Live Earth

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14 Stories

July 2008
- Gore Pounds Pols on Energy Plan
  
  MSNBC | Jul 20, 08 4:13 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Al Gore made his first appearance on Meet the Press since he sought the presidency 8 years ago, Politico reports, this time pushing his agenda as the nation's self-appointed energy czar. "My own best role is to try to bring about a sea change in public opinion" on environmental issues, he said, following a Thursday speech in which he called for a switch to 100% renewable energy sources by 2018. "Incremental baby steps are no longer responsible proposals." More »
- EPA Cuts the Value of a Life by $1M
  
  Associated Press | Jul 11, 08 4:13 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly reduced the hypothetical value of a human life by almost a million dollars to $6.9 million, reports the AP . The figure is used in cost benefit analyses to weigh the life-saving potential of environmental protection policies. Placing a lower value on human life could be used to justify avoiding costly regulations. More »
May 2008
- Artists Are Making Junk—Literally
  
  Chronicle of Higher Education | May 30, 08 8:25 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Beware the scruffy artists at the corner cafe—they may be serial polluters and not even know it, Laurie Fendrich writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education . Many painters, tree-huggers by claim, will flush chemicals down the drain, and ignore the carbon footprint of their synthetic pigments. They just "think of their paints as gooey stuff that can be turned into a nice painting," Fendrich writes. More »
- Calif. Smog Kills 24K Each Year
  
  Los Angeles Times | May 22, 08 11:39 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Air pollution is responsible for the deaths of 24,000 people in California annually—three times higher than previous estimates, according to new research. Rates of heart attacks, strokes, and other serious disease increase exponentially after even minimal exposure to particles of metal, dust, or other pollution from vehicles and factory smokestacks, reports the Los Angeles Times. More »
- Blue Collars, Green Ties
  
  New Republic | May 3, 08 9:30 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In Pennsylvania, the New Republic 's Dayo Olopade finds an effort to unite working-class union types with the liberal elite that could long outlive Barack Obama's heyday: the search for green-collar jobs. Stelworkers have long viewed environmentalists skeptically, but both groups have a stake in finding a "new industrial policy based on the twin causes of sustainability and job creation." More »
April 2008
- Trash Fouls World's Beaches
  
  Associated Press | Apr 15, 08 8:27 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - One day of beach cleanup last year netted 6 million pounds of trash worldwide, an environmental group says. Volunteers in 76 countries collected an average of 182 pounds per mile of beach; the US weighed in at 390 pounds per mile, the AP reports. "We're the bad guys," said the head of the Ocean Conservancy. "Trash doesn't fall from the sky." More »
- Alarmed Feds Cancel Salmon Season
  
  San Francisco Chronicle | Apr 11, 08 5:10 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In drastic action to stop the collapse of the West Coast salmon population, a federal fisheries council is banning salmon fishing off California and most of Oregon for the rest of the year, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . "This is a disaster," said the council chairman. The number of salmon spawning in California's Sacramento River system has plunged some 94% in six years. More »
March 2008
- EPA Ignores Advisers on Pollution Cap
  
  Washington Post | Mar 13, 08 7:18 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Ignoring the recommendations of its own scientists, the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday reset standards for pollution-forming ozone from cars and factories at a level critics say may cost thousands of lives. The new cap is lower than the old level but still far above the limit urged by EPA experts, reports the Washington Post . More »
February 2008
- 'Doomsday' Seed Vault to Open
  
  AFP | Feb 25, 08 3:57 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The North Pole is no Fertile Crescent, but it will house collections of the world's crop seeds in a doomsday vault that will open tomorrow, AFP reports. The vault, built on Norwegian territory, contains three cold chambers that can hold a total of 4.5 million seed samples—twice the current amount of known crops—and will safeguard crops in the event of catastrophe. More »
December 2007
- Zep Show a Whole Lotta Love
  
  E! Online | Dec 11, 07 2:42 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Until tonight, Led Zeppelin hadn't played a full concert in close to 30 years. But it's clear the band still has a whole lotta love for performing, reports E!. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham, son of the late John Bonham, blew the roof off London's O2 Arena, packed to its 16,000-seat capacity, at a tribute concert to Atlantic Records exec Ahmet Ertegun. More »
July 2007
- Live Earth From The Bottom of the Earth - Nunatak Wails
  
  ABC News | Jul 7, 07 2:24 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - You've probably been wondering about the Live Earth Concert performance that is coming from Antarctica. How many bands? Can I get a front row seat? The answers are: one band, called Nunatak, consisting of 5 British scientists stationed at Rothera and all 17 seats are sold out. But you can watch them live on TV or the Internet. More »
- Live Earth Fights Warming, Skepticism
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jul 7, 07 8:29 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Today's concert in Sydney kicks off the 24-hour Live Earth series, which puts over 100 acts on stages on seven continents to fight climate change. Along with raising awareness, the concerts are raising eyebrows at the hypocrisy of using jet-setting rockers as role models for reducing greenhouse gases, and questions about how much environmental harm the shows themselves will create. More »
- Rio Reverses Live Earth Ban
  
  Reuters | Jul 6, 07 8:56 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Rio incarnation of Live Earth, the ecofriendly concert extravaganza scheduled for tomorrow on all seven continents, is back on. Security concerns led a judge to put the kibosh on the event, which is expected to draw up to a million would-be environmentalists to Copacabana beach, but organizers have lined up enough security to allay her worries, Reuters reports. More »
- Lucky 7s Capture Calendar
  
  Associated Press | Jul 5, 07 9:55 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Saturday will be a big day for the superstitious—it's 7-7-07, and fans of numerology are out in force. About three times the normal number of couples will tie the knot, including Tony Parker and Eva Longoria. Casinos, amusement parks, and houses of worship are preparing for the big day, as are the sites hosting Live Earth concerts. More »