Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Environment Watch

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Dateline Earth
Check out our environmental blog for frequently updated tips and tidbits
· Bill Gates checks out Canada's tar sands
· Study finds ships big air polluters
· T. Boone Pickens vs. the P-I

Reader blog: Energy: Strategies, Policy & Best Practices
· Intellectual Ventures Nuclear Invention Touted as Safer and Cheaper
· Should Washington state do more to support clean tech? (Cook)
· Grid Operator Warns of Power Rationing Eventuality

Reader blog: Building Seattle Green
Environmentally conscious design
· You too can be a Master Home Environmentalist Volunteer!
· Seattle Urban Chalet
· Sustainable Neigborhoods & Imagine Capitol Hill

Reader blog: Green Gal
Environmentally conscious living
· The "greenest" day of them all
· The neti revolution
· Naked snacking

Reader blog: Living Simply: Creating a New Life Off the Grid
· A Second Opinion
· Round Three
· No One Walks this Road Alone

Reader blog: Electric Vehicle Guide
· San Jose in talks with Tesla for electric-car plant
· Electric Cars Are the Key to Energy Independence
· Former Intel CEO pushing hard for battery cars

Special Reports

Climate Change
Fears about the damage caused by climate change -- less snow, vanishing shorelines, more forest fires -- are mounting. How will governments, businesses and residents respond?
· Former President Clinton sees climate's silver lining (November 2007)
· Seattle urges greenhouse cuts (September 2007)
· Global warming needs green revolution (October 2007)
· Scientists say humans warming world (February 2007)
· Special report: What climate change means to the region (November 2003)

Tracking Puget Sound's Health
The Puget Sound region's iconic estuary is being hammered by pollution and development. Leaders pledge they'll save the Sound, but will it work?
· Plan to dump PCBs in Elliott Bay (September 2007)
· Tribes win on ruling on salmon (August 2007)
· Gov.'s plan to help Sound (May 2007)
· Special Report: The Sound of Broken Promises (October 2006)
· Special Report: Our Troubled Sound (November 2002)

Global Warming
A warmer world means less snow and higher tides in the area. Agencies are trying to slow greenhouse gas releases and prepare for the changes.
· Read the story: How changing water temperatures affect Lake Washington's ecosystem. (July 2005)
· Multimedia: See how it works (Flash 6)
· Special report: What climate change means to the region, includes full-page PDF (November 2003)

Endangered Species
Beloved Northwest salmon, orcas and spotted owls are in jeopardy of vanishing. There are efforts to save them -- will they succeed?
· Logging stopped to help owl (August 2007)
· Wild vs. hatchery salmon (August 2007)
· Salmon rescue plan (January 2007)
· Special report: The federal government is handing out licenses to kill endangered species (May 2005)

Natural Seattle
Sure it's a metropolis, but Seattle is home to countless wild things. But how healthy is the city's ecosystem?
· Special report: What is happening to Seattle's urban forest and what's at risk. (November 2005)
· Multimedia: What happens when an urban forest is neglected, or if it's restored (Flash 6 required).
· Recent news: Getting the ivy out at Beacon Hill park (January 2006)

P-I reporters Lisa Stiffler and Robert McClure cover environmental issues from the region and beyond. Contact Lisa by e-mail or phone (206-448-8042) and Robert by e-mail or phone (206-448-8092).

Tree killer hits Burke-Gilman trail
The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department Thursday morning says someone intentionally has killed seven, 70-foot high trees along the trail at Northeast 77th Street, apparently by injecting herbicide into holes drilled around the trunks.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008
Seattle plans to double energy savings
Seattle City Light officials and Mayor Greg Nickels announced a $185 million plan Wednesday to double the amount of energy conservation in the city over five years.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2008
Court rejects EPA limits on states' emissions rules
A U.S. appeals court Tuesday threw out an Environmental Protection Agency rule limiting the ability of states to require monitoring of industrial emissions.

Hantavirus suspected in police officer's death
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease caused by a virus carried by rodents, is the suspected cause of death for an Ellensburg police officer.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2008
Smog in Seattle runs afoul of Clean Air Act
Seattle is in violation of the Clean Air Act for the first time since the 1990s.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2008
FDA stands by its claim plastic bottles are safe
WASHINGTON -- Despite ongoing safety concerns from parents, consumer groups and politicians, a chemical used in baby bottles, canned food and other items is not dangerous, federal regulators said Friday.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2008
Ocean dead zones grow worldwide
WASHINGTON - Like a chronic disease spreading through the body, dead zones with too little oxygen for life are expanding in the world's oceans.

New orca calf born this week to member of L pod
A new calf has joined one of the orca families that frequent Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, whale researchers report.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008
As mercury rises, so does pollution
With temperatures headed up faster than an Olympic high jumper, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency officials are keeping a nervous eye on air pollution monitors.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2008
3 pesticides singled out in report as threat to salmon
From Los Angeles to the Canadian border, three pesticides synthesized in the 1950s and 1960s are increasing the chance of extinction for more than two dozen imperiled salmon stocks, says a new draft study by federal fisheries experts.

'Roadless rule' is tossed out again
CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A federal judge in Wyoming has overturned a Clinton-era ban on road construction in nearly 60 million acres of national forest, extending a long-running dispute over U.S. Forest Service rules for large sections of undeveloped land.

Navy agrees to limit use of criticized sonar systems
SAN FRANCISCO - The Navy agreed in a settlement approved Tuesday to limit where it operates certain sonar systems criticized by environmentalists as a threat to whales and other marine mammals.

Administration cuts spotted owl habitat 23 percent
GRANTS PASS, Ore. - The Bush administration has decided that the northern spotted owl can get by with less old growth forest habitat as it struggles to get off the threatened species list.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2008
Food industry seeks signatures to toss city's bag fee
There's still a chance that disposable grocery bags could be lining wastepaper baskets in Seattle free of charge, but it would take upwards of 14,000 signatures and a majority vote in an election next year.

MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2008
Inadequate policing puts state's water quality in jeopardy
The state program preventing water pollution is underfunded and has less than half the staff needed to get the job done, according to estimates from the agency itself.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2008
Buildings given a role in saving Sound
In a landmark ruling that could shape Western Washington development for decades to come, a state appeals board ordered use of "low-impact" building techniques to rein in what scientists call the biggest threat to the health of the Sound.

District to chop nearly 70 trees at high school
Nearly 70 mature trees at Ingraham High School that neighbors had fought to save are scheduled to be cut down next week to make way for new school construction.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2008
'Alarming' elevated cancer risk in South Seattle linked to air pollution
Residents of a broad swath of South Seattle from Seward Park to West Seattle face elevated cancer risks because of air pollution, according to a soon-to-be released government study.

Lummi, orca matriarch presumed dead, was 98
Great-great-great-grandma Lummi � the oldest member of the local orca population � has been missing since December and is presumed dead.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2008
Smog watch issued for Puget Sound area
A smog watch has been issued for Snohomish, King Pierce and Kitsap counties until Wednesday night, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said.

THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008
Eco-conscious fashion being designed for the masses' appeal
With greater public consciousness shifting from what we put in our bodies to what we put on them, mass-market retailers as well as smaller businesses are answering the demand for affordable organic clothing.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008
Governors' plan aims to make ocean healthier
West Coast governors Tuesday released an action plan for improving ocean health by curbing pollution, preventing oil spills and reducing the harm of shoreline development.

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