Al Gore’s been a punching bag for climate change skeptics, but he hits back in this New York Times op-ed.  The Times also has this Thomas Friedman column about Lindsey Graham’s efforts on the climate bill, the latest version of which may see the elimination of cap-and-trade (Washington Post).  Meanwhile, the EPA plans to move forward with regulating emissions (Washington Post), while smog testing in California is rife with fraud (LA Times).

A new independent board will review the work of the UN climate panel (NY Times).

A new report says that whaling releases large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere (BBC).  The BBC also has this story about a large iceberg that broke off from Antarctica and may threaten marine life, and this one about a patch of plastic debris in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Vancouver Olympics have been green (LA Times), but as they come to a close, environmentalists are raising the alarm about Russia’s preparation for 2014 (MSNBC).

Wal-Mart wants its suppliers to cut their emissions (MSNBC).  Meanwhile, Massachusetts thinks Wal-Mart and Lowe’s should be incorporating more energy-savings features into new stores planned in Salem (Boston Globe).

Utah doesn’t want the federal government designating any more land as a national monument (MSNBC).