Last month, President Obama outlined details of a new program that would encourage homeowners to invest in energy efficient retrofits. Market research company SBI Energy projects that the home retrofit market here in the US will reach $35 billion by 2013 – that’s a 69 percent increase from 2008.

So, what exactly does that mean for those of us who live in charming, albeit leaky and crooked old houses? A group of contractors recently presented data from retrofit projects at the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association’s Building Energy Conference in Boston last week – the contractors focused on “superinsulation” projects that improved energy efficiency by some 50 to 70 percent.

Martin LaMonica was there. He’s a senior writer for CNET and edits their Green Tech blog, and he joined us today to help break down the costs and benefits of such projects.

CNET: 'Deep-energy retrofits' take root in homes

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Yesterday’s warm temperatures had the staff here energized by the promise of spring and sprouting green shoots. Before you run out for grass seed and weedkiller, you may want to consider what makes your lawn lush.

The EPA is currently reconsidering the safety of the chemical atrazine, a common herbicide. Researchers have linked atrazine to gender mutation in some frogs. The study exposed amphibians to water tainted with a legal amount of the herbicide and discovered that atrazine actually “feminized” male frogs – giving them the ability to produce viable eggs and offspring.

The swiss agri-business Syngenta, the largest manufacturer of atrazine denounces the findings as flawed. We’re going to dig into the study for today’s Next Green Thing. Tyrone Hayes led the study at the University of California at Berkeley, where he’s a professor and molecular toxicologist. Findings are being published this week in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis)

The Washington Post: Study: Weedkiller in Waterways Can Change Frogs' Sex Traits

The New York Times: Hermaphrodite Frogs Found in Suburban Ponds

The Washington Post: Weedkiller 'Castrates' Male Frogs, Study Says

WIRED SCIENCE: Sex-Changing Herbicide Makes Amphibians Sick, Too

Reuters: Study: Common Weedkiller Turns Male Frogs Into Females

ScienceNews: Weedkiller In The Crosshairs

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Carbon trading is now the fastest-growing commodities market on Earth. More than $300 billion worth of carbon has been traded since emission caps were agreed upon in 2005. One market analysis predicts that if President Obama’s plans for a cap-and-trade system gets a green light in the U.S., the demand for carbon credits could soar to a $2-3 trillion market. Advocates declare cap-and-trade as good for the environment and the economy.

Investigative reporter Mark Schapiro has been looking into those promises and unraveling how the price of emissions and projected emissions are assesed. Mark uncovered some critical flaws in how offsets are assessed, priced, and traded in the burgeoning commodities market. As part of our Next Green Thing series, we’re talking with Mark about his reporting which is featured in the February issue of Harper's.

NPR: Cap And Trade And The New Carbon Economy

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Conservation isn’t easy. Historically, convincing communities to preserve wildlife habitats when basic human survival is itself in question is a complex, and contentious task. Yet, conservationists on the front lines of the environmental movement are coming up with creative ways to align human interests with protections for endangered species and ecosystems.

Science writer Caroline Fraser has been traveling the globe and documenting innovative approaches to wildlife management. Her new book is Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution, and she joined us today to share some stories of rewilding as part of our Next Green Thing series.

Read an experpt from Rewilding the World

Meet Untersteiner, Norbert Untersteiner. He isn’t your typical spy. He doesn’t wear a tuxedo, drive a sports car, or go swimming with babes in white bikinis (as far as we know).

He receives top secret data from the CIA, not the other way around, and instead of stopping evil villains, he studies icebergs. Norbert Untersteiner is a spy for climate change. He’s part of a recently resurrected CIA program that uses high-tech CIA satellites to track the effects of climate change.

It’s a controversial program that has left some lawmakers scratching their heads as to why the CIA is spending time and resources on arctic sea ice. As part of our “next green thing” series, we’re joined now by our very own international man of mystery, Norbert Untersteiner.

New York Times: C.I.A. Is Sharing Data With Climate Scientists

Climate Change Images Collected by the CIA

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