Sometimes even the news that might not lift our spirits is important to share. A scientist friend forwards this article from The-Scientist.com, ‘the magazine of the life sciences.’

In it, the authors argue that it is the indirect impacts of climate change—large-scale alterations to Earth’s natural systems—that pose the greatest risk to human health.

The CT Summit on Business Sustainability was held on Dec. 7, 2010. The summit was co-hosted by CBIA President John Rathgeber, and CT DEP Commissioner Amey Marrella.

More than 250 people attended the summit, which was held at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.

Ken Salazar announced recently the award of more than $19 million to support 24 conservation projects benefiting fish and wildlife on more than 5,900 acres of coastal habitats in 12 states not including Connecticut.

The grants will be matched with $21M and will be used to acquire, restore or enhance coastal wetlands and adjacent uplands to provide long-term conservation benefits to fish, wildlife and their habitat.

Birders have been flocking to Bradley International Airport since Airport Operations Manager Rollin Tebbetts spotted a Mountain bluebird there Tuesday and took these great photos.

Tebbetts said part of his job is wildlife management at the airport, which has about 2,000 acres of land. At first he thought it was an Eastern bluebird, but Paul Fusco, who works with the DEP confirmed from Tebbetts’ photos that it was indeed a Mountain bluebird.

Bridgeport Hospital has received a $6.6 million loan from the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority CHEFA to finance a comprehensive energy efficiency project at its one-million-square-foot Grant Street campus.

The work will be completed during the next year by Siemens, the international electronics and electrical engineering firm.

With Chairman of the Connecticut Greenways Council Bill O’Neill by her side Friday, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced funding that will help close gaps along the 10-mile trail so it can stretch from the banks of the Connecticut River in East Hartford to the Hop River multiuse trail in Bolton.

Friday’s announcement took place in front of a milelong segment of the trail that’s under construction from Gardner to Highland streets.

The heat radiating off roadways has long been a factor in explaining why city temperatures are often considerably warmer than nearby suburban or rural areas.

A team of engineering researchers from the University of Rhode Island is examining methods of harvesting that solar energy to melt ice, power streetlights, illuminate signs, heat buildings and potentially use it for many other purposes.

Congressman Tim Bishop from New York joined federal and state environmental officials to announce that 38 grants totaling $2.4 million were awarded to state and local government and community groups under the Long Island Sound Futures Fund.

When leveraged by $4.4 million contributed by the recipients themselves, a total of $6.8 million will support on-the-ground conservation in Connecticut and New York.

Joseph Bushey, an associate professor in UConn’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been working with Hartford’s Metropolitan District Commission to determine whether plans to improve the system could have unintended side effects on the environment and public health.

Bushey and his colleagues can help the city decide where and how to invest in improvements.

The Saint Joseph College Freshwater Institute will provide support for water quality analyses for nonprofit agencies and associations, as well as an active research laboratory and laboratory research expertise for primary and secondary schools.

Students at Saint Joseph College will also benefit from increased research opportunities involving the analysis of freshwater systems.

Officials from the Willimantic Whitewater Partnership have an opportunity to pay off the balance of a $170,000 loan for a Bridge Street parcel that will eventually be a hub for a trail and kayaking downtown.

The group is making a fundraising push between now and mid-December to raise money that will be matched by the Savings Institute Bank and Trust Co. The Willimantic bank will match up to $85,000 through Dec. 15.

Officials recently broke ground on a project to restore Long Beach West, one of Connecticut’s longest stretches of barrier beach.

By Thanksgiving, the original 37 cottages and 27 outbuildings will all be gone, the CT Mirror reports. This is perhaps one of the odder projects funded by federal stimulus money.

Click below for more on this story and more photos.

Yale University was one of the top scorers receiving an ‘A’ in the College Sustainability Report Card from GreenReportCard.org.

Yale has three committees dedicated to sustainability, one of which is in the process of developing a comprehensive sustainability plan. Yale also has reduced greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent since 2005 and aims to achieve a 43 percent reduction by 2020.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell has announced that Connecticut is receiving a $120 million grant from the federal government to support the long-planned New Haven-Hartford-Springfield, Massachusetts high-speed rail line project.

The goal is to establish high-speed, intercity rail service on the 62-mile line within five years that would eventually extend to Vermont and on to Montreal.

While swimmers and boaters along any shore consider the slimy green film that coats everything from rocks to docks as a nuisance, University of New Haven chemical engineering student Nicole Reardon and Assistant Professor Shannon Ciston, Ph.D. think otherwise.

The slime is a complex community that may hold the key to the environmental impact of the chemical nanoparticles that find their way into Long Island Sound.

CT Environmental Headlines was among CT DEP GreenCircle Award winners Tuesday at The Siemon Co., in Watertown. Award winners range from a group of Milford Cub Scouts for a beach cleanup to The Siemon Co., which has installed hundreds of solar panels and reduced its waste to landfills.

CT Environmental Headlines (where you are right now) is a blog, website and e-mail service that provides links to the public to current environmental news stories in the state.

Ten environmental groups hosted a forum today for Connecticut’s gubernatorial candidates — Tom Foley, Dan Malloy, and Tom Marsh — met at Yale to discuss their environmental priorities in a public forum moderated by Connecticut Public Radio’s Nancy Cohen.

“The next governor will have to set out a vision for clean energy and transportation, both of which are key to jobs and Connecticut’s economy,” said Don Strait, executive director of Connecticut Fund for the Environment.

The first solar-powered hydrogen fueling station in Connecticut opened today in Wallingford. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro joined local entrepreneur Tom Sullivan and the DOE’s Gil Sterling at the company’s headquarters for the ceremony.

With limited public access to start, the station will offer businesses and government vehicles a quick and easy option to fill up their fuel cell vehicles, and will provide the infrastructure to support broader availability of fuel cell vehicles.

A study has found that 63 percent of Americans believe that global warming is happening, but many don’t understand why.

Eight percent have knowledge equivalent to an ‘A’ or ‘B,’ 40 percent would receive a ‘C’ or ‘D,’ and 52 percent would get an ‘F.’

Click below to read more about this recent study from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.

On Sunday, Oct. 10, (10/10/10), New Haven and surrounding communities, joined 7,347 other communities in 188 countries in the largest climate action in history.

Facing the ecological, humanitarian and societal crisis of climate change, these modern day “community activists” sent their leaders in the U.S. a profoundly hopeful message that was seen and heard around the world: “Now it’s your turn.”