Niger delta human development report : The state of N-Delta environment. The environmental degradation resulting from oil and gas production in the Niger Delta has attracted the attention of environmentalists and other experts, who look at the region within the larger context of globalization. [News Source]

Green lining in the cloud. Considerable good has already come from the current misery of high energy prices, just as it did after the jolting price shocks that occurred during the prolonged energy boom of 1973-81. [News Source]

Unconventional thinking could help cut electric bill. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that properly placed trees around a building can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and cut energy used for heating by 20 to 50 percent. [News Source]

Let’s clean up so we can breathe easier. For some Hoosiers, cleaner air is a matter of life and breath. That's why the news that Indiana leads the nation in the highest concentration of polluting power plants is disturbing. [News Source]

Why California’s greenhouse actions count. Money can't buy anyone's way out of the greenhouse gas crisis that the great bulk of responsible scientists say is on the way. [News Source]

Emissions claim disputed by lobby group. The belief that walking through traffic in Johannesburg or Cape Town is worse than puffing your way through a packet of 20's is a myth, NCAS executive director Dr Yussuf Saloojee said on Thursday. [News Source]

Smoke-Free Gulf Coast Coalition urges smoking ban. A newly-formed group warning against the dangers of smoking urged Pascagoula, MS leaders Thursday to adopt a smoking ban similar to one recently approved in Starkville, Miss. [News Source]

160 defendants want out of poultry lawsuit. A U.S. District Court magistrate expects to decide within a week whether more than 160 third parties will remain defendants in Oklahoma’s lawsuit against poultry companies with operations in Arkansas. [News Source]

Group tackles mercury woes. With a $2.5 billion coal-fired power plant expected to join two similar plants already in the region, concerns about air quality, and in particular airborne mercury, are picking up in the Four Corners. [News Source]

Public to review chemical project. First Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of DuPont, plans to receive about a truckload a day of telomer alcohol from a DuPont plant in New Jersey at its factory in Pascagoula, MS. [News Source]

Northeast Ohio Recommendations to Reduce Air Pollution (WKSU Kent State University) A group that's been looking into ways of lowering air pollution in Northeast Ohio will make its recommendations tomorrow. The U-S Environmental Protection Agency says five counties in the region fail to meet standards of the Clean Air Act. The people trying to change that say their recommendations are good not only for the environment but also the economy. WKSU's Julie Grant reports. [News Source]