MNN - Mother Nature Network

GET OUT OF MY DREAMS: CNN features a two-part overview today examining four challengers to the internal-combustion engine's throne: hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicles, and air- and solar-powered cars. (Source: CNN)

POZNAN: The reality of global warming was underscored today at the U.N. climate talks in Poland as a group of 43 small island nations -- islands that would be the first to be wiped out by rising sea levels -- argued that the goals being discussed at Poznan still aren't tough enough. (Source: Reuters)

GREAT GREEN HOPE: Obama's election has created an odd situation at Poznan. The folks there like him, no doubt, and hope he'll usher in a new era of American environmentalism. But, as he always says, there's only one president at a time, and it's clear where that guy stands. So the conference intended to give us the new Kyoto Protocol is simultaneously hamstrung by its timing and tantalized by a powerless president-elect -- and, you know, there's all the global economic bickering, too. (Sources: AP, NYT, TNR, WSJ)

EMBARRASSED PROTECTION AGENCY: The EPA announced today it will help China on its approach to environmental issues, offering aid on things like policy and best practices; unfortunately, today also happened to be the day the National Research Council issued an analysis arguing the EPA must revise its own risk-assessment processes. (Sources: UPI, NYT)

SHOOTING FROM THE BLIP: Touting 2006's 1.3 percent drop in U.S. CO2 emissions last year has backfired for President Bush, as the EIA reported today that U.S. CO2 emissions increased 1.4 percent in 2007. (Source: The Center for Public Integrity)

HUMMER OF LOVE: The poster manchild of automotive extravagance is at a crossroads, writes Andrew Revkin in Dot Earth today. A few months ago you could be forgiven for thinking $4/gallon gas would sink the gas guzzler, but cheap fuel is giving us the itch to go driving up mountainsides again. And, yes, gas prices will inevitably go back up, but apparently Russians, of all people, are Hummer fans. And finally, Revkin offers a link to Stephen Colbert's definitive piece on the National Hummer Club from October. (Sources: Dot Earth, Treehugger)