Heat waves, storms, sea levels, glaciers, and wildlife migrations are just a few of the environmental indicators that show measurable signs of climate change.  A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report, Climate Change Indicators in the United States, looks at 24 key indicators that show how climate change impacts the health and environment of the nation’s citizens.

“These indicators show us that climate change is a very real problem with impacts that are already being seen,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “The actions Americans are taking today to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions will help us solve this global challenge.”

Some of the key findings include:

1. Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are increasing. Between 1990 and 2008, there has been about a 14 percent increase in emissions in the United States.
2. Average temperatures are rising. Seven of the top 10 warmest years on record for the continental United States have occurred since 1990.

1. Tropical cyclone intensity has increased in recent decades. Six of the 10 most active hurricane seasons have occurred since the mid-1990s.

1. Sea levels are rising. From 1993 to 2008, sea level rose twice as fast as the long-term trend.

Glaciers are melting. Loss of glacier volume appears to have accelerated over the last decade.

1. The frequency of heat waves has risen steadily since the 1960s. The percentage of the U.S. population impacted by heat waves has also increased.

The information included in this report will help inform future policy decisions and will help evaluate the success of climate change efforts. The data used in this report were collected by several government agencies, academic institutions, and other stakeholder organizations. As new data and information become available, EPA will update and broaden the indicators in future reports.

Information about the Climate Change Indicators report: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/indicators.html

Information about climate change: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange

You read right. David Merryman, our Catawba Riverkeeper is going to spend a few days fishing. Must be nice, eh?

Actually, what David is doing — with the help of volunteers — is collecting fish samples so he can test them for heavy metals.

Here's why he's doing it himself:

Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation (CRF) is pleased to announce that we will be collecting independent water, sediment and fish tissue samples from the Catawba River at Mountain Island Lake on Thursday, April 29. As a non-profit organization advocating for the protection of the Catawba River, we want to provide facts and figures regarding heavy metals and chemical contamination in our River to the public immediately. “No delays, and no governmental red-tape. We shouldn’t have to wait months or years to know what’s in the water we swim in and fish we eat,” says Catawba Riverkeeper David Merryman.

The last report from such a study was conducted in 2001, but we didn't receive any results until 2009. P.S.: That's our damn drinking water. We deserve to now what's in it.

From the Gaston Gazette's Leo Hohmann:

Merryman, head of the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, will be out on the lake this Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to oversee the foundation’s first-ever independent analysis of the lake’s water quality. He is enlisting local anglers to catch catfish and largemouth bass that will be tested for the presence of mercury, arsenic and other heavy metals. His fear is the lake could be compromised by years of discharges from two coal-ash ponds associated with Duke Energy’s Riverbend Steam Station.

The Riverkeeper has contracted with a Huntersville laboratory to test water, sediment and fish tissue samples for PCBs and eight heavy metals, including mercury and arsenic. He promises to make the results public within 25 business days. Merryman says state and federal regulators get poor grades for making testing results public in a timely manner.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, issued a report on the testing of fish tissue last fall, in 2009, but the fish that were used were caught in 2001.

From WFAE's Julie Rose:

"We want to know now," says David Merryman of the Catawba Riverkeeper. "We want to know what's in the fish we're eating. What's in the water we drink and what gets stirred up in the sediments we're swimming in."

Our drinking water is contaminated. From two months ago (it's got some audio problems, but you'll get the gist):

Some information about Little Sugar Creek, which runs through Charlotte and into the Catawba, from Rick Gaskins of the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation:

Congratulations!

UNC Charlotte has named 15 finalists for undergraduate scholarships funded by the Leon Levine Foundation.

The Levine Scholars will enter the university in the fall semester.

Ten of the high school seniors are from North Carolina. The value of each scholarship is about $90,000 for in-state students and $140,000 for nonresidents. The funds cover tuition and fees, room and board, books and a laptop.

More than 1,000 student from 25 states were evaluated to find the finalists.

“The response from top students from around the country was more than we could have envisioned,” says Chancellor Philip Dubois. “Their credentials are at the very highest echelon, which made the selection process very difficult because of the quality of the individuals and the group as a whole.”

Read the rest of his Charlotte Business Journal article here.

Learn more about the Levine scholarship program here:

Since I began covering the Jinwrights' tax-evasion trial, I've heard several people suggest that the news coming out of the courtroom may lead people away from church. According to a recent survey, it appears people were already leaving.

Most young adults today don't pray, don't worship and don't read the Bible, a major survey by a Christian research firm shows.

If the trends continue, "the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships," says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In the group's survey of 1,200 18- to 29-year-olds, 72% say they're "really more spiritual than religious."

Among the 65% who call themselves Christian, "many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only," Rainer says. "Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith."

Key findings in the phone survey, conducted in August and released today:

• 65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.

• 65% rarely or never attend worship services.

• 67% don't read the Bible or sacred texts.

Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.

"We have dumbed down what it means to be part of the church so much that it means almost nothing, even to people who already say they are part of the church," Rainer says.

Read the rest of this USA Today article, by Cathy Lynn Grossman, here.