1. Are hybrids more likely to hit pedestrians and bicyclists than other car types, as a new study reports? Treehugger analyzes the data.
2. Andrew Revkin at DotEarth takes a look at the topic of how journalists and scientists can effectively communicate about environmental topics like marine pollution.
3. Did an albatross die so you could eat a tuna sandwich for lunch today? Probably, says Scientific American. A new report says tuna fishing kills an albatross every five minutes.
4. Sure, scientist Stephen Schneider made a mistake back in 1971 when he predicted that aerosol pollution would cause a global cooling effect, but today he’s considered a leading climatologist. Check out this Q&A with him from The New Republic.
5. Thinking about taking a vacation this winter? A new study finds that nature tourism doesn’t necessarily bring more money to the pockets of local people – although the longer the stay, the more benefits for the local economy. 

1. We’ve been talking a lot about the term “green” lately (see yesterday’s blog post), and here’s another green question to ponder (from Green Inc., of course): Do green jobs create greener Americans?
2. Do you know who the world’s top 3 carbon polluters are? The United States and China are pretty obvious, but the The Vine points out that few people know what the third country on the list is. And this third little country makes it all the more important that world leaders come up with an agreement to curb deforestation at Copenhagen.
3. Speaking of keeping forests intact, Ecuador is hoping its plan to stop drilling for oil in the Amazon will get global support before Copenhagen. The plan hinges on countries coming forward to fund Ecuador the money it would have made from the oil.
4. Scientific American showers a little optimism on us this morning: Even if Copenhagen isn’t fruitfull, 2009 has been a year of great progress toward increasing global support and addoption of renewable energy sources.
5. Scientists have a new piece in the puzzle of how birds migrate. A study of European robins found that light-sensing cells in the eyes are responsible for the birds’ ability to find north and migrate – not magnetic-sensing cells in the beak, as hypothesized.

It’s indeed a bright green morning today, with positive news everywhere: International Climate Day of Action a big success! Smart meters galore! And here’s the big news: a new study shows your personal actions can make a difference in the fight against climate change! Take that, all you climate change pessimists.

1. Bill McKibben says we need to “stop whining and man up” to the fact that we can fight climate change. Grist chatted with him about 350’s International Day of Climate Action on October 24 (see video above), which included thousands of events around the world. Did you participate?
2. If you don’t already have a smart meter in your home, now’s your chance to get one — a government grant for $3.4 billion will install 18 million smart meters into houses across the United States to help improve energy efficiency.
3. And just in case you’re thinking that a smart meter won’t make much of a dent in climate change, a new study found that 33 simple household improvements could reduce national carbon emissions by 7 percent –enough to offset emissions from the petroleum, iron, steel and aluminum industries combined.
4. Can conservationists save the world? It’s the vision and hope of Nature Conservancy President and CEO Mark Tercek. Read a Reuters interview with Tercek about using market forces to protect nature – and how conservation is in everyone’s economic interest.  
5. Scientists have a new tool in the battle to save frogs from a deadly fungus that’s killing them all over the world: a highly-technical protocol for detecting the fungus in frogs is now available online, making it possible for scientists everywhere to have the information they need.

1. According to a new poll, American voters still don’t think climate change should be high on the government’s agenda. The poll from Politico found that just 4 percent of people think climate change is a top priority — far below the 45 percent who ranked the economy as most important. 
2. First there was bee colony collapse disorder, then white-nose syndrome…now, sadly, Mother Nature has a new malady: sudden aspen decline. Across the West aspen trees are dying off in huge numbers due to a syndrome that scientists believe is caused by global warming (you knew it, didn’t you?).
3. Climate change hits the courts: the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans has ruled that Hurricane Katrina victims can sue oil and gas companies for contributing to the global warming that worsened Katrina.
4. In case this weekend’s snowfall in New England (in October!) got you thinking maybe global warming isn’t such a big deal afterall, Bright Green Blog has some helpful reminders about just how climate change works — think long-term trends.
5. Is climate change indirectly causing more disease in humans? Scientists have noted a rise in disease transmission from wildlife to humans, spurring interest in a new field known as “conservation medicine” that looks to understand the connection between human health and environmental changes, particularly climate change.

1. Driving on glass sounds kind of sketchy, but an Idaho-based engineer has invented solar panels that you can indeed drive on. The next step is lots and lots of testing.
2. U.S. climate legislation is coming down to nuclear power and offshore drilling — Republicans say they might support a bill if they can get more of the above, and Dems say they’re willing to negotiate.
3. Here’s another cool new technology for fighting climate change: devices called “artificial trees” that can pull CO2 from the atmosphere. But many questions need to be answered before it can be implemented widely, says David Biello in Yale Environment 360.
4. Warning, this one’s a little creepy: A Taiwan company is using the waste heat from their crematorium furnaces to help generate electricity to power building air conditioners.
5. A new study from The Naure Conservancy (hey, that’s us!) and partners compares interest in outdoor activities with donations to conservation groups. Turns out that hiking and backpacking are correlated with higher giving rates than visits to public lands…which could spell trouble for conservation’s piggy bank if the decline in activities like hiking continues. Read more about the study.

1. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s opposition to climate change has cost it another member – power company Exelon is the third major utility to pull out of the chamber in the past week.
2. Most talk about tropical rainforest focuses around deforestation — how to keep forests standing. But scientists at the 2009 Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation conference asked another big question: Will tropical trees survive climate change?
3. Want to know what America’s 10 greenest brands are? Marc Gunther points out that until “green” is defined, there’s no real way to answer that question. But a new survey of consumer opinions offers a list of what buyers think are the greenest companies.
4. Scientists have created a meandering river in the lab in order to study best practices for stream restoration. The artificial river, built in a 17-meter-long basin, started with one bend but over time developed five bends, functioning much like a meandering stream in nature.
5. The elephant in the room for conservationists has always been overpopulation — how can we save habitats and wildlife if population growth isn’t limited? But an editorial by Fred Pearce in the New Scientist says the real problem is overconsumption. Population, says Pearce, regulates itself. (Hat-tip: Treehugger.)

“Coywolves” in the neighborhood? Death panels for pandas? Monarchs in need of a women’s lib movement? It’s all in a day’s news here at Cool Green Morning.

1. BBC wildlife expert Chris Packham makes a statement that could send shivers down your spine: Giant pandas should be allowed to die out. His argument? The money put toward breeding them in captivity could be better spent, like on protecting their habitat. He later says “sorry”, but most people are still outraged. Read The Vine’s comments.
2. Climate Week continues, and Treehugger asks the big question: are China and the United States headed for a deadlock over Copenhagen?
3. Talk about inequality of the sexes — a new report finds that female monarch butterfly populations in North America have been declining for the past 30 years. Researchers speculate that the females are more susceptible to a parasite that’s become more widespread since the ’70s.
4. Reports of coyotes or wolves across the Northeastern U.S. have grown in recent years, and now it turns out that in fact, the animal people are seeing is actually the “coywolf” – a cross between a wolf and coyote.
5. What’s been going on in Pittsburgh this week? A lot of speech-making and meetings, of course. But one group isn’t into all the talk: Greenpeace activists staged a protest from the West End bridge displaying a massive banner warning of the climate destruction that lies ahead.

(Image: Giant panda at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China’s Sichuan Province. Source: ironmanixs via a Creative Commons license.)

Mountain gorillas, salmon, killer whales, even cute bunnies… we’re animal-friendly here at Cool Green Morning. From wild creatures to the latest news on the Senate cap-and-trade vote, we’ve got something that will float your boat in today’s round-up of Cool Green News links.

1. Can better health care for local people help save endangered mountain gorillas? It all comes down to genetics, says Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka — because humans and gorillas share 98.4% of the same genes, improving public health for Ugandans living near gorilla habitat could reduce disease spread and improve the animal’s survival rates.
2. In case you need another reason to support efforts to revive salmon populations… a new study shows that populations of killer whales decline when their primary food source — Chinook salmon for killer whales off the coast of British Columbia and Washington — is low.
3. Will the Senate vote on cap-and-trade legislation get pushed into 2010? Sounds like a possibility. And a delay could mean the United States goes into the global climate change talks at Copenhagen this December with a wishy-washy agenda at best.
4. Nuclear power as a viable source of clean energy is a hot debate in many places, including Spain. Thus, a new paper from Spanish reserachers that looks at one simple question: Is nuclear a rational economic choice?
5. What do cute bunnies have to do with the EPA? Absolutely nothing. Which doesn’t stop Grist’s David Roberts from shamelessly peppering his recent article on EPA greenhouse gas regulations with photos and video of the most adorable bunnies we’ve ever seen. Whether for the smart content or the bunny eye-candy, you should check it out.

(Image: Mountain gorilla in Uganda. Source: Chris E Moore via a Creative Commons license.)

1. Andy Revkin over at Dot Earth asks if, um, family planning might be the “ultimate green technology.” Researchers at the London School of Economics and  the Optimum Population Trust think so — they’re saying that contraception is the greenest technology out there, and that keeping the global population in check is one of the cheapest ways to combat climate change.
2. The University of Georgia Research Foundation has developed a way to turn dead trees into liquid fuel, reports Atlanta Business Chronicle (via CleanTechnica)– and it could be powering your car as soon as next year.  Hooray!  A biofuel that depends on rising temperatures, droughts and invasive species infestations!
3. The Associated Press reports that Italian authorities are using a robot submarine to explore a shipwreck that may be carrying radioactive waste dumped by the mob. A former mobster claims that millions of dollars were made by illegally dumping toxic waste in Calabrian waters for northern Italian businesses.  Seriously. (Hat tip: Huffington Post.)
4. Grist’s Ask Umbra offers up helpful tips on combating climate change denial. We may have had a cooler-than-usual summer, but there’s a difference between weather and climate, people!
5. While some claim the bubble has burst, GreenBiz says the concept of “going green” is growing — and it’s more important than ever.

1. What’s a low-carbon zone? And how will such zones help London reduce it’s overall carbon output? Environmental Leader explains the new system, which should help the UK meet it’s recently launched goal of reducing emissions by 10 percent.
2. Meanwhile, France is trying a different tactic to reduce carbon emissions — taxing individual household users per ton of CO2 emitted. The tax would start next year at a price of 14 euros ($20 dollars) per ton.
3. Cooler heads prevail in Bangladesh, where the prime minister has mandated that male government employees should stop wearing suits, jackets and ties to work – all in the name of helping save energy by using less air conditioning.
4. Google saves the day again. Researchers report that an algorithm similar to the one used by Google to rank web pages could help scientists identify which species extinctions will have the biggest impact on ecosystems.
5. Flying lemurs, bearcats, orangutans and rat-eating plants face an uncertain future on the island of Borneo, where a plan to build 12 hydroelectric dams across the rainforests of Sarawak state is moving forward despite protests.