Air advisory issued for most of valley (Corvallis Gazette Times) Due to rising pollution levels related to stagnant weather conditions, the state Department of Environmental Quality issued an “air pollution advisory” Friday for much of the Willamette Valley, the Greater Portland-Vancouver area, and the Medford/Grants Pass area. [News Source]

Kathmandu a dump: report.

Once seen as a Himalayan Shangri-La, Nepal’s capital city Kathmandu and its surrounding valley is now a smog-shrouded dump with rivers that smell like a toilet, an environmental report has found.

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Beijingers to be warned of harmful haze. Beijingers are to be warned of "haze" in daily weather forecasts so they can take measures to avoid air pollution. [News Source]

Church leads the way in planting native prairie among the subdivisions. It may be difficult for some to see the advantages of recreating a natural prairie in a growing Illinois community where green spaces are being replaced by subdivisions, but it's one of many clean air strategies. [News Source]

Hopes high for plug-in hybrids. Many Americans are taking heart from a surge of interest in plug-in hybrid cars, which began with national media exposure last year and got a boost last week from President Bush in his State of the Union address. [News Source]

Biofuels are promising, but not perfect. University of California researcher Charles E. Wyman says the nation needs just one more ingredient for large-scale production of newer, cleaner varieties of ethanol fuel derived from plants- investor confidence. [News Source]

The long road to energy independence. Bush's program for cutting gasoline demand is ambitious in scope, but modest in effect, according to experts. [News Source]

Nuclear revival. The Tennessee Valley Authority is using a presidential push for more nuclear power and concern over global warming to add four new reactors and to restart TVA's oldest nuclear reactor after a 22-year shutdown. [News Source]

Key study of global warming prepared. Researchers are more confident than ever about the causes of global warming, how they're changing Earth and what might be in store as the heat-up continues. [News Source]

Who’s still cool on global warming? The debate about greenhouse gas emissions appears to be over. [News Source]

Green cab, clean air, full pockets. While Toronto talks the green talk, the city's tightly controlled cab industry is well behind its counterparts in Boston, New York and San Francisco, where municipal politicians have launched high-profile campaigns to introduce hybrid cabs. [News Source]