Nice for a dip, but worrisome. Superior and the four other Great Lakes have been at or near record high temperatures for the 30 years such measurements have been taken -- and there's still a month left before the lakes typically hit their warmest levels of the year. [News Source]

Climate-change policy: Let it be. The Democrats have abandoned their efforts to limit emissions through legislation. But the demise of cap and trade in Congress does not mean a complete halt to the administration’s efforts to cut emissions. [News Source]

Energy star ratings in disarray. Labor's push to cut greenhouse gas emissions through the use of energy efficiency schemes was yesterday dealt another blow when building industry heavyweights discredited the star ratings being applied to hundreds of thousands of homes. [News Source]

AG wrests price cut from Cape Wind. The developers of the Cape Wind energy project in Nantucket Sound have agreed to reduce the price of its electricity by 10 percent, saving consumers at least $456 million over the 15-year span of a proposed contract with National Grid. [News Source]

Church wins energy certification. An eastern Jefferson County church has become the first house of worship in Kentucky to receive an Energy Star certification from the Environmental Protection Agency and one of the first 10 in the nation to receive one. [News Source]

A lively debate on climate change. Lord Monckton, an outspoken climate change skeptic, Tuesday debated Eric Bates, editor of Rolling Stone, which recently published a cover story maintaining that climate skeptics have enabled polluting industries to murder the climate. [News Source]

Scotland’s population to swell. Factors such as climate change will add to Scotland’s appeal, leading to population growth that could trigger huge problems in infrastructure and urban crowding, experts warned. [News Source]

Reducing soot might be shortcut to reverse climate change, new study says. The quickest way to slow the melting of Arctic sea ice is through reducing soot emissions, according to a new study of soot's climate effects. Eliminating soot entirely could undo nearly a century of global warming, the study says. [News Source]

Weather or not? Last winter's record snow was driven by short-term meterological patterns, not long-term climate change, say researchers who have a new explanation for why such anomalous snowstorms can coexist with global warming: The storms were kicked up by the convergence of two natural, large-scale weather patterns. [News Source]

Climate change may mean the end for Ireland’s rarest fish. Ireland’s rarest fish is under threat from climate change, scientists are warning at a major conference in Belfast this week. The pollan, found in only five loughs in Ireland, could dwindle even further if our waterways heat up due to global warming. [News Source]

Taiwanese artist uses mermaid to spread climate message. Artist Vincent J.F. Huang, 39, decided to use his profession to help raise awareness about the small Pacific country of Tuvalu, which faces rising sea levels that threaten to make it one of the first victims of global warming. [News Source]