Alternative energy suddenly faces headwinds. For all the support that the presidential candidates are expressing for renewable energy, alternative energies like wind and solar are facing big new challenges because of the credit freeze and the plunge in oil and natural gas prices.Shares of alternative energy companies have fallen even more sharply than the rest of the stock market in recent months. The struggles of financial institutions are raising fears that investment capital for big renewable energy projects is likely to get tighter. — New York Times

Unsustainable living – photography prize 2008. The Prix Pictet is an international photography award for remarkable images that focus on sustainability. It launched this year and is presided over by Kofi Annan, Nobel laureate and former Secretary General of the United Nations. — New Scientist

UN urges “green New Deal”. The United Nations is urging a transformation of the world’s sluggish economy through investment in green innovation and natural resources, a type of “Green New Deal” that leaders hope will also curb climate change and bolster the world’s food supply. — Yale Environment 360

Fertilisers: A growing threat to sea life. A rise in carbon emissions is not the only threat to the planet. Changes to the nitrogen cycle, caused in large part by the widespread use of fertilizers, are also damaging both water quality and aquatic life. These concerns are highlighted by Professor Grace Brush, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, in her historical review of landscape changes around Chesapeake Bay, a large estuary on the Atlantic coast of the USA. — Science Daily

Have you seen our new environment blog, Rooted?

Crikey’s launched a new group blog, Rooted, devoted to discussing the environment and climate change. Contributors include Steve Truman from Agmates,  Tim Hollo from The Greens, John Hepburn from Greenpeace and Anna Rose from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Check it out and have your say.