AP - Two of the most important Greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere reached a record high in 2006, and measurements show that one [~] carbon dioxide [~] is playing an increasingly important role in global warming, the U.N. weather agency said Friday.

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In 1979, Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House to heat water and save energy; a few years later Ronald Reagan removed them, insisting that there was energy enough for all. Reagan then presided over the start of what architecture critic Chris Hume calls "America's collective descent into amnesia."

We have forgotten how bad it was when OPEC turned off the taps in October, 1973. Hume reminds us that oil shot from $ 2.59 a barrel to a shocking $11.65. "The result was pandemonium: In Europe, driving was banned on Sundays; in North America, long lineups at filling stations degenerated into free-for-alls. Leaders went on television...

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AP - Growing up in the 1920s, Bill Lord remembers feasting on the sweet, rich nuts of American chestnut trees [~] the majestic species that a fungus would soon all but wipe out.

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