The polar bear has become a symbol of climate change and the impact it has on life on this planet. The polar bear was listed under the United States’ Endangered Species Act due to the threat global warming is posing on the Arctic environment the bears call home. A new study is now indicating that polar bears may face a more perilous future than previously believed.

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Glacier National Park located in Montana in the United States was named for, as the name implies, the glaciers located in the area. Experts believe at one point there were upwards of 150 glaciers in the park. However, since 1850, the glaciers have begun melting and the majority of the glaciers no longer exist.

In the past century, the temperatures in the park have drastically increased especially in summer months. The average summer temperature in Glacier National Park has increased 3 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years. The average temperature has increased 2 degrees Fahrenheit compared to the 1950 to 1979 average alone.

Due to these temperature increases it is not surprising to see that as of 2005 there were only 27 glaciers left. The 2005 survey found 10 less glaciers than the previous survey had found. In order to be classified as a glacier, the icy area must be at least 25 acres. Unfortunately, two more glaciers have now lost the battle against global warming since 2005. This has left the park with only 25 remaining glaciers.

Due to the massive amount of warming occurring in the park, many believe that all of the remaining glaciers may be gone by 2020. Included in this group is U.S. Geological Survey ecologist Dan Fagre. Fagre stated: “It’s continual. When we’re measuring glacier margins, by the time we go home the glacier is already smaller than what we’ve measured.”

Regardless of a change in climate change policies or action to stop global warming, Glacier National Park is still expected to lose all of the glaciers it was originally named for. However, some are holding on to hope that the park can still be saved.

Visit the folks over at AboutMyPlanet for some more great reads!

Everyone knows that the internet is a massively used forum for information and interaction. Millions, perhaps billions, of people log on to the internet daily worldwide. Immense companies have grown through the internet, including Facebook, Apple, Yahoo and many others. These companies, due to their popularity and growth, have enormous data centers.

Many of these companies argue that they are trying to reduce their carbon footprints. Google says it purchases carbon offsets and Yahoo will be attaining hydroelectric energy for their Buffalo facility.

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Such a place exists in the United States. Presidio (Texas) is a city just near the US-Mexican border and its only claim to fame could be that it was once a backdrop for a Marlon Brando – Liz Taylor starrer. But its claim to “infamy” is more potent. There is just a single umbilical power cord which connects the city of Presidio to the rest of the US power grid and that stretches 60 miles from Marfa in the high desert to the banks of the Rio Grande.

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by Tyler Falk

Leonardo da Vinci’s 1498 painting of The Last Supper.Photo: Drewwiki via Wikimedia Commons

In a strange study published this week by the International Journal of Obesity, professors found that portion sizes in artistic renditions of The Last Supper increased dramatically in the past 1,000 years, the L.A. Times reports.

The study, conducted by brothers Brian and Craig Wansink, looked at 52 artistic versions of The Last Supper created between 1,000 and 2,000 A.D. The finding: portion sizes of entrees of Jesus’ disciples grew by 70 percent and the bread size grew by 30 percent. Even the size of the plates ballooned by 66 percent.

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Harnessing the power of the oceans has been discussed for quite some time as a renewable energy. Many experiments for tidal and wave energy have been performed at numerous universities across the globe. Now projects announced by the country of Scotland have the previous experiments becoming a reality.

Scotland announced the leasing of ten sites on the seabed on the north coast of Scotland this week. Overall, seven companies have been granted leasing agreements for the energy generation. These ten sites will be used for both wave and tidal energy generation. If all goes as planned, this will be the first official such project worldwide. Six of the sites will be for wave energy while four will be for tidal energy generation.

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by David Roberts

Sens. Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman,

Thank you for the work you’re doing to to address America’s climate and energy challenges. As you meet with a broader group of stakeholders and begin to structure a bill, you face an enormous challenge of your own:  crafting legislation that can get 60 votes in a fractured and somewhat exhausted Senate. The odds are steep, but I believe there is a strong, bipartisan path forward.

The crucial starting point is this: The American people want clean energy. They want to make more energy in America; they want to use energy more wisely; they want to create jobs and compete in new global industries; they want to leave behind a clean environment and healthy children. These aspirations are shared across the country, across income groups and demographics, and across party lines, as reflected in poll after poll after poll.

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During a routine day at SeaWorld on Feb. 24, whale trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by Tilikum, a six-ton orca already linked to two other deaths. Orcas are a threatened species in some places, and while the park has no plans to relocate Tilikum, Dr. Naomi Rose, a senior scientist for Humane Society International, is calling for Tilikum’s release. Rose was involved in the release of Keiko, the animal star of the film Free Willy. We spoke with Rose about Keiko, Tilikum’s future, and the ethics of animal entertainment and marine-mammal captivity.

Q: What should happen to Tilikum?

A: I don’t think we could just let him roam free, because he has killed three people. I don’t think communities would be very keen on having this killer whale released into their area, so he will probably have to be in a sea pen his whole life. We’ve made this offer to SeaWorld. We actually think Tilikum can be retired the same way Keiko was, the difference being that he can probably never roam free.

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Global warming has taken a back seat to the economy in terms of what people are worrying about today. Further issues with the level of concern regarding global warming have been the skepticism that climate change scientists have been facing due to hacked emails and report errors. All of these things have resulted in dwindling support for climate change legislation and increasing disregard for global warming worries.

The reduction in concern regarding climate change appears to be a worldwide phenomenon, with a select few areas still expressing similar concern from before. A recent study by the Nielson/Oxford University found that concerns surrounding global warming are still the greatest concern in such areas as Latin America and countries in Asia-Pacific, including the Philippines.

However, eastern European countries were found to have the lowest concern for global warming. Recent polls in the United States have found that global warming has not dropped to so low a standing as eastern European countries, though there is an increasing lack of worry regarding climate change.

A new Gallop poll performed earlier in March found that the majority of Americans think global warming is exaggerated. Forty-eight percent believe climate change is exaggerated, which is seven percentage points higher than in 2009. This is drastically above the thirty-one percent from 1997.

In addition, nineteen percent of those polled believe the consequences of global warming will never happen. Sixteen percent believe any consequences that do occur will not occur in their lifetime. This poll included 1,014 adults from across the United States and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.

This skepticism may impact legislation passing in the United States and other locations in which skepticism is rising due to politicians not wanting to upset voters in their areas.

Visit the folks over at AboutMyPlanet for some more great reads!

Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas emissions most often discussed in terms of climate change. While methane is a more potent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide emissions are more prevalent. Carbon dioxide, therefore, is the most frequently tracked emission throughout the year. Recent carbon dioxide level measurements have risen concerns as emissions seem to be increasing.

Carbon dioxide levels have increased at least by a third since the Industrial Era began in the 1800s. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions have been steadily increasing since, and in recent years have been shown to be drastically increasing. However, the recent economic downturn across the globe had been slated to reduce emissions, especially in combination with climate change efforts going on worldwide.

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by Joseph Romm

You can’t save daylight by moving around the hands on your clock, of course. So daylight-saving time remains as absurdly named as it ever was.

The general pointlessness of DST was the subject of a Rachel Maddow interview Friday (video below) with the author of a whole book (!) on the subject.

What’s germane here is that DST saves about as much energy as light, according to most studies. In fact, a 2008 study found DST “may actually waste energy”:

Up until two years ago, only 15 of Indiana’s 92 counties set their clocks an hour ahead in the spring and an hour back in the fall. The rest stayed on standard time all year, in part because farmers resisted the prospect of having to work an extra hour in the morning dark. But many residents came to hate falling in and out of sync with businesses and residents in neighboring states and prevailed upon the Indiana Legislature to put the entire state on daylight-saving time beginning in the spring of 2006.

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Got a stylish eco-friendly product to recommend? Tell us about it and look for it in an upcoming blog post.

Looking for a unique and eco-savvy accessory with which to update your spring wardrobe? Check out these open cascade earrings from Smart Glass Jewelry’s new line. The modern-looking pieces are handmade from the glass bottoms of one of your favorite bottled beverages, be it chardonnay, beer, sake, or champagne. The hoops come in an array of colors and are accented with delicate strings of sterling silver. $92 per pair.

–Jessi Phillips

We’re sure the Sierra Club would love for you to hop on over and read some more great articles like this one!

As recently discussed, the United States government is most likely going to list the loggerhead turtle as endangered rather than its current standing as threatened. While this is good news, overall the Obama administration has not been quick to hand out endangered listings. The Obama administration has had the lowest listing rate of any of the most recent U.S. presidents.

However, after an announcement made this past week, the Obama administration has vastly increased their endangered species listings. Before this past week, the number of species listed as endangered stood at only two. But a recent addition of 48 different species to be designated as endangered has now increased that number to 50.

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Ever wonder why you end up spending so much more money at the supermarket than you originally intended? Maybe it’s because you didn’t follow a list, but it could also be that you’re falling for common grocery store tricks that make you spend more money. Instead of buying items that you don’t need and food that will go to waste before you even eat it, educated yourself on these marketing ploys that play with your head.

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by Ashley Braun

An entire army, apparently.

El Presidente of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, put in big orders for energy efficiency when he commanded the country’s lightbulbs get swapped for CFLs. Why the power play? A drought of hydropower has the nation in energy crisis and the military armed with efficient lightbulbs, laying waste to every wasteful incandescent in their path. The troops are battling against the highest per capita energy use on the continent, but the spoils of war will ease the shift from years of being spoiled by oil.

Viva efficiency!

Via inhabitat

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The traditional way of determining a country’s greenhouse gas emissions involves taking into account all of their industries, car pollutants and various other means of  generating emissions. When determined in this manner, China is the top emissions producer in the world, having surpassed the United States some years ago. However, a new study is pointing to imports being a large contributor to a country’s emissions, emissions that are not counted towards the country that is importing.

Researchers based in the United States recently published their study on importing emissions in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. The researchers determined emissions by studying global trade databases. The products used in a particular country were then counted towards that country’s emission levels, not the country that produced the products.

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