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Citizen action restoring passenger rail in the UK - Sweet! A coalition of citizens' groups are working to restore the New Somerset and Dorset rail lines between Bath and Bournemouth in the UK. There's tons of room for this sort of thing in the United States, given the great love railroad enthusiasts have for lost railroad glory. Don't miss the detailed Google map of the New Somerset and Dorset lines.

From the Great Pyramids to the Acropolis, and the London Eye to the Las Vegas strip, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries joined in the World Wildlife Fund-sponsored event, a time zone-by-time zone plan to dim non-essential lights between 8.30pm and 9.30pm. Dr Richard Dixon of WWF Scotland said: "Earth Hour was the biggest ever show of support for action on climate change. "Millions of people showed world leaders they want strong action."

Scott Cooney of Red, Green, and Blue recently wrote a thought provoking post about the need for population control as a fundamental and necessary tool to deal with a wide range of environmental crises. He refers to population control as the elephant in the room when it comes to policymakers. This is certainly an apt description of the issue, and it may even be considered an understatement. I would go so far as to say that population control is regarded as political suicide and a topic that is seemingly avoided at all costs.

Fantastic interactive infographic of the US electric grid.

John Holdren, science advisor to President Barack Obama, swung by Blighty today for some tea and crumpets with the Brits. But before embarking on a who's who tour of UK science policymakers, he joined the press in the basement of the US embassy for some all-American cookies and black coffee. Most of his hour-long round table was spent discussing climate change. He expressed some disappointment with the climate change legislation winding its way through the US Congress, but sees it as a make-or-break step for getting an effective international accord out of the UN's Copenhagen conference, which will take place in December. Some of the reporters expressed scepticism that a bill could be passed in time, but Holdren was optimistic, noting that the administration only needed around 12-15 additional votes in the Senate to pass the legislation. "I would still bet that it will happen, but I have to admit that it's going to be a challenge," he said.

Exelon has begun a series of nuclear power plant uprates that will add between 1,300 MW and 1,500 MW of generating capacity at its existing fleet of nuclear units over the next eight years, the company said Friday. The first of the uprates, totaling about 38 MW, was confirmed last week following upgrades at Exelon's Quad Cities plant near Cordova, Illinois. Uprate projects, some of which require US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval, improve efficiency and increase electricity output of nuclear units through upgrades to plant equipment, Chicago-based Exelon said. The projects take advantage of new production and measurement technologies, new materials and experience from decades of nuclear power operations, the company said. Uprate efforts are underway at Exelon's Limerick and Peach Bottom nuclear plants in Pennsylvania, and the Dresden, LaSalle and Quad Cities plants in Illinois. Those are expected to produce nearly 25% of the added capacity. The remainder of capacity would come from uprates at nine other plants beginning in 2010 and ending in 2017.

The Western media reported last week on how the German company Urenco shipped nuclear material to Siberia, where the highly toxic waste was stored in containers in the open air. The company has stopped deliveries and will store the material with higher standards in Germany in the future. The radiation warning sign was so small that few passers-by took note in the commuter rail station in Kapitolovo, Russia. Fifty-six steel canisters were sitting there on a summer day three years ago. Just a stone's throw away, people were waiting for trains to take them to downtown St. Petersburg.

The Western media reported last week on how the German company Urenco shipped nuclear material to Siberia, where the highly toxic waste was stored in containers in the open air. The company has stopped deliveries and will store the material with higher standards in Germany in the future. The radiation warning sign was so small that few passers-by took note in the commuter rail station in Kapitolovo, Russia. Fifty-six steel canisters were sitting there on a summer day three years ago. Just a stone's throw away, people were waiting for trains to take them to downtown St. Petersburg.

"Obama tried cutting oil subsidies in his very first federal budget proposal, and it didn't fly. He and the Democratic members of Congress tried again earlier this year, hoping that the Tea Party's incessant yelling for spending cuts would translate into Congressional support for one of the most obvious spending cuts in the history of spending cuts. But no such luck. And get this: The true amount we pay in oil subsidies is waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than $4 billion a year. In fact, the far-right libertarian think tank the Cato Institute once calculated the true cost of subsidizing oil to be in the range of $78-150 billion -- yep, billion -- per year. A lot of these expenditures come from the massive amount of security needed to protect oil, both at its source in volatile regions and along international shipping routes 'round the world. The US gov expends much effort and capital to help safeguard the oil companies' product and operations -- it's in the national interest, after all, that everyone be able to continue purchasing Exxon gasoline. So you'd think that paring a comparatively meager $4 billio"