Daily Roundup

Here's a sample of some of the best environmental journalism published today:

* The Associated Press reports that a special-effects entrepreneur from Alabama has come up with a way to fill the sky with foamy clouds as big as 4 feet wide and shaped like corporate logos -- Flogos, as he calls them.

* With the price of gas approaching $4 a gallon, more commuters are abandoning their cars and taking the train or bus instead, The New York Times reports. The Contra Costa Times also has a story on the issue.

* A new study indicates that replacing the calories from red meat and dairy products with calories from chicken, fish or vegetables could have the same impact on greenhouse gas emissions as shifting to an entirely locally-grown diet, according to this National Public Radio (audio) report.

* A team from Cornell University in New York produced a genetically modified embryo to study how early cells and diseases develop, the London Times reports. It was destroyed after five days. What's the potential benefit of doing such a thing, you might ask? The technology could potentially be used to correct genes which cause diseases such as cystic fibrosis, haemophilia and even cancer, according to the story.

* Thirty years have passed since the federal government banned the use of lead-based paint, but it continues to sicken children nationwide, particularly those who are poor and live in older cities, the Columbus Dispatch reports. So, the paper asks, should the manufacturers of that lead-based paint pay for the mess? Billions of dollars are at stake for former lead-paint manufacturers in a Rhode Island lawsuit that triggered a flurry of similar suits across the country. Columbus and Ohio filed suits more than a year ago using the same legal argument.

* Recent warnings about the chemical compound bisphenol A -- found in plastics used to make everything from sippy cups and baby bottles to cooking spoons -- is helping spur blockbuster sales for some savvy retailers, the Miami Herald reports.

* Scientists plan to pump 1 million tons of greenhouse gas more than a mile beneath a California power plant in one of the nation's largest experiments to slow global warming, the Fresno Bee reports.

-- Scott Streater