Agence France Presse: Outraged conservationists Monday protested Kenyan plans to grow biofuel crops on a coastal wetland, warning that they will ruin the environment home to 350 species, including endangered ones. Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Nature Kenya said allowing the planting of sugarcane on more than 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres, 80 square miles) of the Tana River Delta will damage the fragile ecosystem. Handing over of the delta to state-owned Mumias Sugar …

Bloomberg: Republican John McCain is campaigning in California to tout his environmental credentials and instead has found himself on the defensive over his proposal to let states allow oil exploration off the U.S. coast. “When people are hurting, and struggling to afford gasoline, food, and other necessities, common sense requires that we draw upon America’s own vast reserves of oil and natural gas,” McCain said today. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee spoke at the …

USA Today: Firefighters from neighboring states arrived to help Monday after an "unprecedented" lightning storm sparked more than 800 wildfires, from Big Sur to wine country to Humboldt County.Thousands of firefighters battled the blazes on the ground and from the air and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was alarmed by the number of fires that kept erupting.

Wall Street Journal: Sen. John McCain is putting energy policy at the center of his presidential campaign, embracing a diverse array of positions that defies easy categorization. He is for more oil drilling and also for alternatives to oil. He wants to drill off the coasts but not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He supports subsidies for nuclear power and clean-coal technology, but has opposed them for ethanol, solar and wind power. He wants to lower gasoline prices by temporarily …

Reuters: Japan is poised to provide subsidies and tax breaks for solar panel makers next year to maintain its hold on the red-hot industry, two officials at its Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. The news drove up shares of makers of solar equipment on Monday on expectations that the measure would further spur demand for green energy. Japan, the world’s top maker of solar cells, is home to solar equipment suppliers such as Ulvac Inc which jumped 7.8 percent, NPC Inc which …

Reuters: The International Maritime Organisation aims to agree this week on steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the global shipping industry by making vessels more energy-efficient, officials said. Norwegian ministers and IMO representatives said they hoped a meeting that opened in Oslo on Monday would reach agreement on design standards for new ships. "My hope is that the foundation will be laid here in Oslo for an ambitious package of measures leading to real reductions in …

Guardian: In The Happening, nature strikes back at mankind by releasing a toxin from trees that causes people to commit suicide. Plants release a great number of volatile compounds. If you walk through a pine forest, or sniff herbs, you’re smelling them. And we’ve known for a long time that there are mind-altering substances in plants such as cannabis and the peyote cactus, but these are not airborne - or at least not until you smoke the cannabis.The Happening suggests, correctly, that vegetation can …

New York Times: When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry’s most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, for instance, came to help cut the ribbon – and so did Senator Barack Obama. Then running far behind Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in name recognition and in the polls, Mr. Obama was in the midst of a campaign swing through the state where he …

Reuters: Australia’s emissions trading scheme starting in 2010 should make energy more affordable in the long-term, but short-term price hikes could see the government facing an A$1.8 billion (US$1.7 billion) a year compensation bill. The Climate Institute report on energy affordability and emissions trading released on Monday found energy price rises could easily be offset through the auction of carbon permits, estimated to exceed one percent of GDP or about A$10 billion. The report …

Reuters: Beijing will introduce "odd-even" traffic restrictions for two months from July 20 to help ease congestion and reduce pollution during the Olympics and Paralympics, officials said on Friday. Authorities hope the regulations will take 45 percent of the city’s 3.29 million cars off the road and reduce emissions from vehicles by 63 percent, officials told a news conference. "Smooth traffic and good air quality are important factors in hosting a successful Olympic …