Environmental News Picks presents a summary of news regarding the environment, conservation, science, politics, and other interesting subject matter. The Conservation Report does not endorse any content found in these news picks, but the information is provided to put readers on notice of the various different beliefs and viewpoints. Comments, corrections, and suggestions are very much welcomed. Send your news tips and picks: .

AMAZON: Amazon Pollution Case Could Cost Chevron Billions

AMPHIBIAN EXTINCTIONS: Amphibian Extinctions: Is Global Warming Off the Hook?

ANIMAL WELFARE: Clinton’s Socks the Cat Near Death, Walruses Threatened by Shrinking Ice, Group Says

ART: 5 Amazing Cardboard Artists and Their Sculptures

BIOFUELS: Biofuel Plantations on Tropical Forestlands Are Bad for the Climate and Biodiversity, Study Finds

BIODIESEL: Multitasking canola: A California miracle crop?

BIODIVERSITY: Antarctica Has More Species Than Galapagos, First Comprehensive Inventory Of Antarctic Life Shows

BIRDS: Iceland Puffin Threatened, Developing Oil from Canadian Tar Sands Could Kill 160 Million Migratory Birds by 2038

CAPE WIND: Ted Kennedy Rebuffed: Mass. Wind Farm OKed, Wind Farm decision delayed again

CLIMATE CHANGE: Can the Climate Survive the Financial Crisis?: Just as the world gathers in Poland to come up with a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the global financial meltdown threatens to torpedo the effort. But could a world recession actually help the climate?, Climate change experts ‘lose faith’ in renewable technology: Specialists less optimistic that wind, solar and hydro power have ‘high potential’ to solve climate crisis, survey shows, European Butterflies Threatened by Climate Change

COAL: Saboteur breezes in to shut 500MW turbine; Act single-handedly cuts UK carbon output by 2%, Oops…There’s Fly-Ash In The Clean Coal Ointment

CONSERVATION: 2009: ‘Year of the Gorilla’

CONSUMERISM: A Saner Cyber Monday

CORAL REEFS: New Deep-Sea Reefs Found With Sonar

CROSSBREEDING: The quagga, a zebra subspecies that is only partly striped, has been crossbred back into existence after a hundred years of extinction, scientists say.

ECO-FRIENDLY GIFTS: FSC-Certified Holiday Gift Guide

ECO-MYTH: Five Dire Green Myths Causing the Greatest Global Harm

ECOSYSTEM HEALTH: Biologists find new environmental threat in North American lakes

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Tesla Motors Getting Some Cash, Germany Wants One Million Electric Cars on the Road by 2020, California To Become The Electric Vehicle Capital of the US, 4,000 Electric Vehicles To Be Leased by US Army

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Cheetah joins UN’s endangered species list, Study: California fish face extinction, Rare Lions Bred Successfully

ENERGY: Whole Foods’ canola oil isn’t just for cooking: It makes electricity, too: Reuse plan will power commissary that supplies 43 stores

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: Lawyers call for international court for the environment: A former chairman of the Bar Council is calling for an international court for the environment to punish states that fail to protect wildlife and prevent climate change.

EPA: Activists slam EPA decision on mining rule change

EVERGLADES: Opponents Mount Last Stand on Everglades Plan: Proposed $1.3 Billion Land Sale Unites Environmentalists and U.S. Sugar Executives, but Critics Allege It’s a Sweetheart Deal

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE: No electricity? Island now energy independent

EVOLUTION: Move Over, Christianists, A chart showing public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries, Bracing for Islamic Creationism

FISHERIES: EU faces battle over fish quotas: EU fisheries ministers have begun an annual round of talks to decide the quantities of fish which can be caught from Europe’s seas in 2009., Fishing leaders warn of difficult EU quota carve-up, EU argue for greater access to Irish fish, Brussels annual fish haggle begins

FUEL SPILL: Antarctic Cruise Ship Runs Aground; Oil Leak Spreading?

GLOBAL WARMING: Global warming is changing organic matter in soil, Turtle Egg-Laying Season Thrown Off by Warming

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: Strong, lightweight green material could replace concrete, but contains no cement

GREEN POLICY: ‘Now Is the Time for a Green New Deal’: With the world gathered in Poznan, Poland to work out a successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol, UN Environment Program Director Achim Steiner spoke with SPIEGEL ONLINE about sustainable transportation and the failures of the auto industry.

HIV/AIDS: Getting high on HIV drugs in S Africa: Anti-retroviral drugs used to treat HIV/Aids are being bought and smoked by teenagers in South Africa to get high., Discovery of virus in lemur could shed light on AIDS

INVASIVE SPECIES: Super-Ant Taking Over Europe, Invading Starfish Plague Reefs, Arthritis ‘killing’ Australia’s cane toads: It seems a bad back might be the only thing that can stop the relentless spread of Australia’s poisonous cane toads, which are killing native animals as they hop across the nation, researchers say.

LEGAL NEWS: Colo. man charged with libel over Craigslist posts

LOBBYING: Green Is the New Color of Lobbying: Makers of Energy-Saving Products See Opportunities in Big Stimulus Bill

MARINE MAMMALS: Whale song drowned by humans, Canada Ignores Rescue Option, Kills 500 Endangered Narwhals: The Canadian government opted last week to allow the killing 500 narwhals trapped beneath ice rather than calling in icebreakers to free the animals, claiming the process would have been too stressful for the whales.

MARINE MAMMAL STRANDINGS: Mass stranding: All whales found dead

MEDICINE: ‘Injectable bone’ helps fractures: A material that can be squirted into broken bones, where it hardens within minutes, has been developed by UK scientists.

NEW SPECIES: Green-blood and turquoise bones. Very unusual new species of frog discovered in Cambodia, New Bizarre Monkey Group Found, Thousands of New Species Discovered on Tiny Island

RECOMMENDED IMAGE: Our Atmosphere

RECOMMENDED WEBSITE: Earth View

RECOVERING SPECIES: Giant Prehistoric Fish Rebounding in Canada

RECYCLING: Recycling Manure Safely To Avoid Polluting Rivers and Streams: Researchers at North Wyke Research, and Lancaster and Exeter universities, have come up with an advice system to help farmers recycle manure safely and avoid polluting watercourses., Should we recycle urine on Earth, too?

RENEWABLE ENERGY: Race for Scotland’s $15 Million Marine Energy Prize Begins

OBAMA: Obama’s Science Team: 4 Top Members Named, Steven Chu: ‘Coal is My Worst Nightmare’, More on the case for Steven Chu at energy

POACHING: Poaching May Erase Elephants From Chad Wildlife Park

POVERTY: The Infuriating New Face Of Poverty

PUBLIC LANDS: Conservation Coalition Protests Utah BLM Lease Auction: 100,000 Acres of Public Land for Oil and Gas Development

SCIENCE: Scientists film inner workings of the immune system: Forget what’s number one at the box office this week. The most exciting new film features the intricate workings of the body, filmed by scientists using ground-breaking technology.

SHARKS: Shark pregnancy baffles aquarium, ‘Virgin Birth’ By Shark Confirmed: Second Case Ever: Scientists have confirmed the second-ever case of a “virgin birth” in a shark, indicating once again that female sharks can reproduce without mating and raising the possibility that many female sharks have this incredible capacity.

SOLAR: World’s most efficient solar cells created, Near Barcelona, Spain, a large solar power plant is in an unlikely location: a cemetery., Los Angeles Unveils World’s Largest Solar Plan

T. BOONE PICKENS: Pickens Plan Reality Check: Energy Freedom or Farce?

TRAFFIC: New York City Grew, but Traffic Didn’t: As the city’s economy soared and its population grew from 2003 through 2007, something unusual was happening on the streets and in the subway tunnels.

WATER AVAILABILITY: LIFESAVER: World’s First Ultra Filtration Water Bottle, LifeStraw

WHALING: Japan Plans to Arrest Sea Shepherd Crew

WIND POWER: Offshore Wind Power Could Alter Ocean Currents, New Wind Turbine Design Good for Rural, Urban Environment

“Environmental News Picks” are made possible with help from Kevin.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::