Civilization’s last chance (by Bill McKibben, Los Angeles Times)
All of a sudden it isn’t morning in America, it’s dusk on planet Earth… We’re the ones who kicked the warming off; now the planet is starting to take over the job. Melt all that Arctic ice, for instance, and suddenly the nice white shield that reflected 80% of incoming solar radiation back into space has turned to blue water that absorbs 80% of the sun’s heat… And we have, at best, a few years to short-circuit [the greenhouse effects] — to reverse course.

Japan scientists warn Arctic ice melting fast
Arctic ice is melting fast and the area covered by ice sheets in ocean could shrink this summer to the smallest since 1978 when satellite observation first started, Japanese scientists warned in a report.

Tornado season deadliest in a decade
The USA has been ravaged through mid-May by a near-record number of tornadoes that has pushed the death toll — including 47 killer twisters over the weekend — to a 10-year high.

India’s green revolutionary is back in spotlight
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Forty years after he helped rescue the world from growing famine and a deepening gloom over the future of food supplies, Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is once again agitating for revolution — this time a perpetual one.

McCain urges free-market principles to reduce global warming
PHOENIX – Republican John McCain, reaching out to both independents and green-minded social conservatives, argues that global warming is undeniable and the country must take steps to bring it under control while adhering to free-market principles.
What happened to the right-wing mantra that global warming isn’t happening.  Or if it is, it’s not our fault.  And anyway, there’s nothing we can do, so fuggeddaboudit.

Inventor, Engineering Students Explore New Type Of Solar Collectors
Neal Cramer, founder of Medford-based Helios Products, L.L.C.—an entrepreneur and self-described professional inventor—has a patent pending on a three-dimensional process, termed “3-D,” for obtaining energy from the sun… Murray Luftglass, a Helios director, said typical photovoltaic systems produce 10 kW of energy, require an array of panels that may cover half a roof, cost on average $80,000 and reduce energy costs about $1,500 a year. “Our system is going to be available for between 5 to 10 percent of the cost and produce as much energy savings,” Luftglass said.

Korean Village Runs On 100% Solar Power
The Korean village Donggwang gets 100% of its power from the sun. The village is located on the semi-tropical island of Jeju-do. Near the village, Halla Mountain, a volcano and the tallest mountain in South Korea, rises from the island’s center amidst a patchwork of small farms.

eBay Bids on Solar
SAN JOSE, Calif. — eBay’s North Campus is now the home of 3,248 solar panels in a 650-kilowatt system that will supply 18 percent of the campus’s power, saving the company about $100,000 in electricity costs in its first year of operation. The company used the solar energy system’s unveiling to tout its first LEED-Gold building, which also is the city’s first

Eco Friendly Flooring Doesn’t Have to be Drab
Undertaking a home building project? Sustainable, eco-friendly materials are the only way to go — they’re better for you, as well as the planet. According to GreenBuilding.com, “the US EPA ranks indoor pollution among top five environmental risks, and unhealthy air is found in up to 30% of new and renovated buildings.”

New Process May Convert Toxic Computer Waste Into Safe Products
ScienceDaily (May 12, 2008) — Discarded computer parts could one day wind up fueling your car. That’s because researchers in Romania and Turkey have developed a simple, efficient method for recycling printed circuit boards into environmentally-friendly raw materials for use in fuel, plastic, and other useful consumer products.

UK Aims for a Million Green Collar Workers
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — The number of people working in the environmental sector is expected to top 1 million within the next 20 years — more than double today’s figure of 400,000.

Ignored warnings ‘worsened’ Myanmar cyclone disaster
Experts say the inadequate response of the government of Myanmar (formerly Burma) to scientists’ warnings, coupled with large-scale destruction of protective mangroves along its coasts, aggravated the devastation wreaked by tropical cyclone Nargis. The cyclone has killed an estimated 22,980 people so far, with millions rendered homeless by the disaster, which struck the Irrawaddy Delta region of Myanmar last week (3 May).

Pollution levels have dropped in U.S. coastal waters
WASHINGTON — Some good news from the government scientists who study pollution in U.S. coastal waters: A newly released 20-year study shows overall levels of pesticides and industrial chemicals generally are decreasing.

$423 Million Settlement Reached in Groundwater Contamination Lawsuit Against Oil Behemoths
Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. has secured a landmark settlement against some of the country’s biggest oil companies, which have agreed to pay $423 million in a suit involving the contamination of 153 public water systems nationally. The MTBE litigation, brought by Weitz & Luxenberg and Baron & Budd, addressed the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE.

Consumption of shark’s fins boosted by robust economy and weddings
Singapore – Consumption of shark’s fins soared in Singapore last year powered by a robust economy and an increase in weddings despite pleas from environmental groups noting one-third of the species in the world are at risk of extinction.