Too cool for summer? | Mitchell, South Dakota

With farmers anticipating the first hard freeze in about a month, can area crops catch up from one of the coolest summers on record?
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Sioux Falls, with an average summer temperature of 70.4 degrees, tied 1951 for the seventh coldest summer at 67.5 degrees. Sioux City, with an average summer reading of 72.4 degrees, notched its 11th coldest summer at 70.1 degrees.

The region's crops are now racing against the clock, said Knox County Extension educator Terry Gompert.

Mendocino crop values sank in '08 | Santa Rosa, CA

Suffering from a glut of fruit and a spring freeze, winegrapes, the county’s top crop, fell in value from $43 million to $34 million.
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While most crop values declined last year, walnuts were the hardest hit, suffering both from lower quantities and poor quality from frost damage, Hajik said.

The value dropped by nearly 70 percent, from $4 million in 2007 to $1.2 million in 2008, he said.

“That’s a huge hit,” Hajik said.

Personal carbon [swindle] trading: the next step in tackling carbon emissions? | Environment | guardian.co.uk

To coincide with the launch, the Guardian commissioned a poll, presumably hoping to show people's willingness to accept carbon reduction measures.

But looking closely at the figures reveals instead the public's resistance to some forms of carbon pricing.

Although 85 per cent of respondents accepted the threat of climate change, just 33 per cent were willing to accept something like a pay per mile road charging scheme.

A second wind is needed on climate and energy bill - OregonLive.com

Sen Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., told us the other day that he's among a group of about a dozen senators, including Boxer and Kerry, who are meeting weekly to craft the bill and a strategy to pass it. Merkley said, "We're not close to conceding defeat on this."