Artificial meat, new crab, liquid coal and other green stories of the week

(Monkey Business Images/shutterstock.com)

Some of the major green and environmental stories of the past week (June 18-24), including the environmental benefits of growing meat, the discovery of a new species of crab and the controversial possibilities of using liquid coal are rounded up below.

Civil disobedience - in an open letter published on the internet, environmental groups have called for peaceful disobedience in an effort to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline, which will potentially run from Canada to Texas, from being completed. ( Huffington Post)  

EU Emissions - a crucial vote among members of the European Union to decide whether or not to toughen regulations on climate change emissions due to take place this week has been postponed. ( Business Green)     

Floods - the recent weather extremes continue with widespread flooding across much of South Eastern China and areas surrounding the Missouri River in the United States earlier in the week.  ( Xinhua/ Reuters)

Grand Canyon - the US administration placed a ban on mining in a million acres of land surrounding the Grand Canyon, it was announced on Monday, to prevent an increase in uranium mines in the area. ( L.A. Times)

Johngarthia cocoensis - a new species of land crab known as the Johngarthia cocoensis was discovered this week on the Cocos Islands in Costa Rica. ( AFP)

Kenyan farmers - farmers in Kenya are increasingly turning to solar technology as a low cost, environmentally friendly means of irrigating their crops. ( AlertNet)

Laboratory meat ­- a new study produced by scientists at Oxford University and Amsterdam University claims that growing meat artificially in a laboratory could slash associated greenhouse gas emissions by up to 96 percent and could help feed the world's growing population. ( Inhabitat)

Liquid coal - liquefied coal could be cost-effective by as soon as 2015, claims a new study, but the large carbon footprint of the coal has caused concern among many environmentalists. ( cleantechies.com)

Ningaloo - the Ningaloo coast in Australia and the Kenya Rift Valley Lake system in Africa were two of the latest sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage List at a meeting this week in Paris. ( Guardian) 

Permits - On June 22 a bill known as H.R. 2021 was passed by the House of Representatives making it easier for oil companies to obtain drilling permits from the Environmental Protection Agency. ( Bloomberg)

Rare earth - prices of rare-earth metals rose sharply after China, which controls 95 percent of the world's rare-earth output, announced that it would be further reducing the amount of exports. ( Wall Street Journal)

Solar in Lords - on Tuesday, June 21, MPs from the UK's upper house of parliament - the House of Lords - met campaigners hoping for a reversal of the subsidy cuts to the solar industry passed in the House of Commons earlier this year. ( Independent)

UK bees - despite campaigns to reverse the declining population of honey bees, experts in the UK are reporting that this winter bee populations decreased by 13.6 percent. ( Environlib)