Climate Change
Main
Science
Beeb ScienceClimate Change
Eco News
Science Daily
Random Feeds
Archives
| Mar 2010 | Feb 2010 | Jan 2010 | Dec 2009 | Nov 2009 | Oct 2009 | Sep 2009 | Aug 2009 | Jul 2009 | Jun 2009 | May 2009 | Apr 2009 | Mar 2009 | Feb 2009 | Jan 2009 | Dec 2008 | Nov 2008 | Oct 2008 | Sep 2008 | Aug 2008 | Jul 2008 | Jun 2008 | May 2008 | Apr 2008 | Mar 2008 | Feb 2008 | Jan 2008 | Dec 2007 | Nov 2007 |Sat, 31 May 08
Could US scientist's 'CO2 catcher' help to slow warming?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/31/carbonemissions.climatechange
Guardian: It has long been the holy grail for those who believe that technology can save us from catastrophic climate change: a device that can "suck" carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, reducing the warming effect of the billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas produced each year. Now a group of US scientists say they have made a breakthrough towards creating such a machine. Led by Klaus Lackner, a physicist at Columbia University in New York, they plan to build and demonstrate a ...
Sat, 31 May 08
United Kingdom: Thousands expected at 'carnival' to fight Heathrow expansion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/31/travelandtransport.communities
Guardian: Ten thousand people are expected to rally today for a "carnival-style" protest at Heathrow against the proposed expansion of the world's busiest airport. Climate change, increasing noise pollution and congestion have united middle class Londoners, environmental groups, local communities and more than 20 councils against the government-backed BAA plan for a third runway and a sixth terminal. The demonstrators are expected to walk around the airport perimeter fence to ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Japan: Shirakami forests 'could vanish by 2100'
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080531TDY03103.htm
Yomiuri Shimbun: Vast beech forests in the Shirakami Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed natural site that straddles Akita and Aomori prefectures, could vanish by the end of this century due to global warming, according to researchers. Their report on the future impact of climate change on the nation also warned that if greenhouse gas emissions remain at the current level, global warming will increase the damage caused by storm surges and cause torrential rain to fall more often. The ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Ecosystem destruction costing hundreds of billions a year
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/30/biodiversity.conservation
Guardian: The steeply accelerating decline of the natural world is already costing hundreds of billions of pounds a year, say leading economists, in a review of the costs and benefits of forests, rivers and marine life. The losses will increase dramatically over the next generation unless urgent remedial action is taken, they say. An interim report presented to world leaders meeting in Bonn yesterday warns of the "severe consequences" to all economies if forests continue to be ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Australia: Gunns mill 'may never be built'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/30/2260382.htm?section=australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A timber industry analyst says he is not sure Gunns' $2 billion pulp mill will ever be built because of delays in securing finance. The ANZ announced yesterday it would not fund the mill, and analyst Robert Eastment believes financial reasons are behind the bank's decision to walk away from the project. Gunns says the bank's decision does not mean the end of the project, as there is strong interest from international banks. Mr Eastment says the business case for the ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Large methane release could cause abrupt climate change as happened 635 million years ago
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/geowissenschaften/bericht-111171.html
Innovations Report: An abrupt release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, about 635 million years ago from ice sheets that then extended to Earth's low latitudes caused a dramatic shift in climate, triggering a series of events that resulted in global warming and effectively ended the last "snowball" ice age, a UC Riverside-led study reports. The researchers posit that the methane was released gradually at first and then in abundance from clathrates – methane ice that forms and stabilizes beneath ice ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Sea warming threat to fish stocks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7427496.stm
BBC: Global warming could pose a serious threat to fish stocks around Scotland's coast, according to a new study. Researchers at Loch Lomond Aquarium, near Balloch, studied the breeding of rays at different water temperatures. They found that in warmer water, the rays' eggs hatched earlier and their offspring were less capable of producing healthy young of their own. The 15-month study examined the effects of three different temperatures on 400 ray eggs. The eggs, ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Should all Arctic species be red-listed?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14029-should-all-arctic-species-be-redlisted.html
New Scientist: Just two weeks after the US decided to list the polar bear as an endangered species because of the threat of climate change, conservationists have launched a campaign to afford its diet Arctic seals the same protection. The same scientists say tens of thousands more Arctic species may soon be listed as "endangered" because of a threat several decades down the line. Some conservationists argue that all Arctic species be listed. The Center for Biological Conservation ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Canada: Activity light in debut of Montreal carbon market
http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCAN3027327720080530
Reuters: Just three contracts changed hands during the debut of Canada's new carbon emissions market on Friday, but the operator said it sees strong potential for growth in a country that is among the world's biggest polluters. Montreal Exchange, Canada's main derivatives market -- which was bought this month by Toronto Stock Exchange operator TSX Group -- launched the market so that polluters, speculators and investors have a platform on which to buy and sell carbon credits. With ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Baird Says Canada May Link Carbon Trading With US, Europe
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aN0tyXAIdkgc&refer=canada
Bloomberg: Canadian Environment Minister John Baird said he would support a move to link a new domestic carbon market with the U.S. and eventually Europe as trading increases. Montreal Exchange Inc., a unit of Toronto-based TSX Group Inc., opened a carbon market today, Canada's first. Canadian emissions rose the fastest in the Group of Eight industrialized nations from 1990 to 2004 as the population and economy expanded, according to Statistics Canada. ``We are keen and eager to work ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Big US Carbon Footprints Lie East Of Mississippi
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48565/story.htm
Reuters: Nine of the 10 US urban areas that release the most greenhouse gases per person lie east of the Mississippi River, a study showed on Thursday. "A north-south divide is also apparent," said the report issued by two think tanks, the New York-based Regional Plan Association and the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Seven of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases are in the south, including two cities each in Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky, it said. Carbon ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Chances dim for climate-change legislation
http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/30/news/economy/gunther_legislation.fortune/?postversion=2008053018
Fortune Magazine: An influential coalition of Fortune 500 companies and environmental groups that was formed to support climate-change legislation has splintered over the Lieberman-Warner bill that is headed next week to the Senate floor. The U.S. Climate Action Partnership formed last year won't take a position on the bill, although nine of its members - including General Electric (GE, Fortune 500), Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) and four utility companies - signed a letter to senators backing the ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Cheap solar power now within reach, says study
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/cheap-solar-power-now-within-reach-says-study_10054588.html
Indo-Asian News Service: It has been called the holy grail of the modern era - cheap solar energy. And scientists say it may be within our grasp soon. A Queensland University team has grown the world's first titanium oxide nano crystals that are likely to revolutionise the way solar energy is harvested and used. Creating these highly efficient miniature crystals with large reactive surfaces was thought of as impossible by most scientists. Max Lu, who led the study, sounded upbeat that they were a step ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Canada: Deal to replace Kyoto accord must be realistic, Harper says
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080530.HARPERCLIMATE30/TPStory/National
Globe and Mail: Stephen Harper warned yesterday that countries concerned about climate change must seek a realistic international deal that balances the environment and the economy, or face the possibility of no deal at all. The Prime Minister, speaking in Britain, which supports significantly deeper cuts to greenhouse gases than Canada does, said that a new deal to replace the Kyoto accord must strike such an equilibrium, or even the noblest efforts will be ineffective. "We will never ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Food Prices To Stay High, "Grain Drain" Fuel Blamed
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48574/story.htm
Reuters: Food prices will remain high over the next decade even if they fall from current records, meaning millions more risk further hardship or hunger, the OECD and the UN's FAO food agency said in a report published on Thursday. Beyond stating the immediate need for humanitarian aid, the international bodies suggested wider deployment of genetically modified crops and a rethink of biofuel programmes that guzzle grain which could otherwise feed people and livestock. The report, ...
Sat, 31 May 08
German solar cuts less than feared, stocks rally
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL3012006720080530
Reuters: Germany's ruling parties have reached a deal to reduce support for the solar energy sector by 8 percent in 2009 and 2010, far less than the booming industry had feared. Shares in German solar power companies rallied, topping the leader board of Frankfurt's technology index after the deal came in lower than the 30 percent decrease in 2009 some German conservatives had pushed for. German law requires utilities to pay solar energy producers higher prices for solar power they put ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Germany Looks to Boost Biking as Europe Pedals Past
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3371344,00.html
Deutsche Welle: Germany wants to double its bicycle traffic by 2012. While breaking Germany's car addiction has proved a major challenge, other European cities have shown it's possible to make the switch. In most German city centers, biking beats out driving as the fastest way to get around. During the morning rush hour, it's not uncommon to see cars creeping forward while cyclists zip past. The incentives for Germans to bike have never been better, with a medium-sized car sucking away at ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Global Biofuel Output To Soar In Next Decade-Report
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48562/story.htm
Reuters: Global production of biofuels will rise rapidly over the next decade, helped by high government blending targets and subsidies, the OECD and the UN's FAO food agency said in a report published on Thursday. These rises will boost already soaring world agricultural commodities prices and reduce their availability for food and feed, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Food and Agriculture Organisation said in co-drafted report. "With a biofuel output that should more ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Solar Stocks Rally as Concerns Ease Over Subsidy Cuts
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=a1QSx3gBtl5Y&refer=germany
Bloomberg: European solar stocks, including Q-Cells AG and Renewable Energy Corp. ASA, rallied after Germany's ruling coalition government agreed to implement smaller-than-expected subsidy cuts. Q-Cells, Germany's largest solar-power company, surged as much as 8.8 percent, the biggest one-day gain in two months, and traded at 75.90 euros as of 12:03 p.m. in Frankfurt. Renewable Energy, the largest maker of polysilicon used in solar panels, climbed as much as 6.8 percent in Oslo. The ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Solar Stocks Rally as German Subsidy Concerns Ease
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a0Bnvbnp57uI&refer=europe
Bloomberg: Solar stocks, including Q-Cells AG and Renewable Energy Corp. ASA, rallied after Germany's ruling coalition government agreed to implement smaller-than-expected subsidy cuts. Q-Cells, Germany's largest solar-power company, surged 9.8 percent, the biggest one-day gain in two months, to close at 78.15 euros on the Frankfurt exchange. Renewable Energy Corp. ASA, the largest maker of polysilicon used in solar panels, climbed 6.1 percent to close at 151.5 kroner in Oslo. The ...
Sat, 31 May 08
United Kingdom: Thousands expected for Heathrow expansion protest
http://www.24dash.com/news/Environment/2008-05-30-Thousands-expected-for-Heathrow-expansion-protest
24dash: Organisers are forecasting that thousands of people will take part in a march and rally tomorrow to protest against expansion at the UK's biggest airport. Demonstrators from all over the country are expected to descend on Heathrow Airport in west London for the protest. They will walk from Hatton Cross to Sipson, the village that will be lost if plans for a third runway at Heathrow go ahead. At Sipson, the protesters will gather in a field to form a huge "NO" ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Toyota denies decision on Prius in US
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jk3byrcaFDti8chX7PJUs-J0-T1AD90VSDQG4
Associated Press: Toyota said Friday that nothing had been decided yet on using its California joint venture plant with General Motors to produce its Prius hybrid – a move that would mark the first North American plant for the hit "green" car. Major daily Tokyo Shimbun reported Friday that Toyota Motor Corp. was in talks with General Motors Corp. about producing the Prius, now made in only Japan and China, at a joint venture plant in Fremont, California. The newspaper, which did not ...
Sat, 31 May 08
White House report backs climate change warnings
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-warming30-2008may30,0,4571589.story
LA Times: President Bush's top science advisors issued a comprehensive report Thursday that for the first time endorses what most scientific experts have long asserted: that greenhouse gases from fossil fuel combustion "are very likely the single largest cause" of Earth's warming. The 271-page report could undercut opposition to the more aggressive provisions of climate legislation, which is to be debated in the Senate next week. The Bush administration had long resisted a ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Brazil Gathers 50 Countries to Discuss Sustainable Energy
http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/9359/1/
Brazzil Magazine: Held in Brazil the Global Renewable Energy Forum after four days of debate on alternatives for energy production, ended with the conclusion that it is possible to find ways for countries to develop without compromising the planet's sustainability. More than 1,000 people from 50 different countries were in the southern Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu to discuss production of biofuels, solar and wind energy, hydroelectric plants and biomass. The Brazilian of Itaipu Binacional, Jorge ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Environment minister recommends Turkey joining Kyoto protocol
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j0FIltWdWcH_3sAsOjMrGUDc6gPg
Agence France-Presse: Turkey's environment minister said Friday he has recommended that the government sign the Kyoto Protocol on fighting global warming, the Anatolia news agency reported. "I sent the foreign ministry a letter saying that joining the Kyoto Protocol will be appropriate," Environment Minister Veysel Eroglu was quoted as saying. "This decision will go to the government, the prime minister will evaluate it and then submit it to parliament" for ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Global warming, or climate change?
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080530/BLOG12/317486604
Herald Tribune: As you are planning the next green improvement to your home, you might want to think about why you are doing it. Is it to save money? Provide a more healthful environment for your family? Or reduce your contribution to global warming? Think again about the latter. The science and design communities are starting to shy away from the phrase "global warming." It is somewhat confusing. " 'Climate change' is preferrable to 'global warming,' " said Sarasota ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Australia: Govt plans greenhouse emissions registry
http://news.theage.com.au/national/govt-plans-greenhouse-emissions-registry-20080530-2juh.html
AAP: The federal government is setting up a registry of greenhouse gas emissions as part of preparations for an emissions trading scheme. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has released a request for tenders to manage the registry, which will monitor emissions and is required by the Kyoto Protocol. The government late last year ratified the treaty, which sets limits on how much some countries can pollute. "The national registry will also underpin Australia's emissions ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Canada: Harper Sees `Big Shift' in Europe for Climate Treaty
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=ai83x3Ox6OLI&refer=canada
Bloomberg: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said European leaders may compromise on a global climate treaty by scaling back demands for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to win backing from major polluters such as the U.S. and China. ``They will gravitate to realistic targets,'' Harper, 49, said in an interview in London yesterday. ``There will be a lot more discussion on not just what targets are, but how targets can actually be achieved.'' Harper made the comment after a ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Japan advocates a "cool earth" strategy
http://upiasiaonline.com/Politics/2008/05/27/japan_advocates_a_cool_earth_strategy/6411/
United Press International: Japanese environment officials are suggesting that their foreign counterparts make a symbolic gesture on July 7, when the G8 Summit begins in Hokkaido, by turning their lights off after dark. "Let us look up at the constellation-filled skies together" while unnecessary lights are all off, said Ichiro Kamoshita, Japan's environment minister at a recent press meeting. In Japan, July 7 falls on the annual Star Festival, when two stars in the Milky Way make a legendary ...
Sat, 31 May 08
United Kingdom: March Against Third Heathrow Runway
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30400-1317685,00.html
Sky News: Thousands of protesters are set to mount a huge demonstration against expansion at the UK's biggest airport. Anger over third runway planIn what organisers hope will be the biggest-ever protest of its kind, the demonstration will be held at Heathrow airport in west London. Support for the event - being called Make A Noise Carnival - is expected from all over the UK. The demonstrators will walk from Hatton Cross to Sipson, the village that will be lost if plans for a ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Canada: Montreal carbon gases exchange up and running
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jSMi1pBJIfi7GmM-Ks99sXkgu5SA
Agence France-Presse: Montreal's stock exchange on Friday officially launched the Montreal Climate Exchange, the country's first carbon trading forum aimed at helping to cut greenhouse gases. The trading mechanism seeks to get companies which produce more emissions of greenhouse gases to buy what amounts to the rights of others that are less polluting as part of broader efforts to tackle global warming. Canada had agreed under the international Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Pressure leads to release of climate report
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080530/NEWS/805300407/-1/newssitemap
New York Times: The Bush administration, bowing to a court order, has released a fresh summary of federal and independent research pointing to large, and mainly harmful, impacts in the United States from human-caused global warming. The report, released Thursday, is online at climatescience.gov. Most of the findings are not new. But the report included new projections of how the poor, elderly and communities with lagging public-health and public-works systems will face outsized health risks ...
Sat, 31 May 08
Act on climate change, top scientists warn US
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/30/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange1
Guardian: A group of 1,700 leading scientists called on the US government yesterday to take the lead in fighting global warming. Citing the "unprecedented and unanticipated" effects of global warming, the scientists, including six Nobel prizewinners, presented a letter calling for an immediate reduction in US carbon emissions. The statement came as the Senate prepares to debate a bill next week that would impose economy-wide limits on greenhouse emissions to avert what it describes as ...
Fri, 30 May 08
US climate report fuels fears of drought
http://news.theage.com.au/world/us-climate-report-fuels-fears-of-drought-20080530-2jr3.html
Reuters: The Bush administration has released a climate change assessment - four years late and pushed forward by a court order - that says human-induced global warming will likely lead to problems like droughts in the US West and stronger hurricanes. President George W Bush's stance on the issue has evolved from denying climate science to acknowledging that global warming is happening. In March, watchdog groups said Bush's decision to intervene in setting air pollution standards was ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Burning food: why oil is the real villain in the food crisis
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/30/biofuels.food
Guardian: The rising cost of foods is widely being blamed on the use of grains for biofuels, and the case for the prosecution is simply made. About 100m tonnes of maize from this year's US crop will be diverted into ethanol refineries, an increase of a third on 2007's figure. This means one in 20 of all cereal grains produced in the world this year will end up in the petrol tank of US cars, the country that is most aggressively increasing the use of food for fuel. As we are all increasingly ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Climate Enters Debate Over Nuclear Power
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=100769
New York Times: After part of a cooling tower collapsed last August at Vermont's only nuclear power plant, the company that runs it blamed rotting wooden timbers that it had failed to inspect properly. The uproar that followed rekindled environmental groups' hopes of shutting down the aging plant. The proposed closing, albeit a long shot, has gained some support this year among Vermont politicians. The discussion is bringing into sharp relief a conflict between two objectives long held by ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Report Sees Decade of High Food Prices
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=100768
New York Times: Agriculture Secretary Edward T. Schafer is preparing to walk into a buzzsaw of criticism over American biofuels policy when he meets with world leaders to discuss the global food crisis next week. Mr. Schafer took the offensive at a press conference on Thursday that discussed the food summit, planned for Rome. He said an analysis by the Agriculture Department had determined that biofuel production was responsible for only 2 to 3 percent of the increase in global food prices, while ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Britain announces help for fuel poor as prices boom
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL29837811
Reuters: The British government set out on Friday extra measures to help the poor and boost energy efficiency in the face of rocketing fuel prices. Booming oil and energy prices are adding to the headaches for Prime Minister Gordon Brown whose future is under threat due to a faltering economy, a mess-up on tax changes and his Labour Party's mauling in recent elections. From energy suppliers sharing data to more help for home insulation and microgeneration and an information campaign the ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Arctic methane may trigger abrupt climate change
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/arctic-methane-may-trigger-abrupt-climate-change_10054078.html
Indo-Asian News Service: An abrupt release of methane from ice sheets 635 million years ago triggered a spell of global warming, says a study that contends something similar is just waiting to happen. Researchers believe the greenhouse gas was released gradually and then abruptly from clathrates - methane ice that forms beneath polar ice sheets. The release had resulted in a series of cataclysmic events and ended the last Ice Age. These same methane clathrates are present today in the Arctic permafrost as ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Brazil To Set Up Amazon Protection Fund
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48550/story.htm
Reuters: Brazil's state-run development bank will set up an international donations fund for the preservation of the Amazon, its chief said on Wednesday, as the country fends off criticism for not doing enough to preserve its rain forest. Luciano Coutinho, president of the National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES), told reporters the first contribution was already being negotiated with the Norwegian government and could be up to $200 million. "This fund is being ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Deep climate cuts urged; food price a wake-up call
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL29450128
Reuters: Governments will have to cut greenhouse gases far more deeply than planned to control global warming and high food prices linked to droughts are a wake-up call, four leading scientists said on Thursday. "We have lost 10 years talking about climate change but not acting on it," the experts, led by Britain's Martin Parry who is a co-chair of a U.N. Climate Panel group on the impacts of climate change, wrote in the journal Nature. They said there was "false ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Ecosystem damage costs trillions per year: study
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iP0O-eBA2yTtlYeC1aQ-jrdMLDzw
Agence France-Presse: Environmental damage and species loss costs between 1.35 and 3.1 trillion euros (2.1 to 4.8 trillion dollars) every year, according to a report released Thursday at a major UN conference on biodiversity. The study, commissioned by the European Union (EU) and the German government, is the biggest assessment ever made of the economic impact of ecological damage, and supporters compared it to the famous "Stern Report" on the cost of climate change. It was issued at a ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Scientists, economists urge US pollution cuts
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6_bAyzz1zL6-gOyRvhhSwTobNBg
Agence France-Presse: Scientists and economists Thursday urged US policymakers to pass laws to cut greenhouse gases as Senate prepares to debate a sweeping climate change bill that is opposed by the White House. Highlighting the United States' failure to enact federal laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a statement signed by 1,700 experts calling for "swift and deep cuts." "The longer we wait, the harder and more costly it will be to limit ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Under Fire, White House Releases Report About Global Warming
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4959856&page=1
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Today, the White House finally released an overdue report on the comprehensive impact of global warming on the United States. It is the first such report from the Bush administration since it took office more than seven years ago. Starting to catch up with the understanding long agreed on by the world's climate scientists, the report says, "It is likely that there has been a substantial human contribution to surface temperature increases in North America." With ...
Fri, 30 May 08
US issues climate assessment forced by court order
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN29281888
Reuters: The Bush administration released a climate change assessment on Thursday -- four years late and pushed forward by a court order -- that said human-induced global warming will likely lead to problems like droughts in the U.S. West and stronger hurricanes. President George W. Bush's stance on the issue has evolved from denying climate science to acknowledging that global warming is happening. In March, watchdog groups said Bush's decision to intervene in setting air pollution standards ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Abu Dhabi to invest $2 bln in thin-film technology
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINL2981567320080529
Reuters: Abu Dhabi says it will invest $2 billion in cutting edge solar technology, building thin-film module production plants in Germany and Abu Dhabi, as it strives to compete with industry leaders such as First Solar (FSLR.O: Quote, Profile, Research). Masdar PV is part of Masdar Initiative, a $15 billion initiative set up by the Abu Dhabi government to develop sustainable energy and other clean technologies. "We are making a very large investment in what will eventually become ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Amnesty Condemns Forced Cane Labour In Brazil
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48548/story.htm
Reuters: Amnesty International criticized poor working conditions and forced labour in Brazil's fast-growing sugar cane sector on Wednesday, as the government tries to promote the cane-based ethanol industry as a way to reduce poverty. The human rights group said Brazil's government has taken steps to improve working conditions in rural areas, but it has confirmed cases of forced labour throughout the country. "Forced labour and exploitative working conditions were reported in ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Arctic power struggle looms
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=28b85448-692d-4a63-bd33-28267b876546
Montreal Gazette: An Arctic Ocean summit aimed at easing territorial tensions among the five nations bordering the northern sea appeared to evolve yesterday into something more substantial: a kind of Arctic G5 with ambitious plans to oversee polar oil and mineral exploration, maritime security, transportation and environmental regulation. "The Arctic Ocean stands at the threshold of significant changes," the countries' Ilulissat Declaration stated. "Climate change and the melting ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Cities' carbon footprints fall below US average
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/daily/20080529_Cities__carbon_footprints_fall_below_U_S__average.html
Associated Press: While cities are hot spots for global warming, people living in them turn out to be greener than their country cousins. Each resident of the 100 largest metropolitan areas is responsible on average for 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year, 14 percent below the 2.87 ton U.S. average, researchers at the Brookings Institution say in a report being released today. Those 100 cities still account for 56 percent of the nation's carbon dioxide pollution. But ...
Fri, 30 May 08
City residents produce less carbon
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ilnVSjW7eBQv4-nQNaPLjMmUMEjwD90V2TGG1
Associated Press: While cities are hot spots for global warming, people living in them turn out to be greener than their country cousins. Each resident of the largest 100 largest metropolitans areas is responsible on average for 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year, 14 percent below the 2.87 ton U.S. average, researchers at the Brookings Institution say in a report being released Thursday. Those 100 cities still account for 56 percent of the nation's carbon dioxide ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Environmental damage costs $4.8 trillion annually
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0529-biodiversity.html
Mongabay: Environmental damage and biodiversity loss in forest ecosystems costs 2.1 to 4.8 trillion dollars per year, according to a report released Thursday at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Bonn, Germany. The report, entitled "The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity" and commissioned by the European Union and the German government, attaches a monetary value to services provided by species and ecosystems. The report says these services are often ...
Fri, 30 May 08
EU wind power push to drive up costs: report
http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINL2981349520080529
Reuters: Over-reliance on offshore wind farms to meet European renewable energy targets will lead to supply problems and drive up costs for investors, according to a new report by the Cambridge Energy Research Associates. The European Union wants to generate a fifth of its energy from renewable resources by 2020 but the majority of that will likely have to come from wind turbines and the industry may not be able to cope with the demand. "Big things are expected of offshore wind but ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Geoengineering could slow down the global water cycle
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/geowissenschaften/bericht-111142.html
Innovations Report: However, a new study from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, led by atmospheric scientist Govindasamy Bala, shows that this intentional manipulation of solar radiation also could lead to a less intense global water cycle. Decreasing surface temperatures through "geoengineering" also could mean less rainfall. The reduction in sunlight can be accomplished by geoengineering schemes. There are two classes: the so-called "sunshade" geoengineering scheme, which would mitigate climate ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Global Warming: Heck of a scare
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/364915_oceansed.html
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: It was a Paul Revere kind of day on global warming. In separate settings Tuesday, a federally commissioned report and a congressional hearing warned that climate change is indeed coming: One by land, and two by sea. Talk about a double whammy. The quality of the nation's future is at stake. A report for the Department of Agriculture from top scientists suggested the rise in food prices is something Americans will have to get used to. That's because a changing climate already is ...
Fri, 30 May 08
In Economic Terms, Recycling Almost Pays
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=100744
New York Times: It still costs more to recycle paper, plastic, metal and glass in New York City than to simply chuck everything into the trash. But the cost difference has narrowed, and if the trend continues, recycling could end up being cheaper than trash disposal within five years, according to an analysis released on Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. Recycling costs the city $284 a ton, while curbside trash disposal comes to $267 a ton, according to the ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Report warns of threats to Great Lakes
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=756152
Journal Sentinel: A coalition of conservation organizations is hoping that the threats posed to the Great Lakes by global warming will prod federal lawmakers into adopting a $26 billion ecosystem restoration plan that has languished in Congress for more than two years. The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition issued a report Wednesday that offered no new science but did go into frightening detail of what previous studies showed could happen to the five big lakes if the Earth continues to ...
Fri, 30 May 08
RPT-States Sue EPA Over Ozone Pollution Standards
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48547/story.htm
Reuters: New York and 13 other states are suing US Environmental Protection Agency claiming it violated the Clean Air Act in revising ozone pollution standards in March, the New York attorney general said on Wednesday. "The EPA is charged with protecting the environment, yet the Bush administration has repeatedly used it as a tool for facilitating pollution instead of combating it," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a release. In March, the EPA revised standards ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Russian wins new greenhouse gas emissions rights
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINL2325303220080529
Reuters: Russia has won rights to emit or sell licences for extra greenhouse gases equivalent to France's total annual output, after revisions to Soviet-era data underpinning a U.N. climate pact, official documents show. A 2007 review raised Russia's emissions ceiling under the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol for combating climate change by 107 million tonnes a year to 3.32 billion tonnes -- or 535 million tonnes extra under the pact's five years from 2008-12. Russia is the world's ...
Fri, 30 May 08
US climate change detailed
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2008/05/29/us_climate_change_detailed/2525/
United Press International: A federal report maintains climate change is already affecting U.S. water resources, agriculture, land resources and biodiversity. The report, led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was written by 38 authors from universities, national laboratories, non-governmental organizations and federal agencies, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program said Wednesday in a news release. The report said alterations to U.S. ecosystems and services are expected to accelerate in the ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Canada House Gives Green Light To Biofuel Bill
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48540/story.htm
Reuters: Government legislation that will require all gasoline sold in Canada to contain 5 percent ethanol by 2010 passed the House of Commons on Wednesday. The bill, which also calls for diesel to contain 2 percent renewable fuels by 2012, won the support of the main opposition Liberal Party but was opposed by two smaller parties that had voiced concern about food-crop production being diverted to fuel. However, the governing Conservatives and the Liberals have both backed the idea, ...
Fri, 30 May 08
EU to back Norway aid for carbon sequestration
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINL2981442620080529
Reuters: The European Commission is likely to approve Norway's use of state aid to subsidise the development of carbon capture and storage to fight greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the EU's energy chief said. Carbon capture and storage (CCS), which works by burying carbon dioxide (CO2) deep underground, is seen by industry and some lawmakers as a possible silver bullet in the fight against climate change as it could curb emissions from coal plants. But it has never been ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Heatwave Hits Balkans, Dozens In Hospital
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48543/story.htm
Reuters: Temperatures hit record highs across the Balkans on Wednesday, killing one person and sending dozens to hospitals around the region with heatstroke. Bosnia's meteorology institute said temperatures may hit a 100-year record, reaching over 35 degrees Celsius in central parts of the country and 38 degrees in the south. Temperatures had jumped by 15 degrees since Monday, it added. The Sarajevo University medical centre said it had seen over 200 patients with heat-induced ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Is Oil Windfall A Curse For Poor Countries?
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48554/story.htm
Reuters: Red-hot oil prices are a blessing for big energy companies but often prove a curse for poor oil-producing countries. Exxon Mobil Corp and other energy giants traditionally use good times as an occasion to make prudent investments with their cash. But oil-rich countries that are poor -- and often poorly run -- tend to squander their windfall profits on dubious projects or have them stolen by corrupt officials. So when the inevitable price bust occurs, developing countries are ...
Fri, 30 May 08
Italy greens say no to nuclear to push renewable energy
http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINL2949152020080529
Reuters: Italy should keep its ban on nuclear power and should boost solar and wind energy instead to resolve its energy supply problems, Italian environmentalists said on Thursday as nuclear revival debate heated up. Italy banned nuclear power in a 1987 referendum after the Chernobyl disaster. But calls for a nuclear renaissance have intensified this month under the new government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as oil prices stormed record highs. "We say 'No' to nuclear... to ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Protected forests in Brazil could cut CO2 drastically: study
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Tech+%2526+Science/STIStory_242150.html
Agence France-Presse: AN AMBITIOUS plan to put more than 10 per cent of Brazil's Amazon forest beyond the grasp of loggers and agribusiness could slash carbon emissions by 1.1 billion tonnes by mid-century, according to a study released on Wednesday. Deforestation in the tropics accounts for 20 per cent of global emissions of CO2, making it the second largest driver of global warming after the burning of fossil fuels. Amazonia alone accounts for nearly half of those emissions, and 65 per cent of ...
Thu, 29 May 08
The Big Chill on Carbon Offsets
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0529/p08s01-comv.html
Christian Science Monitor: Before Congress attacks global warming with a cap on greenhouse gases – and then allows firms to pollute if they buy "carbon offsets" elsewhere – lawmakers should consult the UN's abysmal record in this slippery type of trading. The UN set up its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to help companies in industrialized countries invest in projects in poorer nations that cut greenhouse-gas emissions as part of their countries' commitment under the Kyoto Protocol or the European ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Pricey petrol does a world of good
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/pricey-petrol-does-a-world-of-good/2008/05/28/1211654120229.html
Sydney Morning Herald: There was a time when supermarket dockets were but fiddly bits of paper that were carelessly crumpled and thrown away. But a strange thing is happening at checkouts across the country. People are receiving their dockets gratefully, folding them carefully, and saving them to claim a four-cents-a-litre discount on petrol. Soaring fuel prices have transformed the humble supermarket docket into hallowed relief from record oil prices. The high price of oil is changing consumer behaviour ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Australia: Solar industry to tackle government
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23776359-12377,00.html
Australian: A SOLAR industry delegation is due in Canberra today to tackle the Federal Government over its decision to slash rebates for solar panels. A government decision to means test the $8000 rebate has angered environmental groups and sparked panic in the solar panel industry. Households earning more than $100,000 a year will no longer be eligible for the rebate. Opposition climate change spokesman Greg Hunt says solar panel companies around Australia are facing ruin ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Germany pledges millions to save forests
http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINL2873254120080528
Reuters: Germany has pledged 500 million euros ($786.2 million) by 2012 to help protect the world's forests, a move activists said could give impetus to U.N. talks on preserving the earth's biodiversity. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who won praise from environmentalists last year for her part in pushing through EU and G8 deals to fight climate change, made the commitment at a U.N. conference as it entered its decisive phase. "We need a turning point on the issue of biodiversity," ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Global warming to deplete Great Lakes even more
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2832126520080528
Reuters: Global warming will likely drain more water from the Great Lakes and pose added pollution threats to the region's vulnerable ecosystem, environmental groups said in a report issued on Wednesday. Climate change could further reduce scant ice cover observed in recent winters, increasing evaporation rates and dropping water levels in the five lakes that collectively make up 20 percent of the world's surface fresh water. Last year, Lake Superior water levels receded to their lowest ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Melting of methane ice triggered long-ago warming surge: study
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j3U0vEk53bVXHIcGUqqO64rvDAUg
Agence France-Presse: Melting of methane ice unleashed runaway global warming some 635 million years ago, according to a study released Wednesday that has implications for today's climate-change crisis. Release of the potent greenhouse-gas, at first in small amounts and then in massive volumes, brought a sudden end to the planet's longest Ice Age, its authors believe. During the "Snowball Earth" era, Earth froze over completely, with glaciers that crept down into the tropics and possibly ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Ministers line up to protect world's forests at UN meet
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080528/sc_afp/environmentbiodiversityunforestswwf_080528183438
Agence France-Presse: Ministers from nearly 60 nations pledged Wednesday on the sidelines of a UN biodiversity conference to support a global effort to halt deforestation by 2020. Top environment officials from every continent literally lined up to make the pledge, organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a highly influential environmental protection group. "Wildly successful" is how WWF International's director general James Leape described the event, even as more ministers straggled ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Report: Warming could worsen Great Lakes problems
http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/05/report_warming_could_worsen_gr.html
Associated Press: Climate change could worsen a litany of problems plaguing the Great Lakes, pushing water levels even lower, depleting fish populations and causing more storms that result in sewer overflows, advocates said Thursday. The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, which represents more than 100 groups, released a report that paints a dire picture as the U.S. Senate prepares for debate next week on proposed global warming legislation. The bill could represent a new source of ...
Thu, 29 May 08
'Eye-opening' US report on climate impacts
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24856497/
MSNBC: Climate change is increasing the risk of U.S. crop failures, depleting the nation's water resources and contributing to outbreaks of invasive species and insects, according to a federal report released Tuesday. Those and other problems for the U.S. livestock and forestry industries will persist for at least the next 25 years, said the report compiled by 38 scientists for use by water and land managers. "I think what's really eye-opening is the depth and breadth of the ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Ancient "Snowball Earth" Melted Fast Due to Methane
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080528-snowball-earth.html
National Geographic: A massive release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, may have triggered rapid melting of the last "snowball Earth" about 635 million years ago, a new study suggests. According to the snowball theory, ancient Earth experienced periods of global glaciation when ice sheets extended all the way to the Equator. Methane ice forms and stabilizes beneath glaciers under certain temperatures and pressures, noted lead study author Martin Kennedy, a geologist at the University ...
Thu, 29 May 08
China's Ambitious Plan for More Nuclear Power Domestic Expansion Dominates Capacity
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1405477/chinas_ambitious_plan_for_more_nuclear_power_domestic_expansion_dominates/
Reuters: Nuclear power companies in China aim to join automobile and electronics makers as export powerhouses, but big domestic expansion plans may not leave them the capacity to make an overseas push for more than a decade, analysts say. A $1 billion deal signed last week with Russia to build and supply a uranium enrichment plant in China was another step toward civilian nuclear independence, less than two decades after China's first nuclear generator came on line. The country sealed ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Climate change hits the West
http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_9397195?source=commented-news
Denver Post: Some of the most dramatic – and negative – effects from climate change will take place in the American West, according to a new federal study. While the East will become wetter and Midwest grain crops may benefit from longer growing seasons, the West will be drier and rangeland livestock production could decline because of stress from hotter summers. The study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – a survey and synthesis of existing research – paints a picture of sweeping changes in ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Cut CO2 to India's level, top scientist urges
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL28290944
Reuters: Rich nations need to cut per-capita greenhouse gas emissions to India's current levels by mid-century to avoid devastating climate change, Britain's former chief scientific adviser said on Wednesday. Global carbon dioxide (CO2) levels from burning fossil fuels were already rising quickly and rich nations needed to quickly figure out how to maintain economic growth while committing to deep cuts in emissions, said David King. "If you (don't want) run-away climate change, you ...
Thu, 29 May 08
United Kingdom: Defra launches invasive species strategy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/28/easpecies128.xml
Telegraph: Rising global temperatures are fuelling the growth of invasive foreign plants and animals in Britain and putting hundreds of native species at risk, the Government has warned. The spread of these non indigenous species is considered the second biggest threat to British wildlife - after habitat loss - and costs the economy between £2 and £6 billion a year. Iconic native plants and animals, such as bluebells, red squirrels and water voles, are all under threat. The problem ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Exxon to cut funding to climate change denial groups
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/28/climatechange.fossilfuels
Guardian: The oil giant ExxonMobil has admitted that its support for lobby groups that question the science of climate change may have hindered action to tackle global warming. In its corporate citizenship report, released last week, ExxonMobil says it intends to cut funds to several groups that "divert attention" from the need to find new sources of clean energy. The move comes ahead of the firm's annual meeting today in Dallas, at which prominent shareholders including the ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Forest carbon credits could help development in Congo
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0529-interview_laporte.html
Mongabay: An initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by offering carbon credits to countries that reduce deforestation may be one of the best mechanisms for promoting sustainable development in Central Africa says a remote sensing expert from the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC). Dr. Nadine Laporte, an associate scientist with WHRC who uses remote sensing to analyze land use change in Africa, says that REDD could protect forests, safeguard biodiversity, and improve rural livelihoods in ...
Thu, 29 May 08
GE, Schlumberger agree CO2 alliance
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL2893206120080528
Reuters: General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and oilfield services company Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N: Quote, Profile, Research) have agreed to work together on carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration technology and storage, an executive said on Monday. The accord is the first global pact on C02 linking an energy technology provider and an oil industry company, Diarmaid Mulholland, regional general manager for GE's energy services in Europe, told Reuters. "It's more of a ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Germany Pledges Funds for Protection of Tropical Forests
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,555977,00.html
Spiegel: Stopping global warming means putting a halt to deforestation. At the UN biodiversity conference in Bonn on Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged billions of euros to support that effort. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Wednesday that her government would increase its budget for the protection of tropical forests by billions of euros. Appearing at the opening of the meeting of international government ministers at the UN's biodiversity conference in ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Japan: How the ice breaks too early in the land of the rising sun
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/28/climatechange.conservation
Guardian: The open deck of the Aurora fills as soon as its captain, Keiichi Hori, announces he has spotted ice. Cameras primed, groups of elderly tourists jostle for position as the telltale white line in the distance slowly morphs into a carpet of sea ice. As the bow of the ship meets the ice, they struggle to hide their disappointment. Viewed from the deck, the frozen layers below appear wafer thin and barely raise a crackle as the Aurora slips through, emerging into clear water only minutes ...
Thu, 29 May 08
United States: Markey unveils sweeping global warming bill
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/05/markey_unveils.html
Boston Globe: Representative Edward J. Markey, the chairman of the special House committee on global warming, today unveiled sweeping legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise billions of dollars to create alternative sources of energy. The bill - the culmination of more than 40 hearings by Markey's committee - marks the starting point for a new legislative battle against global warming, a centerpiece of congressional Democrats' agenda for the immediate future. Markey, a Malden ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Report: Congress must pay to counteract global warming's effect on Great Lakes
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080528/NEWS06/80528093
Detroit Free Press: The Great Lakes are likely to face serious threats from global warming and Congress needs to pay for restoring the lakes now so they'll have a better chance of being resilient once temperatures rise and lake levels drop as predicted. Warming over the next century could lower lakes and expose toxic sediment that has been buried, reduce wetlands that help filter pollution and cause heavy rains that lead to more sewer overflows, threatening water quality, a new report by the Healing Our ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Shell quits UK windfarm
http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKL2870551520080528
Reuters: Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) was disappointed to pull out of a big UK windfarm project after rising costs, and its Canadian oil sands projects were "not a good thing" for the climate, the chairman of Shell UK said. James Smith, speaking at a climate change workshop hosted by Thomson Reuters on Wednesday, said Shell had decided to sell its share of the London Array windfarm project after capital costs increased significantly in the past ...
Thu, 29 May 08
US south-west warned of dire climate challenges
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/28/usa.climatechange
Guardian: The US south-west, a region that is experiencing one of the fastest rates of population growth, faces dramatic challenges in the next 50 years from drought, wildfires and changing ecosystems caused by global warming, a report from the Bush administration warns. The paper, commissioned by the US department of agriculture, looks at the likely impact of rising temperatures caused by higher emissions of CO2 during the next 25 to 50 years on America's agriculture, land and water resources ...
Thu, 29 May 08
US struggling to respond to climate shift
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn13998-us-struggling-to-respond-to-climate-shift.html?feedId=online-news_rss20
New Scientist: Climate change is leaving its mark on US ecosystems sooner and more emphatically than biologists had expected. And because the US is not adequately prepared to measure those changes as they occur, land managers may have a harder time mounting an effective response to climate change. These unsettling conclusions come from a report released yesterday by the US Climate Change Science Program, a government body set up to coordinate climate change research. The program assembled 38 ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Warming Climate Changing U.S. Fields and Forests
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-28-091.asp
Environment News Service: Forests in the interior western United States, the southwest, and Alaska are already being affected by climate change with increases in the size and frequency of forest fires, insect outbreaks and tree mortality. These changes are expected to continue, according to a new report issued Thursday by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. The Climate Change Science Program integrates the federal research efforts of 13 agencies on global change change. The U.S. Department of ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Airlines protest at cost of EU emissions vote
http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSL2849428920080528
Reuters: The aviation industry could be hit with billions of euros of extra costs from new proposals aimed at curbing carbon dioxide after 2013 and will struggle to cope, airlines said on Wednesday. Under proposals being drawn up in Brussels to fight climate change, all airlines using airports in the 27-nation European Union would be included in the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2012, with a cap on their emissions of greenhouse gases. The European Parliament's environment committee ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Climate change in Greece will fuel forest fires: Nobel scientist
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/208438,climate-change-in-greece-will-fuel-forest-fires-nobel-scientist.html
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Global warming will curb rainfall and fuel forest fires throughout Greece, Christos Zerefos, one of two Greek scientists awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to combat climate change said Wednesday. "From 2031 until 2060, Greece will see its rainfall dwindle by 25 per cent and its sea level rise up to 20 centimetres and the period of risk for forest fires will increase by up to three weeks," he was quoted by the Greek daily Kathimerini. Zerefos is also the ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Coke pledges push to cut global warming impact
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/shared/money/stories/2008/05/COKE_GREEN28_COX_F5811.html
Cox Newspapers: The Coca-Cola Co. pledged Tuesday to reduce its carbon footprint by buying 100,000 beverage coolers fitted with new environment friendly technologies. Speaking at a lecture in Beijing organized by the environmental group Greenpeace, Neville Isdell, chief executive officer of the Atlanta-based beverage giant, said the company would "purchase and deploy" by 2010 refrigerators and vending machines cooled by compressed carbon dioxide rather than hydrofluorocarbons. Better ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Global warming could worsen Great Lakes problems, study says
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jdAkEp8fp0x6R9ur6aIfGzVtdBkA
Canadian Press: A new report says climate change could worsen a litany of problems plaguing the Great Lakes, from low water levels to depleted fish populations. The report comes from the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, which represents more than 100 advocacy groups. The U.S. Senate is preparing to debate global warming legislation next week. Coalition leaders say that could generate funding for Great Lakes cleanup efforts. But even if it passes, advocates say the lakes will ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Mass. governor signs ocean resource bill
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5igy9JTnP1aa_70f7Y6J5oB001IkQD90UOV701
Associated Press: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has signed a landmark bill that aims to better protect and manage the state's ocean resources. Patrick signed the landmark Oceans Act of 2008 on Wednesday at the New England Aquarium in Boston. The law comes as the state deals with numerous offshore projects, including proposed liquefied natural gas facilities. It aims to ensure that decisions and permits about development in state-controlled waters conform to a single, science-based ...
Thu, 29 May 08
Q&A: "Climate Change Is Like Tossing a Pebble in a Calm Pond"
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42553
Inter Press Service: In his new book "The Great Warming, Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilisations", author and archaeologist Dr. Brian Fagan peers into the past to offer a prologue to the growing climate crisis. His book gives a detailed and methodical account of the era between the 10th and 15th centuries known as the Great Warming Period among earth scientists. Apparently, we have a lot learn from the ordinary lives of European yeoman and Mongolian horsemen in regards to ...
Wed, 28 May 08
New Climate Report Foresees Big Changes
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=100588
New York Times: The rise in concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from human activities is influencing climate patterns and vegetation across the United States and will significantly disrupt water supplies, agriculture, forestry and ecosystems for decades, a new federal report says. The changes are unfolding in ways that are likely to produce an uneven national map of harms and benefits, according to the report, released Tuesday and posted online at climatescience.gov. The authors ...
Wed, 28 May 08
China: Plastic Not Fantastic? - Bag Bans Around The World
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48527/story.htm
Reuters: China will become the latest country to outlaw ultra-thin plastic bags, when a ban takes effect on Sunday, in a bid to cut pollution and save resources. The ban, announced by the State Council in January, halts the production of bags that are thinner than 0.025 mm and forbids their use in supermarkets and shops. It also requires retailers to charge customers for thicker plastic bags not covered by the ban. Environmentalists say plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to ...
Wed, 28 May 08
United Kingdom: Renewables revolution as first tidal-power turbine comes on stream for National Grid
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech/Renewables-revolution-as-first-tidalpower.4124862.jp
Scotsman: SCOTLAND'S drive to develop new sources of renewable energy took a leap forward yesterday as the first tidal-power-driven electricity was connected to the National Grid. The milestone was achieved by OpenHydro, an Irish-based renewable-energy company, whose tidal turbine device was installed at the European Marine Energy Centre's (Emec) test site off the island of Eday in Orkney two years ago. The single 250kW turbine can generate enough electricity to power only 100 homes, but ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Americans Save Energy, But No Relief At Pump Seen
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48535/story.htm
Reuters: Battered by record high gasoline prices, Americans are finally parking their SUVs and embracing energy conservation, but any impact on world markets could be slow in coming. As the US summer driving season kicked off with the Memorial Day holiday weekend, evidence mounted that Americans are cutting back on their driving and looking for alternative means of getting around. Detrie Zacharias, 49, said high gas prices have forced him and his wife to change their driving habits. ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Are you an eco-angel or a carbon criminal?
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/are-you-an-ecoangel-or-a-carbon-criminal-834935.html
Independent: Do your efforts to live a green life consist of installing a low-energy light bulb on the landing and putting out the odd empty wine bottle for recycling? Then it's time to take a long, hard look at your home and your lifestyle. The Dobbins family from Durham decided to do just that when they won the eco-audit at this year's Independent charity auction. The family of three has shared the audit's findings to help others benefit from what they learnt. An essential first step in ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Heavy Pollution Warning Issued In Beijing
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48528/story.htm
Reuters: Pollution levels rose sharply in Beijing on Tuesday, just 2- months before the Olympic Games in the city, prompting authorities to warn residents with respiratory problems to stay inside. Air quality in the capital was rated as "heavily polluted" due to a sandstorm from Mongolia, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said. The bureau advised people susceptible to particles in the air to avoid outdoor activities. Such sandstorms usually hit the city in ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Australia: Enough oil to last 'for at least another 30 years'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23770306-5013871,00.html
Australian: AUSTRALIA'S rural economic forecaster has challenged predictions the world is about to run out of oil, saying ithas enough to last for at least another 30 years. ABARE chief Phillip Glyde told a Senate estimates committee yesterday that the peak-oil school of thought, which holds that reserves are near depletion, was wrong. "The rough level of reserves to production remains the same, so we are confident there is not a physical limit to supply over the next 30 years, which is the ...
Wed, 28 May 08
EU backs early start for airline carbon trading
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/28/travelandtransport.greenpolitics
Guardian: MEPs threw down the gauntlet to struggling airlines yesterday by voting overwhelmingly to include aviation in Europe's emissions trading scheme (ETS) a year earlier than planned. The European parliament's environment committee said airlines should be covered by the ETS from 2011 rather than 2012 as proposed by the European commission and the 27 national governments. The MEPs pressed the EU to force airlines to bid for at least 25% of pollution permits and to set the cap on CO2 ...
Wed, 28 May 08
EU proposes early start to aircraft emissions scheme
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/eu-proposes-early-start-to-aircraft-emissions-scheme-835216.html
Independent: The European Parliament has proposed accelerating the inclusion of the aviation industry in the Emissions Trading Scheme, the carbon credit system which is the centrepiece of the bloc's efforts to curb climate change. Last night, the Parliament's environment committee voted that any airline touching down in the EU from 2011 would have to adhere to pollution targets set out by the scheme – a year earlier than previously suggested. The MEPs also proposed increasing the amount ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Climate Change Casts Marine Science Adrift
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42535
Inter Press Service: Climate change is altering the world's oceans in so many ways scientists cannot keep pace, and as a result there is no comprehensive vision of its present and future impacts, say experts. Rising sea levels, changes in hurricane intensity and seasonality, declines in fisheries and coral reefs are among the many phenomena attributed to climate change. In an attempt to put some order to their disconcerting findings, more than 450 scientists from some 60 countries gathered last ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Pioneers Show Americans How To Live "Off-Grid"
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48512/story.htm
Reuters: With energy prices going through the roof, an alternative lifestyle powered by solar panels and wind turbines has suddenly become more appealing to some. For architect Todd Bogatay, it has been reality for years. When he bought this breezy patch of scrub-covered mountaintop with views to Mexico more than two decades ago, he was one of only a few Americans with an interest in wind- and solar-powered homes. Now, Bogatay is surrounded by 15 neighbors who, like him, live off ...
Wed, 28 May 08
US on track to break record for tornadoes
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gQ136qs2wqxKUKaqMXS9lwgzj-agD90UB8H80
Associated Press: Another week, another rumbling train of tornadoes that obliterates entire city blocks, smashing homes to their foundations and killing people even as they cower in their basements. With the year not even half done, 2008 is already the deadliest tornado year in the United States since 1998 and seems on track to break the U.S. record for the number of twisters in a year, according to the National Weather Service. Also, this year's storms seem to be unusually powerful. But like ...
Wed, 28 May 08
US Senate Set To Take Up Climate Change Debate
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48511/story.htm
Reuters: The international fight to control climate change heads to a new arena in June when the Senate is to debate a bill that could cut total US global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050. Environmentalists are supportive but want more in the legislation, the business community questions the economic impact, and the politicians who have shepherded it seem gratified that it has managed to get this far -- even though it is unlikely to become law this year. "I look upon this ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Wind Parks Off Norway Seen New Energy Export
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48507/story.htm
Reuters: Sea-based wind parks off Norway could generate large amounts of energy for export to the European Union with investments totalling up to $44 billion by 2025, a report indicated on Monday. "Norway has a very large potential to produce wind power offshore," according to a 30-page report by the country's Energy Council, comprising officials and business leaders. It said that green exports from Norway, the world's number five oil exporter, could help the European Union ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Brazil gets new environment minister
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gFZIWGYLkmkogrULTnCWQDhhbEJQD90U8Q4G0
Associated Press: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva swore in Brazil's new environment minister on Tuesday, delivering a speech that accused rich nations of hypocrisy over the Amazon and global warming. Carlos Minc, the former environment secretary for Rio de Janeiro state and a founder of Brazil's Green Party, replaces rain forest defender Marina Silva as environment minister. Marina Silva resigned on May 13, citing stagnation in promoting the federal environmental agenda. President Silva – ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Brazil's Lula hits out at foreign Amazon critics
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Flora__Fauna/Brazils_Lula_hits_out_at_foreign_Amazon_critics_/articleshow/3076424.cms
Reuters: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hit out at foreign critics of his stewardship of the environment on Monday, saying the world needed to understand that the Amazon belonged to Brazilians. He told a forum in Rio de Janeiro it was "amusing" that countries who were among the world's worst polluters wanted to talk about preserving the rain forest. "The world needs to understand that the Amazon has an owner, and that is the Brazilian people," Lula said. ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Britain Needs Personal Carbon Trading Scheme-MPs
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48513/story.htm
Reuters: Britain should consider giving individuals a personal carbon emissions allowance in order to help the country meet its CO2 emissions target, a report by a committee of lawmakers said on Monday. Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee said the government had to reduce carbon emissions from individuals and households, as well as businesses and industry, if it was to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050 as planned. Introducing a personal carbon allowance -- ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Canada's Irving To Study Bay Of Fundy Tidal Power
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48501/story.htm
Reuters: Irving Oil Ltd, which is planning a second major refinery in New Brunswick, will study the potential for a tidal power development in the Bay of Fundy, site of the world's highest tides, the privately held company said Monday. Irving has teamed up with the non-profit Huntsman Marine Science Centre to conduct two years of research on 11 prospective generating sites near the north shore of the bay, which lies between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The partners aim to examine ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Climate change could trim corn yields: USDA
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN2738319220080527
Reuters: Warmer temperatures brought on by climate change could trim output of some U.S. crops like corn in coming decades, but increase yields from other crops like soybeans, government scientists said on Tuesday. U.S. corn output dips and rises from year-to-year but has risen overall as farmers use new seeds and fertilizers to maximize growth. But output of the corn crops grown today could fall as much as much as 5 percent in coming decades as expected higher temperatures brought on ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Climate Destruction Will Produce Millions of 'Envirogees'
http://www.alternet.org/environment/86285/
AlterNet: Chew on this word, jargon lovers. Envirogee. It carries more 21st century buzz than its semi-official designation climate refugee, which is a displaced individual who has been forced to migrate because of environmental devastation. Maybe the buzzword will catch on faster and shed some much-needed light on what will become a serious problem, probably by the end of this or the next decade. That light is crucial, because so far envirogees haven't been fully recognized by those who ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Conservative group starting campaign to foil climate bill
http://www.kxmc.com/News/242182.asp
Associated Press: Montana Democrats Max Baucus and Jon Tester are among six senators from both parties, who are targets of radio and TV ads aimed at killing a climate change bill. A conservative, free-market advocacy group called The Club for Growth will air the ads beginning this week in North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Ads aimed at Tester and Baucus will air in Montana next week. The climate bill would cap carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, transportation, and ...
Wed, 28 May 08
McCain climate views clash with GOP
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/05/27/mccain_climate_views_clash_with_gop/8917/
United Press International: Likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain's clash with his own party over global warming will be on full display next week in the U.S. Senate. McCain's support for climate change measures like a cap-and-trade system differs with a more conservative, hands-off approach backed by President Bush and other Republican leaders, the Politico reported Tuesday. The expected Senate debate may well divide the party publicly, with Democrats not expected to offer any bipartisan compromise ...
Wed, 28 May 08
On eve of Exxon vote, a look at other Big Oil alt energy investments
http://www.reuters.com/article/dealAtoms/idUSCH11502008301632520080527
Reuters: Should ExxonMobil separate its chairman and CEO positions and invest more in alternative energy projects? These questions will come to a vote at the company's shareholder meeting tomorrow. Members of the Rockefeller family, plus nineteen institutional investors -- including some of ExxonMobil's largest shareowners, with more than $740 billion in combined assets under management-- will vote yes on some or all of the relevant resolutions. Exxon Mobil's critics cite the billions of ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Sweden pushes biogas as gasoline substitute
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/27/business/greencol28.php
International Herald Tribune: Taking a road trip? Remember to visit the toilet first. This city is among dozens of municipalities in Sweden with facilities that transform sewage waste into enough biogas to run thousands of cars and buses. Cars using biogas created a stir when they began to be rolled out on a large scale at the start of the decade. The tailpipe emissions are virtually odorless, the fuel is cheaper than gasoline and diesel, and the idea of recovering energy from toilet waste appealed to green-minded ...
Wed, 28 May 08
USDA report says climate change affecting crops, livestock
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-climatechange-cropfa,0,3711650.story
Associated Press: Climate change is increasing the risk of U.S. crop failures, depleting the nation's water resources and contributing to outbreaks of invasive species and insects, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report released Tuesday. Those and other problems for the U.S. livestock and forestry industries will persist for at least the next 25 years, said the report compiled by 38 scientists for use by water and land managers. "I think what's really eye-opening is the depth ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Canada: BC industry lines up against carbon tax
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=5e7547ab-0554-4f89-86e3-698e6df5f12b
Canwest News Service: Facing a half-billion-dollar hit from British Columbia's looming new carbon tax, the province's major industrial players are banding together in hopes of convincing the government to return more of the revenue-neutral tax to corporations. Representatives from the mining, cement, forestry and smelting industries will travel Friday to Victoria for the latest in a series of meetings with the province's climate-change secretariat. Their goal is to impress upon government the damage they ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Brazilian ethanol industry feels winds of change
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/27/business/ethanol.php
International Herald Tribune: At the start of the cane harvest this year at the São Francisco ethanol mill, workers gathered to ask God for protection and a good crop. It was a traditional Roman Catholic Mass, celebrated inside the mill's main building, infused with the sweet smell of sugar cane. Around 150 employees and their relatives surrounded an imposing altar. The offerings included a bottle filled with ethanol, a wooden toy truck and a cane cutter's machete. "It's a long tradition. Our ...
Wed, 28 May 08
EU target for biofuels scrutinized as prices rise
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D90U33KG0.htm
Associated Press: Faced with rising food prices and new issues around carbon dioxide emissions, EU legislators are proposing to scale back an ambitious target to use more biofuels in vehicles to fight climate change. Last year, the 27-nation EU endorsed a plan calling for a 10-percent share of biofuels for cars and trucks by 2020. It is part of a broader commitment to provide 20 percent of all energy in the EU from renewable sources, up from 8.5 percent now. The European Commission, the EU's ...
Wed, 28 May 08
France Calls for European Union to Ease Gas Taxes
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-05-27-voa32.cfm
Voice of America: The French government has called for the European Union to suspend certain gas taxes and for OPEC to increase production as part of a series of measures to ease the high cost of oil - which has topped $130 a barrel. Lisa Bryant reports from Paris European fishermen and British truckers are protesting soaring diesel prices. During an early morning radio interview, French President Nicolas Sarkozy outlined plans for domestic energy subsidies and heating fuel rebates for poorer ...
Wed, 28 May 08
G8 Environment Ministers Agree on 2050 Climate Goal
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-27-04.asp
Environment News Service: Environment ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations concluded a three-day meeting in Kobe Monday with an agreement on the long-term goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050. But the ministers failed to support specific emissions reduction targets for 2020, as recommended last year by an international body of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC. Still, the G8 environment ministers said there is "strong ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Group asks Canada to halt sale of Arctic gas and oil rights
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hDp0OK5zRYUDqdThsAmH8fyFob0g
Agence France-Presse: The World Wildlife Fund on Tuesday urged Canada to postpone the sale of oil and gas rights in the Beaufort Sea, worried the drilling areas would overlap with key Arctic habitat for polar bears and whales. "This sale is premature due to the absence of a completed Beaufort Sea management plan that would protect sensitive habitats, which polar bears, beluga and bowhead whales need for their survival," Peter Ewins, director of species conservation at WWF-Canada, said in a ...
Wed, 28 May 08
United States: Seattle hearing on rising acidity in Pacific Ocean
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_acid_seawater.html
Associated Press: Puget Sound faces an uncertain future due to the increasing acidity of seawater, a panel of marine scientists said Tuesday. The changes are coming more rapidly than expected, and could disrupt food chains and threaten Washington's shellfish industry. The acidic seawater is moving closer to shallow waters containing the bulk of marine life, according to an article this month in the journal Science. The increasingly corrosive water threatens the survival of many organisms, from ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Tidal power fuels Britain's National Grid
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/27/eatidal127.xml
Telegraph: Tidal power has been harnessed to generate electricity for Britain's National Grid for the first time, it has been announced. The move has been hailed as a milestone in the development of marine energy, which could provide up to a fifth of Britain's electricity needs. It came when a single turbine on the Atlantic seabed off Orkney was connected to the National Grid on Monday morning. The area off the north of Scotland is regarded as potentially one of the best in the world ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Canada: Western premiers can't agree on best way to fight global warming
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=5c80aec0-d7b9-4c87-b1cc-02d95b91856d
Canwest News Service: Canada's western premiers are headed into three days of meetings hoping to bolster a growing economic partnership - but they're fiercely divided over how best to tackle environmental consequences such as climate change. Leaders from the four western provinces and three territories will gather in Prince Albert, Sask., until Friday for a round of annual talks dedicated this year to sustaining growth in the West. While Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and Saskatchewan's Brad Wall are ...
Wed, 28 May 08
Wind Power Could Make Norway "Europe's Battery"
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48504/story.htm
Reuters: Norway could become "Europe's battery" by developing huge sea-based wind parks costing up to $44 billion by 2025, Norway's Oil and Energy Minister said on Monday. Norway's Energy Council, comprising business leaders and officials, said green exports could help the European Union reach a goal of getting 20 percent of its electricity by 2020 from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydro or wave power. "Norway could be Europe's battery," Oil and Energy ...
Tue, 27 May 08
Australia: Clean coal needed in 2-3 years: Flannery
http://news.smh.com.au/national/clean-coal-needed-in-23-years-flannery-20080526-2i87.html
AAP: Climate expert Tim Flannery says the coal industry should be penalised if it does not develop clean technologies within the next two to three years. Professor Flannery was speaking at a local government managers' conference on the Gold Coast when talk turned to the viability of coal as an energy source. The 2007 Australian of the Year criticised the coal industry for its reluctance to embrace "greener" technologies, despite being one of the biggest contributors to ...
Tue, 27 May 08
EPOCA: Ocean Acidification and its Consequences on Ecosystems
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/bericht-110757.html
Innovations Report: Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) through human activities have a well-known impact on the Earth's climate. Its other, less well-known, impact is "ocean acidification", with uncertain consequences on marine organisms and ecosystems. Anzeige The European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) will be launched on 10 June 2008. Its goal is to document ocean acidification, investigate its impact on biological processes, predict its consequences over the next 100 years, and ...
Tue, 27 May 08
G8 environment ministers: halve emissions by 2050
http://in.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idINT33193820080526
Reuters: Environment ministers from the G8 rich nations on Monday urged their leaders to set a global target to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a small but vital step in the fight against climate change. But they stopped short of suggesting specific interim targets ahead of 2050, a key demand of developing countries in tough U.N.-led talks to forge a new treaty on global warming by the end of next year. Germany's secretary of state for the environment, Matthias Machnig, said the ...
Tue, 27 May 08
G8 ministers endorse greenhouse gas cuts
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gtgl4mxaG1vkmqxaxgaZ30-dGwcAD90T4IFG0
Associated Press: Environment chiefs from the world's top industrial countries pledged "strong political will" Monday toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, declaring that developed nations should take the lead in battling global warming. The statement by ministers from the Group of Eight nations, however, stopped short of pledging firm commitments for mid-century or a midterm goal for 2020, which many countries argue are crucial to saving the planet from environmental ...
Tue, 27 May 08
G8 ministers pledge 'strong will' on climate amid doubts
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gGE4TuTNkmtKhW8C_mSFweycXOJA
Agence France-Presse: Environment ministers from the world's top industrial powers called Monday for more effort to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but little headway was seen in setting more immediate goals. Ministers from the Group of Eight held three days of talks here in a bid to set the tone for a summit involving the G8 leaders, which opens July 7 in the northern Japanese resort of Toyako and is expected to focus on climate change. The ministers in a statement said they hoped the ...
Tue, 27 May 08
Southern UK May Become Too Hot for Winemaking, Professor Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=avMNBzRQ.mUo&refer=uk
Bloomberg: Winemaking in the U.K. is being affected by global warming, and some of the nation's southern regions may become too hot to grow wine grapes by 2080 if the phenomenon continues unabated, said Richard Selley, a retired professor of geology at London's Imperial College. Selley used scenarios for climate change devised by the government-funded U.K. Climate Impacts Programme to predict possible trends for future winemaking. The 4.5 to 5 degrees Celsius (8.1 to 9 Fahrenheit) warming ...
Tue, 27 May 08
Indonesia: Climate makes coastlines a credit risk
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20080526.H02&irec=1
Jakarta Post: Local banks are set to tighten debt lending, particularly for real estate and property in low-lying coastal areas, an official said recently, due to fears of sea-level rise triggered by climate change. Incentive and environmental funds officer Laksmi Dhewanthi (an assistant to the deputy environment minister) told a seminar recently that many local banks were planning to reassess prices of collateral assets in coastal areas. "Banks are actively seeking details on the ...
Tue, 27 May 08
G8 call to cut emissions by 2050
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iwCx0hFUPmjYA8t3zF4JQPQzHSRQ
Press Association: Environment chiefs from top industrial countries have called for an agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, declaring that developed nations should take the lead in battling global warming. The statement by ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) nations, aimed at preparing for action on climate change at the G8 summit in Toyako, Japan in July, also acknowledged calls for midterm emissions reduction targets for 2020, though it did not specify any ...
Tue, 27 May 08
G8 environment ministers endorse greenhouse gas cuts by 2050
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYRLHP_NFnfBi3eCR1i2GXTEtwCw
Canadian Press: The G8 environment ministers are calling for an agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, declaring developed countries should take the lead in battling global warming. Their statement Monday after three days of meetings in Kobe, Japan also acknowledges calls for midterm emissions reduction targets for 2020, but does not specify any goals. The ministers from Japan, the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Russia tried to set the stage for ...
Tue, 27 May 08
Norway seen as "Europe's battery" if develops wind
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL2636460820080526
Reuters: Norway could become "Europe's battery" by developing huge offshore wind parks backed by existing hydro-power reservoirs, Oil and Energy Minister Aaslaug Haga said on Monday. She said that Norway's Energy Council, comprising business leaders and government officials, would issue a report later on Monday outlining ways to build wind parks off the coast in a shift to greener energy for the world's NO. 5 oil exporter. "The report points to the enormous potential in ...
Tue, 27 May 08
Old members lead the charge as the EU's emissions rise
http://www.neurope.eu/articles/87092.php
New Europe: Despite ambitious plans to curb carbon dioxide emissions, their levels are rising in the European Union, mostly because the bloc' older and wealthiest countries are continuing to spew them, the European Commission said. But officials insisted that since the increase in emissions was slower than the pace of EU economic growth, that proved plans to reduce them are still working. According to the Commission, the more than 11,000 factories, power plants and smelters in the EU emitted 2.05 ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Australia gives $4.5m for foreign forests
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23758272-1702,00.html
AAP: AUSTRALIA will commit $4.5 million towards helping neighbouring countries reduce deforestation. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said today that up to $3 million would go to the Indonesia-based Centre for International Forestry Research. The other $1.5 million would help non-government organisations work with developing countries on large-scale pilot projects designed to reduce deforestation. "Globally, there is a shortage of research on how to reduce ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Billions wasted on UN climate programme
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/26/climatechange.greenpolitics
Guardian: John Vidal, environment editor The Guardian, Monday May 26 2008 Article historyBillions of pounds are being wasted in paying industries in developing countries to reduce climate change emissions, according to two analyses of the UN's carbon offsetting programme. Leading academics and watchdog groups allege that the UN's main offset fund is being routinely abused by chemical, wind, gas and hydro companies who are claiming emission reduction credits for projects that should not qualify. ...
Mon, 26 May 08
G8 environment ministers endorse greenhouse gas cuts by 2050, fail to agree on 2020 target
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/26/asia/AS-GEN-Japan-G8-Environment.php
Associated PRess: Environment ministers from the world's top industrial countries say they have the "political will" to move toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050. The Monday announcement by ministers meeting in Japan, however, stopped short of setting a more contentious goal of slashing emissions by 2020. The G8 statement, aimed at setting the stage for the Group of Eight summit in Japan in July, also said that rich nations have the responsibility to take the lead in ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Ads target meat-eaters on greenhouse
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23757869-5005961,00.html
AAP: AUSTRALIANS tucking into a juicy steak in front of the tele are being asked to consider how their meal impacts on climate change. Meat-eaters are the focus of a $400,000 television, print and billboard advertising campaign launched today linking methane emissions from cows to global warming. The Supreme Master Ching Hai Association - which describes itself as a non-profit spiritual and humanitarian organisation - is funding the campaign through hundreds of individual ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Australian firm wants to catch West Coast waves for energy project
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10512420
New Zealand Herald: As anyone with an ear on the marine forecast knows, it's seldom flat on the West Coast. The reliable surf, originating from weather systems deep in the Southern Ocean, has got an Australian company interested in our western coastline. Perth-based Carnegie Corporation wants to harness the power of West Coast waves to produce energy using new technology. The company has lawyers studying legislation covering New Zealand's coastal seabed and water columns above it to see if ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Brussels trade war with US looms over biofuel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/26/biofuels.energy
Guardian: Peter Mandelson, the European commissioner, has fired the first salvo in a potential transatlantic trade war by agreeing to challenge the US over its biofuel subsidies, which are chasing British and continental firms out of business. Confidential documents seen by the Guardian show that Mandelson and the European commission have put their signatures to anti-dumping complaints lodged by the European Biodiesel Board. Washington will be asked this week to answer allegations that ...
Mon, 26 May 08
United Kingdom: Labour plans green revolution to slash energy prices and win back lost voters
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-plans-green-revolution-to-slash-energy-prices-and-win-back-lost-voters-834303.html
Independent: Gordon Brown is planning to use a massive expansion of green energy to win back voters angry at spiralling fuel prices. They will be offered guaranteed prices for generating their own power that could fund loan schemes to pay for energy-saving technology under plans being finalised by ministers. The plans are expected to be contained in a major offensive to promote domestic solar and wind power, as well as promoting energy conservation, that will be launched by the Prime ...
Mon, 26 May 08
G-8 Pledge to Halve Global Carbon Emissions by 2050
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aj78929sNnnM&refer=japan
Bloomberg: Environment ministers of the Group of Eight industrialized nations pledged to cut emissions of gases blamed for global warming by half by 2050 and called on rich countries to lead the way. ``In order to halve global emissions, developed countries should take the lead in achieving a significant reduction,'' the ministers said in a joint statement at the end of a 3-day meeting in Kobe, Japan. The statement didn't specify by how much the countries should cut emissions or whether ...
Mon, 26 May 08
G8 summit emission cut target likely "aspirational"
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-33761320080525
Reuters: The Group of Eight rich nations will likely agree to an "aspirational" target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 but shun mid-term goals at a July summit, the top U.N. climate official said on Sunday. Ministers and representatives from the G8 and major emerging countries gathered this weekend in Japan to try to build momentum for U.N.-led climate change talks, but remained at odds over who should do what when, and how much. "Given the stage that we are ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Nations urge deep emission cuts by US, Japan
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gtgl4mxaG1vkmqxaxgaZ30-dGwcAD90SHJ6G0
Associated Press: European and developing countries urged the United States and Japan on Sunday to commit to deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 – a step they say is needed to defuse a coming ecological disaster caused by global warming. The calls at a meeting of environment ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Japan coincided with rising concern that momentum is draining from U.N.-led efforts to force a new climate change agreement by a December 2009 ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Obama says fuel prices will change car habits
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN2430015120080525
Reuters: Barack Obama said on Saturday Americans would start changing the kinds of cars they drive if gasoline prices continue to climb and said he owned a hybrid vehicle, though he doesn't drive it much. Obama, an Illinois senator and the front-runner for his party's presidential nomination, has made fighting climate change a key issue of his campaign, and as fuel prices soar, he has repeatedly called on car makers to increase fuel efficiency standards. Without specifically telling ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Sony says develops cost-efficient solar cells
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUST15201920080525
Reuters: Japanese electronics conglomerate Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Sunday it has developed dye-sensitized solar cells with an energy conversion efficiency of 10 percent, a level seen necessary for commercial use. Dye-sensitized solar cells, which use photosensitive dye and do not require costly and large-scale production equipment, are seen as a promising next-generation solar cell variety and potential threat to silicon-based solar cells. Germany's Q-Cells ...
Mon, 26 May 08
World Bank to Raise $5.5 Billion for Climate Funds
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aufska1ueDVw&refer=home
Bloomberg: The World Bank will raise at least $5.5 billion with the U.S., U.K. and Japan this year for climate change funds that will help poor nations use clean technology and tackle global warming, its vice president said. The bank will agree to set up the funds at its July board meeting and raise the money by autumn, Katherine Sierra said in an interview in the Japanese city of Kobe today where she is attending a meeting of the Group of Eight environment ministers. ``We are hoping ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Canada: BC mayor quashes carbon-tax protest plan
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080525.wbccarbon26/BNStory/National/home
Globe and Mail: A "blunt" telephone conversation with B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor has cooled plans by a northern B.C. mayor to launch a revolt over the groundbreaking carbon tax. Scott Nelson, mayor of Williams Lake, was planning to urge his council to back a motion this week that would have seen the municipality refuse to pay the carbon tax on its municipal fuel bills in order to highlight concerns that the tax is unfair to northerners, and not revenue-neutral for ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Burying CO2 to fight global warming a step closer to reality
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/burying-co2-to-fight-global-warming-a-step-closer-to-reality_10052481.html
Asia News International: Capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) and burying it away underground, which has on paper been described as one of the most effective in cutting down on greenhouse gases, is moving closer to reality. According to a report in Discovery News, the process, known as carbon capture and storage (CCS), has already been given the green signal by the US Department of Energy (DOE), with a funding of 126 million dollars for two large-scale carbon storage projects in California and the Midwest. ...
Mon, 26 May 08
United Kingdom: Call to adopt 'carbon credits' plan
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i44aznf4NLXBBSjY44A_69glUsRA
Press Association: The Government should push ahead with a "radical" system of personal "carbon credits" if it wants to meet emissions targets, a committee of MPs has said. They said people would be able to engage with the scheme, which would see everybody given an annual carbon limit which they then 'spent' on items such as fuel and energy bills. Anyone who wanted to spend more than their limit would then be able to buy extra credits from low carbon emitters. The ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Carbon tax gaining support across Canada: poll
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=c28d5cd4-5404-4ade-a748-0352268d392c
Canwest News Service: Canadians are warming up to the prospect of paying an environmental tax on activities that cause climate change, but they don't necessarily expect to get the money back in the form of income tax cuts, a new poll has revealed. The McAllister Opinion Research survey, commissioned for the Pembina Institute - an environmental research group - and obtained by Canwest News Service, revealed that Canadians would be supportive of a federal carbon tax and would like to see its new revenues ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Don't want to release your CO2? Bury it
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iT5UtXKt1Cyu5Nm0kJhkA9BiVpjw
Agence France-Presse: With planet Earth engaged in a heated race against global warming, "carbon capture and storage" has brought a ray of hope, and a Norwegian gas platform is leading the way. The Sleipner platform in the North Sea, a mammoth steel and cement structure, has successfully buried millions of tonnes of CO2 under the seabed for the past 12 years in a pioneering project. Using a simple metallic tube measuring 50 centimetres (20 inches) in diameter, the platform operator, ...
Mon, 26 May 08
G8 Environment Ministers Push for Post-Kyoto Agreement
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3358684,00.html
Deutsche Welle: Environment ministers from the seven largest industrial nations and Russia continued talks Sunday, May 25 in Kobe, Japan, on pushing for a post-Kyoto protocol agreement on climate change. Environmental groups on the meeting's sidelines were urging the Japanese hosts to show "substantial movement" in reaching an agreement to replace the Kyoto accord that is set to expire in 2012. The Group of Eight (G8) ministers were to release a plan at the end of their discussions ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Ohio requires 25% renewable or advanced energy by 2025
http://www.stockhouse.com/News/FinancialNewsDetailFeeds.aspx?n=10839245
Stockhouse: Ohio Governor Ted Strickland recently approved a bill that will require the state's utilities to draw on renewable or advanced energy for 25% of their electricity supply by 2025, according to a report from the US Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). requires renewable energy to meet at least half of that requirement, which starts at 0.5% by the end of 2009 and gradually ratchets up to 25% by the end of 2024. So the actual renewable energy requirement starts at 0.25% at ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Top off Exxon Mobil's greed
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5799589.html
Houston Chronicle: No doubt the Exxon Mobil annual shareholders' meeting on Wednesday will open with great fanfare celebrating last year's $40 billion in profits, and all the company is doing to make the world a better place. But not all shareholders are so thrilled about Exxon Mobil's performance. My family members and I are shareholders in Exxon Mobil, and many of us are very concerned about the devastating effect the largest privately held oil company in the world is having on the health of people ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Warm winds comfort climate change models: study
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gZWxTxZyCvRSo4uPvh6LDgaMxvXQ
Agence France-Presse: Climate change models predicting a dangerous warming of the world's atmosphere got a confirming boost Sunday from a study showing parallel trends at altitudes nearly twice as high as Mount Everest. The new research, published in Nature Geoscience, will help remove one of the remaining scientific uncertainties about the general thrust of global warming, the authors and commentators say. Over the last two decades, temperature readings from the upper troposphere -- 12 to 16 ...
Mon, 26 May 08
G-8 ministers move toward emissions goal
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/25/business/climate.php
Associated Press: Environment chiefs from several top industrial countries neared agreement Sunday on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by midcentury, but fell short of the more difficult task of setting a midterm goal for 2020, delegates said. The government ministers from the Group of 8 nations and observer countries held a second day of talks here aimed at setting the stage for decisive action against climate change during the G-8 summit in northern Japan in July. They were expected to ...
Mon, 26 May 08
Japan pushes its 'sectoral' approach in climate talks
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gmOpHGXRIapXspAB12hEUCIelrfQ
Agence France-Presse: Japan's environment minister on Sunday urged wider support for a "sectoral" approach on the second day of climate talks amid calls for rich nations to set clear emission cut goals by 2020. Home to the landmark Kyoto Protocol, Japan hopes to use the three-day talks in Kobe to shape the course of negotiations on a new climate treaty on curbing global warming, eyeing a breakthrough when it hosts the G8 summit in July. Japan wants support for its "sectoral" ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Guyana: 40 Million Acres of Rain Forest for the Greenest Bidder
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=100412
New York Times: The other day I went to a meeting to hear Harrison Ford talk about saving the rain forests and ended up listening to a man who has a rain forest to save: Guyana's president, Bharrat Jagdeo. The occasion was the announcement of a new campaign to protect the world's rain forests, Guyana's included, organized by the environmental group Conservation International. (Mr. Ford, a board member, was in New York to promote his new movie and somehow got his schedule wrong.) That left ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Brazil Rainforest Analysis Sets Off Political Debate
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=100397
New York Times: Gilberto Câmara, a scientist who leads Brazil's national space agency, is more at ease poring over satellite data of the Amazon than being thrust into the spotlight. But since January, Dr. Câmara has been at the center of a political tug-of-war between scientists and Brazil's powerful business interests. It started when he and his fellow engineers released a report showing that deforestation of Brazil's portion of the rainforest seemed to have shot up again after two years of ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Europe, and especially Germany, are banking on coal
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-coal25-2008may25,0,296727.story
LA Times: Much of Europe may be moving toward renewable energy, but here in the Rhine Valley, where coal has always been king, this little town has become more roadkill on the fossil fuels autobahn. Three power plants fueled by lignite coal, the granddaddy of the greenhouse gas emitters, belch more than 64 million tons of carbon dioxide a year into the atmosphere, the highest concentration in Europe. But they will be dwarfed by a massive power plant under construction that will be one of the ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Japan urges bold G8 targets for emission cuts
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL2343063320080525
Reuters: Japan urged rich countries on Sunday to take the lead in the fight against global warming by setting bold national targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by well over 50 percent by 2050. Ministers and representatives from the Group of Eight advanced nations and major emerging countries gathered in Kobe, western Japan, are trying to build momentum for U.N.-led climate change talks, an issue to be taken up at a July leaders' summit. But wide gaps exist both within the G8 and ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6GXwx2chQltK3liINhxHz_uEGSwD90S5MLG0
Associated Press: A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald's, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings. That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the world's oil supply. Now, she's preparing for the world as we know it to disappear. Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 ...
Sun, 25 May 08
In Colorado River Delta, waters -- and prospects -- are drying up
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-me-newcolorado25-2008may25,0,1536281.story
LA Times: Fighting a fierce north wind and cresting waves, a dozen Cucapa Indian fishermen were in trouble before they were halfway home, their small boats and balky outboard motors overmatched by the roiling estuary of the Colorado River Delta. "Malo viento," muttered Julio Figueroa, as he nosed his boat slowly through the wind-whipped waves, his feet submerged in 10 inches of standing water. Boats have capsized and men have drowned in these waters, where river and sea collide. Many ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Leaders told battle to stem global warming slowing
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g1JSga_CNGr6cpuIGcVrNxOuOBOAD90S3HQG0
Associated Press: The world is losing momentum in the battle against global warming, the U.N. climate chief warned on Saturday, urging environmental ministers from wealthy nations to revive the effort by setting clear targets for reducing greenhouse gases. The ministers gathered in the western Japanese city of Kobe for a three-day meeting as evidence mounted that rising world temperatures have been taking a toll on the earth at a faster rate than previously forecast. The officials from the Group ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Arctic ice shelf barely hanging together
http://www.australiannews.net/story/363058
Australian News: Evidence of the break-up of the Arctic ice-cap has shocked research scientists on a Canadian military expedition. Scientists, in the group with expedition forces, have discovered major new fractures on the giant ice shelves in Canada's far north. As an indicator of serious climate change, a network of cracks stretches for more than 16 kilometres on Ward Hunt, the area's largest shelf. Scientists say they were astonished to see the cracks which are only just holding ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Emerging nations seek G8 help for clean technology
http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-33749820080524
Reuters: Big emerging economies called on rich countries to help finance clean energy technologies on Saturday as a meeting of environment ministers sought to add momentum to the fight against climate change. Ministers and their representatives said on Saturday that action was urgently needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, but advanced and developing countries are split on how to share the burden. The three-day meeting of the Group of Eight and rapidly ...
Sun, 25 May 08
G8, emerging economies try to bridge gaps over climate change
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iX007gulLvulQEVMLEdsgsOvbgyA
Agence France-Presse: Environment ministers from the world's richest nations and a clutch of fast-growing economies began talks here Saturday to try to bridge their differences on how to tackle global warming. Japan, home to the landmark Kyoto Protocol, hopes to use the three days of meetings to shape the course of negotiations on a new climate treaty on curbing global warming, eyeing a breakthrough when it hosts the July 7-9 G8 summit. "This G8 environment meeting is not a place to ...
Sun, 25 May 08
U.S. government to file for license for nuclear waste dump
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN2252107320080522
Reuters: The U.S. Energy Department will file an application in early June with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to operate a long-delayed nuclear waste dump in Nevada, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Thursday. The Yucca Mountain storage site, located about 90 miles from Las Vegas, is still at least a decade away from being finished due to bureaucratic delays and scientific foul-ups. But the government still needs a license to operate the fuel dump whenever it is ready. The ...
Sun, 25 May 08
German Climate Protection Package at Risk
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,555187,00.html
Spiegel: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has managed to develop quite a reputation on the international stage for her efforts to combat climate change. Back home in Germany, however, important pieces of her climate protection package threaten to fall through. On Friday, with just days to go before the cabinet planned approve a second package of environmental laws, the item was suddenly removed from the Tuesday agenda. It now won't be considered by the Merkel government until the middle of ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Going Nuclear Despite Warnings
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42495
Inter Press Service: The EU seems to be backing nuclear energy as the response to global warming and gas dependency, but civic groups warn that safety and waste processing should be preconditions for the industry's growth. These issues were debated in Prague May 22-23 at the second European Nuclear Energy Forum, an EU (European Union) initiative to discuss opportunities and risks of nuclear energy. Civic groups criticised their extremely low representation at the event, seen by them as a gathering ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Japan, US to Urge G-8 Nations to Join Climate Change Fund
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a6xk1q9U4.Zs&refer=japan
Bloomberg: Japan and the U.S. will call on Group of Eight industrialized nations to join in forming a global fund to develop clean technologies at this weekend's environmental summit, a Japanese government official said. Japan's Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita agreed to urge other nations to raise money for the so-called ``Clean Technology Plan'' when he met U.S. Environment Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson, an Environmental Ministry official told reporters today under ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Germany: Merkel says car tax reform plan still alive
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSL2438417420080524
Reuters: Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to douse speculation on Saturday that a key part of her government's efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions had been abandoned after a plan to change car tax rules was postponed. Merkel said in a speech on Saturday in the eastern town of Zwickau that the controversial plans to change rules on car tax from 2009 to take exhaust emissions into account had only been delayed on Friday and not abandoned. "The government will obviously continue ...
Sun, 25 May 08
EU industry CO2 emissions up 0.7 pct in 07
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL2383160120080523
Reuters: Carbon dioxide emissions from businesses included in the European Union's Emission Trading Scheme rose 0.68 percent in 2007 compared with 2006, the European Commission said on Friday. This confirms an increase in emissions as suggested by preliminary data published on April 2, and implies a shortage of carbon emissions permits in 2008 which could drive up carbon and electricity prices across the 27 member states. The scheme is meant to drive a fight against climate change by ...
Sun, 25 May 08
Experts warn India against environmental refugees
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=134526
Merinews: NORTH-EAST is reeling under the issue of influx from Bangladesh. This problem could be alarming with the climate change. The researchers predict that in the next 50 years, an estimated 15 million environmental refugees from Bangladesh have to migrate, including 30 million from India. The big question is: where this huge population will settle? The ever-changing climate has raised a serious concern in the world. India facing the major challenge of illegal influx from Bangladesh will ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Indonesia plans drastic emissions cuts by 2025
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/indonesia-plans-drastic-emissions-cuts-by-2025-833595.html
Independent: Indonesia outlined a plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent by 2025 yesterday, a potentially bold move which could shame wealthier nations into announcing tougher targets of their own. The country, with a population of 235 million people, has one of the largest carbon footprints outside of the developed world. Environment ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrialised countries, as well as from emerging economies such as China and India, begin talks ...
Sat, 24 May 08
G8 climate talks to seek momentum on emission cuts
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL2343063320080524
Reuters: Environment ministers from rich countries and other major greenhouse gas emitters gather in western Japan from Saturday for talks on ways to curb emissions, save living species from extinction and cut back on trash. The three-day meeting of the Group of Eight and rapidly growing economies such as China and India comes as pressure grows for both developed and developing countries to tackle climate change, blamed for droughts, rising seas and more intense storms. Delegates ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Australia: Get used to low rainfall
http://bendigo.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/get-used-to-low-rainfall/776248.aspx
Bendigo Advertiser: AS Bendigo anticipates another dismal autumn rainfall total, a leading atmospheric scientist has reinforced fears that the pattern is a result of climate change and not simply a drought. A new CSIRO report, Wealth From Oceans, found that Victoria had suffered an almost 40 per cent decline in autumn rainfall since 1950, and warming of the Indian Ocean has been a big factor. Bendigo has recorded only 55mm since March 1, making this the sixth year in the past eight to fall below ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Australia: Government warned renewable energy targets will bring job losses
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23747571-3102,00.html
Courier-Mail: THE Rudd Government's research arm has warned of thousands of job losses and a $1.8b hit to the economy if it pursues a mandatory renewable energy target. Advice from the Productivity Commission also hinted Queensland should dump its 13 per cent gas scheme - where state electricity retailers must source 13 per cent of electricity from gas-fired generation - because of an impending emissions trading scheme (ETS). The submission to the Government's climate change review cited ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Philippines: Greenpeace blocks coal shipment
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080524-138473/Greenpeace-blocks-coal-shipment
Philippine Inquirer: The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior blocked early Friday the coal shipments of Team Energy Philippines' (formerly Mirant) 735-megawatt coal-fired power plant in the coastal village of Ibabang Polo facing Tayabas Bay. The Rainbow Warrior anchored alongside the coal ship Medi Firenze, which was unloading its cargo at the Pagbilao plant's loading pier, and prevented the 223-meter vessel Sam John Spirit, which was carrying a bigger shipment of coal, from approaching the docking ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Australia: Power producers warn on emission targets
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23749166-11949,00.html
Australian: POWER generators have warned of blackouts and power price spikes if the Rudd Government moves too aggressively to put a price on greenhouse emissions. New modelling by the National Generators Forum has signalled the price on greenhouse emissions will need to rise from $20 a tonne in 2010 to $150 a tonne by 2050 if the Government is to deliver its promised cuts. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong yesterday reaffirmed that the Government would proceed with its mandatory ...
Sat, 24 May 08
EU C02 emissions up slightly, but officials defend the bloc's cap-and-trade program
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/23/business/EU-FIN-EU-Climate-Change.php
Associated Press: Major polluters involved in the European Union's cap-and-trade program released slightly more carbon dioxide last year than in 2006, the European Commission said Friday. But EU officials insisted that emissions would have been higher if Europe did not make power stations and steel plants trade carbon permits that load excessive polluters with extra costs. They said the 0.68 percent increase in actual CO2 emissions from businesses that trade carbon permits was below economic ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Exxon again cuts funds for climate change skeptics
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN2328446120080523
Reuters: Exxon Mobil Corp is pulling contributions to several groups that have downplayed the risks that greenhouse gas-emissions could lead to global warming, continuing a policy started in 2006 by Chief Executive Rex Tillerson. Exxon will not contribute to some nine groups in 2008 that it funded in 2007. It said in its corporate citizenship report that the groups' "position on climate change could divert attention from the important discussion on how the world will secure the energy ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Global Warming Sticker Shock
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-23-01.asp
Environment News Service: If global warming continues unchecked, by 2100, New York City will feel like Las Vegas does today and San Francisco will have a climate comparable to that of today's New Orleans. In 2100, Boston will have average temperatures like those in Memphis, Tennessee today. These higher temperatures will be uncomfortable financially as well as physically, according to a report released Thursday by researchers at Tufts University, commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC. ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Rich nations must lead on climate change: UN official
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jlL7eVh5OfPg8E5FoEgsN_Ojzdgw
Agence France-Presse: Wealthy nations are shirking their duty to take a strong lead in fighting global warming, the UN's top climate official said Friday, a day ahead of a G8 meeting of environment ministers in Kobe, Japan. "We really need a push now from G8 countries to show leadership," said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Industrialised nations must show how they intend to engage major developing economies such as ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Senate weighs cost of acting, and not acting, on emissions
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/05/23/senate-weighs-cost-of-acting-and-not-acting-on-emissions/
Christian Science Monitor: For those who think the battle over US carbon emissions legislation is already in full swing, this past week was a reminder that it's just beginning. The central debating point: the numbers. How much will it cost American taxpayers to curb US carbon-dioxide emissions? Or, conversely, how much would it cost to just drop the blinds, turn up the air conditioner, and not do much at all? The answer to the question of economic impact - far more than the issue of polar-bear survival - will ...
Sat, 24 May 08
UN urges shorter-term G8 climate goals than 2050
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7536353
Reuters: The Group of Eight industrial nations should set shorter-term goals for axing greenhouse gases than 2050 to help guide billions of dollars of investment, the top U.N. climate change official said. Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, also told Reuters that a policy outlined by President George W. Bush last month that would cap U.S. emissions in 2025 was "not enough" to confront global warming. "We are at a stage where we really need to see ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Vast cracks appear in Arctic ice
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7417123.stm
BBC: Dramatic evidence of the break-up of the Arctic ice-cap has emerged from research during an expedition by the Canadian military. Scientists travelling with the troops found major new fractures during an assessment of the state of giant ice shelves in Canada's far north. The team found a network of cracks that stretched for more than 10 miles (16km) on Ward Hunt, the area's largest shelf. The fate of the vast ice blocks is seen as a key indicator of climate ...
Sat, 24 May 08
A break on fuel-efficient cars, not gas tax, is needed
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080523/OPINION/80523050
Detroit Free Press: The revenue lost from the summer gas-tax holiday some are proposing would be about $10 billion – the cost of helping hard-hit American consumers cope with $4 a gallon gas prices. But is a onetime summer fix the right approach? As the old proverb says, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Translation to today: Three months of slightly cheaper gas is nice, for now. But give a million consumers a $10,000 average ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Evangelical campaign questions human-caused global warming
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g0RjqbpwQEZDkB8uX8X7xaNEUG1Q
Canadian Press: A coalition of conservative evangelical leaders wants to enlist one million Christians to sign a statement questioning whether human-caused global warming is a real threat and arguing that restrictive environmental policies harm poor people. The "We Get It!" campaign is the latest development in an ongoing disagreement among evangelicals about climate change. "Our stewardship of creation must be based on biblical principles and factual evidence," the ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Knowledgeable Republicans 'Less Concerned' Over Climate
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWarming/story?id=4919479&page=1
New Scientist: The more Democrats think they know about global warming, the more concerned they are. But Republicans who consider themselves well informed on the topic seem no more worried than those who profess ignorance, a study suggests. When it comes to attitudes to global warming in the US, how knowledge translates into concern depends upon people's political views, and on whom they trust to provide information on climate change, say the political psychologists involved. In February ...
Sat, 24 May 08
New map shows how much of earth is scorched
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/new-map-shows-how-much-of-earth-is-scorched_10051870.html
Indo-Asian News Service: A geographer has designed the first ever map showing how fires have scorched the earth every year since the turn of the millennium. The map reveals that between 3.5 and 4.5 million square km of vegetation burns every year – or an area larger than the size of India. The information is vital for scientists and agencies involved in monitoring global warming, measuring atmospheric pollutants, managing forests and controlling fires. Kevin Tansey of University of Leicester said: "We ...
Sat, 24 May 08
No-pressure way to capture CO2
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/05/23/no-pressure-way-to-capture-co2/
Christian Science Monitor: Carbon capture and storage has become the latest techno-political issue in the fight against global warming – in no small part because technologies for nabbing carbon dioxide emissions in a cost-effective way before they leave the power plant are still in their infancy. Now, researchers at the University of Wyoming say they have developed a way to scrub at least 90 percent of the CO2 from power-plant emissions and at a far cheaper cost than other proposed approaches. Once the ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Old Members Pollute the Most as EU Emissions Rise
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3356162,00.html
Deutsche Welle: Industrial emissions of carbon dioxide in the European Union rose in 2007 despite EU schemes to cut them, with the EU's wealthiest and oldest members leading the surge, the bloc's executive said Friday. The rise was slower than the pace of EU economic growth, indicating that the fledgling emissions-reduction scheme is still having an impact, the European Commission said in a statement. According to the commission, the more than 11,000 factories, power plants and smelters in the ...
Sat, 24 May 08
United States: Boeing sets greenhouse gas emission goals
http://www.king5.com/business/stories/NW_052308BUB_boeing_greenhouse_goals_JM.1f78907c.html
Associated Press: The Boeing Co. says it plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions and energy use in the next five years, even as it manufactures more aircraft. In an environmental report Thursday, the Chicago-based plane maker set goals to cut carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and hazardous waste 1 percent by 2012, and to improve solid waste recycling rates from about 60 percent to 75 percent. "Climate change and pollution are serious global concerns," Boeing chairman, ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Canada: Harper heading to Europe to push climate change plan before G8
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hjl9BfWTPL97lZmoMEDHtVh4NW5A
Canadian Press: Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make a whirlwind visit to Europe next week to push his climate change plan before the G8 summit this summer in Japan. Harper will spend barely 72 hours in Europe but has a full agenda. He will land in Paris on Tuesday and has meetings scheduled in Bonn, Rome and London before returning to Ottawa for the weekend. Among those he is scheduled to meet are Queen Elizabeth, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas ...
Sat, 24 May 08
Key climate change players' positions on emissions
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUST171688
Reuters: Environment ministers from Group of Eight rich nations and other major greenhouse gas emitters will meet in Japan's western city of Kobe from May 24 to 26 to try to build momentum for talks on issues including long-term targets to reduce the emissions that cause global warming. The United Nations says a new climate change treaty must be in place by the end of 2009 to give countries time to ratify it before the 2012 expiry of the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges 37 developed countries to ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Brazil all set to flood the rainforest
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/world/Brazil-all-set-to-flood.4113906.jp
Scotsman: INDIANS fish from canoes along the Xingu river and tend crops near the site of a proposed dam talked about for decades – but now pushing forward under Brazil's multi-billion-pound construction spree. The Belo Monte dam will swallow swathes of rainforest and harm rare fish, as well as the livelihoods and homes of about 15,000 people who live in the remote area of north-eastern Para state, critics say. Flush with cash from its roaring economy, Brazil is spending £150 billion in ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Burying CO2 Vital In Climate Battle - IEA
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48473/story.htm
Reuters: Finding ways of safely burying carbon dioxide could be the only way of keeping greenhouse gas emissions below dangerous levels, the International Energy Agency's chief economist said on Thursday. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen by industry and some lawmakers as a possible silver bullet in the fight against climate change as it could curb growing emissions from coal plants. But it has never been tested on a commercial scale and it is strongly opposed by some ...
Fri, 23 May 08
G8 greenhouse gases down in 2006, only Russia up
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL2343063320080523
Reuters: Greenhouse gas emissions by all the Group of Eight industrial nations except Russia fell in 2006 in the broadest dip since the world started trying to slow climate change in 1990, a Reuters survey showed on Friday. Rising oil prices, some measures to curb global warming and a milder winter in the United States in 2006 that depressed energy demand for heating all contributed to an overall 0.6 percent dip in G8 emissions in 2006 from 2005. "It is an encouraging sign that ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Human Carbon Emissions Make Oceans Corrosive - Study
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48465/story.htm
Reuters: Carbon dioxide spewed by human activities has made ocean water so acidic that it is eating away at the shells and skeletons of starfish, coral, clams and other sea creatures, scientists said on Thursday. Marine researchers knew that ocean acidification, as it's called, was occurring in deep water far from land. What they called "truly astonishing" was the appearance of this damaging phenomenon on the Pacific North American continental shelf, stretching from Mexico to ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Sealife at risk from rapid acidification
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/23/climatechange.water
Guardian: Scientists conducting a major survey of the North American Pacific coast have found significant increases in acidity that could have a profound effect on sealife. Rising ocean acidity has been predicted by scientists as a consequence of increased CO2 emissions, but the new research suggests that in some parts of the ocean these increases are happening much faster than predicted. The change seen in the surveys was not expected until 2050. Experts predict that the changes could ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Portugal: EDP says renewables retail offer 24x oversubscribed
http://in.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idINL2345241520080523
Reuters: Energias de Portugal (EDP) (EDP.LS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday demand for shares in the initial public offering of its renewable energy unit had reached 24 times the supply in the 5 percent tranche destined for the general public. EDP, which launched the IPO of 25 percent of EDP Renewables this week, said in a statement retail demand had reached 1.1 billion shares whereas it was offering 45 million. The price of the IPO for the world's fourth largest wind power ...
Fri, 23 May 08
United Kingdom: Energy price hike sends up greenhouse gas emissions
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/-Energy-price-hike-sends.4113909.jp
Scotsman: AS THE Scottish Government announces it is stepping up efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, latest figures yesterday revealed emissions are increasing. Statistics released by the Scottish Government showed rose by 8 per cent in 2006, partly because of the rise in the price of gas. The increase in Scotland's emissions reverses recent trends which saw greenhouse gases fall in Scotland between 1990 and 2005. This rise is mainly because of a shift to dependency on coal-fired power ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Greenhouse gases are turning oceans acidic
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/23/scigreenhous123.xml
Telegraph: Greenhouse gases are turning the oceans acidic decades earlier than predicted with potentially catastrophic consequences for marine life, scientists have warned. The acid in sea water is powerful enough to dissolve the shells of sea creatures, they said. An American team has found evidence that an acidic "tipping point" has been reached on the continental shelf along the west coast of North America. The work underlines rising concerns that man-made emissions will ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Italy Embraces Nuclear Power
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=100216
New York Times: Italy announced Thursday that within five years it planned to resume building nuclear energy plants, two decades after a public referendum resoundingly banned nuclear power and deactivated all its reactors. "By the end of this legislature, we will put down the foundation stone for the construction in our country of a group of new-generation nuclear plants," said Claudio Scajola, minister of economic development. "An action plan to go back to nuclear power cannot be delayed ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Australia: Rainfall decline linked to climate change
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23745441-1702,00.html
AAP: VICTORIA has experienced a 40 per cent decrease in autumn rainfall since 1950 and climate change is a key factor, a report has found. There were also seasonal rainfall declines in Western Australia's southwest and southern Queensland. A reduction in the number of La Nina events and changes in weather systems from the Indian Ocean were also partly responsible for late rainfall across Victoria, the CSIRO's Wealth From Oceans Flagship study found. During the past 58 years, ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Australia: Australian government buys water for Murray Basin
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200805/s2253367.htm?tab=australia
Radio Australia: The Australian government has secured an extra 35 billion litres of water to be returned as environmental flows to the nation's biggest water system, the Murray Darling Basin. Under the water buy back, Canberra has spent $US47 million purchasing licenses from irrigators in seven of the basin's 18 catchments. Due to the low water storage levels and the current drought, it may be some time before the flows go back into the system. But the climate change minister, Penny ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Canada: Carbon tax would hurt poor, NDP says
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/429174
Toronto Star: Ottawa–A carbon tax would place an unfair burden on low-income Canadians, Jack Layton said yesterday. "Those advocating a carbon tax suggest that by making the costs for certain things more expensive, people will make different choices," Layton said. "But Canada is a cold place and heating your home really isn't a choice." The New Democratic Party leader was at a fundraiser for an Ottawa homeless shelter to talk about poverty but used the platform to ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Australia: Drought taking toll on Hunter water catchments: research
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/23/2253312.htm?site=newcastle
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: New research has found climate change and land management practices could be affecting the total amount of ground and surface water in the Hunter. Researchers from the Australian National University have been examining the interaction between surface water, ground water and salinity in the Wybong and Wollombi catchments. University spokesman Dr Ben McDonald says it appears the drought that began in 2000 has had a real impact on the water flows in local ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Indonesia says to cut energy sector emissions 17 pct
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUST349595
Reuters: Indonesia plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its energy sector by 17 percent by 2025, its environment minister said on Friday, a move that could boost pressure on rich countries to set bold targets of their own. If Indonesia makes the reduction a formal target, it would be a rare decision by a developing nation to set a unilateral goal of an absolute cut in emissions for a key sector. "I'd like to voice my concerns that if the issue is not carefully managed, it ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Indonesia: Orangutans suffer
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/article.aspx?id=236179
Sky News: One Finnish oil company says it is now able to produce the first renewable diesel that can be used in any diesel engine. In Helsinki, the city bus company is trialling this new source of fuel which could cut emissions by up to 40%. Many bio-fuels use animal fat, crude palm oil and rapeseed oil to develop the latest 'green' fuel source. Palm Oil is considered a cleaner burning renewable energy source and is looked upon by some as an environmentally sensitive solution to ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Pollution alert for swimmers on British beaches
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/23/eabeaches123.xml
Telegraph: British beaches are getting dirtier, with three times as many failing to reach minimum water quality standards. A total of 53 fell short of European legal standards, up from 17 the year before, while the number with the highest water quality fell from 495 to 443, the Marine Conservation Society's Good Beach Guide reported. It blamed last summer's bad weather for washing pollution into rivers. The results were based on measurements taken between May and September 2007 and ...
Fri, 23 May 08
United States: Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3987891.ece
Times: The polar bear should be removed from the endangered species list because its protected status will hamper drilling for oil and gas in Alaska, the state's Republican Governor has demanded. Sarah Palin is suing the Bush Administration over its decision last week to place the animal under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, claiming that climate models predicting the continued loss of sea ice - the main habitat of polar bears - are unreliable. The lawsuit came as a ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Brazil: Agribusiness Undermines Environmental Leadership Role
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42470
Inter Press Service: Brazil is a world leader in agriculture and on several environmental issues, but it will find it hard to reconcile both fronts, judging by the many battles lost by former environment minister Marina Silva, in spite of the political clout she wielded for over five years. The advantages enjoyed by agriculture in this country are not limited to the availability of vast amounts of land and water, and a favourable climate. Brazil has developed technology and practices that have greatly ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Amazon deforestation on the rise, says Brazil's new environment minister
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/22/forests.conservation1?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews
Associated Press: The destruction of the Amazon is once again on the rise despite a recent government crackdown on illegal logging, Brazil's new environment minister said on Wednesday. Carlos Minc said official calculations of how much rainforest has been cut down would be released on Monday by the National Space Research Institute. "It will be bad news. It will be data showing an increase in deforestation," Minc said in an interview on Brazilian national channel, Globo TV. Minc took his post ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Australia: Cash doubt could bury pulp mill plan in Tasmania
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23743959-662,00.html?from=public_rss
Herald Sun: PLANS for Tasmania's controversial $2 billion pulp mill are dead, say the Greens, following reports the ANZ Bank will pull out of funding the project. ANZ said yesterday it had not made a decision on whether to finance the Tamar Valley project planned by timber giant Gunns Ltd. The Herald Sun believes ANZ and Gunns have been unable to agree on terms. A report on the BusinessSpectator website yesterday quoted banking sources as saying ANZ would not fund the project ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Climate inaction to cost US $3.8 trillion a year, study says
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/healthscience/stories/052308fealivclimate.2205395.html
Bloomberg: The cost to the U.S. of doing nothing to curb global warming would reach $3.8 trillion a year by the century's end, a new study says. Failing to address climate changes triggered by the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal would cost the U.S. economy more than 3.6 percent of gross domestic product, according to the report by researchers at Tufts University for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. The financial fallout of climate change -- whether from ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Honda To Roll Out Cheap New Hybrid Model In Early '09
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48458/story.htm
Reuters: Honda Motor Co said on Wednesday it would launch a new, low-cost hybrid car in Japan, North America and Europe in early 2009 as it seeks to cut the lead of Toyota Motor Corp in the green car race. Despite the pressure of record-high oil prices and concerns over climate change, fuel-efficient and low-emission hybrids still occupy a small niche in the global car market, partly due to their higher costs for both consumers and automakers. Japan's top two automakers lead the ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Is it time to dig for victory again to help tackle climate change?
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/is-it-time-to-dig-for-victory-again-to-help-tackle-climate-change-832008.html
Independent: Grow your own Cultivation of fruit and vegetables in shared allotments and back gardens became commonplace during the war years when the nation was forced to quickly adapt to surviving without the 55 million tons of food it had imported not so long before. The emphasis was on sharing knowledge of natural cultivation techniques and reusing materials. "The approach was pretty much organic, although the motivation then was producing crops with the highest nutritional value that ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Support functional ecosystems to sustain life, Ban Ki moon
http://mathaba.net/news/?x=592956
Mathaba: "This Day serves as a reminder of the importance of the Earth's biodiversity, and as a wake-up call about the devastating loss we are experiencing as irreplaceable species become extinct at an unprecedented rate," he said according to UN Information Center. "In any attempt to address this problem, agriculture should be viewed as a starting point. The crops and domesticated livestock of today are a reflection of human management. And the news is not good. About a ...
Fri, 23 May 08
The Twilight Age of Coral Reefs
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42464
Inter Press Service: Coral reefs will be the first global ecosystem to collapse in our lifetimes. The one-two punch of climate change that is warming ocean temperatures and increasing acidification is making the oceans uninhabitable for corals and other marine species, researchers said at a scientific symposium in Spain. And now other regions are being affected. Acidic or corrosive waters have been detected for the first time on the continental shelf of the west coast of North America, posing a serious ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Acidified ocean water rising up nearly 100 years earlier than scientists predicted
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004431933_webacidocean22m.html
Seattle Times: Climate models predicted it wouldn't happen until the end of the century. So Seattle researchers were stunned to discover that vast swaths of acidified sea water are already showing up along the Pacific Coast as carbon dioxide from power plants, cars and factories mixes into the ocean. In surveys from Vancouver Island to the tip of Baja California, the scientists found the first evidence that large amounts of corrosive water are reaching the continental shelf – the shallow sea ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Alternative energy execs dream of oil crunch
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINL2293478920080522
Reuters: While most companies are watching soaring oil prices with an eye on rising costs some renewable energy executives are licking their lips at the prospect of "spectacular" growth. Oil sped above $135 to a new record for a third straight day on Thursday. That and new forecasts of a higher floor price has some alternative energy suppliers dreaming of an era of peak oil when global crude output starts to fall. "Our time is very definitely coming," said Jeremy ...
Fri, 23 May 08
United Kingdom: Coastal erosion: The wisdom of Canute
http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11413007
Economist: THE Jurassic coast, which runs along the southern edges of Devon and Dorset, is a fossil-hunter's paradise. No spades or hammers are needed to persuade the earth to give up its secrets–a combination of rain and pounding from the sea produces regular landslides that scatter fossils on the beaches for passing palaeontologists. But it is less attractive for those who live in the area. Much of the medieval part of Lyme Regis, on the Devon-Dorset border, is thought to lie beneath the waves. On ...
Fri, 23 May 08
EU Says `No-Lose' Carbon Limits May Lure Poor Nations
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=agEIEzk8ErlY&refer=australia
Bloomberg: The European Union may entice developing nations including China into a global climate agreement by setting ``no-lose'' greenhouse-gas targets, which offer incentives to cut emissions and no penalty for failure. Targets may be unveiled for industries such as power generation and steel, providing developing nations with carbon credits they could sell to richer countries with stricter limits, according to an EU document posted on a United Nations Web site. International negotiations ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Canada: Layton attacks carbon-tax plan
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080522.wndpcarb0522/BNStory/National/home
Globe and Mail: NDP Leader Jack Layton is launching an attack on the notion of carbon taxes Thursday, distancing himself from a new Liberal climate change plan that has yet to even be introduced. In a speech to staff and volunteers of an Ottawa homeless shelter, Mr. Layton will argue a carbon tax would penalize the growing number of Canadians who are already having a hard time making ends meet. "Canadians believe that it's high time we place a price on carbon," states an advance copy of the ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Oceans turning acidic decades earlier
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1&xml=/earth/2008/05/22/scioceans122.xml
Telegraph: Greenhouse gases are turning the oceans acidic enough to dissolve the shells of sea creatures decades earlier than scientists had expected, with potentially catastrophic consequences for marine life. Many marine organisms produce calcium carbonate (chalk) shells but, when the acidity of the water is increased, a point is reached at which that calcium carbonate starts to dissolve. Today an American team publishes evidence that this acidic "tipping point" has been ...
Fri, 23 May 08
United States: Scientists encourage forest growth to soak up carbon
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/510300.html
Associated Press: Chain saws scream in a northern Michigan forest, but it's not the familiar sound of lumberjacks. This time the tree killers are environmental researchers. They hope that years from now the aspens they remove will be replaced with a healthy mix of maples, oaks, beeches and pines – which should soak up more carbon dioxide from an ever warmer world. The scientists hope to take a 100-acre section of the University of Michigan Biological Station research forest closer to the state ...
Fri, 23 May 08
United Kingdom: Sinking feeling
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/21/carbonemissions
Guardian: It doesn't just rain on the High Peak fells of Derbyshire. In winter and spring, it can gush, flow, flood, deluge and torrent all at the same time on those mostly treeless Pennine hills. But where a massive bog of spongy moss and permanently moist soils once blanketed English uplands, the land has been so degraded that the water rushes off the moors, taking hundreds of tonnes of peaty soil with it every time it rains. If anyone is particularly to blame for the thousands of hectares of ...
Fri, 23 May 08
The tidal cycle could amplify global-warming related sea-level rises
http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08052209
Science Centric: The results of several scientific studies conducted since 1993 have confirmed a 3.2 cm sea level rise. Although this variation might appear negligible, it has in fact turned out to be twice as high as that recorded over the whole of the previous century. This increase in sea level is a consequence of global warming. When sea temperature rises, the sea expands and therefore occupies a greater volume. This phenomenon is now well known to scientists, but other processes that have received less ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Indonesia: Worse Than Crude: The Case Against Palm Oil
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90714122&ft=1&f=1007
National Public Radio: Palm oil is everywhere: It's in soap, food and makeup. Some say it's good for you, while others say it's wrecking the environment. Rolf Skar, a senior forest campaigner with Greenpeace, makes the case that not only is the oil bad for the areas where it's produced, it's also one of the leading causes of global warming. "The fastest and the worst deforestation rate in the history of humankind is taking place in the tropical forests of Indonesia," Skar says. "That ...
Fri, 23 May 08
United Kingdom: Queen Goes Green With World's Largest Wind Turbine
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48460/story.htm
Reuters: Britain's Queen Elizabeth is going green by investing in the largest wind turbine in the world, her property company the Crown Estate said on Wednesday. The Estate, which owns most of the seabed off Britain's shores, regularly leases out its land to wind farm projects but has never invested in the turbines. With a capacity of 7.5 megawatts, the Crown has gone for the biggest yet. "This is not something we've ever done before and I think it will raise quite a few ...
Fri, 23 May 08
US Court Rejects State's Nuclear Waste Cleanup Law
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48448/story.htm
Reuters: A US appeals court on Wednesday threw out a Washington state law barring the federal government from adding radioactive waste to the Hanford nuclear disposal site until existing contamination is cleaned up. The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal law pre-empts the state from halting waste disposal at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a 586-square-mile (1,520-square-km) site along the Columbia River in south-eastern Washington. It provided plutonium for World ...
Fri, 23 May 08
Carbon market could be worth 2 trillion euros in 2020: study
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gopRs4zCBZvCvroP2-iVMzB6m_vA
Agence France-Presse: The global market in CO2 emission rights could be worth two trillion euros (3.14 trillion dollars) by 2020 if the United States joins the scheme, analysis group Point Carbon said on Thursday. The United States, which has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol that calls for the mechanism, could in 2020 account for 67 percent, or 1.25 trillion euros, of emissions rights if it decided to introduce a US emissions trading system, the Point Carbon study said. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of ...
Thu, 22 May 08
'Choose growth or accept poverty for billions'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/22/globaleconomy.economics
Guardian: The world will contain 4 billion people living in abject poverty by 2050 unless the poorest countries adopt policies to deliver rapid and sustained growth over the coming decades, a report backed by the World Bank and the British government said yesterday. After a two-year investigation, a group of policymakers and economists published a blueprint designed to allow the least developed nations to emulate the 13 countries that have expanded at an average rate of at least 7% a year for ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Brazil Environment Agency Seizes Amazon Soy, Corn
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48434/story.htm
Reuters: Brazil's environmental agency Ibama said on Tuesday it seized some 4,740 tonnes of soy, corn and rice grown on illegally deforested land in the Amazon as the country struggles with its environmental image abroad. Brazil's farming, biofuels and ranching sectors, Latin America's largest, have come under fire, especially in Europe, for unregulated expansion at the cost of the environment, particularly in the Amazon. The European Union has been pushing to limit imports of commodities ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Carbon trading schemes around the world
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL2189304520080521
Reuters: Companies and governments are turning to emissions trading as a weapon to fight climate change, in a carbon market worth $64 billion last year. Cap and trade schemes force participants -- often energy-intensive industries -- to buy permits to emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which is produced from burning fossil fuels. The European Union launched its cap and trade scheme in 2005, while New Zealand will launch a similar initiative this year. Canada and Australia ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Indonesia looks to Papua to expand palm oil plantations: official
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jqwJenFP0c1gJL7446ZHZPz3_xOA
Agence France-Presse: The government of Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, is now looking at its vast easternmost provinces in Papua to expand its palm oil plantations, a senior official said Wednesday. "After Sumatra and Kalimantan became too dense for new palm oil plantations, the only land available is in Papua," the agriculture ministry's Director General for Plantations, Achmad Manggabarani, said on the margin of a three-day international conference on the commodity ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Ocean Acidification: Another Undesired Side Effect Of Fossil Fuel-burning
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080521105251.htm
Science Daily: Up to now, the oceans have buffered climate change considerably by absorbing almost one third of the worldwide emitted carbon dioxide. The oceans represent a significant carbon sink, but the uptake of excess CO2 stemming from man's burning of fossil fuels comes at a high cost: ocean acidification. Research on ocean acidification is a newly emerging field and was one of the major topics at this year's European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly held in Vienna in April.* The ...
Thu, 22 May 08
United States: Regional global warming initiative advances
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/05/21/ap5036560.html
Associated Press: New Hampshire is poised to become the 10th state to participate in a regional effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The House voted Wednesday to send Gov. John Lynch legislation to implement the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative known as RGGI, but to revisit it if Congress enacts a federal program. The House next considers changes made to the proposal, especially on how much money would go into a fund to promote energy efficiency. The bill adds New Hampshire to the other New ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Senate panel votes to overturn EPA on Calif. waiver
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1diL5VGSRQ13KR_LUECyF8ligGAD90Q4I2G0
Associated Press: A Senate panel voted narrowly Wednesday to overturn EPA's decision blocking California and more than a dozen other states from limiting greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. The bill by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, passed her committee 10 to 9. One committee Democrat, Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, broke with his side of the aisle and voted "no." A Republican, John Warner of Virginia, voted "yes," ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Suez Wins Brazil Hydroelectric Project, Eyes More
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48442/story.htm
Reuters: Suez expects to land "multiple" large-scale projects in Brazil after a consortium led by the French electricity and water group won a concession for a $5 billion hydroelectric plant in the Amazon. Due to merge with state-owned gas supplier Gaz de France in coming weeks, Suez said the Brazilian deal would be profitable despite agreeing to sell two-thirds of its production 45 percent below market prices. "In Europe, everything that could have been built has been, whereas ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Tornadoes claim more lives in U.S. this year
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/21/america/storm.php
International Herald Tribune: At least one Arkansas family already knows that 2008 has been a devastating year for tornadoes. John Hill, 31, lost his job on Feb. 2 when a huge twister demolished the boat factory in Clinton where he worked as a welder. Little more than three months later, Hill, who was struggling to provide for his family, lost his house, cars and cash savings to another tornado. "I don't know what this is," said Hill, whose family survived the second tornado with bruises and ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Understanding the Functions of Diversity
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/bericht-110539.html
Innovations Report: Biodiversity is fundamental to human life. It meets our material and cultural needs and ensures the stability of ecosystems. Worldwide, however, there is evidence of a dramatic demise in species diversity which is primarily attributed to the way humans use the land and to climate change. In order to understand the interactions between environmental change, climate change and species loss better, it is necessary to study the role of biodiversity in ecosystems more closely. The Deutsche ...
Thu, 22 May 08
White House 'Pivotal' In Calif. Climate Case- Memo
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48440/story.htm
Reuters: Congressional Democrats on Monday said White House pressure may have influenced the Environmental Protection Agency to reject a bid by California to impose strict limits on emissions from new cars and trucks. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected California's plan on Dec. 19, 2007, despite recommendations from agency staff to approve the tough limits, Democratic staff said in a memo based on five months of investigation. Agency staff warned Johnson that rejecting the ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Biofuels vs. Food Crisis Underscores Need for New Climate Change Strategy
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/bericht-110526.html
Innovations Report: The European Union's recent attempt to salve the wounds of rising food prices and social unrest caused by its rush to promote biofuels once again unveils the dangers of using traditional thinking to resolve global warming. Anzeige The EU wants biofuels to make up 10 percent of transport fuels by 2020, and whether or not this has caused the recent food crisis, it has already begun to reduce our capacity to prevent climate change. Rather than reducing greenhouse gas ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Climate change is speeding decline of world's birds
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3287
People and Planet: Climate change is accelerating many of the factors which have put one in eight of the world's birds at risk of extinction, according to the 2008 IUCN Red List of threatened birds. Long-term drought and sudden extreme weather are putting additional stress on the pockets of habitat that many threatened species depend on. This, coupled with extensive and expanding habitat destruction, has led to an increase in the rate of extinction on continents and away from islands, where most ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Clock running out on irreversible climate change - Part II
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20082205-17359.html
ScienceAlert: To all intents and purposes, the Kyoto Protocol is dead, and unless urgent actions are taken its successor, the Copenhagen process may turn out to be dead on arrival or comatose. Kyoto never delivered reductions of CO2 emissions, but still binds 174 nations until 2012. Meanwhile, global greenhouse gas emissions have steadily increased since the reference year of 1990. New negotiations for "Kyoto 2" must produce nothing less than the Perfect Agreement, to be followed by Perfect ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Desalination, for a World Short of Water
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1396539/desalination_for_a_world_short_of_water/
Business Week: With oil over $120 a barrel; prices for corn, wheat, copper, and steel close to record highs; carbon dioxide emissions causing climate change; and the world economy slowing, the last thing anyone needs is another crisis. Yet one is brewing now, in the U.S. and many other countries, where dwindling supplies of the world's most precious commodity -- fresh, potable water -- threaten the health and welfare of billions of people. Already, 2.8 billion people -- or 44% of the world's ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Drowning Villages Threaten Ghana's History and Tourist Trade
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aDpXkFK6QKDo&refer=home
Bloomberg: Agbakla Amartey trudges through the sand near the village of Totope, Ghana, and points out the submerged concrete walls of a house. ``This used to be my room,'' Amartey says above the crash of Atlantic Ocean waves pounding the coastline. ``Yes, this would have been the roof.'' Totope, on a slip of land that juts off the Ada peninsula east of Accra, Ghana's capital, is one of 22 coastal settlements the local government says may be swallowed by the ocean over the next few ...
Thu, 22 May 08
EDP's Renewable Unit May Expand in Canada, Mexico
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a_FRWA8u6XJk&refer=canada
Bloomberg: EDP-Energias de Portugal SA, Portugal's largest utility, said its renewable-energy unit may expand in Canada and Mexico as it raises as much as 2 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in Europe's biggest initial public offering so far this year. The EDP unit is selling stock to help finance plans to develop wind energy parks from Poland to the U.S. and meet rising demand while emitting less carbon dioxide. Last year's purchase of Horizon Wind Energy LLC of Texas from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ...
Thu, 22 May 08
EU lawmakers call for faster climate change curbs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7531036
Reuters: Global temperature rises should be kept well below the European Union's target of 2 degrees Celsius to avoid costly damage to people and their lifestyles, the European parliament said on Wednesday. Its members voted 566-61 in favour of a report which also said EU consumers must be given better information about the "carbon footprint" of goods they buy, including products imported into the 27-nation bloc. The report is not part of a law but provides a stance for the ...
Thu, 22 May 08
EU parliament calls for more research into impact of biofuels
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iX4PbCpAUgQciJzF3AFsj5Y-5mPQ
Agence France-Presse: The European Parliament on Wednesday called for more research into the impact of developing biofuels to combat climate change, a strategy which has been criticised amid a world food crisis. The EU parliament "advocates additional research into the impact of the policy of promoting biofuels and their effects on the increase of deforestation, the expansion of cultivated land and world food supplies," MEPs agreed in a text adopted by 556 votes in favour and 61 ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Germany Shoots Wide on Emissions Target, Says New Report
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3350372,00.html
Deutsche Welle: Despite strong measures aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions across the country, Germany is in danger of missing its 2020 reduction target. It's been overly optimistic, say experts. A lofty goal -- to slash CO2 emissions by 40 percent from levels recorded in 1990 -- was announced last summer ahead of the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. But a new study commissioned by the German Green party suggests these goals -- part of an "integrated energy and climate program" may ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Global warming: Forge new path, urges Nobel winner
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/21/nation/20080521162732&sec=nation
Malaysia Star: Developing countries should avoid the present carbon economic system that is responsible for global warming, said Nobel Peace Prize co-winner and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairman Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri. "It's ruinous for developing countries to pursue growth in the same path. However, committing to alternative development paths requires major changes in a wide range of areas such as economic structure, transport infrastructure, urban design and consumption ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Governor: Alaska to challenge polar bear listing
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9NGJ0_eVkxqgpEFC6RMHVlvT9qwD90QBMFG0
Associated Press: The state of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin announced Wednesday. She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state's northern and northwestern coasts. Palin argued that there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Green Tech Innovations Save Cash and Planet - Group
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48432/story.htm
Reuters: US businesses from Wal-Mart Stores Inc to Nike Inc are finding that green investments in their operations are more than just Earth-friendly -- they're boosting the bottom line, an environmental group said Tuesday. The new wave of environmental investments goes beyond energy-saving lighting, buying recycled office supplies and double-side printing, the group, Environmental Defence Fund, said in a new report. Solar energy systems are getting a boost from a long-used energy ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Guyana: Harrison pledges support for rainforests
http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?in_article_id=148776&in_page_id=7&in_a_source=
Metro: Harrison Ford has joined forces with Conservation International and the President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, to fight climate change. The 65-year-old film star - who is Vice Chair of the board of directors of Conservation International - was expected to launch a global campaign entitled Lost There, Felt Here, in New York, but had to cancel due to scheduling commitments for his new blockbuster, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, The campaign focuses on the ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Japan divided on carbon trading, talks continue
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUST6246020080521
Reuters: Japan is still undecided whether to adopt a cap-and-trade system which binds industry to mandatory greenhouse gas emissions limits, as a Japan-hosted July meeting of Group of Eight leaders nears. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda may be keeping his powder dry, to unveil a set of new climate measures at that G8 meet, as countries negotiate a climate pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Japan, the world's fifth biggest emitter, has said it will, along with other major emitters, agree to ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Japan environment chief says industry may face tough pollution limits
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/21/asia/AS-GEN-Japan-Global-Warming.php
Associated Press: Japan will have to impose carbon taxes and other tough measures on the industrial sector to meet its long-term goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the environment minister said Wednesday. Ichiro Kamoshita, who will host a meeting of environment ministers from top industrialized countries this coming weekend, said such steps could even come sooner if it appears Japan won't meet its Kyoto Protocol reduction targets. Japan is struggling to meet obligations under the Kyoto ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Papua New Guinea Islanders Moved Inland to Escape Sea Level Rise
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1395753/papua_new_guinea_islanders_moved_inland_to_escape_sea_level/
National: Elders in the Duke of York Islands in East New Britain have expressed concern over global warming which is causing most of their islands to disappear slowly. The islands have 21 wards and some, during the past five to 10 years, have been subjected to rise in sea level, forcing the people to be relocated inland. At the Nakukur ward, about 60 families that used to live near the beach, had packed up and moved inland two to three years ago. Nakukur elders Judas Kalasiel, 70, ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Split Over Carbon Capture Technology
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42440
Inter Press Service: Australia's plan to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology -- whereby greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions from fossil-fuel fired power stations are trapped and stored rather than released into the atmosphere -- is pitting green groups against one another. CCS "is not a technology that is actually on the table to be used within the time-frame that we have," says Julien Vincent, a climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace Australia Pacific. In a report ...
Thu, 22 May 08
UK's Climate Aid Plans 'undermine' Global Deal
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/196878.html
Guardian: A senior diplomat for the world's poorer countries today accused Britain of undermining a UN treaty on climate change by seeking to channel funds for developing countries through the World Bank. Bernaditas Muller, the coordinator for the G77 and China group of countries in key climate change negotiations told the Guardian she was "surprised and concerned" that Britain was not pressing for billions of dollars of proposed climate aid funds to go through the United Nations ...
Thu, 22 May 08
US ethanol policy under siege in food-for-fuel debate
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j5SqEoGt2AXIg4CXmQlmCylz5FXA
Agence France-Presse: Amid a surge in food prices blamed in part on US expansion of corn-based ethanol production, lawmakers, experts and industry officials are urging the government to rethink a new law mandating alternative fuels. The United States is the world's top producer of corn-based ethanol, which the administration of President George W. Bush sees as a way of reducing dependence on foreign oil and curb fossil-fuel emissions, the main source of man-made global warming. Politicians are under ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Using forest residues reduces soil carbon stock
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/bericht-110527.html
Innovations Report: The use of harvest residues for energy production decreases soil carbon stocks. These changes in soil carbon stocks are remarkable compared to the other greenhouse gas emissions caused by the use of forest residues for energy. On a national scale, soil carbon stocks play an important role in forest carbon balances. Changes in soil carbon stock need to be assessed reliably and transparently because we need more information on the effects of climate change and forest management ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Alaska to sue to block polar bear listing
http://www.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUSN2145097820080522
Reuters: The state of Alaska will sue the U.S. government to stop the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, arguing the designation will slow development in the state, Gov. Sarah Palin said on Wednesday. Palin said the state will file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington challenging U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's decision to grant Endangered Species Act protections to the polar bear. The Republican governor has argued that the ice-dependent polar bear, ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Alps hit by two-decade decline in snowfall
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hWqRat1DATfpjZNuVGsKi0AhkXTQ
Agence France-Presse: A forthcoming study has added to worries that the Alpine ski industry will be badly affected by global warming, the British weekly New Scientist reports on Wednesday. A "dramatic step-like drop" in the amount of snow falling in the western European mountain chain occurred in the late 1980s and since then snowfall has never recovered, it says. The evidence has been compiled by researcher Christoph Marty at the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Denmark calls for law to prevail on Arctic disputes
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i9PXkdceyOYBOzBBD4vVZOIOeKuA
Agence France-Presse: Denmark's foreign minister called Wednesday for international law to prevail over territorial claims in the oil-rich Arctic ahead of a meeting next week on the region's disputed borders. Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States are at odds over 1.2 million square kilometers (460,000 square miles) of Arctic seabed, thought to hold 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas according to the US Geological Survey. The rivalry has heated up as melting polar ice ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Ethanol Vehicles for Post Office Burn More Gas, Get Fewer Miles
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aj.h0coJSkpw&refer=us
Bloomberg: The U.S. Postal Service purchased more than 30,000 ethanol-capable trucks and minivans from 1999 to 2005, making it the biggest American buyer of alternative-fuel vehicles. Gasoline consumption jumped by more than 1.5 million gallons as a result. The trucks, derived from Ford Motor Co.'s Explorer sport- utility vehicle, had bigger engines than Jeeps from the former Chrysler Corp. they replaced. A Postal Service study found the new vehicles got as much as 29 percent fewer miles to the ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Honda to Deliver 200 Fuel-Cell Autos Through 2011
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a693eL42oJHo&refer=japan
Bloomberg: Honda Motor Co., first to lease fuel- cell vehicles to U.S. consumers, plans to deliver at least 200 of the low-polluting cars over the next three years to gain a lead in hydrogen-powered transportation. The company will start building FCX Clarity sedans in Japan next month, with leases beginning in the Los Angeles area in July, Tokyo-based Honda said in a statement late yesterday. Some 50,000 people contacted the company through its Web site inquiring about the car since its ...
Thu, 22 May 08
House passes $54B in tax breaks, energy incentives
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5icrolgbXr0mlnZQmLr-1svIyNDpwD90Q8GH00
Associated Press: The House passed a $54 billion tax package Wednesday that Democratic backers said would help relieve dependence on imported oil while easing the economic strain on parents, homeowners and businesses. The wide-ranging legislation passed 263-160, sending it to the Senate and an uncertain future. Most Republicans opposed the bill because it is paid for by requiring some corporations with offshore offices to pay more taxes and doesn't address shielding taxpayers from the alternative ...
Thu, 22 May 08
Rice Price Surge Is Defying Asia's Ingenuity
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mukherjee&sid=a.Pjbo2QpcS8
Bloomberg: The intolerable surge in rice prices presents Asia with a rather unpleasant dilemma. Rough rice prices have doubled in the past year on the Chicago Board of Trade. Nutritionally, it's the most important cereal for the Asian region, supplying between a quarter and 73 percent of all calories consumed in China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, according to the International Rice Research Institute in Manila. It will be ...
Wed, 21 May 08
United Kingdom: Shell 'selling suicide' by preferring tar sands to wind
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/21/royaldutchshell.oil
Guardian: Shell was accused yesterday of "selling suicide on the forecourt" by pressing ahead with tar sands operations in Canada and continuing to flare off excess gas in Nigeria while pulling out of renewable schemes such as the London Array - the world's largest offshore wind scheme. The accusation that Shell was irresponsibly adding to climate change was made by an unnamed shareholder at its annual meeting in The Hague after Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer insisted the ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Australia: Stuck in the coal age, when the solar century has already begun
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/21/2250948.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Martin Ferguson let the cat out of the bag shortly after the Budget, when he said that carbon capture and storage would be "essential for the long-term sustainability of coal-fired power generation." With those words, he betrayed the fact that his Government prioritises the coal sector's profits over climate protection. If that seems like a long bow to draw, look at the evidence that the Budget presents. In the vital area of commercialisation of technologies, the ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Australia: Study considers climate change rural views
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/21/2250903.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A pilot study is now underway in South Australia and other states into how rural communities perceive climate change. The first phase of the study by the Bureau of Rural Sciences has already been carried out in the Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales and Victoria, and has now moved into its second phase, which takes in the other states. Bureau social scientist Mary Milne says the study of 8,000 land-holders will help the Federal Government work on ways it can help rural ...
Wed, 21 May 08
United Kingdom: A climate change in ethical investments
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/20/cmethical20.xml
Telegraph: The inaugural National Ethical Investment Week aims to highlight some of the options available to the environmentally and socially conscious investor. One of the main areas of its focus will be climate change, which now commands political clout and sits on the agenda of almost every government and large corporation in the world. So the momentum behind tackling climate change is translating into firm financial commitments but is this, in turn, translating into investment ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Big investors seek stricter climate laws
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN1954310520080520
Reuters: Investors managing more than $2.3 trillion urged the government on Tuesday to enact strict laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions, saying lax regulation could hurt the competitiveness of U.S. companies. The group of some 50 investors, including the world's biggest listed hedge fund firm, Man Group Plc and influential venture capitalist John Doerr, want U.S. lawmakers to pass laws to reduce climate-warming emissions by at least 60 to 90 percent by 2050. Legislation that promotes ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Biofuels a risk for wildlife in new habitats-study
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL2090830.html
Reuters: Fast-growing foreign crops used as biofuels can disrupt new habitats by ousting local plants and animals, an international report said on Tuesday. The study, by the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP), urged governments to do more to assess 32 aggressive species such as giant reeds from West Asia or European poplar trees that can escape beyond biofuel farms and plantations. "We want to make sure that the risks are properly understood," Stanislaw Burgiel, policy ...
Wed, 21 May 08
EU report calls for faster climate change curbs
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL2029325820080520
Reuters: Global temperature rises should be kept well below the European Union's target of 2 degrees Celsius to avoid costly damage to people and their lifestyles, according to a European Parliament report. European consumers must be given better information about the "carbon footprint" of goods they buy, including products imported from outside the 27-nation bloc, it added. The European Union has said that any warming of the climate by more than 2 degrees Celsius over ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Fuel crops 'pose invasion risk'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7410542.stm
BBC: Nations should avoid planting biofuel crops that have a high risk of becoming invasive species, a report warns. A study by the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) said only a few countries have systems in place to assess the risk or contain an outbreak. It has listed all the crops used to produce biofuels, and urged governments to only select low-risk varieties. The global cost of tackling invasive species costs $1.4 trillion (£700bn) each year, the report ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Greenpeace calls for deforestation fund
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Flora__Fauna/Greenpeace_calls_for_deforestation_fund_/articleshow/3056951.cms
Agence France-Presse: Greenpeace urged industrialised nations Tuesday to set up an international fund to fight deforestation but warned it would require at least 30 billion dollars a year to work. The plan would see rich nations give poorer ones money to preserve their natural forests instead of felling trees to create farmland, Greenpeace's Roman Czebiniac told an 11-day UN conference on biodiversity in Bonn. He said the fund would need 20 to 27 billion euros (31 to 47 billion dollars) a year to ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Proposed coal plant pits economy vs. Navajo belief
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/05/20/ap5029939.html
Associated Press: In a corner of the Navajo Nation burdened by old and heavily polluting coal-fired power plants, it matters little to many tribal elders that another facility promises to be the most efficient and cleanest of all. With two plants already a dozen miles away, the last thing they want is another one even closer, a 1,500-megawatt project barely two miles in another direction. "We want the smoke to stop," said 76-year-old Alice Gilmore in Navajo, raising a hand toward the ...
Wed, 21 May 08
US carbon dioxide emissions up 1.6 percent in 2007
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1UmEI5SQmv-EStEJkZ2oDioDovg
Agence France-Presse: US carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels increased 1.6 percent in 2007, a preliminary government estimate showed Tuesday. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said emissions rose to 5,984 million metric tonnes last year from 5,888 million in 2006. The agency said factors that drove the emissions increase included weather conditions that increased the demand for heating and cooling services and "a higher carbon intensity of electricity supply," ...
Wed, 21 May 08
WHO Chief Says World Faces Three Growing Threats
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-05-20-voa3.cfm
Voice of America: This is the VOA Special English Health Report. A yearly meeting of all the member countries in the World Health Organization is this week in Geneva, Switzerland. Delegates from the one hundred ninety-three countries discuss progress and set policy for the coming year. The W.H.O., a United Nations agency, is sixty years old this year. Margaret Chan But Director-General Margaret Chan, as she opened the World Health Assembly, noted that the delegates are meeting at a time of ...
Wed, 21 May 08
China Firm Sets Its Green Energy Goals 50% Higher
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1394309/china_firm_sets_its_green_energy_goals_50_higher/
Reuters: China Power New Energy Development has raised its renewable energy capacity goals by half as Beijing pushes to clean its air and water and whittle down its reliance on imported resources. By 2010, China Power New Energy - whose chairwoman is Li Xiaolin, the daughter of former Prime Minister Li Peng - plans to put into operation 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy capacity, including wind, hydropower and biomass. It also plans to have another 1,500 megawatts under construction and a ...
Wed, 21 May 08
United States: Critics: Polar bear plan must fight global warming
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9NGJ0_eVkxqgpEFC6RMHVlvT9qwD90PJMHO0
Associated Press: Conservation groups returned to court to challenge Bush administration efforts to help save the polar bear, saying federal officials' refusal to include steps against global warming violates the Endangered Species Act. In court documents filed late Friday, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups asked a federal judge to reject Interior Department actions that were announced last week. Polar bears are threatened with extinction in many areas because of the melting ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Greenland: Earlier spring in Arctic could hit caribou diet
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/21/climatechange.wildlife
Guardian: The early arrival of spring in the Arctic threatens to drive down populations of migrating animals such as caribou, climate scientists warned yesterday. Researchers working in western Greenland found that rising temperatures disrupted spring plant growth enough to cause a fall in the number of caribou born. The finding has alarmed some scientists who expected that migrating animals would find it easier to adapt to the shifting seasons and the impact it has on plants that form the ...
Wed, 21 May 08
United States: Environmentalists sue to broaden polar bear decision
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-polar21-2008may21,0,5326944.story
Associated Press: Conservation groups announced Tuesday they are challenging Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's attempt to limit collateral economic damage from listing polar bears as a threatened species. The Center for Biological Diversity/, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council will seek court intervention to address what they say in the No. 1 threat to polar bears: greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming and melt Arctic sea ice. Kempthorne, echoing President Bush, ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Food shortage, climate key health threats: WHO chief
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=169133
Agence France-Presse: Insufficient food, climate change and pandemic flu are global crises which could unravel progress in public health, the World Health Organization's director general said. "These three critical events, these clear threats to international security, have the potential to undo much hard-won progress in public health," WHO director general Margaret Chan told delegates from 193 member states at the WHO's annual general assembly. Two of the three are beyond the control of the ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Australia: Means test threatens solar use: industry
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/means-test-threatens-solar-use-industry/2008/05/20/1211182801310.html
Sydney Morning Herald: BUSINESS leaders have criticised the federal Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, over the Government's decision to means test a rebate for residential solar panels, telling him it will threaten the viability of the industry. Solar businesses will try to brief the Government this week on the effect of its decision, which they said included job losses and tens of thousands of cancelled orders. Rodger Meads, the managing director of Conergy, an international solar energy ...
Wed, 21 May 08
United Kingdom: Time to leave the comfort zone
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7410305.stm
BBC: There are precious few examples of cities that are attempting to reduce energy and resource consumption and improve the quality of life for their citizens, says Sir John Sorrell. But nothing is going to happen, he argues, until politicians accept that they have a mandate to make the tough choices needed. Some people think that cutting carbon means denying ourselves the things that make life enjoyable - no shopping, no fun - but I see it differently. Tackling climate change ...
Wed, 21 May 08
'Food crisis, climate change threats to public health'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Developmental_Issues/Food_crisis_climate_change_threats_to_public_health/articleshow/3056860.cms
Press Trust of India: The global food crisis, climate change and pandemic influenza are the main threats to human health, the UN health agency says. "These three critical events, these clear threats to international security, have the potential to undo much hard-won progress in public health," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said on Monday. Speaking at the opening of the 61st session of the World Health Assembly, which is WHO's supreme decision-making body, Chan said the organisation ...
Wed, 21 May 08
United Kingdom: Mothers campaign for climate action
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gWnDwLnISXlWjKKdP2aKKY3PL0Sw
Press Association: A group of celebrity mothers gathered outside the Houses of Parliament to protest about airport expansion. The group were holding a candlelit vigil to get the Government to take the lead in tackling global warming. Children of the mothers will also walk the short distance from Parliament to deliver a letter calling for action to 10 Downing Street.
Wed, 21 May 08
SAS flies slower to save costs and emissions
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL2076257020080520
Reuters: Scandinavian airline SAS is flying slower to save on sky-rocketing fuel costs and curb emissions of carbon dioxide in a new push to green up its image. SAS said on Tuesday it has reduced the cruising speed of its passenger jets to about 780 kilometers (485 miles) per hour from 860 kph. The test project, run by SAS's Norwegian unit, has saved it an estimated $12 million in fuel since early 2006. "Our experience is that we were able to save a lot by slowing down," said ...
Wed, 21 May 08
Sunny days for Canadian solar power
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/05/15/f-tech-solarpower.html
CBC: The need for energy is growing, and rather than prospecting under the ground for more coal and oil to meet the demand, more and more Canadian companies are taking a serious look at the skies and seeing a golden opportunity in the sun's rays. The dawn of large-scale solar energy is rising first over Ontario, judging by the deluge of applications the Ontario government has been receiving for new solar power projects. The industry was recently given a boost when a neighbour to OptiSolar ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Certified Non-Rain Forest Palm Oil Set For Germany
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48405/story.htm
Reuters: The first consignments of palm oil, certified as produced using farming which has not involve destroying tropical rain forests, will arrive in Germany in the second half of this year, the German edible oil industry association OVID said on Monday. But palm oil certified under the programme Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) could be up to 10 percent more expensive than non-certified oil, OVID Chairman Wilhelm Thywissen told a press conference. However, it was not yet ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Climate Change Hitting Bird Species, Shows Study
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48407/story.htm
Reuters: One in eight of the world's birds are at risk of extinction as climate change puts birds under great pressure, a leading conservation group warned on Monday. The population of rare birds such as the Floreana mockingbird of the Galapagos Islands or the spoon-billed sandpiper, which breeds in north-eastern Russia and winters in south Asia, has declined sharply and they could go extinct, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said in a report. The 2008 "Red List ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Australia: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd outlines Labor's climate change policies
http://www.australia.to/story/0,25197,23040467-067,00,00.html
Australia.TO: The Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd addressed a meeting of the National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development, Parliament House in Canberra to explain how his government will deal with climate change. "Tonight I want to speak to you about the Government's approach to sustainability and in particular, climate change. I want to discuss the need for leadership from the international community in responding to the long-term sustainability and security ...
Tue, 20 May 08
United Kingdom: Drax seals £50m deal to produce 10 per cent of its electricity from biomass
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/drax-seals-16350m-deal-to-produce-10-per-cent-of-its-electricity-from-biomass-831102.html
Independent: Drax, Europe's biggest polluter, signed a landmark deal yesterday that will allow it to produce 10 per cent of its electricity from biomass resources such as peanut husks and wood chips. The company has contracted Alstom, the French engineering giant, to add facilities capable of burning 1.5 million tonnes of sustainable biomass a year to the site of the country's largest coal-fired power station. The companies billed the £50m project as the largest biomass generation project ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Drought, Food Prices Threaten Millions Of Somalis-UN
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48409/story.htm
Reuters: Soaring food prices, a devalued currency and drought mean millions of people in Somalia cannot feed themselves, the United Nations said on Monday. And the crisis will get much worse if April-June rains fail or are well below average, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said. Somalia, a country of nine million people, already imports more than half its grain needs. Soaring commodity prices and a weakening currency have made those staples 375 percent more expensive ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Australia: Farmers 'in denial' on climate change
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23728303-26103,00.html
Australian: NEARLY 40 per cent of rural people are uncertain about whether climate change is happening and are pinning their hopes on the weather returning to normal after the drought. Most people who live on the land question the link between the 11-year drought and climate change, a study by the Government's Bureau of Rural Sciences finds. "There is some denial that climate change is happening ... in order to maintain hope," the study said. It also found a high level of ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Rising Food Prices Sharpen a European Debate
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=99961
New York Times: The recent sharp rise in global food prices added an element Monday to the long-running debate over farm subsidies in the European Union, with some government ministers seeing a new reason to dismantle the multibillion-euro payouts and defenders countering that the system was needed more than ever. At a meeting in Brussels, countries led by France emphasized the need to keep certain subsidies paid directly to farmers in return for producing staples like meat. "The solution to ...
Tue, 20 May 08
US Senator Promotes Bill To Freeze Ethanol Mandate
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48414/story.htm
Reuters: US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on Monday proposed freezing the federal mandate for corn-based ethanol at this year's level, contending that using so much grain for fuel was pressuring the food supply. Hutchison introduced legislation that would freeze the federal mandate for corn-based ethanol at 9 billion gallons. The Texas Republican said this would allow for transition to a sustainable renewable fuel source that does not use food. "The ethanol mandate is clearly causing ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Carbon Trust "Could Do Better"
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48408/story.htm
Reuters: The government-backed Carbon Trust's contribution to reducing UK carbon dioxide emissions is "pretty small beer" and it can do better, the Committee of Public Accounts said in a report on Tuesday. With a 100 million-pound budget to drive Britain's move to a low carbon economy, the Trust achieved a reduction in emissions of between 1.2 million and two million tonnes between 2006 and 2007. That means it is on course to meet its 2010 target of 4.4 million tonnes, but ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Thailand: Warning of severe dengue fever strain
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/20May2008_news07.php
Bangkok Post: There could be an outbreak of a severe strain of dengue fever over the next few months of the rainy season, according to the Medical Sciences Department. The department director-general Manit Thiratantikanon warned yesterday that the strain, DENV3, was capable of causing more acute infections than ordinary dengue fever. Dr Manit said DENV3 infections were more prevalent than expected from January to March of this year. Fears of an outbreak come amid a significant increase in ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Addressing the
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/bericht-110289.html
Innovations Report: While human-caused global climate change has long been a concern for environmental scientists and is a well-known public policy issue, the problem of excessive reactive nitrogen in the environment is little-known beyond a growing circle of environmental scientists who study how the element cycles through the environment and negatively alters local and global ecosystems and potentially harms human health. Two new papers by leading environmental scientists bring the problem to the ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Biodiversity conference kicks off; survival of many species at stake
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/19/eco.germany.ap/
Associated Press: A two-week conference aimed at ensuring the survival of global biodiversity in the face of climate change and pollution got under way in Germany today. An activist makes their point at a recent conference. The U.N. conference on biodiversity starts Monday. The protection of flora, fauna and even food sources will be on the agenda of the 191 governments attending the ninth conference of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn. Officials will also review the ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Carbon market could fund rainforest conservation, fight climate change
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0519-interview_johns.html
Mongabay: A mechanism to fund forest conservation through the carbon market could significantly reduce greenhouse emissions, help preserve biodiversity, and improve rural livelihoods, says a policy expert with the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) in Massachusetts. In an interview with mongabay.com, WHRC Policy Advisor and Research Associate Tracy Johns says that Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), a proposed policy mechanism for combating climate change by ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Development Crucial To Saving The Brazilian Amazon
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48397/story.htm
Reuters: The best way to preserve the Amazon rain forest is to develop the region and bring viable economic alternatives to the millions of people who live there, a Brazilian cabinet member said on Friday. Roberto Mangabeira Unger, a former Harvard law professor picked by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to coordinate an Amazon sustainable development plan, also said Brazil would not be lectured to by foreign countries about conservation. "We are taken aback by those who scold ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Évolution of greenhouse gases over the last 800000 years
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/bericht-110313.html
Innovations Report: In order to predict the evolution of greenhouse gases, it is essential to retrace their past evolution as far back in time as possible. By analyzing ice cores extracted from Antartica through the EPICA (1) ice coring project, French researchers from LGGE-OSUG (2) and LSCE-IPSL (3),supported by international partners (4), have managed to push back the "age" of previous records. For the first time, they have reconstituted tthe evolution, over 800,000 years, of levels of carbon ...
Tue, 20 May 08
First Steps Lead to Big Reductions of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/bericht-110302.html
Innovations Report: Forty-two Eugene-area residents took some big steps to improve their environmental friendly living styles after completing a newly developed Climate Master program at the University of Oregon. Their efforts resulted in reduced greenhouse emissions by two tons per person, according to a review of the program's first year. That remarkable reduction, said Sarah Mazze, the program's director, represents a 15-percent reduction from the carbon footprint of a typical Eugene resident. Through ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Google Earth to map climate change over next 50 years
http://www.24dash.com/news/Environment/2008-05-19-Google-Earth-to-map-climate-change-over-next-50-years
24dash: Millions of Google Earth users around the world will be able to see how climate change could affect the planet and its people over the next century, along with viewing the loss of Antarctic ice shelves over the last 50 years, thanks to a new project launched today. The project, Climate Change in Our World, is the product of a collaboration between Google, the UK Government, the Met Office Hadley Centre and the British Antarctic Survey to provide two new 'layers', or animations, ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Quietly, wind farms spread footprint in US
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN18351503
Reuters: At 265 feet tall, four gleaming white wind turbines tower over the tiny farm town of Rock Port, Missouri, like a landing of alien intruders. But despite their imposing presence and the stark contrast with the rolling pastures and corn fields, the turbines have received a warm welcome here. As Eric Chamberlain, who manages the wind farm for Wind Capital Group, eats lunch in a local restaurant, local people greet him with a "Hey Windy!" and many say they are happy to be ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Report: EPA head reversed stand on greenhouse gas
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1diL5VGSRQ13KR_LUECyF8ligGAD90OVQH00
Associated Press: The head of the Environmental Protection Agency initially supported giving California and other states full or partial permission to limit tailpipe emissions – but reversed himself after hearing from the White House, a report said Monday. The report by the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee cites interviews and depositions with high-level EPA officials. It amounts to the first solid evidence of the political interference alleged by Democrats and ...
Tue, 20 May 08
United Kingdom: Water shortages force London to take action
http://www.theage.com.au/news/water-issues/london-builds-desal-plant/2008/05/19/1211049139097.html
Age: It looks like any other giant building site, a phalanx of multi-storey cranes and an emerging skeleton of steel deep inside the unbearably smelly Beckton sewage works in east London. But by this time next year, what is euphemistically known as the Thames Gateway will rumble into action, using reverse osmosis technology to suck 150 million litres of brackish river water into its innards and disgorge it clean of salt to provide drinking water for close to 900,000 people a day. It ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Are We Ready for Water Shortages in Western States?
http://www.alternet.org/water/85855/
AlterNet: The rivers are rising as spring arrives in the Rocky Mountain West. In the annual pattern that sustains the environment and much of the economy of this region, water generated from melting snow feeds the streams, soaks the soil, and is diverted into ditches and reservoirs to serve millions of people and water their landscape. Here at the crown of the continent, the snowcapped peaks are far more than a pretty picture -- they are an interest-bearing savings account we draw on throughout the ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Carbon Caps May Give Nuclear Power a Lift
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121115810973702419.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: As Congress debates whether to limit carbon-dioxide emissions, one of the most vocal supporters of such legislation -- the nuclear-power industry -- is poised to reap a multibillion-dollar windfall if restrictions take effect. Some nuclear operators are already forecasting how much their profits could increase under various versions of greenhouse-gas legislation that are under consideration. Among the nuclear operators that stand to profit most are Exelon Corp., FPL Group Inc., ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Carbon dioxide, methane rise sharply in 2007
http://www.neurope.eu/articles/86825.php
New Europe: Last year alone global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the primary driver of global climate change, increased by 0.6 percent, or 19 billion tonnes. Additionally, methane rose by 27 million tonnes after nearly a decade with little or no increase. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists released these and other preliminary findings as part of an annual update to the agency's greenhouse gas index, which tracks data from 60 sites around the world. ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Climate change brings riotous blooms to Sweden
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/climate-change-brings-riotous-blooms-to-sweden_10050342.html
Indo-Asian News Service: A riot of blooms and superabundance of greenery have transformed Swedish mountainsides into a verdant paradise - thanks to climate change. Trees like oak, elm, maple and black alder are soaking up the warmth to stabilise themselves for the first time in 8,000 years, according to a study. A rise in warmth by just a degree, over a century, has triggered changes in flora, fauna and landscapes, reflecting a condition that scientists say is similar to one prevailing just after the last ice ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Coal Country Lacks Consensus on a Nominee
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121116419566102853.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: As the Democratic presidential race unfolds in coal country this week and with John McCain's recent rollout of a global-warming initiative, coal industry officials and environmentalists are unsure which candidate to endorse. Unlike the current political cycle, the Bush-Gore and Bush-Kerry contests of 2000 and 2004, respectively, offered a "pretty stark contrast," said Kraig Naasz, chief executive of the National Mining Association, a Washington lobby group. The organization ...
Tue, 20 May 08
English wildlife 'under threat'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7407730.stm
BBC: England is under threat of losing its most precious wildlife to climate change and development, a government advisory body report has warned. The richness of the countryside has declined dramatically over the past 50 years, and is under increasing pressure, Natural England said. Butterflies, native reptiles and grassland flowers had all declined over the past half-century, the study found. It said "landscape-scale" conservation was needed to maintain ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Food Crisis Rippling Out Like a "Tsunami"
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42426
Inter Press Service: "A rolling tsunami of social unrest is underway as we speak -- hungry people are desperate people capable of taking desperate actions. This tsunami is rapidly enveloping the global South, and it won't take much longer before it knocks at the door of the global North," warned Vicente Garcia-Delgado, the U.N. representative for CIVICUS, the world alliance for citizen participation. At a forum on the world food crisis held at the United Nations Friday, civil society groups ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Governor's climate goals face hostile environment
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080519-9999-1n19warming.html
San Diego Union-Tribune: Powerful state senators from both parties are challenging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed spending spree on selected state programs to address global warming. Drawing particular scrutiny is the Institute for Climate Solutions, a new creation of the Schwarzenegger-appointed Public Utilities Commission that would cost ratepayers $600 million over its 10-year life. During a recent Senate committee hearing, Republicans and Democrats claimed the institute was illegal without ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Migratory birds to disappear due to climate change
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Earth/Migratory_birds_to_disappear_due_to_climate/articleshow/3053203.cms
Asia News International: A new study has expressed concern about migrating birds disappearing in the future, if they fail to adapt to changing weather patterns, which are a result of climate change. According to a report in New Scientist , high winds and atmospheric instability could make it impossible for small birds to muster the energy needed to fly the long distances to and from their winter feeding grounds. The study, led by Melissa Bowlin of Princeton University, tracked the heart rate of 15 ...
Tue, 20 May 08
New report 'points the way' on sectoral climate action
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/new-report-points-way-sectoral-climate-action/article-172454
EurActiv: Concerns about anti-competitive behaviour and insufficient incentives for emerging economies, which frustrate sector-based greenhouse gas reduction schemes, can be overcome, says a new report by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Global sectoral industry approaches "are no panacea" for addressing climate change, and even if they can be agreed, "it is unclear at this moment whether they will ever become a substitute for legally binding commitments" ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Canada: New rules jeopardize wind and solar projects
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/427244
Toronto Star: Ontario's standard offer program, designed to encourage the development of small-scale renewable energy projects, was launched less than two years ago and has already surpassed the expectations of its 10-year mandate. The program pays a premium for renewable energy coming from wind, solar, biogas or small hydro projects 10 megawatts or less in size. So far the Ontario Power Authority, which administers the program, has approved contracts for 1,300 megawatts of projects – 30 per cent ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Australia: The great water debate: dam v desal
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/may/19/great-water-debate/
Daily: Dams versus desalination: which is the better alternative to secure water supplies for the parched south-east? Debate has raged since the government unveiled its controversial plan to build the $1.7 billion Traveston Dam and has been reignited with the admission that water prices are set to soar due to a blow-out in infrastructure costs. The government's $9 billion water grid is expected to force average household water bills on the Sunshine Coast up by almost $200 by ...
Tue, 20 May 08
White House Role Cited in EPA Reversal on Emissions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/19/ST2008051902367.html
Washington Post: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson favored giving California some authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks last year before he consulted with the White House and reversed course, congressional investigators said yesterday. The five-month probe by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee drew upon more than 27,000 pages of internal EPA documents and interviews with eight key agency officials, and provides the most ...
Tue, 20 May 08
United Kingdom: Free solar power first for school
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/7407764.stm
BBC: A primary school in Pembrokeshire has become the first in Wales to benefit from a scheme to install free solar panels at 100 schools around the UK. Tavernspite School, near Whitland, has received panels worth £20,000, which can produce 3,000kWh of energy a year. The Green Energy for Schools scheme is jointly funded by the UK government and the Co-operative Group. Ferndale Infants School in Rhondda is the only other Welsh school to successfully apply to the scheme. ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Gore wins $1 million prize from Israeli group
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h3YXZ5JQCN8NdFG-S534zyA-u29gD90P2IL80
Associated Press: Al Gore received a $1 million prize on Monday for his environmental work from an Israeli fund. The Dan David Foundation awarded the former vice president its annual "present" prize for alerting the world to the crisis from the overuse of fossil fuels. It also gave prizes in "past" and "future" categories. The Nobel laureate received the award at a ceremony at Tel Aviv University. In his address, Gore said, "We do face a planetary ...
Tue, 20 May 08
New Zealand: Govt staunch over emissions scheme
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411368/1786472
TVNZ: The government is feeling the heat over its controversial Emissions Trading Scheme as the Prime Minister rejects calls to delay her signature climate change plan. In a policy announcement, National Party leader John Key has revealed that the party will not support the scheme in its current form but Prime Minister Helen Clark says any attempt to pull the plug could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The scheme is currently at select committee stage, but National ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Polar Bear Ruling to Bring Tsunami of Lawsuits
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_hassett&sid=apMzVf6jrh94
Bloomberg: As expected, the U.S. Department of the Interior added the polar bear to the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act last week. Even with the Bush administration's attempt to render the ruling toothless, this action will almost surely go down in history as the turning point in the global warming debate. The department concluded that the past and projected melting of sea ice in the Arctic poses an immediate threat to the polar bear's habitat. It pointed to ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Australia: Transport hazy on cutting emissions
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/all-at-sea-when-it-comes-to-the-oceans-bounty/2008/05/18/1211049061517.html
Age: AUSTRALIA'S transport sector is caught in a dilemma: it must drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the means to do that is years away, according to a climate change specialist. Ben Wheaton, a partner in climate change services at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said greenhouse gas emissions from transport were growing at the fastest rate in the country, faster even than agriculture. Australian Greenhouse Office figures show that transport constitutes 13.5% of Australia's greenhouse ...
Tue, 20 May 08
Climate change 'to make Atlantic hurricanes rarer'
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080518/full/news.2008.837.html
Nature: Hurricanes may become rarer in the Atlantic throughout the 21st century if the world continues to warm, suggests a new study. The research is the latest to address the question of how – and whether – global warming will affect the intensity and frequency of hurricanes. Globally, the number of major hurricanes has shot up by 75% since 1970. And although rising ocean temperatures are generally accepted as the key culprit – hurricanes can only form where sea surface temperatures ...
Mon, 19 May 08
England's wildlife 'facing fight for survival'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/19/eacountry119.xml
Telegraph: England's green and pleasant land is under threat and must be better managed if it is to survive, a report warned on Sunday. The study claims the natural environment is not as rich as it was 50 years ago and will become even poorer unless new conservation measures are adopted. More intensive use of the land and sea, economic development and the threats posed by climate change are piling on the pressure, putting the survival of wildlife in danger, claims Natural ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Australia: The sun sets on Rudd's climate change credibility
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23718653-30538,00.html
Australian: KEVIN Rudd's climate change honeymoon ended last week. The hero of Bali received a public relations belting over what were relatively modest indiscretions in the environment section of Tuesday night's budget. That's the danger with playing to the grandstand on an issue as complex and expensive as climate change. During last year's epic election campaign, Labor didn't hold back with the green symbolism to maximise its political leverage over the Howard government. There was the ...
Mon, 19 May 08
United Kingdom: Wind farms stalled by five-year planning delays
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/19/windpower.renewableenergy
Guardian: Government promises to speed up planning inquiries to ensure that wind farms play a valuable role in providing clean energy are not being fulfilled, with many schemes waiting up to five years for the go-ahead. Ministers have pledged to remove or reduce barriers faced by companies that want to build sustainable power projects, but this is proving difficult, . The development of E.ON's Humber Gateway project is one of the schemes mired in difficulties and facing ever-increasing delays. ...
Mon, 19 May 08
United Kingdom: Eco-friendly claims for 'hybrid' cars dismissed as gimmickry
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3958376.ece
Times: Cars promoted as eco-friendly were criticised yesterday for pumping out up to 56 per cent more carbon dioxide than the manufacturers claim. Three models, including the Honda Civic hybrid, performed so badly in tests that their environmental claims were dismissed as a gimmick. A further five vehicles, including Volkswagen's Polo BlueMotion, hailed as Britain's greenest car when it was claimed that it emitted less than 100 grams of CO2 per km (g/km), failed to match the claims made by their ...
Mon, 19 May 08
United Kingdom: English countryside empties as wildlife goes to town
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/19/wildlife.conservation
Guardian: Wildlife is disappearing at an unprecedented rate in the countryside but nature is compensating as more species colonise urban areas, the government's ecological advisers say. In the 12 years to 2006, the overall population of urban birds increased by 14%. Pigeon numbers more than doubled, and there were big increases among green woodpeckers, goldfinches, robins and great tits. Natural England's annual state of the natural environment report, published today, finds birds, bees ...
Mon, 19 May 08
China Power New Energy ups renewable capacity target
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKHKG30281820080519
Reuters: China Power New Energy Development Co Ltd (0735.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) has raised its renewable energy capacity targets by a half as Beijing pushes to clean up its air and water and whittle down its reliance on imported resources. By 2010, China Power New Energy, steered by the daughter of former Premier Li Peng, plans to put into operation 1,500 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity -- including wind, hydropower and biomass -- have another 1,500 MW under construction and ...
Mon, 19 May 08
United Kingdom: The yellow peril - Eco zealots insist oilseed rape can save the planet, but the truth is very different
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=567211&in_page_id=1770
Daily Mail: To some people, they are a visual delight - splashes of gold that brighten the muted palate of greens and browns, adding a dash of almost tropical exuberance to Britain's landscape. To others, however, they are a visual abomination, their vivid tones an ugly aberration amid our otherwise green and pleasant land. Love it or hate it, oilseed rape, whose flowers are now in full bloom and which has probably done more to change the appearance of our countryside in recent decades, ...
Mon, 19 May 08
191 nations to convene for conference aimed at stemming damage to global biodiversity
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/18/europe/EU-GEN-Germany-Biodiversity-Conference.php
Associated Press: A two-week conference aimed at ensuring the survival of global biodiversity in the face of climate change and pollution gets under way in Germany on Monday. The protection of flora, fauna and even food sources will be on the agenda of the 191 governments attending the ninth conference of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn. Officials will also review the goals set in 2002 at the U.N. Earth Summit, which called for slowing the loss of biological diversity by 2010 ...
Mon, 19 May 08
United States: Polar bear puts face on global warming
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/orl-polar1808may18,0,3067839.story
Associated Press: It's not about saving the polar bear as much as the polar bear saving us. The Arctic bear facing extinction because of global warming is bringing home the consequences of cheap energy and -- until recently -- little sacrifice. It also reminds us that a choice soon may come between accepting higher electricity and transportation costs and reducing the pollution that is raising Earth's temperature. In listing the bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Brazil: The World Whose Rain Forest Is This, Anyway?
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=99763
New York Times: For as long as most can remember, Brazil has gazed nervously at maps of the vast, mostly uninhabited territory of the Amazon rain forest. In the 1960s and '70s, generals here saw the colonization of the Brazilian Amazon, which is half the size of Europe, as a national security priority. Ocupar para não entregar – "occupy it to avoid surrendering it" – was the slogan of the day. Highways were built, and Brazilians were offered incentives to conquer the land in the Amazon and transform ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Was Malthus just off a few decades?
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/FEATURES05/805180310/1014/FEATURES05
Barre Montpelier Times Argus: In 1798, Robert Malthus, in his "Essay on the Principle of Population," concluded that as population grows, "the price of labor must tend toward a decrease, while the price of provisions would at the same time tend to rise." In 1968, Paul Ehrlich in the book "The Population Bomb," predicted disaster for humanity owing to the "population explosion." Ehrlich was also one of the first to talk about rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and ...
Mon, 19 May 08
10 places to go before global warming hits hard
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2004419854_webwarmingtrips18.html
Seattle Times: That dream vacation – diving along the Great Barrier Reef, skiing in the Swiss Alps – could remain a dream forever if you don't get a move on. The brilliant coral off the coast of Australia could be largely gone by 2050, says a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And the cost of snowmaking equipment in the Alps is already forcing operators to invest in more snowmaking equipment (or stay shut), says Forbestraveler.com.The attention lately focused on these ...
Mon, 19 May 08
United Kingdom: Anger over climate change loans
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7407528.stm
BBC: Development campaigners have accused the UK government of making a stealth cut to an £800m fund designed to help poor countries adapt to climate change. Ministers said they were proud to have set a moral lead when the Environmental Transformation Fund was launched. The government now says an unspecified amount will go out as interest-free loans but insists it never pledged all the money would be used as aid. One campaign group attacked the loan element of the fund as ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Atlantic cyclones may decrease as globe warms-study
http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKN1640851220080518
Reuters: Fewer but more intense hurricanes may form in the Atlantic Ocean as the globe warms toward the end of this century, according to a new study that counters predictions of more frequent cyclones due to climate change. The study, published on Sunday in Nature Geoscience, adds fuel to a fierce scientific debate over whether human-produced greenhouse gases have contributed to a recent rise in hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin and whether tropical cyclones are becoming ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Canada: Carbon tax fuels revolt in BC town
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2008/05/18/5601086-sun.html
Canadian Press: Unhappiness over B.C.'s landmark carbon tax is prompting a northern revolt, with the mayor of Williams Lake saying his community won't pay the tax on municipal fuel purchases unless the Liberal provincial government proves its claims that the tax will be revenue neutral. Mayor Scott Nelson, who is expecting his council to endorse the plan at its May 26 meeting, says he has left messages with or talked to the mayors of 12 other northern communities about joining the protest, which ...
Mon, 19 May 08
United Kingdom: Energy firms braced for summer of protests
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/energy-firms--braced-for-summer-of-protests-830641.html
Independent: Britain's leading power generating companies have put rivalries aside to draw up plans to counter the expected wave of protests against a proposed new generation of coal-fired power plants. More than 40 security and media executives from the "Big Six" energy companies, as well as an array of independent generators including Drax, met in London to discuss how to prevent demonstrators disrupting their planned expansion. They discussed tactics for keeping demonstrators from ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Japan to offer $10 bln aid to Africa over climate change
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/18/content_8201496.htm
Xinhua: Japan is expected to offer 10 billion dollars in aid for African countries to tackle climate change over the next five years, local media reported Sunday. The aid program is to be announced by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development scheduled for late May. The Japanese government has been deliberating on the feasibility of doubling official development assistance to Africa over the ...
Mon, 19 May 08
India: Participation in carbon trading not encouraging
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=12&theme=&usrsess=1&id=204670
Stateman: Even though carbon trading is taking place in India through exchange bodies like MCX and NCDEX, participation is not very encouraging because of a host of factors ranging from absence of big financial players like banks and mutual funds, lack of awareness among corporate bodies and dearth of trained manpower. "Climate change has become more and more evident, which is all the more reason for Kyoto Protocol to be implemented at a faster pace," a carbon credits conference organised by ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Spain's Iberdrola to invest 8 billion dollars in US renewable energy
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jsCO43pDbGxPdrKSwLHyMop2hLeQ
Agence France-Presse: Spanish power company Iberdrola, the world's largest renewable energy operator, said Sunday it plans to invest eight billion dollars (5.1 billion euros) in the United States between 2008 and 2010. The Bilbao-based firm is aiming to have a 15 percent share of the wind power market in the US by 2010, it added in a statement. It had a wind power production capacity of 2,400 megawatts in the US at the end of March and it expects to reach 3,600 megawatts by the end of the year, the ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Study says global warming not worsening hurricanes
http://www.dailymail.com/News/200805180298
Associated Press: Global warming isn't to blame for the recent jump in hurricanes in the Atlantic, concludes a study by a prominent federal scientist whose position has shifted on the subject. Not only that, warmer temperatures will actually reduce the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic and those making landfall, research meteorologist Tom Knutson reported in a study released Sunday. In the past, Knutson has raised concerns about the effects of climate change on storms. His new paper has the ...
Mon, 19 May 08
The end of coal?
http://www.startribune.com/business/19033589.html?location_refer=Business
Star Tribune: Every time a lamp goes on in this country, there's an even chance that the electricity brightening the bulb was generated at a coal-fired power plant. Within Minnesota, the odds are even higher -- 2-1. More than any other source, "King Coal" is satisfying the energy appetites of Americans. But this fossil fuel is also the single biggest polluter. The ash escaping from the stacks at coal plants carries one-third of the country's greenhouse gas emissions -- mostly carbon dioxide -- ...
Mon, 19 May 08
'Fewer hurricanes' as world warms
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7404846.stm
BBC: Hurricanes and tropical storms will become less frequent by the end of the century as a result of climate change, US researchers have suggested. But the scientists added their data also showed that there would be a "modest increase" in the intensity of these extreme weather events. The findings are at odds with some other studies, which forecast a greater number of hurricanes in a warmer world. The researchers' results appear in the journal Nature ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Global Warming May Cut Atlantic Hurricane Activity This Century
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aRWpCyY3beGg&refer=home
Bloomberg: The number of hurricanes and tropical storms forming over the Atlantic may drop this century because of global warming, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a study that contradicts prior research. The scientists took a climate model that mirrors the increase in Atlantic storms in recent years, and then plugged in forecasts for future warming. The results, published online yesterday in Nature Geoscience, showed a decline in the numbers of both hurricanes and ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Australia: The coal industry's ace in the hole
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/751/38813
Green Left: The coal industry is planning to replace oil by turning coal into liquid fuels and into feedstocks for the chemical industry. Of course they are also planning to burn ever-more coal to produce electricity. If these plans materialise, green chemistry and renewable solar energy will both be sidelined for the rest of this century. You may have heard that "coal is dead". But this is not the case; in its struggle for survival, the coal industry has an ace in the hole. In July, the ...
Mon, 19 May 08
Bangladesh - the frontline of climate change
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/751/38841
Green Left: "First World countries are the leaders in carbon emissions, and it is the Third World who faces the consequences", Bangladeshi Professor Anu Muhammad told a crowd of 50 at public forum on May 14. "A one-metre rise in sea level would displace 40 million people and would submerge 30% of our country." The "Voices from Bangladesh" forum was part of a tour organised by AID/WATCH and supported by Oxfam and Friends of the Earth. Muhammad highlighted that citizens of First World ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Rain doesn't end drought forecasts for Spain
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/news/article3944299.ece
Times: Two days of rain in northern Spain have brought brief relief from the crippling drought that has stricken the region, but experts are warning that the respite will be short-lived. Anyone planning a southern sojourn this summer might want to pack the bottled water. Climate change is blamed for the worst drought in Spain since records began, with total rainfall down by 60% on seasonal averages. Until last week's downpours, the reservoirs serving Barcelona had dipped below 20% capacity, ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Brazil's illegal logging hard to combat
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080517/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/brazil_logging_crackdown_5
Associated Press: Federal agents swooped in to close sawmills and confiscate wood in a government crackdown on illegal logging less than three months ago. But now tractors are moving logs again in this Amazon town and locals are back to turning wood scraps into charcoal, an example of the difficulty of stamping out illegal cutting. "It's starting up again, but it's not like it was, and nobody knows for how long," said Zenito Santiago de Souza, 44, who lost his job in the government ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Oceans' zones of death are spreading
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3953924.ece
Times: Marine dead zones, where fish and other sea life can suffocate from lack of oxygen, are spreading across the world's tropical oceans, a study has warned. Researchers found that the warming of sea water through climate change is reducing its ability to carry dissolved oxygen, potentially turning swathes of the world's oceans into marine graveyards. The study, by scientists from some of the world's most prestigious marine research institutes, warns that if global temperatures ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Our dying planet... 1 in 3 animals lost in past 35yrs
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/05/17/our-dying-planet-1-in-3-animals-lost-in-past-35yrs-89520-20420228/
Mirror: Almost a third of the world's wildlife has been lost in the past 35 years, a report reveals. The number of animals per species fell an average 27 per cent between 1970 and 2005 - with land animals down 25 per cent, marine 28 per cent and freshwater 29 per cent. And one of the big reasons is the expansion of humankind - our population is up to 6.5 billion from 4 billion and we are using 25 per cent more resources than we replace. Jonathan Loh, author of the report, said ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Senate poised to take up sweeping global warming bill
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/environment/2008-05-17-global-warming_N.htm
USA Today: Landmark legislation to reduce global warming is set to spark an intense Senate debate in early June. While it is unlikely to become law this year, the Climate Security Act is seen by both supporters and opponents as evidence of how far Congress has moved on the issue and how quickly a bill is likely to pass after a new president moves into the White House in January and a new Congress takes office. "I really believe that if we don't get across the finish line this year, ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Biofuels must not deprive poor of food: EU official
http://www.physorg.com/news130270429.html
Physorg: Biofuels must not deprive the world's poor of food, a senior European official said, as he proposed a greater focus on second-generation biofuels that would be more environmentally friendly. Guenter Verheugen, a vice president of the European Commission, was speaking against a background of growing doubts about whether the European Union should continue a policy of elevating biofuels to an environmental priority. "It makes no sense to make car fuel from plants that ought ...
Sun, 18 May 08
British climate aid has to be repaid
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/british-climate-aid-has-to-be-repaid/2008/05/17/1210765250666.html
Age: BRITAIN'S £800 million ($A1.64 billion) international project to help the world's poorest countries adapt to climate change is under fire after it emerged almost all the money offered by Prime Minister Gordon Brown will have to be repaid with interest. The UK Environmental Transformation Fund, announced by Mr Brown to international acclaim in November last year, was widely expected to be made in direct grants to countries experiencing extreme droughts, storms and sea-level rise ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Canada's greenhouse gas emissions down for second year in a row
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080517.EMISSIONS17/TPStory/National
Globe and Mail: Greenhouse-gas emissions in Canada declined for a second year in a row during 2006, falling to 721 million tonnes, or by 1.9 per cent from a year earlier, according to figures released yesterday by Environment Canada. The back-to-back reduction was attributed to a drop in the amount of coal used to produce electricity, warmer winters leading to reduced fuel consumption for space heating, and less fossil fuel use in the oil refining industry. Emissions haven't fallen for two ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Claim: Obese people cause global warming
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2008/05/17/claim_obese_people_cause_global_warming/5349/
United Press International: Some British experts say fat people are contributing to global warming more than those who are thin because they require more food and fuel. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine scientists said the transportation and food costs of obese people are contributing to increasing energy prices and food defects. "We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibility. Obesity is a key part of the big picture," researcher Phil Edwards said. Critics ...
Sun, 18 May 08
United States: Edison aims to curb greenhouse gases voluntarily
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-edison17-2008may17,0,3077791.story
LA Times: Southern California Edison on Friday proposed $23 million in projects to reduce greenhouse gases by powering California cars, forklifts and agricultural pumps with electricity, and by taking a series of other steps, including cutting harmful emissions in Brazil. The eight projects, which would be funded by the utility's customers, could cut the equivalent of 3.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, an amount comparable to taking 800,000 cars off the road, the utility said. ...
Sun, 18 May 08
On Climate, Symbols Can Overshadow Substance
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=99673
Washington Post: In March of last year, the World Wildlife Fund in Australia teamed up with Leo Burnett, the multinational advertising agency that created the Marlboro Man, to come up with a new environmental campaign called Earth Hour. The idea was to get 2 million residents in Sydney to turn off all the lights in their homes for one hour. The campaign generated wide publicity, but the energy saved was small -- the equivalent of taking about five cars off the city's roads for a year. This year, Earth ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Poor nations must repay British climate 'aid': report
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jPY7rjH66MziN85xancTuQRh4Hew
Agence France-Presse: Poor countries will have to pay back aid given to them by Britain in an international aid project that was supposed to help them adapt to climate change, The Guardian newspaper said Saturday. The 800-million-pound scheme was announced in November, but the daily reported that almost all the money offered by Prime Minister Gordon Brown would have to be repaid with interest. The aid was expected to be made in direct grants to countries suffering storms, droughts and rises in sea ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Australia: Reverse solar subsidy cut, say Greens
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23714640-29277,00.html
AAP: GREENS leader Bob Brown today urged Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to reverse the Budget blunder which had devastated solar power businesses around Australia. Senator Brown said voters had expected the Rudd Government to use its first Budget to tackle climate change. "Instead this was an Exocet missile into a key industry for reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he said in a statement. "This is a stunning solar stuffup for Labor's first Budget." In ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Solar panel businesses cry foul
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23712777-3462,00.html
Mercury: THE solar industry has warned the Federal Government's means test for a rebate on solar panels will stifle the uptake of renewable energy. Orders with local installers have already been cancelled following Tuesday's Budget decision, in which households earning more than $100,000 will no longer be eligible for the $8000 rebate on photovoltaic systems. Environment Minister Peter Garrett defended the decision, saying it would ensure the subsidy went to people who really needed ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Spin doctors: Scientists debate climate change hurricane link
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2008-05-17-global-warming-hurricanes_N.htm
USA Today: Do greenhouse gases help fuel hurricanes, spawning growing legions of stronger storms? Or is this notion strictly hot air? Friday, two of the nation's leading climate scientists traded opposing opinions during a cordial debate on global warming and hurricanes. The dueling discussion highlighted the closing day of the Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale. The participants were Kerry Emanuel, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorology professor ...
Sun, 18 May 08
The population explosion on Europe's doorstep
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3952775.ece
Times: In a televised interview with Sir Trevor McDonald last week, the Duke of Edinburgh cited "overpopulation" as the prime source of escalating food prices. Another gaffe! "Overpopulation" dropped out of usage in the 1970s, and the deluded old coot doesn't seem to realise that the term is passé. Or is it? Helping to make "overpopulation" a buzz word of his era, Paul Ehrlich observed in his 1968 bestseller The Population Bomb that by 8000BC it had taken the human race about 1m years to ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Bush Halts Oil Reserve Purchases
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603579.html
Washington Post: The Bush administration yesterday halted purchases of crude oil for the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, reversing its policy on the emergency reserve three days after Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of suspending the purchases to ease the upward pressure on oil prices. The Energy Department announced that it would not sign contracts to buy up to 13 million barrels of crude that would have been delivered to the underground salt caverns on the Gulf of Mexico coast in ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Canada: Making sense of the world food crisis
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=5edbc3bd-d9b5-4678-88c0-34776f2a945f
Vancouver Sun: Keira McPhee's response to the world food crisis is to pave over her front lawn. Not with asphalt, but with an initial application of "weed tea" to help fertilize the ground. "No marijuana in it!" she says, standing in gumboots outside her blue stucco home on Adanac Street in east Vancouver. "Buttercups and stuff." Next came a layer of cardboard -- a source of fibre and carbon -- followed by at least 15 centimetres of organic matter that included ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Canada: Ontario coal plants to cut emissions by two-thirds
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=050ae11d-fc8d-4371-b943-9c37885ae9a5
Canwest News Service: The Ontario government announced Friday that the province's five coal power plants would reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds below 2003 levels by 2011. The plants, including the Nanticoke generating station, the largest coal-powered facility in North America, have been set to close by 2014 as part of the provincial government's strategy for combatting climate change. Ontario Power Generation, the crown corporation responsible for the sale of 70 per cent of the ...
Sun, 18 May 08
Smashing global warming with greener design
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080517.SMASH17/TPStory/Environment
Globe and Mail: The goal of graphic design is to make things look good. Really good. So good that we want to buy these things, even if we don't need them. That can be a problem - or perhaps an opportunity. Eric Karjaluoto, creative director of Vancouver design firm smashLAB, says design is "the one form everyone touches whether they realize it or not." He is hoping to use this influence to address one of the biggest issues of our time: climate change. Karjaluoto, 34, is ...
Sat, 17 May 08
West takes credit for China's emissions
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/JE17Cb01.html
Asia Times: Republican candidate for US president Senator John McCain took aim on May 12 at China and other industrializing nations on the issue of climate change: "No nation should be exempted from its obligations. And least of all should we make exceptions for the very countries that are accelerating carbon emissions while the rest of us seek to reduce emissions." The senator's words have increasing resonance as people from across the political spectrum begin to accept that global ...
Sat, 17 May 08
United Kingdom: Plastic bag policy 'a diversion'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7405861.stm
BBC: Plans to ban or charge for single-use plastic bags are a diversion from the real environmental issues, one of the government's own advisers has said. Waste and recycling expert Professor Chris Coggins said such a government policy allowed the supermarkets to pass on responsibility to customers. He said supermarkets could be helping to influence packaging rather than shifting the problem on to consumers. The government said the public wanted to see action to curb use ...
Sat, 17 May 08
Solar panel subsidies not smart, says German MP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/solar-panel-subsidies-not-smart-german-mp/2008/05/16/1210765176525.html
Age: AUSTRALIA is taking a wrong path by offering subsidies to install solar rooftop panels, instead of promising households high prices if they sell excess power to the grid, a leading German MP has warned.Hans Josef Fell, the Greens' energy spokesman and co-author of Germany's pathbreaking Renewable Energies Act, said renewable energy now made up 14% of Germany's electricity generation, mainly due to good prices for selling excess power.On a visit to lobby Australia to support a German move to set ...
Sat, 17 May 08
Australia: Forestry industry to tap tree 'sinks'
http://www.theage.com.au/news/environment/forestry-industry/2008/05/16/1210765176469.html
Age: AUSTRALIA'S forest industries are bidding for a major role in Australia's climate change future, claiming forest "sinks" could absorb 20% of the planned 60% cut in emissions by 2050. A confidential document from the National Association of Forest Industries circulating in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's office proposes a joint industry-government strategy for forests and plantations in Australia's carbon-constrained future. It involves forestry not only helping meet ...
Sat, 17 May 08
Brazil: 'Stagnation' Made Brazil's Environment Chief Resign
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=99664
New York Times: Marina Silva, the environmental minister who resigned this week, blamed "stagnation" in the government for her decision at a news conference on Thursday and acknowledged that governors in frontline Amazon states were pressing the president to rescind measures intended to check deforestation. "There were questions from some governors about those measures, and they couldn't be relaxed," Ms. Silva said. "It is crucial that we preserve the advances we have made, it is crucial that ...
Sat, 17 May 08
Coal Plant Pollution Threatens US Parks - Report
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48365/story.htm
Reuters: US regulators are proposing to weaken air quality laws, which would allow new coal-fired power plants to pollute US parks from Shenandoah in Virginia to the Great Basin in Nevada, a new report said on Thursday. Amid rising power demand and flat US natural gas output, electricity generators are seeking to build power plants fired by abundant coal. The fuel is cheap compared with other fossil fuels, but emits more pollutants, such as mercury and smog components sulfur dioxide ...
Fri, 16 May 08
As food prices shoot up, so do backyard gardens
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0516/p01s01-ussc.html
Christian Science Monitor: Think of it as a modern-day Victory Garden. With gasoline prices soaring and food costs not far behind, the number of Americans planning to grow their own backyard vegetables this year is up sharply. Gardening organizations, seed wholesalers, and local nurseries are all reporting hikes in the number of people buying vegetable seeds and starter plants. It's a trend that started slowly several years ago, spurred by concerns about food safety, food quality, and global ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Don't Blame Us For Hunger, Biofuel Makers Say
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48379/story.htm
Reuters: Biofuel manufacturers at an international gathering in Spain have strenuously denied media charges they are driving up food prices and world hunger. As the world seeks sustainable energy supplies and ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions, concern has grown that land used for plant-based fuels is competing with land for growing food. Speaker after speaker at the World Biofuels convention, which ended on Thursday in southern city Seville, said plant-based fuel production ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Obesity Contributes To Global Warming - Study
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48375/story.htm
Reuters: Obesity contributes to global warming, too. Obese and overweight people require more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, and the problem will worsen as the population literally swells in size, a team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says. This adds to food shortages and higher energy prices, the school's researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote in the journal Lancet on Friday. "We are all becoming heavier and it is a global ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Toyota's green machine clocks up 1 million sales
http://business.theage.com.au/toyotas-green-machine-clocks-up-1-million-sales-20080515-2erw.html
Associated Press: TOYOTA'S Prius started out a decade ago as a risky experiment in green technology. Today it is the world's first mass-produced petrol-electric hybrid car to hit 1 million in sales. The Prius went on sale in Japan in 1997 and is now sold in 40 countries and regions. Its popularity is increasing because of surging petrol prices and concerns about the environment. Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday 1.028 million Prius models had been sold to the end of April. Toyota sells ...
Fri, 16 May 08
World Species Dying Out Like Flies Says WWF
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48368/story.htm
Reuters: World biodiversity has declined by almost one third in the past 35 years due mainly to habitat loss and the wildlife trade, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Friday It warned that climate change would add increasingly to the wildlife woes over the next three decades. "Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives so it is alarming that despite of an increased awareness of environmental issues we continue to see a ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Polar Bear Listing Could Slow Arctic Oil Drilling
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48369/story.htm
Reuters: Oil drilling in the Arctic may need to slow down, now that polar bears, iconic symbols of global warming, are headed for protection under the US Endangered Species Act, experts said. US Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne this week added polar bears to the list of threatened animals under the act because their sea ice habitat is rapidly melting -- a move that comes just as the oil industry is pushing into offshore Arctic Alaska frontiers. Experts said the additional ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Tougher Canada Action Needed on Polar Bears - Greens
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48366/story.htm
Reuters: Two prominent green groups on Thursday said Canada should follow the lead of the United States and take action to protect polar bears, which are threatened by melting ice. Washington said on Wednesday it was listing the bears as a threatened species. Although Canada is home to around two-thirds of the world's 25,000 polar bears, Ottawa has not formally declared them in any kind of danger. "Canada is lagging behind in its global responsibility to protect wildlife," ...
Fri, 16 May 08
A $3 trillion climate change battle
http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/14/news/economy/climate_change_bill.fortune/?postversion=2008051507
Fortune: climate-change bill that has widespread support as it heads to the Senate floor will create an estimated $150 billion of new assets in the first year it takes effect. Between now and 2050, regulating greenhouse gases could easily generate $3 trillion worth in value in the United States. Should that value go to utility companies, electricity customers who will face rising rates, government investments in new technology or tax cuts? Or should it be returned to all ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Climate change A moment of truth
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11376587
Economist: FOR the system that is supposed to make it easier for people in the rich world to cut the greenhouse emissions of the poor, a "binary moment" has come. That, at the least, is the prediction of a banker with an interest in the future of the clean development mechanism (CDM). Like many others in the business, he foresees either buoyant growth or terminal decline for the arrangement designed to encourage financial transfers from long-established carbon emitters to emerging ones. On the ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Expert warns climate change will lead to 'barbarisation'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/15/climatechange
Guardian: Climate change will lead to a "fortress world" in which the rich lock themselves away in gated communities and the poor must fend for themselves in shattered environments, unless governments act quickly to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to the vice-president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Prof Mohan Munasinghe was giving a lecture at Cambridge university in which he presented a dystopic possible future world in which social problems are ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Half of energy executives fear renewables bubble - report
http://www.environmental-finance.com/onlinews/0515hal.html
Environmental Finance: Half of the world's energy companies believe that there is a "real risk" of a bubble in the renewable technology sector, according to a KPMG report released this week. Turning up the Heat, a global survey of more than 200 senior executives in the energy sector, reveals that these fears are even more prominent in Europe, where nearly two-thirds of those questioned fear a bubble. Of respondents who had considered but not completed a renewable energy acquisition, 44% cited the seller's ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Human intervention alters natural systems: NASA study
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/human-intervention-alters-natural-systems-nasa-study_10048999.html
Indo-Asian News Service: Human intervention has caused widespread climatic alterations like permafrost thawing, premature blooming of plants across Europe and declining lakes in Africa, according to a NASA study. Cynthia Rosenzweig of NASA and co-author of the study, said it is the first to co-relate global temperature data sets and observed changes in a broad range of physical and biological systems with humans, climate, and impact. Rosenzweig and colleagues also found that the link between man-made climate ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Mankind is the 'Earth's biggest threat'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1955916/Mankind-is-the-'Earth's-biggest-threat'.html
Telegraph: Researchers who analysed 30,000 academic studies dating back to 1970 said man was responsible for changes that ranged from the loss of ice sheets to the collapse in numbers of many species of wildlife. "Humans are influencing climate through increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and the warming world is causing impacts on physical and biological systems," said Cynthia Rosenzweig, at the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The effects on living things include ...
Fri, 16 May 08
United States: Maverick oilman Pickens puts $2B bet on wind power
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jPCU-TNOqHJqHj6YvqafKHt5sJVwD90M49BG0
Associated Press: Maverick oilman T. Boone Pickens has placed a $2 billion bet on wind power in just the first of a four-phase project to build the world's largest wind farm in Texas. Pickens said the total cost of the deal will grow considerably after the initial investment in General Electric Co. turbine technology. Pickens' Mesa Power said the Pampa Wind Project in the Texas Panhandle will eventually cover 400,000 acres and generate enough power for more than 1.3 million ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Nitrogen pollution harming ecosystems and contributing to global warming
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0515-nitrogen.html
Mongabay: Nitrogen pollution of the world's oceans is harming marine ecosystems and contributing to global warming, report two reviews published in the journal Science. The research, which involved dozens of scientists from around the world, shows that human activity is dramatically altering nitrogen cycles in Earth's oceans, soils, and atmosphere. The papers report that agricultural runoff and the burning of fossil fuels have boosted the supply of reactive nitrogen in the open oceans 50 ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Prince Charles calls for rainforest protection to fight climate change
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0515-prince.html
Mongabay: Ending the destruction of tropical rainforests is the simplest step to helping address climate change, said Prince Charles in an interview with the BBC. Speaking on the BBC's Today program, Charles said he supported the establishment a mechanism that would compensate tropical countries for preserving their forests. He noted that forests provide critical services for humanity. "When you think [rainforests] release 20 billion tonnes of water vapor into the air every day, ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Seeking an Amazon solution
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7399109.stm
BBC: Seen from a small boat emerging from Puraquequara lagoon into the full flow of the Amazon River, this is a world reduced to water, trees and sky. It's a full three kilometres to the other side and at that distance even the forest giants that tower over the canopy seem reduced in size. Amazonas state - a territory three times the size of France but with a telephone book just a centimetre thick - is 98% pristine rainforest. But it is an environment threatened by ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Shell: Crude shortfalls will boost renewables
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5782421.html
Bloomberg: Royal Dutch Shell said the failure of crude suppliers to keep pace with accelerating demand may prompt the expansion of renewable energy. There's "plenty of oil in the world," Shell's Scenario Team said today on a Webcast led by Global Business Environment Vice President Jeremy Bentham. "The important moment is actually not a possible peak of oil production;" it's when demand exceeds supply, which may "come well before a peak" in output. Under two ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Atmosphere threatened by pollutants entering ocean, prof says
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/tau-atb051508.php
EurekAlert: A large quantity of nitrogen compounds emitted into the atmosphere by humans through the burning of fossil fuels and the use of nitrogen fertilizers enters the oceans and may lead to the removal of some carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, concluded a team of international scientists led by Texas A&M University Distinguished Professor of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences Robert Duce. The team of 30 experts from institutions around the world presented its conclusions in the ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Canada: It's time to put a lid on bottled water
http://www.westender.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=49&cat=46&id=1218208&more=0
Westender: The water that comes out of most city taps in Canada is pretty clean. Yet many people prefer to spend money on bottled water, believing that it is somehow safer. Now we're learning that the stuff in plastic water bottles may be more harmful than anything in our tap water. Bisphenol A is just one chemical that's been in the news – and in many plastic bottles – recently. This compound mimics estrogens (human female hormones) and has been linked to breast and ovarian cancers and childhood ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Japan debates own 2050 emission cut target
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUST270117
Reuters: Japan is debating whether to set a target for cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but reaching a conclusion before the G8 in July summit is not a "diplomatic imperative", a foreign ministry official said. Japanese newspaper reports earlier this month said Japan, the world's fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases that cause global warming, would announce in June a target of cutting its emissions by 60 to 80 percent to boost its leadership credentials as host of ...
Fri, 16 May 08
McCain too blames India, China for global warming
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Earth/McCain_too_blames_India_for_warming/articleshow/3044121.cms
Economic Times: Like President George Bush, the presumptive Republican Presidential candidate John McCain too has said a new global pact on climate change must include India and China, the "greatest contributors" to global warming. But the US will still have to act if efforts to negotiate an international pact to deal with the problem does not succeed, he said at a campaign rally in Portland, Oregon in what many analysts have seen as a major departure from the Bush administration's policy ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Ocean nitrogen only limited help for climate: study
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL153483820080515
Reuters: Rising amounts of nitrogen entering the oceans from human activities are less beneficial than previously thought as a fertiliser for tiny fertilizermarine plants that help slow global warming, scientists said on Thursday. "As much as a third of the nitrogen entering the world's oceans from the atmosphere is man-made," according to a team of 30 scientists writing in the journal Science. "It's not as good a thing as some people would like it to be," said Peter ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Researchers warn of nitrogen hazard to environment
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h49kNQGGb5xvHbyyEftvs4NRXmwQD90M7LP00
Associated Press: While carbon dioxide has been getting lots of publicity in climate change, reactive forms of nitrogen are also building up in the environment, scientists warn. "The public does not yet know much about nitrogen, but in many ways it is as big an issue as carbon, and due to the interactions of nitrogen and carbon, makes the challenge of providing food and energy to the world's peoples without harming the global environment a tremendous challenge," University of Virginia ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Shell Joins IEA's Carbon Capture Research Project in Canada
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a3BqhlOurSZ0&refer=canada
Bloomberg: Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil company, joined the International Energy Agency's carbon capture and storage research project in Canada. Shell agreed to co-sponsor the research along with Chevron Corp, OMV AG, Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Apache Corp. and EnCana Corp., The Hague-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. The $80 million IEA Greenhouse Gas Weyburn-Midale CO2 is one of the world's three largest in-field carbon storage research projects. The ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Alaskans greet polar bear decision with angst, anger
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/west/view.bg?articleid=1094294&srvc=home&position=recent
Anchorage Daily News: Alaska industry and political leaders reacted with disappointment, even vehemence, to the decision yesterday to protect the polar bear as "threatened," despite assurances from the Bush administration that the listing would mean no new regulation in Alaska. Industry officials worried that the listing decision would give environmentalists a new tool for opposing development in the Arctic, especially new offshore oil exploration and development. Politicians attacked the science ...
Fri, 16 May 08
Man-made nitrogen 'climate threat'
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gAAU1AO2UGFqtFdTGckgfUdoDFew
Press Association: Up to a third of the nitrogen entering the world's oceans is man-made and could have significant effects on the global climate, scientists said. Nitrogen from agricultural fertilisers and the burning of fossil fuels entering the seas through the atmosphere is increasing, the study published in the journal Science said. It has significant implications for climate change, because the extra nitrogen increases the level of marine biological activity by an estimated 3% - which in ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Economic Slowdown Challenges Solar Industry-EPIA
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48354/story.htm
Reuters: The economic slowdown, regulatory conflicts and competition from China pose the main risks to future growth of the solar industry, the head of the European Photovoltaic Industry Associations told Reuters. "The two key elements for me are the regulatory conflict in Europe, particularly in Germany with the revision of the feed-in law, and globally the economic slowdown," Adel El Gammal, secretary general of EPIA, said in an interview. He expects the US solar market, ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Giant Study Pinpoints Changes From Climate Warming
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48342/story.htm
Reuters: Human-generated climate change made flowers bloom sooner and autumn leaves fall later, turned some polar bears into cannibals and some birds into early breeders, a vast global study reported on Wednesday. Hundreds of previous studies have noted these specific changes and most suggested a link to so-called anthropogenic global warming, but a new analysis published in the journal Nature correlated these earlier studies with changes in temperature, the study's lead author said. ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Greenhouse Gases Highest For 800,000 Years-Study
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48353/story.htm
Reuters: Greenhouse gases are at higher levels in the atmosphere than at any time in at least 800,000 years, according to a study of Antarctic ice on Wednesday that extends evidence that mankind is disrupting the climate. Carbon dioxide and methane trapped in tiny bubbles of air in ancient ice down to 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) below the surface of Antarctica add 150,000 years of data to climate records stretching back 650,000 years from shallower ice drilling. "We can firmly say ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Lula Seen Putting Brazil Economy Ahead Of Amazon
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48350/story.htm
Reuters: Hailed as Brazil's first "green president" when he took office, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva appears to have thinner environmental credentials than ever after the resignation of Amazon defender Marina Silva. The former rubber tapper and union activist was one of the fresh faces who marked a break from Brazil's conservative past when she was appointed environment minister in Lula's first cabinet. Her departure on Tuesday underlines Lula's long journey from firebrand union leader ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Merkel Says Brazilian Biofuels Must Respect Amazon
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48351/story.htm
Reuters: German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Brazil on Wednesday to adopt tougher environmental standards in producing biofuels but said rich nations needed to pay up to help protect rain forests and their biodiversity. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of ethanol, which it derives from sugar cane. Critics say increased production is pushing cattle ranchers and farmers deeper into the Amazon and accelerating the destruction of the world's largest rain forest. "Biofuels are ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Polar Bears Listed As US Threatened Species
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48340/story.htm
Reuters: Polar bears were listed on Wednesday as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act because their sea ice habitat is melting away. However, this new protection does not aim to reduce climate change -- which environmentalists see as the cause of the bears' disappearing habitat -- or Arctic drilling for the fossil fuels that spur the climate-warming greenhouse effect. In announcing the government's decision one day ahead of a court-ordered deadline, Interior Secretary Dirk ...
Thu, 15 May 08
US Study Sees Threat From Big-Particle Pollutants
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48333/newsDate/14-May-2008/story.htm
Reuters: On days when there is a lot of dust and other large-particle pollutants in the air, slightly more elderly people go to hospital emergency rooms with heart problems, US researchers said on Tuesday. There was also an increase in hospital visits by elderly patients complaining of respiratory illnesses when "coarse," or large, particle pollution was plentiful, although the rise was not significant, the researchers said. "Though the evidence is mixed at this point, ...
Thu, 15 May 08
World's wildlife and environment already hit by climate change, major study shows
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/15/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange
Guardian: Global warming is disrupting wildlife and the environment on every continent, according to an unprecedented study that reveals the extent to which climate change is already affecting the world's ecosystems. Scientists examined published reports dating back to 1970 and found that at least 90% of environmental damage and disruption around the world could be explained by rising temperatures driven by human activity. Big falls in Antarctic penguin populations, fewer fish in African ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Change is accelerating in the greenhouse
http://www.smh.com.au/news/global-warming/change-is-accelerating-in-the-greenhouse/2008/05/15/1210764999707.html
Sydney Morning Herald: CLIMATE change enhanced by humans is taking its toll on the world's plants and animals and physical environment much more quickly than previously thought, scientists have warned. The message from a study was that climate change required an urgent response, said one of the scientists, David Karoly, from the University of Melbourne's school of earth sciences. The international research team found that many accounts of plants flowering early, birds changing migration habits, and ...
Thu, 15 May 08
US enacts law to protect polar bears, but only from hunting
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-enacts-law-to-protect-polar-bears-but-only-from-hunting-828369.html
Independent: The United States declared the polar bear a threatened species yesterday; saying the dramatic reduction in sea ice caused by global warming has put it in imminent danger of extinction. Yesterday marked the first time the US Endangered Species Act was used to protect a species threatened by climate change. The US Geological Survey says that two-thirds of the world's polar bears could be gone by 2050. The bears will only be protected from the direct effects of hunting, and some ...
Thu, 15 May 08
US lists polar bear as threatened
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7401940.stm
BBC: The United States has listed the polar bear as a threatened species, because its Arctic sea ice habitat is melting due to climate change. US government scientists predict that two-thirds of the polar bear population of 25,000 could disappear by 2050. However, the government stressed the listing would not lead to measures to prevent global warming. Environmentalists have expressed disappointment that more will not be done to protect the bear's habitat. US ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Fungal gene to help wheat and rice cope with climate change
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200805/s2245463.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Researchers at the Australian National University have identified a gene in algae that could help wheat and rice cope with climate change. Carbon dioxide levels are rising, and Australia's grain growing regions are getting drier. Professor Murray Badger says his research could improve the photosynthesis of wheat and rice, in an atmosphere of higher carbon dioxide concentrations. "If you can take simple genes such as algae and put it into a plant like wheat, you ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Global warming has changed behaviour of plants and animals over last 40 years, says NASA
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=566514&in_page_id=1770
Daily Mail: Global warming has altered the behaviour of thousands of species of plants and animals in the last 40 years, the biggest study of its kind suggsts. Scientists from the American space agency Nasa say there are now more than 27,000 examples of how nature has responded to warmer temperatures around the world since the early 1970s. They range from earlier springs in Britain and the movement north of insects and birds in Europe to avoid warmer weather, to changes in the hunting ...
Thu, 15 May 08
South California Faces Summer Power Challenge
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48349/story.htm
Reuters: Southern California's electricity system will be challenged this summer, and power emergencies may result if an extended drought leads to massive wildfires, the main US electricity reliability watchdog said on Wednesday. Southern California is the area that most concerns analysts at the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC), which on Wednesday issued its summer 2008 outlook. Of Southern California, NERC said, "capacity margins will remain tight. Significant ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Global warming under way 'earlier'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23701351-30417,00.html
Australian: PLANTS, animals, ice and waters worldwide have all been significantly affected by global warming triggered by human activity, says the first research to link the phenomenon to changes in biological and natural systems. Among the effects are earlier leafing of trees, movements of species to cooler climes, changes to bird migrations, melting glaciers and snow fields and shifts in fresh and marine ecosystems. Even agriculture and forestry are feeling the heat, claim scientists at ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Indonesia: Papua signs REDD carbon deal to generate income from rainforest protection
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0514-papua.html
Mongabay: The government of the Indonesian province of Papua has entered into an agreement with an Australian financial firm to establish a forestry-based carbon finance project on the island of New Guinea. The project – which could involve more than one million hectares – aims to create "a perpetual financial base for local communities" through carbon credits generated by forest conservation. "There is a high level of interest in establishing pilot projects for forest ...
Thu, 15 May 08
United States: How Schwarzenegger Is Trying to Finagle More Big Dam Construction
http://www.alternet.org/water/85420/
CounterPunch: California Governor Schwarzenegger wants to build two new dams -- Sites and Temperance Flat. They are being sold as necessary to cope with the reduction in Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Klamath Mountains snowpack expected as a result of climate change. New and "enhanced" storage are being marketed by Lester Snow, director of California's Department of Water Resources (DWR) as part of a "portfolio approach" which, in addition to "enhanced" storage, calls for urban ...
Thu, 15 May 08
US Protects Polar Bears Under Endangered Species Act
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=polar-bears-threatened
Scientific American: The U.S. Department of the Interior Wednesday listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 based on evidence that the animal's sea ice habitat is shrinking and is likely to continue to do so over the next several decades. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, however, made clear several times during a press conference announcing the department's decision that, despite his acknowledgement that the polar bear's sea ice habitat is melting due to ...
Thu, 15 May 08
Peruvian 'Switzerland' melting under climate change
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g8n5eIRSLGLNsbg-3mcgNQscN8BQ
Agence France-Presse: Peru's Cordillera Blanca, a snow-topped northern mountain range sometimes called the "Peruvian Switzerland," is slowly disappearing because of climate change, a key issue on the table of a Latin America-EU summit being held in Lima this week. The glaciers making up the range -- declared a natural world heritage site by UNESCO -- have steadily been shrinking, said Marco Zapata, the head of the glaciology unit of Peru's National Institute for Natural Resources. He ...
Thu, 15 May 08
United States: Polar Bear Gets Threatened Status Because of Warming
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=ao_2X.hb_Oiw&refer=home
Bloomberg: The U.S. declared the polar bear a threatened species, giving protected status for the first time to an animal because of global warming while also including provisions to ensure continued oil and gas development. The carnivore, which hunts on ice sheets that are shrinking because of higher Arctic temperatures, joins more than 1,200 species in the U.S. classified as threatened or endangered with extinction. The ruling, announced by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne at a Washington ...
Thu, 15 May 08
United States: U.S. lists the polar bear as threatened, but decision won't affect emissions rules
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0514-polar_bear.html
Mongabay: The U.S. Interior Department has decided to list the polar bear as a threatened species due to declining sea ice cover in the Arctic. The decision comes a day before a court-imposed deadline to decide whether the polar bear should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The listing could force the U.S. government to take measures to protect the bear's Arctic habitat which scientists say is melting partly as a result of the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Such ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Seed giants see gold in climate change
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JE15Dj02.html
Asia Times: First the biotech industry promised that its genetically engineered seeds would clean up the environment. Then they told us biotech crops would feed the world. Neither came to pass. Soon we'll hear that genetically engineered climate-hardy seeds are the essential adaptation strategy for crops to withstand drought, heat, cold, saline soils and more. After failing to convince an unwilling public to accept genetically engineered foods, biotech companies see a silver lining in climate ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Australia: Aid boost to UN's world development goals
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23694581-5013871,00.html
Australian: FOREIGN aid gets a $500 million boost to $3.7 billion in 2008-09, fast-tracking the UN's Millennium Development Goals by putting money behind the Rudd Government's symbolic embrace of the world body. The aid budget provides $1.3billion of new initiatives over four years, with the focus on poverty alleviation and regional security building. A commitment to invest $200million over four years in partnership with UN agencies marks a departure for a relationship left in the cold by the ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Global carbon market takes flight
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080514.wrcarbon14/BNStory/energy/home
Globe and Mail: Paul Ezekiel travels regularly from his Manhattan office to emerging markets like China and Brazil, prospecting for clean energy projects. Mr. Ezekiel's bank, Credit Suisse Group, finances more energy projects in the developing world than any other bank, but his far-flung trips bring something different to the table: His group provides financing based on a project's potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As managing director for energy trading and environmental markets, ...
Wed, 14 May 08
In Spain, the Pain of No Rain
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1739621,00.html
Time Magazine: On May 15, a tanker ship from Marseilles will pull into a specially equipped dock in Barcelona's busy port, connect to a new pipeline, and discharge a liquid cargo essential to the running of the city. The ship will not, however, be carrying oil or petroleum. It is the first of many shipments of drinking water that form part of a program to slake the thirst of this drought-plagued city. Other proposals, such as a controversial plan to divert water from the Ebro river, have pitted the Catalan ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Indonesia: Palm oil firms vow to stop using forests
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20080513.A07&irec=6
Jakarta Post: Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia pledged to stop expanding plantations into forests in response to growing global criticism about deforestation and to promote more sustainable products. Executive director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), Didiek Hadjar Goenadi, said here Monday palm oil companies would focus on utilizing idle land, including former forest concession areas, to maintain Indonesia as the world's largest crude palm oil producer. "We ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Stumping on Climate, McCain Faults Bush
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=99492
New York Times: Senator John McCain intensified his criticism of President Bush and the administration's environmental polices on Tuesday, taking a walk in the cold, rain-drenched foothills of the Cascade Mountains and asserting that in the effort to stem climate change, "America can lead and not obstruct." At an outdoor news conference in the Cedar River Watershed east of Seattle, Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, declared that "the president and I have disagreed on this ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Turbine Shortage, Rising Costs Stall $120 Billion of Wind Farms
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aqCMg0SbCbIU&refer=home
Bloomberg: Twenty-foot waves battered the Lisa A on the night of Sept. 16 in the Irish Sea, damaging two of the turbine-installation platform's undersea legs and forcing the crew to evacuate as it listed to 30 degrees. The barge has been out of service ever since, halting work on E.ON AG's Robin Rigg wind farm for seven of the past eight months because only one short-term replacement could be found. Equipment shortages and rising costs are stalling as much as $120 billion of offshore ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Burying trees might solve global CO2 problem
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/burying-trees-might-solve-global-co2-problem_10048579.html
Indo-Asian News Service: Scientists have suggested that burying trees might solve the global carbon dioxide (CO2) problem. Of the current global environmental problems, the excessive release of carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil fuels and the related global warming is one of the most pressing. Whereas other environmental problems can, at least in principle, be solved by the appropriate modern technology, there are no realistic solutions for the CO2 problem, said Fritz Scholz from the ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Australia: Greens want more focus on renewables
http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=482195
AAP: Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has renewed his attack on Labor's first budget, saying it prioritises "clean coal" technology over renewable energies. The Rudd government has missed an opportunity to take the country forward on a sustainable footing, he said. "This budget does flunk on climate change," Senator Brown told ABC Radio on Wednesday morning. "It puts a lot of money into clean coal which doesn't exist yet, puts very little ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Indian Ocean coral shows partial recovery
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL14788161
Reuters: Coral reefs in the Indian Ocean have partly recovered from the 1998 spike in sea temperatures, but climate change will probably hamper future conservation, a coral expert said on Wednesday. An unusual spike in sea temperatures a decade ago killed coral throughout the Indian Ocean, dropping the average healthy, hard coral cover to 15 percent of reefs from 40 percent before. Tim McClanahan, a coral expert with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said hard coral cover had ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Indonesia gets into hot water
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JE15Ae02.html
Asia Times: In the shadow of steep volcanic mountains, Indonesia is seeking to develop a cleaner future for its energy industry. Pressurized steam from a score or more of wells is piped to power generation plants a few kilometers away, feeding into the country's main Java-Bali power grid. There are no coal storage yards, no power plant smokestacks to mar the area's beauty or sully with soot the vegetable gardens that thrive in the rich volcanic soil. Indonesia appears ready to tap geothermal ...
Wed, 14 May 08
McCain warns India, China over warming
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/USA/McCain_warns_India_China_over_warming/articleshow/3037622.cms
Times of India: Any expectations that a John McCain presidency will mean a seamless transition in US-India ties with a revival of the Bush-driven civilian nuclear deal will have to be tempered by a tough warning he issued on Monday that India and China will be held to "international standards" on emissions with a possible risk of sanctions if they did not meet them. In a speech that marked a significant departure from the Bush line on global warming and also contained the seeds of a ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Sustainable Management of Tropical Peatland
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/bericht-109914.html
Innovations Report: They play an important role in climate regulation. Peatland reclamation for agriculture disrupts this role. UNIMAS is currently working on a sustainable management of the peatlands in Sarawak that would benefit the ecosystem and its dependent communities. Peatlands are the most extensive natural wetland ecosystems in South East Asia covering some 30 million ha of which 1.7 million ha are found in the coastal lowlands of Sarawak. They are well recognised for their roles as buffers ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Canada: Carbon tax minefield awaiting Dion
http://www.thestar.com/Canada/Columnist/article/425192
Toronto Star: Under the lush green grass of a promising election harvest on climate change is a carbon tax minefield that could cost Stéphane Dion the next federal campaign if it is not navigated carefully. Two recent Harris/Decima polls confirm that if the Liberal leader proceeds with a tentative plan to place a carbon tax at the centre of his platform, he will be taking a promising but unforgiving election path with little room for missteps. Taken together, the findings validate both the ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Cash tap turned on for water in Murray-Darling
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23695108-5013871,00.html
Australian: MORE than $900 million will be spent to upgrade water infrastructure in the Murray-Darling over the next two years ahead of the Government's 10-year plan to buy back water allocations from irrigators. The accelerated investment in improving water efficiency is part of the Rudd Government's $12.9billion Water for the Future package announced last month by Climate Change and Water Minister Penny Wong. The Government's initial $50million foray into buying allocations in the water ...
Wed, 14 May 08
United Nations Has A Tree-mendous Goal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302532.html
Washington Post: The United Nations is leading an effort to plant 7 billion trees worldwide -- to help protect the environment and slow climate change -- by the end of next year. The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), an organizer of the planting drive, had an initial goal of 1 billion trees by the end of 2007. "In 2006 we wondered if a billion-tree target was too ambitious; it was not," said Achim Steiner, head of UNEP. "The goal of planting 7 billion trees, equivalent to just ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Climate change barely bothers wealthy, polluting nations: study
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9942587-54.html
CNET: The bigger a nation's wealth and carbon footprint, the less its residents care about global warming. That's according to an online survey of 46 countries on every continent by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The prosperous Dutch appeared the least worried about the prospect of future rising oceans and wild card weather, even though half of the Netherlands lies one meter below sea level. The next least concerned were people in Russia, the United States, Latvia, and ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Climate Change in Washington
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051202398.html
Washington Post: SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee for president, yesterday promised a dramatic shift from Bush administration policy on global warming. "I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears," Mr. McCain said. "I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges." Since both Democratic candidates also support decisive action, climate change will get the aggressive attention it deserves from ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis and Climate Change Victims
http://www.progressive.org/?q=mag_wx051208
The Progressive: What's it going to take to get our government to wake up to the crisis of global warming? We've had Hurricane Katrina, now Burma's got Cyclone Nargis and there's a big earthquake in China. Now maybe not every single one of these events can be attributed to global warming, but scientists have been warning us for years that these are precisely the events that would become more pronounced as a result of climate change. As Democracy Now reported, "a top Indian group that ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Grain gives way to fuel
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080514/NEWS03/805140307/1013
Washington Post: Erwin Johnson picks up a clump of the dark, rich soil that he has farmed in Charles City, Iowa, for 35 years, like his father and grandfather before him. In a few months, this flat expanse of northern Iowa will be crowded with corn ready to be trucked to market. A year ago, that market got a little closer - and a lot better. Instead of sending his corn to a barge company to be shipped down the Mississippi River for export, Johnson now loads it into an open truck and sends it just two ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Massive deforestation of mangroves may have worsened scale of disaster in Burma
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0513-hance_mangroves.html
Mongabay: Weeks after the devastating cyclone Nagris struck Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta on May 2nd, scientists and the media are debating the role in the scale of the disaster played by the region's deforestation of mangroves. According to recent studies, mangrove forests act as a buffer against the effect's of tropical storms like Nagris, though scientists don't yet fully understand the relationship between storm mitigation and mangroves. Mangroves are saline coastal forests that include heavy ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Palm oil firms pledge to stop clearing rainforests in Indonesia
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0513-palm_oil.html
Mongabay: Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia pledged to stop clearing forests for new plantations, reports The Jakarta Post. The move is a response to growing criticism that oil palm expansion is destroying biologically-rich rainforests and contributing to global warming. Speaking in Jakarta at a seminar on climate change, agriculture and trade, Didiek Hadjar Goenadi, executive director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), said that palm oil companies would only develop ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Tornadoes are 'on a record pace'
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tornado13-2008may13,0,4637126.story
LA Times: The tornadoes that ripped through the Midwest and South over the weekend killed about two dozen people, officials said Monday, making 2008 the deadliest year so far for twisters in a decade. According to the National Weather Service, 96 people have lost their lives in a year that has seen an unusual number of storms. In 1998, 115 had perished by May 11. "It's certainly one of the biggest years we've had," said Harold Brooks, a meteorologist at the National Severe ...
Wed, 14 May 08
UN chief urges global leadership to combat food crisis
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g1DgKyCY7pR2h6amgMA1Fs5562Bg
Agence France-Presse: UN chief Ban Ki-moon called Monday for global leadership against the global food crisis as a United Nations task force met for the first time to design an action plan to curb soaring prices. During the closed-door meeting, Ban said "tackling this issue will require international leadership and coordination at the highest level," his press office said in a statement. The task force's primary aim is to "promote a comprehensive and unified response to the global ...
Wed, 14 May 08
World carbon dioxide levels highest for 650000 years, says US report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/13/carbonemissions.climatechange
Guardian: The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to the latest figures, renewing fears that climate change could begin to slide out of control. Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40% since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years. The figures, published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric ...
Wed, 14 May 08
2 billion trees planted in 18 months
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0513-trees.html
Mongabay: A campaign to plant one billion trees has planted more than 2 billion trees in just 18 months and now aims for seven billion, according to the UN Environment Programme, one of the backers of the initiative. The effort, launched in 2006, is an effort to address a number of environmental challenges including global warming, biodiversity loss, desertification, erosion, and freshwater availability. Trees have been planted in more than 150 countries with half the plantings occurring in ...
Wed, 14 May 08
46% of Brazil's energy comes from renewable sources
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0513-brazil.html
Mongabay: Preliminary data from Brazil's energy ministry shows that bioenergy derived from sugar cane surpassed hydroelectric power as Brazil's secondary largest source of energy in 2007, reports Biopact. The annual National Energy Balance report produced by Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (EPE) shows that 46.4 percent of Brazil's energy comes from renewable sources. By comparison, renewable energy accounts for 5.2 percent of power in OECD countries. In the U.S., about 7 percent of energy came ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Costa Rica plants more trees to become carbon neutral
http://www.france24.com/en/20080513-costa-rica-plants-more-trees-become-carbon-neutral
Agence France-Presse: Costa Rica will plant seven million trees in 2008 to soak up as many greenhouse gas emissions as it produces, in a bid to become the world's first carbon neutral nation, a top official said Monday. "The stated goal is to be the first neutral country as far as greenhouse gas emissions is concerned," said Energy and Environment Minister Roberto Dobles. "To get there, this administration is betting on halting deforestation and on the 'Plant a Tree' project," he ...
Wed, 14 May 08
McCain Breaks With Bush on Climate Policy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051202667.html
Washington Post: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made a sharp break with President Bush on Monday, saying that the United States should adopt mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions as well as issue tradable emissions credits to polluters to spur technological innovation. "The facts of global warming demand our urgent attention, especially in Washington," he said, speaking at a Portland training facility for Vestas Wind Technology. "We stand warned by serious and credible scientists ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Mosquito Thrives; So Does Dengue Fever
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=99448
New York Times: On a recent visit to Cambodia, outside a children's hospital a block from my hotel, I saw a large red-and-white sign that warned of a severe epidemic of dengue hemorrhagic fever. Years ago, the disease killed our tour guide's 5-year-old brother. My tripmates and I managed to escape even the milder form of this mosquito-borne viral infection – we all slept in an air-conditioned hotel and each day applied insect repellent with 30 percent DEET on our exposed skin. But I have since ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Sweet sorghum, clean miracle crop for feed and fuel
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jiCi1uAtKMzOCFcdbgF0XxjI4dow
Agence France-Presse: The hardy sweet sorghum plant could be the miracle crop that provides cheap animal feed and fuel without straining the world's food supply or harming the environment, said scientists working on a pilot farming project in India. "We consider sweet sorghum an ideal 'smart crop' because it produces food as well as fuel," William Dar, Director General of the non-profit International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) said in a statement. Sweet ...
Wed, 14 May 08
Two billion trees planted in UN campaign
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvuJKb2a3wXdlO5L7QI_HaLMij8Q
Agence France-Presse: More than two billion trees were planted around the world as part of the UN's campaign to combat climate change, the world body's environment programme (UNEP) said Tuesday in a statement. The Nairobi-based agency said the tree planting campaign, inspired by Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai, will help mitigate the effects of pollution and environmental deterioration. The campaign launched in 2006 saw two billion trees planted, double the original target, with Ethiopia ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Australia: 'Congestion' tax raises $100m
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/congestion-tax-raises-100m/2008/05/13/1210444438485.html
Age: THREE years and $100 million after the State Government introduced a congestion tax on long-stay car parking spaces in central Melbourne it has revealed it has no idea what effect the charge has had on reducing congestion or greenhouse gas emissions. The Government has also revealed that the tax on about 50,000 city car park spaces is being handled by the Department of Treasury, not the Department of Transport or VicRoads. The Government has argued that the levy's aim is to ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Energy Dept. says wind power could be savior
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/13/MNLE10L2KM.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Windmills spinning over the Great Plains and along the coasts could supply 20 percent of U.S. electricity by the year 2030 and put a significant dent in greenhouse gas emissions, federal officials said Monday. Although wind farms now generate just 1 percent of the nation's electricity, a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy found that wind power could play a far larger role in the future. It could supply roughly the same percentage of the nation's power as nuclear plants ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Honda says its new fuel cell vehicle is lighter, more efficient
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/13/business/AS-FIN-COM-Japan-Honda-Fuel-Cell.php
Associated Press: Honda's new hydrogen-powered vehicle, set for leasing within a few months, radically reduced the sizes of its fuel cell and motor for a superclean car with the same interior space as a regular car, engineers said Tuesday. That's a vast improvement from the company's first such model introduced nearly a decade ago. The fuel cell was so bulky that the car could barely seat one person – and crept along at a snail's pace. The new FCX Clarity reaches maximum speed of 160 kilometers ...
Tue, 13 May 08
McCain Differs With Bush on Climate Change
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=99337
New York Times: Senator John McCain sought to distance himself from President Bush on Monday as he called for a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, also pledged to work with the European Union to diplomatically engage China and India, two of the world's biggest polluters, if those nations refused to participate in an international agreement to slow global warming. In what his campaign promoted as a major ...
Tue, 13 May 08
World tree planting drive sets goal of 7 billion
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL1372707820080513
Reuters: A campaign to plant trees worldwide set a goal on Tuesday of seven billion by late 2009, just over one for each person on the planet, to help protect the environment and slow climate change. The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), an organizer of the tree planting drive begun in late 2006 with an initial goal of a billion by the end of 2007, said governments, companies and individuals had already pushed the total above 2 billion. It set a target on Tuesday of an extra five ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Australia: $2.3bn suite of climate change measures
http://www.news.com.au/business/money/story/0,25479,23693890-14327,00.html
News.com.au: HALF a million Australian homes will be able to reduce their impact on the environment and the little standby light on your TV will have a power limit as a result of a $2.3 billion suite of climate change measures planned by the Federal Government. Precise levels of emissions that should be reduced through the raft of measures in the 2008 Budget are not outlined, but the changes will affect everyone from home owners and renters to farmers and even forestry workers in Papua New ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Australia Spends Millions to Rescue Reef
http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4843829&page=1
Reuters: Australia will spend A$3.8 billion ($3.5 billion) to fight climate change, including A$200 million to rescue the Great Barrier Reef, as part of a four-year plan outlined in the government's budget on Tuesday. More than A$1 billion would be spent to improve renewable technologies like solar, wind and geothermal energy over six years, as well as clean-up heavy-polluting coal power, centre-left Labor said in its first budget since it last held power in 1995. "The government ...
Tue, 13 May 08
China: Govt fast-tracks clean coal spending
http://news.theage.com.au/govt-fasttracks-clean-coal-spending/20080513-2dot.html
Age: The federal government has ramped up its spending on climate change to an unprecedented $2.3 billion - but its decision to fast-track clean coal over renewable energy could provoke environmentalists. The four years of spending plans makes good on the government's election promise to overhaul the climate change budget. The fund includes $500 million for clean coal and $500 million for renewable energy, both to be spent over seven years. But the clean coal funds will be ...
Tue, 13 May 08
McCain Backs Limits on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90394736
National Public Radio: Republican presidential candidate John McCain is touting his plan to combat global warming as he stumps for votes this week in the Pacific Northwest. McCain travels to Washington state Tuesday for an environmental forum outside Seattle. On Monday, he was in Portland, Ore., where he visited the offices of a windmill company. McCain hopes his conservative approach to global warming will appeal to moderate Democrats as well as Republicans. It relies on the same market forces ...
Tue, 13 May 08
McCain rips Bush record on warming
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-mccain13may13,0,2369843.story
Chicago Tribune: John McCain launched a green-tinted courtship of West Coast swing voters on Monday, with a call to action on global warming and an indictment of the Bush administration's "failed" policies to combat it. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee visited the wind-power technology firm Vestas, near Portland International Airport, to decry melting polar ice, vanishing glaciers, changes in animal migration and "rising temperatures and waters," all products, he ...
Tue, 13 May 08
McCain's Climate 'Market'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121063565248086701.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: The latest stop on John McCain's policy tour came at an Oregon wind-turbine manufacturer, where the topic was – what else? – the Senator's plan to address climate change. This is one of those issues where Mr. McCain indulges his "maverick" tendencies, which usually means taking the liberal line. That was the case yesterday, no matter how frequently he claimed his approach was "market based." In fact, if "the market" is your favored mechanism, Mr. McCain's ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Australia: Rudd has flunked it on climate change: Bob Brown
http://business.smh.com.au/rudd-has-flunked-it-on-climate-change-bob-brown/20080513-2dq7.html
AAP: The Australian Greens view the Rudd government's first budget as a big letdown. Greens leader Bob Brown said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had "flunked" the test of climate change. "What a disappointment," Senator Brown told reporters. "This is, whatever else, not a green budget." "There's 40 times as much expenditure on defence as there is on arguably the biggest future threat to our country, which is climate change." Mr ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Study Links Air Pollution, Blood Clots In Veins
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48310/story.htm
Reuters: Air pollution heavy in small particles may cause blood clots in the legs, the same condition air travellers call "economy class syndrome" from immobility during flight, researchers said on Monday. Dr. Andrea Baccarelli of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues said they found the link after looking at 870 people in Italy who had developed deep vein thrombosis between 1995 and 2005. When compared with 1,210 others living in the same region who ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Australia: Water emerges as climate change priority
http://business.theage.com.au/water-emerges-as-climate-change-priority/20080513-2do8.html
Age: Water security efforts get a significant share of funds totaling $2.3 billion over five years to counter or cope with climate change. ''The effects of climate change mean most of Australia's cities and towns have less water, and we can no longer on rainfall to supply all our drinking water,'' Minister for Climate Change and Water Penny Wong said, in a statement accompanying the Federal Budget. The National Urban Water and Desalination Plan will get $1 billion, offering cities ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Wind could fuel 20% US electricity: report
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/424664
Toronto Star: Wind turbines could provide 20 per cent of U.S. electricity supplies by 2030, delaying development of new coal plants and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, says a U.S Energy Department report. The U.S. would need to add 300,000 megawatts of wind-power capacity to generate a fifth of demand forecast for 2030 by expanding annual installations to 16,000 megawatts in a decade, up from the 5,244 megawatts added last year. Wind will provide more than 1 per cent of U.S. power this ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Wind to fuel Sydney's desal plant
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/13/2243677.htm?section=australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Sydney's desalination plant will be powered by a south-west New South Wales wind farm under what Premier Morris Iemma has called Australia's biggest green energy industry contract. The 63-turbine Capital Wind Farm, run by Babcock and Brown, is under construction in Bungendore and will be operating before the plant is due to come on line in 2010. It is estimated it will cost at least $9 million a year to power the desalination plant. In announcing the deal today, Mr Iemma ...
Tue, 13 May 08
World CO2 levels highest for 650000 years: report
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200805131401.htm
Press Trust of India: Scientists have warned that climate change could soon begin to get out of control, with concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere touching a record high. Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in the US state of Hawaii say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40 per cent since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years. Based on some 11,000 ft high volcano, the Mauna Loa observatory ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Australia: $900m to boost Murray Darling basin
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23693909-5013871,00.html
Australian: The Rudd Government will spend more than $900 million to upgrade water infrastructure in the Murray Darling over the next two years ahead of its 10-year plan to buy back water allocations from irrigators. The accelerated investment in imporoving water efficieny is part of its $12.9 billion Water for the Future package announced last month by climate and water minister Penny Wong. The government's initial $50 million folray into buying up allocations in the water market in ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Charles hails CO2 offsetting scheme
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQxhTOS3wy6IxtKOdAkSUTPffmhw
Press Association: Prince Charles has helped Land Rover workers celebrate the firm's 60th anniversary and praised the company for its work to combat climate change. During a two-hour visit to Land Rover's plant in Solihull, West Midlands, the Prince also took delivery of a vehicle for use on an Ayrshire estate he helped to save for the nation. The £25,000 Land Rover County Station Wagon, given to honour Charles' own 60th birthday in November, will be used on the Dumfries House estate, which was ...
Tue, 13 May 08
United States: Defending state's emissions rules
http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_9242027
San Jose Mercury News: XIt wasn't exactly a California vs. auto industry smackdown, but the state's chief enforcer of stringent emissions controls defended those rules Monday before a tough crowd of several hundred automotive engineers and industry leaders. "I want you to know we are a car-loving state, from the days of the Beach Boys to Tesla Motors to 'Pimp My Ride,' " Mary Nichols, head of the Air Resources Board, told the Society of Automotive Engineers. After that ice-breaker, Nichols ...
Tue, 13 May 08
John McCain outlines a plan to tackle global warming
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-mccain13-2008may13,0,1841926.story
LA Times: Distancing himself from President Bush, John McCain pledged a new era of environmental stewardship Monday as he outlined his plan to address global warming, a cause he has embraced since activists hounded him during his 2000 run for president. At a wind turbine manufacturer here, McCain called for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by mid-century and pledged to take the lead in pressing rising economic powers India and China to cut emissions. "I will not shirk the ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Largest EU Bio-Refinery To Come Onstream H1 2009
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48318/story.htm
Reuters: The largest biorefinery in the European Union should be up and running in the first half of next year, consuming a substantial chunk of Britain's exportable wheat surplus, the head of UK biofuels firm Ensus said. Ensus chief executive Alwyn Hughes told Reuters the plant, which the company is building in Wilton, northeast England, will make bioethanol and a protein rich animal feed co-product from about 1.2 to 1.3 million tonnes of British wheat. "We are well into ...
Tue, 13 May 08
McCain proposes system to cut greenhouse gases
http://www.miamiherald.com/political-currents/story/530745.html
Miami Herald: Wooing independent voters, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain called Monday for reductions in carbon emissions and criticized the Bush administration for failing to lead the fight against climate change. ''We have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. . . . We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great,'' McCain said in a speech delivered at a wind-energy facility in ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Mysterious Arctic whale under threat from changing habitat
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/13/endangeredspecies.endangeredhabitats
Guardian: Polar bears may get more attention – and later this week a court-ordered decision by the US government will almost certainly see them listed as a threatened species – but new research suggests the narwhal, the mysterious whale with a long spiral tusk, may be more at risk from climatic change. Researchers fear that the narwhal is so attuned to its environment, so narrow in its range of habitat and specific in diet, that it may be one of the least able of Arctic mammals to adapt to rapid ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Australia: New resources tax, and less drought aid, in Federal Budget
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200805/s2243724.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Federal Government hopes to cut back drought assistance in the coming financial year, and has balanced new Budget spending in agriculture with cuts to other programs. The Rudd Government's first Budget also imposes an immediate new tax on the North West Shelf gas producers. Total spending on agriculture, forestry and fisheries for the next financial year is estimated at just under three billion dollars. But the drought is the wild card. There's a big cut - 25 ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Norway CO2 emissions up as StatoilHydro flares gas
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSL1349682420080513
Reuters: Norway's emissions of greenhouse gases rose almost 3 percent in 2007 to a record high, boosted by the opening of a liquefied natural gas plant by state-controlled StatoilHydro (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), Statistics Norway said on Tuesday. Emissions by the world's number five oil exporter climbed to the equivalent of 55.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2007 from 53.5 million in 2006 and were 11 percent above 1990 levels, the benchmark for the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol on ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Sweet Sorghum Promoted As 'Smart' Biofuel
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48308/story.htm
Reuters: A corn-like plant that can grow as high as an elephant's eye on some of Earth's driest farmland shows promise as a "smart" biofuel that won't cut into world food supplies, an agriculture expert said on Monday. Sweet sorghum, used in the United States mostly as animal feed, offers a 10-foot (3 metre) stalk that can be turned into ethanol without damaging the food grain that grows at its top, Mark Winslow said in an interview. Unlike corn-based ethanol, which uses one ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Antarctic Melt Releasing DDT, Tainting Penguins
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080512-penguins-ddt.html
National Geographic: Poisonous chemicals that had been locked in ice for decades are now being released as climate change melts Antarctic glaciers, researchers report. The chemicals, including the pesticide DDT, are seeping into the polar ecosystem and finding their way into wildlife populations. Scientists made the discovery when studying the levels of pollutants in the fat and eggs of Adélie penguins. DDT has been banned or severely restricted since the 1970s because it and other so-called ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Democratic candidates play up "clean coal"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1231769120080512
Reuters: Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are talking more about "clean coal" and less about global warming as they woo voters in West Virginia and Kentucky -- two states that sit at the heart of the nation's coal economy. In a bid to draw voters ahead of Democratic primaries in West Virginia on Tuesday and Kentucky on May 20, both candidates are playing up the ascendant role of commercially untested and so far economically nonviable ways of converting America's plentiful coal ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Myanmar: Destruction of Mangrove forests increased devastating impact of Cyclone Nagris
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/destruction-of-mangrove-forests-increased-devastating-impact-of-cyclone-nagris_10047688.html
Indo-Asian News Service: A new report has established that the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Burma on May 2, could have been lessened if mangrove forests had been conserved along the nations coastlines. According to a report in ENN (Environmental News Network), mangrove forests and coastal greenbelts can act like buffer zones when such natural disasters strike a country. This latest disaster in Burma is a grim reminder of other recent natural disasters, said Alfredo Quarto, executive ...
Tue, 13 May 08
How Bangladesh Is Preparing for Climate Change
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,552811,00.html
Spiegel: Dutch engineers are helping people in Bangladesh build dikes, polders and water-retaining structures to protect them against recurring floods. Despite climate change, the country could even grow. Ultimately, though, the greatest threat in Bangladesh comes not from water but from political chaos. Fortunato Carvajal Monar is in the land-making business. And this Saturday morning is shaping up to be the beginning of a good workday. The sun strikes the dirty water of the Ganges ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Japan scientists warn Arctic ice melting fast
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUST22148420080512
Reuters: Arctic ice is melting fast and the area covered by ice sheets in ocean could shrink this summer to the smallest since 1978 when satellite observation first started, Japanese scientists warned in a report. Ice sheets in the Arctic Ocean shrank to the smallest area on record in late summer in 2007, researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said in a report on the website (http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/imgdata/topics/2008/tp080430.html). "The sea ice in the Arctic Ocean ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Lula: Brazil To Invest BRL1B To Tackle Amazon Deforestation
http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=20080512015290
Dow Jones: The Brazilian government will provide 1 billion Brazilian reals ($597 million) to tackle deforestation in the Amazon, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the government news agency Radiobras Monday. Lula said the BRL1 billion will be used to tackle deforestation, allow for reforestation and control the environment. In January, the government reported a surprising 3,200 square kilometers of forest were cut down over the last five months, with a record-breaking 1,922 ...
Tue, 13 May 08
McCain appeals to independents with environment pitch
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/12/mccain.climate/
CNN: Kicking off a week-long push seen as outreach to independent and Democratic voters in crucial swing states, John McCain on Monday will deliver a speech outlining his vision for combating global warming. Sen. John McCain's stance on global warming has put him at odds with some members of his party. "We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," McCain will say in Portland, Oregon, according to ...
Tue, 13 May 08
McCain Says China Must Play Equal Role on Emissions
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=avbj6XrMrv_4&refer=india
Bloomberg: China and India must take equal responsibility with the U.S. and other industrialized nations in cutting global warming pollution, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said. ``No nation should be exempted from its obligations,'' McCain said in the text of a speech he is to deliver later today in Portland, Oregon. ``Least of all should we make exceptions for the very countries that are accelerating carbon emissions while the rest of us seek to reduce emissions.'' ...
Tue, 13 May 08
McCain splits with Bush on climate change
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jMQvzgct_SiDl1NfhiPpEiVmGulg
Agence France-Presse: Republican White House candidate John McCain will Monday tack sharply away from President George W. Bush on climate change, saying he will not "shirk" from the need for US global leadership. The Arizona senator was due to propose a cap-and-trade system designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, in remarks which will clearly separate him from the skepticism on global warming which has marked Bush's presidency. The initiative will also signal that McCain plans to ...
Tue, 13 May 08
New Wave of Nuclear Plants Faces High Costs
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121055252677483933.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: A new generation of nuclear power plants is on the drawing boards in the U.S., but the projected cost is causing some sticker shock: $5 billion to $12 billion a plant, double to quadruple earlier rough estimates. Nuclear power is regaining favor as an alternative to other sources of power generation, such as coal-fired plants, which have fallen out of favor because they are major polluters. But the high cost could lead to sharply higher electricity bills for consumers and inevitably ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Protected Areas Used to Expand Indonesian Oil Palm Plantations
http://au.biz.yahoo.com/080512/17/1ql4y.html
Antara: The expansion of oil palm plantations in the regency of Kapuas Hulu in Indonesia's West Kalimantan has crossed the border into protected forests, the semi official news agency Antara reported. Expansion has entered the 200,000 hectare Heart Of Borneo, which has been agreed to be preserved between three neighboring countries Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, said Haryono, the coordinator for forest Communication Issue of the World Wide Fund for Nature in West Kalimantan. Nine ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Research labs producing too much CO2
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2008/05/12/research_labs_producing_too_much_co2/2099/
United Press International: A Canadian scientist says university research laboratories are producing too much carbon dioxide, thereby contributing to global warming. University of Montreal Professor of biochemistry Herve Philippe says he's a committed environmentalist. But he discovered his own research produces 44 tons of CO2 annually. The average citizen produces 20 tons. "I did my Ph.D. on nucleotide sequencing in the hope of advancing our knowledge of biodiversity, but I never thought the ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Talking about an 'evergreen revolution'
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/12/business/FOOD.phpq
Reuters: Forty years after he helped rescue the world from growing famine and a deepening gloom over the future of food supplies, Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is once again agitating for an agricultural revolution - this time a perpetual one. The 82-year-old scientist, regarded in India as the father of the Green Revolution for helping develop a hybrid wheat seed that allowed Indian farmers to dramatically increase yields, said the current food crisis offered the world a chance to put ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Wind can produce 20 pct US electricity by 2030-DOE
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN1247504020080512
Reuters: Wind energy could provide 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030, the same share of electricity now generated by nuclear power plants, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Monday. In a report gauging the feasibility of wind power, the Energy Department found that wind energy could meet 20 percent of America's electricity needs by increasing the annual number of turbine installations from 2,000 in 2006 to almost 7,000 in 2017. "To dramatically reduce greenhouse gas ...
Tue, 13 May 08
World CO2 levels reach record high
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/12/climatechange.carbonemissions
Guardian: The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to new figures that renew fears that climate change could begin to slide out of control. Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40% since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years. The figures, published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric ...
Tue, 13 May 08
'Oil Shockwave' scenario: How the US might deal with a terrorist strike
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0512/p25s01-wmgn.html
Christian Science Monitor: News flash: Terrorists sink an oil tanker, blocking the vital Bosporus Strait. Oil rockets to $160 a barrel and gasoline to $5 a gallon in the United States. What can keep the globe's biggest oil-guzzling economy from running dry? Hunched in a war room, top officials are thrashing out the nation's options beneath illuminated screens depicting diving stock and energy markets. In minutes they must tell the president how to help the nation survive what some call the worst "oil shock ...
Tue, 13 May 08
United Kingdom: Climate change chief says optimistic
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL125247120080512
Reuters: Adair Turner, the head of the new Climate Change Committee, sees some tough times ahead guiding the government towards legal carbon reduction goals but says he is quietly confident of success. The committee that will become a legal entity when the Climate Change Bill becomes law later this year will have to decide what cuts should be achieved by 2050, set five-year carbon budgets and monitor government progress annually. "A lot of the progress we have made in reducing ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Environmental Stances Are Balancing Act For McCain
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/05/11/ST2008051102016.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Washington Post: In December 2005, Republicans were poised to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, an achievement they had sought for decades. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had attached the provision to a must-pass defense spending bill and threatened to keep lawmakers in Washington until Christmas if they tried to strip it. Desperate to remove the provision, leaders from national environmental groups turned to a handful of key GOP senators for ...
Tue, 13 May 08
Greenland: Fewer Caribou Born as Warming Causes Missed Meals
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080512-caribou-warming.html
National Geographic: Greenland's caribou work up quite a hunger during their long migrations. But global warming now has the animals arriving late for dinner–and paying a heavy price. Fewer caribou calves are being born in the western part of the Danish island, and those that are born have slimmer chances of surviving, a new study reports. The declines are tied to availability of the willows, sedges, and flowering tundra herbs that caribou and their newborns feed on in spring. As global ...
Tue, 13 May 08
McCain pledges to combat climate change
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN0841830720080512
Reuters: Republican John McCain pledged to take the lead in combating global climate change if elected president in a speech that set him apart from the policies of President George W. Bush. In remarks he prepared to give at a wind technology firm in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, the Arizona senator said he would seek international accords to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and would offer an incentive system to make businesses in the United States cleaner. "The facts of global ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Arctic ice seen shrinking to smallest size recorded
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080512TDY01301.htm
Daily Yomiuri: Ice sheets in the Arctic Ocean could shrink this summer to the smallest area on record since satellite observation of the sheets began in 1978, according to researchers. Researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency made the prediction based on their analysis of satellite images. JAXA's satellite observations from September last year showed that the area covered by ice sheets in the Arctic Ocean had withered to the smallest on record. Arctic ice is gradually shrinking ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Japan: Govt to seek 'up to 80%' emissions cut by 2050
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080512TDY01305.htm
Daily Yomiuri: In its measures against global warming, which are expected to be unveiled in June, the government may call for a 60-percent to 80-percent cut in domestic greenhouse gas emissions from current levels by 2050, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Sunday. Four Cabinet ministers, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura and Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita, are among those discussing the issue. They will start coordinating opinions over the measure this week, although Prime ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Australia: Greens split on clean coal
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23681047-30538,00.html
Australian: LAST month, a group of 25 environmental activists staged an impromptu demonstration outside the Sydney offices of yet another global organisation. But this time it wasn't a multinational mining or oil company that was the target, but the environment group WWF. They were protesting against WWF's decision to partner with the coal industry, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the environment think tank the Climate Institute in working to accelerate the development of ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Australia: NSW power play stirs up a giant of global warming
http://business.theage.com.au/nsw-power-play-stirs-up-a-giant-of-global-warming/20080511-2d1h.html
Age: SOONER or later, some anti-privatisation activist will start doing background checks on China Huaneng Group, which is at the front of the queue to bid for $15 billion in NSW power assets. They'll see that Sydney might soon be powered by the world's biggest corporate contributor to global warming. What's more, according to the company's own glossy hand-outs, Huaneng is "a red company that strives to serve the socialist economy with Chinese characteristics". It is a polluting, ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Why pump prices need to stay high
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0512/p08s01-comv.html
Christian Science Monitor: Driving less? More than two-thirds of car owners already are. It's a natural reflex to $50-$70 tank fill-ups. But US drivers may also know it's time to pay a price to curb global warming. That may be one reason they reject the campaign stunt of urging a holiday for the federal gas tax. US politicians can't have it both ways. Most seek the type of solutions for climate change that would raise energy costs, yet they are now trying to prevent the very kind of high pump prices that help ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Australia: Climate policy to hurt agriculture in short term
http://business.theage.com.au/climate-policy-to-hurt-agriculture-in-short-term/20080511-2d18.html
Age: THE Federal Government's climate change policy will have a much bigger initial impact on agriculture than climate change itself. That was a key message delivered to a farming and climate change conference by Mick Keogh, executive director of the Australian Farm Institute. Agribusiness Gippsland organised the conference in Warragul. Mr Keogh said the introduction of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2010 would be "a significant challenge in the short to medium ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Australia: Goward urges planned climate change strategy
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/12/2241524.htm?site=illawarra
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The New South Wales Opposition's spokeswoman for environment and climate change and the Member for Goulburn, Pru Goward, says the Federal Government needs to implement a planned strategy to deal with the effects of climate change, rather than throwing cash at the problem. The Federal Government has announced it is looking to allocate more than $2 billion towards fighting climate change when it hands down its first Federal Budget tomorrow night. Ms Goward says the Government's ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Civilization's last chance
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-mckibben11-2008may11,0,2392815.story
LA Times: Even for Americans -- who are constitutionally convinced that there will always be a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary, a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start -- even for us, the world looks a little terminal right now. It's not just the economy: We've gone through swoons before. It's that gas at $4 a gallon means we're running out, at least of the cheap stuff that built our sprawling society. It's that when we try to turn ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Japan aims to cut emissions by 60-80 pct by 2050: reports
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ikG4SuOvUBuqe7lX7dhbsWWPczSw
Agence France-Presse: Japan aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by between 60 and 80 percent by 2050, news reports said on Sunday, as part of measures setting out the country's long term environmental goals. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is expected to announce the target as early as June, the Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun newspapers said. For the year to March 2007, Japan's total volume of greenhouse gas emissions was estimated at 1,341 million tons, up 6.4 percent from the 1990 level, used as the ...
Mon, 12 May 08
United States: Cool ideas for an energy-saving summer and future
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbenergy0511sbmay11,0,409603.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel: With summer heat around the corner, some consumers came to the South Florida Ideas Exchange on Saturday looking for simple ways to save energy and save money on their home electric bills. It's easier than you think, some expert panelists said. Some simple suggestions: Replace incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs. Set the air-conditioner thermostat at 78 degrees or higher. Use ceiling fans. Limit opening the refrigerator. Clean or regularly ...
Mon, 12 May 08
United States: Dry summer could spell nasty wildfire season
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20080510/NEWS/53722284/0/FRONTPAGE
Associated Press: With millions of trees ravaged by bark beetles, Colorado is bracing for what could be a nasty wildfire season this year even as federal officials say they're ready. Gov. Bill Ritter met with state and federal officials at the governor's annual fire season briefing Friday and warned that forecasts for a warm, windy summer could significantly increase the number of wildfires. He said a large snowpack this year means more grass to fuel flames. Colorado's wildfire season got off to ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Canada: Global warming tied to Arctic caribou decline
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/unwind/story.html?id=8ca0fb33-f330-4fa7-96fd-59c2a3eb52d3
Province: In the summer of 1996, biologist Frank Miller was flying along the coast of Bathurst Island searching for Peary caribou, found only in the High Arctic of Canada, when he spied a dark spot on the sea ice. Flying in for a look, he could see these animals were not the caribou he was looking for. They were muskoxen. The circle of animals didn't bolt. Miller got the pilot to land a few hundred metres away. Even as he approached on foot, the herd didn't flinch. As he moved closer, it ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Japan to Set Goal of Cutting Emission 80% by 2050, Nikkei Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a_IqDuAw5tAw&refer=japan
Bloomberg: Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will set a goal of cutting the country's greenhouse gas emissions as much as 80 percent by 2050, Nikkei reported, without saying where it got the information from. The announcement may come as early as the beginning of June, as Japan prepares to host a Group of Eight summit at Lake Toya in Hokkaido the following month, the newspaper said. Environment ministers from the G8 and nine other nations will also meet in Japan this month to speed ...
Mon, 12 May 08
Canada: Environmentalists, energy companies look to U.S. for decision on polar bears
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFLdlnf0UgiK_2e4IXPsFklu9PzA
Canadian Press: Canadian environmentalists and energy companies will be looking to the American government this week for a decision that will affect everything from the economy of remote northern communities to how this country's energy is sold in the U.S. After months of delay, a court order will force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to declare Thursday whether or not it believes polar bears are endangered. "It's coming to a head," said Pete Ewins of the World Wildlife Fund. ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Climate change key to future food crisis
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/The_Sunday_ET/Climate_change_key_to_future_food_crisis/articleshow/3028817.cms
Economic Times: Is this a price blip? No. A food shortage? Not that either. Farmers across the world produced a record 2.3 billion tonnes of grain in 2007, up 4% on the previous year. Since 1961, the world's cereal output has tripled, while the population has doubled. Stocks are at their lowest level in 30 years, it's true, but the bottomline is that there is enough food produced in the world to feed the population. Yet the price of wheat has gone up by 130% over the last year. Rice has doubled in ...
Sun, 11 May 08
United States: White House vs white bear: Judge says Bush must decide whether to save the polar bear as the ice melts
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/white-house-vs-white-bear-judge-says-bush-must-decide-whether-to-save-the-polar-bear-as-the-ice-melts-825924.html
Independent: It's a classic stand-off between one of the world's best loved animals and one of its most unpopular leaders, between the planet's largest bear and its most powerful man. And it comes to a head this week. On Thursday, by order of a federal judge, George W Bush must stop stalling on whether to designate the polar bear as a species endangered by global warming. The designation could have huge consequences for his climate-change policies; his administration would, by law, have to avoid ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Japan eyes new emissions cut goal for 2050 - media
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUST198490
Reuters: Japan, the world's fifth biggest polluter, will announce a target next month for cutting domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 60-80 percent from current levels by 2050, media reported on Sunday. The target, more ambitious than Japan's current proposal for the world to halve emissions by 2050, is aimed at boosting its leadership in climate talks as host of the Group of Eight summit in July, the Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun newspapers said. While the European Union and Canada also ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Australia: Parched forests get an overdue drink
http://www.theage.com.au/news/environment/parched-forests-get-an-overdue-drink/2008/05/10/1210131335204.html
Age: THOUSANDS of red gums on the brink of death have been saved – temporarily at least – after 17 billion litres of water were released from dams to boost Victoria's ailing Murray wetlands. The water sparked an immediate response from the environment. Hundreds of frogs spawned, waterbirds arrived and tortoises laid eggs. Many of the areas targeted had not seen water for two years. Numbers of waterbirds have dropped by two-thirds during the 11-year drought. About 10,000 red gums – ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Russia may hold on to emission rights: expert
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL092988920080510
Reuters: Russia may decide to hold onto its greenhouse gas emissions rights under the Kyoto Protocol, at least until the details of a successor treaty are clearer, a Russian expert said. The United Nations' Kyoto Protocol allows industrialized countries to meet greenhouse gas targets by buying emissions rights from each other or from clean energy projects in developing nations. One controversial scheme under the agreement allows industrialized countries which are comfortably below their ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Climate change plea from tribe of herders who face extinction
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-plea-from-tribe-of-herders-who-face-extinction-825424.html
Independent: Olav Mathias-Eira is a reindeer-herder. So was his father. And his father's father. He is a member of the Sami community, one of the largest indigenous groups remaining in Europe, and his family have been herding reindeer in the same stretch of the Norwegian Arctic since the 1400s. But, because of climate change, their lifestyle, unchanged for centuries, is now at risk. So Mr Mathias-Eira, 50, has travelled to Britain to issue an urgent plea in the hope that his people and livelihood ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Enviro-Celebs Big Fuel Fiends
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05102008/gossip/pagesix/enviro_celebs_big_fuel_fiends_110248.htm
New York Post: THE world's top celebrities are total hypocrites when it comes to saving the environment and stopping global warming . Writing in Britain's Daily Mail, former Page Sixer Tom Sykes details the fuel-guzzling ways of boldfaces who profess great concern for the earth, air and oceans. Madonna's carbon footprint for 2006 was estimated at 1,018 tons - more than 100 times that of the average British resident. For New Year's Eve, Madge, her family and five pals flew to India on a ...
Sun, 11 May 08
European Commission backs Kyoto CO2 trading reform
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN0951545520080509
Reuters: The European Commission says it is standing by a call to overhaul U.N.-led carbon trading rules to make it more difficult for developing nations to earn offset credits from cutting greenhouse gas emissions. At present, rich countries can meet their own carbon emissions limits under the Kyoto Protocol by investing in clean energy projects in the developing world. That scheme, called the Clean Development Mechanism, needs reform after 2012, when the first round of Kyoto expires, ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Fire managers predict bad year for blazes
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0843516620080510
Reuters: U.S. fire managers are forecasting a grim year for blazes in drought-plagued Western states, just weeks after a premature start to the Southwest's wildfire season. This comes even as the U.S. Forest Service, the lead agency for fighting fires on vast swaths of public and private lands, is reassessing a years-old model that sought to contain all blazes at all times. Environmental and financial strains paired with demographic changes have made that strategy ineffective in an era ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Indonesia: Palm oil wiping out key orangutan habitat: activists
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=944bb22c-e485-44f3-9103-de0a5eddf587&k=96840
Agence France-Presse: One of the biggest populations of wild orangutans on Borneo will be extinct in three years without drastic measures to stop the expansion of palm oil plantations, conservationists said Wednesday. "For Central Kalimantan, the species will be gone as soon as three years from now," Centre for Orangutan Protection director Hardi Bhaktiantoro told a press conference. More than 30,000 wild orangutans live in the forests of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, or more ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Sahara made slow transition from green to desert: study
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jsVAWYcvKwSIPYHT5JEO1UpuEHrw
Agence France-Presse: The Sahara became the world's biggest hot desert some 2,700 years ago after a very slow fade from green, according to a new study which clashes with the theory that desertification came abruptly. Six thousand years ago, the massive arid region dominating northern Africa was quite green, a patchwork of trees and savannas as well as many sparkling lakes. The region, larger than Australia, also was inhabited, according to the European-US-Canadian team of scientists behind a study ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Dengue cases in Philippines rise by 34 percent: government
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gQPuZIguyy-1mr-pWjDYUsDJC4Dg
Agence France-Presse: The Philippines recorded 9,176 cases of dengue fever nationwide from January 1 to April 5 this year, an increase of almost 34 percent over the same period last year, the health department said Saturday. Deaths due to dengue fever reached 108 in the year to April 5, a sharp increase from the 74 deaths recorded in the same period last year, according to figures released by the department. Majority of the victims were male with the youngest victim one month old and the oldest 87 ...
Sun, 11 May 08
From Bountiful to Barren: Rainfall Decrease Left the Sahara Out to Dry
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=from-bountiful-to-barren-sahara-desert
Scientific American: In a finding that may help scientists better predict the pace of climate change, research published in Science shows how the Sahara Desert, a region as big as the U.S. that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea across northern Africa, went from bountiful to bone-dry over a period of several thousand years. Scientists peered into the Sahara's verdant past by analyzing sediment samples drilled out of the bottom of one of the desert's last living lakes. The samples revealed ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Canada: Getting ahead of world's climate change storm
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1022188
Welland Tribune: Ahead of the Storm is a City of Toronto report that should be on the desk of every mayor in Ontario. Its authors describe it as "an action-oriented framework that is designed to help members of the public and other stakeholders engage in the process of designing and implementing a climate change adaptation strategy for Toronto." Developed by the city with the assistance of the excellent Clean Air Partnership, it shows a clear understanding of the issues. It is a ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Senator poses 'grand challenges' for energy independence
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5768527.html
Associated Press: Sen. Lamar Alexander drew a standing ovation from scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Friday as he proposed a massive national commitment to clean energy and reducing dependence on foreign oil. "I propose that the United States launch a new Manhattan Project for clean energy," the Tennessee Republican said, "with the goal of making our nation independent within a generation." Alexander is not the first to compare "the sense of ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Australian scientists study impact of climate change on Southern ocean
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200805/s2240917.htm?tab=australia
Radio Australia: Australian scientists in Hobart are researching one of the smallest marine animals to find out what impact climate change is having on the southern ocean. Linda Hunt reports, krill play an important role in the food web of the Antarctic ecosystem. "The shrimp-like crustacean is abundant in Antarctic waters and it's an important food source, not only for whales, but seals, penguins and fish. Dr Andrew Constable from the Australian Antarctic Division is researching krill and ...
Sun, 11 May 08
United Kingdom: Cash cuts see green grants halved
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7393918.stm
BBC: The number of government grants made to people who want to fit solar panels or other green energy systems to their homes has halved, the BBC has learned. It comes after the low carbon buildings programme cut the maximum grant on offer from £7,500 to £2,500. The Renewable Energy Association, which says the programme is failing, has accused ministers of complacency. But the government says uptake went up considerably last month after the need for planning permission was ...
Sun, 11 May 08
French make first firm offer for UK nuclear generator
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/10/britishenergygroupbusiness.nuclear
Guardian: The French power group EDF yesterday submitted a firm all-cash offer to buy British Energy, emerging as the sole bidder for Britain's main nuclear power producer. The state-owned group is believed to have offered closer to 600p than the 700p a share originally talked of. Last night EDF also confirmed it had bought land next to two nuclear power plants in Britain - a move seen in France as preparing for a defeat in the BE bidding. It wants to build up to four of the possible 10 ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Fuelling a famine; 'Grain gasoline' takes food of world's table
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1022978
Niagara Falls Review: Soaring global prices for food and fuel, apart from sweeping hardship and expense, have soured relations between two traditional allies. Aid workers have watched helplessly these past weeks as the escalating cost of staples translated into less food globally for those who need it most. In pointing the finger at causes, they blame in part increased use of greener, cleaner biofuels made from crops such as corn. Effectively, biofuels are taking food out of the mouths of ...
Sun, 11 May 08
United Kingdom: Some birds adjust to rising temperatures, study finds
http://www.contracostatimes.com/nationandworld/ci_9213742
LA Times: Researchers have found that at least one bird population in England has managed to adjust to global warming. The birds, members of the great tit species, have timed their breeding season over the past five decades so their chicks hatch when their main food source, the winter moth caterpillar, is most abundant, the researchers reported Friday in the journal Science. "It's kind of good news to know that some birds can adjust," said Anne Charmantier, an evolutionary biologist ...
Sun, 11 May 08
8 Ways to Fix the Global Food Crisis
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/05/09/8-ways-to-fix-the-global-food-crisis.html
US News and World Report: The world food crisis has two faces. Here in the United States, shoppers stare in disbelief at the rising price of milk, meat, and eggs. But elsewhere on the globe, anguish spills into the streets, as in Somalia last week when tens of thousands of rioters converged on the capital to protest for food. The strain on U.S. consumers, grappling with the sharpest increase in grocery prices in years, is small compared with the starvation that toppled Haiti's government, ignited riots around ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Brazil warns EU on green biofuel controls
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09490049.htm
Reuters: Brazil will contest any attempt by the European Union to place limits on biofuel exports because of environmental concerns, a senior Brazilian official said on Friday. The European Union's environment chief said last month that biofuels, which Brazil hopes to export to the EU, must meet certain criteria regarding potential harm to the environment and social conditions. It is now discussing guidelines. "If the criteria were trade-distorting we will appeal," Andre ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Global cooling theories put scientists on guard
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL0982254220080509
Reuters: A new study suggesting a possible lull in manmade global warming has raised fears of a reduced urgency to battle climate change. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of hundreds of scientists, last year said global warming was "unequivocal" and that manmade greenhouse gas emissions were "very likely" part of the problem. And while the study published in the journal Nature last week did not dispute manmade global warming, it did ...
Sun, 11 May 08
United Kingdom: 'Early Birds' Adapt To Climate Change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509113330.htm
Science Daily: Individual birds can adjust their behaviour to take climate change in their stride, according to a study by scientists from the University of Oxford. A study of the great tit (Parus major) population in Wytham Woods, near Oxford, has shown that the birds are now laying their eggs, on average, two weeks earlier than half a century ago. The change in their behaviour enables them to make the most of seasonal food: a bonanza of caterpillars that now also occurs around two weeks earlier due ...
Sun, 11 May 08
Dry summer could spell dangerous Colo. wildfire season
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20080509/NEWS/340609235/-1/rss02
Associated Press: With millions of trees ravaged by bark beetles, state and federal officials said Friday they are prepared for what could be a nasty wildfire season this year. Gov. Bill Ritter met with the officials at the governor's annual fire season briefing where he said the forecast calls for a warm, windy summer that could significantly increase the number of wildfires. The wildfire season began tragically when a rekindled fire started a wildfire in Ordway last month, killing two ...
Sat, 10 May 08
Australia: Another 'big dry' forecast for irrigators
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/another-big-dry-forecast-for-irrigators/2008/05/09/1210131264208.html
Sydney Morning Herald: ANOTHER devastating year is on the cards for many irrigators in the Murray-Darling Basin. Autumn has seen a return to near-record low inflows and history has proved that a dry autumn usually means the rest of the year will be dry. Although a La Nina weather pattern brought sometimes flooding rains to parts of NSW and Queensland over summer, the head of the Bureau of Meteorology's National Climate Centre, Michael Coughlan, warned yesterday that eastern Australia was drifting ...
Sat, 10 May 08
Australia: Labor ignored warning over desal plant costs
http://www.theage.com.au/news/environment/labor-ignored-warning-over-desal-plant-costs/2008/05/09/1210131265777.html
Age: PIPING recycled sewage to reservoirs in Melbourne's east would be a cheaper and less environmentally damaging solution to the city's water crisis than desalination, the State Government was told two years ago. The conclusion was made in documents prepared for the State Government in 2006, more than a year before it decided to proceed with the $3.1 billion Wonthaggi desalination plant. Written by contractor GHD to assist the Government in formulating its 50-year water strategy, ...
Sat, 10 May 08
Europe Grapples over Biofuels
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1738434,00.html
Time Magazine: Like much of the rest of the world, Europe has invested heaps of money and even more hope in the promise of biofuels to provide secure supplies of environmentally friendly energy. But now rising food prices, trade tensions and social unrest are prompting a rethink of the E.U.'s ambitious hopes for running its cars and trucks on biofuel. The latest call for a change of course came from economist Jeffrey Sachs, special adviser to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who this week urged ...
Sat, 10 May 08
China vies for Japan's clean tech
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200805/s2240695.htm?tab=latest
Radio Australia: China's President Hu Jintao has expressed hope that Japan will share environmental technology with his country. He made the statement while touring a new recycling factory near Tokyo which processes used bottles and electronic devices. Mr Hu says his administration wants to focus on green businesses. China's pollution has been rapidly growing as its economy soars, posing particular concern for neighbours such as Japan and South Korea. Mr Hu and the Japanese prime ...
Sat, 10 May 08
Cost of offshore wind farms soaring
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/05/09/wind_power_uk
Marketplace: Renita Jablonski: One of Britain's leading energy companies has warned wind power is becoming unprofitable in the U.K. From London, Stephen Beard reports. Stephen Beard: Centrica says the economics of offshore wind farms are now marginal. The cost of construction doubled in the past two years. The soaring price of steel and copper are mainly to blame. This is the second attack on the viability of wind power here in recent days. Last week, the Shell Oil company delivered a devastating ...
Sat, 10 May 08
Sugarcane Alcohol Tarnished by U.S. Maize Ethanol
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42312
Inter Press Service: Recent efforts by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to clearly mark the difference between Brazilian ethanol and the agrofuels produced by the United States are an admission that signing an agreement with Washington to promote a global bioethanol market was a serious political mistake, say analysts. Brazilian fuel alcohol, distilled from sugarcane, has been used as a partial substitute for gasoline in the country for 30 years, and makes an acknowledged contribution to mitigating ...
Sat, 10 May 08
Tiny krill could help unlock global climate change secrets
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/09/2240682.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Scientists in Hobart are starting small in their bid to discover the answers to one of the world's biggest problems: they are researching krill in the hope of finding out what impact climate change may be having in the Southern Ocean. The shrimp-like krill is one of the smallest animals in the Antarctic, but Dr Andrew Constable from the Australian Antarctic Division says it could help unlock some of the secrets of one of the world's most complex ecosystems. "Krill is the ...
Sat, 10 May 08
Drill for oil in Alaska? No: Save energy, invest in renewables instead
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/OPINION02/805090346/1039/OPINION
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the United States' largest wildlife refuge made up of more than 19 million acres, would not only wreak environmental havoc on the land and the 160 different wildlife species that live there, it also would do absolutely nothing to curb our obsessive consumption of foreign oil, the true cause of the oil shortage and exorbitant gas prices we're experiencing. Opening the refuge to oil exploration, with no guarantee of how much oil ...
Sat, 10 May 08
Environment Leaders to Meet in Kobe to Speed Post-Kyoto Treaty
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aD77kElk5HBk&refer=germany
Bloomberg: Environment ministers from the Group of Eight nations and nine other countries will meet in Japan this month to speed the crafting of a successor to the United Nations' climate treaty, which expires in 2012. Japan's Environment Ministry today unveiled a discussion paper for the three-day meeting, to focus on climate change and biodiversity, starting May 24 in the western city of Kobe. ``The objective of the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting is to build momentum toward the ...
Sat, 10 May 08
New Zealand: PM goes spineless on emissions trading
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/eveningstandard/4517968a27023.html
Manawatu Standard: Some truths are a little too inconvenient, it seems. Prime Minister Helen Clark announced this week the Government will put off bringing transport fuels into its emissions trading scheme from 2009 until 2011. The delay, which will avoid adding five to eight cents per litre for petrol from January next year, is a response to sky-rocketing petrol, food and mortgage costs. With an election fast approaching, the Government's back-peddling makes sound political sense. But decisions ...
Sat, 10 May 08
United Kingdom: Renewable energy plans due
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jI8UyvI-cMsCHWz5U4kzUaZ7q_-w
Press Association: Environment Minister Michael Russell is announcing measures to boost Scotland's renewable energy production as he visits a new biomass boiler. He will reveal the results of a year-long project looking at ways to increase the supply of wood for producing renewable energy. The Government set up the task force to boost the biomass sector, which it says will increase rural employment and help tackle climate change.
Sat, 10 May 08
Spain's Renovables buys GE wind turbines
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSMDT00517420080509
Reuters: Spanish renewable energy company Iberdrola Renovables (IBR.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it had ordered 200 1.5 megawatt wind turbines from General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), worth around 430 million euros ($659 million). The turbines will be delivered in 2010 in the United States and form part of company measures aimed to boost installed wind power capacity to 13,600 MW by 2010, investing 8.6 billion euros over the 2008-2010 ...
Sat, 10 May 08
US Micronesian lawmakers push need for plan to combat climate change
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=39663
Radio New Zealand International: US affiliated-Pacific island lawmakers have ended their three-day general assembly on Guam with a plan to further discuss global warming when they meet again in November. The Association of Pacific Island Legislatures' 27th general assembly addressed a wide range of issues that affect islands in the region. The Association passed more than a dozen resolutions to address issues like human trafficking and the need to train residents across Micronesia in skills required for the US ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Peru's Tribal Land Protected From Gas Concessions
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48276/story.htm
Reuters: Indigenous rights groups praised Peru's petroleum agency on Thursday for excluding areas where isolated tribes live from an auction of oil and gas concessions. Rights groups say the decision is a turnaround for Perupetro, which previously had indicated it might open up the protected areas for bidding. "This decision acknowledges a certain standard ... that there will be no exploration or extraction of natural resources on lands inhabited by un-contacted tribes," ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Go Easy On Biofuels Until More Clarity - World Bank
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48275/story.htm
Reuters: A senior World Bank official said on Thursday that countries should not greatly increase biofuels production until there is more clarity about how much they have contributed to the global food price crisis. Juergen Voegele, director for agriculture and rural development department at the World Bank, cautioned against shifting a lot of the blame to biofuels but also said massive subsidies for the biofuel industry was not helping the crisis. "We don't think it's ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Australia: Motorists to pay for carbon scheme
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/motorists-to-pay-for-carbon-scheme/2008/05/08/1210131168217.html
Age: AN EMISSIONS trading scheme is likely to increase petrol prices by about 10 cents a litre, adding pain for motorists and challenging the Reserve Bank's goal of reining in inflation by 2010. As world oil prices continued their record-breaking run, hitting a peak of almost $US124 ($A132) on the New York futures exchange, energy experts, economists and petrol companies said motorists would pay even more at the bowser once a trading scheme began. Investment bank Goldman Sachs also ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Australia: Murray-Darling drought may be permanent
http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=481142
AAP: There is no end in sight to the drought afflicting the Murray-Darling Basin and the big dry could become a permanent feature of eastern Australia, experts warn. The latest Murray System Drought Update contains nothing but bad news for farmers and communities struggling to cope. Even grimmer news is that it could become worse next year. Meteorologists have warned another dreaded El Nino weather pattern - which brings dry weather to eastern Australia - could be on the ...
Fri, 9 May 08
United Kingdom: Birds make easy weather of climate change
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3897372.ece
Times: British great tits have proved themselves to be far more adaptable to climate change than their counterparts in the Netherlands. In the past half century the great tits living in Wytham Woods (also known as the Woods of Hazel) near Oxford, have brought forward the date that they lay their eggs by an average of two weeks. The advance is a response to climate change and the timings of the egg-laying showed that the birds tracked the variations in temperature. The ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Australia: Climate change to permanently reduce autumn rain in Murray Darling Basin
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200805/s2239912.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The latest climate change science suggests Australia's food bowl should plan for permanently reduced autumn rainfall. The Murray Darling Basin Commission's May drought update also shows little prospect of an improvement in the seriously low water availability in the lower basin. Critical urban needs, and rural stock and domestic requirements, are only reasonably assured, after some water was held over by state governments from last year. Commission chief executive Wendy ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Australia: Govt urged to offer more solar power incentives
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/09/2240201.htm?site=ballarat
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A Ballarat environmental group wants the Victorian Government to do more to encourage people to install solar panels on their homes. From next year, the Government will pay households 60 cents for every kilowatt hour of power they feed back into the state electricity grid. But BREAZE's Nick Lanyon says the solar panels only generates a quarter of an average household's energy requrements, so there would not be anything extra to put back into the power grid. He says if ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Australia: Koalas Under Threat From Climate Change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508131118.htm
Science Daily: New research shows increased temperatures and carbon dioxide levels are a threat to the Australian national icon, the koala. Professor Ian Hume, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and his students from the University of Sydney have been researching the effects of CO2 increases and temperature rises on eucalypts. Professor Hume's group have shown in the laboratory that increases in CO2 affect the level of nutrients and 'anti-nutrients' (things that are either toxic or ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Tasmania poised for oil, gas bonanza
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,23668895-2702,00.html?from=public_rss
Australian: TASMANIA may be on the verge of a multi-billion-dollar onshore oil and gas boom. US exploration company Empire Energy Corporation yesterday unveiled a $31 million program to drill up to eight test wells at key locations in an exploration lease covering 23 per cent of the state. It also released an independent expert's prediction that the lease could hold between 67million and 145million barrels of oil and between 344billion and 799billion cubic feet of natural gas. The ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Biofuels backlash in US as food costs hit home
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080509/sc_afp/inflationpovertyfoodenergybiofuelsus_080509031146
Agence France-Presse: A biofuels backlash has erupted in major ethanol producer the United States, as lawmakers and experts debate the merits of converting food to fuel to support America's age-old love affair with the automobile. With gasoline at record prices at US pumps, and soaring corn, rice and wheat costs sparking a global food crisis this year with deadly riots in several nations, some have questioned the wisdom of President George W. Bush's call for higher US biofuel mandates that divert US ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Broad climate fight best, not just gas cuts-study
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINL0887477320080508
Reuters: An assault on climate change on many fronts makes good economic sense but will be money badly spent if the world focuses exclusively on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, a study said on Thursday. A 100-year package costing $800 billion to help people adapt to the impacts of warming -- such as droughts or rising seas -- while also funding research into new technology and curbing emissions could yield benefits of $2.1 trillion, it said. "We've got something that makes sense ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Myanmar: Cyclone 'is a sign of things to come'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23667400-2703,00.html
Australian: A TOP Indian advocacy group that monitors climate change in south Asia warned last night that the Nargis cyclone that devastated Burma was "a sign of things to come", as climate change caused extreme weather to increase in intensity. Meanwhile, senior Indian officials confirmed that they had warned officials in Rangoon to prepare for a high-intensity storm two days before it hit. Indian Meteorological Department director-general Ajit Tyagi said teams in his ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Global free market for food and energy faces biggest threat in decades
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/money/2008/05/08/bcnfood108.xml
Telegraph: The global free market for food and energy is facing its biggest threat in decades as a host of countries push through draconian measures to hold down prices, raising fears of a new "resource nationalism" that could endanger world food security. India shocked the markets yesterday by suspending trading in futures contracts for a range of farm products in a bid to clamp down on alleged speculators and curb inflation, now running at 7.6pc. The country's Forward Markets ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Government scraps carbon card scheme for fear of ridicule
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/08/renewableenergy.carbonemissions
Guardian: Ministers have scrapped radical plans to test a carbon rationing scheme that would have forced citizens to carry a carbon card to swipe every time they bought petrol or paid an electricity bill. The plan was announced by David Miliband, former environment secretary, in 2006 as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions and tackle global warming. But officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said today that the idea was too expensive and would be ...
Fri, 9 May 08
India Plans to Spend $2.4 Billion on Rejuvenating Forestland
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aSexG5bbadiE&refer=india
Bloomberg: India, the world's fourth-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, plans to spend 100 billion rupees ($2.4 billion) on rejuvenating three million hectares of degraded forests to increase the green cover and soak up emissions. The government proposes to revive more than 6 million hectares of degraded forests in two phases over the next 10 years, the ministry of environment and forests said in an e-mailed statement today. The first phase envisages planting trees over 3 million hectares ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Return of the population timebomb
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3267
People and Planet: It has become taboo over recent years, but population, not consumption, really is the key to managing our use of the world's resources, says John Feeney, Only since 1800, in the last 0.01 per cent of the history of Homo sapiens, has the human population shot into the billions. Now at nearly 6.7 billion, with 9 billion looming 40 years away, few environmentalists seem to care. Yet the population-environment link is clear. Our environmental impact, as gauged by total resource ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Scientists find toxic chemicals in penguins
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/08/eatoxic108.xml
Telegraph: An alphabet soup of toxic chemicals may be seeping into the oceans as glaciers melt through global warming. They include Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other industrial chemicals which have been linked to health problems in humans. The alarm has been raised after traces of the banned pesticide DDT were found by scientists who tested Adélie penguins. They believe glaciers have been acting as a cold store for DDT which was in worldwide use as an insecticide - ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Britons throwing away £10bn worth a year, research says
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/08/food.waste
Guardian: Britons are throwing away £10bn worth of food that could be eaten each year, £2bn more than estimates have previously suggested, a government-funded programme to cut waste reveals today. The average household, ranging from a single older person to a group of students, is chucking out £420 of such food each year and the sum rises to £610 for the average family with children. About £6bn of the wasted annual food budget is food that is bought but never touched - including 13m ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Canada could be barred from Kyoto carbon trades
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080508.KYOTO08/TPStory/Environment
Canadian Press: Canada could be barred from an international carbon-trading system if a United Nations investigation finds it broke Kyoto Protocol rules for greenhouse-gas reporting. The UN Climate Change Secretariat says Canada was notified on May 5 that it would be investigated for allegedly violating a Kyoto reporting requirement. Canada and other Kyoto signatories are obliged to keep a national registry of greenhouse gases. The registry tracks holdings of greenhouse-gas credits and shows ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Evangelicals press to fight global warming
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/050908feaglobal.380f464.html
Dallas Morning News: When the Senate takes up legislation next month to confront global warming, environmental groups will have some fervent new allies: evangelicals and other Christian activists. Concerned about what they see as a moral and biblical issue, religious groups from the right are joining with environmental organizations from the left in supporting strong measures to fight global warming. Some Christian leaders are using the clout they have built up in Republican circles to lobby ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Canada: Liberals say carbon tax will be revenue-neutral
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=cd78b8b6-40a7-4cb1-a6ab-18a7c72a31ea
Canwest News Service: Liberal MPs say the Conservative government is attempting to stigmatize a potential Liberal proposal for a national carbon tax as "a tax grab" before the Liberals even finalize and announce their plan. Whatever design the Liberals choose, it will be revenue neutral, ensuring that taxpayers get back through reduced income taxes as much as they are charged in extra levies on fuel, Liberal finance critic John McCallum said Thursday. "By definition, something that is ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Meat in a low-carbon world
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7389678.stm
BBC: It was easy when "good" meant anything which could have stepped off a John Constable canvas: free range chicken, foraging pigs and grazing cattle. But then climate change came along. No one noticed at first, still concentrating their fire on the obvious targets like 4x4s, long flights and coal power stations; but our meaty diet is laden with greenhouse gases, and trying to reduce them throws up some unpalatable choices. It has prompted the Vegetarian Society to take ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Once Lush Sahara Dried Up Over Millennia, Study Says
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080508-green-sahara.html
National Geographic: The grassy prehistoric Sahara turned into Earth's largest hot desert more slowly than previously thought, a new report says–and some say global warming may turn the desert green once again. The new research is based on deposits from a unique desert lake in remote northern Chad. Lake Yoa, sustained by prehistoric groundwater, has survived for millennia despite constant drought and searing heat. The body of water contains an unbroken climate record going back at least ...
Fri, 9 May 08
S. Africa moves to restrict coastal development
http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN850247.html
Reuters: South Africa moved on Thursday to curb coastal property developments to help protect vast stretches of coastline from environmental damage. A property boom in Africa's biggest economy led to a rise in multi-million dollar apartment blocks, mansions and golf and polo estates close to coastal areas, aimed mostly at the foreign tourist market. A new bill -- introduced in parliament but still be debated before becoming law -- will, for the first time, introduce a comprehensive ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Sahara dried out slowly, not abruptly: study
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL0833018820080508
Reuters: The once-green Sahara turned to desert over thousands of years rather than in an abrupt shift as previously believed, according to a study on Thursday that may help understanding of future climate changes. And there are now signs of a tiny shift back towards greener conditions in parts of the Sahara, apparently because of global warming, said the lead author of the report about the desert's history published in the journal Science. The study of ancient pollen, spores and ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Schwarzenegger challenges automakers to meet Calif. rules
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/09/america/Auto-Emissions-California.php
Associated Press: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that pressure from the auto industry will not deter California from attempting to impose strict emission rules for vehicles sold in the state. The Republican governor met privately with seven auto executives who requested the get-together. In an interview afterward, he said he told them "the train has left the station" and that they should stop challenging California rules that are intended to help slow the rate of global ...
Fri, 9 May 08
UK climate adviser says flight rationing unwelcome
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSL0888400620080508
Reuters: Britain's growing hunger for flights abroad should not be rationed in the fight against climate change, the chief of the UK's new climate change committee said. Flights out of Britain already account for 6.4 percent of the country's CO2, and Britons were named in a survey last October as the world's worst offenders when it comes to carbon emissions from air travel. Last year, Britain's opposition Conservative party -- which is well above the ruling Labour party in opinion polls ...
Fri, 9 May 08
German Politicians Unwilling to Get Behind Wheel of Green Cars
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3323907,00.html
Deutsche Welle: According to a study unveiled by German Environment Aid (DUH) in Berlin on Thursday, May 8, many of Germany's top politicians drive cars with twice the level of carbon emissions the European Commission recommends. "Do as I say, and not as I drive," seems to be how most leading German politicians feel about environmental issues. While they all pay lip service to battling climate change, urging the nation to separate their garbage, switch to green energy and cut back ...
Fri, 9 May 08
United Kingdom: Great tits find the secret of survival
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/09/eatits109.xml
Telegraph: The great tit is making the most of the warming climate in Britain and defying gloomy predictions about extinctions. Climate change has already produced shifts in the distribution of some species, such as amphibians, grasses, migratory birds and butterflies, and by one estimate about one million species worldwide are in danger of extinction over the next half century. But the great tit (parus major) has changed its behaviour to take climate change in its stride, according to ...
Fri, 9 May 08
NH Senate gives preliminary OK to global warming initiative
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/NEWS0201/616231829
Associated Press: New Hampshire's Senate has given preliminary approval to entering a 10-state regional effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions to preserve the state's climate and way of life. The Senate voted 16-8 Thursday to ask its Finance Committee to review a bill that implements the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative known as RGGI. Gov. John Lynch believes the initiative will help New Hampshire's environment and economy. The bill adds New Hampshire to the other New England states, ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Oil Lobby Reaches Out to Citizens Peeved at the Pump
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050803143.html
Washington Post: Faced with a national outcry over the high price of gasoline and soaring profits for energy companies, the oil and gas industry is waging an unusually pricey campaign to burnish its image. The American Petroleum Institute, the industry's main lobby, has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign, which includes advertising in the nation's largest newspapers, news conferences in many state capitals and trips for bloggers out to drilling platforms at sea. ...
Fri, 9 May 08
United States: Solar water heaters, clotheslines get legislative OK
http://starbulletin.com/2008/05/08/business/story03.html
Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Solar water heaters and clotheslines won big at the state Legislature this session, but a plastic-bag bill snagged on whether counties should be allowed to enact tighter restrictions. The governor has until July 8 to take action on the bills. Among those she will also consider is a measure that will require all homes built after 2010 be equipped with solar water heaters. Another bill passedwould ensure that homeowners have the right to hang their laundry on a line. But ...
Fri, 9 May 08
Australia: Woodside Says Free Permits, Rebates May Offset Carbon Burden
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aY15sTb1H31E&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer, said free emissions permits or rebates on exported products may compensate liquefied natural gas producers for higher costs arising from carbon trading. The use of tax adjustments is another option to help prevent Australian LNG producers from losing sales to rivals in countries such as Indonesia and Qatar where there are no carbon constraints, Perth-based Woodside said in a submission on the design of a ...
Thu, 8 May 08
New Zealand: Fury over 'unethical' warming website
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=137&objectid=10508754
New Zealand Herald: New Zealand climate scientists are upset their names have been used by an American organisation wanting to challenge the increasingly accepted view that climate change is human induced. Among the five scientists is Niwa principal scientist Dr Jim Salinger, who said he was annoyed the Heartland Institute was trying to use his research to prove a theory he did not personally support. The institute describes itself as a non-profit research and education organisation not affiliated ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Government clashes with Europe over carbon permit revenue
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/government-clashes-with-europe-over-carbon-permit-revenue-822911.html
Independent: The Government is on course for an embarrassing showdown with the European Union, business groups and environmental charities after refusing to guarantee that billions of pounds of revenue it stands to earn from carbon-permit trading will be spent on combating climate change. The dispute follows the publication yesterday of a discussion document by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) outlining how the UK will operate phase three of the EU's Emissions Trading ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Canada facing Kyoto probe over greenhouse gases
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0728693820080507
Reuters: Canada will be investigated on suspicion of violating rules for registering greenhouse gases that are the mainstay of a U.N.-led fight against global warming, official documents show. Canada played down the news, saying it was taking quick steps to ensure it complied by the rules. Ottawa could be suspended from rights to trade carbon dioxide if found to be in breach of the rules by the enforcement branch of the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol. Greece was suspended last month, the first ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Cleaner air to worsen droughts in Amazon: study
http://www.france24.com/en/20080507-cleaner-air-worsen-droughts-amazon-study
Agence France-Presse: Curbing a notorious form of industrial pollution may ironically harm Amazonia, one of the world's natural treasures and a key buffer against global warming, a study released Wednesday has found. Its authors see a strong link between a decrease in sulphur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants and a rise in sea temperature in the northern Atlantic that was blamed for wreaking a devastating drought in western Amazonia in 2005. University of Exeter professor Peter Cox and ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Poll suggests clear majority of Canadians support carbon tax
http://www.570news.com/news/national/article.jsp?content=n0507117A
Canadian Press: A new poll suggests most Canadians support the idea of a carbon tax - but an overwhelming majority favour the broader principle of using the tax system to punish or reward environmental behaviour. The findings of The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey suggest the politically risky move of putting a price on carbon holds a potential payoff. The federal Liberals are weighing a plank in their platform that would put a price on pollution - and Environment Minister John Baird ...
Thu, 8 May 08
The colour of investment money is... green
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL3078415820080507
Reuters: Environmental concerns are no longer the reserve of tree-hugging hippies and climate change campaigners. Fund management companies are increasingly moving into the "green" arena as public concern over the ecosystem increases. In recent years, demand for fair trade and eco-goods has rocketed, as consumers become all the keener to be greener: sales of fair trade goods have doubled in the past two years and over half of us now buy organic fruit and ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Canada faces Kyoto probe over lack of greenhouse gas reporting
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ifEsl5vGujn1UaIKL5u2nh37Q5aw
Canadian Press: Canada could be barred from international carbon trading if a United Nations probe finds it broke Kyoto Protocol rules for greenhouse-gas reporting. A statement posted on the UN Climate Change Secretariat's website says Canada was officially told May 5 it would be investigated for allegedly breaching a Kyoto greenhouse-gas reporting requirement. The enforcement branch had already warned Canada last month it risked scrutiny for missing a Jan. 1, 2007, reporting deadline by more ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Confidence in carbon markets fell in 2007: survey
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL0766672020080507
Reuters: Confidence in the global greenhouse gas emissions market dipped slightly in 2007 despite a surge in the market's value, a survey of market participants released on Wednesday showed. The Index of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Market Sentiment, published by the non-profit International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) on the sidelines of a carbon markets conference, showed that 73 percent of 102 respondents were confident about the carbon market in 2007, down from 79 percent recorded in the ...
Thu, 8 May 08
EU still far from agreeing biofuel standards: diplomats
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jUEhrRgsa5G3wFXoK4AAAPDOBywg
Agence France-Presse: The European Union remains far from agreeing on how to tighten its rules for using biofuels, diplomats said Wednesday amid growing opposition towards such forms of energy. The EU committed last year to ramp up its use of biofuels in the coming years but has since had to consider ways to ensure their use does not have unintended consequences such as environmental damage and higher food prices. In a first discussion at the ambassador level, EU states were only "close to a ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Expert Predicts 'Monsoon Britain'
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507083947.htm
Science Daily: Prepare for more floods -- in ways we are not used to - that's the message from experts at Durham University who have studied rainfall and river flow patterns over 250 years. Last summer was the second wettest on record and experts say Britain must prepare for worse to come. Professor Stuart Lane, from Durham University's new Institute of Hazard and Risk, says that after about 30 to 40 less eventful years, we seem to be entering a 'flood-rich' period. More flooding is likely ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Nonprofit group to release environmental impact scores of consumer companies
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/07/business/climate.php
International Herald Tribune: This just in from Climate Counts, the nonprofit group that scores consumer products companies on their green track records: consumer companies are getting greener, but they are still a pretty carbon-intensive lot. On Wednesday, the group was to release its second annual ranking of 56 consumer companies on how they measure greenhouse gas emissions, their plans to reduce them and how fully they disclose those activities. Its intention is to persuade consumers to use the scores in ...
Thu, 8 May 08
United Kingdom: Outlook: Ministers cannot win case for green taxes if they won't apply them to green causes
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/outlook-ministers-cannot-win-case-for-green-taxes-if-they-wont-apply-them-to-green-causes-822939.html
Independent: It is little surprise that Defra has so firmly rejected proposals from the European Commission that revenue derived from auctioning emission permits be earmarked for spending on climate change initiatives. As on everything to do with the growing burden of business taxes, ministers have got their heads buried in the sand. The UK Government has always been philosophically opposed to hypothecated taxes, and it shows no sign of budging on the new forms of taxation being introduced to curb ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Petrify, liquefy: new ways to bury greenhouse gas
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL0573285820080508
Reuters: Turn greenhouse gases to stone? Transform them into a treacle-like liquid deep under the seabed? The ideas may sound like far-fetched schemes from an alchemist's notebook but scientists are pursuing them as many countries prepare to bury captured greenhouse gases in coming years as part of the fight against global warming. Analysts say the search for a suitable technology could become a $150 billion-plus market. But a big worry is that gases may leak from badly chosen ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Slower cuts in greenhouse gases cloud carbon boom
http://www.forbes.com/reuters/feeds/reuters/2008/05/07/2008-05-07T104749Z_01_L07301018_RTRIDST_0_CARBON-WORLDBANK-UPDATE-2.html
Reuters: The global carbon market more than doubled in value in 2007 to $64 billion, but that masked slow growth in actual greenhouse gas emissions cuts, the World Bank's carbon finance unit said on Wednesday. Climate change policies which limit the production of planet-heating gases in rich countries are driving booming global demand for emissions permits. One way industrialised nations can buy carbon offsets is by funding greenhouse gas emissions cuts in developing nations, through a ...
Thu, 8 May 08
United Kingdom: Thousands of new London homes 'to be built in flood risk areas'
http://www.24dash.com/news/Housing/2008-05-07-Thousands-of-new-London-homes-to-be-built-in-flood-risk-areas
24dash: Tens of thousands of new homes could be built on areas at risk of flooding across London, it was claimed today. The Countryside Alliance said figures obtained from London boroughs following a Freedom of Information request showed more than 43,000 homes were planned for construction on flood risk areas or flood plains. The alliance said that despite changes to Government planning policy in 2006 to ensure flooding is taken into account at all stages to prevent inappropriate ...
Thu, 8 May 08
US Gasoline Demand is: a) Down b) Up
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/energywire/2008/05/us_gasoline_demand_is_a_down_b.html
Washington Post: American motorists are a hardy lot. The price of gasoline goes up and up and up and gasoline demand keeps nudging up, too. That has defied the expectations of most big oil companies and it suggests that driving is an essential, not discretionary, task and that prices could keep on rising. But Aspen, Col.-based consultant Philip K. Verleger thinks he has detected signs of change in California. By looking at the records of the California Franchise Tax Board, Verleger notes that the sale ...
Thu, 8 May 08
US may soften to EU plane CO2 curbs: lawmaker
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL0731940220080507
Reuters: The next United States administration is likely to be more sympathetic to European Union plans to cap carbon dioxide emissions from airlines, an EU lawmaker said on Wednesday. Under proposals being drawn up in Brussels to fight climate change, airlines using EU airports would be included in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2012, with a cap on their emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. But the United States and many other countries are deeply ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Austria sets CO2 emission reduction measures
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINL0724088120080507
Reuters: Austria's government agreed measures on Wednesday that will double the proportion of alternative energy generated to 15 percent over seven years, ministers said on Wednesday. "With this new law we can achieve 15 percent alternative energy in Austria by 2015, a doubling, with the emphasis on wind energy and hydro power," Environment Minister Josef Proell told reporters. "This produces half the CO2 savings that we wanted to achieve by 2012," Chancellor Alfred ...
Thu, 8 May 08
China says industry approach useful in climate fight
http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINPEK34678820080507
Reuters: China said greenhouse gas curbs for heavy polluting industries like cement and steel are an important tool for fighting climate change, a concession that could bolster talks on a new global deal to control emissions. But Beijing's support, unveiled in a joint statement on climate change made during Hu Jintao's first state visit to Japan as Chinese President, stopped short of a full endorsement of the "sectoral approach" that Tokyo is promoting heavily. "The ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Canada: Dion must decide soon on carbon tax
http://www.thestar.com/Canada/Columnist/article/422387
Toronto Star: With a snap spring election virtually out of the way, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion faces what could be a make-or-break decision for his next campaign. Over the next few weeks, he will have to decide whether and when to firm up plans to make a carbon tax a centrepiece of the Liberal platform. For Dion, the pros of campaigning on a notion he initially rejected as a leadership candidate are potentially as irresistible as the cons of promoting a tax in an election are daunting. A ...
Thu, 8 May 08
EU defends biofuels policy amid fears over food prices
http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/356699/cs/1/
Indo-Asian News Service: The surge in world food prices comes from causes such as rising demand in China and India, bad harvests and rising fuel prices, not European Union's (EU) biofuel policies, an officials from the 27-nations bloc insisted Wednesday. The EU's current production of fuels made from plants is so small that it has had no significant impact on food prices, spokesmen for the European Commission, the EU executive, said. Moreover, the EU's long-term goal of meeting 10 percent of its fuel ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Germany Defends Biofuels, Hedges Bets on Energy Goals
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3316860,00.html
Deutsche Welle: The German government rejected claims Tuesday that fuel crops were causing a worldwide spike in food prices. Berlin plans to announce a plan for easing the world food crisis by July, agriculture minister Seehofer said. Germany cannot reach its climate change goals unless it dedicates land to growing biofuels, Germany's agriculture minister Horst Seehofer said after talks in Berlin on Tuesday, May 6. Seehofer defended biofuels against growing criticism that they are responsible for ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Australia: Global warming puts koalas under threat
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/07/eakoala107.xml
Telegraph: Global warming will threaten the survival of koalas by making the eucalyptus leaves on which they feed toxic, scientists warned on Wednesday. Australia's most endearing marsupial is already under threat from a severe drought and loss of habitat as housing encroaches on woodland. But higher temperatures and increased carbon dioxide could shut down their food supply, leaving them to starve to death. New research shows that the level of toxicity in the leaves of ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Judge tells EPA to get moving on carbon monoxide safety
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/07/BAJR10I1HQ.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: The Bush administration has violated legal deadlines for updating the nation's clean-air standards on carbon monoxide, a federal judge in San Francisco has ruled. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White told the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to follow a schedule that would allow a full scientific review, public comment and any proposed changes in the standard to take place by May 2011. The EPA had proposed a timetable that would extend through October 2012. Carbon ...
Thu, 8 May 08
United Kingdom: Labour 'failing on green targets'
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hVripV_apv0muPGID3IOq4wAKMVw
Press Association: The Government is set to miss more than half the targets it has set on environmental issues since 1997, research has claimed. A study by centre-right think-tank Policy Exchange said 60% of green aims laid out by Labour have been missed, are unlikely to be achieved or are so vaguely worded as to make analysis of whether they've been met impossible. Targets set by the Government since it came to power on issues ranging from biodiversity to climate change have been or will be ...
Thu, 8 May 08
Senate Democrats seek to tax oil companies
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gURfxpLrCKF1OV7Hh2P1jbOVmqMwD90H2O7G1
Associated Press: Senate Democrats on Wednesday called for a windfall profits tax on oil companies and a rollback of $17 billion in oil industry tax breaks as part of an energy package. The proposal also would impose federal penalties on energy price gouging and calls for stopping oil deliveries into the government's emergency reserve. Senate Republicans strongly oppose any additional oil industry taxes, which are widely viewed as having little chance of being enacted. Even then, they would almost ...
Thu, 8 May 08
UN to probe Canada over lack of greenhouse-gas reporting
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/05/07/carbon-trading.html
CBC: The United Nations says it will investigate Canada for failing to meet a Kyoto Protocol deadline on greenhouse gas reporting and could bar it from an international carbon-trading scheme if the probe finds Ottawa broke the rules. The UN Climate Change Secretariat says Canada was notified May 5 that it would be investigated for allegedly violating a Kyoto reporting requirement. Currently, Canada and other Kyoto signatories are obliged to keep a national registry of greenhouse ...
Wed, 7 May 08
A world apart
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/07/wildlife.conservation
Guardian: Set-aside, the scheme to take a proportion of farmland out of production and rid Europe of the grain mountains of the 1980s, has itself been set aside. Good for tackling overproduction and, by accident, good for wildlife affected by agricultural intensification, set-aside has been officially reduced to 0% this year by the EC. In the UK, conservation bodies are worried that an area of some 500,000 hectares, which provided a sanctuary for beleaguered wildlife in the farmed landscape, ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Expect a Jolt When Opening The Electric Bill
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121011408227772081.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: Surging fuel costs are about to inflict more pain on consumers, this time in the form of rapidly rising electricity bills. Power prices are being pushed up across the U.S., with increases sometimes soaring into double digits, due to costlier coal and natural gas, the fuels used to make 70% of the nation's electricity. BEHIND THE RISES What's pushing up electricity rates: Soaring costs of coal and natural gas. Increase in equipment purchases by utilities. ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Global warming may aggravate India's wheat worries
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/05/07/stories/2008050750560900.htm
Hindu: A structural transformation is taking place in the global grains market. The ongoing changes are expected to have far-reaching implication for the market in the coming years. How ready are grain sector stakeholders to meet the emerging market dynamics? The international seminar on 'Wheat and Wheat products: Vision 2020' that concluded a few weeks ago in Bangalore brought together a diverse group of participants, including Indian policymakers as also industry an d trade representatives from ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Media Survey: Politicians Rethink Food-Based Ethanol
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0507/p14s01-sten.html
Christian Science Monitor: Not too long ago, corn ethanol was being touted as the energy wave of the future for fighting global warming. It was said to be much better than coal and oil, those carbon-based sources of greenhouse-gas emissions. But lately the drawbacks to this form of energy production have become more obvious, its critics more vocal, its supporters on the defensive. For one thing, there's evidence that the rush to produce ethanol made from corn is contributing to the recent rise in ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Sierra Club Threatens Suits Over Coal Power Plants
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48241/story.htm
Reuters: The Sierra Club sent letters Tuesday threatening to file suit to stop construction of eight coal-fired power plants in six states because, the environmental group claims, they violate the Clean Air Act. "This is the first major ramification on the ground from the (Washington) D.C. circuit kicking out the Bush administration's rules in February," said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's effort to stop coal power plants. In February, a federal appeals court in ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Women Face Tougher Impact From Climate Change
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48243/story.htm
Reuters: Climate change is harder on women in poor countries, where mothers stay in areas hit by drought, deforestation or crop failure as men move to literally greener pastures, a Nobel Peace laureate said on Tuesday. "Many destructive activities against the environment disproportionately affect women, because most women in the world, and especially in the developing world, are very dependent on primary natural resources: land, forests, waters," said Wangari Maathai of Kenya. ...
Wed, 7 May 08
World may be heating quickly: scientist
http://news.smh.com.au/world-may-be-heating-quickly-scientist/20080507-2bul.html
AAP: Climate change is happening faster than predicted and the world could be as much as seven degrees hotter by the end of the century, a CSIRO scientist says. New Australian research showed current policies did not go far enough to manage the risks posed by climate change, according to Dr Roger Jones, a climate risk analyst with CSIRO's energy transformed flagship. Global action was needed by 2015 to adequately reduce those risks, he said. The research, conducted by CSIRO ...
Wed, 7 May 08
China: Beijing's environmental issues cloud Olympic boycott debate
http://media.www.theorion.com/media/storage/paper889/news/2008/05/07/Sports/Commentary.Beijings.Environmental.Issues.Cloud.Olympic.Boycott.Debate-3366009.shtml
Orion: It's a hot August day with temperatures hovering near triple digits, and a thick coal-smog mixed with exhaust fumes surrounds a city of more than 17 million people. No, this isn't a bad air day in Los Angeles. It's worse. Welcome to the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, and don't forget to strap on your dust masks. As Beijing, the air-pollution capital of the world, prepares to host the Olympics for the first time, Chinese government officials are coming up with ideas to improve ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Carbon producers urged to take lead in controls
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_566133.html
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Industries worldwide that produce carbon dioxide must agree on the best ways to handle and store their emissions, then quickly move forward, attendees at a conference heard Tuesday. The price tag for what's known as carbon capture and sequestration will be enormous and will require private-public partnerships, not just in the United States but in other developed and developing countries, presenters at the 7th Annual Conference on Carbon Capture and Sequestration emphasized. ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Australia: End the forest wars
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23655530-11949,00.html
Australian: THE bushfire smoke that blanketed the sky above Hobart late last month graphically marked an abrupt turn in the public debate about forest management. Environmentalists were quick to make the link between forest regeneration burns and carbon emissions, and to argue that old growth should be saved to serve as carbon stores. Indeed, this debate was anticipated in February at a conference in Hobart on management of the world's old forests; by co-incidence that week Government ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Sri Lanka: Just How 'Green' Is That Shirt?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0507/p13s01-sten.html
Christian Science Monitor: Prove it! That's how consumers ought to respond when presented with "guilt-free, socially responsible" products. Spurred by consumer interest (and "green" profits), retailers now fill their stores with everything from No Sweatshop garments to sustainable timber. You can feel good about buying a T-shirt made without using child labor, or in purchasing ecofriendly detergent, fair-trade coffee, even "responsible" jewelry. But judging competing social ...
Wed, 7 May 08
South Africa: Sea 'may swamp parts of Cape Town'
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20080507053914335C407516
Cape Times: Rising sea levels and increasingly frequent storms linked to global climate change could affect developments proposed for coastal sites in Cape Town. These would affect projects such as the proposed development near the AECI site in Strand and expansions to the Potsdam wastewater treatment works in Table View. A report on a sea-level risk assessment study by the City of Cape Town and consultants warns that the city is "particularly vulnerable" to the effects of ...
Wed, 7 May 08
US Lawmakers Urge Scaling Back Biofuels Mandate
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48252/story.htm
Reuters: As food prices surge on grocery store shelves, Republican lawmakers on Tuesday said Congress should reverse course and slow a fivefold boost in biofuel use by 2022, or even drop entirely mandates to use ethanol blended from corn. Ethanol, once the darling of the United States' plan to wean itself from foreign energy, has come under attack in recent months as prices for commodities including corn and soybeans have risen to record highs, boosting retail prices for meats, vegetables and ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Wangari Maathai: 'Rich nations have a responsibility'
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0507/p13s02-sten.html
Christian Science Monitor: In 1977, Kenyan Activist Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement. The nonprofit's mission: to halt deforestation, soil erosion, and desertification by planting trees. Ms. Maathai, who holds degrees in biological sciences and anatomy and is a former member of Kenya's parliament, became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. To date, the Green Belt Movement has planted more than 30 million trees. Maathai has also campaigned for the Congo Forest Basin ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Australia: Anti-logging activists in Tasmanian forests
http://au.biz.yahoo.com/080507/31/1qbhp.html
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Conservationists say they have halted the logging of old growth forest near of the headwaters of the Styx Valley in southern Tasmania. They say 10 protesters have occupied a coupe near the base of Mount Mueller.
Wed, 7 May 08
Biofuels -- clean energy or myth threatening world food security?
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/07/content_8120866.htm
Xinhua: Biofuels, derived from crops and once a promising alternative to petroleum, have come under increasing fire in the face of a global food shortage that has spurred chaos in dozens of countries. Many argue that by diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner tables to fuel tanks, biofuels are pushing up world food prices and endangering the poor. Moreover, a large proportion of rain forests and wetlands featuring rich biodiversity have been bulldozed and burned to make ay for ...
Wed, 7 May 08
EU Panel Votes to Require Liberalization of Energy Companies
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3318006,00.html
Deutsche Welle: After months debating the "unbundling" of electricity providers, a panel of the European Parliament voted in favor of requiring power companies to split their generation businesses from their transmission networks. For years, the European Commission has spent years trying to increase competition in the electricity market and bring down prices. As part of those efforts, the European Commission in September proposed that integrated power and gas companies should spin off their ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Global warming could help Greenland to independence
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3883272.ece
Times: A new national anthem may soon be needed. Greenland has taken its first tentative steps towards becoming an independent state. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, travelled to Greenland – which has been part of Denmark since 1721 – to present a report that sets out the road to full sovereignty. The plan, which has been drawn up by a committee of politicians from Denmark and Greenland, envisages the phasing out of subsidies from Copenhagen as the huge island makes ...
Wed, 7 May 08
United States: Millipore to pare its greenhouse gases by 20 percent
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/05/07/millipore_to_pare_its_greenhouse_gases_by_20_percent/
Boston Globe: Jumping on the environmental bandwagon, Millipore Corp. plans to unveil a promise today to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent over the next five years. The Billerica life-sciences equipment maker said it will use a number of methods to reduce its environmental impact, including closing some small, less efficient manufacturing plants, constructing buildings that are more energy efficient, and upgrading old facilities to use less energy. "Both individuals and ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Tropical species at mercy of climate change
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/ET_Cetera/Tropical_species_at_mercy_of_climate_change/articleshow/3016982.cms
Indo-Asian News Service: Global warming is likely to imperil tropical species much more than fauna in the Arctic regions, even with a slight rise in temperature. "Many tropical species can only tolerate a narrow range of temperatures, as the climate they experience is pretty constant throughout the year," said Curtis Deutsch of the University of California and co-author of a new study. "Our calculations show that they will be harmed by rising temperatures more than would species in cold climates. ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Arizona's solar aspirations in peril
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0506/p03s05-usgn.html
Christian Science Monitor: The sun shines 325 days a year in Arizona, on average, and some here see that as the state's biggest energy asset. But fledgling efforts to turn Arizona into the solar capital of the world depend on making the initial investment in new energy plants affordable – something that could become much more difficult, perhaps even impossible, if a federal tax credit for solar projects expires at the end of the year as scheduled. Arizona is by no means the leader in developing renewable ...
Wed, 7 May 08
China to 'actively join' climate talks along with Japan
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hioES2vMFxcBjgG4jni-750lCoAA
Agence France-Presse: China will pledge to "actively join" a post-Kyoto Protocol deal on tackling global warming, in a planned joint statement with Japan during President Hu Jintao's visit here starting Tuesday, officials said. Multilateral negotiations are underway for completing a pact by the end of next year to follow the landmark Kyoto Protocol, which requires rich nations to slash greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change. The United States and some other Western states have ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Germany Says US Must Cut Biofuel Subsidies to Help Rainforest
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aoPQbVUSf.Pk&refer=germany
Bloomberg: The U.S. is encouraging deforestation and pollution by offering incentives for plant-based oils grown in South America, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, urging the government to stop subsidizing biofuels. ``We're struggling with the U.S. government to cut these subsidies,'' Gabriel said today in an English-language interview in Berlin. Palm and soy-bean oil is regularly grown for the international market in former rainforests in countries including Brazil, ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Mangrove loss 'left Burma exposed'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7385315.stm
BBC: Destruction of mangrove forests in Burma left coastal areas exposed to the devastating force of the weekend's cyclone, a top politician suggests. ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said coastal developments had resulted in mangroves, which act as a natural defence against storms, being lost. At least 22,000 people have died in the disaster, say state officials. A study of the 2004 Asian tsunami found that areas near healthy mangroves suffered less damage and fewer ...
Wed, 7 May 08
New breed of rich and young are living frugal lifestyles
http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/b0540-BC-APN-GrowingSmaller-05-04-1114
Associated Press: They drive hybrid cars, if they drive at all, shop at local stores, if they shop at all and pay off their credit cards every month, if they use them at all. They may have disposable income, but whatever they make, they live below their means, in a conscious effort to tread lightly on the earth. They are a new breed of Gen Xers and Ys, Young and Wealthy but Normal, or Yawns. The acronym comes from the Sunday Telegraph of London, which noted that an increasing number of ...
Wed, 7 May 08
UN official: Some biofuel plans not headed in 'right direction'
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/06/europe/EU-GEN-Greece-UN-Biofuels.php
Associated Press: The correct types of biofuels must be promoted to successfully combat climate change unlike corn, which has a very low productivity, a senior U.N. environment official said Tuesday. Plans to expand biofuel production in many parts of the world are coming under closer scrutiny following a recent spike in food prices and fears that two industries may be competing. "I think it's a question of making sure the correct biofuels are being promoted, and not others," ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Analysis: US wind market's mixed signals
http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Energy/Analysis/2008/05/06/analysis_us_wind_markets_mixed_signals/3295/
United Press International: The wind energy industry is beginning to repower existing turbines for greater efficiency and expanding to offshore locations in Europe, and despite unstable incentives for wind power in the United States, strong growth potential and the weak dollar are buoying interest in the U.S. market. For most firms, the biggest barrier to the U.S. market is the lack of stable incentives. The Production Tax Credit, which was due to expire at the end of 2007, was renewed in 2006 for one ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Philippines: Climate change imperils Manila
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=police2_may6_2008
Manila Standard Today: The Asian Development Bank has listed Manila among the Asian cities that are vulnerable to flooding due to climate change. "Some 1.2 billion people could experience freshwater shortages by 2020, while crop yields in Central and South Asia could drop by half between now and 2050. Asia's major coastal cities, including Bangkok, Jakarta, Karachi, Manila, Mumbai, and Shanghai are vulnerable to flooding," the bank said, during a seminar yesterday. The Presidential Task Force on ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Australia: Climate change threatens koalas: expert
http://news.smh.com.au/climate-change-threatens-koalas-expert/20080507-2bpa.html
Sydney Morning Herald: The koala is under threat from climate change, according to new research which shows rising carbon dioxide levels are killing nutrients in the plants they eat. Lab tests have revealed that global warming is stripping the goodness from eucalypt leaves, and the University of Sydney researchers behind the study say the koalas that rely on them don't have enough time to adapt to the change. "What currently may be good koala habitat may well become, over a period of not so many ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Economist says China, India must reduce emissions
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5759084.html
Houston Chronicle: If the world is going to truly combat greenhouse gas emissions, China and India have to be part of the fight, the chief economist fir the Paris-based International Energy Agency said today. Fatih Birol told oil and gas executives at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston that the economies of China and India are growing at such a pace that they'll keep needing more energy, much of it from coal. Even if Europe cuts emissions by 20 percent in the next dozen years as pledged, he ...
Wed, 7 May 08
EU lawmaker defends plans for burying CO2 by 2025
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL0667701120080506
Reuters: An EU lawmaker said on Tuesday that the European Union should force power stations to trap all their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2025 and bury them underground, and he hit out at critics of the technology. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) could keep up to a third of all carbon emissions out of the atmosphere and is seen as a possible silver bullet in the fight against climate change as it could curb growing emissions from coal plants. But it has never been tested on a ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Indians Speak Out Against Carbon Markets
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42259
Inter Press Service: International policymakers are facing fierce criticism from leaders of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples over plans to use carbon markets as one of the tools to mitigate climate change. "It's a new way to make money," said Jihan Gearon of the U.S.-based Indigenous Environmental Network. "It has nothing to do with environmental concerns or indigenous peoples' rights." Gearon and many others delegates to the Apr. 21-May 2 seventh annual meeting of ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Pandering at pump: Gas-tax holiday is politics at its worst
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9173155
Salt Lake Tribune: Why would a politician promulgate policy that would boost gasoline consumption, enrich Big Oil, increase dependence on foreign crude, hasten global warming, rob the federal highway trust fund and threaten thousands of jobs? Actually, there are two short and simple answers to that long-winded question: 1) It's an election year. 2) John McCain and Hillary Clinton are trying to buy your vote. The proposal for a federal gas tax holiday this summer, contrary to the candidates' ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Taxing oil profits: Proceed with caution
http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/06/news/economy/oil_profits_tax/?postversion=2008050611
CNN: Politicians are eyeing oil profits like a fat juicy glazed ham. With all the money Big Oil is making - the top five publicly traded firms pocketed over $120 billion in 2007 alone - and with an election on the horizon, it's easy to see why. The leading Democratic presidential candidates want a windfall profits tax to do various things, and although their plans differ slightly they generally want to use the money to give Americans a break from skyrocketing energy prices and ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Toasted Bugs? Tropical Insects May Not Thrive in Warming World
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=tropical-insects-may-not-thrive-in-warming-world
Scientific American: Global warming may prove worse for insects–and other cold-blooded critters–living in the steamy tropics than for their counterparts living closer to the frigid polar regions, according to a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. Even though climate change is likely to affect areas near the poles, tropical insects are already living in conditions that verge on being too hot for them, which means they could be teetering on the edge of extinction. Take the ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Airline carbon emissions on the rise
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2008/05/06/airline_carbon_emissions_on_the_rise/4276/
United Press International: U.S. and European Union researchers say airline emissions of carbon dioxide are 20 percent higher than previously estimated. An unpublished study by the U.S. Transportation Department, European air traffic manager Eurocontrol, Manchester Metropolitan University and the technology firm QinetiQnet said total emissions are set to reach between 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion tons annually by 2025, The Independent reported Tuesday. The report, presented at a conference last year in ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Biofuels not raising food prices - German ministers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7501888
Reuters: The global production of biofuels is not behind the recent rise in world food prices, two German ministers said on Tuesday. Germany should retain its target of reaching 20 percent renewable energy use by 2020 including 10 percent biofuels, Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer told a press conference. Rising food prices had largely been caused by the growing world population coupled with increasing spending power in several developing regions, he said. Environment Minister ...
Wed, 7 May 08
EU urges action on European transport network
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7501809
Reuters: The cost of linking up Europe's transport network has risen 16.8 percent from original projections to nearly 400 billion euros ($618 billion), and big sections are behind schedule, an EU report said on Tuesday. Integrating trans-European roads and railways is seen as vital to the growth of the internal market within the 27-member bloc, as well as to boosting employment and economic output. "It is very clear today that significant parts of the 30 priority projects will not ...
Wed, 7 May 08
United Kingdom: Flooding risk 'far greater than was thought'
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=146308&in_page_id=34
Metro: Britain faces a period of flooding on a scale 'beyond most people's living memory', experts warn. The number of people and properties likely to be affected has been underestimated because predictions are based on figures first collected in the 1960s, they add. Since then, there have been only relatively low levels of flooding. The scientists examined last year's wet summer in the context of records dating from 1753 and in the light of climate change. They found the ...
Wed, 7 May 08
United Kingdom: Investors buy over half of Climate Change Capital
http://uk.reuters.com/article/fundsNews/idUKGRI62995620080506
Reuters: European and Japanese investors have bought slightly over half of London-based Climate Change Capital for 56 million pounds, the specialist investor and consulting firm said on Tuesday. Climate Change Capital (CCC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) invests in projects to cut carbon emissions in the developing world, to accrue carbon offsets under a U.N.-led scheme, and has also branched out into broader low-carbon investing, consulting and advisory work. The extra funds may be used ...
Wed, 7 May 08
More efficient fuel-cells, thanks to a new catalyst
http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/08050604.htm
Science Centric: Over the past decades climate change and its consequences for life on our planet have given rise to a growing scientific interest in the development of alternative energies. The fossil fuels that currently dominate our energy map are not only becoming scarce, but are moreover generating large quantities of contaminating gases. Within the field of renewable energies the scientific community is today devoting great efforts to investigating and developing fuel cells, capable of creating ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Nuclear energy heats up US presidential race
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7502155
Guardian: John McCain embraces it. Barack Obama wants to address its flaws. Hillary Clinton is cautious but not opposed. Nuclear power -- controversial in the United States and throughout much of the world -- is on the agenda of all three U.S. presidential candidates as they seek to diversify the country's energy mix and reduce dependence on foreign oil. Interviews with top policy advisers to the three White House hopefuls reveal a varied approach to the technology that some observers ...
Wed, 7 May 08
Sucking up carbon dioxide to combat global warming
http://www.mercurynews.com/greenenergy/ci_9167558
LA Times: Here's a simple solution to global warming: vacuum carbon dioxide out of the air. Klaus Lackner, a physicist at Columbia University, said placing enough carbon filters around the planet could reel the world's atmosphere back toward the 18th century, like a climatic time machine. After a decade of work, his shower-size prototype whirs away inside a warehouse in Tucson, each day capturing about 10 pounds of the heat-trapping greenhouse gas as air wafts through it. Only a ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Airline emissions 'far higher than previous estimates'
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/airline-emissions-far-higher-than-previous-estimates-821598.html
Independent: The aviation industry's failure to curb its soaring carbon emissions could lead to the "worst case scenario" for climate change, as envisaged by the United Nations. An unpublished study by the world's leading experts has revealed that airlines are pumping 20 per cent more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than estimates suggest, with total emissions set to reach between 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion tonnes annually by 2025. The report, by four government-funded ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Insects 'will be climate change's first victims'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/insects-will-be-climate-changes-first-victims-821616.html
Independent: Tropical insects rather than polar bears could be among the first species to become extinct as a result of global warming, a study has found. Insects in the tropics are already living at the limit of their temperature range and any further increases could quickly kill them off with huge repercussions for tropical habitats, which rely on insects for everything from pollination to waste disposal. Scientists have found that a rise in average temperatures in the tropics of just 1C or 2C ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Jeffrey Sachs on the credit crisis, climate change and overpopulation
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/money/2008/05/06/ccprof106.xml
Telegraph: Never has the challenge of saving the world felt as simple as it does right now. Sitting on the sofa in front of me, Jeffrey Sachs is leaning back, gingerly sipping his coffee and sweeping away some of the most intractable problems facing our planet with the barest waft of his palm. Poverty and a billion starving people in Africa? Whisked away like dust. Overpopulation and water shortages? Waft, waft. Global warming and climate change? A little brush and they're gone. It would ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Russia: Science Project Yields Surprising Data About a Siberian Lake
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=98671
New York Times: In 1945, when Stalin ruled the Soviet Union, Mikhail M. Kozhov began keeping track of what was happening under the surface of Lake Baikal, the ancient Siberian lake that is the deepest and largest body of fresh water on earth. Every week to 10 days, by boat in summer and over the ice in winter, he crossed the lake to a spot about a mile and a half from Bolshie Koty, a small village in the piney woods on Baikal's northwest shore. There, Dr. Kozhov, a professor at Irkutsk State ...
Tue, 6 May 08
China faces trade war climate challenge
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/JE06Cb01.html
Asia Times: China in recent months has taken center stage in the international debate over global warming. It has surpassed the United States as the world's largest source of greenhouse gases, and it became developing nations' diplomatic champion at the recent United Nations climate negotiations in Bali. Now China may become the target of a full-fledged trade war that could destroy, or perhaps rescue, the chances of bringing rich and poor nations together to fight global warming. The focus on ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Tonga: Climate change and the recent dengue fever outbreak
http://www.tongareview.com/Article.aspx?Mode=1&ID=5582
Tonga Now: rlier in April of this year the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the health of hundreds of millions of people might be put at risk by the effects of climate change. The WHO regional director, Dr Shigeru Omi, said that global warming had already impacted on lives and health and that this problem would pose an even greater threat to mankind in coming decades unless action was taken. The WHO estimates that climate change may already be the cause of the increase in the ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Australia: Wine industry warned on climate change
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/06/2236278.htm?section=justin
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Grape growers are being warned to take climate change more seriously. A visiting American academic, Professor Greg Jones, has warned that wine grape-growing will suffer greatly from the effects of climate change. South Australian Wine Industry Association chief executive, Brian Smedley, thinks only some growers will modify their irrigation techniques because many do not believe in climate change. "There is a need to consider what's happening every day and to ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Australia needs years of heavy rainfall to crack drought: experts
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jQuC-Yg3HJj9RWDARXHX83Rr3GLQ
Agence France-Presse: Australia will need several years of heavy rainfall to reverse the devastating effects of a drought that has battered farm production, the Bureau of Meteorology said in a report received Monday. The report came despite months of drenching rains spawned by the La Nina weather phenomenon in the agricultural east of the country that sparked optimism that the worst drought in 100 years might at last be over. But the Bureau's latest findings show that the "big dry," nearly ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Carbon emissions: Catch them if you can
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/02/es.carboncapture/
CNN: Despite plans to slash carbon dioxide (C02) emissions, the world still faces a very basic, and very big, problem. Many scientists believe the CO2 "tipping point" has been passed already. There is already too much C02 sitting in the atmosphere, and put simply, it needs to be somewhere else. That extra carbon has been building up since the advent of the Industrial Revolution and continues to grow apace. The latest scientific research says that greenhouse gases ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Climate change could hit tropical wildlife hardest
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0541192020080505
Reuters: Polar bears may have it relatively easy. It's the tropical creatures that could really struggle if the climate warms even a few degrees in places that are already hot, scientists reported on Monday. That doesn't mean polar bears and other wildlife in the polar regions won't feel the impact of climate change. They probably will, because that is where the warming is expected to be most extreme, as much as 18 degrees F (10 degrees C) by the end of this century. But there are far ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Environmentalists divided about burying CO2
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-33413720080505
Reuters: Greenpeace and more than 100 other environmental groups denounced projects for burying industrial greenhouse gases on Monday, exposing splits in the green movement about whether such schemes can slow global warming. Many governments and some environmental organisations such as the WWF want companies to capture heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the exhausts of power plants and factories and then entomb them in porous rocks as one way to curb climate change. But Greenpeace issued ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Global warming will negatively impact tropical species
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/uoc--gww050508.php
EurekAlert: Global warming is likely to reduce the health of tropical species, scientists from UCLA and the University of Washington report May 6 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. At the same time, a little bit of warming may actually move certain organisms, particularly insects, in the high latitudes closer to their optimal temperature, the researchers say. "In the tropics, most of the organisms we have studied, from insects to amphibians and reptiles, are already ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Oxygen Depletion: A New Form of Ocean Habitat Loss
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/bericht-109231.html
Innovations Report: An international team of physical oceanographers including a researcher from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has discovered that oxygen-poor regions of tropical oceans are expanding as the oceans warm, limiting the areas in which predatory fishes and other marine organisms can live or enter in search of food. The new study is led by Lothar Stramma from the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel, Germany, and is co-authored by Janet Sprintall, a ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Russian scientist discovers gassy permafrost
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_9153032?source=rss
Chicago Tribune: Sergei Zimov waded through knee-deep snow to reach a frozen lake where so much methane belches out of the melting permafrost that it spews out from the ice like small geysers. In the frigid twilight, the Russian scientist struck a match to make a jet of the greenhouse gas visible. The sudden plume of fire threw him backward. Zimov stood up, brushed the snow off his parka and beamed. "Sometimes a big explosion happens, because the gas comes out like a bomb," Zimov ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Scientists: Warming may greatest threat to tropical species
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gIAUBQgZUU5c-2z20XlUnee8rN5AD90FQMSO0
Associated Press: While global warming is expected to be strongest at the poles, it may be an even greater threat to species living in the tropics, scientists say. Tropical species are accustomed to living in a small temperature range and thus may be unable to cope with changes of even a few degrees, according to an analysis in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "There's a strong relationship between your physiology and the climate you live in. In the ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Indonesia: Unilever palm oil policy wins fans
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20080505.H02&irec=1
Jakarta Post: Environmental group Greenpeace has echoed calls by consumer goods giant Unilever to impose a moratorium on deforestation in Indonesia in support for the company's pledge to purchase only certified sustainable palm oil. Greenpeace also urged the country's palm oil plantations to use sustainable forest management methods and stop expanding into peatland forests. "Unilever's calls for a moratorium on forest destruction in Indonesia should become an entry point for the ...
Tue, 6 May 08
US, EU must cut back on biofuels: UN adviser
http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINL0547034820080505
Reuters: The United States and Europe should cut back on production of biofuels because they are hurting food supply at a time of rising prices, an adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday. Biofuels derived from crops have come under attack in recent weeks on fears they compete with food for farming land and help to push up food prices, worsening a global crisis that is affecting millions of poor. "We need to cut back significantly on our biofuels ...
Tue, 6 May 08
ADB chief warns a billion Asians at risk from soaring food prices
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i-dOfQ-NHsS_iHeMYdX2ztu6LIOQ
Agence France-Presse: The head of the Asian Development Bank called on Monday for an "immediate response" to soaring food prices which he said placed more than a billion Asians at risk of malnutrition. ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda also warned that the food problem could cut into decades of economic gains in the Asia-Pacific region. In an inaugural address to the ADB's board of governors meeting in Madrid, he also announced a special fund to combat climate change and its damaging effects, ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Uganda: Cabinet Wants Aerial Video of Mabira
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805051156.html
New Vision: CABINET wants an aerial video recording of Mabira Forest. The water and environment ministry has ordered the National Forestry Authority to produce the recording. The ministry said the video would "be used to educate MPs and the general public on the actual facts about the status of Mabira". Two years ago, President Yoweri Museveni sparked off debate when he ordered a study with the view of degazetting part of the forest to pave way for sugar cane cultivation by the ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Clinton pushes gas tax holiday ahead of Indiana and North Carolina contests
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/05/hillaryclinton.uselections2008
Guardian: Hillary Clinton's campaign said this morning that aggressive investigation and supervision of oil companies would ensure consumers reap the benefit of her proposed gasoline tax holiday this summer. In a conference call with reporters, Clinton officials sought to address criticism among economists and her rival Barack Obama that an 18.4-cent gasoline tax break this summer would do little to help Americans cope with rising fuel prices. The gasoline tax holiday has emerged as a ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Global Warming Linked to Caribou-Calf Mortality
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/biowissenschaften_chemie/bericht-109313.html
Innovations Report: Fewer caribou calves are being born and more of them are dying in West Greenland as a result of a warming climate, according to Eric Post, a Penn State associate professor of biology. Post, who believes that caribou may serve as an indicator species for climate changes including global warming, based his conclusions on data showing that the timing of peak food availability no longer corresponds to the timing of caribou births. The study, which was conducted in collaboration ...
Tue, 6 May 08
MEP Davies on coal: 'Big gains' from CO2 storage after 2020
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/mep-davies-coal-big-gains-co2-storage-2020/article-172102
EurActiv: By 2030, all new coal-fired power plants built in the EU should be using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in order to reduce their CO2 impact, UK Liberal MEP Chris Davies told EurActiv in an interview. Chris Davies is a UK Liberal MEP (ALDE Group) and Parliament's rapporteur on a proposal for a legal framework governing the geological storage of CO2 produced by coal-fired power plants. To read a shortened version of this interview, please click here. You are ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Oil Exploration Tests Off Alaska Prompt Lawsuit
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48226/story.htm
Reuters: A coalition of environmental and Alaska Native groups Monday filed a lawsuit seeking to block the oil industry from conducting seismic tests the groups say will harm whales, walruses and other marine mammals in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Anchorage, targets permits issued to Shell and BP by the US Minerals Management Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Shell holds permits to survey areas of the Arctic Ocean for ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Pachauri set to become IPCC head again
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Pachauri_set_to_become_IPCC_head_again/articleshow/3011561.cms
Times of India: Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore, is set to become its chairman for a second term, official sources said. His current term ends July 31. Pachauri has agreed to put in his candidature for a second term, government sources confirmed here on Monday. Pachauri is based in the Indian capital, where he also heads The Energy and Resources Institute ...
Tue, 6 May 08
United States: Philadelphia Phillies Lead Major Leagues in Green Power
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-05-091.asp
Environment News Service: The Philadelphia Phillies have signed up to buy 20 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy to serve the ball club's 43,500-seat Citizens Bank Park. With this purchase the team has become the largest green power purchaser in major league baseball. The Phillies' purchase of 20 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy certificates will offset the carbon footprint created by the organization's utility power usage at Citizens Bank Park for one year. The Phillies' purchase ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Tropical insects risk extinction with global warming: study
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ie1BSO2Ne3KsZ22jnEoIpShZscPA
Agence France-Presse: Global warming could pose a greater risk to tropical insects and other species sensitive to the slightest shifts in temperature than to creatures living in the world's tundra, US scientists warned Monday. While cold weather animals are used to huge temperature changes, tropical species live under a much smaller temperature range and face a bigger risk of extinction with an increase of just two or four degrees Celsius, according to a team led by University of Washington ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Using Charcoal to Make Soil Into Black Gold
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-05-05-voa3.cfm
Voice of America: In South America, the fertile soil of the Amazon River basin in Brazil is known as "black gold." Scientists found that the secret to this rich soil was charcoal. Tribal people made it from animal bones and tree bark. They mixed the charcoal with the soil about one thousand five hundred years ago. Now, scientists in the United States have done a modern demonstration. They say charcoal fertilization offers a revolutionary way to improve soil quality for hundreds or even ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Canada: Alberta puts C$55 million into pine beetle fight
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0542078820080505
Reuters: Alberta will spend C$55 million ($54 million) this year to stem the spread of pine beetles, which have ravaged forests in neighboring British Columbia, the Alberta government said on Monday. The money will help remove trees already attacked by the tiny beetles or are considered at high risk, with the goal of having the infested trees removed before July when insects take flight. The insects lay their eggs in ponderosa and lodgepole pines and the larvae kill the trees by ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Analysis: Can airplanes go green?
http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Energy/Analysis/2008/05/05/analysis_can_airplanes_go_green/2019/
United Press International: Alternative fuels for cars and trucks are becoming increasingly viable, but there's another area of the transportation sector where they haven't quite taken off: aviation. Convincing the aircraft industry to start full-scale use of petroleum alternatives won't be easy because of the risks involved with testing new fuels in airplanes. If the switch can be made, though, there are several advantages to using biodiesel over traditional jet fuel, said Robert Dunn, a food and oil researcher ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Australia: Carbon scheme could damage producers
http://business.theage.com.au/carbon-scheme-could-damage-producers/20080505-2b51.html
Age: THE Rudd Government plans to adopt a carbon emissions trading scheme no later than 2010. The Garnaut Climate Change Review has recommended that such a system be implemented ahead of a comprehensive global agreement. Australia is not alone in this regard. The US Congress is debating legislation that would impose a mandatory cap-and-trade program for US greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union has had a regional emissions trading scheme in place since 2005. These various ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Carbon Trading Blasted by Indigenous Groups
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/160386/1/
OneWorld U.S.: The United Nations is facing scathing criticism from the world's indigenous communities for its attempts to promote carbon trading as a tool to address climate change concerns. "The UN is allowing companies who are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases to continue to pollute," said Tom Goldtooth of the U.S.-based Indigenous Environment Network (IEN). Last week, at the end of a two-week international gathering, a UN body said the World Bank funding for carbon ...
Tue, 6 May 08
CO2 plan could extract fossil fuels
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1jxmha88f-62Pq87tNNOSxTROrA
Press Association: An extra 17% of North Sea fossil fuels could be extracted using technology which pumps carbon dioxide into oil fields, the Government has said. Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, who is visiting a company in the US which uses naturally occurring CO2 from an extinct volcano to force out oil from ageing fields, said the process could be used in the UK. Denbury Resources uses enhanced oil recovery techniques in which CO2 from a volcano deep underground near Jackson, Mississippi, is ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Australia: Drought getting worse, despite rain
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23650034-2,00.html
Advertiser: THE La Nina effect, the weather pattern that had been meant to end Australia's big dry, is over - but weather watchers say it has failed to break the drought. In fact, Bureau of Meteorology figures show the drought is actually getting worse in some parts of the country. Climate change was partly to blame, the bureau said in its latest monthly drought statement. "The combination of record heat and widespread drought during the past five to 10 years over large parts ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Enel to buy carbon credits on Chinese plants
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/05/business/carbon.php
Bloomberg: Enel, Italy's largest utility, said Monday that it would purchase carbon credits from five energy-efficiency projects undertaken by Wuhan Iron & Steel. The company said in a statement released in Beijing that it would purchase about 150 million, or $232 million, in credits and that the five projects could lead to carbon reductions of 11.45 million tons from 2008 to 2012. Enel, the Italian Ministry of Environment and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology will also ...
Tue, 6 May 08
French scientists tweak carbon-storing powder
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9b7gYlsgevCir2GRjbz51CiPgJQ
Agence France-Presse: French-led technologists said they had beefed up the performance of a nano-powder that stores carbon dioxide (CO2) in what could be a step forward in tackling global warming caused by road traffic. A cubic metre (35 cubic feet) of the new substance, called MIL-101, is able to capture 400 cu. metres (14,125 cu. feet) of CO2, thanks to pores 3.5 nanometres (billionths of a metre) across, the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said in a press release. It outperforms ...
Tue, 6 May 08
Australia: Green group backs Qld Opposition's water plans
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/05/2236046.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Conservationists have backed the Queensland Opposition's water policy for the state's south-east. The Coalition plan includes incentives for households and businesses to "harvest" rainwater, a determination not to use recycled water for drinking and scrapping the Traveston Crossing Dam in favour of a "green-powered" desalination plant on Bribie Island. Amy Hankinson from the Australian Conservation Foundation says a desalination plant is not the ideal ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Australia: Climate change green paper is red hot
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23644288-7583,00.html
Australian: THE campaign to re-elect the Rudd Government begins in July. It will be an incendiary month for shaping the direction of Australia's climate change policy. On June 30, the Government's chief climate adviser, Professor Ross Garnaut, is scheduled to tender his draft report on the design of an emissions trading scheme and other climate-related strategies. Treasury modelling detailing the cost effects is due around the same time. Climate change will be top of the agenda at the meeting of ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Climate Change Warms Arctic, Cools Antarctica
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48208/story.htm
Reuters: The Arctic and Antarctica are poles apart when it comes to the effects of human-fuelled climate change, scientists said on Friday: in the north, it is melting sea ice, but in the south, it powers winds that chill things down. The North and South poles are both subject to solar radiation and rising levels of climate-warming greenhouse gases, the researchers said in a telephone briefing. But Antarctica is also affected by an ozone hole hovering high above it during the austral summer. ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Sinking without trace: Australia's climate change victims
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sinking-without-trace-australias-climate-change-victims-821136.html
Independent: Ron and Maria Passi, who operate Murray Island's only taxi, were out driving the night the king tide struck. Neighbours flagged them down, asking for help, and so it was not until some time later that they saw their own grandchildren standing in the road. "They were shouting 'Granddad, stop the car, the water is coming in the house'," says Ron. "I just slammed on the brakes." The couple's son, Sonny, was outside his fibro shack with his five children, watching the ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Japan: Adviser seeks workable climate change solutions
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080505TDY03101.htm
Yomiuri Shimbun: Mutsuyoshi Nishimura says it is vitally important for the government to actively tackle issues related to climate change, which will be the key topic at the Group of Eight summit meeting in July. "In cleaning up the area where we live, for example, if the head of the neighborhood association says, 'Let's do the job in an equitable manner,' it's just ridiculous," Nishimura said. "Instead, he or she should say: 'Let's do everything we can. And I'll do all I can as ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Next US leader must engage with UN, world
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/world/20080505TDY08001.htm
Yomiuri Shimbun: The new U.S. administration assuming office next January will confront a congested menu of domestic and foreign policy items demanding immediate attention. He or she, required to separate the urgent from the merely important, will be fortunate if the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has just left behind unfinished business instead of a full-blown crisis or two. The list of critical areas and issues is long: Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Afghanistan, Pakistan, ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Australia: No sign of drought ending, warns bureau
http://news.theage.com.au/no-sign-of-drought-ending-warns-bureau/20080505-2ayv.html
Age: Despite recent rain in some areas, the drought has not come to an end - and it will take years of above-average rainfall to return the country to normality. The big dry has become worse in central Australia and is stubbornly persisting across much of the country, the Bureau of Meteorology says. Climate change was partly to blame, the bureau said in its latest monthly drought statement. "The combination of record heat and widespread drought during the past five to 10 ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Australia: Pulp mill features in election results
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23646326-5007221,00.html
Mercury: THE pulp mill has been credited with swaying the weekend's Legislative Council election results in the North and South of Tasmania. The Tasmanian Greens won an unprecedented high vote in the conservative seat of Huon, with 38 per cent to little-known candidate Mark Rickards. That compared with the last poll, in 2002, when high-profile Labor candidate Fran Bladel won just 28 per cent of the vote against Paul Harriss. In the North, MLC Kerry Finch, one of only four MLCs ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Rain And Snow Spell Relief For Great Lakes
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48212/story.htm
Reuters: Twice as much autumn rain and early winter ice helped Lake Superior, the biggest of North America's Great Lakes, bounce back from record low water levels reached last year. The deep, cold lake on the Canada-US border -- the largest freshwater body of water in the world by surface area -- rose about 31 cm (1 foot) in seven months, with half of that in April alone as the spring thaw melted heavy winter snowfall that arrived late in the season. The turnaround in the uppermost of ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Scientists discover new ocean current
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/geowissenschaften/bericht-109266.html
Innovations Report: Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a new climate pattern called the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation. This new pattern explains, for the first time, changes in the water that are important in helping commercial fishermen understand fluctuations in the fish stock. They're also finding that as the temperature of the Earth is warming, large fluctuations in these factors could help climatologists predict how the oceans will respond in a warmer world. ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Airlines pressured to focus on emissions
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/05May2008_biz26.php
Bangkok Post: Asian airlines can no longer afford to ignore carbon emissions as the issue has become crucial in Europe and North America and could begin to hurt their bottom lines. They may have to pay multiple and prohibitive carbon emission levies when they fly in and out those regions, as well as intermediate distances to and from Asia. ''Like it or not, the Asian aviation industry does need to keep a very close eye on this development because they can have a significant impact on them in terms ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Australian petition urges renewable energy investment
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200805/s2235043.htm?tab=australia
Radio Australia: The environmental group Greenpeace will today present a petition of 30,000 signatures to the Australian treasurer urging the government to invest more in renewable energy. Members of 80 international organisations signed the statement which says the government should abandon investments in carbon capture and storage. Julien Vincent from Greenpeace says the technology is unproven and the treasurer must consider this in next week's budget. "At a time when we need ...
Mon, 5 May 08
China's satellite launch city aims to be globlal wind power giant
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/05/content_8110209.htm
Xinhua: The northwest Chinese city of Jiuquan, famous as the nation's satellite launch center, has been busy with a new mission to exploit its rich wind energy resources in the hopes of becoming a global giant in the field of renewable energy. Altogether 28 new wind farms, with a combined installed capacity of 10.65 million kilowatts, will be built around Jiuquan,a far-flung Gobi desert city by the year 2015. Wang Jianxin, chief of the development and reform commission of Jiuquan ...
Mon, 5 May 08
New Zealand: Emissions debate heating up
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10507924
New Zealand Herald: When a greenhouse gas emissions trading system was announced last September, it was generally well received. Energy Minister David Parker had taken his time consulting the interested sectors and the scheme was much as expected. Seven months later it is being assailed from all sides. One side says it will impose too heavy a cost burden on New Zealand's economy and its exports. Another side says households, small business and road users will bear too much of the burden and that the ...
Mon, 5 May 08
India: Govt wants unified voice on climate
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Govt_wants_unified_voice_on_climate/articleshow/3010374.cms
Times of India: In a bid to create a unified command, the PMO has ordered that all government officials will now have to seek its approval before discussing climate change at any international fora. The step was taken after the government, a source told TOI, found that the political and economic agenda of developed countries cast in climate change language and concerns was seeping through apparently neutral forums other than the officially designated UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Australia: Greenpeace to give Treasurer carbon capture petition
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/05/2234991.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A petition with 30,000 signatures will today be handed to the Federal Treasurer's office urging the Government to abandon its investment in carbon capture and storage. The petition argues renewable power like solar and wind is far more efficient. Members of 80 international organisations signed the statement condemning what is called carbon capture and storage, a technology which buries the pollution underground. Instead, the petition demands the Federal Government ...
Mon, 5 May 08
United Kingdom: Park the mower: climate change to kill off
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3868097.ece
Times: THE Met Office is to warn gardeners to plan for a warmer climate by cultivating drought-tolerant plants such as palms, olives and Mediterranean herbs and to resign themselves to the death of the traditional lawn. It believes this year will be one of the hottest on record. The Met Office will issue the warning at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Hampton Court Palace flower show this July. "If you are planting long-lived plants like trees then you might want to choose ...
Mon, 5 May 08
The world's crumbling food security
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=35014
Daily Star: All the evidence suggests that the food crisis now gripping the world will only aggravate over time, and may even trigger conflicts. Indeed, it has already rocked several countries, including Bangladesh, where simmering discontent over scarcity and spiraling prices of cereals has been becoming volatile, with the public ire targeted at the authorities unsuccessfully grappling with the issue. While the government has been toppled over the chronic food shortage in Haiti, food riots are ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Farmers face climate challenge in quest for more food
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSSP284721
Reuters: If farmers think they have a tough time producing enough rice, wheat and other grain crops, global warming is going to present a whole new world of challenges in the race to produce more food, scientists say. In a warmer world beset by greater extremes of droughts and floods, farmers will have to change crop management practices, grow tougher plant varieties and be prepared for constant change in the way they operate, scientists say. "There certainly are going to be lots ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Limitations Of Charcoal As An Effective Carbon Sink
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501180247.htm
Science Daily: Fire-derived charcoal is thought to be an important carbon sink. However, a SLU paper in Science shows that charcoal promotes soil microbes and causes a large loss of soil carbon. There has been greatly increasing attention given to the potential of 'biochar', or charcoal made from biological tissues (e.g., wood) to serve as a long term sink of carbon in the soil. This is because charcoal is carbon-rich and breaks down extremely slowly, persisting in soil for thousands of years. This ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Logging Reports Back Opposing Views on Climate Change
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1369915/logging_reports_back_opposing_views_on_climate_change/
Stockton Record: Spotted owls, silted streams, raging wildfires -- there has been no shortage of fuel for the timber wars over the decades. Add climate change to the mix. Loggers will return to the forested lower Sierra Nevada this spring armed with a peer-reviewed study that says "intensive" forestry practices -- including clear-cuts -- may ultimately assist in the battle against rising worldwide temperatures. No way, environmentalists say. Their own report, released one ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Obama calls gas tax relief a political ploy, as Clinton stands by her proposal
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama4-2008may04,0,3160814.story?track=rss
LA Times: Barack Obama on Saturday cited an escalating argument over a proposed federal gas tax holiday as evidence that his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is prepared to tout dubious policy if it might help her win an election. Speaking to an audience at a high school today, Obama said the proposal -- which also is backed by the presumptive GOP nominee, John McCain -- would save people the equivalent of half a tank of gasoline. That assumes the oil companies don't raise ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Canada: Oilsands never 'green'
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/features/viewpoints/story.html?id=f660debf-68f9-474f-9d24-3d43f25c0aed&k=11816
Vancouver Province: If B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is serious about saving the world, he could do better than to slap British Columbians with a carbon tax. He could pick up the phone to Ed Stelmach and tell the Alberta premier to get his head out of the oil sands. Stelmach - and the bibulous Ralph Klein before him - is guilty of aiding and abetting an environmental obscenity in northern Alberta. But, astonishingly, his government is spending $25 million on a brazen PR stunt designed to delude ...
Mon, 5 May 08
World can reach climate change deal in 2009 - UN
http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKL04565665._CH_.242020080504
Reuters: The world can reach a significant new climate change pact by the end of 2009 if current talks keep up their momentum, the head of the United Nations climate panel said on Sunday. The United Nations began negotiations on a sweeping new pact in March after governments agreed last year to work out a treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol by the end of next year. "If this momentum continues you will get an agreement that is not too full of compromises," said Rajendra ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Asia fears lost decade, unrest from food price shock
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL04460793
Reuters: Soaring food prices may throw millions of Asians back into poverty, undo a decade of gains and stoke civil unrest, regional leaders said on Sunday as they urged a boost to agricultural production to meet rising demand. Asia -- home to two thirds of the world's poor -- risks rising social tension as a doubling of wheat and rice prices in the last year has slammed people who spend more than half their income on food, Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said during the Asian ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Don't be deceived, there's no such thing as 'clean coal'
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_9142855
Salt Lake Tribune: Let's be real: "Clean coal" is a marketing slogan not a technological reality. Coal does currently provide us with a reliable source of electricity but at an astronomical price that is hidden from us consumers. Maybe you pay for it with your child's asthma. Maybe you paid for it with your father's heart attack or your grandmother's stroke that took her speech away. Maybe you lost a baby to SIDS on a particularly bad air day. Emissions from coal-fired power plants ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Malaysian palm oil struggles to promote 'green' image
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUEZ4hezQ94B6SLnYGA8PDx8n2nw
Agence France-Presse: Malaysia is promoting its controversial palm oil industry as a model of eco-friendliness, but activists warn forests are still being destroyed to make way for vast plantations. As palm oil prices boom, Malaysia has mounted a campaign to counter allegations that the crop is responsible for habitat destruction, air pollution from slash-and-burn farming, and pushing orangutans towards extinction. It insists palm oil is only grown on legal agricultural land and that criticisms are ...
Mon, 5 May 08
N. California surging ahead on solar power
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080504-9999-1b4solar.html
San Diego Union-Tribune: When California launched the nation's biggest solar incentive program at the beginning of 2007, the idea was to transform the landscape by installing a million solar rooftops throughout the Golden State. The California Solar Initiative provides rebates to homeowners, businesses and nonprofit organizations that install rooftop solar panels, also known as photovoltaic systems. Now a progress report reveals that fogbound homeowners in San Francisco and Northern California are ...
Mon, 5 May 08
United Kingdom: Plea over power stations' emissions
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jDaTvlun56e0aNtsyVQmtoQ3Nmvw
Press Association: Measures to trap carbon emissions should be compulsory on new fossil-fuelled power stations from 2015, Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has said. Mr Davies said legislation should prohibit countries from authorising new power plants from 2015 unless they have the equipment to capture and store 90% of their CO2 output. Mr Davies, who is responsible for steering draft legislation on carbon capture and storage (CCS) through the European Parliament, also said all existing plants should be ...
Mon, 5 May 08
United States: Rules are needed to monitor worth of carbon 'offsets'
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_9149281
San Jose Mercury News: Got climate guilt? Get out your credit card. If you're concerned about the planetary impact of your driving, flying or other activities, you can buy carbon "offsets" - a kind of environmental pardon for buying a sport-utility vehicle or leaving the lights on. Heck, it's easier than changing. Essentially, you're contributing to a project that reduces earth-warming emissions to offset your own. But the fast-growing market for carbon offsets is confusing and lightly ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Smarter electric grid could be key to saving power
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hxOIRHRPAX0fY0pKwNqLTTXZFQEAD90EMHEO0
Associated Press: The glowing amber dot on a light switch in the entryway of George Tsapoitis' house offers a clue about the future of electricity. A few times this summer, when millions of air conditioners strain the Toronto region's power grid, that pencil-tip-sized amber dot will blink. It will be asking Tsapoitis to turn the switch off – unless he's already programmed his house to make that move for him. This is the beginning of a new way of thinking about electricity, and the biggest change ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Canada: To fight climate change, 'we need to put a price on carbon'
http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/420905
Toronto Star: Now, more than ever, we must build bridges. We must build bridges between environmental sustainability, social justice and economic growth because only a solution that addresses all of these concerns will ensure success. And we must build bridges among the countries of the world because climate change is a global crisis requiring global action. I believe the countries with the strongest economic fundamentals and the most inclusive approach to social issues will be in the best position ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Uncomfortable truths about global oil depletion
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/04/do0410.xml
Telegraph: Polishing the portholes on the Titanic hardly does it justice. This week saw ministers giving an uncanny impersonation of Corporal Jones urging calm over the Grangemouth refinery strike; lorry drivers protesting in Park Lane over a two pence rise in fuel duty; and much righteous indignation over the level of profits reported by Shell and BP. All of which entirely misses the point. These issues are trifling compared to global oil depletion, where there have been several distinct turns ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lloyd's in global warming talks
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/04/cnarnie104.xml
Telegraph: The Hollywood superstar has enlisted the unlikely assistance of Lloyd's of London in his fight to combat global warming. Governor Schwarzenegger met Lord Levene, the Lloyd's chairman, in California last week, pictured above, to discuss how the world's most famous insurance market and he could work together on environmental issues. The two men are understood to have discussed how Lloyd's can help protect against the changing risk profile being created by global warming, such as ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Big business muddies EU's biofuels debate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7499261
Reuters: Soaring food prices and starving children provide a stirring backdrop to Europe's debate on its biofuels targets, but the big businesses of farming, forestry and automotive could have a heavier influence on policy. The green credentials of biofuels have come under attack in recent weeks over fears they compete for farming land and push up food prices around the world. Riots over food in more than a dozen countries, from Indonesia to Haiti, have added urgency to the ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Loans to poor nations aim to stem rising food cost
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/loans-to-poor-nations-aim-to-stem-rising-food-cost/2008/05/04/1209839449907.html
Age: THE Asian Development Bank has rushed to offer cheap loans to poor countries in the region to help them cope with the world food crisis. Warning of a backwards slide in economic development that could potentially plunge millions of people back into poverty, bank president Haruhiko Kuroda told a meeting in Madrid: "The cheap food era may be over." Rising fuel prices, economic subsidies, poor farming methods and climate change have contributed to a sharp increase in the ...
Mon, 5 May 08
United States: Solar panels, renewable energy
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/nabes/20080504_Solar_panels__renewable_energy.html
Philadelphia Inquirer: Global warming is Earth's way of sending out a May Day distress call, many experts say, and bit by bit, communities and businesses across Chester County are responding to the plea for help. London Grove, for example, is the latest Chester County township to sign up for the Pennsylvania Clean Energy Communities Campaign. This month, the township will making a big push to enroll residents. "May is a big month for us for environmental awareness," said Rhona Klein, township ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Solar power to clotheslines, bills make strides for a greener Hawaii
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080504/NEWS02/805040386/1006/LOCALNEWSFRONT
Honolulu Advertiser: Hawai'i could become the first state in the country to require that all new single-family homes come equipped with energy-saving solar water heaters. Lawmakers last week approved the mandate, which advocates say would save new homeowners hundreds of dollars a year in electricity costs and help reduce Hawai'i's use of fossil fuels. It's among several environmental bills the Legislature sent to Gov. Linda Lingle last week, ranging from establishing an electronic waste recycling ...
Mon, 5 May 08
Surge in fatal shark attacks blamed on global warming
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/04/wildlife.climatechange
Observer: Three decades have passed since the movie Jaws sent terrified bathers scrambling out of the ocean. But as any beach lifeguard knows, there's still nothing like a gory shark attack to stoke public hysteria and paranoia. Two deaths in the waters off California and Mexico last week and a spate of shark-inflicted injuries to surfers off Florida's Atlantic coast have left beachgoers seeking an explanation for a sudden surge in the number of strikes. In the first four months of this ...
Sun, 4 May 08
Block by Block, Communities Fight Global Warming
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/03/AR2008050301079.html
Washington Post: King County Executive Ron Sims has a simple test for every new public works project, building plan or government land purchase: Will it increase the region's total greenhouse-gas emissions, or reduce them? "We are totally committed to reducing emissions, but it requires rethinking the way we do our activities," Sims explained. "People are saying, 'But we've always done it this way.' We're saying, 'That way doesn't work in an age of global warming.' ...
Sun, 4 May 08
Climate change may affect meeting MDG: UN
http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/479A4A71AAF83D366525743E0027D3C5?OpenDocument
Press Trust of India: Efforts to achieve the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals could be reversed if climate change is not addressed, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) chief said. During a discussion aimed at exploring the relationship between the development goals and climate change yesterday, ECOSOC President Lo Mrors noted that several countries are off track in achieving the MDGs and said that climate change could further hamper countries' efforts to make headway. ECOSOC's ...
Sun, 4 May 08
Garrett: Australia ready to join Europe in climate change fight
http://www.thelocal.de/11661/
Local: Peter Garrett has vivid memories of his first visit to Berlin in the 1980s as front man of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil. ''Apart from the fact that we were playing in one of the dingiest clubs I'd ever seen in my life, there was this wall and it was so unthinkable to us, that there were Germans on this side and Germans on the other and history had somehow made this happen,'' he said. A couple of decades on, Garrett is dressed in an impeccably cut brown suit, sitting on ...
Sun, 4 May 08
Global warming set to fan the HIV fire
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2896
Age: Climate change is the latest threat to the world's growing HIV epidemic, say Australian experts who warn of the "grim" outlook in the fight against the infectious disease. A leading professor of health and human rights, Daniel Tarantola, has cautioned that global warming will indirectly make citizens of developing countries even more vulnerable to death and severe ill health from HIV/AIDS. "It was clear soon after the emergence of the HIV epidemic that discrimination, gender ...
Sun, 4 May 08
Japan, China to join in $300 mn CO2 project: Report
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/International_Business/Japan_China_to_join_in_300_mn_CO2_project_Report/articleshow/3007120.cms
Reuters: Japan and China will cooperate in a $300 million project to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from a thermal power plant, a Japanese daily reported on Saturday. Under the plan of the project, emitted carbon dioxide from a thermal power plant will be injected into a major Chinese oil field to extract more crude oil, the Nikkei business daily said. The project, set to start next year, will involve investments from Japanese companies such as Toyota Motor Corp and plant engineering ...
Sun, 4 May 08
Oil is expensive because oil is scarce
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/03/do0311.xml
Telegraph: Polishing the portholes on the Titanic hardly does it justice. This week saw ministers giving an uncanny impersonation of Corporal Jones urging calm over the Grangemouth refinery strike; lorry drivers protesting in Park Lane over a two pence rise in fuel duty; and much righteous indignation over the level of profits reported by Shell and BP. All of which entirely misses the point. These issues are trifling compared to global oil depletion, where there have been several distinct turns for the ...
Sun, 4 May 08
Asian bank in food crisis warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7381916.stm
BBC: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has warned that the crisis of rising food prices could reverse gains made in reducing poverty across the continent. Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda warned at its annual meeting in Madrid that "the cheap food era may be over". Donor countries have pledged more than $11bn (£5.5bn) to a fund to ease the hardship of Asia's poorest people. Meanwhile the African Development Bank has pledged an extra $1bn for its loans portfolio to ...
Sun, 4 May 08
Indigenous people seek voice in climate plans
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=c78b304c-13d2-4702-a67f-378eadab4be2
Canwest News Service: Representatives of the world's 370 million indigenous people called Friday for a say in decisions on how to combat global climate change, at the end of a two-week session focused on the environment. "Indigenous peoples or their representat