Gloucester has become the first community north of Boston with three turbines, taking advantage of an average daily wind speed of nearly 16 miles per hour.

“It’s a statement about choosing our own destiny and becoming independent from oil,” said Mayor Carolyn Kirk. “We’re a progressive community that has always relied on the wind. This is a natural fit for Gloucester.”

Read more of Globe Staff Writer Steven Rosenberg's story here.

By Haven Orecchio-Egresitz

Although it may seem a distant memory this bone-chilling week, 2012 was the warmest year ever recorded in Boston, according to the National Weather Service.

Most people will remember the balmy winter which, at an average of 37.2 degrees Fahrenheit, turned out to be the second warmest on record and the fourth least snowy. The average annual temperature was 54.2 degrees Fahrenheit about 2.8 dgrees higher than normal. Reliable record keeping in Boston began in 1872.

“The winter of 2011-2012 was pretty warm,’’ said Matthew Belk, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Taunton. For example, March was 8.4 degrees above normal, he said. It was not that it was warm all year long. June, for example, was slightly below normal, but with so many days and weeks above normal, it proved an overall balmy year.

Across New England, other cities also reported record or near-record warming last year such as Hartford, Providence, and Burlington, Vt.

But the short-sleeves many donned last winter are now morphing into mittens and thick socks as a deep freeze promises to descend on the region Wednesday night.

The cold will be particularly intense north of the Massachusetts Turnpike and west of Interstate 495. South of the Pike, lows are expected to be in the single digits. In Boston, the low temperature is expected to be about three to nine degrees.

Mercury thermostats have been banned for almost five years in Massachusetts. But a push is on to ensure old ones are recycled, so they don’t wind up in landfills where the toxic metal can seep into the ground.

Now, a fight is brewing in the waning days of the Legislative session over a bill that would require thermostat makers to recycle old thermostats. Supported by Sen. Marc Pacheco, chair of Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, the proposal would take a voluntary program and make it a mandatory one.

There is broad agreement that recycling is a good idea – but environmentalists say the bill has no teeth. They want manufacturers to offer the public incentives to recycle thermostats, and point to successful programs in Maine and Vermont that pay consumers $5 per thermostat to do so. Even if the “bounty” on mercury is not included in the bill, environmentalists want a provision to allow the state Department of Environmental Protection to require improvements if state recycling goals aren’t met.

“It looks like they are doing something, but there is no incentive and no concrete goals on how many (thermostats) need to be collected,’’ said Elizabeth Saunders, Massachusetts state director of Clean Water Action. A coalition of environmental groups is opposed to the bill, including MASSPIRG, Massachusetts Sierra Club, Environment Massachusetts and Environmental League and Mass Aubudon.

Mercury is a naturally occurring metal that accumulates in the body and can harm the nervous system of a fetus or young child if ingested in enough quantities. Most people are exposed to the metal by eating fish.

“This is a case of a perfect bill being the enemy of the good,’’ said Pacheco. He said data is need to understand what the recycling goals should be. “This is a good bill.”

But Saunders said data isn't necessary to start with basic goals.

"It's a medicore bill."

Can an app make you a greener person?

A start-up team with roots in MIT, Harvard, Stanford and University of California Berkeley says yes and is using a suite of scientific data, games, competitions and social media to get consumers to make more sustainable choices, from investing to grocery shopping.

Called Oroeco, the group is just one of many attempting to use the avalanche of information and technology available today to make us into better people. Oroeco's niche, however, is to automatically track environmental impacts of purchases and investments. It’s a big, intriguing idea – but a challenging one. Sustainability is a great buzz word, but how to make it understandable, easy and meaningful has been elusive (even for reporters) and there are a slew of unreliable labels and rating systems that confound the issue.

“Oroeco’s mission is to provide information and incentives that make personal sustainability easy, fun and rewarding,’’ said Oroeco CEO and Stanford University lecturer Ian Monroe. “I think we’re hitting a tipping point where information technology drives clean technology, fueled by the ubiquity of smart phones and social networks, as well as advancements in supply chain tracking and life cycle assessment science. Oroeco is aiming to help catalyze a revolution in informed consumption.”

Here’s how Oroeco can work, according to Monroe. The app automatically tracks your spending habits on groceries, gas, travel and other purchases. Then, it will calculate your carbon footprint for those purchases based on average prices and grocery shopping patterns in your ZIP code from a University of California Berkeley carbon impact database. Let’s say you are horrified at the amount of greenhouse gases you emit - driving to work, eating cheeseburgers every night or taking that trip to Turkey last year.The app will have personalized tips and goals you want to achieve – driving less or eating less meat, for example - and will spell out the carbon benefits from telecommuting or eating more vegetables or even planning a a staycation. The team expects to launch a beta version in January, initially available to Oroeco's supporters who initially contribute. (see link below).

The app, which automatically syncs with your credit and bank accounts using secure technologies (similar to the popular Mint.com) also allows you to share with Facebook friends and family to compete, collaborate and win “oro” points toward prizes. The mock-up below shows a simplified way to visualize goals - and remind you that they are there. The group has already raised $43,000 from Start-up Chile, a program of the Chilean government, and is in the midst of a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo.

There are lots of teams working on sustainability, traceability and incentives to drive consumer behavioral change. Oroeco’s mock-ups are promising (as well as their clever cartoons). It will be interesting to see where it goes. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll walk into a store and be able to figure out which box of mac and cheese is really better for the environment.

WAKEFIELD - Fishermen's frustration, two decades in the making, exploded in a hotel ballroom Thursday as fishery regulators reluctantly debated devastating cuts to the size of the New England fleet's allowable catch.

“I can’t sleep,” Mark Carroll, a Gloucester fishermen, said to the 18-voting member council before getting up in agitation and facing scores of fishermen seated in the ballroom. “All these people are going to lose their job, this has run amok. I get so upset I can’t think straight ... It’s lights out, it’s over.”

Stone-faced and sympathetic members of the New England Fishery Management Council were listening to fishermen – including pleas not to slash fishing quotas in the range of 50 to 80 percent for some prized stocks, including Atlantic cod and flounder.

Warming waters and a changing ocean possibly related to man-made climate change are contributing to dismal populations of cod and flounder, scientists say. But while overfishing may not be solely to blame, they say the only way to try restoring fish populations is reduce the size of the yearly catch.

Fishermen today hit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees fishery regulation, on several missteps that have widened deep mistrust between fishermen and government scientists -- major errors on a federal analysis of cod off New England; a disrespectful attitude toward a scientist that industry hired, and problems in enforcement that resulted in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration apologizing and returning hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines to fishermen.

Fishermen said the science used to justify fishing cuts is so bad, regulators should ease up on limits until it improves.

“I haven’t told my family this is their last good Christmas,’’ said Paul Vitale, a Gloucester fisherman.

Decisions are expected later this afternoon. For a story I wrote today on the issue go here.

It’s holiday time and you know what that means..... you need gifts. This year, give some eco-friendly gifts, curated by yours truly, with a little help from my Facebook friends. Here’s what we are giving this year:

Learn to swing dance or draw! The Boston Center for Adult Education has $10 classes.

One of the best Boston eco-gifts I got was from my brother and sister-in-law, a one-year membership to the Trustees of Reservations. Who wouldn’t want free and reduced admission to beautiful sites around the state.

For many years I volunteered at Club Passim and hold a sweet spot for it in my heart. Take your friends or sweetheart out for the 3rd Annual Celebration of Wintery Songs in Eleventy Part Harmony.

I couldn’t do a gift guide without something from Etsy. How about MBTA token cufflinks? Handmade, public transportation, and Boston pride- a trifecta of awesomeness.

Need a stocking stuffer? This upcycled MBTA map luggage tag will keep your luggage safe.

What else are my friends giving or asking for? Karyn asked for a Zipcar gift certificate, Andrea wants a gift card to Dave’s Fresh Pasta’s pasta making classes, Isaure said the A.R.T. has some interesting shows coming up, and Liz recommended gift cards to City Wine Tours.

Resignation letter being read at mid-Atlantic fish meeting; says Lubchenco will return to family and academia.

Dec. 12, 2012

Dear NOAA Family,

I write to let you know that I have decided to return to my family and academia at the end of February. I am immensely proud of all we have accomplished in the last four years and know full well that we have been able to do so much only because of your impressive talent and dedication. It has been a special privilege to serve as Administrator and work with all of you.

As many of you know, my home and family are on the West Coast. I'm deeply grateful for the support and love of my family, but as wonderful as Skype is for staying in touch, it is not a viable long-term arrangement!

As I reflect on my time with you, I'm delighted with all we've been able to do - big and small. The list is far too long for complete enumeration here, but I've listed 20 of our top achievements below. I invite you to share with me your top-tier list, as well as any especially memorable moments or photographs from the work we have done together.

We've tackled some big challenges together. Through an emphasis on transparency, integrity, innovation, team work and communication, we have made significant progress on multiple fronts. As you know, NOAA's breadth is one of our greatest challenges, but it's also our great strength. Both are in evidence below. Our notable progress includes (in no particular order!):
1. Ending over-fishing, rebuilding depleted stocks, and returning fishing to profitability;
2. Strengthening the Nation's environmental satellite infrastructure because it underpins national security, economic activity and public safety by providing data essential to our short- and long-term weather forecasts;
3. Delivering life-saving weather forecasts and warnings and strengthening our ability to do so in the future through Weather-Ready Nation, dual-pol upgrades, investments in high performance computing, research, and weather satellites;
4. Helping create the first National Ocean Policy that recognizes the value of a healthy marine environment, emphasizes collaboration between regions and the federal government and coordination across federal agencies to achieve healthy oceans, coasts and Great Lakes;
5. Leveling the playing field for our fishermen by reforming international fishery management organizations with the adoption of management measures in line with scientific advice and with strengthened compliance and enforcement tools, and by reducing "pirate fishing" (illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing);
6. Creating a new generation of climate services to promote public understanding, support mitigation and adaptation efforts, enable smart planning, and promote regional climate partnerships;
7. Investing in coastal communities and their future resilience through more strategic and better integrated conservation and restoration;
8. Better serving recreational anglers and boaters by convening a saltwater sport fishing summit, developing a recreational fishing action agenda and ensuring follow through on key commitments;
9. Strengthening science with our first Scientific Integrity Policy, doubling the number of senior scientific positions, establishing a new Council of Fellows, reinstating the Chief Scientist position, supporting AAAS and Sea Grant Fellows and promoting climate, fishery, ocean acidification, weather and ecosystem science;
10. Responding effectively as "one-NOAA" to disasters such as Deepwater Horizon, the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/radiation/marine debris catastrophe, Hurricanes Irene, Isaac and Sandy, including helping open ports and waterways, survey coasts, and rebuild and restore communities and coastlines to enhance resilience in the future; 11. Bringing experience, scientific and legal expertise to bear on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe (as detailed in two papers in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), jumpstarting Gulf restoration efforts through partnerships and the Trustee Council, and assessing the full impact of the disaster on natural resources with the goal of holding responsible parties accountable and restoring Gulf ecosystems, communities and economy to health; 12. Championing NOAA's lean, but effective, education program that plays a unique role in providing atmospheric and oceanographic education to young and old and making NOAA-related sciences more accessible to underrepresented groups; 13. Creating NOAA's first Aquaculture Policy and a National Shellfish Initiative and using science to ameliorate short-term impacts of ocean acidification on shellfish; 14. Setting a stronger course for endangered species conservation in places like California's Central Valley and the Columbia River and in the ocean, e.g., for coral conservation.
15. Streamlining regulations to save taxpayers time and money and improve efficiency, for example in fisheries regulations and shellfish aquaculture permitting; 16. Increasing effectiveness and decreasing costs of corporate services such as acquisitions and IT, for example by migrating our communication systems to the cloud to enhance functionality, strengthen security and reduce costs 17. Developing and implementing a "One-NOAA" Arctic Vision and Strategy and Task Force to address environmental, social, economic and safety issues emerging in the fragile Arctic region, including mapping to support new safety, a precautionary fishery management plan, launching the Arctic ERMA tool, and innovative research and data partnerships to improve science-based decision-making; 18. Strengthening NOAA's fishery enforcement program by implementing policy, oversight, personnel and procedural changes to increase effectiveness and transparency; 19. Embracing social media, effective communications and communications training to share NOAA science, information and decisions with our diverse constituents, stakeholders and partners - including creation of NOAA's and my Facebook pages, multiple NOAA Twitter accounts, and use of crowd-sourcing to digitize old weather records; and 20. Ensuring all our policies, regulations and statements are consistent with the law and legal best practices.

All this and more for less than a nickel a day from each tax payer - now that's a bargain!

Much of this progress required integration of efforts across line and staff offices and with a wide variety of partners and stakeholders. Our One-NOAA approach has proven its power time and again.

I am well aware of how much work lies ahead. But because I have experienced your impressive talent and your deep-felt dedication to our mission, I am confident that you will continue to tackle problems and devise creative solutions.

I'm proud to have been part of your mission. And I am grateful to Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank and her capable staff and numerous members of Congress for their staunch support for our mission. I appreciate the President's confidence in me and the invitation to be part of his science team and serve at the helm of the Nation's spectacular ocean, climate, weather and coastal agency.

But most of all, I appreciate the opportunity to work with all of you. I will miss you, but know you will continue devoting your energy and talent to fulfill our mission. I wish you all a joyous and peaceful holiday season and New Year.

Sincerely,

Worcester will receive $3 million from the state to help it replant 30,000 trees cut down to stop the spread of a tree-killing Asian beetle.

The goals is to replant the trees by 2014, said Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray and Congressman Jim McGovern.

"Investing these capital resources will make it possible for us to reach our goal of fully reforesting Worcester and the surrounding towns that were devasted by the Asian Longhorned beetle infestation," said Murray.

The beetle was first found in Worcester in August 2008. Since then, more than 32,000 landscape trees and thousands of open forest trees have been removed to try and eradicate the beetle.

Sustainable building developer, Ari Nessel, wants to give you $1,000 for your passion project that will make the world a better place. Ari has been giving to non-profits for awhile, but was looking for more meaning from his donations. He wanted his money to go directly to help people launch their projects, not to non-profit overhead costs.

Inspired by micro-lending groups like Kiva, Ari and his sister-in-law Stephanie Klempner came up with the Pollination Project. "I wanted to up the ante. I make more money than I need, and I don't want more toys," Ari explained. Starting January 1st, Ari will be giving away $1,000 a day for a year to people who have transformative projects that need a bit of money to get started. In his words, he's matching their sweat with his capital.

The biggest problem Ari has right now is finding the right people to fund. That's where you, Boston.com Green Blog reader, come in. Do you have a project that needs some seed money to get started?

Apply here and make Boston a better place.

The Forum program at the Museum of Science works hard to engage the public in conversations around questions that lie at the intersection of science, technology and society. One recent forum focused on biodiversity, which the museum is also spending a lot of time on by taking part in an international collaboration, called World Wide Views on Biodiversity, that engaged 3,000 citizens from 25 countries to raise public awareness on biodiversity and include the public in global policymaking. We recently caught up with David Sittenfeld, (above) manager of the Forum program at the Museum of Science who is giving a talk on the Museum's role in the global project - and is part of a group releasing a report about it - this week in D.C. Here is an edited version of questions and answers.

We hear a lot about biodiversity – what is it and why does it matter?
Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is the extraordinary variety of all living things. It includes plants, animals, and microorganisms, where they live (ecosystems such as lakes, forests, mountains, wetlands or deserts), and the genes that make each individual and species unique. Conservation biologists tell us that living things depend on this diversity to function in ecosystems. Genetic variability provides support for all organisms, making ecosystems resilient to disease and balancing competing forces. As humans, we rely on these interconnected relationships for necessities such as food, clean water and air, shelter, and medicine.

Where, or what, are the most serious threats to biodiversity?
Unfortunately, the greatest threats to biodiversity come from human activities, such as our demand for food, water, industrial materials, land and energy. Scientists are assessing the loss of species worldwide as a result of factors such as loss of natural habitat, overfishing, pollution, impacts from invasive species, and climate change. Major threats to biodiversity include deforestation and the loss of coral reefs, as forests and coral reefs are considered to be biodiversity “hotspots,” or places with high amounts of biodiversity. Recent studies have shown about a 50% decline n the Great Barrier Reef off Australia in the last three decades where enormous numbers of species live, and coral loss is happening even more quickly in the Caribbean.

How are extinctions today different from those in the long ago past?
Because scientists primarily investigate extinctions long ago through the fossil record, it is more difficult to establish causes of past extinctions. Scientists generally attribute these past extinctions to global shifts in climate or biogeochemical cycles, which took place over relatively long time scales and all over the globe. Changes in biodiversity because of human activities have been more rapid in the past 50 years than at any time in human history. Every day species’ extinctions are continuing at up to 1,000 times or more the natural rate.

What are ways to solve that threat?
Members of the United Nations are actively creating effective policies such as the establishment of marine protected areas, which show promise in preserving crucial ocean biodiversity hotspots. But more work needs to be done at the policy level, such as managing products from forests sustainably. Consumers and citizens can also help address the threats to biodiversity by purchasing sustainably managed products.

How are you involved in trying to address threats to Earth’s diversity?
The Museum of Science was part of a global deliberation on biodiversity policy that provided public input from ordinary citizens from 25 countries to the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity in October.
Over 3,000 people around the world learned about biodiversity, discussed policy questions, and made recommendations. Although the results differed somewhat among different countries, participants broadly agreed that: efforts should be made to protect natural areas around the world; incentives and subsidies leading to overfishing should be phased out; and all countries should pay for protecting biodiversity in developing nations.

What struck me in particular was that before this global event, 30% of the participants said they knew nothing or very little about biodiversity, but afterwards, 97% said they were very concerned about the global decline.

What can a member of the public do to help preserve biodiversity?
We can all help scientists assess biodiversity through citizen science projects, such as the Museum of Science’s Firefly Watch or the many projects at scistar. People can also search for organisms in a neighborhood park, a freshwater marsh or an urban area, and see what other people have located as well, through biodiversity quests created with the Encylopedia of Life. To learn about where products we use and consume come from, visit MIT’s Sourcemap, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch.

It's that time of year again. Every year, community and activists "celebrate" New England's worst polluters. This year, on the 25th anniversary of the Dirty Dozen awards, the Toxics Action Center released a report profiling 12 sites and companies across New England, naming them "the most notorious pollution threats in the region" and proposing solutions to long-term pollution trends.

“The Dirty Dozen Award winners are dinosaurs. Their business practices are antiquated and becoming extinct. They could stave off extinction, but they would need to move forward in adopting many of the recommendations we outline in this report, including moving towards clean renewable energy and energy efficiency and phasing out persistent toxic chemicals.” said Sylvia Broude, Executive Director for Toxics Action Center.

Here is the list. For the press release go here.

FULL LIST 2012 DIRTY DOZEN AWARD RECIPIENTS
Advanced Disposal
Moretown, VT and South Hadley, MA

Brayton Point Coal Power Station
Somerset, MA

Casella Waste Management
Old Town, ME and Scarborough, ME

Central Landfill
Johnston, RI

Connecticut Environmental Council
Marlborough, CT

Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority
Hartford, CT

Entergy Nuclear
Vernon, VT and Plymouth, MA

General Electric
Pittsfield, MA

New Bedford Harbor Superfund Site and Parker Street Waste Site
New Bedford, MA

Public Service of New Hampshire Coal Power Plants
Bow, NH and Portsmouth, NH

Raymark Superfund Site
Stratford, CT

Tar Sands Pipeline
South Portland, ME

A day after a Boston University report revealed thousands of natural gas leaks under Boston, U.S. Rep. Ed Markey Wednesday asked the federal agency in charge of pipeline safety why it has not required pipeline companies to supply data on risk assessments and inspection and maintenance plans for aging pipelines.

“This study shows that we need a plan to ensure leaks from aging natural gas pipelines in Boston and other cities and communities are repaired, so that we can conserve this important natural resource, protect the consumers from paying for gas that they don't even use, and prevent emissions of greenhouse gases into the environment,” Markey wrote in a letter to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. “We shouldn’t wait until a worst-case scenario occurs before we act to protect consumers, citizens and the environment.”

Markey said because the agency does not adequately define what hazardous leaks are, or exactly how quickly they need to be repaired, "leaks that have a high risk of becoming hazardous could be left unrepaired for years."

Journalist Barbara Moran has broken ground on environmental health hazards that even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it has overlooked in the past: Industrial Laundries.

Some excerpts the piece in the Hartford Courant today:
"Laundering shop and print towels, which are cloths used to wipe oil, solvent and other chemicals off machinery, can fuel the release of VOCs above federal limits. The use and processing of shop towels is largely under-regulated, despite its potential to emit toxic substances into the air."

and

"The state and federal investigations have also exposed a potentially bigger problem: the spotty oversight of chemical-laden shop towels as they travel from factory floor to washing machine. The EPA and the laundry industry disagree on who bears liability for VOC emissions along this supply chain, with the EPA targeting laundries and the laundries pointing at customers."

Mayor Thomas Menino has written a strongly worded letter to the state Department of Public Utilities urging its chairwoman to step up scrutiny of utilities following a story in today's Globe about more than 3,300 natural gas leaks from the vast pipeline system under Boston.

Requesting a meeting with the DPU, he said regulators need to ensure National Grid, the city's main gas distributor, are "proactively searching for leaks and monitoring minor leaks that will no doubt worsen over time."

Menino said the cost of leaked gas - at least tens of millions of dollars a year in Massachusetts - is being passed onto families as they struggle to recover from tough economic times. In addition, he said natural gas may be damaging trees and contributing to climate change. Natural gas leaks, along with other unaccounted gas, could amount to about five percent of all the greenhouse gas emissions in the state.

Menino requested more information from the DPU to allow the city to take a "stronger response."

A movement is building on some New England college campuses that takes a page from the South African divestment movement more than two decades ago: Fossil Fuel divestment.

Earlier this month, the Board of Trustees at Unity College in Maine voted to divest their endowment from fossil fuel industries. And last week, the Harvard College Undergraduate Council announced 72 percent of voting students wants Harvard University to divest its $30.7 billion endowment from fossil fuels.

"In 1990, 52 percent of voting students supported complete divestment from apartheid South Africa. Today 72 percent of voting students are raising their voices for fossil divestment, telling Harvard to stop investing in companies that are threatening our future,'' said Chloe Maxmin, a co-coordinator for Divest Harvard.

The Divest Harvard campaign is part of a college-divestment movement now at 50 universities and colleges. The Better Future Project and 350.org, both climate advocacy organizations, are behind the growing movement.

It's a big challenge: Fossil fuel companies are highly profitable and virtually all large funds SICH AS endowments invest in oil giants including ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell, which raked in $100 billion in profits in 2011 alone. Persuading Harvard money managers to miss out on those kinds of returns will be much harder than it was to get universities to drop their much smaller investments in South Africa.

* Clarification: An earlier post said that 72 percent of the student body voted to divest. It is 72 percent of those that voted. Post has also been rewritten slightly.

A sold-out crowd gathered at the Orpheum last night for the climate advocacy group 350.org’s “Do the Math” national tour. Founder Bill McKibben, and The Shock Doctrine author Naomi Klein explained their new strategy to combat fossil fuel companies: Simple math.

One, the world can burn 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide. Two, this would allow us to stay below two degrees Celsius of global warming - but anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on Earth. Three, this is a problem, because fossil fuel corporations have 2,795 gigatons of carbon dioxide in their reserves.The Carbon Tracker Initiative, a group that assesses climate change risk, estimates this is five times the amount we can release to maintain two degrees of warming.

Before the show, McKibben and Klein answered a few questions from journalist Sarah Betancourt for the Globe’s Green Blog. Here are edited answers.

Green Blog: What actions have been taken by 350.org to halt the approval of the Keystone Pipeline (The controversial pipeline from Canada’s oil sands to the U.S. that President Obama is scheduled to rule on.)
Bill McKibben: The Obama administration is back considering all of this. The media has said that the administration has made implicit promises that they would pass the Keystone Pipeline. We don’t know if that’s true. We’re going to have our road show early in Washington on Sunday (November 18th), at 1p.m., so we can join a whole lot of other people for a big march to the White House.

GB: How do you think the pipeline decision will play out?
BM: It’s clear that this is going to be the purest test of President Obama that we’re going to have. On one hand he wants to stop the rise of the oceans, but on the other hand, he spent the summer boasting about wrapping the country in pipelines.
Naomi Klein: The pipeline was only assessed for the environmental impact of the territory it crosses. The Obama administration needs to take responsibility for the carbon that would be expelled (from the production of oil that will be traveling along) from the Keystone pipeline.

GB: Why is it so important to you to stop the pipeline from being built?
BM: (The Alberta tar sands is the) second biggest pool of carbon on Earth. It would be unbelievably foolish to tap more heavily into it. The International Energy Agency released a report last week that vindicates our math and the crazy thing is fossil fuel companies have not pushed back or claimed it to be untrue. We need to leave 80% of the fossil fuels currently available in the ground.

GB: What would you like to see happen as a result of the Do the Math Tour?
NK: One of our goals is divestment of funds, like what occurred on college campuses during the apartheid. We want people who take money from fossil fuels to have to justify themselves.

GB: What has the response been from the public on your tour?
BM: In Portland, Maine, the President of Unity College told the crowd that the college’s trustees had voted to divest all funds from fossil fuels. I don’t think they’ll be the last college do to that. In Seattle, the mayor told us that he was going to look at the books and see how they could divest fossil fuel stock and funds. We also have a show tomorrow in New York City. It’s going to be pretty emotional, with Hurricane Sandy just having happened.

The Museum of Science in Boston is dedicating Sunday, Nov. 18 to biodiversity and tackling a big question: How can we work to preserve life on our planet while coping with the needs of our species?

The first Biodiversity Day will allow visitors to embark on biodiversity adventures and citizen science activities to live animal presentations and forums where visitors join scientists to address the complexities of protecting Earth's diversity of life. It is included in the cost of an entry ticket to the Museum's exhibit halls.

"As humans, we rely on the extraordinary variety and interconnectedness of life on Earth for food, medicine, industrial products, clean air, water and soil, stable climate, education, research, even fun," says David Sittenfeld, the Museum's Biodiversity Day coordinator. "We also have an observable impact on this biological diversity, though we often forget it."

The Museum was one of several institutions around the world to lead consultations of 3,000 people in 25 countries on Earth's diversity of life and how to manage threats to it. In October their recommendations were presented to the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad, India.

Here are some highlights of the day:

2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Aaron Bernstein, associate director of Harvard University's Center for Health and the Global Environment and coauthor of Sustaining Life, will address how human health depends on biodiversity. A panel discussion, moderated by former Public Radio International Living on Earth host Bruce Gellerman, will explore biodiversity through the eyes of environmental scientist Marie Studer; Staples environmental affairs vice president Mark Buckley; Whole Foods Market ecoczar Lee Kane; and a citizen who participated in the global biodiversity consultation. Audience questions will follow.

3:45 p.m. – 5 p.m. A forum will engage interested visitors and experts in thinking critically about threats to biodiversity and who should protect and regulate biodiversity at a policy level.

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. MassAudubon, Boston Natural Areas Network, Grow Boston Greener, Grow Native Massachusetts, the Bracken Lab, Arnold Arboretum scientists, the Encyclopedia of Life, students from MIT, and others will offer activities, information or research on biodiversity.

--1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Museum educators demonstrate live animals and other hands-on biodiversity activities.

NEWPORT, R.I. -- A passionate debate among grim-faced New England fishermen and regulators in a hotel Wednesday was a stark reminder of an unfulfilled promise.

Deep cuts to the once-booming fleet over the last decade were made palatable by government assurances that key fish populations would rebuild and fishing nets would be teeming again. But with two critical species -- Gulf of Maine cod and Georges Bank yellowtail -- doing poorly, those assurances have disappeared.

Instead, members of the New England Fishery Management Council spent the day first attempting to drive up the number of yellowtail that fishermen could catch, then figuring out how best to allocate a still severely limited amount of fish next year among the region’s fishermen.

“The problem with all these choices is that there is no good outcome,’’ said Rip Cunningham, chair of the Fishery Management Council, during the gathering Wednesday at the Marriott Newport hotel.

The yellowtail flounder catch was cut 80 percent this year, and an estimated 50 percent cut is expected for the next fishing year that begins in May. The population is so low that few fishermen target the fish on Georges Bank, but they are still pulled up in scallop dredges and groundfish trawls because they are found on the sea floor with the species fishermen are trying to catch. As a result, scallop and groundfish fishermen must abide by yellowtail catch limits.

Fishermen, and some council members, argued that the overall yellowtail catch next year would be so low it could cripple the estimated $400 million a year scallop industry or the groundfish business.

“This is pitting brother against brother,’’ said Peter Hughes, of Atlantic Capes Fisheries Inc. of New Jersey, which fishes for and processes scallops. “These numbers are not healthy numbers for a domestic US fishery.”

Hughes, along with other fishermen and council members, expressed deep frustration with the science behind the projected yellowtail cuts, and and the need to adhere to a US-Canadian agreed-upon quota on the submerged Georges Bank plateau that the United States jointly manages with Canada.

In two votes, the council narrowly voted to reject the joint quota and set a higher one, creating confusion about how much yellowtail flounder could be allocated. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is all but guaranteed to reject that higher quota, said John Bullard, New England regional chief for NOAA.

The future does not look optimistic: There are few signs the yellowtail population could rebound quickly in coming years.

And next month, just before Christmas, the council is scheduled to make draconian cuts to Gulf of Maine cod, the fabled white fish that was once so plentiful fishermen were said to be able to fill baskets by merely lowering them into the sea. Many in the industry -- and even environmentalists -- acknowledge it is likely to decimate an already deeply suffering fishing fleet.

Are you a high school student who cares about the environment?

If so, you could win a free trip to Costa Rica this April to study environmental sustainability, with the weeklong program culminating in an environmental summit with former Vice President and climate activist Al Gore.

EF Education First, an international education company with North American headquarters in Cambridge, is holding a contest for 20 students - most from Massachusetts – to join 1,000 other students in a Global Student Leadership Summit.

Students will spend six days exploring sustainability efforts in Costa Rica and learning about tropical ecology, wildlife conservation and reforestation. In the “action-based” program, some students will help with Mangrove reforestation on the Central Pacific Coast or learn about turtle conservation in Tortuguero National Park, among other trips. At the end of the trip a two-day conference in San Jose will include Gore and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

Here’s how to apply:

1. Choose an environmental issue you are passionate about.
2. Create a video, digital media project or essay to answer this: What are the global implications of this issue? What ideas do you have to address this issue? Why do you want to be part of a team working on a solution?

Then submit it to EF’s facebook page by the end of the month.

Her is an example of a previous entry for a different EF program.