Senate Democrats poised to start energy bill. Senate Democrats will begin crafting a sweeping energy bill this week that could include a first-ever, though more modest, cap on global-warming pollution, believing they must act now despite differences within their ranks and political jitters in an election year. [News Source]

Scientists debate humanity’s role in warming. Futuristic-looking instruments atop the Chesapeake Lighthouse, 13 miles off the Atlantic coast, measure, among other things, how much radiation the sun sends into our atmosphere, how much is reflected back and how much the Earth absorbs and releases as heat. [News Source]

Climate reactions vary from frightened to calm. Doug Dwoyer is a friendly, smiling man who looks like the late actor Walter Matthau in a good-guy role. But Dwoyer goes around telling scary, depressing stories — about climate change. [News Source]

Theater of the absurd. Welcome to what one exhausted adviser calls the “theater of the absurd,” where a White House is whipsawed by wild, almost unimaginable events, including those in the Gulf, that threaten to reshape the public perception of the Obama presidency at every turn. [News Source]

Little done to prevent polar bear extinction, climate change, feds say. Polar bear policy in America can be summed up succinctly: The iconic bears are threatened with extinction, and so far nothing much is being done. [News Source]

Eiris review names Britain as ‘dirty man of Europe.’ Britain is being accused of being the "dirty man of Europe" after new research showed that, of the world's top 300 companies, more than half of those most engaged in carbon-polluting sectors were based in the UK. [News Source]

Gillard to fight for carbon tax. Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she wants Australia to have a carbon tax and is prepared to fight for it. Ms Gillard told the Nine Network Sunday she had doubts about the emissions trading scheme because there was no lasting and deep community consensus for it. [News Source]

Insulation scheme helps fewer than 1% of householders. A scheme designed to boost home insulation and cut climate pollution has reached fewer than 1% of households in Scotland, prompting condemnation and calls for action from critics. [News Source]

Electric-car recharging stations coming to Greenville. When consumers have plug-in electric cars, Greenville and six other South Carolina cities will be ready for them. [News Source]

Blanchett turns to solar power for star wattage. Critics often gush about her star power, but it was solar power on the mind of the Australian actress, Cate Blanchett, yesterday. [News Source]

G8 avoids bold aid promises amid budget strains. G8 wealthy countries said on Saturday that the global economic crisis threatened to undermine 2015 global targets for reducing extreme poverty worldwide, but avoided bold new aid promises. [News Source]