Photo via International Rivers The International Herald Tribune has an interesting (if embarrassingly headlined--in the print edition, they went all-out for an Icarus reference) look at the boom and bust of the Spanish solar industry today. Basically, in a rush to jumpstart a pioneering solar industry, the Spanish gov offered far too sweet a feed-in tariff for solar investors--a whopping 58 U...Read the full story on TreeHugger

photo via Climate Changer A few weeks ago, UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer stepped down from his post as the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat. Who replaces him figures to be a signal of where the UN is going on climate change. Developing countries have had a hard road to climb in the UN process and three are stepping up to nominate a replacement for Boer. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

This photo, via The Telegraph, shows just how difficult it is to move one of the large, primitive cycads. Important specimens from one of the world´s oldest and rarest species of plant were stolen last weekend, covert ops style, from a botanical garden in South Africa. The species, cycads, is so old, in fact, that their broad ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image credit: Grist Imagine a hot summer day in a town surrounded by glistening pools of water. Now imagine that no one is swimming—that they can't because the water has been contaminated with a potentially dangerous, yet common, pollutant. For many, this terrible thought is a reality and the culprit is nitrate....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image credit: Good Passing a strong climate bill, Good tells us in a recent editorial, is a necessity. Such a bill, they write, must be defined by what is good for the country, not what is easy for the Senate to agree upon....Read the full story on TreeHugger

The greater sage-grouse was deemed to be "warranted but precluded" by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons Though it "warrants" protection under the Endangered Species Act, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said, the greater sage-grouse will not be added to the list at this time. Instead, it would join nearly 300 other species that have been "precluded"—essentially placed on a waiting list—while other priority species are considered. While the ruling was by no means a total loss for the grouse, it falls far ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

"Orthographic aerial photograph of Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill, in Kingston, Tennessee, taken the day after the event." Photo: Public domain CO2 is Important, But Not the Only Thing David Roberts over at Grist has a great rebuttal of Thom Friedman's latest column in which he and investor...Read the full story on TreeHugger

"Orthographic aerial photograph of Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill, in Kingston, Tennessee, taken the day after the event." Photo: Public domain CO2 is Important, But Not the Only Thing David Roberts over at Grist has a great rebuttal of Thom Friedman's latest column in which he and investor...Read the full story on TreeHugger

<embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/59348474001?isVid=1&isUI=1&publishe...Read the full story on TreeHugger

During last year's seal hunt Brian posted about Canada's Governor General gutting a seal and eating its heart. Canada's Minister of Defence helped himself to a seal banquet as well. When it comes to seal, Solidarity Forever. But now they don't have to go to the Arctic for a traditional Inuit feast; they can just pop over to the Parliamentary Restaurant, where seal is the chic thing, the hot ticket item for those who want to show support for the seal hunt. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger