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Clean Start: April 5, 2012

Welcome to Clean Start, ThinkProgress Green’s morning round-up of the latest in climate and clean energy. Here is what we’re reading. What are you?

Media seized on a story that a solar company filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, except the company Solar Trust never took money from the Department of Energy. Even The Associated Press and Reuters got it wrong. [Politico]

In a new study, scientists show the atmospheric concentration of that heat-trapping greenhouse gas jumped more than 40 percent. Then global temperatures went up about 6 degrees Fahrenheit. [AP]

The National Resources Defense Council says Virginia is among the states least prepared for climate change. [The Republic]

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The NYT Editorial Board writes on EPA rules for reduced sulfur in gasoline, “Cleaner air, in turn, will mean thousands fewer premature deaths from lung diseases and heart attacks, and many thousands fewer hospital stays. This should be an easy case for Mr. Obama to make.” [NYT]

The Committee on Climate Change report says that in 2050, the UK’s emissions reductions across the whole economy will cost 1–2 percent of the total GDP. For a rough comparison, one percent of the UK’s 2011 GDP is a little more than what the country currently spends on public housing and community amenities, and is no where near spending items like healthcare. [Mother Jones]

A 2010 Defense Department review cut through political rhetoric and stated that climate change and energy security are “prominent military vulnerabilities”. Climate change in particular is an “accelerant of instability and conflict,” the report noted. [National Geographic]

Climate change is happening. And not preparing for it could cost the state $10 billion a year by 2020. That’s according to the Department of Ecology, which has just released a response strategy to changing climate conditions. [NPR]