A conservation group wants a rare mountain songbird protected under the endangered species act. The Center for Biological Diversity says the Bicknell's thrush is under threat from climate change. The bird nests in coniferous forests in the Adirondacks, New England and eastern Canada. But as the temperature warms, its habitat is expected to shrink.

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Organizers hope to expand on last year's participation in the Way to Go! Commuter Challenge and eliminate 500,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. From May 17-21, the challenge calls on people to participate in a healthier and more earth-friendly way to travel. Last year, with 3,552 participants, 206,000 pounds of carbon dioxide was eliminated. The Commuter Challenge encourages people to use alternative means of transportation, including walking, biking, carpooling and taking the bus.

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The Carbon War Room, a non-profit organization that harnesses the power of entrepreneurs to implement market-driven solutions to climate change, today announced the first wave of cities selected to participate in the Green Capital Global Challenge. Participant cities were selected from across the United States, Canada and Europe, after the Carbon War Room received an overwhelming number of applications from cities around the world.  They include:  Atlanta, Babylon (New York), Burlington(Vermont), Charleston (South Carolina), Chicago, Gainesville (Florida), New York City, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco,Washington D.C., Toronto, Vancouver, London, Birmingham (England), and Copenhagen.

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On a recent Saturday morning, Green Mountain College students Elliott Shor and Anthony Mango poke around the first floor of Charlene Rapinz' 19th-century home in Poultney. They test light bulbs, try out faucets and examine the windows. The goal is to save Rapinz some money and help her cut back on energy use. Making her home more energy efficient — and spreading the word about the benefits of weatherization projects like upgrading appliances, replacing windows and adding insulation — will help reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.

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Vermont politicians patted themselves on the back Thursday when the Obama administration announced tighter fuel efficiency standards for all new automobiles hitting the road over the next few years. That's because Vermont was one of a handful of states to do just that several years ago – and they went to court against the Bush administration to stop attempts to block the requirements that new cars get more miles per gallon of gas.

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A national veterans group is coming to New Hampshire by bus to discuss climate change and how they believe it relates to national security. The Veterans for American Power National Tour is visiting Dartmouth College and the American Legion Post in Concord on Friday. On Saturday, the group will tour the Lempster Mountain wind power project. The tour is a campaign of Operation Free, a bipartisan coalition of veterans and national security organizations dedicated to securing America with clean energy.

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Scientists predict that if New England’s climate continues to warm, more and more species will need to mosey north, or into higher elevations. They will almost certainly continue bumping into human obstacles, and with greater frequency. What if they do? Advocates in Vermont’s Critical Paths project are looking for answers and are encouraging communities to identify, improve and protect wildlife corridors.

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Solo car commuting still dominates Chittenden County rush hours, but its share is declining, transportation experts announced today. The dip in single-occupancy vehicle trips between 2000 and 2009 bucks national trends, and “is definitely cause for celebration,” said Bryan Davis, a transportation planner with the Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization at a press conference.

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A few years ago, Robert Costanza went rogue. A professor of ecological economics at the University of Vermont, Costanza, along with a few colleagues, attempted to publish a paper in Science magazine that argued for the creation of a global “atmospheric trust” as a way to control and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. This trust, they asserted, should consist of an auction-based cap-and-trade scheme that would put a price on CO2 and return a portion of the auction revenues to every person on Earth.

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An effort to reduce exhaust emissions from large trucks has morphed into an all-out ban on excessive idling by any vehicle. A House energy committee this week is expected to approve a bill that would impose modest fines on motorists who leave cars running in place for more than five minutes. While administration officials have reserved judgment until they see the final language, the bill, which carves out numerous exceptions for the trucking industry, has met with almost no opposition from trade groups that would be most affected by the restriction.

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As climate change threatens a valuable Vermont industry, who should take the lead in making the state’s ski areas more energy-efficient? This question — and many others related to skiing in the face of warming temperatures and altered weather patterns were discussed — during an event this fall at the Vermont Ski Museum.

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Governor Jim Douglas and 10 other governors in the region took the next step toward developing a regional Low Carbon Fuel Standard by signing a Memorandum of Understanding that commits their states to continued participation in a regional effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fuels for vehicles and other uses.

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The Rutland Herald reports that Middlebury College and the University of Vermont are on the "top-20 list of 'coolest schools' for their efforts to stop global warming" according to the Sierra Club. The schools receieved the 3rd and 4th place rankings (respectively) based on a 1-10 scale for eight categories.

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The Burlington Free Press reports that several experts including a Green Mountain Power utility executive, two professors and several people who work nationally and internationally on energy issues "urged U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., to build on the state’s energy efficiency successes by transplanting those ideas into federal climate legislation due this spring." In response, Welch said he "want[ed] to get Vermont ideas injected into the bill as quickly as possible." This year "Congress is expected to consider either a tax or a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Either action could raise household utility bills, something Congress may be reluctant to do given the dire state of the economy." According to Richard Cowart, a former chairman of the Public Service Board and a founder of the Regulatory Assistance Project, an energy-policy consulting firm, “‘Cap-and-invest’ is the most powerful, the best way to help consumers." Cowart added, "It’s really a false choice between high carbon emissions and extremely high fossil fuel prices if you are talking about the electric power sector. The answer is to design a cap-and-trade system that maximizes energy efficiency to reduce carbon — and reduce energy bills at the same time.” He concluded, "Vermont’s investments in energy efficiency and the recent experience of the carbon auction created by the northeastern Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative prove that this can work."

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The Burlington Free Press reports that Senator Bernie Sanders will "be named chairman of a new Senate subcommittee this week that aims to create green jobs that put Americans to work making the country more energy efficient while reducing global warming." Sanders commented, "We’re going to use this subcommittee to do everything we can to create millions of good-paying jobs in the United States as we move forward to a new energy system based on efficiency and sustainable energ. The potential for job growth in this area is bigger than almost anything else I can think of.”

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