The second annual Lights Out Martha’s Vineyard will be happening in coordination with Earth Hour 2009 on March 28, from 8:30-9:30 PM. Please plan on flipping the switch and enjoying a cozy candlelight hour in support of the planet. To date you will be joined by seventy-seven countries and six hundred and eight cities that will also be participating in this important event.

GENEVA (AP) -- Antarctic glaciers are melting faster across a much wider area than previously thought, scientists said Wednesday - a development that could lead to an unprecedented rise in sea levels. A report by thousands of scientists for the 2007-2008 International Polar Year concluded that the western part of the continent is warming up, not just the Antarctic Peninsula.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/
U/UN_UN_WARMING_ANTARCTIC?SITE=MAHYC
&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-02-25-08-42-17

The waters around Cape Cod and the Islands are crowded with big ideas and confused seas. In addition to the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, there are at least two other major renewable energy projects and a myriad of smaller ones proposed for the ocean off Massachusetts, most within a short sail of local shores.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20090222/NEWS/902220323/-1/NEWS01

MENDOTA, Calif. — The country’s biggest agricultural engine, California’s sprawling Central Valley, is being battered by the recession like farmland most everywhere. But in an unlucky strike of nature, the downturn is being deepened by a severe drought that threatens to drive up joblessness, increase food prices and cripple farms and towns.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/
us/22mendota.html?_r=1&hp

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — To the casual eye, the basement of this city’s Firehouse 9 looks like a jumble of old hydrants, Dr Pepper cartons, rakes and random gear. To specialists in energy efficiency, the 1960s-era building is a mess of a different sort: wasteful hot water heaters for the firefighters’ showers, ancient refrigerators and outdated lights.

Wrapping up an elaborate energy audit, Knoxville is about to find out which of 99 city buildings are wasting the most energy. It hopes to begin repairs this summer, just in time to catch a tsunami of federal stimulus money earmarked for such unglamorous tasks as replacing light bulbs and fixing leaky insulation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/
business/energy-environment/26efficiency.html?_r=1

Biotechnology companies are keeping university scientists from fully researching the effectiveness and environmental impact of the industry’s genetically modified crops, according to an unusual complaint issued by a group of those scientists.

“No truly independent research can be legally conducted on many critical questions,” the scientists wrote in a statement submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency. The E.P.A. is seeking public comments for scientific meetings it will hold next week on biotech crops.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/
business/20crop.html