Sacramento Bee: "Our field records will be perhaps the most valuable of all our results. You can’t tell in advance which observations will prove valuable. Do record them all!" - Joseph Grinnell, UC Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1908 High above a silver-blue mountain lake, a gray-bearded man tromped up a rocky slope and peered at a small metal trap. It was empty. He kept moving, scrambling across huge granite boulders and found another trap. This time, success: …

Bloomberg: Japan’s government may change auto taxation to focus on carbon-dioxide emissions rather than engine size as part of efforts to fight global warming, the Sankei newspaper reported. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is considering introducing new rules next fiscal year following a similar plan by the European Union, the newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Such a change would raise taxes on light vehicles and will probably meet …

Agence France-Presse: Burgeoning demand for food to feed the world’s swelling population, coupled with increased use of biomass as fuel is putting a serious strain on global water reserves, experts said "If we look at how much more water we will need for food and how much more for biomass for energy going forward … it is quite worrying," said Jan Lundqvist, who heads the scientific programme at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Global food needs are expected to roughly double by …

San Jose Mercury News:

Courier Mail: AUSTRALIAN frogs are facing the biggest wildlife extinction threat since the disappearance of dinosaurs, with 14 of the most endangered species in Queensland. The warning comes from amphibian expert Natalie Hill, of Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, and University of Queensland frog expert Professor Gordon Grigg. Ms Hill said Queensland frogs in most danger were stream-dwellers like the Fleays Barred Frog and the Great Barred Frog, found in the Gold Coast hinterland, and the Lienis …

Agence France-Presse: Trading carbon emission rights between developed and developing nations caused a split Sunday between delegates at protracted international climate change talks in Ghana. "The issue of reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries under the carbon market mechanism has been a stormy one among delegates and observers," Nicole Wilke, head of German delegation told AFP on the sidelines of the UN framework convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in …

McClatchy Newspapers:

Associated Press: The largest dump truck in the world, parked under a massive mechanical shovel, is waiting to transport 400 tons of oily sand at an open-pit mine in the northern reaches of Alberta. Each Caterpillar 797B heavy hauler – three stories high – carries the equivalent of 200 barrels of heavy oil worth $23,000 per haul at today’s prices. "It’s like sitting on your back porch and driving your house," said Todd Dahlman, the manager of Shell Canada’s Muskeg River open-pit …

San Jose Mercury News: For 30 years, as California’s growing population led to sprawling suburbs, traffic jams and fewer farms, attempts to craft statewide laws to stop it have failed again and again. City councils worried about losing local control. Property rights advocates bristled. And the ranch house with a back yard - the centerpiece of Sunset magazine and the Brady Bunch lifestyle - proved a powerful symbol. But now, in what many observers are calling the most significant environmental bill of …

The Nation: