March 28 News: You May Take Our Shellfish, But You’ll Never Take… Our Coffee

First published on ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which was recently named one of Time magazine’s Top 25 blogs of 2010.

Vast majorities of Americans want to prioritize the development of renewable energy, compared to minorities that was to prioritize fossil fuels. [Gallup]

No fewer than two in three Americans want the U.S. to put more emphasis on producing domestic energy using solar power (76%), wind (71%), and natural gas (65%). Far fewer want to emphasize the production of oil (46%) and the use of nuclear power (37%). Least favored is coal, with about one in three Americans wanting to prioritize its domestic production.

Where Americans live makes a difference in their views about which sources of domestic energy they want the U.S. to emphasize more. Those living in the South tend to be more supportive of traditional energy sources such as oil and coal than are those in other regions.

Still, for Americans in every region, including the South, solar power is the top choice, or is tied for the top spot, among the energy sources tested.

The world’s coffee growers are scrambling to adapt to global warming to ensure that billions of coffee drinkers can stay caffeinated. [U.S. News and World Report]

Ocean acidification is affecting oyster beds all over the world — as one oysterman put it: “We are looking into the future happening now.” [USA Today]

A new report from the IMF says the best way to cut carbon emissions is to properly price fossil fuels and stop $1.9 trillion in energy subsidies. [Washington Post]

Several of the Democratic Senators the Wall Street Journal dubbed the “Keystone converts” said their votes on a budget amendment should not be seen as an endorsement of the pipeline. [The Hill]

Scientists forecast another bleak year for drought, saying this pattern is “uncomfortably similar to the most severe droughts in recent U.S. history, including the 1930s Dust Bowl.” [Inside Climate News]

Scotland has chosen to proceed with an offshore wind farm despite Donald Trump’s Twitter protestations about the view at his golf course. [Energy Collective]

Scientists have developed a material from plant extract that could be used for solar panel manufacturing, which would make disposal of solar PV much easier. [CleanTechnica]

Ecuador is planning to auction off 3 million acres of their rainforest to a Chinese oil company. [Guardian]

After a Washington Republican state senator stripped language that mentioned climate change from Governor Inslee’s climate bill, he said the bill is “not really a climate change bill anymore, it’s really a cost-benefit analysis of environmental actions bill.” [Seattle Times]

Despite warmer-than-average years and broken records, the globe would actually be even warmer than it is now because much of the heat is going into the deep ocean. [Climate Central]