderator or a reporter on the trail, here are some questions he would ask them. - Mother Jones

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State Air Board Criticizes Southern California Smog Regulators Over Adoption of Industry-Backed Rules

The state Air Resources Board has criticized Southern California smog regulators for adopting industry-backed regulations to control emissions from the region's largest facilities, saying they may violate state law and will harm people's health. - Los Angeles Times

Battle Over Dominion Coal-Ash Ponds Heads to State Water Board This Week

After months of contentious debate, a state regulatory board will decide this week whether to allow Dominion Virginia Power to divert water from coal-ash ponds into a nearby creek after treating that water to remove pollutants. - Washington Post

Company Behind Methane Leak Is Ordered to Offset the Climate Damage

California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered Southern California Gas Co. to pay for a mitigation program to offset damage to the world's climate from a massive methane leak at an underground natural gas storage facility in Los Angeles. - InsideClimate News

El Niño Heat Peaks, But Impacts Still to Come

It looks like this El Niño — which will rank among the strongest on record — has passed its peak in terms of tropical ocean temperatures, but it’s not going away anytime soon. In fact, the biggest El Niño impacts on the U.S., like rain and snow for California, are probably still to come. - Climate Central

'Flaring' Wastes 3.5% of World's Natural Gas

The United States has the greatest number of flares, but Russia leads the world in the total volume of flared natural gas. In 2012, the 143 billion cubic metres of gas flared led to the emission of more than 350 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, around 10% of the annual emissions of European Union member states. - Nature

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Tests Suggest Mercury In Air At Some Dental Clinics

Mercury exposure, experts say, reaches the worst levels when old mercury fillings are drilled out, sending toxic particles flying in the breathing zones of patients, dentists and their aides. Many dentists use high-speed vacuums to suction most of the debris away from patients. - McClatchy

Will Trade Trump Climate Pact? 

TransCanada’s lawsuit over Keystone XL is the tip of the iceberg: Protections in two new trade deals could undermine limits in the freshly minted Paris climate pact, as investors safeguard 'expected profits' - The Daily Climate

Industry Begins Pesticide Protection Compliance Efforts

Led by the Agricultural Retailers Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation, the representatives are pledging full commitment to meet compliance thresholds despite outlining a litany of complaints on the rulemaking in past comment periods. The EPA and others also are readying to collaborate on reaching out to farmers and growers. - Bloomberg BNA

Campbell Labels Will Disclose GMO Ingredients

The company, the maker of brands like Pepperidge Farm, Prego, Plum Organics and V8 in addition to its namesake soups, is taking the unusual step — and possibly risking sales by alienating consumers averse to genetically modified organisms — as big food corporations face increasing pressure to be more open about their use of such ingredients. - The New York Times

Vermont Governor Urges State to Divest From Coal, Exxon

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said on Thursday his state should take action against climate change this year by divesting public pension funds from coal and from oil giant ExxonMobil, because of its history of sowing doubt about climate change despite the company's own scientists having studied it. - InsideClimate News

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What Does the Paris Climate Agreement Mean for the World's 8 Million Other Species?

In December, the world’s nations agreed on an aggressive plan to combat climate change. But what, if anything, will the landmark Paris agreement do for thousands of species already under threat from global warming? - The Guardian

Politics of Climate Unlikely to Change in 2016

In 2016, Americans will go to the polls to elect a new president, 34 senators, 435 representatives and 12 governors, not to mention countless state and local leaders. And despite this happening during what many scientists believe will be the hottest year on record and the stakes for the planet growing ever higher, climate change won't crack the list of top political issues. - InsideClimate News

The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare

Rob Bilott was a corporate defense attorney for eight years. Then he took on an environmental suit that would upend his entire career — and expose a brazen, decades-long history of chemical pollution. - New York Times Magazine

BA Blames UK Government for Scrapping of £340m Green Fuels Project

A groundbreaking plan to turn London’s rubbish into green jet fuel has been abandoned due to a lack of UK government support, British Airways says. - The Guardian

As If Slavery Weren't Enough, Six Other Reasons to Avoid Shrimp

For all its abundance, the diminutive shellfish carries some heavy baggage you might want to consider before consuming your next shrimp cocktail. Since its inception, the farmed-shrimp industry has been plagued by reports of unsavory working conditions and ecological destruction. - Mother Jones

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Environmental Groups Push Feds on Monarch Protection

Groups threaten to sue U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its delay in determining monarch butterfly Endangered Species Act status. -- Environmental Health News

Kenya Close to Adopting GM Cotton Seed

Kenya is in the last stage of adopting genetically modified organisms if an application to secure a licence to supply cotton seeds is approved. Monsanto Kenya Ltd — a subsidiary of Monsanto Company— is a publicly traded US multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation and submitted an application to release GM cotton seed. -- Daily Nation (Kenya)

Rural Pollution Becoming An Urban Issue

Lawsuits from Washington State to Iowa are forcing regions to come up with solutions. -- Bay Journal

Teflon's Toxic Legacy

For more than half a century DuPont hid information that a chemical it was using to make Teflon might be making people sick. -- Earth Island Journal

Oklahoma Shaking Jumped 50% in 2015

Scientists and state officials say the increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma likely has been caused by wastewater disposal from oil and gas operations. Oil production methods that yield unusually large volumes of water have combined with favorably aligned faults under the state to cause the unprecedented shaking. -- Energywire

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The Toxic Chemical in San Francisco's Fog

Fog rolling in off the Pacific brings iconic beauty to San Francisco, but scientists say it also carries with it something much less pleasant: toxic mercury. Scientists who studied the fog along the coast of California found that it deposits a neurotoxin called monomethyl mercury — at a concentration about 20 times that of rain — as it sweeps across the city. -- San Francisco Chronicle

The Italian Mob's Toxic Waste Dumping is Giving People Cancer

According to a new report released last week by the Italian National Institute of Health, a few local Italian mobs have been slowly killing dozens of innocent people for decades by way of a multibillion dollar toxic waste disposal racket. -- Vice Motherboard. 

Has the Organic Movement Left Black Farmers Behind? 

A history of discrimination, mass land loss, lack of start-up capital, lack of collateral for loans, and a multi-generational distrust of federal programs have put Black farmers behind in the organic movement. -- Civil Eats

California's 'Staggering' Leak Could Spew Methane for Months

A leaking natural gas storage field continues to belch thousands of tons of methane into the air every week, causing health and climate concerns. -- InsideClimate News

Where Is the Most Cycle-Friendly City in the World?

The Dutch and Danish cycling utopias of Amsterdam, Groningen, Utrecht and Copenhagen are high up the list – but what about the rest of the world? -- The Guardian

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China Ends One-Child Policy

The Chinese government will allow all couples to have two children as a ‘response to an ageing population’ and amid concerns over economy. -- The Guardian

Markey Calls Chemical Reform Senate Standoff 'Nothing Short of Absurd'

Senators took to the floor yet again today to talk about the standoff between a vote on a clean TSCA-reform bill and permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Act. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) called the situation “nothing short of absurd.” -- Bloomberg BNA

EPA To Mandate Disclosures on Chemical Releases From Gas Processing Plants

The agency committed to writing new regulations requiring gas processing plants to report the information to the government’s Toxics Release Inventory in a letter to environmental groups that have been pursuing the disclosure since 2012. But the EPA denied the environmentalists’ plea to impose the disclosure mandates more broadly on other parts of the oil and gas extraction sector, with the agency specifically rejecting potential chemical reporting about pipelines, compressor stations and wells themselves. -- Fuelfix

Olympic Sailing in Rio Still Planned for Polluted Guanabara Bay

The world governing body for sailing is expected to announce this week that it is tentatively sticking to plans to hold races in next year’s Summer Olympics inside highly polluted Guanabara Bay, yet will keep the option open to moving the courses. -- The New York Times

African Vultures Targeted By Poachers Are Headed for Extinction

Africa's vultures are vanishing, according to a report released on Thursday, a situation that could affect human health and livestock since populations of other scavengers such as rats and jackals could rise as a result. The assessment, carried out by conservation group BirdLife International, found that six of Africa's 11 vulture species were at risk of extinction. -- Reuters

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Greenland Is Melting Away

Scientific data collected in the rivers of Greenland could yield groundbreaking information on the rate at which the melting of Greenland ice sheet, one of the biggest and fastest-melting chunks of ice on Earth, will drive up sea levels in the coming decades. The full melting of Greenland’s ice sheet could increase sea levels by about 20 feet. -- New York Times

Deadly Heat Forecast in Middle East By 2100

By the end of this century, areas of the Persian Gulf could be hit by waves of heat and humidity so severe that simply being outside for several hours could threaten human life, according to a study published Monday. Because of humanity’s contribution to climate change, the authors wrote, some population centers in the Middle East “are likely to experience temperature levels that are intolerable to humans.” -- New York Times

Bleaching and Disease Are Devastating Biggest Coral Reef In Continental US

The world’s coral reefs are currently in the grip of a massive global bleaching event — only the third such event in recorded history. Thanks to unusually warm water brought on by the effects of climate change, a particularly strong El Nino event and a persistent warm “blob” in the Pacific Ocean, corals throughout the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans are at risk of bleaching and possible death. One of the places most recently affected is the Florida coral reef tract, which spans from the Florida Keys up to Martin County and is the only coral reef tract found off the coast of one of the continental U.S. states. -- Washington Post

House, Senate Move to Block Obama's Power Plant Plan

Congressional Republicans are moving to block President Barack Obama's plan to force steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants. The maneuver is subject to a presidential veto and has rarely been successful in overturning executive branch rules. Still, it allows opponents to set up votes calculated to embarrass the Obama administration ahead of international climate talks in Paris this fall. -- Associated Press

No Chance for Africa's Lions? 

The king of the animals is facing extinction. According to a study, the species, which is endemic to Africa, can only survive there on reservations. In some regions, populations have disappeared completely. -- Deutsche Welle

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Study Finds Elevated Carbon Dioxide Impairs Human Brain Function

In a landmark public health finding, a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health finds that carbon dioxide has a direct and negative impact on human cognition and decision-making. These impacts have been observed at CO2 levels that most Americans — and their children — are routinely exposed to today inside classrooms, offices, homes, planes, and cars. -- Climate Progress

As Gulf of Maine Warms, Puffins Recast as Canaries in Coal Mine

Since 2004 the Gulf of Maine has warmed faster than anyplace else on the planet save an area northeast of Japan, and climate models suggest 2012-like conditions will become the new normal by the 2050s, with dramatic implications for life in Maine, on land as well as at sea. Scientists say the most catastrophic outcome would be a collapse in the foundations of the marine food web that sustains not just the puffins and their prey but most other species, from endangered right whales to the haddock and cod that fishermen depend on. -- Portland Press Herald

Leaked Map Reveals Big Gas Eyeing One of Most Biodiverse Places on Earth

Manu National Park in Peru’s Amazon is targeted by Pluspetrol, according to map of planned geological fieldwork -- The Guardian

Processed Meats Cause Cancer, and Red Meat Probably Does, Too

Eating hot dogs, ham and other processed meat can cause colorectal cancer, and eating red meat probably can cause cancer, the World Health Organization's cancer agency reported Monday. Dr. Kurt Straif, with the International Agency for Cancer Research, said the risk of developing colorectal cancer from eating processed meat remains small but rises with the amount consumed. Consuming red meat was linked to colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancer, but the link was not as strong, the IARC report said. -- USA Today

Climate Change a Major Threat to Children's Health, Doctors Warn

Climate change poses a rising global public health and safety threat, and children are particularly vulnerable, the American Academy of Pediatrics says in a new policy statement. The group is urging pediatricians and politicians to work together to solve the crisis and protect children from the immediate and long-term health consequences of climate change. -- CBS News

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Is US Ignoring Military Burn Pit Harm to Middle East Civilians?

The U.S. media has failed to expose the civilian toll of recent wars by largely ignoring burn pits’ toxic effects on local people, a U.S. researcher argues in a new report, suggesting the burn pits are this generation’s Agent Orange. -- Environmental Health News

Study: Human Body Absorbs Air Pollutants Directly Through Skin

A new study reveals that the human body absorbs harmful pollutants in the air through the skin, equivalent to the levels absorbed through breathing. The absorption through the skin, called “dermal uptake,” has been found to potentially cause asthma and cancer due to prolonged period of exposure. -- International Business Times

Japan Acknowledges Possible Radiation Casualty at Fukushima

Japan has acknowledged the first possible casualty from radiation at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, a worker who was diagnosed with cancer after the crisis broke out in 2011. The health ministry's recognition of radiation as a possible cause may set back efforts to recover from the disaster, as the government and the nuclear industry have been at pains to say that the health effects from radiation have been minimal. -- Reuters

Sunscreen Destroys Coral Reefs

The sunscreen that snorkelers, beachgoers and children romping in the waves lather on for protection is killing coral and reefs around the globe. And a new study finds that a single drop in a small area is all it takes for the chemicals in the lotion to mount an attack. -- Washington Post

Curing Cleveland's Legacy of Lead Poisoning

In the past five years, lead poisoning has set at least 10,000 Cleveland area children on a potential path to failure before they've even finished kindergarten. It's a path that experts say helps to perpetuate two of Cleveland's most pressing and bedeviling problems: poor school performance and violence. -- The Plain Dealer

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Our Deadened, Carbon-Soaked Seas

We can’t see this massive amount of carbon dioxide that’s going into the ocean, but it dissolves in seawater as carbonic acid, changing the water’s chemistry at a rate faster than seen for millions of years.  -- New York Times

Rising Seas Overwhelm Delaware Tidal Gates

Southbridge, although far from the beaches of Delaware’s bay and the Atlantic, is vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise. The neighborhood already faces chronic flooding, due to a combination of its low-lying location and aging infrastructure, and the flooding is likely to get worse as sea levels rise. -- Al Jazeera

US Announces New Moves to Limit Super Greenhouse Gases

New administrative measures and private sector pledges to phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbons, potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning, will reduce its consumption by the equivalent of 1 billion metric tons of CO2 through 2025, the White House said Thursday. -- Reuters

Kasich Energy Plan Would Repeal Obama Rules, Boosting Drilling

GOP presidential hopeful John Kasich wants to repeal impediments to oil and natural gas production, including Obama administration regulations and limits on offshore drilling. -- The Hill

Oil Bosses Fight For Relevance Before Climate Talks

In an unprecedented public appearance, the bosses of Europe's top oil companies, who earlier this year jointly called on governments to introduce a global carbon pricing system, will be joined by the heads of the national oil companies of Saudi Arabia and Mexico who will lend their support to the initiative. The rare show of unity at a time when companies are all struggling with a sharp drop in oil prices also highlights a deep rift with American oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron who stayed away from the initiative. -- Reuters

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How Are Hospitals Trashing the Planet? Ask a MacArthur Genius.

It’s not every day that an environmental activist becomes a leading voice in health care, but that’s what happened to Gary Cohen, a new MacArthur fellow. By looking under the hood of hospitals, he’s discovered a few nasty secrets — and inspired big changes for a community of scientists and practitioners whose healing practices were actually hurting the world around them. -- Washington Post

In 2050 There Will Be 9 Billion People on Earth. How Will We Feed Them?

There are 805 million malnourished people on the planet and the global population is expected to reach nine billion by 2050. Climate change could make half the world’s current farmland unsuitable; agriculture, ironically, produces a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. We are, argues Bourne, farming ourselves out of food. -- The Guardian

Democrats Compete Over Climate Change

In the past, climate change has barely rated more than a passing mention from candidates of either party. At best, it's been presented as part of a laundry list of issues facing America and the world. But now the Democratic candidates have at long last internalized it as a central part of their platforms, and that came through on Tuesday night. -- The New Republic

A Megacity Without a War: Sao Paulo's Drought

The biggest city in the Western hemisphere is facing its greatest water crisis in over 80 years — and climate change is only part of the problem. -- Time

Toyota Aims to Nearly Eliminate Gasoline Cars By 2050

Toyota, under ambitious environmental targets, is aiming to sell hardly any regular gasoline vehicles by 2050, only hybrids and fuel cells, to radically reduce emissions. -- Associated Press

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Carbon Pricing Schemes Double Since 2012

The number of carbon pricing schemes worldwide has almost doubled since 2012 but most taxes or markets have prices too low to prevent damaging global warming, the World Bank said on Sunday. -- Reuters

Hydrogen Economy Emerging From Germany's Excess Wind Power

Germany has taken the lead in the international effort to develop the so-called hydrogen economy. -- Climatewire

BP Tops List of Firms Obstructing Climate Action in Europe

BP is Europe’s fiercest corporate opponent of action on climate change, according to a ranking of companies by their efforts to obstruct carbon-cutting initiatives. Nearly half of the world’s top 100 global companies are trying to subvert climate policies by lobbying, advertising, and influence-peddling, said the UK-based non-profit, Influence Map. -- The Guardian

Green Group: Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Possible By 2050

In a joint project with the German Aerospace Centre, Greenpeace concluded that the 2050 timeline would create jobs and be cost competitive when compared with a continued reliance on fossil fuels. -- The Hill

As Fire Grows, a New Landscape Appears in the West

The consequences of a century of forest policies to suppress fires are now combining with the hotter and drier seasons to create tinderbox conditions, producing high-severity fires that kill trees and are increasingly hard to bring under control. -- New York Times

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Report: Pesticide Exposure Linked to Childhood Cancer, Low IQ

The researchers concluded that children who had been exposed to insecticides indoors were 47% more likely to have leukemia and 43% more likely to have lymphoma. Although leukemia and lymphoma are rare -- leukemia affects about five in 100,000 children in the United States -- they are among the common types of childhood cancers. -- CNN

Court Sparks Debate By Rebuking EPA on Bee-Killing Pesticide

The court in Pollinator Stewardship Council v. EPA ordered the agency to dial back its registration of sulfoxaflor, which is used mostly on cotton in the Mississippi Delta. Sulfoxaflor and other chemicals in the neonicotinoid pesticide class have been implicated in the decline of honeybees and other pollinators. -- Greenwire

25 Fast Food Chains Ranked on Antibiotic Use

The paper, authored by several public interest groups, gave each chain a letter grade based on their use of antibiotics—and their transparency about it. Only two chains got an "A." -- Time

Commentary: Despite Spin, Bad News Keeps Sticking to Teflon

EPA records show that the broken and outdated Toxic Substances Control Act has let DuPont and other companies market alternative non-stick chemicals without ever proving that they’re safe. The limited animal studies that have been done show that the new generation of PFCs may be little safer than the chemicals they’re replacing. -- Environmental Health News

California Drought Leads to Lowest Snow Pack in 500 Years

The study, published the journal Nature Climate Change, concluded that the snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains was only 5 percent of its historic average this past spring.

-- The Hill

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Dupont to Face First Trial over C-8 Exposure

Chemical giant DuPont Monday will face the first trial in litigation from residents near one of its plants in West Virginia who have accused the company of sickening them by emitting a toxic chemical that leaked into their drinking water. -- Reuters

GOP Gropes for Way to Kill Climate Deal

Republicans and industry groups are intensifying their search for a way to beat back President Obama’s new climate rule for power plants. -- The Hill

Scientists Expect Hawaii's Worst Coral Bleaching Ever

 Warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures around Hawaii this year will likely lead to the worst coral bleaching the islands have ever seen, scientists said Friday. Many corals are only just recovering from last year's bleaching, which occurs when warm waters prompt coral to expel the algae they rely on for food. -- Associated Press

Chile Plans World's Largest Marine Park to Protect Easter Island Fish Stocks

Under the plan put forth by the 3,000 indigenous people of the island, the park would allow only islanders to fish 50 miles out to sea and through a corridor to Sala y Gómez, a tiny inhabited islands to the east. For everyone else, fishing anywhere 200 miles from the two would be banned, with the threat of action by the Chilean navy as a deterrent. -- The Guardian

Conservation Will Be Key in Takeover of National Geographic

While outside the US National Geographic might be best known to consumers as the source of monkey pictures in dentists’ waiting rooms, it is a significant investor in science and research; and while the Murdoch millions boosting the endowment are welcome, the shadow of a different editorial line is not. But maybe for once those fears are misplaced. -- The Guardian