"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Ricans awoke to flooded and debris-strewn streets Monday following the overnight passage of Hurricane Irene, which next took aim at the Dominican Republic on a path that could take the storm to the U.S. by the end of the week."

"Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is pounding away at rival Rick Perry's skepticism of manmade global warming and criticism of the nation's central banker, saying those stands hurt the GOP and make the Texas governor come off as a not-so-serious national figure."

"Dozens were arrested at the White House Saturday as protesters began a two-week sit-in expected to draw over 2,000 opponents of a proposed pipeline from Canada to the US Gulf Coast."

"A deadly brain-eating amoeba killed a man in his early 20s - the third death linked to the rare parasite this summer, health official said."

"New York State's attorney general has sent subpoenas to three large energy companies as part of a broad investigation into whether they have accurately described to investors the prospects for their natural gas wells, according to several sources familiar with the inquiry."

For the last several years, Pacific coast oyster populations, farmed and wild, have suffered massive, mysterious die-offs. It turns out the culprit is probably ocean acidification -- a consequence of human emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Eric Scigliano reports for onearth August 17, 2011. [23]

"At long last, mainstream media begins to pay attention to the flat denial of basic climate science being pushed by right-wing Republican presidential candidates."

"A giant South American rodent weighing at least 100 pounds (45 kgs) was spotted at a waste-water treatment facility in California recently before disappearing in the brush, according to a wildlife official."

"Four people on average are killed in unprovoked attacks a year, yet humans kill 100 million sharks annually, say marine biologists."

"DENVER—Hispanic leaders in the West have formed a new group called Nuestro Rio to focus attention on the Colorado River, which has sustained generations of Latinos."