Climate Change This Week: Ancient Global Warming, Powering Houses With Cars, and More

Exploding carbon dioxide levels, marine dead zones, ocean acidification, rising temperatures? "Been there, done that," says Earth through the voices of fossil cells -- and it wiped out most life on the planet about 250 million years ago, concludes scientists deciphering those cellular messages, reports Alanna Mitchell at The New York Times.

At a time when climate change is worsening, U.S. budget cuts are decreasing monitoring of climate change, weather and natural disasters, reports Rachel Nuwer at The New York Times.

"Honey, the power went off... can you switch on the car?" might be a common future refrain, as people use electric cars to power houses during blackouts -- which will likely increase from more extreme weather under continuing climate change, explains Michael Lemonick at Climate Central. The technology already exists.

From Starbucks to Stonyfield, an increasing number of companies are finding that recycling their waste is not only good for the climate, but profitable as well, reports Leon Kaye at Triplepundit.

Really HOT: A recent White House initiative, the Green Button, is attracting droves of users; it enables companies to access energy usage information from participating utilities with the click of a button -- and save big time by cutting energy waste in office buildings, reports Katherine Tweed at greentechgrid.

Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded when I photographed these wildflowers recently. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a clean, safe future. If you'd like to tell Congress that you support clean energy and will vote for clean energy candidates, go here. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.