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Environment

BP Report An Exercise In Finger-Pointing
Local officials and congressional investigators said BP was shirking responsibility by passing the blame in its internal report of the oil rig explosion in the Gulf. And companies that BP pointed a finger at were quick to point a finger back.

BP Report Shares Blame For Rig Explosion
BP has released the results of an in-house investigation into the causes of the blowout at its well in Gulf of Mexico on April 20. The report identifies eight separate failures -- either of equipment or human judgment -- that led to the disaster.

Thad Allen And Lessons Learned From The Gulf Oil Spill
The retired admiral tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep about challenges he's faced as national incident commander for the spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP Report Blames Multiple Companies For Gulf Spill
The oil giant's 193-page report says a sequence of failures led to the massive Gulf of Mexico spill that fouled waters and shorelines for months. The company's findings are far from the final word on possible causes of the explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon drill rig.

BP Issues Report On Gulf Oil Spill Disaster
BP is releasing a 200-page assessment Wednesday, detailing the cause of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill ultimately put more than four million barrels of oil into the Gulf. In addition, a new federal study finds that oil is gradually disappearing, as bacteria continue to gobble it up.

Scientists: Bacteria Consuming BP Oil
Government scientists say they are seeing a zone in the Gulf of Mexico that has below-normal levels of oxygen. That indicates bacteria in the area are consuming some of the oil that spewed from BP's well.

Marine Scientists Seek Standards For Spill Research
Much of the scientific effort that has followed the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has focused on how much oil escaped and where it's gone. But many biologists say they're puzzled by the lack of an organized research effort to measure the damage.

Green Building: A Real Estate Revolution?
Green building now accounts for close to one-third of new U.S. construction. That's up from 2 percent in 2005, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, which tracks the industry. The U.S. Green Building Council, and its LEED rating system, have changed construction practice -- and policy -- around the country.

Twisted History: The Wily Mississippi Cuts New Paths
The Mississippi River has been consistently changing its path across the American landscape. But the shape-shifting river made it not only fascinating and beautiful, but also deadly.

Un-Natural Selection: Human Evolution's Next Steps
Millions of years ago, the natural environment was shaping us into the species we are now and humans evolved by natural selection.  But as humans continue to evolve, we've turned the notion of natural selection on its head. Nature isn't the only force that picks the genes. Humans are doing it too.

Evolving Culture: Where Do We Go From Here?
Humans are still evolving, but cultural evolution is far outpacing genetic evolution. Our environment and technology are changing so rapidly that genetic adaptations can't keep up. So we're adapting by learning new things and passing that knowledge onto the next generation.

Scientist Watches Glacier Melt Beneath His Feet
Scientists collecting ice cores from Indonesia's Pancak Jaya say they saw the 16,000-foot glacier drop 12 inches in just two weeks. Puncak Jaya is one of the few tropical glaciers remaining in the world, and it's especially vulnerable to climate change. This makes it especially important to researchers.

A Village Sacrificed For China's Greater Good
A $62-billion water diversion project 60 years in the making will channel water from the south of the country to the drought-prone North. The project will dislocate 330,000 people, who must leave their homes forever.

Former Skeptic Offers Ideas On Climate Change
Bjorn Lomborg, the controversial Danish economist, has pushed his way back into the global warming debate with a book that proposes "smart solutions" to climate change. Those promised solutions rely heavily on R&D aimed at making clean energy cheap, rather than attempts to shut down dirty energy sources. Lomborg says his views haven't changed, but more people are willing to listen to him because international negotiations on limiting greenhouse emissions have accomplished so little.

Time To Get Tough, Environmentalists Say
With no climate change legislation coming out of the Senate, Sierra Club head Michael Brune says it's time to try a new strategy to fight global warming. Author Bill McKibben says it's time to get angry. Brune and McKibben discuss their ideas for curbing climate change.


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