skippy the bush kangaroo

they challenge the right wing nut job's dog whistle talking points....especially the "there is no such thing as climate change" meme.

mainstream news outlets spent a lot of time in 2011 covering the record-breaking year for extreme weather in the u.s. but only a few of them spent much time exploring the link between those events and global warming.

so pbs deserves a special mention for a segment that aired last week looking at how global warming is influencing extreme weather events. as jeff masters, co-founder of the weather underground, explained in the piece: "they all tend to get increased when you have this extra energy in the atmosphere. I call it being on steroids ... for the atmosphere." - grist

"les verts monts" - the green mountains.

vermont has taken a large step forward for us states, outlining in its comprehensive energy plan how it will get 90% of all its energy from renewable sources by 2050. currently vermont gets 23% of its energy from renewable sources, mostly biomass and hydropower which supply roughly 50% of the state's electricity. - treehugger

let's hope 2012 is a better year for the environment than last year. it doesn't seem to be starting off well...

smog from celebrations closes philippine airport. - smog from new years eve celebrations was so thick in manilla this year that flights had to be diverted - philippine daily enquirer

anyway...happy new year to all of skippy's readers.

global warming: top stories of 2011. - if 2011 goes down as the year that global warming awareness reached a critical mass, it could be attributed to the spate of unusual weather events around the globe - summit county citizens voice

world pays ecuador not to extract oil from rainforest. - an alliance of european local authorities, national governments, us film stars, japanese shops, soft drink companies and russian foundations have stepped in to prevent oil companies exploiting 900m barrels of crude oil from one of the world's most biologically rich tracts of land - london guardian

diy cesium scanning store may be 'new normal.' - the surreal sight of a do-it-yourself radiation testing facility standing next to a hardware store and an Internet cafe raises a question for japan: is this the new normal? - japan times

ohio connects quakes to injection well. - the state has temporarily halted the disposal of waste produced from shale drilling within a 5-mile radius of the d&l energy brine-injection well on ohio works drive in girard. the announcement was made late saturday following the magnitude 4.0 earthquake that shook the youngstown area around 3 p.m. - youngstone daily business journal

oil rigs may provide bird buffet for sharks. - heaped on a table at the laboratory, the pile of beaks, feet, eyeballs, feathers and whole bird carcasses testified to what may be the oil industry’s most unexpected environmental impact - mobile press register

severe storms led to sewage spills across connecticut. - while power outages during tropical storm Irene and the october snowstorm left much of the state in the dark, they had a less-publicized but possibly more damaging result — millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into waterways throughout connecticut when backup power systems failed at waste treatment plants - hartford current

wildfires devastate chilean wilderness. - wildfires sweeping through one of south america's most famous national parks are devastating thousands of acres of pristine habitat. so far, more than 21,000 acres of torres del paine have been destroyed by blazes that have yet to be brought under control - london independent

more storms on the way unless we learn to manage the land. - when the bureau of meteorology releases its annual data this week, it will probably announce that australia has just had the second or third wettest year in its recorded history. no surprise. by changing the landscape, we changed the weather - sydney morning herald

nimasa: bonga oil spill requires national, international response. - as efforts to clean the oil spillage at the bonga offshore production storage and offloading vessel continue, the management of nigerian maritime administration and safety agency has said only a national and international response could save ecological and aquatic lives in the oil- and gas-rich niger delta region - lagos this day

new china food safety scandal widens to oil, peanuts. - chinese authorities in a southern boomtown have detected a cancer-causing toxin in peanuts and cooking oil that was only recently discovered in milk, in the nation's latest food safety scandal - afp

green will be hot for 2012, flordians predict. - being eco-friendly will be important in art, food, landscaping and across the spectrum of design, floridians predicted. - melbourne florida today

missing maps mean pg&e lines weren't inspected. - pacific gas and electric co. failed to check nearly 14 miles of gas distribution pipelines for leaks for up to two decades when it lost track of 16 maps needed to guide mandated safety inspections of its system in eastern contra costa county. - sfgate

a tempestuous year. - is there a connection between last year’s extreme weather events and global warming? the answers might be a lot clearer if the republicans in congress were less hostile to climate change research. - nytimes

the recession squeeze on buses and trains.  - for the average american driver, the time wasted in traffic jams has more than doubled in 30 years. the best way of easing that gridlock — not to mention saving gas, curbing pollution and finally finishing that novel — is public transit - nytimes

new hampshire celebrates 25 years of environmental protection. - the year 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of des and its service to the people of our state. des has played a vital role in protecting and restoring our precious natural resources and public health - exeter news-letter

only new economics can save great lakes . - there is a substantial and growing consensus that planet earth is in trouble and that the prevalent economic model, which has brought us to the point of crisis, will not be the solution to the crisis - ashland current

study: does enduring extreme weather make you vote liberal? - on the heels of a disastrous weather year in the usa, and with the long presidential campaign season looming, a new study finds that people who have endured extreme weather events are more likely to support environmental legislation, even if it means restricting individual freedoms. - usa today

benzene fouling drinking water at suncor refinery, chemicals seeping into sand creek. - toxic petroleum dissolved in groundwater beneath suncor energy north of downtown denver is seeping directly into the bottom of sand creek near the creek's confluence with the south platte river, and piped drinking water at the refinery may be contaminated with benzene - denver post

arnold schwarzenegger's green road back. - in recent weeks, schwarzenegger has begun to return to the spotlight, making public appearances at renewable energy and climate change events, advocating for green technology and touting his energy achievements in the golden state - politico