The waters have been so altered by climate change and melting sea ice that plankton, shellfish and fish may have trouble building their protective shells and skeletons, an international team reports Friday in the journal Science. "

Valero Energy Corp., which shuttered a major refinery over the summer, said Friday it would permanently close its Delaware City oil refinery and layoff 550 workers."

Sporting a delicate windmill as a lapel pin, Simmons started off by reflecting on the concept of sustainability, a current buzzword among energy development experts. "More and more people around the world are beginning to wonder, "Does the globe have a sustainable strategy?'" Simmons said. "It's all about sustainability. Sustainability means protecting or improving our living standards. And without abundant water and energy, we are not sustainable," he said. "There's no question that our oceans are energy's last frontier."

But just as Cuba’s petroleum trade has soared, revenue is plummeting from other key exports like nickel, pharmaceuticals and tobacco products. Foreign trade is down 36 percent this year, as the global recession and $10 billion in damage from three 2008 hurricanes have drained Cuba’s finances.

“The list of what is on the table is rather long,” said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the sponsor of the meeting, which runs from Dec. 7 to 18 in Copenhagen. "

Should the United States and China be teaming up on clean urban transportation systems instead of clean cars? After the announcement of a suite of new energy partnerships between China and the United States, I sought feedback on the electric vehicle project from Lee Schipper, an energy and transportation specialist who splits his time between the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford. He’s quite worried that the program is looking at cars mainly from an energy-efficiency context, instead of how they will shape and affect China’s fast-expanding cities in a larger sense. “Creating a zero-carbon car for China tomorrow won’t solve the much bigger problems of urban congestion, traffic fatalities and the paving over of once-beautiful cities to make room for more cars,” Dr. Schipper said. “The discussions should back up. Energy is only a means to an end. What are the ends, urban access and mobility, or cars for a small minority?”"

The report found that although existing laws of war — including aspects of the Geneva Convention — address environmental protection, their wording is imprecise. Strengthening, enforcing and clarifying existing legislation could help protect “natural assets” during wars, the study says."

For the 12 months that ended in August, 91,393 low-income households lost their utility service, compared with 52,202 in the previous 12-month period. Most soon paid to have service restored.

Below is a summary of my presentation, The Renewables Gap, from the ASPO 2009 conference. The intent of my presentation was to highlight the political challenge of affecting a societal transition to renewable sources of energy. In particular, I focus on wind and solar, though it seems to me that the problem will be largely the same (if not worse) if we attempt to rely on other “renewables.” My initial presentation focused on attempting to illustrate the Renewables Gap as an energy problem. While I briefly addressed the political aspects of this problem in my presentation, on reflection I’ve chosen to focus more carefully on this aspect of the Renewables Gap. "

Some would label Ruppert a conspiracy theorist. In Collapse, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this fall, he asserts that he deals in "conspiracy fact." Whether you agree, disagree or fence-sit, there is no denying it: His notions about the impact of declining oil reserves and looming global catastrophe do not sound like ideas from the fringe, as they may have several years ago.

Put simply, future oil shortages are being downplayed. In 2005, the IEA predicted daily oil production would rise to 120 million barrels by 2030. But harsh criticism forced the agency to cut this estimate a number of times until finally, in 2008, the IEA claimed the world oil production would be 105 million barrels a day by 2030.

Dr Michael Dittmar, a physicist with CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), said in the fourth and final part of an essay on the world's nuclear industry published this week that civilian stockpiles of uranium could be depleted by as early as 2013. "

Just something to keep your eye on as your politicians promise you that the U.S. will be the world leader in green tech jobs. In fact they will have to layer countless more debt on your children and grandchildren for temporary "green jobs" jobs, to make this mirage come true - for a while. Most likely this promise will come next spring as the next massive stimulus is pumped to the masses to create "green jobs" retrofitting buildings and such. Meanwhile, ask where the production is and what work we will be left with after we borrow money from China to create temporary jobs."

"Social psychologists have now known for four decades that the relationship between people's attitudes and knowledge and behavior is scant at best," said McKenzie-Mohr. Yet campaigns remain heavily focused on brochures, flyers and other means of disseminating information. "I could just as easily call this presentation 'beyond brochures,'" he said.