STUFF .... 3% of Earth's surface has arable topsoil. We're losing ~1% of that every year to erosion, etc. Last year 120M tons of corn was turned into ethanol. Land sold off by investors, corps last 10 yrs could have fed 1B peeps. Pop doubled last 50 yrs in case you haven't been paying attention. 870M now undernourished. Peoples. Folks. Pards. 6 of last 11 years world has consumed more food than grown. If we would just cut meat consumption by half we would release farmland bigger than US for food production. But demand for meat expected to double by '50. Present practices will yield 30% less food next 20-50 years. (Ever read Malthus?) .... Near half of sea level rise since '60 from irrigation gone wild .... About 14 countries these days have nuclear weapons .... INEOS sudsid producing commercial quantities of ethanol from wood, nonfood biomass at $130M FL plant. Shipments start in August. Muni garbage feedstock later. Stock cooked into CO, H. Bacteria eats the gas, excretes alcohol. Gotta love that. Then distilled. Plant uses methane from nearby landfill. Goal 8M gal/y .... Researchers mapped thousands of methane leaks just in Washington DC .... Calif signed agreement with Australia to share carbon trading info .... UK scientists see enzymes producing H from sunlight .... China's clean/renewable energy spending may hit $294B this year ( leap of conclusion on this year) .... China's emissions trading underway .... Boulder, CO set target to cut carbon emissions 80% by '50 .... (I don't really think we will see close to '50, solly pards who want to) .... Ongoing Alberta oil sands spill much larger than initially stated .... Crews preparing to dig relief well at Gulf of Mex NG well blow out .... 2nd worker died after W Va NG well blast ..... Claims of faulty data in EU-China solar trade case now under investigation .... Global installed large solar PV up 35% - 4Gw - in 1H13 .... Report: 1/3 of NG produced in Bakken being flared off. About $100M/month worth. (G, that's smart, A? Gotta love the Neanderthals.) .... Quad County (Iowa) broke ground on $8.5M upgrade to produce cellulosic ethanol from corn kernel fiber. 6% more ethanol (hell, 6% of us have an extra nipple: Dr. Oz.) from same amount of corn. Boosts corn oil production 3x .... Philippines trialing B5 using coconut biodiesel .... India's increasing oil imports from W Africa being attacked by pirates .... Largest - 8Mw - solar system at a US college going in at Mercer County Community College in NJ .... DOE awarded Eaton $2.6M grant to develop next gen energy efficient lighting.(Feed the genius, hopefully.) .... Sumitomo to supply 60Mw energy storage system on Kokkaido to stabilize wind, solar flow .... Etrion targeting up to 200Mw of solar in Chile .... Ensus to resume biofuel production in autumn .... S&C in running for monopoly on S Africa grid-connect contracts. (Really, the world's still letting monopoly contracts?!) .... CSUN escaped Naz delisting .... Solar Thin Films set to build 35Mw solar farm in W VA .... New EPA boss to business: "embrace the opportoonity in climate change biz" .... World solar power topped 100Gw PV capacity in '12. 31.1Gw installed. 100Gw meets household needs of near 70M folks at Europe level of use. 30 countries 100Mw or more. IEA says that will double by '18. ('18 may be our last year in this age. 70 years of new Israel.) .... BLM put OH forest fracking plan on hold .... Arsonists struck planned horse slaughter in NM .... Soil bacteria could be "silver bullet" for "scurge of the West" .... Court upheld EPA rule forcing PA plant to cut emissions going to NJ .... Film industry turning to eco-friendly lighting .... Entergy, Southern 2Q earnings slumped .... Ford added NG-fueled pickup to fleet .... Railway can't afford cleanup costs fo derail in Quebec (O wah. Tell me about poor railroads. My brother started one.) .... Faulty equipment, human error may have caused propane plant explosion in FL. (Go with human error because unions have been trounced out and training and wages and benefits are very low.) .... Experts questioning TEPCO's ability to decommission Fuku. (Duh.)