AFP: There is no sign of an oil spill after a rig caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico, a spokesman for rig operator Mariner Energy said. "In an initial flyover by company personnel over the site, there was no hydrocarbon spill that was reported," spokesman Patrick Cassidy told CNN. Everything "appears to be" contained "at this time," he added.

National Geographic: There's a new, scalier lord of the jungle: Tarzan the chameleon. Five-inch-long (13-centimeter-long) Calumma tarzan was found recently in a tiny patch of forest on the vast African island of Madagascar, a new study says. The new species' name has multiple roots. For one thing, the chameleon's habitat--in what locals call the Tarzan Forest--is near the village formerly known as Tarzanville (recently renamed Ambodimeloka). For another, the team thought naming the new ...

Guardian: Like generations of Tibetan nomads before him, Phuntsok Dorje makes a living raising yaks and other livestock on the vast alpine grasslands that provide a thatch on the roof of the world. But in recent years the vegetation around his home, the Tibetan plateau, has been destroyed by rising temperatures, excess livestock and plagues of insects and rodents. The high-altitude meadows are rarely mentioned in discussions of global warming, but the changes to this ground have a ...

SciDev.Net: New varieties of drought-tolerant maize could deliver a US$1.5 billion gain in food and income in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as helping smallholders cope with the effects of climate change, according to a study carried out in 13 countries in the region. Researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria, said the varieties produce yields up to 50 per cent higher than commercial ...

UN News Centre: The world cannot afford escalating disasters of the kind recently witnessed in Pakistan and Russia, the top United Nations climate change official said today, underscoring the need for governments to take swift action to lead the world towards a low-carbon future. Flooding in Pakistan and wildfires in Russia were ?so dramatic? that many other major weather disasters in other parts of the world ?were relegated as secondary news,? Christina Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN ...

NYT: "California is the state with the highest number of humans coexisting with the highest number of mountain lions," said Tim Dunbar, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation. The appearance of a mountain lion Tuesday near downtown Berkeley, Calif., caused a stir in this animal-loving, environmentally conscious community, where residents may obsess about locally grown organic food but don`t expect to be on the menu. The mountain lion, a 100-pound female, was spotted ...

BBC: A species of acacia tree found in Eastern Africa seems to be protected from elephant damage - by the ants that live on it. Researchers from the Universities of Wyoming and Florida, in the US, carried out a series of studies in Laikipia District in Central Kenya, and Tsavo National Park, also in Kenya. Tree cover was decreasing while elephant numbers were increasing. Tree cover stayed the same where elephants were excluded using a high electric fence that other animals can ...

Guardian: A coalition of green, countryside and housing groups has warned energy secretary Chris Huhne not to cut subsidies for green electricity and heating as part of the government's spending review. The 22 groups, including green energy trade body the Renewable Energy Association, the National Farmers Union and the Federation of Master Builders, said in a letter to Huhne that cutting schemes that subsidise household generation of renewable energy would jeopardise job creation, energy security and ...

Guardian: Another oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico suffered an explosion today, raising fears of more pollution just months after the BP oil spill hit the area. There were 13 crew on the rig, of whom one was known to be injured. Most of the crew took to the water when the explosion occurred. The United States Coast Guard said the rig was not in production, suggesting there would be no oil leak, but it could not be sure. The blast comes as states surrounding the Gulf are still ...

AP: Michigan and Wisconsin plan to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and determine the best strategies to adapt to climate change as part of an effort to protect the Great Lakes region. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment announced the agreement Thursday. Michigan DNRE Director Rebecca Humphries in July asked Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Matt Frank to formalize plans to work together, and a memorandum of understanding ...

Business Green: Nestle has revealed that it is to invest CHF500m (£321m) over the next decade to reduce the environmental impact of its leading coffee brands, Nescafe and Nespresso. The Swiss food giant said the investment programme would build on the CHF200m spent on sustainable coffee projects over the past 10 years and would see CHF300m earmarked for its Nescafe plan and a further CHF150m invested in its Nespresso brand. Under the strategy, which was formally launched late last month, ...

AP: Scientists from universities in Montana, Colorado and Idaho announced today the start of a 5-year, $3.85 million research project into how a changing climate will influence wildfires. The project is being pursued in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and researchers in Australia and New Zealand. The goal is to identify how human activities and climate change drive fires. "One thing is clear: The frequency and severity of fires have increased around and world and this is ...

APP: Dr Samar Mubarakmand Wed-nesday warned that the country might experience unprecedented floods every year because of global warming, saying in case of not building more dams and adopting precautionary measures, it could prove more disastrous. In an exclusive interview, he said global warming and melting of glaciers was a main reason for the weather system, which forced heavy rains. Industrialised nations were responsible for environmental pollution as they burnt natural fuels in ...

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Several species of southern Australian crayfish have been named on a threatened species list. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has included more than a dozen burrowing crayfish species on its updated Red List, released today. The crayfish are only found in southern Australia and the United States. Tasmanian scientist Dr Niall Doran, who was involved in the assessment, says the tiny species plays an important role in the environment. "They ...

Charleston Gazette: Think it's been awfully hot in Charleston this summer? You're right. West Virginia's capital city has recorded what appears to be the hottest summer in 67 years, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the National Weather Service. Ken Batty, meteorologist with the Charleston weather service office, said Charleston's average temperature for the period from June through August was 76.8 degrees. That's the sixth hottest summer on record, based on data going back to ...

Reuters: About 45 nations met on Thursday to seek ways to raise billions of dollars in aid to help the poor combat climate change as the United Nations warned them of a long haul to slow global warming. Environment ministers and senior officials in Geneva were reviewing whether rich nations, hit by austerity cuts, are keeping a promise of $30 billion in "new and additional" climate aid for 2010-12 made at the U.N.'s Copenhagen summit. "The funds are critical" to build trust between rich ...

AP: An offshore petroleum rig exploded and was burning Friday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay. The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the explosion, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the site around 9 a.m. CDT. All 13 people aboard the rig have been accounted for, with one injury. The extent of the injury was not known. Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau says seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were ...

Economist: IF THIS week's report into the workings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by a council of national academies of science were the sort of report children take home from school, its main themes would be expressed as "could do better" and "needs to show workings". Stern parents might read it as calling for a Gradgrind-like clampdown; more indulgent ones as an inducement for the little darlings to try a little harder. At a meeting in Busan, South Korea, this October, ...

AP: An offshore oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill. Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel says the blast was reported by a commercial helicopter company about 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast. Ranel says it hasn't been determined whether the structure is a production ...

AFP: Two Greenpeace activists will face possible jail terms in Japan on Monday for stealing a box of whale meat in a trial the environmental group says will test the country's limits on political activism. Prosecutors have demanded 18-month prison sentences for each defendant, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, on charges of trespass and theft, in a case that started more than two years ago with their arrests in dramatic Tokyo police raids. The two activists admit taking the box of ...