Climatewire: This time, the heat is really on. From Boston to Washington, D.C., temperatures have soared to 100 degrees or more in recent days, stressing electrical grids, scrambling rail transportation and prompting the swift creation of cooling centers for those who lack air conditioning. Central Canada, portions of the Middle East and China are also coping with searing heat.

A 4 percent decrease in forest was associated with a nearly 50 percent rise in malaria cases in western Brazil.

A report by the Tellus Institute explores four scenarios in response to sustainability demands, and calls for a profound restructuring of global economic priorities.

LONDON, United Kingdom — Ranking the oil and gas industry on sustainability may be an endeavor prone to oxymorons, but a new report from Two Tomorrows has attempted just that, scoring the 10 largest fossil fuel companies on five categories of leadership. The results show an industry that is by and large embracing innovation, but falling short on a number of other mission-critical areas, notably peak oil and climate change.

The 107 million tons of grain that went to U.S. ethanol distilleries in 2009 was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels. More than a quarter of the total U.S. grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars last year. With 200 ethanol distilleries in the country set up to transform food into fuel, the amount of grain processed has tripled since 2004.