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.

In a recent New York Times blog, Mark Bittman points to a U.K. survey that says 90 percent of diners want sustainable fish on restaurant menus and claim they’re willing to put their money where their mouths are — but most of those people don’t currently choose fish from sustainable sources.

So it must be the merchants’ fault, right? If restaurants and grocery stores offered more sustainable options and helped their customers navigate the complex web of options, we’d all embrace Maine shrimp and say no to Chilean sea bass…wouldn’t we?

Others say the onus should be on fishermen to change their practices, improve their gear, abandon old behaviors and forge a new reality. But isn’t it unrealistic to expect them to foot the bill for changes that will mean putting their livelihoods on the line — especially as long as regulations continue to encourage overfishing and discourage good stewardship?

And what about depressed prices? To truly make a difference, don’t we need to overhaul how fish are brought to market and transform consumer values?

When it comes to sustainable fish, there’s plenty of finger pointing and few clear answers. But in the small community of Port Clyde, Maine, several different players — including fishermen, their families, consumers and conservationists — have stepped up to make some big changes.

You’ve heard of community-supported agriculture (CSA), but here’s a new twist: a community-supported fishery. Check it out.

(Image: fresh catch at the Port Clyde, Maine, farmers market. Source: Sean Fitzpatrick/TNC.)

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.)

One of the things I love about living in Boston is visiting Cape Cod after the high season has ended. Once the crowds have dispersed and the traffic has eased, I motor all the way up the Cape’s outstretched arm to Wellfleet, Massachusetts, to watch birds, eat shellfish and breathe the salty air.

At this time of year, it’s easier to get a sense of Wellfleet as a small town where people’s lives are still interwoven with the change of seasons and the rise and fall of tides; where a day’s work is often measured in bushels and the heart of the local economy is the simple and beautiful oyster.

On a recent visit to Wellfleet, I met shellfish farmer Barbara Austin and restaurateurs Mac and Alex Hay who are among the many people here making their livings directly from nature.

With the Conservancy and local partners restoring an oyster reef in Wellfleet Bay, I wanted to find out what the project means to the people who harvest and market this world-famous bivalve.

Conservationists are talking more and more about the benefits of our work for people — and that’s a good thing — but it’s critical that we not do all the talking. So hear it straight from the people who rely on the Wellfleet oyster and the reef’s restoration.

You’ve heard it before: Our oceans contain some of Earth’s most imperiled habitats. Shellfish beds, coral reefs and seagrass meadows once bustling with life have been depleted, and critical fish stocks have plummeted. Less than 1 percent of our oceans are currently protected. There’s even a giant garbage patch twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific.

So, what will motivate people to take action and save our marine resources?

Maybe the quickest path to people’s hearts is actually through their stomachs. Chef Jonathan Seningen thinks that might be the case, and after four memorable courses of fish at his D.C. restaurant Hook, I’m pretty convinced too.

Hook reaches people by tempting their palettes with new types of fish — in its quest to serve only fish with stable populations, Hook has dished up more than 125 species in its first three years. Hook also sources as much local fish as possible — a task that can be challenging.

Chefs and restaurateurs are situated at a unique intersection between the people who catch the fish and those of us who eat it. And what’s “sustainable” isn’t always black and white.

Can a fresh look at food provide a new tool to support conservation? And, on the flipside, can conservation help bring back some favorite local foods? Read the nature.org feature on my visit to Hook and find out.

Kate Frazer is a senior conservation writer with The Nature Conservancy based in Boston.

(Image: Inside D.C. restaurant Hook. Source: Moshe Zusman.)

If you garden, you’ve probably been tempted once or twice to plant something beautiful, new, exciting… yes, exotic. But you know you shouldn’t.

Wouldn’t it be easier to resist such temptations if it wasn’t possible to buy invasives at your local nursery or garden store in the first place?

A reader from Michigan saw what appeared to be an invasive plant going in at a new development in his neighborhood and wondered, is there a way to stop nurseries from selling invasive plants?

Good question. And not such an easy one to answer, as it turns out.

From national codes to state-by-state standards (or lack thereof) to working directly with nursery professionals and the market, the situation is diffuse and complex.

Get the inside scoop on efforts to regulate invasive plant sales from Nature Conservancy senior scientist Doug Pearsall in our monthly feature  “Ask the Conservationist.”

And in the meantime, perhaps the best thing gardeners can do is educate ourselves on native plants in our area … and practice strength when browsing the nursery aisles.

(Image: Pampas grass, an invasive in California but not Michigan. Source: Randomtruth via a Creative Commons license.)

It feels like the rain might never let up in New England this summer, and my garden is drowning.

Depressing, sure. But luckily, the garden’s yield isn’t my sole source of food or income. If my garden fails, or I don’t feel like digging in the soggy soil, I can buy fresh food at the farmer’s market.

But for fishermen like Glen Libby, giving up is not an option. To make a living — and feed all of us who enjoy eating local fish — they ply the Gulf of Maine’s swirling waters for groundfish like cod, haddock and flounder (you’ve seen Deadliest Catch, haven’t you?).

These days, however, there are far fewer fish to catch, and fishermen have to steam further out to sea to catch them.

Since near collapse in the early 1990s, many Gulf of Maine groundfish stocks just can’t seem to rebound — and the same holds true for many small-scale fishermen.

Can we bring back the fish? It’s not an easy question to answer. We know far less about the fields, meadows and gardens below the water’s surface than we do of their terra firma counterparts.

Recently, The Nature Conservancy, along with Maine-based partners the Island Institute, Penobscot East Resource Center and a group of gutsy fishermen, launched a project to change that.

The plan? The organizations will buy fishing permits and the fishing access that comes with them to give fishermen the chance to test sustainable practices — and conservationists the chance to tap their knowledge of the sea.

See a video of the fishermen (above) and learn more about the project.

Kate Frazer is a senior conservation writer with The Nature Conservancy based in Massachusetts.

First, we hear Steven Chu has a Facebook page. Now he’s appearing on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. What next? Read on for all the latest Cool Green News on this fine Cool Green Morning.

1. Will farmers do better financially under the proposed Waxman-Markey climate bill? Environmental Capital says carbon offsets are a gold mine for farmers.
2. Baseball stadiums in the United States and Japan are going green, from purchasing wind energy to getting LEED certification.
3. Steven Chu’s appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart proves he’s not a zombie, says Red Green and Blue. (Watch the video above and judge for yourself.)
4. NOAA released a new report this week warning that Caribbean reefs face a high risk of coral bleaching this summer, due in part to warmer ocean temperatures.
5. Mongabay is hopeful that we can actually save rainforests through a new climate change mitigation program that would send funding to protect rainforests in developing countries.