Journalism & Media

Texan Steve Lipsky can set his well-water on fire. A major U.S. fracking company, Range Resources, has taken him to court for telling the news media about it.

"Billy Talen to stand trial for preaching on bank's environmental record accompanied by choir members wearing toad hats"

"Swing state voters in Virginia and Ohio last fall were bombarded with television advertisements encouraging them to 'stand with coal' and 'vote no on Obama's failing energy policy.' But the sponsor of these ads — a pro-business nonprofit advocacy group called the American Energy Alliance — says the messages weren’t designed to aid Republican Mitt Romney in his bid to unseat President Barack Obama."

After New York Times editors dismantled the paper's environmental desk and killed its Green blog this year, they said they were doing it to improve environmental coverage. But the Times' Public Editor says the results don't live up to Times editors' claims.

"Most Americans have heard little or nothing of the oil and gas production process called hydraulic fracturing, and many don’t know if they support or oppose it, according to a new paper by researchers from Oregon State, George Mason and Yale universities."

"Nature and man together cooked up the disaster in the Philippines. Geography, meteorology, poverty, shoddy construction, a booming population, and, to a much lesser degree, climate change combine to make the Philippines the nation most vulnerable to killer typhoons, according to several scientific studies."

"WASHINGTON -– Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has received positive press in recent years for its promises to go green. The company began issuing an annual Global Responsibility Report in 2005. It announced plans to slash emissions in its supply chain in 2010. The company pledged this year to expand the use of renewable energy. But according to a report released Wednesday, Walmart's green pledges remain more hype than reality."

As science celebs praised Carl Sagan for the opening of a collection of his papers at the Library of Congress, they also lamented the mounting attacks on science by opponents of climate change controls.

"The North American energy industry's reputation for ironclad secrecy is starting to crack as producers discover a little transparency can help save millions of dollars."