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Mon, 31 Dec 07
America: Step up on climate change
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1231/p09s01-coop.html
Christian Science Monitor: 2007 was the year that global warming became a defining issue in world politics. The science behind it has become firmer than ever. People around the world tell pollsters they judge climate change to be a very serious – sometimes immediate – challenge, and a strong majority say they are ready to make lifestyle changes to reduce warming. Nearly all the world's governments started acting on this issue a long time ago. They have been working together under the 1999 Kyoto Protocol to ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
Bad weather helped evolution, says study
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22989973-12377,00.html
Australian: FOR more than 150 years, a debate has raged over the origins of modern humans. The main body of scientific thought says modern humans migrated from Africa and then overwhelmed their more primitive European counterparts, the heavy-browed Neanderthals, or inter-bred with them. But growing credence is being given to the theory that homo sapiens evolved from the Neanderthals, who mysteriously died out some 28,000 years ago. A new study to be published on Wednesday in the ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
Breakthrough on mystery of vanishing bees
http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2007/12/31/news0019.htm
Inter Press Service: Over the past year, honey bees have been dying across North America in unprecedented numbers and, until this month, no one seemed to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt what the cause may have been. What has been dubbed "colony collapse disorder" can work through a honey bee colony in a matter of weeks. Bees fly off to collect pollen, but never return -- or simply weaken and die in the hives. Beyond the larger effects on the food chain, the economic implications of ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
United Kingdom: Climate change mission for chief scientist
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c996e3e6-b72b-11dc-aa38-0000779fd2ac.html
Financial Times: After seven years in one of the most high-pressure jobs in government, Sir David King will on Monday hand over his role as chief scientist to John Beddington, a population biologist at Imperial College London. The chief scientist can adopt a higher public profile than most civil servants – and Sir David took the opportunity to press what he saw as the rational scientific case on controversial issues ranging from foot-and-mouth disease and genetically modified crops to climate change ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
India: Emissions control: A challenge for financial sector
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/View_Point/Emissions_control_A_challeng e_for_financial_sector/articleshow/2663242.cms
Economic Times: India is an important player in climate change arena. First, because it will and is already feeling the negative effects of an instable climate and second because its share in the fight against global warming will be of increasing importance in the international negotiations that just concluded another important round in Bali, Indonesia. Climate change is real! Although climate change cannot be conclusively linked to individual events, it influences the frequency and severity of ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
Coal-to-Chemicals Projects Boom in China
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119906071914658457.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: For years China has been a magnet for the chemicals industry, attracting European and American companies with its cheap production costs and growing market. Now China has another attraction for the energy-intense chemical industry: vast supplies of coal that can replace oil and natural gas as raw materials for chemical production. In the last two years, China has built nearly 20 plants that convert coal into a gas that can be used to make such things as plastic and ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
Climate change refugees need help from world
http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/289763
Toronto Star: The House of God is shrinking. So named by the traditional Maasai people who live in its shadows, Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro is undergoing a slow but steady transformation – one that threatens everyone around it. The majestic glaciers that cap Africa's tallest mountain are melting, victims of a warming Earth. A third of the ice has disappeared in the past 20 years. In another 20 years, nothing will be left. And with that goes the primary water source for the Maasai ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
Heavy Rain Sparks New Landslide Fears in Indonesia
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46220/story.htm
Reuters: Torrential downpours overnight sparked fears of further landslides on Saturday in Indonesia's Java island, where rescuers were still struggling to recover bodies of recent landslide victims, officials said. Nearly 100 people were killed or missing after landslides buried houses under thick mud across the Central Java province this week, while thousands were forced to move out of homes submerged by floods triggered by days of heavy rain. "Heavy rain like this could ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
United Kingdom: Moving targets keep low-carbon economy on the back burner
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/31/carbonemissions.climatech ange
Guardian: As we look back on the past year and look forward to the next, there are clearly huge challenges for our economy. The housing market, consumer spending and economic growth look poised on the edge of a pretty steep drop, and there is a growing chance of a recession. But Gordon Brown - and before him Tony Blair - have stressed that the biggest challenge of our time is the transition to a low-carbon economy. Professor Nick Stern recommended in his report this year that rich ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
Across Florida, drought appears here to stay
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/weather/orl-drought3107dec31,0,3246996. story?track=rss
Orlando Sentinel: Brought to life by two of the driest years in more than a century, Florida's drought now rivals the worst in state history, threatening water supplies, seafood production, boater navigation and forests. It could get a lot worse. Don't look for much rain soon if the global-climate bully called La Niña keeps flexing its muscle as predicted. "There's a really robust La Niña going on now," said Bart Hagemeyer, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
China: Beijing Raises Air Quality Goal for 2008 Games
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46216/story.htm
Reuters: Beijing is aiming for more 'good air days' in 2008 as it prepares to host the Olympics in August, a senior official said on Friday, with the city's notorious pollution a major concern for athletes and organisers. Beijing recorded 244 "blue sky days" by Dec. 28 this year, a day short of its 245-day target. The standard of a "blue sky day" has not been widely recognised by international scientists. "I predict that we will be able to meet this year's ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
Indonesia: Clean water, a basic necessity for everyone
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20071231.H02&ir ec=1
Jakarta Post: The government said demand for clean water, particularly in Java, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara far exceeds supply, forcing people to `over-exploit' groundwater. Demand will continue to increase in line with population growth, at a time when potable water supplies are drying up due to unpredictable changes in the weather. Further along in the worrisome cycle, the government said, seater will further intrude into coastal areas where millions reside, severely impacting water ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
Indonesia uses boats to rescue flood-hit people
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2 007-12-31T123318Z_01_JAK1730_RTRUKOC_0_US-INDONESIA-FLOODS.xml
Reuters: Indonesian relief and rescue workers used a helicopter and rubber boats on Monday to deliver aid and rescue people marooned on Java island after massive flooding triggered by days of torrential rain. Nearly 100 people have died and about 60,000 left homeless after the floods and a series of landslides buried houses in Central Java and East Java last week. Rescue operations have been slow because of a blanket of mud cutting off roads. A shortage of heavy equipment has also ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
All About: Cities and energy consumption
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/12/31/eco.cities/
CNN: Humans can now officially be called an urban species. More than half of the global population now live in cities and the United Nations says that by 2030, 60 percent of us will live in them. People in the Tsim Sha Tsui district of Hong Kong, regarded as one of the most crowded places on Earth. 1 of 3 Yet according to U.N. Habitat, the world's cities emit almost 80 percent of global carbon dioxide as well as "significant amounts of other greenhouse gases." Put ...

Mon, 31 Dec 07
United Kingdom: Government toughens up rules for home renewable power generation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/dec/31/greenbusiness
Guardian: The government appears to have seriously undermined one of its key climate change initiatives by toughening up the rules under which householders can obtain financial assistance to erect wind turbines and install solar panels. A low carbon buildings programme started in April 2006 and due to end this summer, has seen only £7.5m of a potential pot of £18m claimed by private homeowners, it admitted on Monday. Business and the public sector have managed to spend £18m since April ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
United Kingdom: 'Green fatigue' leads to fear of backlash over climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/30/climatechange.carbonemiss ions?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
Guardian: British people are now convinced about the dangers of global warming, but are either baffled about how to stop it or are ignoring the issue. Analysts say few people are taking action to deal with the threat of climate change, although over the past 12 months the vast majority have come to accept that it poses a real threat to the world. Opinion polls reveal much confusion among the public about what Britain should do to combat the problem. A backlash is clearly coming, said ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
The climate threat to Japanese rice
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7148662.stm
BBC: In Japan government scientists are trying to find ways to reduce the impact of global warming on the country's rice crop. There are fears that the extremes of temperature that some researchers are predicting could affect both the yield and the quality of rice, a staple of the Japanese diet. Flowering grain crops like maize, wheat and rice are particularly vulnerable to changes in temperature. Rice is believed to have been cultivated in Japan for more than 2,500 years. ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
Go green - you'll save more than just the planet
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/dec/30/ethicalliving.ethicalmoney
Guardian: This year you've seen An Inconvenient Truth and rocked at Live Earth. In 2008, you want to know what to do to help save the planet but, with financial belt-tightening in the new year, you want to be able to do it without spending more. The problem is: where do you start? It's the million-dollar question asked of environmental experts every day. Should you be saving energy, helping endangered species, cutting local pollution or supporting local shops? Should you aim for the biggest ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
Two Steps Greener, One Back
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90828
New York Times: IN normal times, designers and engineers gather in studios and conference rooms to set the course for how cars will look and function. In 2007, though, the decisions with the greatest effect may have been those made inside courtrooms and government agencies. The game changers with the most profound influence were environmental measures, which at long last were officially recognized to include fuel economy, and inevitably, the matter of carbon dioxide. The issue rode a tide of public ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
United Kingdom: With the will, we can save the Earth
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2233349,00.html
Guardian: The world now understands that climate change is not just an environmental problem. It's also a security, economic, political and migration problem. What are we going to do when people begin fighting not about politics, but about water? What will we do when people start arriving on our shores fleeing not political persecution, but environmental catastrophe? And what will we do when the countries to which we sell goods can't buy them any more because they are having to deal with rising sea ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
United States: Drought exposes delusion of perpetual growth
http://www.sun-herald.com/Newsstory.cfm?pubdate=123007&story=tp1ch5.htm &folder=NewsArchive2
Sun-Herald: Water woes infuse a whispered new word into the local lexicon: 'Unsustainable' This was the year an unwelcome whisper was heard in Southwest Florida; a hushed murmur nearly lost amid the searing static of water shortages and water restrictions, nearly muted by the pounding pistons of development. But not quite. In 2007, "unsustainable" slipped into the local lexicon, courtesy of sustained drought. Previously, such a profanity was dismissed as the ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
Japan to back targets for new climate deal: report
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKT29671520071230
Reuters: Japan will accept numerical targets to cut global warming emissions in a new climate change pact, reversing its stance which came under fire at this month's U.N.-led talks over the deal, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The Mainichi Shimbun said Japan plans to present a proposal to divide nations into not only developed and developing countries, but also into a third group, that would include China and India, and set targets for each group. Japan will also set up a five-year, ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
New energy law: Ethanol debate rages over corn crops
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2007-12-30-etha nol_N.htm
USA Today: A broad energy law signed by President Bush this month requires a major increase in corn-based ethanol and other biofuels to combat global warming and reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil. But it won't come without a cost. The law calls for production of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022. That includes 15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol, about double current production ability. There also are incentives for biodiesel from products such as soybeans and cellulosic ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
Protecting Cuba's vast resources
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/5409842.html
New York Times: Cuba is a priceless ecological resource. That is why many scientists are worried about what will become of it after Fidel Castro and his associates leave power and, as is anticipated, the U.S. government relaxes or ends its embargo. The island, at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, has mountains, forests, swamps, coasts and marine areas rich in plants and animals. And since the imposition of the embargo in 1962, and with the collapse in ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
US drought spans coast to coast; dancing for rain
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/166245.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Surveying some of the 3,240 hectares he farms in a semi-rural area outside Washington, Chris Tranchitella looks out on empty fields that produced a harvest much lower than he had hoped. "The drought has withered crops, lowered lake levels and led to water restrictions across three-quarters of the southeastern United States. Much of the US West is also suffering severe drought, although it is less serious than that in the south-east," he said. Governors declared emergencies ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
United States: Living with less water
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20071230/OPINION/712300634/-1/newssite map
Herald Tribune: A severe drought in 2007 reminded the people of Southwest Florida not to take drinking water for granted. Unless unseasonable rainfall provides relief soon, the impacts of this year's drought will be felt well into 2008. Water conservation must be practiced on a personal level as well as regionally. County governments have wisely increased enforcement of watering restrictions and begun public education campaigns. The need for water-supply planning became more apparent ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
UN leader Ban Ki-moon focused on climate change and peace in Darfur in first year
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/30/news/UN-FEA-GEN-UN-Secretary-Gene rals-Year.php
Associated Press: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew 125,000 miles (200,000 kilometers) and visited six continents during his first year as U.N. chief, gaining a reputation as a workaholic and a staunch advocate for peace in Darfur and global action to combat climate change. But at U.N. headquarters, he's had a tougher time making progress on his goal of changing U.N. culture and re-engineering a giant international bureaucracy where 192 countries often have competing interests so the U.N. can better ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
Climate change reheats interest in nuclear power
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1198913116293 600.xml&coll=7
Oregonian: Three-point-six degrees Fahrenheit. Any global temperature change beyond that number is what scientists say would warm the Earth to a dangerous level, melting polar ice and changing climates. That scenario is all it took to reposition nuclear power from a dead and buried political albatross to one of several carbon-neutral alternatives to fight global warming. That's part of the new debate in Congress about climate change, which has shifted from causes to the best ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
Energy efficiency a great New Year's resolution
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90855
Jakarta Post: For those who do not have a New Year's resolution yet, may I propose a good one? The recent UNCC conference in Bali highlighted global warming as an important problem which requires a global effort. Although the agreement the conference reached did not satisfy all parties, the impact is still real and it takes each one of us to start making a difference. Buildings are a good place to start. According to a report by the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) and IPCC ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
Glaciers Receding in Western China
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-12-30/63410.html
Epoch Times: According to a recent investigation by the Chinese Academy of Science Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology, glaciers in western China are rapidly becoming smaller because of global warming. The institute specializes in investigating glacier resources and changes. The glaciers in the Yili River Basin, Zhunger Basin, and upper Yaluzangbu River have shrunk by more than 18 percent; while those of Qilian Mountain and Lancang River have become more than 10 percent smaller. The ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
Hawaii improves renewable energy use
http://www.kpua.net/news.php?id=13537
Associated Press: A new report says Hawaii's use of renewable energy rose by 9.8 percent last year. Statistics from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism show that the state's primary energy consumption in 2006 dropped 1.8 percent compared to 2005, while petroleum use fell 2.7 percent during the period. Municipal solid waste energy and hydropower production rose about 12 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Wind power jumped 1,123 percent due to new ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
The Suburban Life: Global Warming Goes Local
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90856
New York Times: For generations of Maplewood residents, the coming of winter meant the return of a tableau worthy of the most clichéd Currier and Ives print. Magically, the township's public works employees would throw a switch or turn a knob and suddenly water would begin to flow from a creek in Memorial Park into an adjacent low-lying field. It being winter, the water would freeze quickly, and for the next two to three months the township's children and their nostalgic parents would have access to ...

Sun, 30 Dec 07
United Kingdom: Wildlife 'needs help' in climate change exodus
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/30/conservation.wildlife
Press Association: Animals such as bats, lizards and dormice will need help moving to new habitats in the United Kingdom as climate change brings warmer temperatures, the Wildlife Trusts warned yesterday. Butterflies and birds will also require assistance in shifting their ranges north and west in search of new homes. Some species are already moving, like the traditionally southern comma butterfly. Now the Wildlife Trusts are trying to link up areas of woodland, heathland and pasture to enable ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
A slow death from overconsumption
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/janice_turner/article31 05386.ece
Times (UK): Feeling a bit porky and raddled after your December debauch? Want a new you for the new year? A plastic surgery firm is offering three treatments for the price of two. That's right, have, say, your lower eye-bags removed and your breasts enlarged and they'll throw in a labia reduction (a lucrative new source of self-hate apparently) or a neck lift absolutely free! But hurry – all surgery must be completed before the end of January. Clinics offering cut-price ops, this week condemned ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Sea holds climate change benefits, threats
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90802
Jakarta Post: The sea poses both a threat and opportunity for coastal communities in Indonesia -- a sprawling archipelago with some 17,000 islands -- in facing global warming. Rising sea levels are expected to submerge smaller islands while at the same time the sea can be used as a carbon sink to help the world mitigate human-induced climate change. The ministry of maritime and fishery affairs says Indonesia's seas have the capacity to store up to 245 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
A plea for population control to save the Earth
http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-op_cuker_1229dec29,0,2296135.stor y
Daily Press: Do the roads and stores seem more crowded to you around Hampton Roads this year? Does it seem the weather is getting warmer? Are the two related? Yes. Last year the U.S. population topped 300 million, just 39 years after surpassing the 200 million mark. During those four decades Earth's population doubled, increasing from 3 billion to over 6 billion. It is no coincidence that the rate of glacial melting in Greenland also doubled over the last decade; rapid global warming traces ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Italy: A tropical virus moves north
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-sci-chik29dec29,1,50818. story?coll=la-health-medicine
LA Times: An unusual virus known as chikungunya sickened at least 200 people and contributed to the death of a man in northeastern Italy this year, marking the first time the tropical virus has caused a disease outbreak in a temperate climate, researchers reported this month. The chikungunya virus, whose name derives from a word in an African language meaning "to become contorted," arrived in the Emilia Romagna region in June with a visitor from India and was spread through Asian ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Global Warming to Alter Calif. Landscape
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iP-k4qqg6nRWLkO5duGzRvZKc5LQD8TRAHI00
Associated Press: California is defined by its scenery, from the mountains that enchanted John Muir to the wine country and beaches that define its culture around the world. But as scientists try to forecast how global warming might affect the nation's most geographically diverse state, they envision a landscape that could look quite different by the end of this century, if not sooner. Where celebrities, surfers and wannabes mingle on Malibu's world-famous beaches, there may be only sea walls ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
In Bush's Final Year, The Agenda Gets Greener
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR200712280 3046.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post: People find all sorts of ways to lobby President Bush. Sometimes it comes in the form of a handwritten note slipped into his palm during a bill-signing ceremony. Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) tried that last week when Bush signed energy legislation that will curb greenhouse gases. "Congratulations and good work," Carper recalled writing. "By the way, Joe Lieberman and John Warner have a very good global warming bill that needs your support and you ought to support ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Opposition stirring against new reactors
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5409693.html
Houston Chronicle: Texas anti-nuclear activists are rallying their forces to challenge the so-called nuclear renaissance that could see the state become home to the country's first new nuclear power plant project in nearly 30 years. On Friday a coalition of groups said it will intervene in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's review of NRG Energy's application to build two new reactors in Matagorda County, next to the existing South Texas Project nuclear plant. The commission filed notice this ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
UK species 'must move to survive'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7164132.stm
BBC: Some UK wildlife species will have to find new habitats as climate change causes temperatures to rise, the Wildlife Trusts have warned. Animals, birds and plants will have to move north and westwards to find suitable habitats, the trusts say. Species affected will include the dormouse and some bats and butterflies. The Wildlife Trusts says that while some species are already moving, development and loss of habitat is preventing movement for others. The ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Attenborough calls for action on climate change
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=22&ContentID=52589
West Australian: Sir David Attenborough has called for the UK to adopt a "moral" stance on tackling climate change. The 81-year-old nature broadcaster, whose next series for the BBC, Life in Cold Blood, will begin in February, admitted that despite huge shifts in the perception of global warming recently, he can understand why people are reluctant to make change to their lifestyles. "To achieve an agreement in which the world promises, effectively, to lower our standards of living, is a very ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Change the world, one click at a time
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/12/29/change_the_wo rld_one_click_at_a_time/
Boston Globe: All the networks, homemade videos, and blogs on the Web have made it a center for socializing, not social change. But a slew of start-ups are using the tech tools and social dynamics that have become the norm online to tackle real-world problems. Whether it's through a social network that helps a Nicaraguan woman get a loan to expand her business selling dyed rope, or a website that uses video, podcasts, and other tools to turn a social activist into an Internet celebrity with an army ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Global warming may be changing shrimp spawning habits
http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl122907khglobalwarmingshrimp.63e0 88ce.html?npc
Daily Comet: Besides the delayed appearance of waterfowl to southern climates, droughts and forest fires, shifts in the sexual behavior of shrimp may be added to early signs of global warming. Carol Terrebonne weighs shrimp at the Seafood Shed in Golden Meadow. White shrimp are spawning closer inshore according to biologists, a phenomenon that may be caused by saltwater intrusion and global warming. The jury is still officially out, and so far no authoritative scientific work on the ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
In California, climate change will transform the land, lifestyles
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7837850?nclick_check=1
Associated Press: California has always been a place defined by its landscape, from the mountains that enchanted John Muir to the wine country and beaches that shape its culture around the world. Yet as the state begins to grapple with the effects of a warming climate, scientists are trying to forecast how the nation's most geographically diverse state might change in the decades to come. What they envision is a landscape that could look quite different by the end of the century, if not sooner. ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
United States: Renewable energy use increases
http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/29/business/story03.html
Honolulu Star Bulletin: Hawaii's use of renewable energy rose by 9.8 percent last year, putting the state on track to become more energy efficient as local residents pay among the highest energy costs in the nation, according to a new report. The latest statistics, released yesterday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, show that the state's primary energy consumption in 2006 dropped 1.8 percent compared to 2005, while petroleum use fell 2.7 percent during the ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Vanishing wild bees will sting ecosystem
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/289362
Toronto Star: This is a darkening time for the world. I want to explain why in this column, but I also want to point to the effort of one family in Norfolk County that is trying to keep open one tiny speck of light. They can't hold back the darkness by themselves. But they're doing what they can, and if others do the same, well, that's how a ray of hope develops. There's a darkening because, with global warming, things are starting to get out of joint in nature. For instance in ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
German Biodiesel Forced to Compete
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40634
Inter Press Service: Until a few months ago, the production of crop-based fuels was the best energy business imaginable in Germany, thanks to growing demand supported by the government. That's no longer the case. The tax exemptions were generous and the reigning belief was that biofuels constituted a major contribution to the fight against climate change. This outlook led farmers and refineries to boost production and capacity, which jumped from 200,000 tonnes of distilled biodiesel from rapeseed ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Roll back global warming?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Sunday_Specials/Special_Report/R oll_back_global_warming/articleshow/2661488.cms
Times of India: Climate change can be reversed. The more important question is: By when? The cost of delay is a bigger worry than finding solutions to global warming. Much of what is required of countries as well as individuals does not demand rocket science or high-end technology. Most of the solutions for climate change reversal are already available, at least with rich countries today. The question is, are they willing to share their technologies to avoid disasters? The Nobel Prize awarded ...

Sat, 29 Dec 07
Shanghai temperature sets record high in 2007
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/29/content_7335092.htm
Xinhua: Shanghai has experienced the hottest year in 2007 since the city began to record weather in 1873, with an average temperature of 18.4 Celsius degrees, said meteorologist on Saturday. The year's average in 2007 is 2.2 Celsius degrees more than the long-term average temperature of 16.2 degrees, and is even 0.1 Celsius degree more than that of last year, said Shen Yu, senior engineer with the municipal meteorological bureau. "Especially in February, May and July, the ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Beyond 350 Parts Per Million
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/AR200712270 1942.html
Washington Post: This month may have been the most important yet in the two-decade history of the fight against global warming. Al Gore got his Nobel in Stockholm; international negotiators made real progress on a treaty in Bali; and in Washington, Congress actually worked up the nerve to raise gas mileage standards for cars. But what may turn out to be the most crucial development went largely unnoticed. It happened at an academic conclave in San Francisco. A NASA scientist named James Hansen ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Indonesia: Plea for trees as landslide toll rises
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/plea-for-trees-as-landslide-toll-rises/200 7/12/27/1198345158973.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, urged the mass planting of trees throughout Indonesia as rescuers yesterday dug with their hands through mud for survivors from a landslide that killed at least 67 people. Dr Yudhoyono called on organisations and regional governments to plant trees in unplanted areas to prevent disasters such as flash floods and landslides and to "save the earth from global warming". Tens of thousands of Indonesians are homeless ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Toll at Least 80 in Indonesian Mudslides
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90788
New York Times: Mudslides have killed at least 80 people in remote villages in Central Java since Wednesday morning, and rescue workers struggled Thursday to move emergency equipment into the area. The villages, in a mountainous area, have been difficult to reach with large trucks, backhoes and other equipment needed to dig out bodies or possible survivors. Police officers, military personnel and local residents have been clawing through the dense mud with their hands and crude farming ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Australia: Victoria to announce desalination plant
http://news.smh.com.au/victoria-planning-desalination-plant/20071228-1j8x.h tml
AAP: The Victorian government will prepare a report on the environmental impact of a proposed desalination plant on the state's south-east coast, Planning Minister Justin Madden says. Mr Madden said preliminary environmental reports showed there was a need to investigate any potential loss of native vegetation and impacts on the landscape, flora, fauna and marine life, through an Environmental Effects Statement (EES). But he ruled out preparing an EES for the north-south Sugarloaf ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Latin America hit by record number of disasters, says UN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2232634,00.html
Guardian: The UN office that sends experts around the world to help governments deal with natural disasters attended to more such events than ever before in Latin America in 2007, a fact it at least partially blames on climate change. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that a record nine missions were dispatched to the region this year. This was part of a total of 14 sent around the globe, itself a higher than usual number. "Seventy percent of ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Japan Urges China to Reduce Pollution
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90793
New York Times: Japan urged China to do more to fight global warming and pledged to help the country reduce runaway pollution during high-level talks in the Chinese capital on Friday. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of Japan made energy and environmental issues the centerpiece of his four-day visit to China, hoping to build on a recent improvement in relations between Asia's two leading powers. The countries have sticky disputes over territory, energy resources, wartime history and military ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Solar technology is going mainstream
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071228/LIFE/7122803 18
Wall Street Journal: When Bill and Margaret Oliver decided to take the plunge into solar energy earlier this year, the retired Long Beach, Calif., couple searched for months to find someone who could install 35 newfangled solar panels atop their three-bedroom home. Despite the hassles – and though the panels cost them $39,000, after government rebates – the Olivers say they're ecstatic to be escaping power bills that had soared to almost $400 a month. The panels contain a relatively new technology for the ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Antarctica's Adelie Penguins Extinct in a Decade?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071228-penguins-extinct.htm l
National Geographic: Adélie penguins in Antarctica are in the midst of a major upheaval as climate change causes their icy habitat to warm up, experts say. Some populations of the birds are thriving, but most are declining rapidly. The penguins rely on winter sea ice as a platform for feeding on ocean krill. But they also need the ice to shrink in the summer so they can access their breeding colonies on land. The mid-latitudes of the Antarctic Peninsula once provided the perfect ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Prince Charles to Work With Norway to Save Forests
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46206/story.htm
Reuters: Britain's Prince Charles has offered to team up with Norway in projects to save forests around the world, Norwegian officials said on Thursday. The Prince of Wales's offer to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg followed Norway's announcement earlier this month that it aimed to provide about 3 billion crowns (US$541.2 million) per year to prevent deforestation in developing countries. Charles, who has said saving the world's rainforests is key to combating global ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Scientists debate climate modification
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/359131.html
San Jose Mercury News: You know about global warming and carbon footprints. Now get ready to hear more and more about ``geoengineering.'' As the warming of earth's climate nears what experts say is a crisis point, a panel of scientists in San Francisco on Thursday said it's time to get serious about studying tinkering with the atmosphere to counteract harmful carbon dioxide emissions. While such geoengineering might sound like something out of a science fiction novel -- seeding clouds, for example, ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Argentine Congress OKs Time Change to Save Energy
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46210/story.htm
Reuters: Argentina's Congress approved a daylight savings measure late on Wednesday, part of a broader government plan to conserve energy as demand for power surges amid brisk economic growth. Under the new law, which both houses of Congress passed the same day, the time in Argentina will jump forward an hour starting on Sunday. The clocks will turn back on March 16. In the future, the government will set the dates for daylight savings without congressional approval. Officials say the ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
China: Beijing raises air quality goal for Olympics
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/28272
Reuters: Beijing is aiming for more "good air days" in 2008 as it prepares to host the Olympics in August, a senior official said on Friday, with the city's notorious pollution a major concern for athletes and organizers. Beijing recorded 244 "blue sky days" by December 28 this year, a day short of its 245-day target. The standard of a "blue sky day" has not been widely recognized by international scientists. "I predict that we will be able to meet ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Cause for alarm
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tony_juniper/2007/12/cause_for_alarm.ht ml
Guardian: The global warming debate entered a new phase in 2007. February saw the first of three new reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), setting out the most recent state of the science of global warming. Not only did it confirm earlier assessments linking human activities to alterations in climatic patterns, it set out how the problem is more urgent than previously believed. This new and more alarming science thankfully seemed to have immediate political ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Global warming doesn't seem to be heating up campaign trail
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004095611_goodman28.html
Seattle Times: Since this is the list-making time of year, allow me to add a tiny trophy to Al Gore's very full shelf: the prize for the most elegant speech of 2007. I wasn't sure how the politician-turned-environmentalist fit the profile for a Nobel Peace Prize, but his acceptance speech connected the dots. "Without realizing it," Gore said, "we have begun to wage war on the Earth itself. Now, we and the Earth's climate are locked in a relationship familiar to war planners: mutually ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Japan, China pledge warmer ties, but no deal on gas fields
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ic7_Q0BqU4vsQ-0EeHJkr2IatMXA
Agence France-Presse: China and Japan pledged on Friday to build on their rapidly warming ties, as Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met the Chinese leadership, but a dispute over maritime gas fields remained unresolved. Fukuda, on his first visit to China since taking office in September, held talks with President Hu Jintao to lay the groundwork for closer cooperation between the Asian powers in trade, climate change and other fields. "Since taking office, you have emphasised the importance ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Netherlands has another record warm year
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL2840294020071228
Reuters: The average temperature in the Netherlands in 2007 matched 2006, the warmest year in 300 years, and the Dutch meteorological institute said it was a sign of global warming. The average temperature in 2007 was 11.2 degrees Celsius (52.16F) which, along with 2006, is highest average since Dutch temperatures were first measured in 1706, the KNMI institute said on Friday. The normal annual average is 9.8 degrees. "The most important reason for the recent high temperatures is ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Rwanda: Unpredictable Climate Changes
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712280007.html
New Times: Climate change is one of the most critical global challenges of our time. Recent events have emphatically demonstrated our growing vulnerability to climate change. Climate change impacts range from affecting agriculture to endangering food security, sea-level rise and the accelerated erosion of coastal zones, increasing intensity of natural disasters, species destruction and the spread of vector-borne diseases. Climate change refers to the variation in the Earth's global ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Relentless N. Carolina drought could be devastating in '08
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/drought/2007-12-26-nc-drought_N.htm
USA Today: The record-setting drought that has forced the governor to plead for conservation, homeowners to shelve their lawn sprinklers and farmers to drain their ponds for irrigation is only forecast to get worse in the new year. If the predictions come true, convenience won't be the only casualty. North Carolina's multibillion dollar agriculture industry is prepping for what may be a devastating year for both crops and livestock, while local governments are eyeing emergency plans – and ...

Fri, 28 Dec 07
Indonesian president warns on catastrophes
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6329505.html
Xinhua: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday warned the people of possible catastrophes in the next two months, due to high rainfalls. The president told a press conference following rampant floods and landslides nationwide, including the major landslide in Central Java, that killed more than 100 people. The warning also delivered to the authorities in the sectors of air, sea and land transports, as poor weather had often caused rampant accidents in the country ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
UN issues warning of critical food shortages
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news-features/un-issues-warning -of-critical-food-shortages-the-livelihoods-of-billions-of-people-will-be-s e/1151741.html
Canberra Times: Almost 40 countries are facing critical food shortages as world food prices soar to record levels, the United Nations warns. The world's food supplies are rapidly dwindling due to crop failures caused by global warming, natural disasters, wars, and a trend away from farming food crops to growing biofuels and grain to feed cattle, the agency says. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's global food price index reached its highest level this year, rising by more than 40 per ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
United Kingdom: Climate change 'is taking its toll on wildlife'
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1927552.0.Climate_change_i s_taking_its_toll_on_wildlife.php
Herald: Chaotic summer weather patterns have heightened concerns that climate change could have a serious impact on Scotland's wildlife, flora and fauna, it emerged yesterday. Arthur Martin, head of countryside and nature conservation services at the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), said the unpredictable weather had started to take its toll on the delicate balance of the country's natural landscape. A number of species have appeared in Scotland for the first time, while the survival ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
United Kingdom: Parasites are the hidden face of climate change across Scotland
http://business.scotsman.com/fooddrinkagriculture/Parasites-are-the-hidden- face.3620575.jp
Scotsman: THERE is little doubt that climate change is having an impact on the agricultural industry in Scotland. The consensus is that this will lead to drier summers and increased rainfall during the winter. Scientists at the Moredun Research Institute, near Edinburgh, reckon that climate change will have a major impact on the health and welfare of livestock. Dr Philip Skuce has been studying this topic. He said: "Recent data from diagnostic reports clearly shows that the incidence of ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Landslides Leave 75 Dead or Missing in Indonesia
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46198/story.htm
Reuters: Landslides caused by torrential rains overnight have left 75 people dead or missing in Indonesia's Central Java province, the emergency response agency said on Wednesday. A provincial official said the landslides were the worst to hit the region in quarter of a century as thousands of people moved to rescue shelters after their homes were buried or washed away. Rescue workers and police were struggling to reach the affected areas as roads were cut off by floods following the ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Indonesia: Global Warming: Re-examine logging
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/345159_logginged.html
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: The landslides in Indonesia are a sample of the discourse ahead when it comes to global warming. Political leaders say, "Plant trees" -- two words that are supposed to make it better for the survivors of the landslides that killed at least 67 people and left tens of thousands homeless. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, quoted in The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, called for a mass planting of trees to prevent disasters such as flash floods and landslides and ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Plans for at least 8 clean coal plants hit snags
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2007-12-26-coal plants_N.htm
USA Today: Clean coal-fired power plants have been touted as a remedy for an environmentally challenged age, offering the promise of turning cheap but dirty coal into a pollution-free energy source. Don't turn off those wind turbines yet. At least eight clean coal plants, more than a third of those on the drawing board, have been canceled, delayed or rejected by regulators this year. Developers cite soaring construction costs, technology hurdles and uncertainty about regulation of ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Arctic ice melt Canada's top weather concern in 2007
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iI1loMtN-xVsi00uOZMwIMWYWALg
Agence France-Presse: The "shocking" record loss of Arctic sea ice was Canada's top weather event in 2007, Canada's environment ministry said Thursday. Each year for the past 12, Environment Canada has published a list of the top 10 climate or weather phenomena to impact Canada that year. For 2007, "the dramatic disappearance of Arctic sea ice -- reported in September -- was so shocking that it quickly became our number one weather story," the ministry said in a ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Climate Change's $75 Billion Bill
http://www.forbes.com/markets/economy/2007/12/27/disasters-munich-re-market s-equity-cx_vr_1227markets08.html
Forbes: Natural disasters wrought by climate change have a staggering price tag, and it's growing. Total economic losses from natural catastrophes in 2007 rose to $75 billion from $50 billion the year before as extreme weather conditions driven by climate change wreaked havoc across the world, according to Munich Re (other-otc: MURGF - news - people ), the world's second-largest reinsurer on Thursday. The economic losses include those not covered by insurance such as disruption to power ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Europe's Biodiesel Drive Sputters
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119871178911851507.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: The European Union's dream of using vegetable-based diesel fuel in cars to cut oil imports and the pollution that causes global warming is turning sour. The bloc made a big bet on biodiesel fuels in 2003, agreeing that its governments would phase in tax breaks and rules to encourage their production and use. The bet seemed to make sense. Most Europeans drive diesel cars, making ethanol -- the U.S. clean fuel of choice for gasoline-powered cars -- impractical. Biodiesel can be ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Extreme weather affects UK wildlife
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hI3xg_FgG-Aj1Of2BFkWwI-bfKmg
Press Association: A year of unpredictable and extreme weather has caused chaos for British wildlife, the National Trust said. Many species emerged or bred earlier because of warm weather in the first few months of the year, while the heavy rain and low temperatures caused problems for insects, birds and bats in the summer. The National Trust's nature conservation advisor Matthew Oates said he believed wildlife was going to be increasingly affected by unpredictable variations caused by climate ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Uganda: Forest Conservation is a Key Factor in Devt
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712270426.html
Monitor: The debate on whether to conserve natural forests or clear them for investment and development projects is raging more than ever before. At the recently concluded conference on climate change in Bali, Indonesia, there were proposals to look beyond development and commit more resources towards conservation of the environment and forests. While land is in fixed supply, there is increasing demand for it for human settlement and development projects. In some instances, this has fueled an ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Melting polar cap No. 1 weather story of 2007
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/national/story.html?id=784c945f-f2c0-4b30-8c 0c-c00c4a529821
CanWest News Service: The disappearance of Arctic sea ice-- reported in September-- was Environment Canada's No. 1 weather story of 2007. In fact, the United Nations declared the record loss of ice as one of the world's biggest events. The thinning and shrinking of the ice, largely a result of a series of consecutive warm years, has had a profound impact on the North-- people, plants and wildlife alike. Scientists believe that Greenland, with its melting ice caps and disappearing glaciers, ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Uganda: Mr President, Stop the Mabira Games
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712270050.html
Monitor: President Yoweri Museveni is at it again; this time around reminding the country that the controversial proposal to give away Mabira forest which led to the death of three people about six months ago, is not yet resolved after all. His remarks while meeting the NRM Parliamentary Caucus last week in effect mean that government could still go ahead a give away part of the tropical rain forest to a private investor, the Lugazi-based Mehta Group, in total disregard of public ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Shell taps into coal methane in China
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/dec/27/shell
Guardian: Shell has expanded its interests in China by taking control of a pioneering project to meet some of the country's burgeoning demand for energy using methane gas from underground coal seams. The Anglo-Dutch group has bought a 55% equity stake from Verona Development Corporation and will operate the North Shilou project, 150km south-east of Changbei gas field, where Shell is also active in a conventional gas production scheme with PetroChina. Methane is a highly flammable ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
United States: Building on the trunks of ruined pines
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-beetle27dec27,0,473962 9.story?coll=la-home-center
LA Times: The pine trees cradling this mountain town are dying, turned rusty red by a beetle that is destroying the Rockies' forests. The brittle corpses are an eyesore as well as a major fire hazard. When they collapse, they make hillsides unstable, increasing erosion and damming streams that feed into the Colorado River, which provides drinking water to seven states and Mexico. But Randy Piper is trying to focus on the positive. He moved here four years ago, scanned the ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
China promises investment in renewables
http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Energy/Briefing/2007/12/26/china_ promises_investment_in_renewables/6836/
United Press International: China promised Wednesday to step up development of renewable energy, the official Xinhua news agency reported. In an effort to help curb emissions, the government has vowed to promote hydroelectric, nuclear, solar and wind energy, as well natural gas extracted from garbage dumps and coal mines. In the country's first white paper on its energy conditions and policies, Beijing pledged to give top priority to developing renewable energy. "China's energy development ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
EPA's 'uniformity' standard incredible
http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/oped/ci_7819479
Argus: AS a liberal columnist, criticizing the antics of the Bush administration could understandably be viewed as an exercise in overkill. There has been so much to critique over the years; the challenge is to not make their actions the default position when deciding on a topic to write about. But the Environmental Protection Agency's recent decision to deny California and 16 other states the right to set their own standards for carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles is so outlandish ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Extreme weather plays havoc with UK wildlife
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/27/eaweather 127.xml
Telegraph: This year's unpredictable and extreme weather has caused chaos for British wildlife, the National Trust have said. Unseasonably warm weather in the first months of the year and heavy rain and low temperatures over the summer meant that many species emerged and bred earlier, or had food sources or nests washed away. Ducks, bats, bumblebees, frogspawn, orchids and blue tits were just some of the species affected. Matthew Oates, the trust's nature conservation adviser, ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Global warming brings busy year for UN disaster teams
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/Story/0,,2232599,00.html
Guardian: The United Nations office that sends expert teams around the world to help governments deal with natural disasters was busier than ever in Latin America this year, a fact it at least partially blames on climate change. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said in a statement that a record nine missions were dispatched to the region during 2007, among 14 sent around the globe, itself a higher than usual number. Of the 14 global missions, 70% were ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
India: Govt acts on UN reports on climate change, sets up panel
http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=43734fd1-7ce6-489 1-bcf0-5d51f09e723c&MatchID1=4625&TeamID1=1&TeamID2=6&Match Type1=1&SeriesID1=1165&MatchID2=4617&TeamID3=3&TeamID4=4&am p;MatchType2=1&SeriesID2=1
Press Trust of India: Acting on UN reports during the outgoing year on threats of impending climate change, the government set up a high-level panel to tackle the impact of global warming. The first report of the Nobel award winning Inter-Governmental Penal on Climate Change (IPCC) rang the alarm bells predicting that temperatures in the next century are expected to go up by 2.5 to 4.5 degrees Centigrade and that India, along with developing countries, will face a serious shortage of water and threat to ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Japan government panel to debate climate proposals
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUST158547
Reuters: Japan's key economic panel will discuss private-sector proposals on tackling climate change on Tuesday but will not make them public because of the topic's sensitivity ahead of next month's G8 summit, Economics Minister Hiroko Ota said on Tuesday. The proposals by the panel's private-sector members will serve as a basis for discussions at the meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, Ota told a news conference. "We decided to put (climate change) on today's agenda ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Let California experiment
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2007/12/27/buzbeeed_1228 .html
Atlanta Journal Constitution: California and 16 piggybacking states to devise their own more aggressive car greenhouse gas pollution strategies, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson mentioned concerns with a "patchwork" of disparate state standards. He also alluded to the new energy bill as justification. President Bush echoed that point, in a press conference asking if it is "more effective to let each state make a decision how to proceed ... or is it more effective to have a national ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Munich Re Says Losses From Natural Disasters to Rise
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=avy5og0enTro&re fer=germany
Bloomberg: Munich Re, the world's second-biggest reinsurer, said losses from natural catastrophes will rise because of climate changes, costing clients more for insurance premiums. The Munich-based company estimated worldwide insured losses related to natural disasters doubled to about $30 billion in 2007. Catastrophes such as floods and storms led to 15,000 deaths and $75 billion in total damages, it said today in a statement. Swiss Reinsurance Co., the largest reinsurer, said last week that ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Natural catastrophes will grow with climate change: re-insurer
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iQxlA4tDrSvLFjsxCfy9oZ1GwjjA
Agence France-Presse: Natural catastrophes in 2007 were more frequent and costlier than a year earlier and climate change will make them more expensive still, the world's second-biggest re-insurer, Munich Re, said Thursday. There were 950 natural catastrophes in 2007 compared with 850 in 2006, the highest number since the group started compiling its closely watched annual report in 1974. The total cost of disasters in 2007 was 75 billion dollars (51.5 billion euros), while the bill for 2006 was 50 ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Ribbon Seal of the Bering Sea Losing Icy Habitat
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2007/2007-12-26-094.asp
Environment News Service: The rare ribbon seal may be one of the first species to lose its habitat to global warming, says the Center for Biological Diversity. The ribbon seal is dependent on Arctic sea ice for survival - but that sea ice is shrinking fast. The group has filed a scientific petition with the National Marine Fisheries Service to protect the ribbon seal under the federal Endangered Species Act due to decline of its habitat in a warming climate. "The Arctic is in crisis state from ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Spanish electricity demand up 2.8 pct in 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSL2724 226920071227
Reuters: Spanish electricity demand rose 2.8 percent year-on-year in 2007 to 260,838 gigawatt hours (GWh), grid operator Red Electrica (REE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday. Stripping out the effect of different working days and temperature changes, demand rose 4 percent. Demand reached its peak on the evening of Dec. 17 when it hit 45,450 MW as Spaniards turned up the heating during a very cold snap. That was 4 percent higher than the previous minute-by-minute record of ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Denmark: Vestas says wins 290 megawatts of turbine orders
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSL2757220071227
Reuters: Denmark's Vestas (VWS.CO: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest maker of wind turbines, said on Thursday it won three orders totalling 134 megawatts for projects in Spain and a 156 megawatt order from AES Corporation (AES.N: Quote, Profile, Research). By 1543 GMT, Vestas shares were 3.5 percent higher at 537 crowns, outperforming the Copenhagen bourse's top-20 OMX index , which was 0.8 percent off. Vestas is riding a surge in demand for renewable energy sources amid ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
United States: EPA is to reveal greenhouse gas papers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071227/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/epa_documents_2;_ylt= AvIvy0gaH44Jk2wuN4XRSLDYeMUA
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday signaled it is prepared to comply with a congressional request for all documents – including communications with the White House – concerning its decision to block California from imposing limits on greenhouse gases. The EPA's general counsel directed agency employees in a memo to preserve and produce all documents related to the decision including any opposing views and communications between senior EPA officials and the White House, ...

Thu, 27 Dec 07
Beijing air pollution 'as bad as it can get,' official says
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071227/sc_afp/chinaenvironmentbeijingpollutio noly2008chn_071227102246;_ylt=AtNog_9xWsVDQTLRudkwB3TYeMUA
Agence France-Presse: Beijingers were warned to stay indoors on Thursday as pollution levels across the capital hit the top of the scale, despite repeated assurances by the government that air quality was improving. "This is as bad as it can get," a spokeswoman for the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau told AFP. "Level five is the worst level of air pollution. This is as bad as it has been all year." According to the bureau's website, 15 out of the 16 pollution ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Japan Mines `Flammable Ice,' Flirts With Environmental Disaster
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aiUsVKaqDA7g&re fer=japan
Bloomberg: Fifty-five million years ago the world's climate was catastrophically changed when volcanoes melted natural gas frozen in the seabed. Now Japan plans to drill for the same icy crystals to end its reliance on imported energy. Billions of tons of methane hydrate, frozen chunks of chemical-laced water buried in sediment some 3,000 feet under the Pacific Ocean floor, may help Japan win energy independence from the Middle East and Indonesia. Japanese engineers have found enough ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
China Moves to Stem Fears as Energy Needs Grow
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90726
Washington Post: China pledged Wednesday that its worldwide search for oil and gas to power a booming economy will be carried out in a spirit of fair play and international cooperation so as not to disrupt sensitive international markets. The promise came in a government white paper, one of a series Beijing has issued in recent years to present its case to the world. This one, outlining energy policies, was aimed in part at fears that China's growing thirst for imported oil will drive up prices and ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
China Vows to Develop Clean Energies
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gSeOy_nl-kE9pn5VnKHGphuIJMuAD8TOVRJ00
Associated Press: China promised Wednesday to develop renewable energy for its fast-growing economy but warned that coal consumption will grow dramatically and avoided embracing binding limits on its greenhouse gas emissions. In a report on its energy plans, the government announced no new initiatives but said it wants to curb reliance on oil and gas to drive an economy that is the world's second-biggest energy consumer after the United States. "China gives top priority to developing ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Climate Change Gives Rise to New World Order
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40597
Inter Press Service: Once again, humanity is facing the risk of catastrophe. The terror of destruction by nuclear missiles ready to be launched at the touch of a button has given way to the disturbing possibility of global warming going past the point of no return, and this is turning traditional international coalitions and geopolitical concepts upside down. Although the seriousness of the threat to human survival has been acknowledged in diplomatic rhetoric, the international powers are still not giving ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
New hope on climate change
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeffrey_sachs/2007/12/new_hope_on_clima te_change.html
Guardian: The world has taken an important step toward controlling climate change by agreeing to the Bali Action Plan (pdf) at the global negotiations in Indonesia earlier this month. The plan may not look like much, since it basically committed the world to more talking rather than specific actions, but I am optimistic for three reasons. First, the world was sufficiently united that it forced the United States to end its intransigence. Second, the road map marks a sensible balance of ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Weather extremes: records broken in heat waves in North America, Europe
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ipv4-RfBloS-sAdAcw4PB9YOcTdQ
Canadian Press: When the calendar turned to 2007, the heat went on and the weather just got weirder. January was the warmest first month on record worldwide - 0.85 degrees Celsius above normal. It was the first time since record-keeping began in 1880 that the globe's average temperature has been so far above the norm for any month of the year. And as 2007 drew to a close, it was also shaping up to be the hottest year on record in the Northern Hemisphere. U.S. weather stations broke or ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
China report says coal to remain top energy source
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jRdR9Nd-GnyWN1FainAfHONr-imA
Agence France-Presse: China reiterated Wednesday its long-term dependence on coal for energy, but pledged to step up efforts to burn the fuel more cleanly to reduce its impact on global warming. In its first white paper on energy, the Chinese government also vowed to develop sustainable energy industries, and said its booming demand for fuel would not pose a threat to world energy security. "China did not, does not and will not pose any threat to the world's energy security," said the ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
How the Oceans Once Ended Global Warming
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/12/26/global-warming-ocean.html
Discovery Channel: Last time Earth suffered a carbon-induced fever, it was the oceans that helped saved the day, say marine scientists in California. Massive ocean-bottom accumulations of the mineral barite show that the last severe global warming episode 55 million years ago was accompanied by several thousands of years of ocean plant life kicking into high gear. All that productivity captured excessive carbon from the atmosphere and dropped it to the ocean floor, where it was buried -- or ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Human greed is a threat to the planet, warns Williams
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3284881.ece
Independent: A stark warning that human greed is threatening to destroy the environment was issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury in his Christmas message, while the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales appealed to people to be more welcoming to immigrants. Dr Rowan Williams appealed to Christians to do more to safeguard the planet, saying it should not be used "as a warehouse of resources to serve humanity's selfishness". He told worshippers at Canterbury Cathedral ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Protecting the earth after death: Biodegradable coffins
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1226biz-greencoffin26-ON.html
Associated Press: Cynthia Beal wants to be an Oregon cherry tree after she dies. She has everything to make it happen - a body, a burial site and a biodegradable coffin. "It is composting at its best," said Beal, owner of The Natural Burial Company, which will sell a variety of eco-friendly burial products when it opens in January, including the Ecopod, a kayak-shaped coffin made out of recycled newspapers. Biodegradable coffins are part of a larger trend toward "natural" ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Solar stocks surge on oil spike, China vows to promote renewable energy
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-21898694.htm
CNN: Solar stocks rallied Wednesday following a surge in oil prices to above $96-a-barrel with sentiment further boosted by news that China will 'vigorously' develop its renewable energy resources. (OTCBB:RENW) 'China gives top priority to developing renewable energy,' according to a government white paper on the country's energy conditions and policies released Wednesday. The report said China has released the medium- and long-term program for renewable energy development, with a ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Sue the EPA for earth's sake
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/26/sue_the_epa_for_earth s_sake/
Boston Globe: In the 37 years since the Clean Air Act gave smog-plagued California the right to set tougher antipollution standards than the federal government, Washington has granted the state 50 waivers, never flatly rejecting one. Never, that is, until last week, when the Environmental Protection Agency turned down California's bid to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of cars by requiring higher fuel efficiency. Sixteen other states, including Massachusetts, have indicated they would ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
United Kingdom: The world is not a warehouse to serve our greed, Archbishop tells worshippers
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3095435.ece?openComme nt=true
Times (UK): The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday blamed mankind's greed for endangering the environment. In his Christmas Day sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, Dr Rowan Williams said: "When we threaten the balance of things, we don't just put our material survival at risk. More profoundly, we put our spiritual sensitivity at risk, the possibility of being opened up to the endless wonder by the world around us." He said that the world was not merely a "warehouse of resources to serve ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
United States: Builder cuts down on carbon footprint
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/environment/2007-12-25-solar- homes_N.htm
USA Today: David Hall of Deltec Homes says his company doesn't believe in cutting corners when making its trademark round homes – and that attention to detail extends to the electricity used to power the company's plant. By year's end, Deltec will be using 100% renewable energy at its factory, making it North Carolina's largest private generator of solar power. Working with Sundance Energy of Mars Hill, N.C., Deltec has invested nearly $500,000 to install photovoltaic panels. On ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Canada: Chief reflects on coast's changing climate
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html ?id=54e9627d-7d9d-4856-b5ec-e0bd82e346fd&k=84634
Times Colonist: First Nations Chief Darren Blaney stood atop a giant root at Ross Bay as the wind whipped spray off the thundering whitecaps and showered him with moisture. Blaney, of Campbell River, was in Victoria with his family to celebrate Christmas at his mother-in-law's home. First Nations culture is tied to the environment so Blaney pays special attention to the weather. An hour or so standing atop the root on Christmas Day -- which was also Blaney's 49th birthday -- gave him ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
China Says Coal Usage To Increase
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009546089
All Headline News: China, the world's second-largest energy user, said Wednesday it will rely even more on its coal reserves, now 70 percent of its fuel mix. The announcement was linked to a commitment from the Communist country to increase usage of renewable energy, such as hydroelectric, solar and wind. Such energy is a "top priority" of China, according to a 44-page white paper released by China's government. Although cleaning up the environment was a prominent part of China's ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
China vows to develop clean energies
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-12/26/content_6350806.htm
China Daily: China promised Wednesday to develop renewable energy for its fast-growing economy, stepping up efforts to promote hydroelectric, nuclear, solar and wind energy, as well natural gas extracted from garbage dumps and coal mines. In the country's first ever white paper on its energy conditions and policies, Beijing pledged to give top priority to developing renewable energy. "China's energy development emphasizes thrift, cleanness and safety," says the white paper titled ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Japan government names top Toyota manager as climate change adviser
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/164371.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Japan's government has named former Toyota Corp boss Hiroshi Okuda as a special adviser on climate change. Okuda, 74, who is now a senior Toyota adviser and the honorary chairman of the Nippon Keidanren, or Japan Business Federation, is to advise Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's cabinet on the issue and take part in conferences aimed at drawing up a new international treaty on fighting global warming, the Kyodo News agency reported Wednesday, citing government officials. Under Okuda's ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Sugar and Medicine Make Uganda's Forests Go Down
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1698267,00.html?xid=rss-world
Time Magazine: Scientists are combing rain forests around the world for potential cures for cancer and other ailments, but the residents near Uganda's last rain forests are are not waiting around for a multinational drug company to discover their treasures first. They have always believed that there are cures in the plant life of the Mabira Forest Reserve, the green, leafy jungle that sprawls through the middle of the country. And so, locals seeking treatments for sexual impotence, cancer, malaria and ...

Wed, 26 Dec 07
Air Force Switches on Largest Solar Power Plant
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2007/2007-12-26-093.asp
Environment News Service: North America's largest solar photovoltaic system is now up and generating power at Nellis Air Force Base in the sunny desert of southern Nevada. The $100 million solar power plant at Nellis will supply about 25 percent of the total power used at the base, where 12,000 people live and work. The 14 megawatt photovoltaic array will generate more than 30 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. Completed earlier this month, it was inaugurated with a ceremony at Nellis on ...

Tue, 25 Dec 07
Australia: Food production a serious greenhouse problem
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,22970217-5006550,00.html
Mercury: MOTOR vehicles, aircraft, power stations -- we all know about those bogeymen of climate change that pollute the atmosphere and cause temperatures to rise. But there's another, less talked-about element in the mix. "Non-energy" activities, mainly to do with land use, account for a third of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Most of it comes from livestock production. Livestock and crops are our main sources of sustenance. And despite growing populations in ...

Tue, 25 Dec 07
Australia: Pulp Mill Latest
http://www2.skynews.com.au/eco/article.aspx?id=208693
Sky News: The controversy surrounding Tasmania's pulp mill is set to continue into next year after the issue was seemingly overlooked during the federal election The pulp mill remains almost a done deal, after Labor supported the previous Howard government's decision to approve the contentious mill. Nevertheless, it's opponents have vowed to continue the fight. Prime Minister Rudd's decision to ratify the Kyoto protocol may have given mill opponents false hope. Greens ...

Tue, 25 Dec 07
Australia: State of greenhouse gluttons
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,22970274-3102,00.html?from =public_rss
Courier-Mail: QUEENSLANDERS are the highest producers of greenhouse gas in the world, emitting 38.9 tonnes per person every year – nearly eleven tonnes more than the Australian average, a first-ever audit has found. The audit, undertaken by the Wet Tropics Management Authority between Cooktown and Cardwell, offers stark warning about the threats of climate change. Scientists have warned the Great Barrier Reef may be dead within 20 years and one of the world's most ancient rainforests in the ...

Tue, 25 Dec 07
India: Supreme Court ruling on Orissa mining case could set precedent
http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/25235415/Supreme-Court-ruling-on-Orissa.htm l
Livemint: Weeks after it halted Vedanta Alumina Ltd's mining project in Orissa, the Supreme Court will soon weigh in on the issue in what many see as a possible precedent-setting decision. Acting on the court's own directions, Vedanta's associate company, Sterlite Industries India Ltd, has filed a fresh application. Meanwhile, a review petition has also been filed by Oriya tribal activist Siddarth Nayak, a party to the previous proceedings, seeking a review of the court's order. In ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Big wake-up to global warming
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/20071224_Big_wake-up_to_globa l_warming.html
Philadelphia Inquirer: As the ice melted, the issue gelled. This was the year that global warming hit the mass radar screen, driven by a drumbeat of catastrophic predictions from top scientists, a jaw-dropping acceleration in polar ice melt, Al Gore's Oscar - and then his Nobel. His prize showed how important the issue was. His cameo on NBC's 30 Rock showed how mainstream it was. As recently as 2003, when climatologist Heidi Cullen began her 90-second spots on the Weather Channel, global ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Carbon culprits: South is fast catching up
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=56&ItemID=14573
Khaalej Times: NOTHING exposes the bankruptcy of "GDP-ism", or obsession with gross domestic product growth, better than India's and Pakistan's performance where it matters – human development. The latest United Nations Human Development Report shows India has in one year slipped two notches in the Human Development Index to the pitiable rank of 128 among 177 countries. And Pakistan has fallen by one rank to 136. Thanks to lopsided elite-oriented growth, India and Pakistan remain firmly within the ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Climate Change Malpractice
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/23/AR200712230 2232.html
Washington Post: THE INK was barely dry on the energy bill signed by President Bush last week when Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson used it as a wobbly crutch to deny California's request to institute tough tailpipe emissions regulations. "The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution, not a confusing patchwork of state rules, to reduce America's climate footprint from vehicles," he said. Bad call. Carmakers understandably prefer ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Congress to Scrutinize EPA Calif. Decision - Pelosi
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46176/story.htm
Reuters: The US Congress will closely examine the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to deny California's request to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives said Friday. The EPA on Wednesday denied California's attempt to place first-ever US limits on automobile emissions of heat-trapping gases, which account for about 30 percent of the US total. The decision, lauded by the auto industry and pilloried by environmental ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Japan aglow with LED Christmas lights
http://www.upiasiaonline.com/Society_Culture/2007/12/24/japan_aglow_with_le d_christmas_lights/4625/
United Press International: Japan is twinkling with Christmas lights this season, as streets, parks, shops and even private homes are lit up for the Christmas season. This year, economic and colorful LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are widely popular. One of Japan's western prefectures is banking on LEDs for its future prosperity. Though hardly a Christian nation, with church-going citizens reaching barely 1 percent of the population, Japan has been doing all it can to look like one at Christmas time. Shopping ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
UK experts study carbon footprint of Christmas
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s2126491.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: ELEANOR HALL: As you tuck into your Christmas feast tomorrow, you might spare a thought for the carbon cost of this annual ritual. A study in the United Kingdom has found that the Brits' love of their traditional turkey dinner will produce a carbon footprint equivalent to 6,000 car journeys around the world. In London, Stephanie Kennedy reports: (Sound of items being scanned at cash register) STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The final Christmas rush is on in London, and while ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
UN Sees No Climate Change Solution Without US
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46178/story.htm
Reuters: The United States will suffer from global warming along with other nations if there is no broader agreement on cutting carbon emissions, the United Nations environment chief Achim Steiner said. He said the United States needed to take significant steps to cut emissions or there would be no solution to climate change, despite an agreement in Bali on negotiations to replace the Kyoto climate pact. Delegates from 190 nations agreed on Dec. 15 to launch negotiations on a new pact ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
California to Sue US for Denying Emissions Waiver
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46180/story.htm
Reuters: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that he would sue the US government for not granting a waiver that would allow his state to enforce new standards on motor vehicle emissions. California needs the waiver from the US Environmental Protection Agency to implement a state law requiring automakers to cut tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent on 2009 model cars. Sixteen other states either have adopted or are considering rules similar to California's ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Candidates remain cool over climate change
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bf1ee9bc-b1c3-11dc-9777-0000779fd2ac.html
Financial Times: The US administration's position on climate change was in the spotlight last weekend as its delegation was booed in the closing hours of the marathon United Nations meeting in Bali. Nevertheless, the issue is unlikely to be high on the presidential election agenda. Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, said in Bali: "It won't have much effect and I'm probably overstating it. It won't be [on the agenda] at the next election but it will be on the political agenda as we go ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Cooling Earth's Climate as a Matter of Faith
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2007/2007-12-24-01.asp
Environment News Service: World Council of Churches General Secretary Dr. Samuel Kobia is calling concerns about climate change "a matter of faith" and says the Christian faith community must be at the vanguard of the response to global warming. "I think as Christians we should be the ones to lead the way so that others then can follow because for us it is not just a matter of political or economic or ecological concern it is a matter of faith," Kobia said Thursday in New ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Federal energy 'independence' act threatens to chill solar industry
http://www.mlive.com/business/ambizdaily/bizjournals/index.ssf?/base/abd-3/ 119848200574790.xml
San Jose Business Journal: The newest energy policy from the federal government leaves solar out in the cold. President Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 on Dec. 19, establishing standards for higher fuel economy, renewable fuels, green building and energy efficiency that environmentalists have described as positive steps to stop the increase of carbon output in the U.S. But the same act failed to address tax incentives that make alternative energies more economical, and ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Canada: Lack of rain killing firs, experts say
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071224.BCFIR24/TPStory/N ational
Globe and Mail: You won't have trouble finding a pint-sized grand fir on a Christmas tree lot this time of year - it's one of the most popular yuletide evergreens on the market. But tree experts on southern Vancouver Island fear climate change is threatening the giant conifer's survival in the wild. Chris Paul, an arborist with the Municipality of Oak Bay, said his staff have had to chop down dozens of dying grand firs in recent years, something that in past decades rarely ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Loss of Sea Ice Could Harm Walrus
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i86-YHtGnJd2ZLbjp6bfON7YdCsQD8TNOTRO0
Associated Press: Federal marine mammal experts in Alaska studying the effects of global warming on walrus, polar bears and ice seals warn there are limit to the protections they can provide. They can restrict hunters, ship traffic and offshore petroleum activity, but that may not be enough if the animals' basic habitat – sea ice – disappears every summer. "Ultimately it's beyond my scope," said Joel Garlich-Miller, a walrus expert for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage. ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Aiming for Films of High Quality and Low Ecological Damage
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90666
New York Times: Paramount Vantage, formerly known as Paramount Classics, is the "low-budget, high-quality" division of Paramount Pictures, says Georgia Kacandes, its executive vice president for physical and postproduction. It is also, apparently, the low-emissions, high-minded division of Paramount. All its releases – which include "An Inconvenient Truth," "Babel," "A Mighty Heart" and, coming out on Wednesday, "There Will Be Blood" – are "carbon neutral," Ms. Kacandes says. In other words, the ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
China, Japan Sign 46.3 Bln Yen Environmental Loan
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46186/story.htm
Reuters: China and Japan signed a final agreement on Friday for a 46.3 billion yen (US$409.4 million) loan to fund environmental projects in central and western China, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The loan, signed by China's deputy finance minister and the governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, carries an interest rate of 0.65 percent to 1.4 percent and has a term of 25 to 40 years, the report said. The loan will fund air pollution reduction and urban ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
EPA brings a chill to warmth of season
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/344629_joel24.html
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: In Christian theology, the four weeks of Advent mark the start of the church year and comprise a time of preparation and waiting for the Nativity of Christ. Early 21st century politics have dictated a temporal use for the Christmas-New Year's season. With public attention directed away, bureaucrats and plutocrats find this the ideal time to sucker punch the environment. At a news conference held at 6:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, as nightly news programs went off the air on the East ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
France's Bollore and Pininfarina to make electric car
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=motoringSummary&s toryID=2007-12-24T100351Z_01_NOA435936_RTRUKOC_0_AUTOS-BOLLORE.xml
Reuters: French financier Vincent Bollore is teaming up with Italian car designer and manufacturer Pininfarina to build an electric car in a project worth about 150 million euros (109 million pounds). Bollore and Pininfarina will set up a joint venture with the aim to put a small, four-seater car on the market by the summer of 2009, according to a Friday statement from Bollore's holding company. They will sell it under the Pininfarina brand, a first for the Italian company best known ...

Mon, 24 Dec 07
Japan, U.S. mulls climate summit next year
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/24/content_7302426.htm
Xinhua: Japan and the United States plan to hold a summit of major carbon emitters shortly before the Group of Eight summit scheduled next July in Japan, Kyodo News said Monday. Tokyo and Washington have started working-level talks on the plan to convene the "Environment and Energy Summit" of G-8 leaders and their partners from other carbon emitters ahead of the G-8 summit to be held July 7-9 in northern Japan's Hokkaido, the report said, citing Japanese government sources. ...

Sun, 23 Dec 07
In India, climate change sparks fears of epic floods
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/12/23/1223indiaflo ods.html
Austin American-Statesman: When the monsoon comes each summer to this poor Indian village, it brings misery. Raindrops as wide as nickels fall straight and hard, churning dirt lanes into mud. But this year's monsoon rains were the heaviest anyone in India's northeastern Bihar state can remember. Something has changed, they say, and their fears are confirmed by many in the scientific community who say India's floods are getting worse as warming alters the earth's climate. In the past, the rains ...

Sun, 23 Dec 07
In the Age of Noah
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90588
New York Times: A couple of weeks ago, The Times's Jim Yardley reported from China that the world's last known female Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle was living in one Chinese zoo, while the planet's only undisputed, known giant soft-shell male turtle was living in another – and together this aging pair were the last hope of saving a species believed to be the largest freshwater turtles in the world. It struck me as I read that story that our generation has entered a phase that no previous generation ...

Sun, 23 Dec 07
Japan's Emperor Akihito voices worry over climate change in birthday comments
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/23/asia/AS-GEN-Japan-Emperor-Birthda y.php
Associated Press: Japanese Emperor Akihito expressed concern about global warming in comments marking his 74th birthday Sunday, but declined to discuss issues in his family. "Problems caused by global warming are emerging around the world, and there are concerns that they could have various impacts on the lives of people in the future," the emperor said in a press conference. But Akihito said he was encouraged to see increased international cooperation on the environment. His comments ...

Sun, 23 Dec 07
United Kingdom: Wilder parks can tame climate change threat
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/23/climatechange.carbonemiss ions
Observer: Britain's National parks - enjoyed by 100 million visitors a year - must undergo a conservation revolution if they are to meet the challenges of climate change and the introduction of new farming practices. This is the stark warning of leading environmentalist Adrian Phillips, who has warned the National Parks Societies that our most precious landscapes will have to adapt in the near future. Phillips wants planners to encourage small renewable energy projects, such as wind turbines, ...

Sun, 23 Dec 07
Tropical disease invades a warming Italy
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/23/MN7AU3JO6.DTL
New York Times: Panic was spreading through this tidy village of 2,000 in August as one person after another fell ill with weeks of high fever, exhaustion and excruciating bone pain, just as most of Italy was enjoying Ferragosto, its most important summer holiday. "At one point, I simply couldn't stand up to get out of the car," said Antonio Ciano, 62, an elegant retiree in a pashmina scarf and trendy blue glasses. "I fell. I thought, OK, my time is up. I'm going to die. It was really ...

Sun, 23 Dec 07
'Vanishing World' calls for Arctic attention
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2007/12/23/2007-12-23_vanishi ng_world_calls_for_arctic_attenti.html
New York Daily News: Most of us will never set foot in the Arctic, yet it's an area that desperately needs our attention. One of the most hostile environments on the planet, it's also one of the areas most vulnerable to the effects of global warming. Overcoming the Arctic's inaccessibility and stark reputation, photographer Mireille de la Lez and producer Fredrik Granath spent five years in the heart of the region, bringing it to life in a series of stunning images documented in their epic new ...

Sun, 23 Dec 07
Germany should embrace CO2 goal, not fight it -Dimas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7174378
Reuters: Germany should look at European Union plans to force down carbon dioxide emissions from cars not as "punishment" but rather a chance to improve their competitive position, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said. Dimas urged German leaders on Sunday to rethink their opposition to the climate protection measure, telling the Welt am Sonntag newspaper the proposed EU legislation would actually secure German car industry jobs in the long term. Even though ...

Sun, 23 Dec 07
Australia: Up go water prices again
http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2007/12/24/9957_opinion.html
Geelong Advertiser: Don't worry about all your efforts to reduce water use, to conserve supplies, to adopt a certain degree of self-sufficiency _ your reward for responsibility will be yet another whack on the hip-pocket nerve by the State Government. In a neat piece of political side-stepping, Spring St has passed a tax increase through to a poorly-disguised Labor-riddled government agency. As if voters might not notice. Regrettably, it's a fair bet most won't notice the sleight of hand. But it's ...

Sat, 22 Dec 07
Australia: Customers misled by green power claims
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/customers-misled-by-green-power-clai ms/2007/12/21/1198175341929.html
Sydney Morning Herald: TWO of Australia's biggest energy suppliers have been forced to stop advertising some of their "green" electricity products after investigations by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found them to be misleading. EnergyAustralia has agreed to write to about 30,000 people explaining its ClearAir and GreenFuture products, while Origin Energy has agreed to stop screening television ads that claimed switching to Origin GreenPower was the same as "not driving ...

Sat, 22 Dec 07
China Grabs West's Smoke-Spewing Factories
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90553
New York Times: When residents of this northern Chinese city hang their clothes out to dry, the black fallout from nearby Handan Iron and Steel often sends them back to the wash. Half a world away, neighbors of ThyssenKrupp's former steel mill in the Ruhr Valley of Germany once had a similar problem. The white shirts men wore to church on Sundays turned gray by the time they got home. These two steel towns have an unusual kinship, spanning 5,000 miles and a decade of economic upheaval. They ...

Sat, 22 Dec 07
Schwarzenegger versus Bush in Californian battle of gas-guzzlers
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3276246.ece
Independent: The Bush administration came under heavy fire yesterday from environmentalists and politicians of both major parties after it refused to allow California and 16 other states to go ahead with new regulations curbing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle exhaust pipes. Critics accused the White House of sabotaging a key part of the fight against global warming, and California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, said he would sue the federal government to have the ruling overturned. The ...

Sat, 22 Dec 07
How Europe misread the Bali debate
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/22Dec2007_focus01.php
Bangkok Post: The outcome of the Bali climate change meeting shows that most countries in the world do not favour radical action to reduce greenhouse gases. Yet in the lead-up to the meeting, the world's media were full of stories about how it is necessary to take dramatic action. The consequences would be serious if we did not. Who got it wrong? The governments at Bali or the media? The four-page communique' adopted at Bali shows what governments wanted. It reflected agreement to start ...

Sat, 22 Dec 07
Indonesia: Tree planting mandatory, cutting prohibited in RI action plan
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=90564
Jakarta Post: The Forestry Ministry wants the government to issue a policy making it mandatory for each Indonesian citizen to plant a tree every year to store more carbon. In its action plan, the ministry said anyone who wished to cut down a tree with a diameter of more than 10 centimeters had to secure a permit issued by the government. "And anyone who fells a tree has to plant two more trees," the action plan stated. The director general of the forestry research and ...

Sat, 22 Dec 07
Utah wind project lines up California customers
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/12/21/financial/f1601 22S39.DTL
Associated Press: Utah wind will keep the lights on in southern California. The Southern California Public Power Authority has signed a 20-year agreement to get electricity from a wind farm built in Beaver County by UPC Wind of Massachusetts. The power agency acted on behalf of Los Angeles, Burbank and Pasadena. "The approval of this power-purchase agreement by the mayor and the L.A. City Council is a major milestone," said Paul Gaynor, UPC Wind's president and chief executive ...

Sat, 22 Dec 07
Global warming, far away and up close
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.html?id=d8a48f1f-3097 -4df2-b59b-4329fff23795
Montreal Gazette: Jean Lemire set out to make one film and returned - after an epic 430-day trip to Antarctica - with something completely different. The Montreal biologist and filmmaker specializes in making spectacular nature documentaries, like The White Planet, about the Arctic, and the miniseries Mission baleines, which took a look at the world of whales. When he first started preparing his latest film, Le dernier continent, which opened across Quebec Friday, Lemire planned to make a feature on ...

Sat, 22 Dec 07
Opponents of coal plant seek CO2 limitations
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071222/NEWS01 /712220303/1002
Great Falls Tribune: Opponents of the proposed coal-fired Highwood Generating Station argued here Friday that Montana has a rare opportunity to set an example for the nation by placing limits on the power plant's emissions of carbon dioxide, a leading suspect in climate change. Legal counsel for the state Department of Environmental Quality and plant developer Southern Montana Generation & Transmission Cooperative countered that the gas is not a regulated pollutant under state and federal clean air ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Bottled water a front in warming fight
http://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_7777686?nclick_check=1
Contra Costa Times: Drinking a bottle of water might seem innocent enough, but each bottle has a downside many people overlook -- a contribution to global warming. That's because bottles create carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, when they are made, trucked to a store and disposed of in a landfill or recycled. Their impact can quickly add up. "Bottled water is an energy-intensive luxury for Americans," said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an environmental ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
California Will Not Get US Waiver on Emissions
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46158/story.htm
Reuters: The Bush administration Wednesday said it will deny California's request to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles, a setback for environmentalists and a victory for automakers. The administration said an energy bill signed into law hours earlier by President Bush means no further action is needed to cut carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, which account for about 30 percent of the US total. The Environmental Protection Agency, charged with making the decision, ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
China becomes world's 'smokestack'
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/252916.html
New York Times: When residents of this northern Chinese city hang their clothes out to dry, the black fallout from nearby Handan Iron and Steel often sends them back to the wash. Half a world away, neighbours of ThyssenKrupp's former steel mill in the Ruhr Valley of Germany once had a similar problem. The white shirts men wore to church on Sundays turned gray by the time they got home. These two steel towns have an unusual kinship. They have shared the same hulking blast furnace, dismantled ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
China reels from worst drought in a decade
http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKPEK201059._CH_.24202007122 1
Reuters: China is suffering its worst drought in a decade, which has left millions of people short of drinking water and has shrunk reservoirs and rivers, state media said on Friday. Hardest hit are large swathes of the usually humid south, where water levels on several major rivers have plunged to historic lows in recent months. "The drought is the most serious of the decade and is affecting almost the whole country," the China Daily quoted Zhang Jiatuan, an official from the ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Uganda: Mabira giveaway not yet resolved
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Mabira_giveaway_not_yet_resolv ed.shtml
Daily Monitor: PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has resurrected the controversial Mabira Forest giveaway debate, telling the NRM Parliamentary Caucus that the issue is yet to be resolved. Presenting his 11-page statement on industrialisation to the Caucus on Monday, President Museveni urged them to take a decision. "Those opposing industrialisation, apart from being enemies of NRM, are, in particular, enemies of the youth because they are the ones who need these jobs. I can no longer tolerate ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Norway: Oil giants abandon plans for 'uneconomic' green power plant
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_res ources/article3080952.ece
Times (UK): Shell and StatoilHydro have scrapped plans to build a green power plant that would capture and store carbon dioxide because the project was found to be uneconomic. The decision to shelve the gas-fired power project, which was to be built at Tjeldbergodden in Norway, casts further doubt on the financial viability of power schemes that capture and safely store greenhouse gases. In the UK, BP was forced to scrap plans to build a carbon-capture and storage scheme at Peterhead in ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
US Tax Credit Expiry Endangers Wind, Solar Expansion
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46152/story.htm
Reuters: Growth of a nascent US industry to build and install clean energy sources, like windmills and solar cells, could be stunted if Congress doesn't extend tax incentives set to expire next year, industry officials and lawmakers said Wednesday. Democrats last week dropped a US$21.5 billion package of tax incentives from a broad energy bill after Republicans and the White House threatened to block it. Without the tax credits set to expire at the end of 2008, homeowners and ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
United States: A Huge New Coal Plant -- Your Tax Dollars at Work
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-fuller/a-huge-new-coal-plant-_b_77900.h tml
Huffington Post: Mattoon, Illinois, has just become the single most important spot on the globe for Big Coal. There a consortium of mining companies and electric utility companies are putting American tax dollars to work. Building a commercial coal-burning plant that is to have the latest in clean tech. To remain almost carbon neutral the FutureGen plant will use carbon dioxide sequestration. They're going to pump some of that CO2 underground and try to keep it there. Current cost estimates? The plant ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
United States: EPA Decision to Block State Emissions Plans Raises Policy Debate
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/july-dec07/emissions_12-20.html
PBS: MARGARET WARNER: The Bush administration's refusal to let states set their own auto emissions standards met with harsh criticism from state officials today. Last night, the Environmental Protection Agency denied California's two-year-old request for a waiver so it could impose carbon dioxide emission standards stricter than those in effect nationally. The California plan would require a 30 percent reduction in car and light truck emissions by 2016. That would translate into a ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
EU Ministers Stall New Soil Protection Rules
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46156/story.htm
Reuters: European Union environment ministers put new rules to protect soil in the bloc on a backburner on Thursday after a coalition led by Britain and Germany blocked the adoption of a draft law. The bill had sought to prevent the soil's deterioration from industrial use and the effects of climate change. It would have obliged the EU's 27 nations to set up public inventories of sites where soil may be contaminated with dangerous substances and lay out ways to clean them up. ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
EU Moves to Include Airlines in Emissions Trade
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46155/story.htm
Reuters: European Union environment ministers agreed on Thursday to include airlines in the bloc's emissions trading scheme from 2012 as part of its fight against climate change. The EU's 27 governments will now negotiate the final deal with the European Parliament, which has voted for airlines to join the system in 2011. "Our decision is of utmost importance in our fight against climate changes," Portuguese Environment Minister Francisco Nunes Correia, whose country holds ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Japan to meet Kyoto goal with extra measures: panel
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKT20187520071221
Reuters: Japan will be able to cut as much greenhouse gas emissions as it promised under the Kyoto Protocol if additional measures, mainly extra voluntary agreements with industries and more energy conservation by households, are carried out, a top government panel said. A joint panel on climate change under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Environment finalized additional measures on Friday to cut emissions as the Kyoto period starts next year. The ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Norway sticks with CCS gas power plant plan -PM
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL2173041020071221
Reuters: Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that costs of building a gas-fired power plant with carbon capture would easily exceed 10 billion crowns ($1.79 billion), but vowed to carry out the plan. The government said on Wednesday that a test unit for capture and carbon storage (CCS) at the Mongstad plant would be delayed by about a year, to 2011 from 2010, due to high costs, resulting in protests from environmental groups. The CCS facility will trap emissions ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
The high price of planting palm oil forests
http://ec.europa.eu/research/headlines/news/article_07_12_21_en.html
Europa: New data shows that massive amounts of carbon dioxide are being released from tropical Southeast Asian peatland after the conversion of natural swamp forest to oil palm or pulpwood tree plantations. The findings are in accordance with other recent reports on the growing negative environmental impacts of planting palm oil and pulpwood forests. Natural peatland accumulates huge stores of carbon dioxide as a result of centuries of tree growth. When this land is deforested to grow oil ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
What the U.N. can learn from Google
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/12/2 1/EDDRU269O.DTL&type=politics
San Francisco Chronicle: Last week's United Nations climate change negotiations in Bali ended with a whimper, not a bang, an "agreement" to postpone negotiations until 2009, when the United States will have a new president, one presumably more committed to action than President Bush. The most dramatic moment came when foreign diplomats loudly booed U.S. representatives. While it is always satisfying to see the Bush administration take a drubbing on climate change, the whole episode distracted attention ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Carriers afraid they'll cough up for CO2
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/12/21/eu_new_co2_airpla ne_law
Marketplace: Doug Krizner: The European Union has charged a number of major airlines with fixing the price of jet fuel for cargo planes. British Airways and Japan Airlines have been cited. More carriers are being investigated. The E.U. has also been working to get airlines to reduce carbon emissions. A new law requiring lower emissions has been bumped back a year. As Megan Williams reports, it's a watered-down version of an earlier bill, but it's still enough to make non-European carriers ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Climate change and conflicts: Is there a link at all?
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/1265/2007/11/21-194034-1.htm
Reuters: Many scientists, politicians and journalists now agree that climate change and a scarcity of resources could lead to armed conflict. So much so, in fact, that this year's Nobel Prize for Peace went to former U.S. vice president turned environmentalist Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But the argument is far from settled, writes online magazine Science Daily. The link between pressure on natural resources and armed conflicts simply doesn't exist, say ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Extra CO2 reduction plans by Japan industries
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=159676
Reuters: Japan's top government panel finalized a list of additional measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet its Kyoto Protocol goal, mainly by extra voluntary agreements with industries and more energy conservation. Japan is set to revise the existing emission measures by March. Progress by Japan is critical to the success of the protocol as UN-led talks on a post-Kyoto pact have just begun. Japan, the only Asian country with Kyoto reduction responsibility, has been ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Global warming causing China's glaciers to melt quickly: survey
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2cIXH_jqzBAi1HLp7YF8lvuhbZg
Agence France-Presse: Global warming has caused some of China's glaciers -- a source for many of Asia's greatest rivers -- to have melted by more than 18 percent over the past five years, state media reported Friday. A survey of nearly 20,000 square kilometres (8,000 square miles) of China's glaciers showed they were on average 7.4 percent smaller than five years ago, Caijing magazine said, citing a government-funded survey. A glacier along the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra River on the Tibetan ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
United States: Outrageous EPA waiver denial flies in face of facts
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_7776812?nclick_check=1
San Jose Mercury: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision Wednesday to block California's pioneering effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars is outrageous and deplorable. It's further proof that the Bush administration remains blind to what the law, science and good public policy require to combat climate change. California must challenge this decision vigorously in court, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to do. And Congress should step in, if needed, to help overturn ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Petition Seeks Protection for Seals
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g0dnFdckz-vpNuHcf1OXayTGMn3wD8TLQ84G0
Associated Press: Frustrated by a lack of regulations limiting global warming, a conservation group wants ribbon seals listed as threatened or endangered because their habitat – sea ice – is disappearing amid climate change. The Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday filed a 91-page petition with the National Marine Fisheries Service seeking to list ribbon seals as threatened or endangered. The group says the classification is needed because sea ice is disappearing due to climate change brought on ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
The Bush EPA vs. the states
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/editorial/11981 9851986280.xml&coll=7
Oregonian: The Environmental Protection Agency is protecting automakers, not the environment, by blocking California's pioneering plan to reduce carbon dioxide pollution from automobiles. By taking that action Wednesday, the EPA administrator, Stephen Johnson, defied science, common sense and quite possibly the law. He said California and 16 other states, including Oregon and Washington, don't have the right to set their own standards for greenhouse gas emissions. Before Wednesday, in ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
US Energy Law Pulls Plug on Edison's Light Bulb
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46154/story.htm
Reuters: The light bulb Thomas Edison invented 125 years ago is getting more than a make-over. The government is pulling the plug on it. The landmark energy bill President Bush signed into law on Wednesday will require lighting to use up to 30 percent less energy, which will basically phase out the traditional light bulb because it won't be able to meet the new efficiency standards. Almost 90 percent of the energy used by today's incandescent bulbs produces heat and only 10 percent ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Brazil launches anti-deforestation plan
http://www.elpasotimes.com/nationworld/ci_7780565
Associated Press: Brazil announced Friday it will create a landholder registry and send 700 more federal police to the Amazon River basin in a new effort to monitor and prevent deforestation in the environmentally sensitive region. The initiative is designed to identify illegal deforestation and will ban the sale of livestock and produce grown in illegal deforested areas, with violators subject to fines and loss of credit from government institutions. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva approved the ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Climatic Chain Reaction Caused Runaway Greenhouse Effect 55 Million Years Ago
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071221222544.htm
Science Daily: There are new findings regarding a phase of rapid global greenhouse warming that took place 55 million years ago. This period of climate change is regarded as the best fossil analogue to current and future greenhouse warming. Analogous to the Earth's current situation, greenhouse warming 55 million years ago was caused by a relatively rapid increase of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. This phase, known as the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), was studied using sediments ...

Fri, 21 Dec 07
Congress To Probe Denial Of Emissions Law
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/21/tech/main3639373.shtml
CBS: Congressional Democrats on Thursday announced an investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency's refusal to let California implement its tailpipe emissions law, the first step in what will likely be a fierce legal and political battle. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Jo