MISSOULA, Mont. - September 30 - A recent federal decision refusing to protect wolverines in the western United States is a case of political considerations winning out over scientific findings by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service experts, according to a coalition of 10 conservation groups that filed suit today in U.S. district court. The groups are challenging the agency's decision to deny wolverines protection under the Endangered Species Act.

BERKELEY - September 23 - The Western Climate Initiative (WCI), a partnership among seven states and four Canadian provinces, today issued final recommendations for a regional, economy-wide cap-and-trade system that represents the most ambitious program of its kind. The WCI regime will cover the region's electricity, industrial and transportation sectors with the goal of reducing the heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.  

- September 17 - Economist and author Minqi Li gives a straightforward commentary on China's current role in today's global energy crisis and what the implications are for them and their largest trading partner, the United States.

Li describes how China is making efforts to clean up it's act on the climate change issue but maintains that it's current economic growth is fuelling an increasing dependence on oil and therefore diminishes any positive prospects at this point in time.

BOULDER, Colo. - September 16 - The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported today that the Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its lowest level of the year. At 1.74 million square miles, the 2008 sea ice extent is the second lowest ever recorded and 860,000 square miles below the average minimum sea ice extent between 1979-2000, representing a loss of 33 percent of the ice pack - an area of ice larger than Alaska, Texas, and West Virginia combined.