Environment

IdeaFestival 2012 will kick off with a day-long conference about water--how we use it, what happens when there's not enough of it and how groups and countries are addressing the global water crisis.

The Obama Administration has announced new fuel economy standards for cars and small trucks that will go into effect in five years.

Starting in 2017, cars and light trucks will have to be more fuel efficient than they are now. By 2025, the average car’s fuel economy will be 54.5 miles per gallon.

The Louisville Metro area is coming off of a string of bad air quality days, in which ozone levels were high enough to be unhealthy for many people. But relief may be on the horizon.

There were four consecutive air quality alerts called last week, but ozone levels were only high enough to exceed the federal standard on three of those days: Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Air Pollution Control District spokesman Tom Nord says the weather could be tricky to predict this week, but it seems likely Louisville’s ozone levels will remain normal for now.

Wondering how much carbon dioxide is being emitted in your country, state, county or Congressional district? I  just came across a cool database produced by CARMA (Carbon Monitoring for Action) that has all of that information.

The National Park Service has appointed a new superintendent for Mammoth Cave National Park, near Bowling Green.

Sarah Craighead has worked at Mammoth Cave National Park before…but that was in 1979. She grew up near the park, and credits it with getting her started in the park system.

Since then, she’s headed up parks in Oklahoma and Arizona. She’s currently the superintendent of Death Valley National Park, and has also worked in parks in Maine and Virginia.