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Sun, 31 Aug 08
Japan: Toyota to lease new fuel cell hybrid
http://news.theage.com.au/business/toyota-to-lease-new-fuel-cell-hybrid-20080831-466w.html
Agence France-Presse: Toyota Motor Corp says it will start leasing its new fuel cell hybrid next month as part of its efforts to encourage the widespread use of the zero-emission vehicles. Japan's top automaker, which has already won strong interest in its fuel sipping petrol-electric hybrids, will lease one of its Toyota FCHV-adv vehicles to Japan's environment ministry. Toyota also plans to lease the five-seat sporty vehicle to local governments and companies in, or linked to, the energy ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
The time has come to say Britain is full
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/31/immigration.population
Observer: The science of demographic projection and the art of scaremongering enjoy a relationship akin to that of the sadist and masochist: first comes the threat, then the relish with which the punishment is anticipated. Thus forecasts of increasing population numbers are guaranteed to produce dystopian visions of social collapse. The godfather of apocalyptic demographics was the Rev Thomas Malthus, who famously proposed in the late 18th century that unchecked population growth would lead to ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Industry's next fear: 'Water is the oil of the 21st century'
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/376938_wateronline31.html
Economist: "Water is the oil of the 21st century," declares Andrew Liveris, the chief executive of Dow, a chemical company. Like oil, water is a critical lubricant of the global economy. And as with oil, supplies of water -- at least, the clean, easily accessible sort -- are coming under enormous strain because of the growing global population and an emerging middle-class in Asia that hankers for the water-intensive life enjoyed by people in the West. Oil prices have fallen from their ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Methane gas oozing up from Siberian seabed: Swedish researcher
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jyL0h8nTY1z29bAhYBsnFtXcj_RQ
Agence France-Presse: Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is leaking from the permafrost under the Siberian seabed, a researcher on an international expedition in the region told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter on Saturday. "The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed," Oerjan Gustafsson, the Swedish leader of the International Siberian Shelf Study, told the ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Oil Group Joins Alaska in Suing to Overturn Polar Bear Protection
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083001538.html
Washington Post: The American Petroleum Institute and four other business groups filed suit Thursday against Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall, joining Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's administration in trying to reverse the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species. On Aug. 4, the state of Alaska filed a lawsuit opposing the polar bear's listing, arguing that their populations as a whole are stable and that melting sea ice does not pose an ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Villagers in India desperate as flooding spreads
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2008/08/30/villagers_in_india_desperate_as_flooding_spreads/
Reuters: Villagers were eating uncooked rice and flour mixed with polluted water, disaster relief officials said yesterday as rising river waters smashed embankments and flooded more areas in the northeast Indian state of Bihar. More than 2 million people have been displaced and about a quarter of a million houses have been destroyed in Bihar after the country's worst flooding in 50 years, officials said. A boat carrying dozens of flood victims overturned in eastern India yesterday, ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Aussies 'prepared to pay to fix climate'
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=623347
AAP: A major survey of Australians' views on climate change has found an overwhelming majority think it is happening, and they're prepared to pay to address it. The study by University of Technology Sydney (UTS) also found Australians wanted to see cuts in the nation's greenhouse gas emissions irrespective of the actions of other countries. Researchers quizzed 768 people, who were chosen randomly but with a method to ensure the sample was reflective of the Australian population, ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Calif. land use subject to global warming review
http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_XGR_Greenhouse_Gases_California_Sprawl_356443C.shtml
Associated Press: For decades, California cities and counties knew one way to grow by sprawling outward. That approach, which has led to ever longer commutes, jammed freeways and worsening air quality, is being challenged under a bill that was approved Saturday in the state Legislature. The bill would require local governments to plan their growth so homes, businesses and public transit systems are clustered together. The goal is to help California meet the emission mandates spelled out in a ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Australia: Cash woes spell end for Gunns' pulp mill
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24263157-664,00.html
Herald Sun: TASMANIA'S controversial pulp mill development was declared "dead" yesterday as leading opponents turned up the heat on Gunns Limited. Leading business figure Geoffrey Cousins, an outspoken mill critic, launched a scathing response after Gunns this week pushed the start of the project out to next March, well beyond deadlines set by the Federal and Tasmanian Governments. "Gunns' statement to the stock exchange rings a final bell on its proposed pulp mill in the Tamar Valley, " ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Hollywood A-listers forced to mothball their personal jets
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hollywood-alisters-forced-to-mothball-their-personal-jets-913914.html
Independent: They probably won't get much sympathy from their hard-pressed fans, but America's stars of stage and screen are being forced to give up one of the traditional benefits of their celebrity status: private jets. The soaring price of aviation fuel, which is now twice the cost of a year ago, is adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a typical flight, prompting members of Hollywood's Ã©lite to think the unthinkable and ground their personal Gulfstreams. Last week, the ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Hurricane Gustav strengthens en route to Cuba, gulf
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN2541891320080830
Reuters: Powerful Hurricane Gustav roared toward western Cuba on Saturday with 125 mph (205 kph) winds on its way to the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico after a deadly pass through the Caribbean. Gustav ripped across the Cayman Islands and closed in on Cuba's Isle of Youth before it was set to strike the Cuban mainland later in the day as a major hurricane. Forecasters predicted Gustav would cross the Gulf of Mexico and hit central Louisiana on Tuesday with the same force that Hurricane Katrina ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Making Gore's Switch Isn't Quite So Simple
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082902332.html
Washington Post: Al Gore must be kidding. The former vice president, now in his second career as a climate Cassandra, has spent the past few weeks pushing the notion that the United States can be "repowered" -- that all its electricity needs can be met without producing greenhouse gases. He says it can be done within a decade. At the Democratic National Convention last week, he told the crowd in Denver that "we have everything we need" to start solving the climate crisis, ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Ministers take bold steps to address energy crisis in West Africa
http://www.afriquenligne.fr/ministers-take-bold-steps-to-address-energy-crisis-in-west-africa-2008083011748.html
Afrique en ligne: Ministers of Energy from West Africa emerged from their one-day meeting in Bissau, Guinea Bissau, Friday resolved to deal, in concrete manner, with the energy crisis in the sub-region. In a communique, issued from the ECOWAS secretariat in Abuja, Nigeria's federal capital, and made available to PANA here, the ministers said they adopted six resolutions which hope would enhance measure to address the problem. The ministers, who reviewed the report of a preceding experts' meeting, noted ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Paper Or Plastic? It'll Cost You.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/156361
Newsweek: Economist Peter Nickerson, 56, is a proud resident of Seattle, arguably the capital of green America, so it almost goes without saying that he supports aggressive environmental policies. He'd like to see his city make public transit free to reduce vehicle emissions. He wants to ban pesticides in rivers where salmon swim. He's a devoted recycler who even composts his own trash. Surely, then, he must love Seattle's new bag tax? (Starting in 2009, it would require drug, grocery and convenience ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
The wind of change is slow to blow through Britain's energy policy
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/the-wind-of-change-is-slow-to-blow-through-britains-energy-policy-913624.html
Independent: In two years' time, the UK seems certain to miss one of the core environmental targets of the Blair-Brown years. The Government pledged that 10 per cent of the country's electricity would be generated from renewable sources, principally from wind farms, but also including tidal and solar power. Press releases from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr) still boast of the target, which was first promised in 2000 and enshrined three years later in the ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Throwing Caution to the Wind
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/31Rhome.html?ref=nyregionspecial2
New York Times: THE Jersey Shore is waiting for the Big One. It has been awhile since a major storm hit here, and there's a feeling that we're due. Every year brings dire predictions: global warming, El NiÃ±o, a few more named storms. The coast is always vulnerable, and it's easy to imagine Nature ridding herself of those palaces thoughtlessly built on barrier islands or at the edge of the mainland dunes. There is plenty of precedent. Not everyone is old enough to remember the hurricanes of ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
New doubts on $2bn Gunns mill
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,24260195-462,00.html
Herald Sun: GUNNS last night was scrambling to raise the cash needed to build its $2 billion pulp mill and meet a looming Federal Government deadline. In the latest blow to the company's stalled plans to build the mill in the environmentally-sensitive Tamar River valley, Gunns revealed it was unlikely to raise the necessary funding before next March. Gunns said it hoped to enter a joint venture with an as-yet-unnamed industry participant that may take a 50 per cent stake in the ...

Sun, 31 Aug 08
Palin questioned whether global warming is melting Arctic ice
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/260/story/51169.html
McClatchy Newspapers: Sen. John McCain's choice of a running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, favors drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, questioned the science behind predictions of sea ice loss linked to global warming and opposed a state initiative that would have banned metal mines from discharging pollution into salmon streams. The Alaska governor has said that she's tried to persuade McCain to agree with her on drilling in the wildlife refuge. She also has said that she was happy ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
A Hard Habit to Break, Even With Gas at $10 a Gallon
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=105546
New York Times: Ten dollars a gallon may seem unthinkable to American drivers still smarting from the spike in gas prices to around $4 a gallon. But that was nearly the price that Marco Annarumi faced recently when filling his Jeep on his way home from work. "It hasn't changed my driving at all – not a bit – I just have to work harder," he said with seeming indifference. High oil prices and high taxes on gas pushed the average price of gasoline to new heights in much of Europe this summer. Yet ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
California Moves on Bill to Curb Sprawl and Emissions
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=105578
New York Times: California, known for its far-ranging suburbs and jam-packed traffic, is close to adopting a law intended to slow the increase in emissions of heat-trapping gases by encouraging housing close to job sites, rail lines and bus stops to shorten the time people spend in their cars. The measure, which the State Assembly passed on Monday and awaits final approval by the Senate, would be the nation's most comprehensive effort to reduce sprawl. It would loosely tie tens of billions of dollars ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Climate fight hit by global slowdown, Russia fears
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLS676710._CH_.2400
Reuters: The fight against global warming is in danger of being downgraded on more urgent fears over energy security, heightened by a Russian war with Georgia, and a global economic slowdown. Added to the mix -- politicians are faced with a rising clamour of complaints from voters over record fuel bills, and racing gas and oil prices have sparked new interest in high-carbon coal as well as cleaner alternatives. "A few years ago it was all about climate change. Now energy security has ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Democratic Nominee Obama Vows to Defeat Climate Change
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-29-01.asp
Environment News Service: Climate change has made Senator Barack Obama's list of "threats of the 21st century" alongside terrorism and nuclear proliferation, poverty, genocide, and disease. Accepting the Democratic nomination for president Thursday night before 75,000 supporters at Denver's Invesco Field, Obama said he would "build new partnerships" to defeat these threats. "And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president - in 10 years, ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Energy, Environment Will Be Central to McCain-Palin Campaign
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-29-02.asp
Environment News Service: U.S. Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, today announced that he has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate and to serve as his vice president. His choice puts the twin issues of energy and environment at the center of the 2008 election campaign. "Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in office that she is ready to be president," McCain said today in Dayton. "Governor Palin has challenged ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Australia: Gunns nearly out of ammo on pulp mill
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24258102-601,00.html?from=public_rss
Australian: THE long battle over the proposed Tasmanian pulp mill may soon be over, with proponent Gunns unable to give an assurance that the controversial project will proceed. In a marked change of tone, the timber company last night told the Australian Securities Exchange that it was no longer certain that it could obtain sufficient finance or a joint venture partner. It also told the market it could not meet a deadline for the start of construction of November 30, set by the Tasmanian ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Hurricane Gustav roars toward Caymans, Gulf
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN2541891320080829
Reuters: Hurricane Gustav gathered strength over the warm waters of the Caribbean on Friday roaring toward the Cayman Islands and the Gulf of Mexico on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's deadly strike on New Orleans. The storm, which killed up to 77 people in the Caribbean, plowed toward superheated waters south of Cuba where it could absorb enough energy to strengthen into a major hurricane before ripping through the heavy concentration of U.S. oil and natural gas platforms off ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
United States: Palin backs oil drilling in wildlife refuge
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/665002.html
McClatchy Newspapers: Sen. John McCain's choice of a running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, favors drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, questioned the science behind predictions of sea ice loss linked to global warming and opposed a state initiative that would have banned metal mines from discharging pollution into salmon streams. The Alaska governor has said that she has tried to persuade McCain to agree with her on drilling in the wildlife refuge. She also has said that she was ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Palin Not Convinced on Global Warming
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/29/palin_not_convinced_on_global.html
Washington Post: Some scientists believe Alaska will be among the first to feel the impact of global warming, but Sarah Palin told voters there she wasn't sure climate change wasn't simply part of a natural warming cycle. "I will not pretend to have all the answers," Palin said about global warming, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Her spokesman clarified at the time that "she's not totally convinced one way or the other. Science will tell us . . . She thinks the jury's still out." Palin ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Sarah Palin: Tough on polar bears
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2008/08/sarah_palin_on_energy_and_the.html
Boston Globe: Alaska's governor, thrust Friday into national politics as John McCain's surprise pick for vice president, has a varied and complicated stance on green issues, supportive of some of Barack Obama's energy policies and opposed oil companies in the past. She also wants to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and has sued to stop the federal government from making the polar bear an endangered species. On Aug. 4, Sarah Palin was particularly enthusiastic about Obama's ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
United States: Sea-Ice Melt Imperils Walruses, and Economy Based on Them
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/28/AR2008082803489.html
Washington Post: Hubert Kokuluk squints with his one good eye to examine the tiny polar bear he has just carved from a fragment of walrus tusk. He isn't happy with the yellowish hue, but good ivory is hard to come by these days, since quickly melting sea ice has made it extremely difficult for his Inupiaq Eskimo community to carry out the traditional annual spring walrus hunt. Though walruses are federally protected, Alaska Natives have subsistence rights to hunt them and rely on the meat, skin, ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Wind and solar tax breaks setting
http://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_10337732
Contra Costa Times: Some $500 million in investment and production tax credits will expire Dec. 31 unless Congress renews them. Without that help, solar and wind power companies say they will reverse planned expansions and, in many cases, cut payrolls and capital investment. Schott Solar has visions of quadrupling its operation in Albuquerque, N.M., to reach 1,500 jobs and $500 million in investment. But the investment tax credit, company spokesman Brian Lynch said, is what makes solar power ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
'Awful August' is greyest since records began
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2645467/Awful-August-is-greyest-since-records-began.html
Telegraph (UK): Official Met Office figures show that Britain managed just 96.3 hours of sunshine in the first 26 days of the month - 40 per cent below the average of 165.1 hours the country would see in a typical August. Despite the prospect of sunny spells on Saturday in southern and eastern parts of England, forecasters are warning of thunder storms tomorrow to round off one of the wettest Augusts on record. Dubbed "awful August" by meteorologists, the damp conditions have led to fears of ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
'Rich nations should give money to fight climate change'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rich_nations_should_give_money_to_fight_climate_change/articleshow/3423709.cms
Times of India: Asian rivals India and China have joined forces to make a forceful demand that rich nations set aside 0.5%-1% of the GDP to help the developing world face the challenge posed by climate change and make good their unfulfilled commitments towards cutting back on greenhouse emissions. Supported by other developing countries as well, the demand that rich nations must pay up was formally articulated at the UN climate change negotiations here and could set the agenda over the next year. The ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
'Unbreakable' greenhouse gas meets its doom at last
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14623-unbreakable-greenhouse-gas-meets-its-doom-at-last.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news3_head_dn14623
New Scientist: The war on climate change just got a chemical weapon: a way to destroy the carbon-fluorine bonds that make a class of widely used industrial gases so dangerous in the atmosphere. Gases made from carbon, fluorine and chlorine, called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), long used as refrigerants, were banned in the 1990s because they damage the ozone layer that protects the Earth from UV radiation. But similar compounds that don't contain chlorine, fluorocarbons, are still widely used ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
As Biomass Power Rises, a Wood-Fired Plant Is Planned in Texas
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=105548
New York Times: The city of Austin, Tex., approved plans on Thursday for a huge plant that will burn waste wood to make electricity, the latest sign of rising interest in a long-dormant form of renewable energy. When completed in 2012, the East Texas plant will be able to generate 100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 75,000 homes. That is small by the standards of coal-fired power plants, but plants fueled by wood chips, straw and the like – organic materials collectively known as biomass – ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Australia's carbon footprint
http://www.forbes.com/reuters/feeds/reuters/2008/08/28/2008-08-29T034120Z_01_SP112103_RTRIDST_0_AUSTRALIA-CARBON-FOOTPRINT-FACTBOX.html
Reuters: The Australian government is seeking to introduce one of the world's most inclusive carbon trading schemes by 2010 but needs the support of big business, which fears emissions trading will make them less competitive. Energy Minister Martin Ferguson met more than 70 large firms at parliament on Friday to talk over their concerns. Left-leaning Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made tackling climate change and rising carbon emissions a top priority of his government. He ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Boris Johnson unveils climate crisis plan
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKLT35340420080829
Reuters: Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled a plan on Friday to help London tackle the challenge of climate change with less carbon dioxide, more trees, better drainage and increased water efficiency. Some 15 percent of London is deemed at high risk from flooding due to global warming -- an area including 1.25 million people, 480,000 properties, 441 schools, 75 underground and rail stations, 10 hospitals and one airport. At stake is an estimated 160 billion pounds worth of assets, not just in ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Canada encouraged to tap into water resources
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/business/story.html?id=42bd8436-10a1-4b09-b0d9-afb776c5583d
Canwest News Service: Canada is awash with the world's most precious commodity, and it's not oil, gold, potash or uranium. It's fresh water -- an essential element for life on Earth -- and a Quebec think-tank says the province should look at shipping it out for big profits. The controversial debate over bulk-exporting water is being revived by the report, which found Quebec could boost its gross annual income by $65 billion by taking advantage of water shortages in other parts of the world. The ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Australia: Carbon spike hits Kyoto gas pledge
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/carbon-spike-hits-kyoto-gas-pledge/1257289.aspx
Canberra Times: Australia's fossil fuel emissions are growing more than four times faster than figures quoted by the Federal Government, placing Australia's Kyoto target at risk. Figures published online yesterday by one of the world's top authorities on greenhouse emissions shows Australia's total fossil fuel emissions jumped by 8.3 per cent from 93 million tonnes in 2004 to just over 100 million tonnes in 2005. This includes a 12 per cent rise in carbon dioxide emissions from cement ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Clean power need gives India's solar mission a boost
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Clean_power_need_gives_Indias_solar_mission_a_boost/articleshow/3419110.cms
Times of India: The government is looking to get India's 'national solar mission' underway with steps to set up research-industry partnerships, tariff structures and tax breaks to citizens aimed at promoting competitiveness and even seed 'solar valleys' for largescale energy generation. The recognition that solar power represents a huge untapped potential for relatively clean energy saw PMO call a meeting on Tuesday to discuss what could be done to make this form of energy more viable in the Indian ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Coal back-up for wind power 'will cost Â£100bn'
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Coal-backup-for-wind-power.4442417.jp
Scotsman: A LEADING power company has claimed wind energy is so unreliable that even if 13,000 turbines are built to meet EU renewable energy targets, they could be relied on to provide only 7 per cent of the country's peak winter electricity demand. E.On has argued that, during the coldest days of winter, so little wind blows that 92 per cent of installed wind capacity would have to be backed up by traditional power stations. It argues this would require new coal-fired power stations to ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Environment: Johnson unveils secret weapon in war on climate change - the roof garden
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/30/climatechange.greenpolitics
Guardian: To some they are a rural escape in the centre of the city, to others they are a chance to test their green fingers and design skills. Now London mayor Boris Johnson has found a new use for urban roof gardens - as a key weapon on the front line against global warming. An increase in the number of rooftop gardens to soak up rainwater across the capital is among a series of measures suggested by Johnson yesterday, as part of efforts to prepare London for the effects of climate ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Europeans Back Tough Car Emission Targets - Poll
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50007/story.htm
Reuters: A majority of Europeans back planned legislation to enforce big cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from new cars, a public opinion poll in the European Union's five biggest countries showed on Thursday. The survey, carried out by the TNS Opinion pollster for the Friends of the Earth lobby group, may strengthen the case for the European Parliament to keep tough targets for lowering emissions of one of the main gases blamed for global warming. A key committee at the legislature ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Europeans urged by Nordic nations to protect Arctic
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=502c992d-4952-4059-b5bb-6948ac45fbcc
Canwest News Service: Just days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled his government's vision of the Arctic as a potential resource bonanza, a report commissioned by top ministers from Europe's Nordic countries is urging the European Union to embrace a new role as the Arctic's environmental guardian and to throw its considerable political and economic weight behind polar protection over exploitation. The report is the latest sign that economic and environmental interests are colliding in the Arctic, ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Indian villagers desperate as floods spread
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/08/29/asia/OUKWD-UK-INDIA-FLOODS.php
Reuters: Villagers were eating uncooked rice and flour mixed with polluted water in an eastern Indian state, officials said on Friday, as hunger and diseases accompanied the worst-ever floods in 50years. The Kosi river burst a dam in neighbouring Nepal earlier this month and surged into Bihar state, swamping village after village as authorities failed to evacuate millions ontime. At least 10 more people drowned overnight, raising the toll to 65, as the rising river waters smashed ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Marine team sounds alarm for reefs
http://starbulletin.com/2008/08/29/news/story11.html
Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Recommendations to prevent what one scientist calls "osteoporosis of the reef" have been presented to the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, holding its final meeting of the International Year of the Reef in Kona. Fourteen leading climate and marine scientists and coral reef managers from the U.S. and Australia developed the "Honolulu Declaration on Ocean Acidification and Reef Management" during a workshop convened here by the Nature Conservancy two weeks ago. Presenting the findings ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Only seven years left to avoid global climate catastrophe
http://www.sltrib.com/themix/ci_10330821
Salt Lake Tribune: The world may have only seven years to start reducing the annual buildup in greenhouse gas emissions that otherwise threatens global catastrophe within several decades. That means that between Inauguration Day in January 2009 and 2015, either John McCain or Barack Obama will face the most momentous political challenge of all time. Reflecting a consensus of hundreds of scientists around the world, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has affirmed that greenhouse gas ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Palin advocates drilling but spars with Big Oil
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7762373
Guardian: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is seen as a strong advocate for opening new areas to oil drilling, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but has taken a hard line in negotiations with oil companies and raised taxes on the state's energy producers. Palin, named by Sen. John McCain on Friday as presumptive Republican vice presidential candidate, has sparred with oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp, ConocoPhillips and BP Plc since her election as governor in 2006. But industry experts ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Papua New Guinea to Improve Power Supply
http://www.solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=2431
Solomon Times: Papua New Guinea will draw up a detailed plan to improve power supply in the country where 90% of the population still has no electricity. The Japan Special Fund, administered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is providing a $1.2 million grant for Papua New Guinea to prepare a power sector development project design that will increase supply of reliable and sustainable power at reasonable cost. The government will contribute another $300,000 to the project. At present, more ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Prickly fish add genetic heft to Darwin's theory on its 150th anniversary
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jk7NroPT5vM7s8QixiOryXqKm_xQ
Canadian Press: A tiny, prickly fish is helping B.C. researchers understand how organisms evolve in response to new or changing environments. Scientists say that's a key factor in forecasting how different species might deal with climate change and other human-imposed environmental conditions. The difference between freshwater and marine stickleback, a minnow-sized fish found in lakes, rivers, streams and oceans across Canada, is the focus of a University of British Columbia study that adds ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Austria: Probe says IAEA nuclear leak did not reach environment
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKLT48990320080829
Reuters: A small amount of plutonium which leaked from an ageing International Atomic Energy Agency laboratory near Vienna did not reach the environment, according to an independent inquiry cited by the U.N. watchdog on Friday. The August 3 incident at the Seibersdorf analytical lab, which occurred overnight and caused no injury, raised a stir in Austria, which hosts the IAEA but rejects nuclear energy itself as fundamentally dangerous. In a statement, the agency said test samples of ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Small farmers to join Brazil sustainable cane move
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN2947242720080829
Reuters: Dozens of small and medium-scale farmers in Brazil's Sao Paulo state will grow sugar cane certified as meeting strict social and environmental standards, the region's cane producers association said late on Thursday. Several ethanol companies like Cosan and Louis Dreyfus signed deals to produce and export verified sustainable ethanol in the last couple of months to address consumers' concerns over the impact of ethanol which powers almost all the country's new cars. But now ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Big fines looming as we fail Kyoto test
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/big-fines-looming--as-we-fail---kyoto-test-1465367.html
Irish Independent: THE State could be facing an even larger bill for off-setting greenhouse gasses after projections showed our emissions increased by nearly 5pc last year. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Eamon Ryan has admitted it will be a "real challenge" to meet the Government's target of reducing carbon emissions by 3pc every year during its term in office. But the opposition has warned that the State may have to pay even more than the €270m that has been set aside to buy the ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Boris warning over climate threat
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hecTpKQhEKk5SUNiGV_xFLusqnJQ
Press Association: Climate change could seriously threaten quality of life in London and the capital's position as a leading world city, Mayor Boris Johnson said. He issued the warning as he launched a strategy, the first for a major city, detailing action that needs to be taken in London to cope with global warming. It outlines measures to cut water use to cope with extreme weather.

Sat, 30 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Brown faces rebellion over windfall tax on energy firms
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brown-faces-rebellion-over-windfall-tax-on-energy-firms-912327.html
Independent: Gordon Brown faces an embarrassing defeat at next month's Labour Party conference over the Government's refusal to impose a windfall tax on the energy companies. Supporters of a one-off raid on energy firms to fund help for people paying soaring fuel bills are planning to force a vote on the issue at Labour's Manchester conference, which opens on 20 September. They claim strong and growing support for the idea among trade unions and Labour constituency parties – which each have ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Business asks Australia to ease carbon trade
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSSYD1614120080829
Reuters: Environment groups demanded on Friday that Australia ignore the "greenhouse mafia" as major energy and mining companies met the government to demand greater compensation for a coming emissions trading regime. The government is planning to introduce one of the world's biggest carbon trading schemes by 2010 that will force companies to buy permits to cover their emissions, putting a market price on carbon that will encourage firms to clean up their pollution. Big business told ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Solar energy is ideal choice for the UAE, expert says
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10241148.html
Gulf News: Solar energy is the way to go for the UAE, an expert on renewable energy has advised. Ray Noble, Director of BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaics) and a former UK government advisor on renewable energy, was addressing developers and members from the construction industry at a seminar titled "Global warming and its solutions". "The planet is a very clever thing. It can repair itself, provided you don't go too far," he said, pointing out the critical need to act now against ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
United Kingdom: The mayor must act on global warming
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/29/boris.climatechange?gusrc=rss&feed=uknews
Guardian: I'm asking myself when the honeymoon period for the new mayor will be over, and when Londoners can be expected to see real progress rather than lots of erudite chatter and vague promises. This administration seems to lack any sense of urgency about the terrifying issue of climate change, preferring instead to tackle the issue of drinking on the tube (when was that a problem?) and cutting as much as they can from the GLA budget without first understanding what valuable work, and where, was ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Toyota Cuts 2009 Sales F'cast, Speeds Up Electric Cars
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50014/story.htm
Reuters: Toyota Motor Corp cut its 2009 vehicle sales forecast by nearly 7 percent as high fuel prices hammer demand for large cars and pickup trucks, and said it will speed up the rollout of hybrid and electric cars as their popularity grows. The weaker outlook from the world's most profitable carmaker weighed on shares of European rivals and highlighted an increasingly difficult environment, where orders in the United States and Western Europe for high-margin, gas-thirsty vehicles is ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Australia: User pays key to climate
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24257615-7583,00.html
Australian: CLIMATE change is a global problem requiring a global solution. And, as Ross Garnaut has observed, the roadblock to a global solution is the prisoners' dilemma or free rider problem: if we all wait for others to act first, nothing gets done. But there is a flaw in the architecture the Government is proposing to cut carbon emissions. If the free rider problem is the obstacle to a global policy, then the first design criterion is not to make the problem worse than it has to ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Amazon Increasingly Oily
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43707
Inter Press Service: More than 180 oil and natural gas fields extend across the western Amazon, shared by five South American countries and threatening biodiversity and indigenous lands, warns a study by U.S.-based organisations. Peru is the most worrisome case: 72 percent of its jungle territory overlaps with plans for exploiting fossil fuels, says the report "Oil and Gas Projects in the Western Amazon: Threats to Wilderness, Biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples", published Aug. 13 by the open-access ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Biofuels 200 times more expensive than forest conservation for global warming mitigation
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0827-avoided_deforestation_uk.html
Mongabay: The British government should end subsidies for biofuels and instead use the funds to slow destruction of rainforests and tropical peatlands argues a new report issued by a U.K.-based think tank. The study, titled "The Root of the Matter" and published by Policy Exchange, says that "avoided deforestation" would be a more cost-effective way to address climate change, since land use change generates more emissions than the entire global transport sector and offers ancillary benefits ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Climate talks: India, China join hands
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Climate_talks_India_China_join_hands/articleshow/3413939.cms
Times of India: They are the fiercest economic rivals as well as neighbours that infrequently spar over international borders. But the 'Hindi-Chini bhai bhai' bonding is hard to miss at the climate change talks in Accra. Their close coordination, bilateral understanding and strategic moves have stumped the rich countries. The industrialized countries, such as the EU members and Japan, have over the past couple of days run a shrill campaign to draw a wedge through the powerful G77 countries and China ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Future Storms, Global Warming Could Devastate Louisiana Coast
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=5677197&page=1
ABC News: http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=5677197

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Low level of Arctic sea ice indicates a "tipping point"
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008143445_ice28.html
Associated Press: More ominous signs Wednesday have scientists saying a global-warming "tipping point" in the Arctic seems to be happening before their eyes: Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is at its second- lowest level in about 30 years. The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that sea ice in the Arctic covers about 2.03 million square miles. The lowest point since satellite measurements began in 1979 was 1.65 million square miles set last September. With about three weeks left in the ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Indonesia: Palm oil firms reject forest moratorium
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=105468
Jakarta Post: Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia have opposed any moratorium on forest and peat land conversions, saying it will play havoc with the industry and the national economy. The Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (GAPKI) said halting forest conversion would only slow the country's economy, causing more job losses and further poverty, beleaguering the country. "Indonesia does not need to apply a moratorium on its forest. GAPKI strongly rejects the forest conversion ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Rich or poor? New faultline in UN climate talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSLS64442520080828
Reuters: Rich countries are pushing developing nations with the strongest economies to do far more to combat climate change, opening a faultline between rich and poor in U.N. talks on global warming. The European Union, for instance, says that some developing nations such as Singapore, Argentina and some OPEC states have grown richer than some developed nations which have to shoulder the burden of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. "We want some of the developing nations to do more," ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice Verges on New Record Low
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-28-02.asp
Environment News Service: Evidence that Earth's climate continues to heat up comes this week in the form of satellite data that shows the extent of Arctic sea ice this year has shrunk below the 2005 minimum to stand as the second-smallest since observations from space began 30 years ago. Last summer, the extent of Arctic sea ice shrank to more than 30 percent below average, its smallest extent in the satellite record. Each year, the Arctic Ocean experiences the formation and then melting of vast amounts ...

Sat, 30 Aug 08
Xcel agreement dims coal's future, critics say
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/08/28/coal_future/
Minnesota Public Radio: Xcel Energy is one of five big electric companies targeted last fall by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Using a New York state law, he subpoenaed them to determine whether their reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission -- the agency that regulates Wall Street -- were adequate. The government will soon set limits on greenhouse gas emissions, and companies should start taking those limits into account, Cuomo and other investor watchdogs say. Coal-fired power plants ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Aust, NZ urged to cater for climate change refugees
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/17/2337705.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: There has been an urgent call for Australia and New Zealand to tailor their immigration programs to help Pacific Islanders displaced by climate change. Over 100 NGOs from across the Asia-Pacific region have sent a letter to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark ahead of this week's Pacific Islands Leadership Forum. The leaders will be discussing climate change at a meeting in New Zealand tomorrow before Tuesday's Forum. The letter calls ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' comes to the screen
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-ca-road17-2008aug17,0,5958148.story
LA Times: THE FATHER and son struggling to stay alive in "The Road" understand that everything they know is coming to an end. Ext. ROAD -- DAY In the burnt, barren landscape, through swirls of soft ash and smoggy air the MAN appears dressed as if homeless, a filthy old parka with the hood up, a knapsack on his back, pushing a rusted shopping cart with a bicycle mirror clamped to the handle and a blue tarp now covering its load. The little BOY, similarly dressed with a knapsack on his ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
France Reaffirms Its Faith in Future of Nuclear Power
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104970
New York Times: It looks like an ordinary building site, but for the two massive, rounded concrete shells looming above the ocean, like dusty mushrooms. Here on the Normandy coast, France is building its newest nuclear reactor, the first in 10 years, costing $5.1 billion. But already, President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that France will build another like it. Flamanville is a vivid example of the French choice for nuclear power, made in the late 1950s by Charles de Gaulle, intensified ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
McCain's Pitch for Safe Nuclear Power May Be Undercut by Leaks
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=axF9MBjUF_L0&refer=home
Bloomberg: Republican presidential candidate John McCain promotes nuclear power as a central element of his energy plan, boasting in particular about the safety record of the Navy's reactor-propelled fleet. ``We have been sailing nuclear ships around the world for 60 years, never had an accident,'' McCain, an Arizona senator and former Navy pilot, said July 22 in Rochester, New Hampshire. Only two days later, the Navy disclosed that one of its nuclear submarines, the USS Houston, had been ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Canada: Ontario to use forestry waste as biofuel but some critics unimpressed
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iwe34MKWc1f9mmgCQYmbC__OeW2g
Canadian Press: Ontario is touting a plan to wean one of the province's largest power users off fossil fuels and create jobs by turning forestry waste into energy, but some environmentalists say it could sacrifice more trees than necessary. The new five-year biofibre policy targets leftover waste such as tree tops, branches and unmarketable trees currently left on the forest floor or burned in a pile. Turning that waste into energy is a win-win since it will reduce the reliance on conventional ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Cameroon: Operation Green Sahel Resumes
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=43581
Inter Press Service: "I have come to plant trees -- that is why I have left my jacket and tie in YaoundÃ©" declared Cameroon's Minister of Forest and Wildlife, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, as he launched the tree planting at a small village near the town of Kousseri, in the north of the country. In four minutes, the minister and his staff planted a hundred trees as a bulwark against rapidly encroaching desert. About 80,000 trees have been planted in this area -- described by Kousseri mayor Mahamat Abdoulkarim as ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Save the planet? Buy it
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/16/eamillionaires116.xml
Telegraph: SebastiÃ¡n PiÃ±era, one of the richest men in Chile, has a CV that includes introducing credit cards to his country and many large-scale property developments. Now he has added what every chic millionaire Parque Tantauco, which PiÃ±era created in 2005, is on one of South America's largest islands, ChiloÃ©, off the coast of Patagonia. PiÃ±era bought the land and immediately set about protecting the offshore habitat of blue whales and the inland virgin forests. Pulling out a ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Canada: As the ice melts, control ebbs in the Arctic
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080815.wcoessay0816/BNStory/specialComment/home
Globe and Mail: The Northwest Passage may be ice-free this summer, for only the second time in recorded history. The Canadian Arctic is being fundamentally transformed. As the ice diminishes, new actors and interests will arrive. Who is coming? What will they do? What does it mean for Canada? Many people expect international shippers to take advantage of the shorter distances between Europe and Asia to carry goods through an increasingly ice-free Passage. Most shipping experts, however, think that ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
California plans world's largest solar plant
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International_Business/California_plans_worlds_largest_solar_plant/articleshow/3370329.cms
Economic Times: A California utility company has signed a deal to build the world's two biggest solar power plants in central California with solar panels covering 32.5 sq km and producing 800 MW of electricity. Pacific Gas & Electric will use the massive solar facilities to help it meet state requirements to generate 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010, according to the deal announced on Friday. The company has signed a contract with two Silicon Valley firms to build ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Carbon credits tick all the boxes. What's the delay?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/16/carbonemissions.labour
Guardian: Awful August, the weather forecasters call this unseasonably cold, wet month, as holiday-makers huddle against intermittent monsoon downpours, reminded that global warming doesn't necessarily mean a Mediterranean Britain. Every month, reports from climatologists deliver worse predictions of the speed and tipping points for irreversible climate change. A 4C temperature rise is the latest warning: it would bring unimaginable horror in its wake. The time to act gets shorter, but the ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Australia: Farmers denied water to grow
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=146&ContentID=91851
West Australian: Farmers in parts of the South-West food bowl are being refused permission to build dams in a bid to avoid a water crisis like that plaguing the Murray-Darling system. Reduced river flow and climate change fears have prompted the Department of Water to crack down on new surface water allocations around Manjimup, leaving farmers unable to expand or start new operations. WA Fruit Growers Association president Diane Fry said the region produced about 30 per cent of the State's ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Gore's challenge puts the heat on
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880811035
Asheville Citizen-Times: Former Vice President Al Gore, who brought us the 2006 blockbuster "An Inconvenient Truth," has made waves again by issuing a challenge to the United States to source all of its electricity from clean, renewable energy within a decade. Gore's call, made to a crowd assembled in the Constitution Hall of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Washington, D.C., is indeed revolutionary. It goes beyond the most aggressive proposals on the table from members of Congress – or even most ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
In face of environmental disaster, more Chinese are going green
http://www.macon.com/world/story/434535.html
McClatchy Newspapers: While Olympic visitors from around the world get a firsthand glimpse this month at China's pollution problems, a homegrown movement is racing to ward off what many here predict could be epic environmental meltdown. Hundreds of millions of Chinese are taking the first steps to turn the tide, fueled by growing unhappiness with the plunging quality of life caused by out-of-control environmental degradation. Industrial districts such as Zibo in coastal Shandong province are closing ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
McCain suggests raiding Colorado's water
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_10218277
Denver Post: Memo to: John McCain. From: Five million thirst-crazed Coloradans. Subject: Forget about winning our nine electoral votes next November. We don't vote for water rustlers in this state; we tar and feather them! Yes, fellow citizens of the state whose official motto is "Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting," John McCain has thunk the unthinkable – and proposed renegotiating the 1922 Colorado River Compact. To quote from Charles Ashby's story in the Friday ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Pelosi Softens Offshore Drilling Stance
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121889978439847053.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: In one of the clearest signs yet that the Democratic leadership is softening its stance towards expanded domestic oil production, the U.S. House Speaker outlined an energy bill Saturday that includes new offshore exploration. The policy shift follows a similar move in recent days by Democratic leaders in the Senate and by presidential candidate Barack Obama in the face of a public angered by high energy prices. In remarks prepared for the Democratic Radio Address Saturday ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Population policy demands attention
http://www.bangkokpost.com/160808_Business/16Aug2008_biz24.php
Bangkok Post: Thailand must brace for a possible crisis over the next 20 years from an increase in world population, climate change and food and energy shortages, warns Privy Councillor Kasem Wattanachai. Speaking at the Thailand Vision 2027 seminar held yesterday by the National Economic and Social Development Board, Mr Kasem said the world population was expected to increase to six billion by 2030, nine billion in 2050 and 10 billion in 2060 with rapid growth in the developing world. He ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Taiwan's Solar Industry May Reach NT$500 Billion in 2012
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aUjcJQkfUbXU&refer=asia
Bloomberg: Taiwan's solar industry may grow to NT$500 billion ($16 billion) by 2012 as the government promotes the use of renewable energy, the Cabinet said. Revenue from makers of solar-electricity components was NT$11.3 billion for the first six months of this year, the Cabinet said in a statement posted on its Web site last night, following a visit by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan to two manufacturers yesterday. ``The solar energy industry is the star of tomorrow,'' Liu was cited as saying. ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Electric power shortages in China
http://www.examiner.com/x-325-Global-Warming-Examiner~y2008m8d15-Electric-power-shortages-in-China
Examiner: China is again facing electric power shortages since 2004. This is being caused by their tremendous growth in the past couple of years and the inability for them to create enough new power generating capacity. A lot of this power is being used for industrial production. Power is now being rationed in many areas. They are reported to be opening a new coal-fired power plant each week and still can't keep up. Parts of China, particularly in the industrialized SE coastal areas are ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
India may lose up to 17% of its farming income: Study
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Indicators/India_may_lose_up_to_17_of_its_farming_income_Study/articleshow/3371952.cms
Economic Times: India could lose between seven and seventeen percent of its income from farming because of climate change, a new study has claimed. Using data on weather and the economic success of farming to model the effect of future warming on the predicted income from farming, Robert Mendelsohn of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Apurva Sanghi of the World Bank said that the focus of their study was on the biological relationship between weather and crop yield instead of ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
United States: Panel: Climate change must begin at home
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080816/NEWS0501/808160335
Journal and Courier: A panel of Purdue University experts believe one of the best ways to reverse climate change is to set a good example. The panel members spoke to a crowd of about three dozen people at the Indiana State Fair as part of the Purdue Day activities there. "It's really easy for humans to change the atmosphere of the earth, and that's what is causing the climate change we're seeing," said Paul Shepson, director of Purdue's Climate Change Research Center. "It's our responsibility to ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
United States: Support, concerns expressed on state climate change plan
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080816-9999-1m16air.html
San Diego Union-Tribune: Dozens of people attended a meeting yesterday in San Diego to express support for California's climate change plan and to share concerns about specific parts of the blueprint. STATE GLOBAL WARMING PLAN California's proposed framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which can be accessed at arb.ca.gov, would: Combine regulations, fees, voluntary measures and free-market programs. Set emissions caps for the transportation, electricity, natural gas and ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Western climate initiative may get us out of fossil fuel mess
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_10218516
Salt Lake Tribune: Higher gas prices, global warming, health problems, stunted economic development and quality-of-life considerations lead many Utahns to be concerned about our energy picture. From backyard barbecues to the Farmer's Market, we're having discussions about the problems and solutions. People seem to agree on the desired outcome: to get us out of this fossil-fuel mess. While some laudable measures and efforts are under way at the local and state levels of government, Utah and our region ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Windmills split upstate NY town and families
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ju-q8DEqg2hiO0dLmoYgfehwB1QwD92JGL2G0
Associated Press: "Listen," John Yancey says, leaning against his truck in a field outside his home. The rhythmic whoosh, whoosh, whoosh of wind turbines echoes through the air. Sleek and white, their long propeller blades rotate in formation, like some otherworldly dance of spindly-armed aliens swaying across the land. Yancey stares at them, his face contorted in anger and pain. He knows the futuristic towers are pumping clean electricity into the grid, knows they have been largely embraced by ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Califoria to build world's biggest solar power plants
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/16/content_9371938.htm
Xinhua: California's largest utility company has signed deals to build the world's two biggest solar plants that would supply electricity to 250,000 homes and reestablish the United States as the global leader in solar power, officials said Friday. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), which is based in San Francisco and serves most of northern California, will use the two massive solar facilities to help it meet state requirements to generate 20 percent of its electricity from renewable ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
California Utility Mainstreams Solar Photovoltaic Power
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-15-094.asp
Environment News Service: Pacific Gas and Electric Company has entered into two utility-scale solar power contracts for a total of 800 megawatts of energy to be generated in California, the utility announced Thursday. The power purchase pacts bring solar photovoltaic cells out of the rooftop realm and into the mainstream. Both huge projects will be located in San Luis Obispo County's California Valley, although they are not adjacent to each other. When complete, they are expected to hold the record for the ...

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Experts Urge Industry To Broaden Carbon Footprint Calculations
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080815170631.htm
ScienceDaily:

Sun, 17 Aug 08
Japan: Government wants post-Kyoto framework to oblige developing nations to cut CO2
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080817TDY01301.htm
Yomiuri Shimbun: The government plans to propose in U.N. talks that developing countries be obliged to join their industrialized counterparts in cutting greenhouse gas emissions under a new international framework to combat global warming to come into force in 2013, according to government sources. The government has submitted five documents related to the proposal to the secretariat of a special working panel meeting to be held in Accra beginning Thursday under the U.N. Framework Convention on ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Is solar power answer to rural energy crisis?
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=50608
Daily Star: This piece is in response to a news item which appeared in The Daily Star on August 10 under the headline "1m solar household systems by 2012 to achieve target". The report said that over 2.30 lakh rural households have been brought under the solar power system in the last five years by Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL) as an alternative source of energy. The report quoted the Executive Director of IDCOL, M Ehsanul Haque, as saying that they have set a target to install ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Australia: State 'failing to grasp' urgency of climate change
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/state-failing-to-grasp-urgency-of-climate-change-20080815-3wfl.html
Age: THE head of a new expert panel advising the Premier on climate change has criticised the State Government's performance in cutting greenhouse emissions, arguing that senior ministers fail to comprehend the scope and urgency of the problem. Professor David Karoly, a lead author with the UN's climate panel that last year shared the Nobel Peace Prize, said the Government was sending the wrong message by simultaneously backing a new brown coal power station and claiming it would cut ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Climate myths: Global warming stopped in 1998
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn14527-climate-myths-global-warming-stopped-in-1998.html
New Scientist: Imagine two people standing at the South Pole, one dressed in full Antarctic gear and the other wearing not much at all. Now imagine that you're looking through one of those infrared thermal imagers that show how hot things are. Which person will look warmest - and which will be frozen solid after a few hours? The answer, of course, is that the near-naked person will appear hotter: but because they are losing heat fast, they will freeze long before the person dressed more ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Farms in Brazil and India must adapt or roast in heat
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn14547-farms-in-brazil-and-india-must-adapt-or-roast-in-heat.html
New Scientist: Farmers in Brazil and India may suffer less from climate change than previously assumed – if they can continue to adapt to hotter weather, a new study suggests. Even so the devastation in these countries and other low-latitude countries is going to be much higher than in the northern regions of the rich west, says Robert Mendelsohn at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Mendelsohn and Apurva Sanghi of the World Bank in Washington DC, used data on weather and ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Forest Defenders Target Snack Foods, Cosmetics
http://us.oneworld.net/article/081508-forest-defenders-target-snack-foods-cosmetics
OneWorld US: Major players in the food and cosmetics industries are coming under heavy pressure from environmental activists to stop manufacturing and selling products that contain palm oil. 'Warning: Product May Contain Rainforest Destruction' (c)Rainforest Action Network (flickr) "Companies like Hostess and Nestle are perpetuating rainforest destruction and human rights abuses by using palm oil in their products," said Leila Salazar-Lopez of the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Frogs on the Verge of a Major Extinction
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-08/frogs-verge-major-extinction
Popular Science: Lots of amphibians (a third to a half of all species) are dying, and their deaths are the breaking-edge of what many scientists are calling the first mass extinction since the dinosaurs checked out 65 million years ago, researchers say in a new paper published online in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists are not sure when this extinction crisis began–it could have started 10,000 years ago, or during the industrial revolution, or this century. But ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Aerosols' impact on Australia's climate
http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08081532
Science Centric: The impact that human-generated and natural atmospheric particles (aerosols) could be having on Australia's climate will be discussed next week in Canberra at a workshop involving some of the world's leading experts in the area. CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research scientist, Dr Leon Rotstayn, says the influence aerosols have on climate is still one of the 'great unknowns' in climate science. 'We recently identified that the extensive pollution haze emanating from Asia may be ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Australia: Clean coal gets the green light
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24186137-12377,00.html
Australian: A FEDERAL parliamentary committee has given the green light to burying carbon pollution under the ground - and suggested taxpayers pay any clean-up bills. The world's first laws to allow companies to capture carbon dioxide emissions from power stations and bury them under the seabed are under consideration in Canberra. Called Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) - or "clean coal" - the technology is held by some to be central to Australia's efforts to tackle climate ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
United States: Los Angeles doubles fines for residents who waste water
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-water15-2008aug15,0,3644867.story
LA Times: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed an ordinance Thursday that doubles fines for residents who repeatedly violate the city's "drought buster" rules, including a reworked ban on watering lawns between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The measure bars restaurants from serving water to customers unless it is specifically requested. And the ordinance will quadruple fines for large customers of the Department of Water and Power, mainly businesses, that break the city's ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
NASA study predicts aerosol effect on cloud more precisely
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/nasa-study-predicts-aerosol-effect-on-cloud-more-precisely_10084504.html
Indo-Asian News Service: NASA researches have discovered how aerosols from human activity, like particles from burning vegetation, influence the cloud cover and ultimately affect the climate. 'We connected the .s to draw a critical conclusion, and found evidence over the Amazon that traces the direct path of the effect of human activity on climate change by way of human-caused aerosols,' said the study`s co-author Lorraine Remer, a physicist at NASA`s Goddard Space Flight Center. Aerosols are the tiny ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Question with carbon limits isn't whether, but how
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2008/08/18/focus2.html?b=1219032000^1682975
Kansas City Business Journal: Westar Energy Inc. is buzzing about potential carbon emission limits, from top management on down. 'We're almost living and breathing it,' said Bill Eastman, the utility's environmental services director. 'Most feel it's imminent that there's going to be carbon dioxide legislation or regulation very shortly.' The form such a policy takes will determine how much energy costs continue to rise, he said. 'I don't think anyone has seen anything like the carbon debate we'll ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Report: Climate change to fuel wildfires in West
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/aug/15/report-climate-change-to-fuel-wildfires-in-west/
Associated Press: Wildfires are projected to burn twice as much land in Nevada and other Western states by late this century if the climate warms as expected, a conservation group said in a report. Warmer springs and longer summers since the mid-1980s already have resulted in a fourfold increase in the number of wildfires and a sixfold increase in the amount of land burned compared with the period between 1970 and 1986, according to the National Wildlife Federation report. "I see these fires as ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Small Solar Power Generators Need Grid Interface Help
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-14-094.asp
Environment News Service: Trying to resolve technical difficulties that still prevent greater integration of solar energy into the nation's power grid, the U.S. Department of Energy has identified $2.9 million in private-sector solar projects it hopes to fund this fiscal year. The DOE funding, which requires Congressional approval, would pay two-thirds the cost of the projects, with another $1.7 million to be contributed by private industry. The program overseeing the projects, managed by Sandia ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Traditional Energy's Modern Boom
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403321.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Washington Post: The guys on the derrick, filthy with mud and grease, have the best view in the county. Their drilling rig rises from a bulldozed, flattened patch of meadow near the top of a hill. To the south is an old farmhouse and a white barn. Hay bales dry in the sun. It's classically pastoral as far as the eye can see, which makes all the more dramatic the presence of this derrick, 160 feet high, and the construction trailers, and the mud gushing into a holding pond, and all the roaring ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
U.K. Solicits Applications for Carbon Permit Auction
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=arG6uYXS5YSM&refer=uk
Bloomberg: The U.K. invited utilities and organizations to apply to become primary participants in the country's auctions of European Union emissions allowances. Primary participants will be able to bid for allowances, or collect and submit bids on behalf of others to win permits for the current phase of the EU trading program, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said today in an e-mailed statement. Producers in the European Union are granted permits by national ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
U.S. lab claims solar conversion efficiency record
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210100106
EE Times: Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have claimed a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8 percent of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date, NREL said in a statement. The figure was achieved with an inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell designed, fabricated and independently measured at NREL. The 40.8 percent ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Denmark: Wind turbine-maker powers ahead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7562847.stm
BBC: A surge in demand for renewable energy has led to a large order backlog for the world's biggest wind turbine-maker, Vestas Wind Systems. The Danish firm said it had 7.2bn euros ($10.6bn; Â£5.7bn) worth of orders still to fulfil at the end of June, up 67% on a year earlier. Vestas made 98m euros profit after tax in the first six months of 2008, 44% higher than the same period in 2007. The firm is expecting further growth as the use of wind power grows globally. Wind ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
A thousand scientists outweigh skeptical laymen
http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20080815/READERS/818095829/1025&parentprofile=-1
Greeley Tribune: Global warming: A fact or a myth? When I grew up in northwest Pennsylvania and lived in a company house across the street from the steel company that manufactured oil field equipment, I barely knew what "global" meant, let alone "global warming." The orange flashing glare sweeping across my bedroom ceiling at night as the large furnace doors were opened in the blacksmith shop across the street is a vivid memory of the Oilwell Supply Co. and its manufacturing of drilling ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Australia Carbon Plan Must Protect Petroleum Reserves
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200808150209DOWJONESDJONLINE000303_FORTUNE5.htm
Dow Jones: Government plans to regulate the capture and burial of carbon emissions under Australian seabeds, in a bid to clean up the country's coal industry, should be designed in a way that doesn't jeopardize existing investment in Australia's offshore petroleum reserves, a Parliamentary committee said Friday. The federal Labor government unveiled draft legislation in May that will create a framework for carbon dioxide capture and geological storage, or CCS. The legislation - which establishes ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Australia: Chinese company to seek NSW coal
http://news.theage.com.au/national/chinese-company-to-seek-nsw-coal-20080815-3w77.html
AAP: A state government decision to grant a Chinese company coal exploration rights in northern NSW has outraged the Greens and left farmers concerned about the impact on water catchment areas. The NSW government said China Shenhua Energy, one of the world's largest coal companies, would be given a five-year exploration licence for the Watermark area near Gunnedah. The licence is for an area of about 190 square kilometres believed to contain shallow coal resources of domestic and ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
Indonesia to push renewable energy: president
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxQJ_2zDZL8Tz1nz9b7XxezgDJzA
Agence France-Presse: Stung by high oil prices, Indonesia plans to tap more into renewable energies and change course from a "nation that splurges" to one that saves, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Friday. "The soaring prices of oil on the global level during these last six years have reminded us of the importance of safeguarding energy security in our homeland," Yudhoyono said in his annual state-of-the-nation address. "We're raising the energy supply capacity through accelerated energy ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
LA utility wary of California's emissions strategy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/california_greenhouse_gases;_ylt=AiHvUg00Z1qIWMkgFIetvzXYeMUA
Associated Press: The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has a storied place in California history. Its water grabs drained an eastern Sierra lake to make modern-day Los Angeles possible, and its backroom maneuvering to secure more water was the subject of the Roman Polanski film "Chinatown." At the start of the decade, it became one of the unlikely profiteers during the state's energy crisis. Today, the nation's largest municipal utility is back in the spotlight, and this time the ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
New York paves way for microgeneration and green roofs
http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/policy/i/1086/
Energy Efficiency News: New York Governor David Paterson has signed in new legislation that will encourage homeowners and businesses to install microgeneration and green roof technologies. The legislation expands net metering so homeowners and businesses earn credits for any excess power they generate through wind turbines, solar panels or waste-based power generators. Utility companies will be required to develop standard contracts with reasonable rates, terms and conditions for residential and ...

Sat, 16 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Study: Birds laying eggs out of season
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/15/Study_Birds_laying_eggs_out_of_season/UPI-70201218776375/
United Press International: A study of British birds finds common species are laying eggs an average of a week earlier than they did 40 years ago. The British Trust for Ornithology surveyed 30,000 nests, The Scotsman reports. The study focused on the species like swallows, robins and chaffinches, not on rare and endangered species. Ornithologists said they fear the changes in egg-laying put birds out of synch with the species they depend on for food. Graham Madge of the Royal Society for the Protection of ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate change causes birds to lay eggs early
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/15/wildlife.conservation
Guardian: Robins are one of Britain's popular birds hatching their eggs earlier because of climate change. Photograph: Sue Tranter/RSPB Climate change is making British birds lay their eggs earlier in the year, according to a major survey of how common species are changing their behaviour to cope with warmer temperatures. Analysis of 30,000 nests shows that birds such as the chaffinch and the robin are laying their eggs about a week earlier than in the 1960s. A similar pattern has been ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Ecuador Says Could Help Settle Chevron Suit
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49787/story.htm
Reuters: Ecuador is willing to mediate a settlement between Chevron Corp and 30,000 Amazon jungle dwellers suing the oil company for up to US$16 billion in environmental damages, the country's top attorney said Wednesday. Peasants and Indians are suing the US company in an Ecuadorean court over charges its Texaco unit polluted the jungle and damaged their health by dumping 18 billion gallons (68 billion litres) of oil-laden water from 1972 to 1992. The case, which Chevron calls a ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Rudd forced to buy back more water
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/rudd-forced-to-buy-back-more-water/1244883.aspx
Canberra Times: KEVIN RUDD has bowed to rising anger in South Australia and announced an increased buyback of water from NSW and Queensland irrigators in an attempt to send more water down the Murray River and save its ravaged lower lakes. A cabinet meeting in Adelaide yesterday approved the purchase of water rights of entire farming communities and a Commonwealth-state initiative in which NSW and Queensland properties with large water entitlements could be purchased. The relevant state ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Two Large Solar Plants Planned in California
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104917
New York Times: Two California companies said Thursday that they would each build solar power plants that were 10 times bigger than the largest now in service, creating the first true utility-scale use of a technology now mostly confined to rooftop supplements to conventional power supplies. The solar power will be sold to Pacific Gas and Electric, which is under a state mandate to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010. The utility said that it expected the plants, both ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Call For Better Protection Of Older People From Climate Change Impact
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080814212323.htm
ScienceDaily: A new report published today by the Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, in collaboration with Help the Aged, calls on Government and public authorities to take action to better protect older people from the future effects of climate change. The report Growing Old in a Changing Climate is the first national report to examine the impact of climate change on an ageing population. It aims to stimulate wider debate on the issue, and appropriate policy responses from ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Climate 'altering UK bird habits'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7561497.stm
BBC: A number of UK bird species are laying eggs significantly earlier than they were 40 years ago, a report reveals. A conservation coalition's report says some finches, robins and tits are all laying earlier and puts this down to warming caused by climate change. Overall, numbers of farmland birds remain about half of what they were in the 1970s, while wintering populations of water birds have risen considerably. The RSPB said birds were having to respond to climate change ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Climate change blamed for birds' early egg laying
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/environment/display.var.2425917.0.Climate_change_blamed_for_birds_early_egg_laying.php
Herald: Many British birds are laying their eggs earlier in the year as a result of climate change, a report by conservation groups claimed yesterday. The report said birds were being forced to rapidly adapt their behaviour in order to survive, including altering their nesting and migration patterns and travelling further to find food. Work carried out by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) surveying 30,000 nests showed species such as the chaffinch and robin are laying their eggs ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Garden birds nest earlier
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/15/eabirds115.xml
Telegraph: Some of Britain's most common garden birds are laying their eggs earlier because of climate change, an annual survey has revealed. Birds such as the chaffinch and robin are nesting on average a week earlier than they did in the 1960s. The chaffinch (top) is nesting a week earlier but the song thrush (bottom), benefit from wet summers The State of the UK's Birds shows that in 1966, the average date for chaffinches laying their first egg was May 11 but by 2006 it was May ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Global warming brings an early laying season for Britain's birds
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/global-warming-brings-an-early-laying-season-for-britains-birds-897555.html
Independent: Climate change is causing familiar British birds to lay their eggs earlier, according to a survey of UK bird populations. Species like the chaffinch are laying their eggs about a week sooner than 40 years ago and blue tits, great tits, robins and swallows arebehaving in a similar fashion, the State of the UK's Birds report for 2007, published today, has found. In 1966, the average date for chaffinches laying their first egg was 11 May, but it was 2 May in 2006. For the robin, ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Australia: MP rules out native forests power
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/15/2336280.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The federal Member for Eden Monaro, Mike Kelly, has ruled out the future possibility of using native forests in south-east New South Wales for electricity generation. A university study has found that untouched forests can absorb far more greenhouse gases than previously thought. Mr Kelly says biomass used to generate power, such as what is being proposed at the Eden chip mill, will only be permitted from industrial plantations. He says the contribution native forests ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Australia: Rudd plans to buy water and farms to aid Murray
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=91526
West Australian:

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Mitsubishi Corp to Support Brunei Solar Project
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49798/story.htm
Reuters: Mitsubishi Corp said on Thursday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Brueni's Energy Ministry to build and operate a test solar power plant in the western part of the sultanate in a three-year project starting in 2010. Mitsubishi, Japan's biggest trading company, will transfer needed technology, educate local staff and shoulder the project's total cost, estimated at 1.5 billion yen (US$13.7 million), a company spokesman said. The tiny but wealthy nation on Borneo ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Solar water heaters left out in the cold
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24183566-5013871,00.html
Australian: THE solar hot water industry fears that its business will be ruined and the cost of heaters will rise by at least $1000 if the Rudd Government proceeds with an option to exclude solar products from its 20 per cent mandatory renewable energy target. The federal Opposition said the move would be "ludicrous and destructive" and would breach an ALP election promise to leave the eligibility criteria for the MRET unchanged. Under the current MRET system, solar hot water installers ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
African firms start to take action on climate change
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN447515.html
Reuters: With global warming expected to hit Africa hard, some companies in the "forgotten continent" are taking action themselves to fight climate change. "The environment is not being taken very seriously in most of the emerging markets, because we haven't started feeling the pressure yet," Adan Mohamed, chief executive of Barclays Bank Kenya, told Reuters. "But it has got to be addressed and it is up to us corporates to lead that." Poverty in Africa, where nearly three ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Brazil: Amazon Fund seen as 'paradigm shift' for forest
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN14183934
Reuters: An international fund to protect the Amazon forest launched by Brazil this month marks an important step in harnessing the forest's wealth in less destructive ways, a leading Amazon expert said on Thursday. The $100 million initially pledged by Norway would only have a marginal impact on deforestation even if it was repeated for 20 years, said Carlos Nobre, a senior scientist at the National Institute for Space Research. But by setting a precedent for alternative investments in ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Antarctic Climate: Short-Term Spikes, Long-Term Warming Linked to Tropical Pacific
http://www.innovationsreport.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/antarctic_climate_short_term_spikes_long_term_116027.html
Innovations Report: Dramatic year-to-year temperature swings and a century-long warming trend across West Antarctica are linked to conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean, according to a new analysis of ice cores conducted by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Washington (UW). The findings show the connection of the world's coldest continent to global warming, as well as to periodic events such as El NiÃ±o. "As the tropics warm, so too will West ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Canada: British ruling a hit to oilsands
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/story.html?id=594b107f-e20a-406f-b19c-b70b77ca01a2
Calgary Herald: The provincial government and petroleum sector -- already facing criticism over "dirty oil" from the oilsands -- experienced another setback Wednesday when a British advertising regulator ruled it's "misleading" for Shell to call Alberta's oilsands a sustainable energy source. The ruling from the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority is a setback to the Stelmach government, which recently launched a public relations offensive declaring the oilsands are environmentally ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Dying frogs sign of a biodiversity crisis
http://www.innovationsreport.de/html/berichte/biowissenschaften_chemie/dying_frogs_sign_a_biodiversity_crisis_116072.html
Innovations Report: Devastating declines of amphibian species around the world are a sign of a biodiversity disaster larger than just frogs, salamanders and their ilk, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley. In an article published online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers argue that substantial die-offs of amphibians and other plant and animal species add up to a new mass extinction facing the planet. "There's no ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Frogs and other amphibians dying at alarming rates, say scientists
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/14/wildlife.endangeredhabitats
McClatchy: New research led by two University of California at Berkeley biologists finds frogs and other amphibians worldwide need help, because they are dying at alarming rates. The researchers find that some frog populations are at 2 to 5% of their former size - that's a decline of 95 to 98% - which they argue is a warning sign of a larger global issue. An article published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that scientists are not yet sure ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Global warming blamed for increased wildfire risk
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700250884,00.html
Deseret News: Global warming and past forest management are making forests in the western United States more susceptible to fire while large wildfires, like two in Utah last year, are blamed with making climate change worse and putting unnatural stress on ecosystems, according to a report released Thursday. In the National Wildlife Federation's 2008 "Increased Risk of Catastrophic Wildfires: Global Warming's Wake-Up Call for the Western United States," the report claims global warming is increasing ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
It's not you, it's the sea: heat hurts shellfish relationships
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/its-not-you-its-the-sea-heat-hurts-shellfish-relationships/1244885.aspx
Canberra Times: OYSTERS, lobsters, mussels, sea urchins and abalone could be wiped off the menu by global warming, an Australian scientist warned yesterday. Jane Williamson, a Macquarie University marine ecologist, made the prediction after discovering that climate change is likely to take a dramatic toll on the ability of sperm from many marine creatures to swim to and fertilise eggs shed in the water. Even if sperm can find and fertilise the eggs, ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Lab says solar cell sets record for efficiency
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/08/14/ap5323031.html
Associated Press: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory says its scientists have developed a device that can convert a record 40.8 percent of the light that hits it into electricity. NREL spokesman George Douglas says the new device still has room for improvement. Its design differs from that of a company whose device converted 40.7 percent of concentrated sunlight that hit it into electricity for the previous record. The new inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell makes use of ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Ocean 'Dead Zones' Doubling
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081401910.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post: In the latest sign of trouble in the planet's chemistry, the number of oxygen-starved "dead zones" in coastal waters around the world has roughly doubled every decade since the 1960s, killing fish, crustaceans and massive amounts of marine life at the base of the food chain, according to a study released today. "These zones are popping up all over," said Robert Diaz, a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who led of the study published online by the journal ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Oceans Returning to Primordial Stew
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/oceans-47081403
Daily Green: As every one who has ever strapped on a snorkeling mask or flipped the channel to an undersea nature program knows, the oceans are a wondrous and diverse place, filled with colorful creatures in sometimes otherworldly shapes, all involved in life-and-death darting dances, strange mating displays and awe-inspiring long-distance migrations. But the future of the oceans is the past, with that vast and beautiful diversity reduced to a stew of jellyfish, bacteria and toxic algal ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
United States: Subsidies Help Residents Go Solar
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/13/AR2008081301926.html
Washington Post: In the house that Tim Dowd is building in Howard County, he wants to keep the monthly electricity bill as low as possible. He has done everything he can think of, installing thicker walls with more insulation and buying higher-grade windows. Early in the process, he studied wind and solar power and geothermal heating. The solar system he settled on cost $35,000. "There's no doubt about it: It takes a lot of green to be green," said Dowd, 31, of Woodbine, a D.C. ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Two Large Solar Plants Planned in California
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104904
New York Times: Two California companies said Thursday that they would each build solar power plants that were 10 times larger than the largest now in service, creating the first true utility-scale use of a technology now mostly confined to rooftop supplements to conventional power supplies. The power will be sold to Pacific Gas and Electric, which is under a state mandate to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010. The utility said that it expected the plants, both using ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
US candidates resist diluting climate plans
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c1ddea7a-69a3-11dd-91bd-0000779fd18c.html
Financial Times: Voters in Indiana last week asked Barack Obama what his highest priorities would be in his "first 1,000 days in office". Ahead of universal healthcare and ending the Iraq war, the first item on Mr Obama's list was comprehensive energy reform. Observers of the increasingly commuter-focused presidential debate in the US could be forgiven for thinking that the pain of high petrol prices has driven the issue of global warming off the political agenda. But they would be ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Yearly price of smog in Canada: 2700 lives and $1 billion
http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/science/story.html?id=4827f6f4-47c6-4303-b541-0ded23b91205
Ottawa Citizen: Smog this year will contribute to the premature deaths of 2, 700 Canadians and put 11,000 in hospitals, costing the economy and health-care system $1 billion, Canada's doctors say. A report by the Canadian Medical Association calculates that deaths linked to air pollution will rise over the next two decades, claiming nearly twice as many lives each year and costing $1.3 billion annually in health care and lost productivity. The study estimates that by 2031, more than 4,900 ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Tanzania: `Deforestation behind loss of Mt Kili snow`
http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2008/08/14/120550.html
IPP Media: A scientific theory has linked the loss of snow on Mount Kilimanjaro to deforestation and dismissed suggestions that the dwindling of glaciers on Africa`s highest peak was due to global warming. The theory is highlighted in a recent study report compiled by two researchers from Britain`s Portsmouth University, Nicholas Pepin and Martin Schaefer, who surveyed the mountain`s glaciers for 11 days. The researchers, who revealed their findings at a news conference in Dar es Salaam ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Australia: 20pc less water expected in 2030
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/14/2335318.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A New South Wales Government report is predicting climate change could result in a 20 per cent reduction in available water in some areas by 2030. The Government says the report is the first comprehensive modelling work done on the impact climate change could have on rainfall and run-off across the state. NSW Water Minister Nathan Rees presented the findings, the results of a joint study by the Department of Water and Energy and the CSIRO, to a conference for local government ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Australian report predicts 20 per cent water cut
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200808/s2335741.htm?tab=latest
Radio Australia: A report prepared by the eastern Australian state of New South Wales predicts that climate change could lead to a 20 per cent reduction in water availability in some areas by 2030. The state government says the report is the first comprehensive modelling work done on the impact climate change could have on rainfall and runoff across the state. Water Minister Nathan Rees says the results will help in planning river health and water strategies.

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Calif. utility agrees to buy solar power from two proposed plants
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/economics/story/48267.html
San Luis Obispo: Pacific Gas and Electric today announced that it has entered into agreements to purchase 800 megawatts of power from two solar plants to be built on the Carrizo Plain. The agreements will make the northern Carrizo Plain around California Valley one of the state's major producers of solar electricity. Three solar projects have now been proposed for the area, each with agreements to sell their power to PG&E. Senior executives with PG&E are calling the agreements a landmark in ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Climate change hot spots are identified
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/08/14/Climate_change_hot_spots_are_identified/UPI-53391218724140/
United Press International: A sophisticated U.S. climate modeling system suggests southern California, northern Mexico and western Texas will be this century's climate change hot spots. Scientists led by Purdue University Associate Professor Noah Diffenbaugh developed what they described as one of the most complete climate modeling programs in the world to identify hot spots based on the magnitude of temperature and precipitation response to greenhouse gas emissions. "It's estimated there will be a global ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Germany: Climate change may alter plant ranges
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/08/14/Climate_change_may_alter_plant_ranges/UPI-46421218723436/
United Press International: A new study suggests one in five of Germany's plant species could lose parts of its current range due to global warming. Researchers from Germany's Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, along with the French Laboratory for Alpine Ecology, said such species distribution will be the result of climate change and might have a dramatic impact, particularly on the vegetation in southwestern and eastern Germany. The ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
France's Reunion island aims for zero CO2
http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSL146633820080814
Reuters: Ringed by volcanic rock, sandy beaches and the blue swell of the Indian Ocean, France's Reunion island is hardly a major polluter. But hit by rising fuel costs and worried about the impact of global warming, particularly on its delicate flora and fauna, the small island nation has set itself the ambitious goal of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions to zero. By 2025, the French territory wants to use renewable energy sources to produce 100 percent of its electricity, and to ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Australia: Govt plan aims to save SA's dying lakes
http://news.smh.com.au/national/govt-plan-aims-to-save-sas-dying-lakes-20080814-3vg1.html
Sydney Morning Herald: The federal government has dramatically stepped up efforts to save the dying lakes at the mouth of Australia's biggest river system, agreeing to buy up water-hoarding properties and send the water downstream. Federal cabinet has agreed to a suite of new measures in a last-gasp bid to save the Murray-Darling's lower lakes from turning into acid or being flooded with seawater. The government would try to buy out "appropriately located irrigation properties", Prime Minister Kevin ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Australia: Gunns asked for timetable of pulp mill planning
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,24179124-3462,00.html
Mercury: GUNNS Limited has been asked by the Federal Government to outline a timetable for the submission of plans for the $2 billion pulp mill. The request comes as the October 4 deadline for finalisation of the 16 planning modules looms. Since the approval with conditions by former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull last year, Gunns has had four modules approved. The approved modules cover the environmental management plan overview, vegetation clearing, bulk earthworks on ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Heat Waves Will Intensify: Study
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/heat-waves-47081402
Daily Green: Heat waves will become more intense throughout the century due to global warming, and the U.S. Midwest is among the most vulnerable to dangerous heat, according to a new study. While the news reported about high temperatures and global warming typically focuses on the rising average temperatures, it's the temperature extremes that matter most. While the average temperature by 2100 might rise 5.4 degrees, the hottest of the hot days will be 14.4 degrees warmer, according to the study ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
How Warming Affects Storming
http://www.livescience.com/imageoftheday/siod_080814.html
LiveScience: Scientists who predicted a connection between global warming and rainstorm strength finally have some evidence to hang their hat on. A new study based on 20 years of satellite observations discovered a distinct link between tropical rainfall extremes and temperature, with heavy rain events increasing during warm periods and decreasing during cold periods. "A warmer atmosphere contains larger amounts of moisture which boosts the intensity of heavy downpours," said Brian Soden, ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
India Shouldn't Allow Energy Costs to Hamper Growth, Patil Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=auD3.Wdb1OHk&refer=india
Bloomberg: India shouldn't allow energy costs to hamper economic growth, said President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on the eve of the nation's Independence Day. ``We cannot let lack of energy become a constraint on our ability to deliver high levels of growth,'' Patil said in her address. ``With the challenges of increased oil prices and climate change, the question of energy security confronts us.'' India's energy requirement is rising as an expanding economy boosts demand for electricity ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Canada: Logging in Clayoquot at a crossroads
http://www.canada.com/westerly/news/upfront/story.html?id=7cdb4af6-6844-4770-b1f0-0ad8a7c548ff
Westerly: Dear Editor, If a logging company says they can log sustainably in an old growth forest then they are lying. For it to be sustainable they would have to provide a logging plan that will allow for the reharvest of four, six, or 800 year old trees. Have you ever seen a logging plan that goes to the year 2525? Coulson Forest products needs to go into a pristine valley in Hesquiat because, as they admit, they will run out of trees to log. What happens when they have logged ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Massive solar photovoltaic plants are California-bound
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10017437-54.html
CNet: Pacific Gas & Electric has inked deals with OptiSolar and SunPower to establish 800 megawatts of solar farms in California, which could become the world's largest set of grid-tied photovoltaic installations. The new plants would provide 1.65 billion kilowatt hours each year, enough to serve nearly 250,000 homes, according to Jack Keenan, CEO and senior vice president of PG&E. "This commitment not only moves us forward in meeting our renewable goal, it's also a ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
One in five of Germany's plant species threatened by climate change
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/one-in-five-of-germanys-plant-species-threatened-by-climate-change_10083905.html
Asian News International: A new study by scientists has indicated that one in five of Germany``s plant species could lose parts of its current range, all due to threatening climate change. The study has been carried out by scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany, and the French Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine. Even moderate climate change and limited land use changes could have an adverse impact on flora, the ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Pelosi won't limit vote to offshore drilling
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/14/MNCD12BC0J.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today firmly rejected the idea of a House vote solely on the issue of offshore oil drilling, calling it "a hoax on the American people" backed by oil companies. Instead, she said, she wants Congress to tackle a compromise comprehensive energy plan that would include alternative energy sources and curtailing tax breaks for oil companies. "You want to drill? We want the royalties for the American people, and we want that to pay for renewable energy ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
PG&E in new solar deals with OptiSolar, SunPower
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1327052520080814
Reuters: Pacific Gas & Electric Co on Thursday announced two solar power contracts that will generate enough electricity to serve about 239,000 homes and help the utility meet California's aggressive renewable energy requirements. The unit of PG&E Corp said it struck two deals with photovoltaic solar companies OptiSolar Inc and SunPower Corp for a total of 800 megawatts (MW) of solar energy. Both deals, however, are contingent upon the extension of key federal tax credits that ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Malaysia: Push To Use Renewal Energy In Bid To Mitigate Impact Of Energy Crisis
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_business.php?id=352740
Bernama: The government will resort to the use of renewal energy as one of the strategies to mitigate impact of the energy crisis and solar photovoltaic (PV) has been identified as one of them. Energy, Water and Communications Minister, Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor, said the ministry would consider a feed-in tariff mechanism as part of the drive to promote the widespread use of renewable energy, especially solar energy in the country. "The feed-in tariff will provide opportunity for owners ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
The current: Coal in the crossfire
http://www.startribune.com/business/26967594.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1OiP:DiiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU
Minneapolis Star Tribune: The nation's leading climate scientist had a pointed suggestion for policymakers interested in reducing carbon dioxide emissions: no more coal plants. "We need politicians with the guts to say that, but I don't see that," said James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who was in town this week for a speech at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. They "say the right words and set goals to reduce emissions, but their actions prove they don't mean ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
The impact of continued population growth
http://upiasiaonline.com/Economics/2008/08/14/the_impact_of_continued_population_growth/2198/
United Press International: The world's population is approaching 7 billion and apparently increasing at a rate of about 78 million per year. At the current annual growth rate of 1.16 percent, it is expected to double within 60 years. However, the projection of 9 billion by 2050 by the United Nations is an improvement over an earlier 40-year estimate (1960 to 2000) during which the population of the world practically doubled, from 3 to 6 billion. The point is that the world's population will continue to grow ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Australia: Tim Flannery says small engines are big polluters
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,24178914-922,00.html
Australian: THE lawn mower and the outboard motor are the latest targets - albeit on a small scale - in the war against climate change. Environmentalist Tim Flannery wrote to Environment Minister Peter Garrett last month, appealing for the Federal Government to fast-track the introduction of world-standard emissions regulations for small engines. The US and Europe already regulate marine engine emissions, The Australian reports. Professor Flannery, the 2007 Australian of the Year ...

Fri, 15 Aug 08
Australia: Water buyouts to ease Murray River anger
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24183641-11949,00.html
Australian: THE Government will offer to buy out the water entitlements of entire irrigation communities as Kevin Rudd moved yesterday to appease growing outrage at the plight of the lower Murray River. The Prime Minister also caved in to demands for an external audit of water remaining in the drought-ravaged Murray-Darling Basin that spans Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Federal cabinet, meeting in Adelaide, a centre of the unfolding crisis, signed off on $50million in ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Amazon threatened by new oil and gas exploration
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-08-13-amazon-threatened-by-new-oil-and-gas-exploration
Guardian: Vast swathes of the western Amazon are to be opened up for oil and gas exploration, putting some of the planet's most pristine and biodiverse forests at risk, conservationists have warned. A survey of land earmarked for exploration by energy companies revealed a steep rise in recent years, to about 180 zones, which together cover an area of 688 000 square kilometres, almost equivalent to the size of Texas. Detailed mapping of the region shows the majority of planned oil and gas ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Carbon tax will ease transition to sensible climate policy
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0813-rood_thoumi.html
Mongabay: The management of carbon dioxide and the climate represent both an economic development challenge and the ecological problem of the next hundred years. Energy use, economic success and carbon dioxide emissions are, currently, intertwined. A carbon market that represents the true cost of energy and the disposal of our waste products in the environment is a potential long-term policy mechanism for carbon dioxide management. However, the strong interconnection between carbon dioxide emissions ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
China raises tax on big cars to curb pollution
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKSHA12467020080813
Reuters: China said on Wednesday it would raise taxes on large passenger vehicles and cut the tax on small cars from next month to cut pollution and fuel use. But the policy may only have a limited impact on boosting fuel efficiency in the world's second-largest oil user, as majority of the cars will be spared the tax hike as Beijing seeks to prevent more damage to an already slowing auto market. The consumption tax on cars with an engine size of more than 4 liters will double to 40 ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Climate change threatens one in five plant species
http://www.innovationsreport.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/climate_change_threatens_plant_species_115973.html
Innovation Reports: One in five of Germany's plant species could lose parts of its current range, a study by scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the French Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine reveals. Species distributions will be rearranged as a result of climate change; this could have a dramatic impact particularly on the vegetation in south-western and eastern Germany. The researchers have modelled and recorded how ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Making a Solar Cell Component without Using Fossil Fuels
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=making-solar-energy-without-fossil-fuel
Scientific American: Solar energy is touted by some as the solution to the world's energy woes. But the process of making the various components requires fossil fuels, both for power and for the components themselves, some of which are based on petroleum. A new company, BioSolar, aims to kick petroleum to the curb, at least in the realm of building solar photovoltaics, cells of crystalline silicon that turn sunlight into electricity. Such photovoltaic cells rely on conventional plastic polymers to provide ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Canada: Advertising not sustainable, authority tells Shell
http://www.enn.com/business/article/37916
WWF: A Shell suggestion in advertising that oil sands were a sustainable energy source has been ruled out of order by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, upholding a complaint lodged by WWF-UK. WWF-UK today launched its own advertising campaign via a video billboard at central London's busiest railway station, stating that "Shell can't hide the environmental impact of their oil sand projects". Examining the advertisement placed by Shell in the Financial Times earlier this ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Air pollution to cost Canadian economy more than $1 billion this year, doctors say
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=b6589ae4-dc61-4d50-a548-f236d76ec6e8
Ottawa Citizen: Smog this year will contribute to the premature deaths of 2,700 Canadians and put 11,000 in hospitals, costing the economy and health-care system $1 billion, Canada's doctors say. A new report by the Canadian Medical Association calculates that deaths linked to air pollution will rise over the next two decades, claiming nearly twice as many lives each year and costing $1.3 billion annually in health care and lost productivity. The study estimates that by 2031, more than 4,900 ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Bigger, tougher fires bring Calif. to the brink
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080813/ap_on_re_us/california_wildfires_2
Associated Press: Faced with hundreds of big, hard-to-control blazes, California is struggling with what could be its most expensive firefighting season ever, burning through $285 million in the last six weeks alone and up to $13 million a day. With the worst of the fire season still ahead, lawmakers are scrambling to find a way to pay for it all and are considering slapping homeowners with a disaster surcharge that asks those in fire-prone areas to pay the most. "There is no more fire season ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Kenya: Boosting biofuels without compromising food security
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/b5b01f7f79749e764237d5f00f22c8ec.htm
IRIN: The oil-rich seed of a poisonous shrub that thrives in arid climates with poor soil lies at the heart of plans by Kenya to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels without threatening food security. "We are definitely focusing on the jatropha plant for oil production," Faith Odongo of the Ministry of Energy told IRIN. In May 2008, the ministry unveiled a five-year strategy to develop the bio-diesel industry to "enable more Kenyans to enjoy and derive comfort from the ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Can the forest products industry play a role in tackling climate change?
http://csr-asia.com/weekly_detail.php?id=11452
CSR Asia: The world's forests play a vital role in regulating climate change. Covering almost 30 percent of the world's land surface area they store more than 283 metric gigatons of carbon in their biomass, i.e. about 50 percent more than the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Deforestation and unsustainable harvest practices, however, set carbon free and already account for 18 to 25 percent of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Around 34 percent of forests are designated ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
German firm to extend Asia's largest solar power plant
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gYLUbHOUHjUkROqJQLrGRbntD6Fg
Agence France-Presse: A German firm said Wednesday it has signed a deal to extend a South Korean solar energy plant which is already Asia's largest. Conergy said in a statement it has reached a framework agreement on a 20-million-euro (29.8-million-dollar) project to expand the plant at Sinan in the southwest of the country. The extension is expected to be completed by year-end and will add 4.35 megawatts to the existing 19.6 MW capacity of the plant, which became fully operational in June at a cost ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Global warming induced hurricanes of higher intensity
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Earth/Is_warming_making_hurricane_worse/articleshow/3361018.cms
Asian News International: Global warming will decrease hurricane activity, but if formed they would be of very high intensity, says a group of researchers. In the study, scientists have developed a new method for evaluating the frequency of hurricane formation in present and future tropical climates. In a study, Drs. David S. Nolan and Eric D. Rappin from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science have described the new method that may out do the computer models used ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
United States: Governor signs greenhouse gas reduction bill
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/08/patrick_signs_g.html
Boston Globe: Governor Deval Patrick has signed a bill that would sharply curb greenhouse gas emissions in the state. The Global Warming Solutions Act requires the emissions -- which scientists say are causing global warming that could wreak havoc on the world's environment -- to be reduced by as much as 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. It also calls for a reduction of 80 percent by 2050. The bill would include tough penalties, with fines of as much as $25,000 a day for ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Northeastern India may sizzle at 50 degree Celsius
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Northeastern_India_may_sizzle_at_50_degree_Celsius/articleshow/3360396.cms
Economic Times: Scientists from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute have used a statistical method to suggest that by the end of this century, temperatures may reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees F) in northeastern India and most of Australia. The researchers, motivated by Western Europe's exceptionally hot summers of 2003 and 2006, used an ensemble of climate models to investigate changes in extreme values of climate variables. Using a statistical method for determining return ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Shell to pull 'greenwash' ad on Canadian oilsands projects
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=f0663dbe-10f5-4bc7-b8d3-671050d94dd7
Canwest News Service: A ruling by Britain's advertising regulator against oil giant Shell has prompted a new World Wildlife Fund campaign denouncing the petroleum company's "greenwash" tactics in promoting its Canadian oilsands projects. The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority ruled Wednesday in favour of a complaint by the WWF's British arm that a newspaper ad in which Dutch-based Shell described its Alberta oilsands operations as "sustainable" was "misleading" and violated ad industry codes for ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Study: Immigration to U.S. Increases Global Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/study-immigration-us-increases-global/story.aspx?guid={DAB25D16-FC3C-4547-8D08-69818CB14CCE}&dist=hppr
MarketWatch: The findings of a new study indicate that future levels of immigration will have a significant impact on efforts to reduce global CO2 emissions. Immigration to the United States significantly increases world-wide CO2 emissions because it transfers population from lower-polluting parts of the world to the United States, which is a higher-polluting country. The report, entitled "Immigration to the United States and World-Wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions," is available at ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
The Great Energy Confusion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR2008081202825.html
Washington Post: Forget about a candid national conversation on energy. As John McCain and Barack Obama campaigned last week, that much seemed clear. To lower oil prices (which were already dropping), Obama proposed releasing 10 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This is an atrocious idea. The SPR was intended as insurance against a catastrophic loss of oil from wars, embargoes, terrorism or natural disasters. It should not be manipulated cynically for political advantage. Earlier, McCain suggested ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Tribes object to fighting fires in sacred places
http://theworldlink.com/articles/2008/08/13/news/doc48a3222661338794969972.txt
Associated Press: Indian tribes from the Klamath River canyon are worried that the U.S. Forest Service is violating some of their sacred lands by fighting a remote wilderness wildfire rather than leaving it to burn naturally. 'Talking with Forest Service firefighters, I have been saying this is the Sistine Chapel, the Mount Sinai, the Vatican,' for the Yurok, Karuk and Tolowa tribes, Chris Peters, the Yurok tribe's liaison with the Forest Service, said from Arcata, Calif. 'If fire should move in ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Utilities in other states take closer look at solar power
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/121861898390000.xml&coll=3
Press-Register: While Alabama Power looks mainly to coal to meet future power needs, utilities in other Southeastern states are taking a harder look at solar power. In some cases, state governments are forcing them to do so. Florida Power and Light, facing increases in power demand, plans to begin construction on three solar plants in the state by the end of next year. Duke Energy in North Carolina, which generates half its power from coal plants, has launched a pilot program in which homeowners and ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
With Energy in Focus, Heat Pumps Win Fans
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104848
New York Times: The business for ground-source heat pumps is so hot that when some people driving in and around Seattle see Gerard Maloney's EarthHeat van, with the company's phone number on the side, they call from their cellphones. "Really, we have people doing this," Mr. Maloney said. Like other energy alternatives, ground-source heat pumps have won new admirers as energy costs have skyrocketed. The pumps, also called geothermal heat pumps, use the relatively constant temperature just below ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Arctic Ice Loss in Japan Hits Tourism, Wildlife
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/photogalleries/Japan-Arctic-photos/
National Geographic: Visitors to Japan's northern island of Hokkaido venture onto drift ice near the coast of Shiretoko Peninsula. These free-floating pieces of ice, which annually travel about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the Sea of Okhotsk, are the world's southernmost Arctic sea ice. In recent years the amount of drift ice reaching Shiretoko has decreased noticeably, raising fears global warming will affect the local ecosystem and endanger winter tourism. (Read the full story.) Tatsuya ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Australian Climate Scientists Enlist Elephant Seals for Research Help
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-08-13-voa16.cfm
Voice of America: Scientists have long thought that the vast areas of sea ice in Antarctica could help them unlock some of the secrets of climate change. The ice reflects sunlight back into space. With global temperatures rising, there are concerns that polar ice is shrinking, and, as it does, additional energy is absorbed by the earth, causing more warming. For the first time, researchers have been able to gather crucial information from the heart of this icy wilderness thanks to help from an ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Calif. to review global warming effects of highway
http://cbs2.com/californiawire/22.0.html?type=local&state=CA&category=n&filename=CA--NorCal-HighwayStu.xml
Associated Press: State transportation officials say a Sacramento highway project is on hold so they can study its potential effect on global warming. The Department of Transportation wants to add lanes to the congested Highway 50 corridor west of downtown Sacramento. But a judge last month ruled the state had failed to analyze the greenhouse gas emissions that could be produced if the project goes forward. The proposed lanes would be designated for car pools, buses and high-mileage ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Calif. wildfires scorch state, federal budgets
http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/795824.html
Fresno Bee: Faced with hundreds of sprawling, hard-to-control blazes, California is struggling with what could be its most expensive wildfire season ever, burning through nearly $300 million in just the past six weeks. Costs have soared since the 2003 Southern California firestorm and keep rising, creating a quandary for state officials already struggling with a severe budget shortfall. They're considering slapping homeowners with a natural disaster surcharge, with those at higher risk paying the ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Climate change may boost Middle East rainfall
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/uons-ccm081208.php
EurekAlert: The prospect of climate change sparking food and water shortages in the Middle East is less likely than previously thought, with new research by an Australian climate scientist suggesting that rainfall will be significantly higher in key parts of the region. Recent projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raised fears that storm activity in the eastern Mediterranean would decline this century if global warming continues on present trends. In turn, that ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Global cotton output to be hit by water shortages
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Global-cotton-output-to-be-hit-by-water-shortages-11099-3-1.html
Commodity Online: World cotton production could decline by 5-12 percent by 2030 due to climatic changes according to Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Lower water availability is the prime cause for possible slowdown in production according to a report of CSIRO. Australia's cotton industry, centred on the eastern states of New South Wales and Queensland, has already been hit hard by drought in recent years. Australian cotton production has already declined ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Global Security Implications of Climate Change
http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/august/13/wilfert/
Embassy Magazine:

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Uganda: Museveni decries increased climate change
http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/19908
AfricaNews: Mugira Fredrick, AfricaNews, Kampala UgandaUganda's President Yoweri Museveni has attributed increasing climate change worldwide on high poverty levels in poor countries. He was on 12 August 08 speaking during International Day of the Youth celebrations Mbarara district.He claimed that the high poverty levels in poor countries that make local people cut down trees for firewood along with poor farming methods that degrade soil lead to increased climate change. The President was on ...

Thu, 14 Aug 08
Endangered Species Act -- parts of it could become extinct
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-species12-2008aug12,0,4864768.story
Washington Post: The Bush administration Monday proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act to allow federal agencies to decide whether protected species would be imperiled by agency projects, eliminating the independent scientific reviews that have been required for more than three decades. The new rules, which will be subject to a 30-day comment period, would use administrative powers to make broad changes in the law that Congress has resisted for years. Under current law, agencies ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Great Western Woodlands holds key to carbon storage
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200808/s2333767.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A 16-million hectare block of Western Australian wilderness could hold the key to sequestering the nation's carbon. The Great Western Woodlands runs along the far eastern section of the wheatbelt and into the goldfields, and across the western side of the Nullarbor Plain. It's the world's largest remaining untouched temperate woodland, and is said to store almost double the nation's annual carbon emissions. The Wilderness Society is calling for the region to be protected ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Australia: Taxing carbon could be better bet than trading
http://business.theage.com.au/business/taxing-carbon-could-be-better-bet-than-trading-20080812-3u4s.html
Age: <body>THE recent release of the draft Garnaut report has focused attention on how an emissions trading scheme (ETS) should be implemented in Australia to curb our carbon emissions. In doing this, the report glosses over some considerations and makes assumptions that appear designed to make an ETS a fait accompli as far as the best response to climate change goes. This is unfortunate, as an ETS has some problems that do not arise under a carbon tax. As with many official announcements ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Australia as a solar energy leader
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24171353-643,00.html
Australian: AUSTRALIA could be home to the world's largest solar energy plant in three years, with a study backed by major miners under way to build a series of $1 billion renewable energy operations. Global engineering company WorleyParsons is leading the way for nine of its clients, which include BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, to investigate building 250 megawatt advanced solar-thermal power stations, with predictions the first could be operating by 2011. WorleyParsons managing director, ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Garnaut to Release Australian Emission Trajectories, Targets
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aopkdsrGmJmc&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Ross Garnaut, the government's adviser on global warming, will release emissions reduction trajectories and targets next month. Garnaut in July proposed a cap-and-trade system starting with a two-year ``transition period'' in 2010 to address climate impacts on the economy in a draft report. He will release a supplementary report on Sept. 5, according to an e-mailed statement. ``The Supplementary Draft Report will provide the Review's proposals for emissions reduction ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
India to be 4 degrees hotter in 40 years
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_to_be_4_degrees_hotter_in_40_years/articleshow/3358280.cms
Times of India: The effect of climate change on India could be far worse than previously estimated. Latest projections indicate that after 2050, temperatures would rise by 3-4 degrees over current levels and rainfall would become both heavier and less regular, posing a grave threat to agriculture. These are part of the research conducted by scientists at Pune's Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, one of the key government institutions studying climate change in India. The findings are currently ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Shell rapped by ASA for 'greenwash' advert
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/13/corporatesocialresponsibility.fossilfuels?gusrc=rss&feed=media
Guardian: Oil giant Shell misled the public when it claimed in an advertisement that its giant $10bn oil sands project in northern Canada was a "sustainable energy source", according to the Advertising standards authority. The tar sands cover over 140,000 square kilometres of Alberta and contain nearly 173bn barrels of oil in the form of bitumen. This is strip-mined from vast open pits and the bitumen is then heated, using far larger amounts of energy than in normal oil operations, therefore ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
UN chief stresses young people's role in combating climate change
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/13/content_9241910.htm
Xinhua: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized on Tuesday the importance of young people's role in the global fight against climate change. "We will need the spirit of youth in abundance as the world seeks to embrace cleaner, more sustainable forms of energy, including renewable resources," Ban said in a message for International Youth Day, which falls on Tuesday. With their propensity for spreading new habits and technologies and adaptability to make low-carbon lifestyles and ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Shell rebuked for 'greenwash' over ad for polluting oil project
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/shell-rebuked-for-greenwash-over-ad-for-polluting-oil-project-892863.html
Independent: The Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell misled the public about the green credentials of a vastly polluting oil project in Canada, in an attempt to assure consumers of its good environmental record, a media watchdog will rule today. In an embarrassing rejection of Shell's "greenwash", the Advertising Standards Authority said the company should not have used the word "sustainable" for its controversial tar sands project and a second scheme to build North America's biggest oil refinery. Both ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Superglue: the climate activist's latest weapon of choice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/13/activists.climatechange
Guardian: Sticking it to the man has recently taken on a whole new meaning, as political and environmental activists turn increasingly to the power of superglue (or indeed any non-branded fast-acting cyanoacrylate-based adhesive capable of sticking human flesh to large, immovable objects) to help them make their points. Last month there was Dan Glass from Plane Stupid, who gamely tried to gum himself to Gordon Brown and then the Downing Street gates, and the rather more successful bonding of ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
The new rules of air travel
http://www.theage.com.au/news/tips/the-new-rules-of-air-travel/2008/08/13/1218306958988.html
Age: The glamour of the Jet Age may have faded, but Travel + Leisure magazine's Kendall Hill has some practical tips on how to survive the new, and often confusing world, of airline travel. In bygone days the glamour of the Jet Age was captured in commercial posters depicting elegant passengers in exotic climes. These images epitomised a bold new era of convenience and leisure far removed from today's volatile air industry, where constant changes to rules and regulations, cost-cutting and ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
: Allergists warn global warming will make pollen more abundant, potent
http://www.columibusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/08/12/ragweed.html?sid=101
Columbus Dispatch:

Wed, 13 Aug 08
: Allergists warn global warming will make pollen more abundant, potent
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/08/12/ragweed.html?sid=101
Columbus Dispatch: Just in time for ragweed's arrival, allergists are warning that global warming is fueling more abundant and potent pollen and otherwise threatening easy breathing. In a strongly-worded paper, a group of doctors from North Carolina and Colorado say increased illness and death will accompany stronger allergens and deteriorating air quality. The article will be published next month, along with other research focused on climate change, in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Cooking up carbon credits
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/11/technology/jpmorgan_carbon.fortune/?postversion=2008081208
CNN: By any measure, it is a long way from the Park Avenue headquarters of JPMorgan Chase, the global investment bank that generated revenues of $100 billion last year, to the dusty streets of Kampala, Uganda, where a poor woman can buy a new cook stove for about $6. What connects the big bank to that small transaction is the business of carbon trading. JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) is quietly pushing the boundaries of the carbon market - a sprawling international experiment to reduce ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
East Asian cities urged to get ready for climate change
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/20316/2008/07/12-151813-1.htm
Reuters: With tree-lined boulevards, stately French colonial architecture and hundreds of small side alleys, Vietnam's capital Hanoi is a city steeped in culture and history. It's also a fast-growing business centre, with glass-fronted skyscrapers springing up next to century-old teak houses. But balancing tradition and modernity isn't the only challenge for Hanoi's planners. They are strengthening the dike system to protect the city from weather-related disasters like storms and floods, which ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
GOP sees advantage in offshore oil drilling
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/08/12/gop-sees-advantage-in-offshore-oil-drilling/
Christian Science Monitor: The lights are dim, the mikes are off, and the television cameras dark in the US House of Representatives. But minority Republicans – sensing traction with voters on the issue of offshore drilling – aren`t giving up the floor. Nearly 90 GOP lawmakers, about 40 percent of the Republican caucus, have come back to Washington since the House voted to adjourn on Aug. 1 to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi`s refusal to allow a vote to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling. 'The American ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Human activity, El Nino warming West Antarctic: study
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN1249988420080812
Reuters: Human activity and the El Nino weather pattern over the last century have warmed West Antarctica, part of the world's coldest continent, according to a study based on four years of collecting ice core data. The West Antarctic warmed in response to higher temperatures in the tropical Pacific, which itself has been warming due to weather patterns like a major El Nino event from 1939 to 1942 and greenhouse emissions from cars and factories, according to the study. "An increasingly ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Oil and gas projects in western Amazon threaten biodiversity and indigenous peoples
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/plos-oag080808.php
EurekAlert: The western Amazon, home to the most biodiverse and intact rainforest left on Earth, may soon be covered with oil rigs and pipelines. According to a new study, over 180 oil and gas "blocks" – areas zoned for exploration and development – now cover the megadiverse western Amazon, which includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and western Brazil. These oil and gas blocks stretch over 688,000 km2 (170 million acres), a vast area, nearly the size of Texas. The study appears in the ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Peak Population
http://www.utne.com/2008-08-12/Environment/Peak-Population.aspx?blogid=26
Utne Reader: Americans have a long history of inciting political action by shaking one problem under our politicians' noses to draw attention to another. It's like killing two birds with one stone. Liberals are notoriously less-than-fond of Big Oil's rabid profit margins, so we point out the obvious need for alternative energy. Then, because we don't want to come off as anti-business, we frame it as an environmental problem. But it is also an economic problem, a social problem, and a foreign policy ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Pelosi open to vote on offshore drilling
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/12/pelosi.qanda/
CNN: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reversed her opposition to a vote on offshore drilling on "Larry King Live" on Monday night, saying she would consider a vote if it were part of a larger energy package. Pelosi and fellow House Democrats have staunchly opposed Republicans' request for a vote on the drilling. Some Republicans stayed in chambers after Congress adjourned for the session, making speeches on energy policies, in an attempt to get Democrats to come back for a ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Population Bomb Author's Fix For Next Extinction: Educate Women
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=sixth-extinction
Scientific American: It's an uncomfortable thought: Human activity causing the extinction of thousands of species, and the only way to slow or prevent that phenomenon is to have smaller families and forego some of the conveniences of modern life, from eating beef to driving cars, according to Stanford University scientists Paul Ehrlich and Robert Pringle. This extinction–the sixth in the 4-billion-year history of the Earth–"could be much more catastrophic than previous ones," says Ehrlich, author of the ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Silicon makers profits rise, output challenge weighs
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKLC42057720080812
Reuters: Solar silicon makers Renewable Energy Corp (REC) (REC.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) and Advanced Metallurgical Group (AMG) (AMG.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) posted higher quarterly earnings Tuesday on booming demand for alternatives to fossil fuel energy, but challenges to production weighed on their shares. Shares of REC, one of the world's biggest producers of solar-grade silicon and wafers for solar power systems, initially rose more than 3 percent as its earnings topped ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Study: Climate change to produce extreme rains
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/08/12/study-climate-change-to-produce-extreme-rains/
Christian Science Monitor: I live in the Boston area, and the weather around here has been wacky all summer, with otherwise sunny days peppered with sudden torrential downpours, thunderstorms, and the odd flash flood. Nobody knows if this particular summer is just a fluke or the beginning of a trend, but according to a recent study, some of us had better get used to it. Using satellite data, a study conducted at the University of Miami and the University of Reading in Great Britain has found a distinct ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Texas Is Fed Up With Corn Ethanol
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121850115460131741.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: At what price will corn be so expensive that the federal government will decide that it is time to stop driving up the price of food? Three years ago, Congress imposed a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) mandate that has forced the gasoline industry to mix massive amounts of corn-based ethanol into the nation's fuel supply. In 2007, Congress nearly doubled that mandate to require nine billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gas in 2008 and even more in 2009. But, as a safety ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
The ethics of remaking the planet to save it
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/12/healthscience/ethics.php
International Herald Tribune: Last year, a private company proposed "fertilizing" parts of the ocean with iron, in hopes of encouraging carbon-absorbing blooms of plankton. Meanwhile, researchers elsewhere are talking about injecting chemicals into the atmosphere, launching sun-reflecting mirrors into stationary orbit above the earth or taking other steps to reset the thermostat of a warming planet. This technology might be useful, even life-saving. But it would inevitably produce environmental effects ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
'Renewable energy alone can save India'
http://howrah.org/india_news/24020.html
Howrah News Service: Dr Prodipto Ghosh, former secretary in the ministry of environment and forests, currently a special energy adviser with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), believes the future lies in developing renewable forms of energy. Dr Ghosh, who played a key role in penning the recently released PMO report on climate change, believes: "Renewable forms of energy, including solar, wind and tidal, must be mainstreamed in order that they can substantially displace oil, gas and coal. Many ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
A Tribute to Islands on the Verge of Vanishing
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104787
New York Times: Let me state at the outset that I am among those who believe that no political issue today matters more than the changes to our climate, geography and environment. Apparently the Samoan Lemi Ponifasio, whose "Requiem" received its American premiere at the Rose Theater over the weekend as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival, feels the same way. His work responds, we are told, to the slow disappearance of the Kiribati islands, home to six of the dancers in Mr. Ponifasio's company, ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Birds Move Farther North; Climate Change Link Considered
http://www.innovationsreport.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/birds_move_farther_north_climate_change_link_115839.html
Innovations Report: Focusing on 83 species of birds that have traditionally bred in New York state, the researchers compared data collected in the early 1980s with information gathered between 2000 and 2005. They discovered that many species had extended their range boundaries, some by as much as 40 miles. "They are indeed moving northward in their range boundaries," said researcher Benjamin Zuckerberg, whose Ph.D. dissertation included the study. "But the real signal came out with some of the northerly ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Bush Seeks to Limit Species Law
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121850393688731887.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: The Bush administration is proposing to reduce the environmental reviews federal agencies must undertake as part of the Endangered Species Act. The proposal could speed up commercial development, but environmentalists said the changes could threaten the protection of wildlife. The draft rules also would attempt to limit the use of the Endangered Species Act as a tool for fighting climate change. They would state that agencies don't have to consult one another in cases where a ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Can NY infrastructure handle floods, intense heat?
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g1JSga_CNGr6cpuIGcVrNxOuOBOAD92H1IMO0
Associated Press: Flooded subways. Bridges deteriorating in the hot sun. Rising seas nipping at the edges of Manhattan. Those scenarios are up for review by a panel of scientists, government officials and private sector representatives studying how the city's infrastructure will hold up to climate change. The Climate Change Adaptation Task Force met Tuesday for the first time as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to address global warming in New York City, which already includes orders to ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Carbon Disclosure Project, ICLEI partner to help US cities report local climate actions, emissions
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/umwelt_naturschutz/carbon_disclosure_project_iclei_partner_cities_115885.html
Innovation Reports: The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability are joining forces with some of the United States' largest cities to help them voluntarily report their greenhouse gas emissions and other climate change-relevant data. This project marks a significant step in advancing public disclosure and reporting on climate change related issues. Cities will be able to use the project to learn from peers on climate change management and the project will shed light ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Climate groups look post-Bush
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/08/12/climate-groups-look-post-bush/
Christian Science Monitor: With the inauguration of a new president in January come widespread expectations of a more aggressive federal approach to confronting global warming. Whoever wins the White House, he will not lack for advice on the topic. This week, a coalition of scientific societies and university organizations is slated to hand the Obama and McCain campaigns detailed steps and budget estimates for improving America's ability to monitor and forecast climate trends and severe weather. This ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Global Warming Will Do Little To Change Hurricane Activity, According To New Model
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080812160615.htm
Science Daily: In a study published in the July 2008 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, Drs. David S. Nolan and Eric D. Rappin from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science describe a new method for evaluating the frequency of hurricane formation in present and future tropical climates. While current thinking about changes in hurricane frequency comes mostly from computer simulations of global climate, the computer models used for these studies can only ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Hot subways to floods, all part of NYC climate risk
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN1251480420080812
Reuters: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday announced an in-depth study of perils the city faces from climate change, ranging from overly hot subways to shoreline floods. With 506 days left before his second and final term ends, Bloomberg is eager to cement his legacy by shoring up the city's finances and devising long-term plans. "There are costs to adapting to climate change ... By planning now, we can reduce our exposure to weather-related events," the mayor told ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Junk mail's carbon footprint equals nine million cars
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2223705/junk-mail-carbon-footprint
Business Green: Senders of junk mail in the US are causing carbon emissions equal to nine million cars, according to a forest preservation group. Pressure group ForestEthics released the report, Climate Change Enclosed: Junk Mail's Effect on Global Warming, last week to support its new campaign for a "do not mail" registry. The study, which is based on figures from the Environmental Defense Fund, the Environmental Paper Network, and industry data, found that half the carbon expenditure relating from ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
McCain Adopts Cheney's Energy Plan
http://www.alternet.org/environment/94286/mccain_adopts_cheney's_energy_plan/
AlterNet: John McCain, who once was regarded as a top Republican ally of the environmental movement, has embraced an energy plan nearly identical to Vice President Dick Cheney's National Energy Policy, which was drafted largely by industry executives and which pushed their desire for more oil drilling and nuclear power. Now echoing those views, McCain declares repeatedly, "We need to drill here and we need to drill now." Beyond opening up large tracts of protected coastal waters for oil ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Motorists turn to carpool sites as gas prices rise
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g4aOK0HuId1Q6oWOGzIM5h9Rtf_QD92GTB200
Associated Press: Robert Gilliland didn't think much about carpooling until gas prices got out of control. Now, he's happy to trade his motoring freedom for $120 in weekly savings. Gilliland found one rider through the classifieds Web site Craigslist and another using the carpool-matching service eRideShare.com. Thousands of commuters like him have turned to the Internet to arrange shared rides as average gas prices hover around $4 a gallon. Each day, Gilliland picks up Brian McKenzie near his ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Plants and Animals Move as Climate Warms
http://www.livescience.com/environment/080812-birds-north.html
Live Science: Climate change has shifted the boundaries of plant and animal habitats, with some birds in the United States extending their boundaries northward and trees moving farther up mountains, new studies show. Between 2000 and 2005, New York state's Department of Environmental Conservation had thousands of volunteers all over the state observe and report the birds they could identify, creating a Breeding Bird Atlas of the various species' breeding ranges. Researchers at the State ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Polluters back $1b solar power plan
http://www.smh.com.au/news/energy-smart/polluters-back-1b-solar-power-plan/2008/08/12/1218306861253.html
Sydney Morning Herald: A proposal to build the world's biggest solar power station in Australia is being backed by some of the nation's biggest polluters, including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Delta Electricity. The solar plant would generate 250 megawatts of electricity at peak times, theoretically enough to power about 100,000 households, making it the world's biggest. The site of the proposed plant is not confirmed yet, although the companies involved believe it can be up and running by ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Suppliers say US risks losing electric car race
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSN1250677120080812
Reuters: Mounting losses for the U.S. auto industry threaten investment in cutting-edge battery development, raising the risk U.S. companies will be shut out in the race to produce the most valuable components in electric cars, industry executives say. Executives at U.S. auto parts companies gathered for a forum in Traverse City, Michigan, said the U.S. government needs to provide incentives to support the industry until costs for electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, fall far enough ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Top climate-impacts programme shut
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080812/full/454808a.html
Nature: The lay-off last week of a senior political scientist involved in helping poor countries prepare for climate change has exposed a stark division in opinions on the core purpose of a key US climate-research institution. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, says its hand was forced by several years of largely stagnant budgets. These have resulted in the loss of 12% of its core workforce during the past five years – ironically, during a period in ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Utilities a boon to First Solar, but is it enough?
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN1247154620080812
Reuters: * First Solar expected to win big U.S. utility contracts * Too soon to tell how subsidies will affect utilities * First Solar faces competition down the road from established players and start-ups Thin-film solar companies are poised to capture a big share of the U.S. power market as utilities seek renewable energy at the lowest possible cost, but doubts are being raised about whether that is enough to support First Solar Inc's (FSLR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Elephant seals join fight against climate change
http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKSYD33298020080812
Reuters: Elephant seals swimming under Antarctic ice and fitted with special sensors are providing scientists with crucial data on ice formation, ocean currents and climate change, a study released on Tuesday said. The seals swimming under winter sea ice have overcome a "blind-spot" for scientists by allowing them to calculate how fast sea ice forms during winter. Sea ice reflects sunlight back into space, so less sea ice means more energy is absorbed by the earth, causing more ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Ghana to spend 1.4 billion dollars on climate
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=148305
GhanaWeb: Ghana would need more than 1.4 billion dollars for restoration purposes if bad environmental practices were not changed, Mr William Abaidoo, Public Relations Officer, Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday. He said climate change was fast becoming a global and most devastating issue confronting the planet, earth. "Scientists are already seeing signs of changing occurring more quickly than they expected; these signs range from high temperatures, low rainfall, drought ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
India's wind power boom is failing to deliver
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3357
People and Planet: To all appearances, wind energy in India is booming – but it could very well be nothing but an optical illusion. For despite rising installed capacity and huge investments, India only uses a small proportion of the potential wind energy that has been installed. In more technical terms, India does not manage to generate enough power from wind because of lower than average plant load factors (PLF). This is reported in its latest expose by Down To Earth magazine, a New Delhi-based ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Australia: Leading scientist says govts need to prepare for warmer world
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/programguide/stories/200808/s2332542.htm
Radio Australia: One of the world's leading climate scientists is calling on governments to prepare for a dangerous rise in global temperatures of four degrees over next century. Robert Watson, the former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, raised the alarm in response to the current two degree rise many governments, including our own are working towards. His call has added to the urgency needed to cut carbon emission drastically to avoid catastrophe.

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Norwegian solar group REC Q2 profit tops forecasts
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLC29725320080812
Reuters: Norwegian solar industry group Renewable Energy Corp (REC) (REC.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a 9.5 percent rise in core earnings for the second quarter, against expectations for a slight drop, and stuck to its 2008 revenue growth target. Shares in REC, one of the world's biggest producers of solar-grade silicon and wafers for solar energy systems, initially rose more than 3 percent but lost the gains to trade down 0.33 percent at 150.50 crowns by 0805 GMT. The ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Oregon runs faster to catch the wind
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008106953_windpower12.html
Bend Bulletin: The amount of wind power produced along the blustery Columbia Gorge is expected to more than triple in coming years. But the Gorge isn't the only Oregon locale that wind-development companies are eyeing. In Harney County, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the county have seen a jump in interest surrounding the windy Eastern Oregon ridges and peaks near Steens Mountain as companies look for different sources of the renewable power to meet state standards. A wind farm ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Overhaul of energy possible but pricey
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2008/08/12/20080812wiener12.html
Arizona Republic: Al Gore recently challenged the American people to overcome the related dangers of global warming and U.S. dependence on foreign oil by reaching the goal of generating 100 percent of U.S. electricity from renewable energy in 10 years. But is Gore's proposal even remotely feasible? Here is an estimate of its cost. The U.S. has roughly 1 million megawatts of electrical generating capacity, most from non-renewable resources. This generating capacity instead would need to come from ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Solar customers feel the heat from rebate means-testing
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24165710-5013871,00.html
Australian: CONSUMERS are paying more to install smaller solar systems since the federal Government's move to introduce a means test on rebates for the green power units. The Senate committee examining the consequences of means-testing the $8000 rebate heard from the Environment Department in Brisbane yesterday after Environment Minister Peter Garrett stopped officials from appearing late last month. Opposition committee member Simon Birmingham said the Rudd Government's policy of ...

Wed, 13 Aug 08
Yemen's Water Crisis Looms
http://www.yemenpost.net/42/Health/20081.htm
Yemen Post: Water security is among the priorities for many countries, as experts believe that the approaching wars will be those of water and not oil as was the case in the past, especially in the Middle East where water resources are depleting very quickly. The Middle East region, to which Yemen belongs, is ranked among the dry regions of the world with few or no small rivers in most countries. All statistics and pointers indicate that Yemen has already entered the danger zone concerning water ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate change: High street banks face consumer boycott over investment in coal projects
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/11/banking.ethicalbusiness
Guardian: High street banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays, face a consumer boycott if they continue to channel billions of pounds of new investment into coal projects, campaigning groups warned last night. The warning came as 50 campaigners were arrested over the weekend at the climate camp set up to protest against building a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent. Clashes with police occurred at E.ON's site near Hoo in Kent over the weekend as climate ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
On a planet 4C hotter, all we can prepare for is extinction
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/11/climatechange
Guardian: We need to get prepared for four degrees of global warming, Bob Watson told the Gurdian last week. At first sight this looks like wise counsel from the climate science adviser to Defra. But the idea that we could adapt to a 4C rise is absurd and dangerous. Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never spoke, "the end of living and the beginning of survival" for humankind. Or perhaps the beginning of our ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Japan: Consumers putting efficiency 1st with electronics purchases
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/20080811TDY03104.htm
Yomiuri Shimbun: Consumers worried about global warming and soaring fuel costs are increasingly turning not just to the usual energy efficient home electrical appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators, but also energy-saving electronics including TV sets and personal computers. With more and more consumers turning to energy-efficient products when it comes time to replace old models, electronics firms are keen to tout the virtues of their environmentally friendly products. Late last ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
India: Climate change: industry's lukewarm response
http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/11/stories/2008081155941300.htm
Hindu: While a number of companies expect to contribute to mitigating their impact on climate change, few seem to be approaching it in a structured, measurable manner. From the G-8 summit to the regional gatherings of the industry associations, climate change and its impact as well as regulations on trade and industry are now dominating the discussions. There appears to be a genuine concern on the issues raised, but very little when it comes to follow up action relating to the environment. ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
India lagging behind in wind energy
http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/08/11/news0592.htm
New Nation: To all appearances, the wind energy sector in India is booming-but it could very well be nothing but an optical illusion. Despite rising installed capacity and huge investments, India does not manage to generate enough power from wind because of lower than average plant load factors (PLF). This has been reported in its latest expose by /Down To Earth /magazine, a New Delhi-based science and environment fortnightly, published with assistance from the Centre for Science and Environment ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Australia: Minimising the hurt in an emissions scheme
http://www.smh.com.au/news/global-warming/minimising-the-hurt-in-an-emissions-scheme/2008/08/10/1218306657437.html
Sydney Morning Herald: Simcoa is a little-known company which operates Australia's only silicon smelter at Kemerton, 160 kilometres south of Perth. Simcoa uses large amounts of electricity to raise temperatures inside its arc furnaces to 3000 degrees, triggering reactions which turn quartzite and charcoal into the metalloid silicon. It employs 120 people and has export sales of about $100 million a year. Under the Federal Government's plan to tackle climate change by making industry pay for ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Australia: Senator calls on people power to save lower lakes
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/senator-calls-on-people-power-to-save-lower-lakes-20080810-3t2h.html
Age: SOUTH Australian independent Nick Xenophon will use his pivotal Senate vote to pressure the Federal Government to come up with water to save the Murray River's embattled lower lakes, its mouth and the Coorong. Speaking at a protest meeting yesterday in the Murray River town of Goolwa, where about 2000 people observed a minute's silence for a river system dying from the bottom up, Senator Xenophon challenged federal Water Minister Penny Wong's recent assertion that no extra water could ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
United States: Biologist: Tundra change is 'alarming'
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/08/10/Biologist_Tundra_change_is_alarming/UPI-21071218390970/
United Press International: The rate at which the tundra in Alaska is changing in relation to the altering climate is "alarming," a biologist studying such areas says. Utah State University fish biologist Chris Luecke said while evidence taken from the Alaskan tundra rule out a possible ice age in the near future, such samples do indicate a warming trend that threatens the wildlife, McClatchy Newspapers said Sunday. "I'm really glad it's getting warm and not cold. An ice age would be really bad," Luecke ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Can Israel Find the Water It Needs?
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104631
New York Times: <body>A SOUVENIR in the corner of Doron Ovits's office attests to the challenges of farming in Israel. It's a mangled piece of metal, and Mr. Ovits says it came from a rocket that landed in a field recently, lobbed from the nearby Gaza Strip. But Mr. Ovits may have a bigger long-term problem than rockets. Israel is running short of water. A growing population and rising incomes have increased demand for fresh water, while a four-year drought has created what Shalom ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Kenya looks to geothermal power to fuel development
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1714781120080811
Reuters: For Maasai tribesman Charles Kamami, Kenya's drive to boost its geothermal capacity spells environmental destruction which threatens his pastoralist way of life. But for east Africa's largest economy, geothermal energy could be a savior as it struggles to increase power generation to keep up with soaring demand driven by years of robust growth. With proven potential of 7,000 megawatts, geothermal energy from Kenya's geologically active Great Rift Valley forms the cornerstone of ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Oil fight could trigger a federal shutdown
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/10/MNLM12704T.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: House Republicans, who've been hounding Speaker Nancy Pelosi for weeks over her refusal to allow a vote on new domestic oil drilling, are plotting a high-stakes confrontation this fall that could spark a shutdown of the federal government. Republicans see an opportunity when Congress returns Sept. 8 and will have to pass a temporary measure to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30. Democrats are likely to include in the measure an extension of the congressional moratorium on ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Our save-the-planet primer
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-0810edit1aug10,0,6979278.story
Chicago Tribune: There's a great scene near the end of the first "Back to the Future" movie. The mad scientist, Emmett "Doc" Brown, has just returned from his first trip to the future. He screeches into the driveway, pops the hood of the DeLorean time machine and unveils a small, Cuisinart-like device labeled "Mr. Fusion." Instead of the earlier fuel requirement—plutonium (a lot more than $4 a gallon)—some banana peels and the dregs of a beer can are sufficient. When people ponder the ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
21 U.S. Cities To Measure Carbon Emissions
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1517302/21_us_cities_to_measure_carbon_emissions/
redOrbit: New York City, Denver and Las Vegas are among 21 U.S. cities that will measure their carbon footprints in an effort to reduced climate-warming emissions. The cities will employ the same system in use by some 1,300 companies. "If you don't measure these emissions, you cannot manage them," said Paul Dickinson, CEO of UK- based Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), in an interview with Reuters. The CDP, which represents 385 global institutional investors that together manage ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Australia: Climate change no threat to coastal sales
http://www.news.com.au/business/money/story/0,25479,24156852-5013951,00.html
Sunday Telegraph: THE threat of rising sea levels caused by climate change is not putting off cashed-up Australians from spending big on blue-chip beachfront property. THE threat of rising sea levels caused by climate change is not putting off cashed-up Australians from spending big on blue-chip beachfront property. Real estate agents say that dire predictions about the hungry sea swallowing up coastal suburbs seem to be falling on deaf ears. Demand for high-end beach property is holding ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Climate change threat to Brazil's food crop exports
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/62a5d5d0-670b-11dd-808f-0000779fd18c.html
Financial Times: Brazil's soya exports could slump by more than a quarter over the next 12 years as a result of climate change, according to a study to be presented at an agribusiness conference opening in SÃ£o Paulo today. The study will add to concern over worsening food shortages around the world. It shows that even moderate rises in temperatures would cause significant damage to a range of agricultural produce in Brazil, which has emerged over the past decade as one of the world's biggest ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Dell's worldwide facilities are now carbon neutral
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080810/GJLIFESTYLES/325067595/-1/FOSLIFESTYLES
Associated Press: Computers are far from being truly clean machines, but Dell Inc. and other PC makers are trying to make their own business operations greener. Dell said Wednesday its facilities worldwide are now carbon neutral, a goal the Round Rock, Texas-based company had set to achieve by the end of 2008. Dane Parker, its director for environment, health and safety, said Dell buys renewable energy – including wind, solar and methane gas – directly from utilities to fulfill one-fifth of its ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Developers Poised in Arizona to Welcome the Spillover of Las Vegas's Boom
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104651
New York Times: <body>It seems fitting that the most prominent resident to emerge from this dusty desert outpost is Andy Devine, a Western actor who was best known for playing helpmates to the likes of John Wayne and Roy Rogers. "The first thing they did was to put in huge palm trees that take so much water just to announce their arrival," said one critic of the Pravada housing development. Fitting because Kingman, an area of just 40,000 people, is poised to become the freshest face in the Sun ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Environmental issues take center stage among voters
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080810/NEWS15/808100384
Detroit Free Press: With runaway energy prices stirring public debate, environmental issues that were on the back burner a year ago have leapfrogged into the limelight in the presidential campaign. Issues like whether to open new parts of the oceans to offshore drilling or build new coal and nuclear plants, and how alternative energy ties in with climate change have become hot topics in the race between presumptive presidential nominees Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz. "The ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Ethical Investing: Are US Alternative-Energy Companies a Good Buy?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0811/p14s03-wmgn.html
Christian Science Monitor: Alternative energy is one of the hottest trends on Wall Street. But for America's ethical investors, it mostly means buying stock in foreign firms. Now, companies in the United States are making a bid to take a bigger piece of the market. Is it time to invest in US alternative-energy funds? The Monitor's Laurent Belsie recently talked about that possibility with Carey Callaghan, co-portfolio manager of American Trust's Energy Alternatives Fund. Here's an edited version of their ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Global warming boosts garden pest
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gAUvwF_yDrAPG_Itq2uRU0sKU8cw
Press Association: Milder winters caused by climate change are providing a boost to plant-damaging aphids, scientists have warned. Researchers revealed the familiar garden pest was flying earlier and in larger numbers because of warm conditions in winter and spring. As a result more aphids are on the wing and looking for food in spring and early summer when crops are at their most vulnerable. The scientists at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire said aphids were an important indicator of ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
N.Y. among 21 cities to disclose carbon output
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0831199520080810
Reuters: More than 20 U.S. cities, including New York, Las Vegas and Denver, have agreed to measure their carbon footprints, with a system some 1,300 companies have been persuaded to use, in an attempt to find ways to curb emissions blamed for warming the planet. "If you don't measure these emissions, you cannot manage them," said Paul Dickinson, the chief executive of the UK- based Carbon Disclosure Project, which joined forces with the cities. Urban traffic, buildings and manufacturers emit ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Pitching Climate Protection to Consumers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-winston/pitching-climate-protecti_b_118055.html
Huffington Post: Recently I wrote about the rise of "conflicted consumers" who want greener options but don't want to go too far out of their way to get it. Is this fairly passive commitment to greener buying going to drive enough change to tackle problems as large as climate change? Some organizations seem to think not. A few months ago Al Gore launched a $300 million ad campaign called "we can solve it." (Gore just proposed a goal for the country of moving to 100% non-fossil fuel energy in 10 years. ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Poll: Americans support conservation
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/10/Poll_Americans_support_conservation/UPI-22571218379230/
United Press International: Americans are using higher fuel costs as a reason to boost conservation efforts even as they support increased oil drilling, a poll indicates. An ABC News/Planet Green/Stanford University poll reported mixed responses. But 71 percent of those surveyed said they were trying to reduce their "carbon footprint" by driving less, using less electricity and recycling, ABC News reported Saturday. However, 64 percent of the respondents cited "finding new energy sources" as more ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Power Station Fight Continues
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Green-Protestors-Vow-To-Continue-Fight-Against-Kingsnorth-Power-Station-Redevelopment/Article/200808215074682?lpos=UK%2BNews_8&lid=ARTICLE_15074682_Green%2BProtestors%2BVow%2BTo%2BContinue%2BFight%2BAgainst%2BKings
Sky News: Climate change activists have vowed to keep fighting plans for a coal-fired power station in Kent. Police arrest a campaigner at the power station entrance Campaigners staged a week-long Camp for Climate Change during which more than 100 people were arrested. They are opposing plans by E.ON to create a coal-powered station at Kingsworth when the existing plant closes in 2015. Around half of the arrests were made yesterday - the majority for obstruction or trespass ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
United States: Scientists dig into tundra's effect on warming
http://www.adn.com/front/story/489170.html
Anchorage Daily News: Ground here that for tens of thousands of years was frozen solid is terra firma no more. Across the tundra and coast of the Arctic Ocean, land is caving in. Soils loosed by freshly thawed earth set off a new era of rot, and of bloom -- dumping a bonanza of nutrients into this top-of-the-world environment. Will nature channel the nourishment of this soil into a great flowering of plant life that soaks up greenhouse gas and tamps down the causes of climate change? Or will a ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Shellfish to invade Atlantic from Pacific
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/09/MNKO127QHT.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Pacific Ocean shellfish - the mussels and snails, the clams and cockles - are heading for a mass invasion into the North Atlantic that could alter the entire ecology of both oceans as sea ice vanishes from the warming high Arctic, two California scientists predict. It has happened at least once before, the scientists say - about 3.5 million years ago, when a relatively brief period of natural global warming kept the Bering Strait open and hundreds of species of marine life migrated ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
The Messy Truth About Dry Cleaning
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080702759.html
Washington Post: When it comes to the environment, traditional dry cleaning is downright dirty. The liquid solvent used at 85 percent of dry cleaners, perchloroethylene, known as "perc," is unequivocally bad for people and the planet: It's a central nervous system depressant and respiratory irritant that the Environmental Protection Agency deems a "probable human carcinogen." According to the EPA's Web site, it also seeps into air; breaks down into other chemicals, "some of which are toxic, and some of which ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
US slights safety of wind, solar for risks of nuclear
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/10/speakout-us-slights-safety-of-wind-solar-for-of/
Rocky Mountain News: Any nation with nuclear power plants offers its adversaries, in effect, a quasi-military capability to use against it, proliferation expert Bennett Ramberg, an official in the George H.W. Bush administration, warned in 1984. Despite the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the George W. Bush administration has failed to heed this warning or act on this danger. And Sen. John McCain promises more of the same. McCain wants rapid construction of 45 nuclear reactors within the next two ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate camp protesters leave site
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvsQT-oWsqZkYJt05KRMFE53ZrcA
Press Association: Hundreds of environmental campaigners have begun leaving the site of a week-long protest against climate change, but vowed to return if permission to build a new coal-fired power station there is granted. Organisers of the Camp for Climate Action which was held in fields close to Kingsnorth power station near Hoo, Kent, said that up to 3,000 people had visited the site at some point over the last week. Ob Saturday protesters took part in a mass day of action where they ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Digging in against drilling
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080810/OPINION12/808100302/1002/OPINION
Washington Post: Let's see: housing meltdown, credit crunch, oil shock not seen since the 1970s. The economy is slowing, unemployment growing and inflation increasing. It's the sixth year of a highly unpopular war and the president's approval rating is at 30 percent. The Italian Communist Party could win this election. The American Democratic Party is trying its best to lose it. Democrats have the advantage on just about every domestic issue from health care to education. However, Americans' ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
Groups: Coal-to-liquids plant would degrade Wyo's air quality
http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/08/10/news/wyoming/c16dfa4d310f34e2872574a000794a8a.txt
Casper Star-Tribune: A plan to capture carbon dioxide by gasifying Wyoming coal for liquid fuels has drawn praise in regard to global warming and taking a step toward weaning the nation off foreign oil. But there would be an environmental footprint from the proposed Medicine Bow coal-to-liquids processing facility in Carbon County. The plant, as proposed, would emit 195 tons of "particulate matter," or dust, each year, according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. Factor in the ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
United States: Mandates on the use of renewable energy would have a profound impact on the environment, but at what cost?
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/environment/economics/story/634419.html
Miami Herald: A crucial argument about the best way to combat global warming comes down to two alternatives that may seem deceptively simple: •Force utilities to make a certain percentage of electricity from renewable resources, such as solar and wind. •Make utilities pay a stiff fine for the greenhouse gases they produce from coal and natural gas, then let the utilities figure out the most economical way of reducing their emissions. How this plays out could mean a big hit ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
United States: Scientists stumble upon 'carbon-capture' farming
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/08/eco.farms.ap/
Associated Press: On one side of the gravel road are hundreds of acres of corn. On the other is a much different crop that scientists hope will enable farmers to rebuild sinking islands in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, combat global warming and make a profit at the same time. The alternate field is full of tules and cattails that are being grown by the U.S. Geological Survey on about 15 acres on Twitchell Island, about 5.7 square miles of rich but fragile land south of ...

Mon, 11 Aug 08
UN Official Defends Environmental Efforts for Beijing Olympics
http://voanews.com/english/2008-08-10-voa6.cfm
Voice of America: A senior United Nations Environmental official has rebuffed criticism of the air quality at the Olympic Games in Beijing saying efforts to reduce pollution have been impressive. The official also announced that Chinese basketball star Yao Ming has become a goodwill ambassador for the organization. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from the Chinese capital. The head of the U.N. Environmental Program, Achim Steiner, Saturday said air pollution remained a concern during the Olympic Games and ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Alarming rise in pollution by Asian giants: Study
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/08/10/stories/2008081050930200.htm
Hindu: China accounted for a staggering 57 per cent of the growth in carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion worldwide that, between 2000 and 2007, increased 22 per cent to an estimated 8.2 billion tonnes, according to research by the Washington-based think-tank Worldwatch Institute. During the period, India`s contribution was eight per cent and the US and Europe contributed four per cent and three per cent, respectively. Despite the dramatic rise in China`s fossil fuel emissions, the ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Meltdown in the Arctic is speeding up
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/10/climatechange.arctic
Guardian: Ice at the North Pole melted at an unprecedented rate last week, with leading scientists warning that the Arctic could be ice-free in summer by 2013. Satellite images show that ice caps started to disintegrate dramatically several days ago as storms over Alaska's Beaufort Sea began sucking streams of warm air into the Arctic. As a result, scientists say that the disappearance of sea ice at the North Pole could exceed last year's record loss. More than a million square ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Russia: Two women fight to save world's deepest lake
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/10/europe/EU-FEA-Russia-Defenders-of-the-Lake.php
Associated Press: The world's oldest, deepest and biggest freshwater lake is growing warmer, dirtier and more crowded. Lyubov Izmestieva is charting these insidious changes. Marina Rikhvanova is fighting them. And the fate of one of the world's rarest ecosystems, a turquoise jewel set in the vast Siberian taiga, hangs in the balance. For centuries Lake Baikal has inspired wonder and, more recently, impassioned defenders. With more fresh water than America's Great Lakes combined, and home to ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Wildfire risk to tinder-dry rural Britain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/10/endangeredhabitats.climatechange
Guardian: Devastating fires similar to those that have plagued parts of Greece and Turkey are likely to become common in the UK within years, according to the Fire Brigades Union, which claims there has been a huge rise in the number of outdoor blazes over the past decade. The union is blaming global warming for a rise in temperature that is turning large parts of rural Britain tinder-dry, with the result that there has been a big increase in the number of outdoor fires since ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Protesters arrested at power station
http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Protesters-arrested-at-power-station.4375126.jp
Scotsman: FOUR eco activists were arrested yesterday after they managed to enter the site of a power station as part of a week-long climate change protest. The four demonstrators were arrested after they breached the perimeter fence of Kingsnorth Power Station near Hoo, Kent, where up to 2,000 people had gathered to demonstrate their opposition to plans to create a new generation of coal-fired electriciADVERTISEMENTty plants. A spokeswoman for Kent Police said: "Four people who entered ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Australia: States shouldn't have veto power over Murray-Darling: Greens
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/10/2330125.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Greens senator Sally Hanson-Young says claims that the Federal Government's new water management authority in the Murray-Darling Basin will be independent is a furphy. The Federal Government has set up the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to work out a sustainable cap on water use which will come into effect before the end of the year. Senator Hanson-Young says the authority cannot be truly independent if state governments have the right to veto decisions made by the ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate protesters fail to stop E.ON output
http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL936327420080809
Reuters: Climate protesters breached security to enter the site of a coal-fired power station in southeast England on Saturday but German firm E.ON, which runs the plant, said output had not been disrupted. Police arrested eight people at the facility at Kingsnorth in Kent, four who managed to get into the site and four others who tried to access it from an estuary using a raft. The protesters oppose plans for two new coal units at the facility, which will also be operated by E.ON, and ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Kingsnorth climate change camp: Scuffles with police as activists approach power station
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/09/kingsnorthclimatecamp.climatechange
Guardian: I'm trapped. To my left 300 police are jumping out of transit vans clutching riot shields and running towards a march of 1,000 climate change protesters. To my right another 150 officers are hiding behind a high wire fence about to pounce on 70 protesters who are within 300 yards of Kingsnorth power station. And in front of me is the station itself. A monument of grey 1960s architecture surrounded now with electric wire, 10ft-high steel fencing, makeshift watchtowers and ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Poor will suffer more on warming
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/08/09/poor_will_suffer_more_on_warming/
Boston Globe: ABOUT 16 months ago, the United Nations panel on climate change cited a vast and growing divide between rich and poor nations in their ability to withstand the effects of global warming. Other experts described the same problem in graphic terms. "Like the sinking of the Titanic, catastrophes are not democratic," Henry Miller of the Hoover Institution told The New York Times. "A much higher fraction of passengers from the cheapest decks were lost. We'll see the same phenomenon with global ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Power protest leads to 50 arrests
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7551613.stm
BBC: Fifty people have been arrested during a day of action at Kingsnorth power station in Kent. Police said four activists managed to breach the perimeter fence, but they were intercepted inside the grounds of the plant on the Hoo peninsula. Another four people were arrested trying to launch a boat on the River Medway and 123 campaigners were rescued from the water. The activists were opposing E.On's plans to build new coal-fired units. Officers said most of the ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Arctic Scientists Flee Polar Bear Trapped on Land
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-09-092.asp
Environment News Service: Five scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society had to evacuate their remote field camp in northern Alaska because of a new kind of threat brought on by global warming - a polar bear stranded on land. Polar bears would normally be out on sea ice this time of year, the WCS says, but with recent warming the ice is miles from shore and bears are becoming increasingly trapped on land well away from their prey of seals. "It is ironic that our efforts to ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Attempts to breach power station
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7551010.stm
BBC: Four protesters have been arrested after breaching a perimeter fence surrounding Kingsnorth power station. Kent Police said the activists were intercepted and arrested before they reached the inner fence. Earlier four boats were stopped on the River Medway. Officers in riot gear and about 15 police vans are stationed in front of the power station on the Hoo peninsula. About 100 activists opposing the firm's plans to build new coal-fired units have marched to the plant ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United States: Ban on California fire practice to 'let burn' those that pose no threat draws criticism
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/WireHeadlines/2008/08/09/ban-on-california-fire-practice-to-let-b-18.php
Associated Press: The regional chief of the Forest Service recently banned a practice that allowed local fire managers to let some blazes burn if they don't pose a threat. Critics said the ruling could expose more firefighters to deadly risks like the helicopter crash that killed a pilot and eight firefighters in California's Trinity County on Tuesday. That crash occurred in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, part of which has been identified as an appropriate place for the "let it burn" ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United States: Breaking the ice at Glacier Bay
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/travel/5930905.html
Houston Chronicle: Some cite global warming as the culprit. Others point to a natural cycle in world climatory conditions. This much is certain: Glacier Bay National Park is changing. I've seen it myself. During six visits over the past quarter century, I've witnessed the gradual erosion of some of the world's most magnificent rivers of ice. The lesson for travelers: Go now if your time and budget permits. Glacier Bay is home to 12 tidewater glaciers — ice sheets strong enough to ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
First U.S. Solar Highway Installation Starts in Oregon
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-09-091.asp
Environment News Service: Construction on the nation's first solar demonstration project in a highway right of way has begun. At the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 interchange in Tualatin, Oregon, 594 solar panels are being installed on a strip of land beside the highway roughly the length of two football fields. Governor Ted Kulongoski, with transportation and utilities officials, broke ground on Thursday on the all-Oregon project. "Before the year is over, this ground will hold the nation's first ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Four arrested in power station protest
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4492067.ece
Times (UK): Police arrested more than 50 people at a climate change protest at a Kent power station today. At least four activists were held by officers for breaching the fences and attempting to get in to the main site. A group of more than 30 protestors had scaled the perimeter barriers of the plant, which they had vowed to shut down by "land, sea and air". They used security fences as ramps, and scaffolding poles to help mount the fence. Their actions also forced an electric ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Protesters breach plant perimiter
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6oOTD5SAyWAeRx6Ryxs8yGRNl0g
Press Association: Four eco activists have been arrested after they managed to enter the site of a power station. The action was part of a mass day of action in a week-long climate change protest. The four protesters were arrested after they breached the perimeter fence of Kingsnorth Power Station near Hoo, Kent, where up to 2,000 people have gathered to demonstrate their opposition to plans to create a new generation of coal-fired electricity plants. A spokeswoman for Kent police said: ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
India: Tax small cars heavily: Pachauri
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080810/jsp/calcutta/story_9668851.jsp
Calcutta Telegraph: R.K. Pachauri, the director-general of Tata Energy Research Institute and the chief of Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, which won the Nobel peace prize last year, was in Calcutta recently. Jayanta Basu spoke to the climate crusader. Q: The Prime Minister recently announced the climate policy of India. How do you assess it? The policy has correctly given importance to greater use of renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency. It also talks of reviewing sectors ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Alaskans beginning to look at alternative energy solutions
http://aprn.org/2008/08/08/alaskans-beginning-to-look-at-alternative-energy-solutions/
Alaska Public Radio: The emergency fuel assistance measures passed by the Legislature yesterday may be just the beginning of a major public policy adjustment to the high price of oil. Renewable energy is the buzzword of the day. Already windmills are popping up all over the bush, and an experimental hydropower turbine is going into the Yukon River at Eagle. Transportation projections are being rethought as commuters drive less and begin pressing for mass transit. One of the speakers at this weekend's Renewable ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Direct action plan at power plant
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7548110.stm
BBC: E.ON is planning the UK's first new coal-fired power station for 24 years Energy company E.On has warned climate change protesters to stay away from one of its power stations where a demonstration is due to begin. About 1,500 people are said to be preparing to shut down Kingsnorth power station in Kent to protest against plans to build new coal-fired units. An E.On spokesman urged the activists to keep outside the gates to prevent the possibility of serious ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Eat kangaroo to 'save the planet'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7551125.stm
BBC: Switching from beef to kangaroo burgers could significantly help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, says an Australian scientist. The gas produced by sheep and cows through belching and flatulence is a huge contributor to global warming - much more than carbon dioxide. But kangaroos produce virtually no methane gas because their digestive systems are different. Dr George Wilson, of the Australian Wildlife Services, urges farming them. He says they have a ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Four arrested in breach of Kingsnorth power station security
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/09/kingsnorthclimatecamp.climatechange?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
Guardian: Police officers scuffle with climate change protesters near Kingsnorth power station in Kent. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Protesters entered the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station but failed to shut it down today as the climax of the week-long climate camp passed off unexpectedly peacefully. There were minor skirmishes with the police and only a handful of protesters succeeded in getting inside the site in Kent, near Rochester. Climate camp organisers said that ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Humans to be blamed for climate change, says US body
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/lifestyle/humans-to-be-blamed-for-climate-change-says-us-body_10081866.html
Asian New International: Human activity is indeed responsible for the rapid warming of the 20th century, says a new report issued by the US Climate Change Science Program. The report concluded that computer models do effectively simulate climate. The report is the 10th of 21 due to be issued by the body, which the skeptical George Bush administration set up late in 2002 to review the validity of climate-change science before making policy decisions. At the time, environmentalists accused the ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Protesters show united front
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7551584.stm
BBC: Past the roadblocks marking the approach to Kingsnorth power station, I find myself at the front line of a day of promised climate change protests. There's excited talk that "we can get to the front of the gate, they can't stop us". The police horses look placid enough, although the officers on them appear stern. Kent Police had drafted in 1,400 officers from 26 forces. The horses are from Wales. Leave the coal in the ground so my young lad can breathe clean air ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Scotland 'can expect more floods'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7549467.stm
BBC: More floods and landslides could hit areas of Scotland in the future, according to an environmental charity. WWF Scotland has analysed Met Office data and found that last month was almost 1.5C warmer than the long-term average. It said July was very warm, a bit wetter and less sunny than usual. June was slightly warmer and quite a bit wetter than average. May was the warmest May ever in the Scottish records, which go back to 1914. WWF Scotland director, Richard ...

Sun, 10 Aug 08
Junk Mail Produces as Much CO2 as 9 Million Cars
http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/eco-friendly/junk-mail-47080803
Daily Green: A report by the group ForestEthics estimates that destroying forests to make paper for junk mail releases as much greenhouse gas pollution as 9 million cars. Another way to look at it: Junk mail produces as much pollution as seven U.S. states combined, or as much as heating 13 million homes each winter. While the estimates may or may not be accurate, the point is indisputable: Junk mail is a waste. (To most people, it's an annoying part of the trip to the mailbox, ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Majority of Filipinos cite how climate has changed in past 3 years
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/112506/Majority-of-Filipinos-cite-how-climate-has-changed-in-past-3-years
BusinessWorld: Climate change is no longer a concept but a reality whose destructive impacts Filipinos are seeing and experiencing, a new survey by pollster Pulse Asia showed. Results of a nationwide survey Pulse Asia conducted among 1,200 respondents from July 1 to 14 showed that 58% of respondents claimed the climate in their place of residence has changed in the past three years, while 54% said the change was due to "humankind's destructive ways." "For 54% of Filipinos, people have only ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australia: 'Buy out water hoarders to save the Murray'
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24148988-2,00.html
Daily Telegraph: A SYDNEY Harbour-sized wall of water could be pumped into the ailing River Murray from six water-hoarding cotton farms under a radical new plan unveiled by conservationists yesterday. Describing the move as a "huge win for NSW", the green groups have demanded the Federal Government buy the properties - located in western NSW and Queensland - which are ready to be sold, and pump the 300-400 gigalitres of water a year into the drought-ravaged River Murray basin. The Government - ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australia: Once-mighty Darling drying up
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24151039-11949,00.html
Australian: THE Darling River is flowing no more, with the iconic waterway reduced in places to a series of interlinked pools. Around Wilcannia, in far-western NSW, a combination of drought and upstream irrigation have brought the river to a standstill. Neville Crisp, 76, used to water ski on the river during the 1940s and 50s. Now he is angry about the state of the river and says that the only solution is additional environmental flows. "The Government has known about the problem ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australia: Rudd soft on China over climate change: Hunt
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/09/2329774.htm?section=business
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Federal Opposition says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has gone soft on China when it comes to climate change and clean energy. The Opposition's environment spokesman, Greg Hunt, says Mr Rudd has sent the wrong message to China by cutting $50 million in funding from the Asia Pacific Partnership on clean development. Mr Hunt says that money would have gone directly towards clean energy in China, and Mr Rudd has set progress back by cutting it. "He's talking about it, but ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australia: WA may get drier than first feared
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=146&ContentID=90107
West Australian: Global warming could make WA even drier than experts had predicted, according to new climate research. The findings raise the prospect of worsening summer water shortages as subtropical regions become more parched. Computer models have already forecast that global warming will make dry areas even drier, while increasing severe rainfall and flooding in already wet areas such as Australia's tropical far north. But the new research, based on satellite rainfall data over the past ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate Camp - MEP calls for end to 'aggressive' police response
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kol08/article/default.asp?article_id=46093
Kent Online: Green MEP Caroline Lucas is calling for immediate action by Kent Police to resolve the "serious" and "escalating" situation at the Camp for Climate Action. The MEP for the south east region is one of number of politicians who have written to Kent police stressing that the growing friction has been caused by a "disproportionate police response" to the protesters. The letter, addressed to Assistant Chief Constable Allyn Thomas, head of specialist operations, ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Climate Change Equals Stronger Rains
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=climate-change-equals-stronger-rains
Scientific American: As the globe continues to warm, the rainiest parts of the world are very likely to get wetter, according to a new study in Science. Desert dwellers, however, are likely to see what little rain they receive dry up, as the rain becomes even more concentrated in high-precipitation areas. Atmospheric scientists Richard Allan of the University of Reading in England and Brian Soden of the University of Miami looked at satellite records of daily rainfall stretching back to 1987 to see how ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Florida to mandate greater use of renewable energy
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D92E70RG0.htm
Associated Press: Talking about renewable energy is nothing new in the Sunshine State, but the push for cleaner energy could soon become a legal mandate. For the first time, Florida is about to require that part of the state's power come from renewable sources. The state has been promoting that idea with grants and tax exemptions for several years, but renewable power makes up less than 3 percent of the total in Florida. Maine, by comparison, gets roughly 18 percent of its power from renewable ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Global warming threatens indigenous peoples: FAO
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jeEtrjz5Q56f1uaPvgLawLZEdnZQ
Agence France-Press: Global warming and limited access to land and other resources threaten many indigenous peoples, the UN food agency warned Friday. "Indigenous peoples are among the first to suffer from increasingly harsh and erratic weather conditions, and a generalised lack of empowerment to claim goods and services," said indigenous peoples expert Regina Laub of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Many indigenous groups live in vulnerable environments such as mountainous areas, the ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Humans cause climate change, US body accepts
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/us/mg19926683.300-humans-cause-climate-change-us-body-accepts.html
New Scientist: AS THE Bush administration enters its final months, the US Climate Change Science Program has issued a report concluding that computer models do effectively simulate climate. It also accepts that the models show human activity was responsible for the rapid warming of the 20th century. The report is the 10th of 21 due to be issued by the body, which the sceptical Bush administration set up late in 2002 to review the validity of climate-change science before making policy decisions. At ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Police and protesters prepare for action
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/08/kingsnorthclimatecamp.climatechange1
Guardian: Police and demonstrators expect clashes tomorrow as 1,400 officers from 26 forces try to prevent up to 2,000 climate change activists from closing down the Kingsnorth coal power station, run by energy company E.ON in Kent. Today neither group would say how they were planning to outwit the other. A spokeswoman for Kent police said: "We are expecting the unexpected. Our preparations are constantly changing." The campaigners have spent the last week encamped near the ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
The truth is, we're fighting for survival
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/08/kingsnorthclimatecamp.climatechange
Guardian: Up to 4 billion people left without water. Up to 5 billion at risk of flooding. Half a billion left hungry as agricultural yields decline by 15-35% in Africa with entire swaths of the world ceasing food production altogether. More than 80 million exposed to malaria in Africa. The Amazon collapses and 50% of species go extinct. It's basically the end of the world. And it's reported in this morning's Guardian. There is such a gaping chasm between the matter-of-fact reporting of this ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Vanishing Animal Migrations Need Saving, Experts Say
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080808-wikelski-migrations-missions.html
National Geographic: Habitat destruction and climate change are making migrations increasingly difficult for many species, but it's not too late to bring these visually spectacular and environmentally critical mass movements back, according to a new study. Migrations are one of the animal kingdom's most widespread phenomena. They are seasonal tests of endurance, collective journeys often taken at great costs by birds, whales, land mammals, insects, and other creatures that are wired to ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Acid seas slow urchin reproduction
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Flora__Fauna/Acid_seas_slow_urchin_reproduction/articleshow/3341277.cms
Indo-Asian News Service: Climate change and acidification of oceans will significantly reduce the reproductivity of certain marine species by 2100, a team of biologists has warned. A Macquarie University team led by Anne Williamson joined forces with the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) to study the effects of acidification on sea urchin fertility, finding a link between decreased pH (increased acid) levels and a reduction in sperm swimming speed and motility. "What we have now is evidence that the ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australia notches up biggest carbon trade: broker
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKSYD15411820080808
Reuters: Australia has recorded its largest transaction in carbon emissions, with 20,000 tonnes of carbon sold forward at A$21.50 ($19.51) a tonne, a carbon broker said on Friday, as the nation prepares to curb greenhouse gases. Australia, the rich world's largest per-capita emitter of greenhouse gases, plans to cap emissions from 2010 and introduce a carbon-trading system where businesses that pollute less can sell emission credits to those firms that pollute more. "I believe it ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
China: Beijing Olympics Open But Air Does Not Clear
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-08-01.asp
Environment News Service: Inside the Bird's Nest, today's opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Games was brilliant, but outside the air quality was not. Despite years of effort by the Chinese government to eliminate sources of air pollution, and the statements of public officials to the contrary - a pall of haze and smog hangs over the city in the sticky, steamy air. The five Olympic rings are displayed in lights at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (Photo credit unknown) At a news ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australia: Clearing forests will aggravate greenhouse gas concentrations'
http://www.sindhtoday.net/world/10183.htm
Indo-Asian News Service: Forests in Australia store three times more carbon than climate change experts realise, according to a study. The largest stocks of carbon are found in Victoria and Tasmania forests, which support trees up to 80 metres tall and can contain more than 1,200 tonnes of carbon per hectare, or up to 10 times more carbon per hectare than previously realised. ‘If natural forests continue to be cleared and degraded, then the C02 released will significantly increase concentrations ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate activists in 'glue' protest
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvkmW3bC6zhZmCjlZAFNZ8bR4vIA
Press Association: Eco-activists said that they had "superglued" themselves to the front doors of a British bank in the City of London to protest against climate change. The protesters claimed they were staging the demonstration at the entrance to the Royal Bank of Scotland's oil and gas division to underline "links" between the financial sector, fossil fuel industry and climate change. The stunt follows a series of protests on Thursday when green campaigners blockaded a biofuel depot in Essex, ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Philippines: Climate change poll: 54% blame man; 23% cite God
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=127740
ABS-CBN: Fifty-four percent of Filipinos blame man for calamities such as floods while 23% say these are God's warning or punishment for turning to evil ways, according to a recent opinion poll on climate change. "For 54% of Filipinos, people have only themselves to blame for typhoons, flooding, landslides, and other calamities that occurred in the Philippines and other countries in recent months," Pulse Asia's Dr. Ana Maria Tabunda said in the firm's August 8 media release. ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
United States: Climate plan must focus on fostering auto alternatives
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_10136869
San Jose Mercury News: <body>The state's 2006 landmark global-warming law brings out the best in California. Big and bold, AB 32 is designed to create a new wave of environmental progress that can spread throughout the nation. But when it comes to getting people out of their cars, the draft of the state's plan to implement AB 32 is meek and mild. The law calls for the state to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. That's the equivalent of taking nearly 30 million cars off ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
EPA Denies Texas Temporary Easing Of Ethanol Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080702758.html
Washington Post: The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday denied a request by Texas to temporarily cut federal ethanol requirements for the nation's fuel supply, saying the state had not proved that the recent rise in corn prices is severely hurting its economy. Under the energy law signed late last year, 9 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel must be blended into gasoline between Sept. 1, 2008, and Aug. 31, 2009, to meet a national Renewable Fuels Standard. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) sought ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Forest fires on Borneo cast shadow
http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/20526
New Sabah Times: The number of forest fires on Indonesian Borneo has soared over the past two days due to land clearing, raising concerns it could lead to haze over Malaysia and Singapore, an official said Thursday. More than 400 forest fires from traditional farming methods–blamed for the smoke which shrouds the region annually–were being monitored on Indonesian Borneo Thursday compared to 217 on Wednesday, officials said. "It's doubled again to 415 hotspots, mostly from West Kalimantan," ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Green Anger: Coal Mines Come Back
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Wales-Ffos-y-Fran-Energy-Coal-Mine-In-Merthyr-Tydfil-To-Reopen-Despite-Environment-Climate-Protests/Article/200808115072947?lpos=UK%2BNews_3&lid=ARTICLE_15072947_Wales%253A%2BFfos-y-Fran%2BEnergy%2BCoal%2BMine%2BIn
Sky News: As the climate camp at Kingsnorth Power Station moves toward its climax, there is another battle going on at Britain's coal face. Open cast mining is experiencing a resurgence across the country and nowhere is the protest louder than in one town in South Wales. Sky's Environment Correspondent Catherine Jacob visited Merthyr Tydfil, home to the UK's biggest open cast mine: Ffos-y-Fran. For decades, the green hills around Merthyr Tydfil have been free from the sights and sounds ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Haze over Indonesia's Sumatra, flights delayed
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International_Business/Haze_over_Indonesias_Sumatra_flights_delayed/rssarticleshow/3341570.cms
Reuters: Choking smoke from forest fires hung over parts of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Friday, forcing a delay in flights, and prompting fears that conditions could worsen because of lack of rain, officials said. About 450 hot spots have been detected across Indonesia, and forestry officials have warned that the number could exceed last year's total of 35,000 as the dry season this year is likely to be marked by less rain than usual. "This morning two planes were delayed for half an ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
United Kingdom: How coal came back into fashion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/08/fossilfuels.carbonemissions
Guardian: The protest at Kingsnorth may appear to be a battle over a coal-fired power station in an obscure corner of Kent, but it represents part of the frontline in a global rush for coal. There are now over 100 similar schemes in various stages of design, planning or construction around the world and foreign governments are watching closely to see what decision is taken in the UK. In particular, they want to know whether a government that has talked tough at climate summit debates ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australia: Kangaroo farming would cut greenhouse gases: study
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKSYD8867720080808
Reuters: Farming kangaroos instead of sheep and cattle in Australia could cut by almost a quarter the greenhouse gases produced by grazing livestock, which account for 11 percent of the nation's annual emissions, said a new study. Removing seven million cattle and 36 million sheep by 2020 and replacing them with 175 million kangaroos, to produce the same amount of meat, could lower national greenhouse gases by 3 percent a year, said the University of New South Wales study. Methane from ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Military wants to lead U.S. into the green
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0746438420080808
Reuters: The U.S. military has a history of fostering change, from racial integration to development of the Internet. Now, Pentagon officials say their green energy efforts will help America fight global warming. By size alone, the Defense Department can make waves. It accounts for 1.5 percent of U.S. energy consumption. The military has set a goal that 25 percent of its energy should come from renewable sources by 2025 and aims to create machines and methods to help Main Street America ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
United Kingdom: New mayor 'backtracking' on London's environmental progress
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/08/climatechange.greenpolitics
Guardian: Boris Johnson is making long-term decisions that are in danger of making London less green, environmental and social campaigners say, as the new mayor reaches 100 days in office. The mayor had pledged to make London the greenest city in the world before the elections but London is rapidly losing its reputation for being at the cutting edge of dealing with environmental and social problems, said Darren Johnson, London assembly member. "Dumping the Â£25 emissions-based ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Population paradox: Europe's time bomb
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/population-paradox-europes-time-bomb-888030.html
Independent: the world! Stop having children! Such was the rather drastic solution to the problem of climate change proposed in an editorial in the prestigious British Medical Journal, no less, the other day. And since one of its authors was a distinguished academic – Dr John Guillebaud, emeritus professor of family planning and reproductive health at University College, London – we should consider the notion seriously. His argument was straightforward. The mushrooming population of ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
US geothermal lease sale raises record $28.2 mln
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0847097120080808
Reuters: The U.S. Interior Department said Friday it raised a record $28.2 million this week from leasing federal lands to companies for developing geothermal energy resources. Geothermal energy, harnessed from steam and hot water beneath the earth that powers turbines, generates 17 percent of the electricity that comes from renewable sources in the United States. In an auction on Tuesday, the department leased 105,211 acres in Nevada for geothermal energy use. Other states with ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Warmer weather produces more intense rainfall: study
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j-2VSrbDmyRqy0c5YBU-CmNS-hrA
Agence France-Press: US and British researchers have confirmed the link between warmer climate and an increase in powerful rainstorms, according to a study released Thursday that underscores one of the challenges of global warming. The researchers even found that the increase of extreme rainfall was higher than what has been predicted in current computer models, according to the study published in the journal Science. The scientists pointed out that one of the biggest concerns regarding climate ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Wired world helps reduce emissions
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/474326
Toronto Star: Al Gore is fond of saying that there is no silver bullet for stopping global warming, there's only silver buckshot. It would be a lot easier if there were one big thing we could do to solve the problem. But breaking our addiction to fossil fuels requires hundreds, if not thousands, of different actions, both big and small. The good news is that ordinary people and businesses are cutting energy waste and firing out ideas for reducing our carbon footprint. One such round of buckshot ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
All is lost on global warming without clean coal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/08/carboncapturestorage.fossilfuels
Guardian: A dramatic warning that "all is lost on global warming" unless the world finds a new clean coal technology in the next few years has been made by the energy minister, Malcolm Wicks. He insists in a Guardian interview that "the stakes are that high", as he seeks to justify pressing ahead with a new generation of coal-fired power stations starting at Kingsnorth in Kent, currently the site of a major protest. With talk of divisions within the cabinet over the ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Aphids emerging as sentinels of climate change
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Global_Warming/Aphids_emerging_as_sentinels_of_climate_change/articleshow/3338558.cms
Asian News International: A new research has shown that aphids are emerging as sentinels of climate change. The scientists, who carried out the research, are from the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) supported Rothamsted Research in the UK. One of the UK's most damaging aphids - the peach-potato aphid (Myzus persicae) - has been found to be flying two weeks earlier for every 1 degree Celsius rise in mean temperature for January and February combined. According to Dr ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australia-China to hold climate talks
http://news.theage.com.au/world/australiachina-to-hold-climate-talks-20080808-3s65.html
AAP: Australia and China will hold ministerial talks on climate change to help deal with the global challenge, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said. Mr Rudd said the talks were agreed to during a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing. The prime minister said climate change was a huge global issue and he was particularly keen to strengthen Australia's cooperation with China on clean coal technology. "Australia and China, as a result of our meetings here in Beijing in ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australian Carbon Permit Price Rises in Latest Trade
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aXeC3XlFx0sY&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Australia's latest trade in carbon emissions drew a higher price than earlier transactions, said broker Newedge Australia Pty, as the government invites comment on plans to start a national system in 2010. The over-the-counter sale of 20,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in the so-called Calendar 11 contract for settlement Feb. 1, 2012, was priced at A$21.50 ($19.32) a ton, Gary Cox, Sydney- based manager of environmental derivatives at the Australian unit of Newedge Group, said ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Australians say eating kangaroos will save the world
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article4483757.ece
Times (UK): Australian scientists have come up with a unique way to combat climate change: eat kangaroos. A study published in the scientific journal Conservation Letters recommends the farming and consumption of more kangaroos in lieu of cattle and sheep will reduce carbon gas emissions. It turns out kangaroos, a long time Australian icon, produce far less methane than sheep and cattle – and methane is one of the worst causes of greenhouse gas. In Australia alone, sheep and cattle ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
California eyes cattails to combat climate change
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j8CIbpatsJxVIcYgWhv1OHlkH_fAD92E0EA80
Associated Press: On one side of the gravel road are hundreds of acres of corn. On the other is a different crop that scientists hope will enable farmers to rebuild sinking islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, combat global warming and make a profit at the same time. The U.S. Geological Survey is growing tules and cattails on about 15 acres on Twitchell Island, about 5.7 square miles of rich but fragile peat soil 30 miles south of Sacramento. Twitchell and other delta islands are slowing ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Chinas thickening smogs reduces methane emissions
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/lifestyle/chinas-thickening-smogs-reduces-methane-emissions_10081502.html
Asian News International: A new research has suggested that the fallout from Chinese industrial pollution could actually be reducing the countrys contribution to climate change from at least one greenhouse gas methane. According to a report in New Scientist, the research, conducted by a British team, added sulphate to laboratory rice paddies in an effort to mimic the effect of acid rain on Asias most important food crop. This equivalent of typical acid rain reduced methane emissions from flooded paddies ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
China: Greening of the Games
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43482
Inter Press Service: Though human rights and environmental issues -- such as censorship and pollution in Beijing -- have been the two major focuses of criticism levelled against the Chinese government during the lead up to the Olympic games, Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is expected to address some of Beijing's environmental successes during the opening ceremonies. In continuing support for the Greening of the Games initiative, Steiner will take ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
Haze disrupts air traffic in Indonesian province, says official
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080808/tsc-indonesia-environment-haze-b1f5339.html
Agence France-Press: Thick haze from forest fires shrouded the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan Friday and disrupted air traffic, an airport official said. "Two planes from Jakarta to Pontianak airport were delayed this morning due to the thick haze," Pontianak airport operational chief Edi Widodo told AFP. He said the haze -- a recurring problem of the dry season which also affects neighbouring countries -- had hampered visibility since Thursday morning. "It has happened since ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
IOC praises efforts to reduce air pollution in Bejing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/07/china.olympics2008
Guardian: The International Olympic Committee chief praised China's efforts, but But reiterated that outdoor endurance events could be postponed if smog levels are too high. China has done "everything humanly possible" to clear the air in time for the Beijing games, the International Olympic Committee chief has said. Praising the games' hosts on the eve of the opening ceremony, Jacques Rogge said pollution levels were decreasing and the air quality was safe for ...

Sat, 9 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Offshore wind farm near Norfolk approved
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL861513220080808
Reuters: Scira Offshore Energy Ltd's 315-megawatt Sheringham Shoal wind farm planned off the coast of Norfolk has been approved, the government said on Friday. The 108-turbine development will produce enough clean electricity for about 178,000 homes. "Sheringham Shoal will be the UK's fourth largest offshore wind farm approved to date and will help provide a significant contribution towards our renewable energy targets," Energy Secretary John Hutton said.

Fri, 8 Aug 08
West exporting emissions to China
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1195
Carbon Positive: One third of China's greenhouse gas emissions can be sheeted home to exports, increasingly advanced consumer goods going to developed countries, according to a US study. The findings bring a new perspective to the international debate over emission targets and burden sharing as the UN struggles to strike a new global accord to succeed the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Economic researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania have for the first time come up with a ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Environment: Intense rainfall due to global warming could raise flood risk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/08/climatechange.flooding
Guardian: Climate scientists have issued a fresh warning over the future risk of flooding after research showed heavy rainstorms are likely to become even more intense than predicted. Rainfall is expected to increase with global warming because the atmosphere can hold more water as it heats up, but the extent to which rainfall patterns will change in the future has been unclear. Writing in the US journal Science, researchers warn regions that are already vulnerable to flooding will be ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Norwegian Wood: Putting Wood Chips In The Fuel Tank
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806154714.htm
Science Daily: While the norwegian company "Norske Skog" is struggling with unprofitable paper production and trees are rotting from the roots up, the world is researching alternatives to petrol. Scientists believe we should put wood chips in the tank. Did you know that Norwegian trees require only a few minutes to replace the timber used to produce the first edition of Aftenposten? That's equivalent to the time you spend making your morning coffee. Norway is full of forests and the trees are ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Australia: Paper maker takes up the greenhouse challenge
http://business.theage.com.au/business/paper-maker-takes-up-the-greenhouse-challenge-20080807-3rsa.html
Age: Paper has taken the greenhouse challenge to heart with a new product – carbon-neutral paper. Called ENVI, the paper is produced at the Wesley Vale mill in Tasmania. Its "carbon-neutral" status is recognised under the Department of Climate Change Greenhouse Friendly program. This means users of the paper can display the Greenhouse Friendly logo. Australian Paper executive general manager Jim Henneberry said carbon-neutral status had been obtained in two main ways: by making huge ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
The Arctic could become home to species from the Pacific, study says
http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/science/pacific-species-set-invade-arctic-$1235512.htm
InTheNews.co.uk: <body>As global warming causes the temperature of the Arctic Ocean to rise the waters are set for an invasion of animals from the Pacific Ocean, a new study has claimed. Species set to move north include shellfish and snails, and at least 77 molluscan lineages - about a third of the species of shallow-water shellfish in the Bering Sea - have the potential to spread to the Atlantic. The migration is not entirely new for the species; their ancestors were on the move until they ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Business eyes tax cuts for joining climate ETS
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24145952-5013871,00.html
Australian: THE majority of executives want tax incentives to invest in climate change and will push the Henry tax review to offer generous concessions to big business. Almost 60 per cent of executives surveyed by accounting firm Ernst & Young said the Treasury review should offer corporations a tax break to prepare businesses for the emissions trading scheme slated to start in 2010. The corporate sector was yesterday considering the likelihood that the Government would cut the 30 per ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Coal Fires Up Dreadlocked `Climate Camp' Protesting E.ON Plant
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJDmadzqDkrg&refer=home
Bloomberg: In a sloping field near the village of Hoo, 30 miles east of London, environmentalists with dreadlocks, lawmakers and academics are protesting plans to build the U.K.'s first new coal-fired power plant in 30 years. E.ON AG, Germany's largest utility, proposed replacing the existing Kingsnorth station at the site in Kent with a more efficient, $2.9 billion model. The new plant may be equipped with experimental technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Scargill joins climate camp - to campaign for more coal
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/scargill-joins-climate-camp-ndash-to-campaign-for-umoreu-coal-888279.html
Independent: He is the man who has devoted his life to trying to save Britain's coal mining industry. They are the eco-activists that are campaigning to stop the construction of Britain's first coal-fired power station in more than 30 years. But, in his first newspaper interview for more than a decade, Arthur Scargill has revealed himself as an unlikely champion for the protestors vowing to shut down Kingsnorth power station at the Camp for Climate change. Mr Scargill told The Independent ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
'Green' building codes sprout up across USA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2008-08-06-Buildgreen_N.htm
USA Today: As energy costs rise, more states and cities are adopting policies that encourage or require new construction to be energy-efficient. This week, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law what he called the nation's strictest "green" building codes. "There's been a huge groundswell in green-building leadership at state and local levels. It's remarkable," says Jason Hartke of the U.S. Green Building Council, a private group that tracks legislation and sets ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Brazil: A rain forest strategy
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/631976.html
Miami Herald: For decades, Brazil has jealously safeguarded the right to decide the future of its national patrimony, the Amazon rain forest. It has responded to the plea of developing countries to stop the destruction of the rain forest with a defiant cry: ''Hands off our Amazon!'' Now, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has come up with a more practical response to those who want to save one of the most precious environmental resources on the planet: ``Put your money where your mouth ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Blackstone says creates clean energy group
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN0731545320080807
Reuters: Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it is creating a new business group to focus on clean energy investments. The group, led by James Kiggen, a former executive at AllianceBernstein, will guide Blackstone's investment decisions in solar, wind, biofuels and other renewable energy technologies, the company said in a statement. Venture capitalists have invested in the search for clean technologies -- from renewable energy to ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Climate change catastrophe by degrees
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/07/carbonemissions.climatechange
Guardian: <body>Unfortunately, Professor Bob Watson is not speaking out of turn in telling the world to prepare for four degrees of global warming. "Mitigate for two degrees; adapt for four" has long been the catchphrase among climate negotiators and campaigners. Translated, that means: try to reduce emissions to stay below two degrees of warming, but also prepare for the worst. And Bob Watson should know – he is the former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Climate Change: When It Rains It (really) Pours
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080807144240.htm
Science Daily: Climate models have long predicted that global warming will increase the intensity of extreme precipitation events. A new study conducted at the University of Miami and the University of Reading (U.K.) provides the first observational evidence to confirm the link between a warmer climate and more powerful rainstorms. One of the most serious challenges humanity will face in response to global warming is adapting to changes in extreme weather events. Of utmost concern is that heavy ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Climate-Change Program to Aid Poor Nations Is Shut
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104471
New York Times: <body>The National Center for Atmospheric Research, an important hub for work on the causes and consequences of climate change, has shut down a program focused on strengthening poor countries' ability to forecast and withstand droughts, floods and other climate-related hazards. The move, which center officials say resulted from the shrinking of federal science budgets, is being denounced by many experts on environmental risk, who say such research is more crucial than ever in a world ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
EPA Rejects Texas Request to Ease US Biofuels Rule
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7TrOEbq6YM8&refer=home
Bloomberg: U.S. officials rejected Texas Governor Rick Perry's request to ease requirements on the use of corn- based ethanol in gasoline, saying he didn't prove that the rules are straining grain supplies and causing ``severe economic harm.'' ``After reviewing the facts, it was clear this request did not meet the criteria in the law,'' Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson said today. The renewable fuels standard ``remains an important tool in our ongoing efforts to ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
IKEA to sell solar panels?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10009593-54.html
CNET: IKEA plans to pour $77 million into clean-technology start-ups within the next five years and could add "green" goods such as solar panels to its inventory, according to Cleantech Group. The four-person, 50 million euro IKEA GreenTech fund has been operating for eight months, the report said. And it could invest in up to 10 fledgling companies in the next few years, perhaps first in Europe, where IKEA rings up about 82 percent of its sales. Efforts to commercialize new and ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Indonesia warns over forest fires on Borneo
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jgXsy4Br4zHx5YmEyF_vGb-RON5Q
Agence France-Press: The number of forest fires on Indonesian Borneo has soared over the past two days due to land clearing, raising concerns it could lead to haze over Malaysia and Singapore, an official said Thursday. More than 400 forest fires from traditional farming methods -- blamed for the smoke which shrouds the region annually -- were being monitored on Indonesian Borneo Thursday compared to 217 on Wednesday, officials said. "It's doubled again to 415 hotspots, mostly from West ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Michigan modelling sends storm warning
http://www.maritimejournal.com/archive101/2008/august/newsletter/michigan_modelling_sends_storm_warning
Maritime Journal: The theoretical link between storms and climate change has been bolstered with a new mathematical model from the University of Michigan that shows atmospheric phenomena like water spouts, tornadoes, hurricanes and cyclones develop from warmer and moister air. These are the very factors that will increase as climate change warms the Earth. Atmospheric and planetary scientist Dr Nilton Renno told MJ that there are implications for maritime events, saying, 'Small increases in the ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Olympic-Sized Growth in Carbon Emissions
http://www.insnet.org/ins_headlines.rxml?id=18915&photo=
iNSnet: Between 2000 and 2007, carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion worldwide increased 22 percent to an estimated 8.2 billion tons, according to the latest Vital Signs Update released by the Worldwatch Institute. China accounted for a staggering 57 percent of the growth in emissions during this period, while India contributed 8 percent and the United States and Europe contributed 4 and 3 percent, respectively. Despite the dramatic rise in China's fossil fuel emissions, the United ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Prepare for global rise of 4C, warns scientist
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Ready_for_global_rise_of_4C/articleshow/3337107.cms
Asian News International: A scientist has suggested that the world should be prepared to face an alarming increase of 4 degree Celsius in global temperatures. A report in UK's leading newspaper said that this was suggested by agriculture and coastal erosion Professor Bob Watson, who is one of the UK government's chief scientific advisers. In policy areas such as flood protection, UK should plan for the effects of a 4C global average rise on pre-industrial levels, said Watson. Globally, a 4C temperature ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Prepare for global temperature rise of 4C, warns top scientist
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/06/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange
Guardian: The UK should take active steps to prepare for dangerous climate change of perhaps 4C according to one of the government's chief scientific advisers. In policy areas such as flood protection, agriculture and coastal erosion Professor Bob Watson said the country should plan for the effects of a 4C global average rise on pre-industrial levels. The EU is committed to limiting emissions globally so that temperatures do not rise more than 2C. "There is no doubt that we should ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Scientists Link Warmer Temperatures to Rainfall Extremes
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-07-091.asp
Environment News Service: The link between a warmer climate and more powerful rainstorms has been confirmed by scientists using both computer models and satellite observations gathered over a period of 20 years. Heavy rain events increase during warm periods and decrease during cold periods, according to the scientists in Florida and England who said today that their research is the first to provide observational evidence linking higher temperatures with heavier rains. "We use satellite observations and ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Chad: Shrinking African lake imperils wildlife
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/255/story/46606.html
McClatchy Newspapers: There's nothing remarkable about this lump of hot sand, tangled weeds and tree-branch huts except that, until a few years ago, it didn't exist. More precisely, the island was underwater, hidden beneath the vast surface of central Africa's Lake Chad. The emergence of the island, whose sweltering shores have been settled by dozens of families, is evidence of an unsettling ecological trend: The lake is drying up. Once among the largest lakes in the world – at some 9,000 square ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Tropical downpours worsening, say scientists
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL7143911.html
Reuters: Tropical downpours are becoming more frequent and the trend seems worse than expected, bringing greater risks of flash floods, scientists said on Thursday. "As the tropics warm are are seeing an increased frequency in the heaviest rainfall," said Richard Allan of the University of Reading in England, who co-authored a study of tropical rains with Brian Soden of the University of Miami. The satellite review of tropical rainstorms since the 1980s gave the first observational ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
What the World Is Coming To
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/06/AR2008080602941.html
Washington Post: THE DOMINANT ANIMAL Human Evolution and the Environment By Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich Island Press/Shearwater. 428 pp. $35 Canadians joke that, given their vile winters, they are the only people in the world who welcome global warming. But some things are too serious for humor. The world is in a crisis because of rising temperatures. Climate patterns have been disrupted, with devastating effects on lands near and far. Regions that once produced food in ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
'Green-collar' jobs a growth area, US group says
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/08/07/green-jobs.html
Associated Press: <body>Companies are stepping up their environmental initiatives, and that may mean a boom in "green-collar" jobs. A recent forecast by the American Solar Energy Society found that renewable energy and energy-efficient industries were responsible for the creation of nearly 8.5 million jobs in 2006, and by 2030 that number is expected to reach 40 million. Colleges and universities are taking notice, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a job placement ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
'The Last Continent' is a dramatic tale of climate change and human endurance
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hf2K87oYtUFM_Iuthld_4LimekNQ
Canadian Press: People seeking to escape summer's humidity and learn something in the bargain would do well to check out "The Last Continent," a breathtaking documentary chronicling a group of Quebec explorers venturing into the Antarctic. You can't help but feel a little chill with all the stunning footage of the frozen tundra in the film, which shows the crew of the Sedna IV sailing ship documenting the effects of climate change during a year. "The Last Continent" has already proven to be a ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Acid rain cuts greenhouse gases in pollution paradox
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15095&channel=0&title=Acid+rain+cuts+greenhouse+gases+in+pollution+paradox
Edie: Acid rain caused by industrial pollution could actually help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of agriculture, say scientists. Research led by the Open University's Dr Vincent Gauci suggests that sulphur-based acid rain from atmospheric pollution could cut the methane emissions associated with cultivating rice by almost a quarter. Tonne for tonne, methane is more than 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of global warming. Dr Gauci's findings suggest ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Canada: Advisory group recommends expanding provincial carbon tax
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=7a07ae6b-d03a-4159-bf81-f43dc1b32074
Vancouver Sun: The British Columbia government should consider increasing and expanding its carbon tax if necessary to stay on track with an aggressive target for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, a provincial cabinet advisory group recommended Wednesday. The Climate Action Team made 31 specific recommendations for action, including "a hard cap" on industrial emissions and expanding the carbon tax to encompass greenhouse gas emissions that now escape the tax. It calls for the government to ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
By the look of things, Beijing is losing its battle against smog
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/46741.html
McClatchy Newspapers: In the era of China's great dynasties, it was believed that emperors could command the heavens at will. They could summon rain when it was needed or clear the skies. China's ruling Communist Party would love to have similar powers. Clearly, it doesn't. A defiant gray pall hung over Beijing on Thursday, one day ahead of the official start of the Summer Olympic Games, and the city's air-pollution index continued to inch up, as it has all week, despite a series of dramatic measures ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
China 'beginning to pull weight' on climate change - report
http://www.environmental-finance.com/onlinews/0807chi.html
Environmental Finance: China is both investing heavily in a low-carbon economy at home, and building substantial clean energy export industries, according to a new report from The Climate Group. Although the country has become the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, recently overtaking the US, it is also now the world's largest generator of power from renewable sources, based on installed capacity. It is also investing almost as much in green power, as a percentage of GDP, as world leader Germany, ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate Camp targets biofuel site
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7546555.stm
BBC: Protesters want to halt plans for a coal-fired unit at Kingsnorth power station Environment demonstrators have targeted a biofuel depot in Essex as part of a week-long Climate Camp being held across the River Thames in Kent. Eight protesters who blocked the road to the Vopak depot in Thurrock were arrested. Four chained themselves to a fuel storage tank and were arrested. Protesters said they had blocked lorries from the site but police said the disruption had now ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
: Climate change a big opportunity: GE
http://news.smh.com.au/business/climate-change-a-big-opportunity-ge-20080807-3rn1.html
AAP: Climate change represents the biggest opportunity for global giant GE over the coming decades, the company's Australian and New Zealand chief executive Steve Sargent says. "For us, we look at this (climate change) as the biggest business opportunity of the century," Mr Sargent told an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia lunch in Melbourne. GE provides a range of services and products to the energy, oil and gas and water-treatment sectors, and manufactures jet engines and ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Coal-power protesters shun criminal activity
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.2419468.0.Coalpower_protesters_shun_criminal_activity.php
Herald: Protesters dressed up as Gordon Brown and Hilary Benn at the site of a week-long environmental protest yesterday. The 1000 campaigners estimated to be at the site near Kingsnorth power station near Hoo, Kent, oppose proposals by its owners, Eon, to build a new on-site coal-fired facility, which would be the first such plant to be built in Britain for more than 30 years. Campaigners from local environmental group, Kingsnorth Climate Action Medway (KCAM), said they dressed up as ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Dreaming of a long shower in parched Cyprus
http://www.euractiv.com/en/BreakingNews?GUID=L8722234&_xsl=Article
Reuters: We're a Tuesdays and Thursdays household. Sometimes it's late, sometimes it's a dribble, but the sound of water in our taps is the highlight of my week as Cyprus suffers one of its worst droughts on record. With water reserves at their lowest levels in decades, people on this Mediterranean island have seen the most stringent water rationing in years. Reservoirs are just 5.5 percent full, two desalination plants cannot cope with demand from 800,000 people and emergency water ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
EPA denies Texas governor's ethanol waiver request
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jDyeJXvXPlyzNgI9KKjsSwkkch3QD92DN43O0
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday denied a request from Texas Gov. Rick Perry to cut the federal ethanol mandate in half for a year. Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson spoke to Perry about his waiver request by phone shortly before Johnson announced the agency's decision publicly Thursday. An energy bill passed in December required 9 billion gallons of ethanol to be blended into gasoline this year and about 11 billion gallons ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
EPA To Deny Texas Request to Cut Ethanol Mandate
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26060563
Reuters: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will deny Texas' request to cut the federal ethanol mandate on Thursday, a government official with knowledge of matter said on Wednesday. The government official asked not to be identified. Texas Governor Rick Perry asked EPA in April to reduce the renewable mandate requiring 9 billion gallons of ethanol and other renewable fuels to be blended into gasoline by 50 percent in 2008. Perry said the mandate is pushing up the price of corn, ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
EU to swap carbon permits with UN program
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/07/business/EU-EU-UN-Carbon-Trading.php
Associated Press: The European Union and the United Nations have agreed to start swapping carbon trading permits in October, the European Commission saidThursday. This will allow European companies to gain a permit to pollute at home if they invest in projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere in theworld. Businesses in the EU such as power generation companies and steel makers will be able to support CO2-reduction projects in developing countries organized under the U.N.'s Kyoto ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
EU, UN agree carbon credit registries can be linked in first half of October
http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/08/07/afx5298939.html
Thomson Financial: The European Commission and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) have agreed their carbon credit registries can be linked together in the first half of October. The two bodies successfully completed technical tests on Aug. 4 towards hooking up the European Union (EU)'s Community Independent Transaction Log (CITL) and the UN's International Transaction Log (ITL). The UNFCC said there is still some preparatory work to be done, but following this the ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Extreme rainstorms will rise by 10 per cent by 2050
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/08/07/sciweather107.xml
Telegraph (UK): Predictions that our warming world will become a wetter place have been confirmed by a study which suggests that extreme rainstorms will rise by more than 10 per cent by the year 2050. For some time, computer models of the global climate have predicted that global warming will increase the intensity of rainfall and it is these extremes, linked with landslides and flooding, that are among the major impacts. Woman walking in heavy rain: extreme rainstorms will increase by 10 per ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Following Fidel's Lead, Cuba Cuts Ethanol Plans
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49701/story.htm
Reuters: Following denunciations of the use of food for fuel by former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a Cuban official said on Wednesday the Caribbean island is modernizing its sugar industry but that plans to increase ethanol production have been scaled back. Luis Galvez, director of the sugar ministry's Sugar Cane Derivatives Research Institute, said as sugar output increases, so will derivatives, but in no case at the expense of food. "We are modernizing the sugar industry but in no ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Global warming increases "extreme" rain storms
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0807-rain.html
Mongabay: Global warming is increasing the incidence of heavy rainfall at a rate greater than predicted by current climate models have predicted, reports a new study published in the journal Science. The findings suggest that storm damage from precipitation could worsen as greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise. Researchers from the University of Miami and the University of Reading looked at 20 years of satellite observations and found a "distinct link between tropical rainfall extremes ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Greenpeace protest targets Indonesian forestry ministry
http://wood.lesprom.com/news/35125/
Lesprom: Environmental group Greenpeace hung a banner reading "Stop Deforestation" on the Indonesian forestry ministry and called for a moratorium on palm oil concessions on forested land, Yahoo News reported. "The forestry ministry is currently part of the deforestation problem. The ministry as the state agency tasked with protecting the forests is in fact promoting forest destruction," Greenpeace activist Bustar Maitar said. "This has to stop now to arrest our greenhouse gas emissions ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
No China? No Kyoto
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2008/08/07/6371996-sun.html
Edmonton Sun: If there's one good thing about holding the Olympics in Beijing, it's that the whole world is seeing first-hand the lunacy of exempting China from having to remove a single molecule of carbon dioxide from its greenhouse gas emissions for the life of the Kyoto accord. That haze clinging to Beijing pending tomorrow's official start of the Summer Games is an example of what happens when you burn coal, oil and natural gas indiscriminately, using outdated technology. Ironically, ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Canada: Oilsands spending doubles in three years
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1147496
Fort McMurray Today: Capital spending in the Alberta oilsands has almost doubled to a record $20 billion in three years. The increased spending is further evidence that oilsands development is "full steam ahead" to the detriment of regular Albertans, according to a couple of Alberta policy think tanks. This year's $20 billion capital outlay is up from $10.4 billion in 2005, and up from $14.3 billion in 2006, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). These one-time costs ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
River cities at risk from climate change
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15094&channel=0&title=River+cities+at+risk+from+climate+change
Edie: Cities on rivers are most at risk from rising water caused by climate change, according to a report from the UN and the World Bank. The report, Climate Resilient Cities, gives city planners practical advice, noting that eight of the planet's ten largest cities are on rivers or seas and as such vulnerable to flooding, rising sea levels and storms. With more people living in cities than in the countryside, the advice could save many lives. To minimise the impact of ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
United States: Soaring heating oil prices ignite firewood demand
http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=689268757372712
Associated Press: On a recent scorching-hot summer day, workers at Reed's Firewood used heavy equipment to cut and split logs into firewood until it was too dark to see. Despite its relentless pace, the family-run business is failing to keep up with demand as homeowners shellshocked by the price of heating oil look to old-fashioned firewood as a way to lower their bills this winter. The cost of seasoned firewood in Maine has jumped roughly 50 percent from a year ago, but it remains a relative ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
United States: State would reward use of 'smart' projects
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20080807-9999-1n7growth.html
San Diego Union Tribune: Builders and environmentalists, often adversaries, are aligning behind sweeping legislation that could fundamentally change how California grows and where. The measure would use a mix of rewards – such as priority for transportation funds and better-defined environmental reviews – to reduce sprawl, provide affordable housing, shorten commutes and curb greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. 'It changes the way we think and act about sustainable growth in ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Temperatures could soar 4C in Britain putting coast at risk, warn top scientists
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1042530/Temperatures-soar-4C-Britain-putting-coast-risk-warn-scientists.html
Daily Mail: Britain should prepare for the consequences of a 4C rise in temperatures, one of the Government's chief scientific advisers said today. The UK and EU are attempting to limit global warming to no more than a 2C temperature rise above pre-industrial times to avoid dangerous climate change. But Professor Bob Watson, the chief scientific adviser to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said there was a good chance that Britain will face a 4C ...

Fri, 8 Aug 08
Japan: Tokyo to get electric car recharging sites: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUST33634020080807
Reuters: Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) plans to set up as many as 200 recharging stations for electric cars around the Japanese capital next year, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday. Car makers such as Nissan Motor and Mitsubishi Motors are preparing to roll out electric vehicles in coming years, amid soaring gasoline fuel prices and concerns about global warming. TEPCO, Japan's largest utility, has developed a device that powers an electric car to run 40 km (25 miles) after ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Biofuel debate faces showdown in US
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/06/biofuels.usa
Guardian: <body>The moment of truth is at hand for US biofuels this week as environmental regulators prepare to rule on one state's request to halve the steep national target for blending ethanol into fuel. Texas governor Rick Perry asked the US environmental protection agency (EPA) in April to cut the national biofuels target 50% from its current level of 9bn gallons. After an unexpected delay last month, the EPA is expected to rule on Perry's waiver request as soon as this week. The ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Chinese hope pre-Games environmental cleanup is a fresh start
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-fg-cleanup6-2008aug06,0,7815075.story
LA Times: Su Aimin spat on the ground, and admired the result. "You see, it's white," said the 33-year-old production manager at Taiyuan Iron & Steel, pointing to his saliva. "Before, it was black. I'm not kidding." Although Beijing is still struggling to make the skies clear for the Olympics, a massive cleanup effort before the Summer Games has given people here a taste of fresh air. They want to keep it that way, but business groups are likely to lobby for an ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Kenyan courts consider terminating biofuel plans
http://www.enn.com/energy/article/37857
Environmental News Network: The Kenyan courts are considering halting the first stage of a US$370 million biofuel project that aims to replace up to 20,000 hectares of coastal grassland with irrigated fields of sugarcane. A judicial review of the project, based at the Tana River Delta on the northern Kenyan coast, was granted last month (11 July) after a campaign from environmental groups such as Nature Kenya and the East Africa Wildlife Society,and nomadic cattle-farming groups. The project is intended ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
United States: Off the grid: tapping the power of sun, wind or water
http://www.adn.com/matsu/story/485076.html
Anchorage Daily News: Four years ago, Harvey Bowers launched a crusade to get off the grid after a line-clearing crew dropped a tree on a pen housing his pet reindeer. So far, the Wasilla area bed and breakfast owner is finding it easier than he thought. He's not energy independent by a long shot. But he's cut his home power bills nearly in half by switching to energy-efficient light bulbs and installing his own solar power system. "I haven't gotten rid of anything (appliances). I haven't turned off ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Police make arrests at climate protest camp
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/police-make-arrests-at-climate-protest-camp-884656.html
Independent: Police made a number of arrests today during a second raid at a site where 400 eco-activists are gathering for a week-long environmental protest. Officers faced resistance as they entered the Camp for Climate Action site near Kingsnorth power station in Kent at around 5.30am to remove vehicles blocking its entrance. The windows of a van were smashed during the stand-off, protesters said. A Kent Police spokeswoman said officers had so far made six arrests today in ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Rockies wilderness at risk from latest dash for gas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/06/fossilfuels.environment
Guardian: It has been called one of North America's wildest places. Just north of the US-Canada border, the wooded slopes of the Canadian Rockies channel unpolluted water into a valley that remains free of human development. Grizzly bears, cougars and wolverines prowl the banks of the Flathead river. Outside of a national park, there is probably no wilderness like it on the continent. But outside of a national park could mean outside of legal protection. Somewhere in the workings of the British ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Scientists warn that there may be no ice at North Pole this summer
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-scientists-warn-that-there-may-be-no-ice-at-north-pole-this-summer-855406.html
Independent: It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer. "From the viewpoint of science, the ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Showdown looms for 'Climate Camp'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7544475.stm
BBC: Protesters are aiming to shut down Kingsnorth power station on the Medway estuary in Kent this weekend. They oppose the decision of its owner, the energy company E.ON, to replace the ageing site with a brand-new coal-fired power station - the first such to be built in Britain for 30 years. The protesters are hoping that their week-long demonstration will inspire others to follow in their green footsteps. To get to the Camp for Climate Change Action, visitors need to ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
UK climate protesters await coal showdown with E.ON
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL639148520080806
Reuters: Armed with compost toilets, solar panels and vegan food, around 700 activists are preparing to disrupt a coal-fired power station in England on Saturday in a protest against plans for two new units. The new coal facilities, at Kingsnorth in Kent in southern England, will be operated by German utility E.ON, which manages the site's existing coal-fired power station, and will be Britain's first coal power plant for 30 years. "The idea is people from this camp will head down to ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
UN to tighten rules on earning carbon offsets
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL665937820080806
Reuters: The U.N.'s climate change agency on Wednesday proposed to make it more difficult for speculators to earn carbon offsets from emissions-cutting projects which were already profitable. Under the U.N.-run Kyoto Protocol, industrialized nations can meet limits on their output of planet-warming gases such as carbon dioxide by funding emissions cuts in the developing world in a scheme called the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The scheme is meant to cut the world's overall output ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
An Energy Diet for Power-Hungry Household PCs
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104391
New York Times: In its drive to go green, the technology industry has so far focused mainly on big targets like corporations and especially computer data centers, the power-hungry computing engine rooms of the Internet economy. Next come the hundreds of millions of desktop and laptop personal computers in households worldwide. Microsoft, the nonprofit Climate Savers Computing Initiative and a start-up called Verdiem are combining to put a spotlight on the energy-saving opportunity in PCs, and ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
California Energy Supply Vulnerable to Future Heat Waves
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-06-092.asp
Environment News Service: In the near future, large California cities can expect more frequent heat waves because of climate change, warn scientists at universities in California and Texas. This could mean increased electricity demand to run air conditioners in the densely populated state, raising the risk of power shortages during heat waves, said Norman Miller, an earth scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and geography professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Katharine Hayhoe, ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Madagascar: Dell's plan to help save Earth
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/05/technology/dell_neutral.fortune/index.htm?section=money_latest
CNN: Dell is announcing Wednesday that it has become carbon neutral by turning out the lights in its offices, buying wind power and protecting endangered forests in Madagascar. It's all part of CEO Michael Dell's commitment to make the company that he started back in 1984 "the greenest technology company on the planet." But what, exactly, does becoming carbon neutral mean? It turns out that there's no agreed-upon definition of carbon neutral, even as rock groups ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Drawing lines in the Arctic snow
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/08/06/arctic/
Marketplace: Stacey Vanek-Smith: Oil is still 65 percent more expensive than it was last year. So its slight dip of late hasn't curbed the enthusiasm for drilling. Especially in relatively untapped places, like the Arctic. It's expected to become increasingly important as polar ice melts. British scientists unveil a new map of the region today. From North Carolina Public Radio, Janet Babin reports. Janet Babin: The Arctic land grab started to heat up last year, when Russia planted a flag on the ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Enel, Sowitec to Develop Up to 1000 MW Brazil Wind Projects
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a03LxWAdTzY0&refer=latin_america
Bloomberg: Enel SpA, Italy's largest utility, agreed to acquire exclusive development rights for wind power projects that may be expanded to produce as much as 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Rome-based Enel gained the right to buy eight projects German renewable energy developer SoWiTec Group is working on, according to an e-mailed statement. It didn't provide financial details. Wind units already in development have an initial capacity of between 56 and 200 megawatts, Enel said. Enel ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Land clearing doubles Indonesian fires
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200808/s2326396.htm?tab=latest
Radio Australia: The number of forest fires on Indonesian Borneo has nearly doubled due to land clearing. An Indonesian forestry ministry official says some 217 hot spots recorded on Borneo were from land clearing in West Kalimantan province, compared to 122 recorded just a day earlier. Haze from the fires have sent air pollution levels in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore to unhealthy levels several times. Experts warn the haze contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions and ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
McCain pushes nuclear power
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/08/06/mccain_pushes_nuclear_power/
Associated Press: John McCain toured a nuclear power plant yesterday, the first such visit in recent history by a presidential candidate and one that highlighted the promise and peril of a technology central to reducing reliance on foreign oil. The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Plant outside Detroit, named for the first physicist to split the atom, is home to both an operating power plant and another reactor that had a partial meltdown in the 1960s. It was decommissioned in 1972, while its successor continues ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Police make 13 arrests at Climate Camp protest
http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Police-make-13-arrests-at-Climate-Camp-protest-newsinkent15175.aspx
Kent News: Thirteen eco-campaigners have been arrested since the start of the Climate Camp, police have confirmed. The protestors were handcuffed at the makeshift Dux Court Road camp on the Hoo Peninsula between ThursdayJuly 31 and Monday. Eight activists have subsequently been charged with offences ranging from obstructing police to possession of a bladed instrument. The arrests have been criticised by Camp organisers who have accused the police of being unnecessarily heavy-handed ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Practicing 'Thrival' Not Survival: A Radical Response to Climate Change
http://www.alternet.org/environment/94019/practicing_'thrival'_not_survival:_a_radical_response_to_climate_change/
AlterNet: "Recent studies predict that the polar ice caps will be melting in less than five years," the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) reporter's consonants sliced the early morning air. The US government under Bush has long been pretending there was no "real problem" of global warming, and up until recently the corporate U.S. media has been, for the most part, covertly supporting this dish of disinformation while independent and alternative media producers have been reporting the opposite. ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Wanted: $21 Billion to Save Brazilian Rainforest
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/37855
Environmental News Network: Can a new plan to halt deforestation of Brazil's Amazon rainforest actually work? Last week, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced a new international fund to raise money for sustainable forest projects. It is hoped that nations will donate a target amount of $21 billion over the next 13 years. Norway has been the first to commit with $100 million so far. "We are conscious of what the Amazon represents for the world"Â¦ It's better for the country's image to do things ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Al Gore inches toward Solartopia
http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/4456/81/
Atlantic Free Press: Bit by bit, Al Gore seems to be inching toward a Solartopian view of a future that must be completely sustainable in green energy. This week he advocated getting to an electric power system that is "carbon free" within ten years. This is an important step toward the mainstream for the decades-long social movement for a totally green-powered Earth. It comes alongside the equally telling move by oil baron T. Boone Pickens to invest $2 billion in wind power. Gore has reportedly ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
United States: Eco-airline takes to the skies of the Pacific Northwest
http://www.enn.com/business/article/37858
Environmental News Network: While the nation's major air carriers fight for survival in a world of soaring jet fuel prices and concern over pollution caused by aircraft, a new business commuter carrier in the Pacific Northwest is offsetting 100 percent of its airplanes' emissions. In June, SeaPort Airlines launched regularly scheduled service between Portland, Ore., and Seattle, with multiple departures each day. A month later, the carrier announced it would donate funds to offset all carbon emissions generated ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
EU may announce carbon link date this week
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7704544
Reuters: <body>The European Union's executive Commission may announce this week the date when it plans to link an EU market in carbon emissions permits with a similar U.N.-led scheme, a Commission source told Reuters on Wednesday. "Possibly at some point this week, but not today, we'll issue details of a precise date," the source said. The EU's flagship scheme to combat climate change issues a fixed quota to heavy industry of permits to emit the main man made greenhouse gas ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
EU says to link carbon markets before Dec
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7704861
Reuters: The European Union's executive Commission will link "before December 2008 at the latest" an EU market in carbon emissions permits with a related U.N.-run trading scheme, it said in a statement on Wednesday. An EU source told Reuters a firm date may be announced this week. "Possibly at some point this week...we'll issue details of a precise date," the source said. The EU's flagship scheme to combat climate change allows heavy industry a fixed quota of permits to emit the main ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Lost world frozen 14m years ago found in Antarctica
http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/37851
Telegraph: The fossils of plants and animals high in the mountains is an extremely rare find in the continent, one that also gives a glimpse of a what could be there in a century or two as the planet warms. A team working in an ice-free region has discovered the trove of ancient life in what must have been the last traces of tundra on the interior of the southernmost continent before temperatures began to drop relentlessly. An abrupt and dramatic climate cooling of 8Â°C in 200,000 years ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Researchers chart fuel-rich areas in Arctic for first time
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2008/aug/06/russia
Guardian: The race to carve up the Arctic for its oil, gas and mineral reserves has been charted for the first time in an attempt to alert international policy makers to serious territorial disputes that could result. A new map (pdf) is designed to illustrate historical, ongoing and potential arguments about ownership in the competition to control areas rich in natural resources. Its publication by Durham University researchers comes as a growing number of states including the UK cast ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
The drilling hoax
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/630709.html
Miami Herald: <body>Webster defines fraud as ''deceit, trickery, cheating.'' By that standard, the latest proposal to open the waters off Florida's Gulf coast to oil drilling certainly qualifies for that label. It is more than a little disheartening to see both presidential candidates buy into a harmful, discredited idea that smacks of pure politics and will produce no relief from the pain at the pump. Last week, just before the start of the official summer recess, a group of senators floated a ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
China: Tibetan plateau melts in the face of climate change
http://www.enn.com/climate/article/37850
Environmental News Network: Climate change is affecting the Tibetan plateau, threatening regional water supplies and altering atmospheric circulation for half the planet. The plateau is the world's third largest store of ice. But its temperature has risen by up to 0.3 degrees Celsius every ten years over the last fifty years – approximately three times the global warming rate. As a result, 82 per cent of the plateau's glaciers have retreated while ten per cent of its permafrost has degraded. Among the ...

Thu, 7 Aug 08
Wisconsin governor open to studying nuclear power
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-doyle-nuclearpowe,0,1436309.story
Associated Press: Gov. Jim Doyle says he's open to studying the possibility of building new nuclear power plants in Wisconsin. But Doyle said Wednesday the first nuclear power plant to be built in the United States in 30 years won't be in Wisconsin. The state has had a moratorium on new nuclear plant construction for more than two decades. A global warming task force Doyle created recently said utilities should be allowed to propose new nuclear power plants under certain conditions, ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Investment in US 'Cleantech' Climbs Near $1 Billion in Q2
http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=16985
IndustryWeek: Second-quarter 2008 venture capital investments in U.S. clean technology companies rose by 41% over the previous quarter, reaching a record $961.7 million, according to an Ernst & Young report based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource. Year-on-year cleantech investments were up 83% over the same quarter in the previous year. The record investment came even as overall venture capital investment was down by nearly 8% in the quarter. Ernst & Young defines clean technology ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Nomura to Study Sending Water From Japan to Australia in Ships
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aQFJx39wWRw8&refer=japan
Bloomberg: A Nomura Holdings Inc. unit plans to study exporting water to Australia from Japan for agriculture and industrial use as the nation recovers from its worst drought on record, two people familiar with the proposal said. Nomura Research Institute Ltd. proposes organizing the delivery of water on ships that carry Australian coal to JFE Holdings Inc., Japan's second-largest steelmaker, which has a mill in Kawasaki, next to Tokyo, said the people, who didn't want to be identified before an ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
The drivers of tropical deforestation are changing, say scientists
http://www.physorg.com/news137176376.html
Physorg: <body> PhysOrg Account: Sign In | Sign Up Home Nanotechnology Physics Space & Earth science Electronic Devices Technology General Science Medicine & Health Earth Sciences Astronomy Environment Space Exploration All subcategories Published: 6 hours ago, 17:32 EST, August 05, 2008 Toolbox Rating: n/a Bookmark Save as PDF Print Email Blog It Stumble It! - + The drivers of tropical deforestation are changing, say scientists Space & Earth science / ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Ban hopes 'Cool UN' will lead by example in battle against global warming
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/international/news/20080806p2g00m0in003000c.html
Mainichi Daily News: The world's top diplomat, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, appeared at work Friday wearing a short sleeved shirt without a suit jacket or a tie. Surrounded by his senior managers in relaxed outfits on the 38th floor of the UN headquarters building, he was advocating a recently unveiled one-month pilot project, "Cool UN," an energy-saving initiative that was inspired by the Japanese "Cool Biz" campaign and other existing programs around the world. "I'm a rather formal type of person, ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
China's Changsha City Plans Local Emissions Trading
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49676/story.htm
Reuters: The city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan province in south-central China, is preparing to launch an emissions trading scheme, its mayor said on Tuesday. Changsha's plan is a local version of a tentative outline drawn up by the central bank, for a domestic emissions trading scheme that could cover everything from greenhouse gases to water pollutants, and speed China's push for greener growth. Changsha would assign its local districts quotas for dust, carbon dioxide and ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate protesters set sights on biofuel company
http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Climate-protesters-set-sights-on-biofuel-company-newsinkent15157.aspx
Kent News: Up to 100 climate camp activists are expected to blockade a Kent agro-fuels firm today in the first of two days of mass action, Yourmedway reports. The eco-campaigners were expected to leave the Camp for Climate Action site yesterday and chain themselves to the unnamed company's main gates this morning. One of the organisers of today's action, who only gave his name as Peter, refused to reveal precise details of their plans due to the risk of police ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Energy: Drax profits halve as UK's largest source of CO2 pays price for soaring cost of carbon credits
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/06/draxgroupbusiness.energy
Guardian: Drax has seen its profits plunge by almost half as it pays the price for running the UK's biggest single carbon polluting power station in an era of rising CO2 prices. Last year Drax, the owner of the 4,000 megawatt (MW) coal-fired plant in North Yorkshire, which supplies about 7% of the country's electricity, spent £11m buying CO2 emission allowances to cover its carbon pollution. But the company has already spent £107m this year under a second phase of the ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Australia: Govt 'wiser on water' after trickle reaches river
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/govt-wiser-on-water-after-trickle-reaches-river/1236130.aspx
Canberra Times: The Rudd Government will learn from earlier purchases when it opens its next tender process to buy water in Queensland, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says. It was revealed yesterday that $50million spent earlier this year to secure 35billion litres of water entitlements would return just 10megalitres the equivalent of 10 swimming pools to the Murray-Darling River system this year. Greens leader Bob Brown said the result would be laughable if it were not such a serious ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
China: Let's discuss water scarcity
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20080806.E03&irec=2
Jakarta Post: The Chinese government has made a huge effort to improve air quality and beautify Beijing for the Olympics that open on Friday (8 August). But it cannot apply a short-term 'fix' to another problem that visitors to the Games will not see - the steady depletion of underground water supplies in northern China, where the capital is located. A study published in June by Probe International, a Canadian environmental research group, found that over two-thirds of Beijing's water is being ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
New Map Aims to Help Battle for Arctic Territories
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49679/story.htm
Reuters: British researchers on Wednesday unveiled what they billed as the first authoritative map to highlight disputed territories in the resource-rich Arctic. The map, which shows areas where boundaries are already agreed as well as areas where claims have been made or disputes could break out, is designed to help world powers as they battle over rights to the remote but potentially lucrative area. "The map is the most precise depiction yet of the limits and the future dividing lines ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Suit Filed Over Polar Bears
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104345
New York Times: The state has sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, seeking to reverse his decision to give polar bears protection under the Endangered Species Act. Gov. Sarah Palin, a Republican, and other state officials say that by listing the bear as threatened, the government will cripple offshore oil and gas development. The lawsuit, filed Monday, argues that the Interior Department failed to consider that polar bears had survived previous warming periods. Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
White House Increases Cost Estimate for Nuclear Storage
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121798013575315091.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: The Bush administration sharply increased its cost estimate for building and operating the first national repository for spent nuclear fuel, throwing a potential curveball into the political debate over the project's future. The Department of Energy said that building the planned repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada -- as well as operating it and transporting spent nuclear fuel there -- will cost $96.2 billion through the time it is sealed in 2133. That represents an increase of ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
A fair windfall tax on oil and energy firms
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/06/oilandgascompanies.taxandspending
Guardian: Rising energy and fuel prices are affecting everyone (Report, August 4). We believe the moment is right for a one-off windfall tax to guarantee social and environmental justice. The average annual spend on energy per household has breached £1,200. Since 2000 gas prices have risen by 100%, and electricity by 61%, with further increases to come, including British Gas raising gas bills by a record 35%; the main energy providers have seen profits rise from £557m in 2003 to ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Beijing Still Hazy With Three Days to Go
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49677/story.htm
Reuters: The haze blanketing Beijing lifted slightly on Tuesday although the sun was obscured by grey skies three days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Organisers want clean and crisp skies for the Games and have closed factories and pulled half the capital's 3.3 million cars off the roads to achieve their ambition. They are holding in reserve further plans to reduce the number of cars on the roads and shut more factories, if projections show unacceptable conditions in ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Australia: Farmers want role in global warming fight
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/06/2325771.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Western Australian Farmers Federation (WAFF) says the Commonwealth should not ignore the role the agricultural sector could play in tackling global warming. Meetings being held nationally by the Department of Climate Change are examining allowing forestry groups to opt into a carbon trading scheme ahead of agricultural groups. Bob Pearce from the National Forestry Industries Federation has welcomed the move. "Every tree that grows is taking a substantial amount out ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Obama: I'd guarantee $4 billion to retool auto industry
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/NEWS06/808050359/1014/business01
Detroit Free Press: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama put the energy debate into high gear Monday with a forceful pitch to wean the United States from foreign oil and help auto companies produce fuel-efficient vehicles, while he labeled Republican opponent John McCain a cozy friend of oil company profits. With Michigan emerging as a true battleground state -- and McCain gaining support with his call for more offshore drilling -- Obama pledged direct financial support for Michigan's bedrock ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Climate change to expose women to more gender based violence in conflict areas of Uganda
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=593&Itemid=1
Africa Science News Service: Lack of access to water and sanitation is already exposing rural women in conflict areas to more dangers like battering, rape, and poverty. But with the looming impacts expected due to climate change, these dangers are feared that they will double. Due to social gender roles, women are made responsible to meet water and sanitation needs of the family.In North Eastern Uganda, like Karamoja and Teso, a woman walks an average of ten kilometers in the dry season for water, spending 15-17 ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Climate war games
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080805/full/454673a.html
Nature: More than 40 negotiators from Asia, Europe and the United States converged on Washington DC last week for what was billed as the first major war game involving global warming. The Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based national-security think tank, gathered together climate scientists and experts in security, environmental policy and business for the role-playing exercise. Each was assigned to one of four teams, representing Europe, the United States, China and India, ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Australia: IPCC 'wrong' on logging threat to climate
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn14466-ipcc-wrong-on-logging-threat-to-climate.html
New Scientist: Pristine temperate forest stores three times more carbon than currently estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and 60% more than plantation forests, according to research in Australia. The finding increases their potential role in combating global warming and strengthens the need to protect them, says lead author Brendan Mackey of the Australian National University in Canberra. Mackey and colleagues used remote sensing and direct sampling to study ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Malaysia, Indonesia to cooperate on biofuels
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKJAK6057420080805
Reuters: Malaysia and Indonesia will cooperate in a biofuel development program, and may use the same biofuel specifications and amount of blending, Malaysia's commodities minister said on Tuesday. Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top two palm oil producers, together account for more than 80 percent of the world's crude palm oil output. "We hope to sign MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Indonesia. Such agreement will encourage a policy of palm-based biofuel that both ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Canada: Other governments must follow Ontario's brave step
http://www.straight.com/article-156469/david-suzuki-other-governments-must-follow-ontarios-brave-step
Straight: Are Canadian politicians finally paying serious attention to the environment? Recent events and announcements give us reason for optimism. Last week, we wrote about the federal Sustainable Development Act and how all the political parties put aside their differences to support this important new law. We've also seen a lot of progress lately on the part of some provincial governments regarding global warming. The Ontario government's recent commitment to protect 50 percent of its ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Scientists warn forest clearing more harmful than thought
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h07rMKep08YNYyZCX83jM8N3BUpg
Agence France-Presse: Clearing natural forests in Australia would pose a greater danger to the global climate than previously thought because they hold three times as much carbon as estimated, a report released Tuesday said. The Australian National University report warns that all nations, not just those in the developing world, should prevent the clearing of their forests because this could release huge amounts of harmful carbon into the atmosphere. "From a scientific perspective, green carbon ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
The Politics of High Gas
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1829421,00.html
Time Magazine: In the dimly lit chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives some 25 Republican members took the floor Monday talking only to a peanut gallery of journalists and hordes of tourists they'd invited to fill their absent Democratic colleagues' seats. Their message was none too subtle – Congress has done nothing to address soaring gas prices, and the people's representatives shouldn't be starting their August recess until they do. One member even drove his minivan, family included, all ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Alaska seeks to reverse US polar bear decision
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0539708420080805
Reuters: The state of Alaska has sued the U.S. government, arguing that listing polar bears as a threatened species will hurt Alaskan oil and gas exploration, fisheries and tourism. The lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in Washington, seeks the withdrawal of a May 14 decision to list the big Arctic bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because climate change is melting their sea ice habitat. "We believe that the ... decision to list the polar bear was not based on ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Bipartisan Energy Bill Exposes Obama-McCain Schism
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-04-03.asp
Environment News Service: A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a proposal to reduce gas prices by opening new areas in the Southeast Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, while raising taxes on the major oil companies. At a news conference on Capitol Hill Friday, the self-styled "Gang of 10" unveiled an $84 billion measure they call the "New Era," more formally entitled the New Energy Reform Act of 2008. It would permit producers to explore beyond a 50 mile buffer ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Bush rules on fuel economy hit from 2 sides
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/05/MNK9124RHF.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: President Bush drew rare praise from environmentalists last year when he signed into law the biggest increase in fuel economy in three decades. But consumer groups and environmentalists now warn that the administration's new rules to implement the law are too weak to shift the country from gas-guzzling to gas-sipping cars and trucks. At the first public hearing on the rules Monday, critics accused the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of using false assumptions about gas ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Climate change protesters deny they are armed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/05/kingsnorthclimatecamp.activists1
Guardian: Climate change protesters today accused police of conducting a smear campaign after officers said they had recovered knives and makeshift weapons during searches of the protest camp at Kingsnorth power station in Kent. Police said the confiscated items "strongly indicated" that a hardcore group of protesters intended to break the law. Gary Beautridge, the assistant chief constable of Kent police, said that while most of the people at the camp were peaceful, it was "clear" a minority ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Climate fluctuations may alter vegetation, increase wildfire risk
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=780251
Journal Sentinel: We've all heard about how the climate is changing on the whole. But looking beyond the average, a University of Wisconsin-Madison climatologist has found that increased year-to-year climate fluctuations are expected to have drastic effects on the world's ecosystems. "Climate variability reduces total vegetation cover," said Michael Notaro, an assistant scientist at the UW-Madison Center for Climatic Research, who presented his findings Tuesday at the Ecological Society of America ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
United States: DC bickering threatens solar, wind projects
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/08/05/20080805energy.html
Arizona Republic: Solar- and wind-energy projects in Arizona and around the country continue to hang in limbo after Congress adjourned for its summer recess without reaching agreement on legislation that would extend renewable-energy tax credits. The subsidies are considered critical for projects like the Solana Generating Station, a $1 billion, 280-megawatt plant slated for construction near Gila Bend. But extending the tax credits beyond their Dec. 31 expiration date is proving to be a difficult, if ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Dead Penguins Found Closer to Equator Than Ever Before
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080805-penguins-brazil.html
National Geographic: With hundreds of dead or sick Magellanic penguins washing up along the Brazilian coast in recent weeks, experts are struggling to figure out why so many have been appearing—and why they're so much farther north than usual. In July and August—winter in South America—it is common for a few dozen young penguins to wash up as far north as Rio de Janeiro state. That's because each year thousands of the animals living in Patagonia, at the southern tip of South ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Environmental groups faltered this year
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12299.html
Politico: Former Vice President Al Gore may have made global warming a household term, but this year's tactical mistakes by the green army may have set the cause back just when it seemed to be on the brink of a legislative breakthrough. While pushing for sharp emission reductions, a number of environmental groups failed to adapt their pitch to acknowledge rising energy costs, experts say, leaving voters to believe that saving the planet will mean unaffordable energy prices. The Senate's Climate ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
EPA wrong to silence its pollution workers
http://www.post-trib.com/news/opinion/1090116,edit.article
Post-Tribune: If it hasn't been clear before that the Environmental Protection Agency has evolved into nothing more than a political agency, it should be crystal clear -- albeit quiet -- now. A senior official in the EPA sent out a memo in June warning employees in the pollution enforcement office not to talk directly to the media, congressional investigators and, here's the kicker, the agency's own internal inspector. The memo reads: "If you are contacted directly by the (inspector ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Australia: Govt defends $350m Qld water buyback
http://news.smh.com.au/national/govt-defends-350m-qld-water-buyback-20080805-3q8c.html
Sydney Morning Herald: A $350 million water buyback in Queensland is part of the federal government's plan to improve flows in the Murray-Darling Basin, Water and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says. The announcement follows reports $50 million spent earlier this year to secure 35 billion litres of water entitlements will return just 10 megalitres, the equivalent of 10 swimming pools, to the river system. The opposition says the government bought the cheapest allocations possible which were never ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
How to Survive the Triple Whammy of Energy, Food and Climate Crises
http://www.alternet.org/water/93170/how_to_survive_the_triple_whammy_of_energy,_food_and_climate_crises/
TomDispatch: Gas prices are above $4 a gallon; global food prices surged 39% last year; and an environmental disaster looms as carbon emissions continue to spiral upward. The global economy appears on the verge of a TKO, a triple whammy from energy, agriculture, and climate-change trends. Right now you may be grumbling about the extra bucks you're shelling out at the pump and the grocery store; but, unless policymakers begin to address all three of these trends as one major crisis, it could get a whole ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Is Europe Leading or Losing on CO2 Emissions?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,570079,00.html
Spiegel: The continent's bureaucrats hope their counterparts in China, India, and the US will embrace carbon regulation next year in Copenhagen. The bureaucrats that run the European Union's day-to-day business aren't known for taking risks. Yet back in 2005, when they devised the EU Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), these pencil pushers gambled that a cap-and-trade scheme would help cut the EU's carbon dioxide emissions. Now, three years on, the environmental benefits from the ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Greenland: Learning to Speak Climate
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104370
New York Times: Sometimes you just wish you were a photographer. I simply do not have the words to describe the awesome majesty of Greenland's Kangia Glacier, shedding massive icebergs the size of skyscrapers and slowly pushing them down the Ilulissat Fjord until they crash into the ocean off the west coast of Greenland. There, these natural ice sculptures float and bob around the glassy waters near here. You can sail between them in a fishing boat, listening to these white ice monsters crackle and break, ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
United States: No extension for solar tax credits
http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20080805/MISC07/679716456/1063/MISC&parentprofile=-1
Grand Junction Free Press: Grand Junction's solar companies – High Noon Solar, Atlanta Solar Center and Simplicity Solar – are disappointed that the U.S. Senate failed Wednesday to move forward a bill that would encourage investment in solar energy. The Jobs, Energy, Families and Disaster Relief Act of 2008 (SBA 3335) would have amended the Internal Revenue Code to extend various provisions relating to energy production and conservation, including tax credits to individuals and businesses wanting to install ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
What's black and dirty and messing with the climate?
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/08/05/what%E2%80%99s-black-and-dirty-and-messing-with-the-climate/
Christian Science Monitor: Soot nags at climate scientists like a child demanding a parent's attention. While soot has played a minor role compared with the rock stars of climate change – carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases – that perspective is changing. Recent research suggests that black carbon soot must be reckoned with. Soot particles affect cloud formation and precipitation. Because it absorbs sunlight, soot can cool the surface while warming air aloft. The balance between such warming and cooling ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Australia to Hold Tender to Purchase Water for Murray-Darling
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aN2g1wfOV8.I&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Australia's government will next month hold a new tender to buy back water from farmers in Queensland state to boost flows in the Murray-Darling Basin, home to almost half the nation's farms. The tender will be the first part of a A$350 million ($324 million) commitment to purchase water in Queensland, announced last month, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said today in Sydney. It follows an initial A$50 million tender securing 35 billion liters of water earlier this year, she ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
Australia's coastal councils told to consider climate change
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200808/s2325077.htm?tab=australia
Radio Australia: Coastal councils in Australia's southeastern state of Victoria are being warned to take climate change into account when considering building applications. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has stopped the building of six homes on coastal property at Toora in the region of South Gippsland. The Gippsland Coastal Board appealed against the approval of the development, saying the blocks would be affected by rising sea levels. The board's Duncan Malcolm says ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
United States: Biodiesel the Fuel of Choice for Orlando Public Transit
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-04-092.asp
Environment News Service: A $2.5 million agreement signed at the Farm to Fuel Summit Thursday in Orlando creates a private-public partnership to help green Orlando's public transportation. Governor Charlie Crist joined Linda Watson, chief executive officer of LYNX Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority, to sign the agreement that awards $2.5 million to use biodiesel to fuel public transportation in three counties. Part of the Renewable Energy Technologies Grants Program, the grant will allow ...

Wed, 6 Aug 08
United States: Clean and green: Task force eyes renewable energy resources
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10107525
Salt Lake Tribune: Crawl, walk, run. That's the progression Utah will follow as it nurtures a renewable energy industry that's in its infancy, and suffering growing pains. It's not easy being green in Utah. Stunted by cheap coal power generation, the state's renewable energy industry has been crawling along for decades, unable to thrive. Existing projects, primarily hydroelectric and geothermal, with a wisp of wind power, represent just 3-5 percent of the electricity generated in the Beehive State. ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Australia: 'No rush' to include agriculture in ETS
http://news.smh.com.au/national/no-rush-to-include-agriculture-in-ets-20080805-3q8i.html
AAP: The Rudd government says it will not rush to include agriculture in its emissions scheme despite a report warning forest clearing poses a much bigger threat than previously thought. Australian National University (ANU) researchers say they have evidence showing Australia's native forests store the equivalent of 25.5 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases. But they say the carbon storage levels are three times more than previously thought, meaning forest clearing had the potential ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Police block food supplies to power station protesters
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-block-food-supplies-to-power-station-protesters-885200.html
Independent: Hundreds of riot police pushed back protesters at the Kingsnorth coal power station "climate camp" in Kent yesterday, as officers raided the site and made eight arrests. Kent Police seized four men aged between 24 and 45 for public order offences in dawn skirmishes. A 27-year-old man was also arrested for obstructing police and a 40-year-old man was held on suspicion of possessing a prohibited weapon. Scuffles broke out as shield-carrying officers moved in to surround ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Australia: Unlogged forests have big role in climate solution
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/programguide/stories/200808/s2324419.htm
Radio Australia: They're big and they're old and they can store three times more carbon than the scientists had previously thought, they're Australia's remaining natural forests and for the first time a research team has been able to measure exactly how much carbon these untouched forests can absorb. Not only can they soak up significantly more carbon than the federal government and the international community thought was possible but left unlogged, these natural forests could play a huge role in the ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Australian forests enlisted in carbon fight
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/05/2324217.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Scientists and environmentalists have long promoted the value of trees in fighting pollution, but they are re-thinking just how valuable Australia's forests are in helping the fight against greenhouse gases. For the first time, a research team has been able to measure exactly how much carbon Australia's untouched forests can absorb. The scientists found that the forests can store three times more carbon than previously thought. The research took 10 years and endless ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Indonesia Reports More Than 500 Fire Hot Spots in Sumatra
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49656/story.htm
Reuters: More than 500 hot spots have been spotted across Indonesia's Sumatra island, signalling the annual dry-season forest fires and the haze it sometimes carries, a Forestry Ministry official said on Monday. Forestry ministry official fear the number of hot spots could exceed last year's record as the current dry season will be marked by less rain than usual, Sonny Partono, the director of forest fire control, told Reuters. "According to the Meteorology agency, this year's dry ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Study finds Australian forests store more carbon
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200808/s2324131.htm?tab=latest
Radio Australia: A new study has found that Australia's untouched forests can store three times as much carbon as previously thought. Scientists examined 240 sites of intact natural forests in south-east Australia and found they can store up to 640 tonnes per hectare. The largest stocks were found in the central highlands of Victoria and Tasmania. Professor Brendan Mackey from the Australian National University says forests should be considered ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Australia: Water buyback 'won't reach Murray-Darling'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/05/2324189.htm?site=idx-act
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Federal Opposition has criticised the Commonwealth Government's $50 million water buyback scheme, saying only a trickle of the water will make it into the Murray River this year. The Government has purchased about 35 billion litres of water entitlements from a number of catchments across the Murray-Darling Basin. Federal Opposition water spokesman John Cobb says the drought conditions through much of the system mean most of the water will not be delivered this ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate activist arrested over breach of bail
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/05/kingsnorthclimatecamp.activists
Guardian: A climate change protester was arrested yesterday for breaching his bail conditions by attending the climate camp at the Kingsnorth power station in Kent. Paul Morrozzo, 41, was identified and arrested by police at the camp gates. Another protester who was not breaching bail but who refused to identify herself was also removed. After a long standoff four more protesters on bail were let into the camp amid cheers and chants of "break your bail" from the crowds. Before his ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Democratic Republic of Congo: Congo Basin passes 1 million ha milestone in swing to sustainable forestry
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/37831
Environmental News Network: WWF today announced that more than one million hectares of Congo Basin forests have achieved certification under the world's leading sustainable forestry scheme. The world's second largest block of rainforests, the Congo Basin is a haven for indigenous peoples and endangered species like elephants and gorillas. It is also important in sequestering carbon and safeguarding water supply and quality. "With rampant illegal logging, vague logging concession boundaries and ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Drought policy review panel visits western Vic
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/05/2324136.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A Federal Government drought policy review panel is sitting in western Victoria today. The panel is looking into the social effect of drought, as the Government reviews how well it is supporting rural and regional communities. Buloke Shire Mayor Reid Mather says today's sitting in Birchip is a terrific opportunity for the region to put forward its views. He says he believes the problems the Wimmera-Mallee is facing go beyond what could be put down to climate ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Eight arrested as protesters gather at site of new power station
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2417475.0.Eight_arrested_as_protesters_gather_at_site_of_new_power_station.php
Herald: Police made a number of arrests yesterday during a second raid at a site where 400 eco-activists are gathering for a week-long environmental protest. Officers faced resistance as they entered the Camp for Climate Action site near Kingsnorth power station in Kent at around 5.30am to remove vehicles blocking its entrance. The windows of a van were smashed during the stand-off, protesters said. A statement by Kent Police said officers had become "increasingly concerned" ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
In the Hills of Nebraska, Change Is on the Horizon
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104253
New York Times: Driving south out of the agricultural town of Ainsworth, you can't miss its newest crop: wind turbines, three dozen of them, with steel stalks 230 feet high and petal-like blades 131 feet long, sprouting improbably from the sand hills of north-central Nebraska, beside ruminating cattle. Though painted gray, the turbines stand out against the evening backdrop of battleship-colored thunderclouds and bear an almost celestial whiteness when day's light is right. Airplane pilots can spot ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
United Kingdom: MPs Say Green Tax on Cars Must Go Further
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49658/story.htm
Reuters: Tax rises for drivers of "gas guzzling" cars should be much higher if ministers are to persuade people to buy more environmentally friendly vehicles, a group of MPs said on Monday. In a critical report, parliament's Environmental Audit Committee said road tax reforms announced in the Budget are too modest and will do little to cut harmful emissions. It called for "much more ambitious" reform of the car tax system, with bigger differences between bands for different-sized ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Plutonium Leak Contained at Ageing IAEA Laboratory
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49654/story.htm
Reuters: A small amount of plutonium has leaked from an ageing International Atomic Energy Agency laboratory outside Vienna, but radioactive contamination has not reached the environment and no one was injured, the UN watchdog said. Last year the IAEA director warned that its main analytical lab, built in Seibersdorf in 1970, was outmoded and no longer met safety standards, and asked for 27 million euros (US$42 million) in extra funding from member states to modernise it. The IAEA said ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
United States: Southern Forest Industry Braces for Bioenergy
http://www.centredaily.com/business/story/753723.html
Centre Daily Times: Emerging biomass markets will significantly strengthen demand for wood fiber in the South, driving prices higher for forest products as the United States turns to alternative fuels for energy, according to a study released Monday by Forest2Market. The new demand will be fueled by wood-burning power companies that produce and sell electricity to public utilities, as well as an increasing amount of wood pellets that are exported to European energy markets. The development of new ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
"New" Killer Whale Types at Risk From Antarctic Warming
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080804-antarctic-killer-whales-missions.html
National Geographic: Two newly identified types of killer whales that hunt prey off of Antarctic sea ice risk losing food sources to global warming and melting, according to a new study on the whales' movement patterns. The study reveals that killer whales that feed primarily on fish that congregate under ice shelves are more or less "homebodies," sticking close to the ice, whereas seal-eating killer whales wander wide and seemingly aimlessly. The differences in movement patterns likely correlate ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Climate Change And Species Distributions
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804100143.htm
ScienceDaily: Scientists have long pointed to physical changes in the Earth and its atmosphere, such as melting polar ice caps, sea level rise and violent storms, as indicators of global climate change. But changes in climate can wreak havoc in more subtle ways, such as the loss of habitat for plant and animal species. In a series of talks at the Ecological Society of America (ESA) 93rd Annual Meeting, climate change scientists will discuss how temperature-induced habitat loss can spell disaster ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Nearly 75 Percent Would Drive an Electric Car
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49643/story.htm
Reuters: Nearly three-quarters of British motorists would consider driving an electric car, a survey has found. Whether for "green" reasons or to escape congestion charges and the ever-rising cost of fuel, 71 percent of drivers would consider making the switch, it said on Friday. Amongst under-25s that figure rises as high as 81 percent, the survey for esure car insurance found, although only 66 percent of 55s were in favour. Among the sample of 1,082 motorists, 65 percent had ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Record Heat Forces Closure of Canada Arctic Park
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49639/story.htm
Reuters: A major national park in Canada's Arctic has been largely closed after record high temperatures caused flooding that washed away hiking trails and forced the evacuation of tourists, an official said on Friday. Every year around 500 people visit Auyuittuq National Park, which covers over 19,000 square km (7,340 square miles) on Baffin Island and is dominated by the giant Penny ice cap. The park is popular with hikers and skiers. The combination of floods, melting permafrost and ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Union slams EPA chief for ignoring staff on global warming
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/46406.html
McClatchy Newspapers: Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen Johnson stunned his staff last month when he publicly opposed their proposals for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, four union officials representing EPA staff working on global warming policies said in a letter provided to McClatchy Monday. The letter alleges that Johnson subverted the work of EPA staff and damaged the agency's reputation for "sound science and policy." The EPA needs public respect and support in order to implement the ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Untouched forests store 3 times more carbon- study
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP255954
Reuters: Untouched natural forests store three times more carbon dioxide than previously estimated and 60 percent more than plantation forests, said a new Australian study of "green carbon" and its role in climate change. Green carbon occurs in natural forests, brown carbon is found in industrialised forests or plantations, grey carbon in fossil fuels and blue carbon in oceans. Australian National University (ANU) scientists said that the role of untouched forests, and their ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
White House refused to open e-mail on pollutants
http://www.mb.com.ph/ENVI20080805131695.html
New York Times: The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency's conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior EPA officials said last week. The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the EPA's answer to the 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Can Coal and Clean Air Coexist in China?
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=can-coal-and-clean-air-coexist-china
Scientific American: Coal powers China. In addition to producing about 75 percent of its electricity, the dirty, black rock is burned everywhere from industrial boilers to home stoves. More than 4,000 miners die every year digging up the fossil fuel, shortages abound forcing curbs in electricity use, and the country's transportation infrastructure creaks under the weight of distributing it across the country. But the Chinese reliance on coal is most visible in the air. Smog cloaks cities, rendering them ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
China's Big Push for Renewable Energy
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=chinas-big-push-for-renewable-energy
Scientific American: Winds rush through the capital city of China, blowing dust storms that envelop it in grit from the encroaching Gobi Desert each spring. Last year, the government finally took advantage of those winds, installing 33 wind turbines manufactured by domestic company Xinjiang Gold Wind at the Guanting wind power field to harvest this energy and use it to supplement the electricity provided by polluting coal. Those suburban turbines began turning in earnest on January 20, providing 35 million ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Climate Change in Action in Greenland
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1829365,00.html
Time Magazine: You can't see climate change in action, much to the disappointment of photographers and magazine art directors. Warming is a function of time, and we see it only as time passes. Years go by, we add more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, temperatures rise, glaciers retreat and deserts expand. One of the essential facts about climate science is that unlike, say, weather forecasting, the further ahead we look into the future, the more confident we can be of our predictions. So we know that ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Coal's future is safe - but what about the climate?
http://ca.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idCAL2125126320080805
Reuters: Does coal have a future? Climate change protesters and coal traders alike say it's a daft question, but agreement ends there. For protesters, the shiny black lumps of fossilized wood and plants are contributing to drastic climate change. For traders, coal is an energy no-brainer which offers a ray of hope for 1.6 billion people living without electricity. They're probably both right. By mid-century, the world may have an extra 3 ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Green groups drop opposition to Texas coal plant
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0448357820080804
Reuters: Environmental groups have dropped opposition to the expansion of an NRG Energy Inc Texas coal plant after the company agreed to offset some of the unit's greenhouse gas emissions. Under the agreement, the NRG Limestone 3 plant near Houston would offset or sock underground half of its carbon dioxide emissions until the United States launches a federal climate change program. NRG will build or support the development of a utility scale solar power project in Texas as part of the ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Australia: Gum trees storing more carbon than first thought: study
http://nqr.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/general/gum-trees-storing-more-carbon-than-first-thought-study/1235051.aspx
North Queensland Register: Wild eucalypt forests across south-eastern Australia store far more carbon than previously thought, according to research that has far-ranging implications for climate change policy. The Australian Greenhouse Office and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have underestimated the amount of carbon held in native eucalyptus forests and soils by up to 400pc, researchers at the Australian National University say. "There is much more carbon in our natural forests than ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
United States: Little trees pose big danger in forests
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-thinning31-2008jul31,0,7715044.story?track=rss
Los Angeles Times: A piece of heavy equipment called a hot saw is slicing through a high-country stand of skinny ponderosa pines like a mechanical Paul Bunyan on steroids. Nearby, a computer-programmed log processor is stripping the branches off cut trees as if it were peeling carrots. Most of the logs are no more than a foot in diameter -- not big enough to properly be called timber. It's a haul Dwayne Walker's grandfather, who skidded fat logs out of Southwestern pine forests with mules and ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Natural forests hold key in climate change battle
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=369303&type=World
Shanghai Daily: UNTOUCHED natural forests store three times more carbon dioxide than previously estimated and 60 percent more than plantation forests, according to a new Australian study of "green carbon" and its role in climate change. Green carbon occurs in natural forests, brown carbon is found in industrialized forests or plantations, grey carbon in fossil fuels and blue carbon in oceans. Australian National University scientists said the role of untouched forests, and their biomass of ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Number Two in Wind Energy
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43435
Inter Press Service: Spain is the world's second producer of wind energy, after Germany and ahead of the United States, and plans to continue expanding its infrastructure so as to double its current output by 2012. But new regulations may slow this development. On very windy days, wind energy production can supply 40 percent of Spain's demand, although the yearly average is 10 percent. The largest share of electricity is supplied by nuclear plants which provide 20.7 percent of the total. Wind ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Obama calls for 'clean energy' nation
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12280.html
Politco: Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Monday promised a $7,000 tax credit to help drivers buy advanced-technology vehicles, and told struggling automotive makers in Michigan that his administration would provide $4 billion in direct assistance to help them build hybrid vehicles in the U.S.A. Those plans are part of a $150 billion, 10-year investment that Obama wants the federal government to make in a 'clean energy future.' Three main components are: more cars fueled by hybrids; more ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Obama: McCain 'in pocket' of oil giants
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g6muDUlDNp-ZuaNtckTu38rKdQTA
Agence France-Presse: Barack Obama launched a counter-attack Monday after a week of pummeling by his White House rival John McCain, dismissing the Republican as "in the pocket" of profit-pumping US oil giants. The Democratic hopeful, who turned 47 on Monday, went on the offensive as daily tracking polls showed McCain had battled back into a statistical tie in the presidential duel, exactly three months before election day. In a hard-hitting new campaign ad, Obama accused McCain of taking campaign ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Obama: tap nation's oil reserve to help gas prices
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5isOFwdbq0tsqatW6vJpkDRTI1gMgD92BIL9O2
Associated Press: In a reversal, Barack Obama is proposing the government sell 70 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum stockpiles. The Democratic presidential candidate says that move could help in the short-run to drive down gasoline prices that now top $4 a gallon. The proposal came in a major energy speech Obama has delivered Monday in Lansing, Mich. Previously, Obama opposed tapping into the reserves, located in caverns in Texas and Louisiana. The Illinois Democrat says ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Ontario strikes deal to join climate group --report
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0451678020080804
Reuters: Ontario will join a climate-change initiative led by California without adopting that state's tough pollution standards for cars, a newspaper said on Monday. Premier Dalton McGuinty last week reassured auto industry officials his province won't impose stringent emissions standards championed by a coalition of 10 U.S. states and Canadian provinces even though Ontario planned to join the group, sources familiar with the talks told the Globe and Mail. In a compromise negotiated by ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Renewable Energy Is More Promising for Jobs than Dirty Coal
http://www.alternet.org/environment/91500/renewable_energy_is_more_promising_for_jobs_than_dirty_coal/
Huffington Post: Obama need to keep touting "clean coal" as part of the solution to America's energy and economic woes? While coal is abundant in the United States, it is far from the clean-as-driven snow energy source that coal industry lobbyists would like us all to think and according to new report out today it is hardly the answer to America's economic problems. The report released recently by the WorldWatch Institute finds that a transition to renewable energy sources promises significant ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Al Gore has big ideas but he's not running
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/373458_merceronline05.html
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Al Gore got it right when he said, "I don't remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously." Gore's summary: "Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse, gasoline prices are increasing dramatically, and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure. Distinguished senior business leaders are telling us ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Israel: Environment Ministry sees floods, drought, and destruction
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000368426&fid=1725
Globes Online: A rise of 2-5 degrees in average temperatures by the end of the century, a 27% drop in precipitation, a rise in extreme storms, more summer heat waves, and a 10 centimeter rise in the level of the Mediterranean Sea are some of the dire warnings by Ministry of Environmental Protection chief scientist Dr. Yeshayahu Bar-Or in a new report on climate change. Bar-Or predicts more extreme weather. Summer temperatures will rise, while winter temperatures will drop, which will boost energy ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
EPA OKs Air Permit for Massive Navajo Coal Plant
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49634/story.htm
Reuters: The president of the Navajo Nation said that US environmental regulators approved a final air permit on Thursday for a proposed 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant in New Mexico, considered an important step in moving the US$3 billion to US$4 billion project forward. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley has waited more than four years for the permit for the Desert Rock plant from the US Environmental Protection Agency. "We know that there will continue to be challenges, but ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Japanese Steel Makers to Cut GHG Emissions by 30%
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/08/04/japanese-steel-makers-to-cut-ghg-emissions-by-30/
Environmental Leader: The Japan Iron and Steel Federation and six other major steel makers announced they will jointly develop technologies for reducing about 30 percent of the current level of GHG emitted by the steel industry. The industry accounts for more than 40 percent of domestic industry`s total emissions, Jiji Press reports. The team will try to develop technologies for separating and storing carbon dioxide contained in blast furnace gases and enable the use of hydrogen instead of carbon for iron ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Obama backs some drilling, tapping oil stockpile
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jNlJOuGuTs5qgEuIws8f56V48hyAD92BO7IO0
Associated Press: Barack Obama put forward a broad energy plan Monday designed to end U.S. reliance on imported oil within 10 years and shore up his standing amid a tightening White House race and high-anxiety over gas prices. Obama's proposal, though, includes two significant reversals of positions he has taken in the past: He had steadfastly fought the idea of limited new offshore drilling and was against tapping the nation's emergency oil stockpile to relieve pump prices that have stubbornly hovered ...

Tue, 5 Aug 08
Obama proposes new energy plan, including tapping oil stockpiles
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hNpCvnV7L9gdmGaLoFgp6x7Rqbsg
Canadian Press: Barack Obama is proposing a broad energy plan designed to end U.S. reliance on imported oil within 10 years. The approach includes two significant reversals of positions he's taken in the past: tapping into the country's emergency oil stockpile and offshore drilling. In a speech today in Michigan, Obama also endorsed long-term work on hybrid cars and renewable energy sources. He said, "Breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
A voyage into the great Arctic meltdown
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/the-great-arctic-meltdown/2008/08/03/1217701855502.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE vast Arctic sea ice which spreads across the North Pole could disappear during the summer within a decade or two - or even by 2013 - leading scientists are warning. The Canadian Coast Guard's strongest icebreaker, the Louis S. St Laurent, took the Herald and an ABC Four Corners crew with a team of scientists going to the Arctic at the beginning of this summer's melt in July to explore the extraordinary changes there first hand. Only a few years ago, climate modellers ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Increase in world jellyfish population bad sign for planet; scientists
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200832/1636/Increase-in-world-jellyfish-population-bad-sign-for-planet-scientists
Tech Herald: The burgeoning growth of jellyfish populations throughout the world's oceans has been linked to global warming, overfishing of natural predators and an increase in pollution which has depleted oxygen in coastal waters, say Spanish scientists. Researchers at the Institute of Marine Sciences at the National Research Council in Barcelona have said the increase in jellyfish numbers from Spain to Australia, Japan and Hawaii is a sign of the declining health of the world's ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
A carbon-constrained world
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20080408-17740.html
ScienceAlert: Mitigating climate change will be the most daunting challenge of this century. Fortunately, years of effort and calls to action by environmental experts and other specialists are making an impact on popular attitudes. Less fortunately, most of us still grope in the dark trying to find a credible framework to structure an adequate response. Much faith has been placed in market-based solutions such as carbon-emissions trading. But while such measures may lead to curbing - even reducing ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Banned eco-activists will risk jail
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hVomiCiwQi3a0Uye436nTZECPyYA
Press Association: Five eco-campaigners are expected to risk jail when they breach a court order preventing them from joining a protest against moves to build a new coal-fired plant at Kingsnorth in Kent. The five plan to flout bail conditions stopping them attending the second day of the Camp for Climate Action. They were among more than 20 people arrested in June during a protest on board a coal delivery train outside Drax power station in North Yorkshire. Lawyers have warned the five ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Australia: Emissions trading scheme to 'cost states $1.4-billion'
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2008/s2322873.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: TONY EASTLEY: The Coalition has been warning about the possible damage to the economy caused by a federal government emissions trading scheme. Now new figures produced by a Canberra think tank show that any ETS could be costly to the states and territories. The Australia Institute predicts the states and territories could lose up to $1.4-billion a year once the Federal Government scheme to reduce carbon emissions is introduced in 2010. New South Wales, Victoria and ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Australia: Govt urged to ensure river environmental flows
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/04/2323335.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Environment Victoria is calling on the State Government to ensure the state's rivers get their full environmental allocations each year. The lobby group has made its submission to the Government's climate change summit paper, which closes today. Environment Victoria's campaigns director, Mark Wakeham, says the Government's 60 per cent emissions reduction target for 2050 is inadequate. He says improving river health will be vital to lessen the effects of climate ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Green energy help for poor: Poorest targeted with energy-saving schemes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/aug/04/energy.householdbills?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
Guardian: Ministers are examining a raft of green energy measures, including bringing forward a Â£2.75bn home insulation programme funded by energy companies, to protect Britain's poorest from the impact of rising gas and electricity prices. They are looking at the idea of front-loading a scheme known as the carbon emissions reduction target (Cert) so that more money is spent sooner by energy companies, with a greater proportion of the funding going to the fuel-poor. The three-year ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
How national parks manage fire risk
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0804/p02s01-usgn.html
Christian Science Monitor: Officials at the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park in California adopted an unusual wildfire policy four decades ago: When possible, they'd let fire be fire. If a blaze didn't threaten homes or people, park officials would let it burn. The idea was to let natural processes take over and prevent wildland from becoming too overgrown and vulnerable to a conflagration. Forty years on, this strategy – known as "fire management" – is in place in wilderness areas ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Protesters fight plans for new coal-fired station
http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Protesters--fight-plans-for.4352950.jp
Scotsman: ECO-ACTIVISTS gathered yesterday for a "No New Coal" rally to oppose plans to build Britain's first new coal-fired power station for 30 years. Demonstrators converged in Rochester High Street in Kent amid a heavy police presence, including mounted police officers from London. Hundreds of protesters were expected to join a seven-mile march to Kingsnorth power station following the rally to mark the first official day of the week-long Camp for Climate ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Arctic warming at faster pace than projected
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5920570.html
McClatchy-Tribune: Ground here that for tens of thousands of years was frozen solid is terra firma no more. Across the tundra and coast of the Arctic Ocean, land is caving in. Soils loosed by freshly thawed earth set off a new era of rot, and of bloom – dumping a bonanza of nutrients into a top-of-the-world environment that swirls from months of midnight sun to deep-freeze dark. Will nature channel the nourishment of this soil into a great flowering of plant life that soaks up greenhouse gas and ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Climate chill came exactly 12,679 years ago: study
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL154123720080801
Reuters: A drastic cooling of the climate in western Europe happened exactly 12,679 years ago, apparently after a shift to icy winds over the Atlantic, scientists said on Friday, giving a hint of how abruptly the climate can change. The study, of pollens, minerals and other matter deposited in annual layers at the bottom of Lake Meerfelder Maar in Germany, pinpointed an abrupt change in sediments consistent with a sudden chill over just one year. "Our data indicate an abrupt ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Texas plagued by heat, drought, water parasite, wildfires
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5921635.html
Associated Press: Relentlessly sweltering heat across Texas was blamed Saturday for three deaths in Dallas County, and forecasters warned that the worst is likely still ahead. The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed three heat-related deaths – two people last month in their 80s, and a 49-year-old man in June – as the Dallas area braced for an expected 107-degree scorcher Sunday that would rank as the hottest day of the year. Saturday's high of 104 around Dallas was the ninth ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Traditional forests endangered by climate change and disease
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2493606/Traditional-forests-endangered-by-climate-change-and-disease.html
Telegraph (UK): Traditional woodlands are facing their biggest upheaval since the last Ice Age as global warming and disease threaten indigenous species that have flourished in Britain for thousands of years. Experts have predicted that native trees are likely to retreat from the warmer regions in the south of the country leaving forests dominated by imported species that are better adapted to dealing with dry conditions. Trees such as the Corsican pine and Spanish oak, which were introduced ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Anger at police raid on green camp ahead of coal protest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/04/kingsnorthclimatecamp.climatechange
Guardian: Environmental campaigners and politicians criticised the police last night after around 200 officers raided a climate camp, seizing hundreds of items that they claimed could be used to break the law. Activists at the camp, which starts today with a series of workshops on sustainable energy and social justice, said the raid aimed to disrupt legitimate protest. Green MEP Carolyn Lucas, who is attending the week-long event, said police had confiscated hundreds of items including ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Around the world in a Â“solar taxiÂ” to highlight alternative energy sources
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/around-the-world-in-a-solar-taxi-to-highlight-alternative-energy-sources_10079320.html
Asian News International: A Swiss schoolteacher is traveling around the world in a 50,000-kilometer drive in an eco-friendly "solar taxi", to draw international attention to the present-day potential of alternative energy sources. According to a report in ENN (Environmental New Network), Louis Palmer, the adventurer in question, launched his journey in July 2007 from his hometown of Lucerne, Switzerland. Palmer''s vehicle the "solar taxi" is a low-slung two-seater that has the look and feel of a sports ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Asia emerging as center of carbon trade program
http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20080803-152432/Asia-emerging-as-center-of-carbon-trade-program
Philippine Daily Inquirer: Financial market analysts here expect increased participation of Asian countries, including the Philippines, in the carbon credit trade, with most of them cornering big investments in clean development mechanism (CDM) projects. In a briefing to formally launch the Carbon Forum Asia 2008 in Singapore, Asia Carbon Global group director Yuvaraj Dinesh Babu revealed that securing 1 or 2 percent of CDM projects would make a big difference in carbon trading in Asia, which is fast emerging ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Blunt answers about risks of global warming
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-poi-pachauri_thinkaug03,0,6989806.story
Chicago Tribune: Rajendra Pachauri isn't nearly as famous as Al Gore, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with an international panel on climate change that Pachauri, an Indian scientist and economist, has led since 2002. But as chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Pachauri has an urgent message for world leaders about the perils of global warming. He talked to the Tribune recently while he was in town to meet with Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago civic leaders. An edited ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate Camp 2008 targets coal-fuelled power station plans
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/energy/energy/climate-camp-beginning-today-at-kingsnorth-$1234493.htm
Politics.co.uk: Environmentalists will challenge the government's plans to build new coal-fired power stations in Britain near the Kingsnorth site in Kent from today. Climate Camp 2008 hopes "thousands" of protestors will pitch their tents close to Kingsnorth, which the government hopes will be one of the first coal-powered plant built in Britain for 30 years. Activists will explore the possibilities offered by sustainable solutions, heating their shows with solar power and using ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Climate report forecasts smaller, hotter Maryland
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.climate03aug03,0,3390747.story
Baltimore Sun: Look for balmier winters and blistering summers in the decades to come. Enjoy the colorful fall foliage in Western Maryland - while you can. And unless circumstances change, prepare to see a different mix of plants, trees and birds by the end of the century, worsening dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay, and for the state that some call "America in miniature" to get dramatically smaller as rising waters push the shoreline inland. So says a group of scientists who have compiled ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Earth's most dramatic climate change happened in just one year 12,700 yrs back
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/lifestyle/earths-most-dramatic-climate-change-happened-in-just-one-year-12700-yrs-back-re-issue_10079307.html
Asian News International: A team of scientists has suggested the most dramatic climate change in Earth''s history was brought about 12,700 years ago, in just one year''s time, with temperatures plummeting 3 to 4 degrees Celsius. Thirteen thousands years ago, Europe was much like it is today - cool but temperate, with great forests carpeting the land. Though ice sheets were still present at Finland and Sweden, but for much of the continent, the last Ice Age was a distant memory. But, all of a sudden, the climate went ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Experts clash over viability of biofuels, alternative energy
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/03/BAMS124EG4.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Pre-eminent UC Berkeley scholars clashed Saturday over whether biofuels will help solve the energy crisis - or whether biofuel supporters are duping themselves and everybody else with empty promises. The university's College of Natural Resources hosted a panel discussion called "The Future of Biofuels?" and it became clear early on why the question mark was tacked onto the title. Biofuels are fuels derived from biological material such as corn or soybeans, and are ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Indonesian forest fires spark haze fears in Malaysia
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/364683/1/.html
Agence France-Presse: The growing number of forest fires in Indonesia's Sumatra island has triggered warning bells that hazy skies could return to neighbouring Malaysia, environmental officials said on Sunday. Forest fires from Indonesia caused by traditional farming methods have been blamed for the choking haze, which shrouds the region annually. Malaysia was drafting plans to ensure no open-burning activities were carried out during the dry season, although there were no reports of haze, said ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Power from nuclear sources is not eco-friendly enough
http://www.fresnobee.com/287/story/771043.html
Fresno Bee: America's twin crises of sky-rocketing energy costs and catastrophic climate change effects shouldn't be a convenient excuse to push nuclear power as a viable replacement for coal, oil and natural gas power-generating plants. The nuclear disaster at the Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 and the near-disaster at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 are reasons enough to strike nuclear power from the list of acceptable non-fossil and carbon energy ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
United States: Sierra warming: Climate change puts heat on high country
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1128709.html
Sacramento Bee: Standing atop Yosemite's tallest peak in August 1950, Hal Klieforth looked out across the Lyell glacier and marveled at how solid and unyielding it appeared. "It was like Grand Canyon or the Sierra itself," the 81-year-old meteorologist said recently. "It had been there for many years and probably would be there for many more." Today, as the boulder-strewn sheet of ice recedes in the summer sun, Klieforth is no longer so confident. "Now I guess there ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
The Iceman Cometh
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104182
New York Times: Greenland Ice Sheet, 77 degrees 45 minutes N. latitude, 51 degrees 6 minutes W. longitude Jorgen Peder Steffensen made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "If you come to Copenhagen, I will show you a Christmas snow – a real Christmas snow, the snow that fell between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D." Now that's an offer you don't get every day! But then I don't go to the Arctic Circle every day. "I can also show you a sample of the very last snow that fell right at the end of the last ice ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
United States: Wind Is Given 2nd Look As Energy Needs Grow
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/02/AR2008080201382.html
Washington Post: Miles of mountain ridges hugging the state's western border could hold the key to Virginia's search for alternative energy sources. That is where developers are looking to build more than 100 wind turbines taller than the Statue of Liberty, side by side, on 18 miles of the George Washington National Forest. FreedomWorks, a company with projects in four states, wants to generate electricity for the power-hungry Washington area and beyond, despite concerns about disturbing ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Californians warming to offshore oil drilling
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_10084801
San Jose Mercury News: An endangered blue whale spouts last month near offshore oil rigs off the coast of Long Beach. A statewide poll finds a slim majority supports offshore oil, up sharply from 39 percent support in 2003. It's been nearly 40 years since an offshore oil well malfunctioned, polluting beaches in and around Santa Barbara, a playground for the rich and famous. But the images of oil-coated birds and other effects of the spill have continued to make expansion of oil drilling off the coast a ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Car tax rises 'will hit poor hardest'
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=246593&in_page_id=34
Metro: Hard-up drivers of the most polluting cars must be helped to meet a planned tax increase, a report by MPs has said. They could be hardest hit of the 9million motorists who will end up paying more vehicle excise duty, the Commons environmental audit committee warned. But the tax changes had been poorly communicated which 'breeds suspicion, increasing the perception of them as revenue-raising measures with no environmental purpose', the MPs said. Up to 1.1million owners ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
Forest Service's budget is up in smoke
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/news/251077.php
McClatchy Newspapers: The Forest Service has struggled for years to pay for fighting fires that last year alone scorched almost 10 million acres. As fire seasons grow longer and the blazes more intense in forests stressed by global warming, the agency's funding woes mount. In fact, the Forest Service has already spent roughly $900 million this year, almost 75 percent of its fire suppression budget, and the season is just nearing its peak. Nearly half the Forest Service's annual budget is now spent ...

Mon, 4 Aug 08
US raised issues of global warming with India and China
http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/98398D4560035F006525749A005DA72A?OpenDocument
Press Trust of India: Describing the rapid economic growth of India and China based on coal and other hydrocarbons as "a problem", US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said Washington has "repeatedly" raised the issue of global warming with the two countries so as to address the challenges. Speaking at the Aspen Institute in Boulder, Colorado she said that "China and India, with their rapid growth with dirty sources of energy, principally coal and other hydrocarbons based ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
A Push to Wrest More Oil From Land, but Most New Wells Are for Natural Gas
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104172
New York Times: With the advent of $4-a-gallon gasoline has come a bruising debate in Congress over whether to intensify efforts to drill on federal lands, including part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. But while those hoping to lower prices at the pump are clamoring for new oil, most of the new onshore drilling of the past seven years has produced natural gas, not oil. The Bush administration, in its effort to expand energy production, has issued more than three times the number of ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Oak and ash in retreat as UK hots up
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4449530.ece
Times (UK): Britain's woods and forests face their greatest disruption since the last Ice Age with native species such as oak, beech and ash under threat from climate change, according to research. These and other native trees are likely to retreat from parts of the warmer south and west as well as East Anglia, leaving woodlands dominated by species adapted to heat and drought, such as Corsican pine, Spanish oak and shrubs including spindle and dogwood. Many of these species were introduced to ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Obama Says Energy Compromise Is Necessary
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/02/AR2008080201538.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post: Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday said a shift in his stance on offshore oil drilling is a necessary compromise with Republicans to gain their support for his broader goals of energy independence. On Friday, Obama indicated a willingness to support an effort by five Democratic senators and five Republicans to break Congress's energy impasse with legislation that would allow expanded offshore oil exploration and embrace ambitious energy efficiency and efforts to develop alternative ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
US becomes top producer of wind power
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-08/03/content_6899475.htm
Xinhua: The United States has become the world's leading wind power producer and is expected to see rapid growth in places like Texas, the Great Plains and California, according to figures released on Saturday. The U.S. wind industry now tops Germany in terms of how much energy is being produced from wind, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said. Germany still has more installed capacity -- 22,000 megawatts vs. 17,000 in the United States at the end of 2007. But the average ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Captains' logs yield climate clues
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4449527.ece
Times (UK): Britain's great seafaring tradition is to provide a unique insight into modern climate change, thanks to thousands of Royal Navy logbooks that have survived from the 17th century onwards. The logbooks kept by every naval ship, ranging from Nelson's Victory and Cook's Endeavour down to the humblest frigate, are emerging as one of the world's best sources for long-term weather data. The discovery has been made by a group of British academics and Met Office scientists who are seeking ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Eco-march against new power station
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jngb8cbVPA00Q043b8CvZOj1WByg
Press Association: Hundreds of eco-activists are expected to join a march to mark the start of a week-long protest against plans to build Britain's first new coal-fired power station for three decades. More than 200 Camp for Climate Action protesters have already set up camp in a remote field close to the Kingsnorth plant in Kent. The number of protesters at the heavily-policed site in Hoo was expected to more than double by the end of Sunday's official opening day. The protesters are ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Giant kites to tap power of the high wind
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/03/renewableenergy.energy
Guardian: A traditional childhood pastime could provide a breakthrough in renewable energy, after successful experiments in flying a giant kite at one of Europe's top research centres. Scientists from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands harnessed energy from the wind by flying a 10-sq metre kite tethered to a generator, producing 10 kilowatts of power. The experiment generated enough electricity to power 10 family homes, and the researchers have plans to test a 50kW version ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Protests Against New Power Station
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/030808-Climate-change-protesters-descend-on-Kent-Kingsnorth-Power-Station/Article/200808115063819?lpos=UK%2BNews_0&lid=ARTICLE_15063819_030808%2BClimate%2Bchange%2Bprotesters%2Bdescend%2Bon%2BKent%2BKingsnorth%
Sky News: As thousands of protestors descend on Kent's Kingsnorth Power Station, during this year's Camp for Climate Action, the Energy giant Eon says it has a problem. Its coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent, which supplies one-and-a-half million people with power, is fast moving towards closure. So, the government is currently considering giving Eon permission for a brand new power station. Unsurprisingly, that has prompted fury from thousands of environmental ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
SAfrica's ambitious climate change strategy may include carbon tax
http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=africa&item=080803030215.7xpjjzft.php
Agence France-Presse: South Africa's government has set out an ambitious proposal to deal with climate change in the coming years, including slapping a possible carbon tax on carbon dioxide-spewing industries. Saying the world faced "a global climate emergency," the environment ministry unveiled the strategy geared toward reducing greenhouse gases last week. "The world faces a global climate emergency. It is now clear that only action by both developed and developing countries can ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Pension funds join to fight climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/aug/03/investmentfunds.pensions
Observer: group of the world's biggest pension funds brought together privately by Prince Charles and known informally as the P8, an allusion to the G8 group of the world's wealthiest nations, is to release an action plan this summer on fighting climate change using their investments. It will be sent to world governments with the aim of lobbying for regulatory and financial support that could enable pension funds to start using their financial muscle to take stakes in companies ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Tackle fuel poverty and climate change together
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/03/energy.householdbills
Guardian: Since oil and gas are costly to produce and much in demand, it makes sense that they are expensive to use. Given the additional cost to Britain of dependency on unreliable energy-exporting regimes and the cost to the world of climate change it is also, arguably, no bad thing if high prices encourage people to be frugal with fuel. But that is no consolation to those who struggle to pay for even modest energy consumption. It is the poorest in society who suffer most when heating bills ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Understanding climate change
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4448895.ece
Times (UK): Understanding the scope and speed of climate change is a formidable problem for modern climate scientists. One way they approach this is to use historical observations of climate to generate computer models of the global climate system. Such models are essential for the prediction of future climate change and the need for them is now particularly acute because of concerns about the speed of global warming: climate scientists need as much data as possible about past climate, and they need it ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Brazil fund plan to protect Amazon
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gYgvp5NrNe3HeP56GFMJ1DoLEDpg
Press Association: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has signed a decree creating a fund that will seek donations from developed countries to help protect the Amazon rainforest and combat global warming. Officials said the fund could raise as much as Â£10.5 billion by 2021 for projects promoting alternatives to rainforest destruction, protecting nature preserves and developing scientific and technological advances to protect the environment. "Brazil will certainly assume its ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Brazil launches $21 bln fund to protect Amazon rainforest
http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=672698&SMap=1
RTT: Brazil launched an international fund to raise as much as $21 billion by 2021 to fight deforestation in the Amazon, and combat global warming, reports said on Friday. While signing a decree creating the fund, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva acknowledged the country's responsibility to preserve the Amazon. The fund, to be administrated by Brazil's national development bank, will seek donations from developed countries. The money raised will be used for projects ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Brazil launches Amazon rainforest protection fund
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/02/2322295.htm?section=world
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called on developed countries to donate money to a new fund designed to protect the Amazon rainforest. Speaking at the launch of the fund, Mr Lula acknowledged Brazil's responsibility to preserve the Amazon and that protecting the rainforest helps to combat global warming. "It is better to do things right so we can walk in international forums with our heads held high," he said. It is hoped that the project ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Brazil launches ambitious fund for Amazon forest
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080801/twl-environment-brazil-amazon-dc-1202b49.html
Reuters: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched an international fund on Friday to finance conservation and sustainable development in the Amazon as deforestation rates rise. The fund will support forest conservation, scientific research and sustainable development projects, such as rubber tapping, forestry management or developing drugs from plants. "We are conscious of what the Amazon represents for the world," Lula said during an inauguration ceremony in Rio ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate camp protesters denounce police raid
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL226093420080802
Reuters: Environmental campaigners accused police of aggressive tactics on Saturday as they prepared to protest German utility E.ON's plans for Britain's first new coal-fired power station in three decades. Gathering at Kingsnorth in Kent for the August 9 protest, the Camp for Climate Action group said their plans to set up a site for the week-long demonstration were disrupted by a police raid on Thursday by up to 100 officers. "They seized equipment essential to the health and ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate change activists threaten to shut down coal-fired plant
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4448315.ece
Times (UK): Climate change activists have threatened to break the law as they gather this weekend for a week-long protest camp at the proposed site of a new coal-fired power station. The protesters aim to shut down the coal-fired plant already in operation on the site at Kingsnorth, Kent, and block the construction of the new Â£1.5 billion facility. The new power station would be the first coal-fired plant in the UK for more than 30 years and owners E.ON say it will be cleaner than the ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Congress Adjourns, but Talks on Oil Persist
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104133
New York Times: When it comes time to adjourn at the end of each week, members of Congress often sprint for the airport. But after the House officially adjourned for the five-week summer recess, at 11:23 a.m. on Friday, several dozen Republicans refused to leave, insisting that they wanted to stay and debate legislation to address high gasoline prices. Some of the chamber's lights had been turned out. The live feed to C-Span was off, and so were the microphones. But off and on for five hours, as ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United States: Doyle Says 'No' to Coal Plant: Cleaner Heat Wanted for State, UW Buildings
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1506767/doyle_says_no_to_coal_plant_cleaner_heat_wanted_for/
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gov. Jim Doyle announced Friday that the state will not permit a coal-fired heating plant for government and university buildings in downtown Madison. The decision is a reversal of the governor's previous support of power plants fueled by coal, including the new plants under construction in Oak Creek. Environmentalists hailed the move as a turning point in their battle to stop construction of coal-fired power plants, but a state Department of Administration spokeswoman ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Electric Cars Are the Key to Energy Independence
http://www.alternet.org/environment/93609/electric_cars_are_the_key_to_energy_independence/
AlterNet: Al Gore's heroic speech challenging us to make our electrical system 100 percent renewable promised it would simultaneously address three major crises: the weak economy, catastrophic climate change and the dire national security problems inherent in our dependence on imported oil. He got two out of three right. A crash renewable electricity initiative would provide an immediate boost to our economy and could slow climate change, since electricity accounts for about a third of our ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United States: Governor to ban coal-powered plants in Madison, eventually pull plug on plants throughout state
http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8776797&nav=menu1362_2
WKOW: Governor Jim Doyle announced Friday he wants to wean Wisconsin off coal. His announcement follows a report about cutting greenhouse gasses. It comes two years after the Sierra Club sued the state for violating the clean air act at two antiquated power plants in Downtown Madison. Officials say they'll start with the two state-owned Madison plants. The Charter Street Heating plant and the Capitol Heat and Power Plant heat and cool state and UW Madison buildings. ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Obama willing to deal on limited oil-drilling strategy
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080802/NEWS05/808020337/1009/LOCALNEWSFRONT
Associated Press: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said yesterday he would be willing to support limited additional offshore oil drilling if that's what it takes to enact a comprehensive policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and develop alternate energy sources. Shifting from his previous opposition to expanded offshore drilling, the Illinois senator told a Florida newspaper he could get behind a compromise with Republicans and oil companies to prevent gridlock over ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Study: Climate change could cost Kansas $1 billion
http://www.hpj.com/archives/2008/aug08/aug4/Study-Climatechangecouldcos.cfm?title=Study-%20Climate%20change%20could%20cost%20Kansas%20$1%20billion
Associated Press: Rising temperatures and reduced water supply could cost Kansas more than $1 billion in agriculture losses by 2017, according to a new study from the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research. The study released July 23 by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Center for Integrative Environmental Research, analyzed the costs of global warming on several states and was paid for in part by the Environmental Defense Fund. The other ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
World Bank unit taps growing solar market
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINN0115504820080801
Reuters: A World Bank investment in a Russian polysilicon producer this week will help expand supplies of the key ingredient used to make solar cells and bring down costs of solar energy, an official said on Friday. The bank's International Finance Corp this week announced it had brought a $50 million equity stake in Nitol and provided a $25 million loan to the company to help establish new production facilities in Usoliye Sibirskoye, in southeastern Siberia. Lance Crist, a senior ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United States: 11 cities seeking places to raise wind turbines
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/26212809.html?location_refer=Local%20+%20Metro
Star Tribune: Residents in Anoka and 10 other cities across the state could soon be looking up to the whipping blades of a wind turbine towering over their communities. The turbines are part of a project by the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA), an electricity cooperative made up of metro and outstate cities that hopes to bring wind power off large turbine farms in rural areas and into homes. While plans for the turbines are in the early stages, the project's leaders are beginning to ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Activists in power station threat
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3bPzpfReR4zCefIBk-Q_gO7GSjw
Press Association: Climate change activists are gathering for a week-long protest camp at the proposed site of a new coal-fired power station. One protester said that activists were ready to break the law peacefully in order to shut down the coal-fired plant already in operation on the site at Kingsnorth, Kent, and block the construction of the new facility. The new power station would be the first coal-fired plant in the UK for more than 30 years, and owners E.ON say it will be cleaner than the ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Brazil launches rainforest fund
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7538480.stm
BBC: Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has launched an international fund to protect the Amazon rainforest and help combat climate change. The fund will promote alternatives to forest-clearing for people living in the Amazon, and support conservation and sustainable development Officials will seek donations abroad and aim to raise $21bn (Â£11bn) by 2021. But a government minister said Brazil would not accept foreign interference in its Amazon policy. The ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Brazil starts rain forest protection fund
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/02/Brazil_starts_rain_forest_protection_fund/UPI-84281217721974/
United Press International: Brazil is soliciting $21 billion in international donations to finance its efforts to protect the Amazon rain forest, government leaders say. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who announced the conservation effort in Rio de Janeiro, said Brazil understands the rain forest's impact on the global environment, Mercopress reported Saturday. "It's better for the country's image to do things right, so we can walk in international forums with our heads high," he ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Climate change hits water-deprived Cyprus
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1421096.php/Climate_change_hits_water-deprived_Cyprus__Feature_
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Every day at around noon, Maria Michaelidou drives the short distance from her home in the village of Palamytha to the community centre to collect a daily supply of bottled water for her family. Today, the community centre is closed and the 38-year-old mother of four is clearly upset. 'It has not rained all winter so we are forced to live on very little water,' says Maria. Located a few kilometres away from the southern coastal city of Limassol, Palamytha is among ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Coral reefs, polar bears in warming world
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/inbox/story/625107.html
Miami Herald: At this month's closing session of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium, a panel of reef scientists, ocean experts and journalists took on the daunting task of crystallizing almost 2,000 scientific presentations into four-minute summaries, while also providing the rationale of why the information was important. With so much trouble in the world, as Bob Marley would sing, why should people care about the future of coral reefs? Here's how the best minds in the world might answer that ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Australia: Federal opposition want solar means test stopped
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24116772-5006301,00.html
AAP: THE FEDERAL opposition says neither the industry nor the environment will benefit if the Rudd government raises the income bar on its solar panel rebate means test. In May, the Federal Government announced that families earning more than $100,000 would not be eligible for the $8,000 rebate for installing solar panels. But the opposition's spokesman for climate change, environment and urban water, Greg Hunt, says a means test makes it harder for anyone trying to reduce their ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Australia: Four steps to tackle global warming right now
http://www.theage.com.au/national/four-steps-to-tackle-global-warming-right-now-20080802-3p0c.html
Age: WHEN boutique beer label Little Creatures launched its Fitzroy restaurant last month, the managers realised that its inner-city location could pose problems. Traffic congestion around the Brunswick Street address, a lack of parking and the company's commitment to the unconventional meant cars were low on the list of transport solutions. So it bought 20 bicycles from Melbourne supplier Tony John, eight for the Melbourne store and the others for the flagship bar and brewery in ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
MIT Scientists Discover Inexpensive Way To Store Solar Energy
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011812668
All Headline News: In the latest breakthrough in the field of renewable energy, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found an inexpensive technology to store solar energy. The major advancement in inorganic chemistry is expected to solve key problems for people who spend a lot of money storing solar energy to use as a primary source of electricity. Daniel Nocera, a chemistry professor at MIT, and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed a ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Something old, something renewable
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/aug/02/ethicalholidays.cornwall
Guardian: We're in a corner of Cornwall that has some of the most spectacular beaches, local food and heritage in the county, but all my young children want to do is look at the "big machine that eats trees", otherwise known as the woodchip boiler. I wish I'd never mentioned it. The Trelowarren estate on the Lizard peninsula has been welcoming guests since, well, no one's exactly sure – the residing family, the Vyvyans, have been there for 600 years and their 1,000-acre property is ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Spain and Chile plan largest wind farm in South America
http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=14140&formato=HTML
MercoPress: Spain's energy firm Grupo Enhol and Chile's Haciendas Talinay announced earlier this week their joint venture Eolica Talinay that would have a capacity to produce 500 megawatts of electricity. The project would be built in three phases near the city of Ovalle, some 411 km north of Santiago. It would start in 2009 and would be completed in 2011, a statement issued by Enhol said. The project would include construction of aerial transmission lines, electricity substation and an ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: The figures do not add up
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-the-figures-do-not-add-up-883272.html
Independent: It is little wonder that the Government sought to bury the latest report it had commissioned from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) since the document contains some rather inconvenient truths about the UK's performance in reducing carbon dioxide emissions over recent years. The report argues that our national emissions, far from falling since the 1990s, as ministers often claim, have actually been increasing. The SEI identifies a serious problem with the way emission outputs ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Canada: Tories deny burying release of climate-change report
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hscCi2FMZbYxAIzkEs-rsRoF1Yvg
Canadian Press: The Harper government is dismissing suggestions that it tried to play down the release of a major report warning about serious health effects from climate change. Health Minister Tony Clement's communications director conceded Friday that the release could have gone "way differently and way better." But Rita Smith denied any attempt to bury the 500-page report by releasing it late Thursday with no fanfare. The Conservative government's hand was forced when parts of ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
USGS revises coal estimates
http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/08/02/news/wyoming/677beb14234151a687257498008072e1.txt
Associated Press: The U.S. Geological Survey has lowered its estimates of the amount of recoverable coal in the nation's most prolific coal field, but not enough to jeopardize the characterization by some that the United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal. The USGS report released this week estimates there are 77 billion short tons of recoverable coal in the Gillette field, down 29 percent from the 109 billion short tons estimated in 2002 in generally the same area. Fred Freme, coal industry ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: 'Climate caravans' to join march
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/7538956.stm
BBC: Climate change protesters are making final preparations for the start of a week-long protest camp at the proposed site of a new coal-fired power station. Several "climate caravans" have been heading for Hoo, in Kent, where activists have set up the Climate Camp near the Kingsnorth power station. They are expected to join a march from Rochester to Kingsnorth on Sunday. Kent Police said it had a Â£1m law enforcement budget, with 1,400 officers from 26 forces on ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Brazil's rainforest cash campaign
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7530000/newsid_7538800/7538873.stm
BBC: There's a new drive to help protect the amazing Amazon rainforest and stop climate change. The President of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, has launched an international fund which hopes to raise Â£11bn by 2021. Every minute of every day an area the size of a football pitch is knocked down in the rainforest. The money would be used on projects to find alternatives to chopping down the trees and research climate change. The Amazon rainforest spans nine ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Brazilian Government Launches International Fund To Protect Amazon Rainforest
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011813280
All Headline News: Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has announced the founding of a international fund that will serve to protect the Amazon Rainforest. The Brazilian government will accept donations from developed countries to support conservation and sustainable development and conduct research into alternatives to forest-clearing. The measure will also serve to protect indigenous people who are threatened by de-forestation. The fund has been developed now that Brazilian ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Businesses loosing billions by wasting energy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/02/eaenergy102.xml
Telegraph: Businesses are failing to take even simple steps to save energy, according to a major new report by industry leaders. The study by the Institute of Directors (IoD), which represents 52,000 company directors across the country, criticises UK firms for not doing enough to improve their energy efficiency at a time when energy prices are soaring. It warns that many businesses are failing to take basic energy-saving steps, such as turning off lights and computers at the end of the ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Dutch climate warming up faster than world average
http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2008/8/2/dutch-climate-warming-up-faster-than-world-average/
Antara: The Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI) has concluded that the climate in the Netherlands is becoming warmer much faster than the global average, Dutch media reported Friday. The temperature in the country has risen twice as fast as the world average since 1950, a report published by the national weather center Thursday was quoted as saying. Temperatures at the weather station in the central Dutch town of De Bilt, where the KNMI is headquartered, are now 1.5 times ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Nuclear energy: Pressure on government to act as it ponders its options
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/aug/02/economy.greenpolitics
Guardian: An EDF bid for British Energy may have been the favourite means to further the government's nuclear ambitions but it is not the only option. Britain generates just under 20% of its electricity from its existing nuclear power stations but much of that capacity is ageing and will have to be replaced. The government regards new nuclear plants as clean, secure and affordable and argues that it should have an integral role in its plan to reduce Britain's dependence on costly - and ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Nuclear options
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/02/nuclearpower.climatechange
Guardian: Is business as usual good enough? That question, or more sophisticated versions of it, is asked of two issues more than any other: energy and climate change. Both are huge challenges and both come with a deadline. Nuclear power straddles the two, since it inevitably forms part of the answer to Britain's energy needs and produces far less carbon emissions than gas or coal. So yesterday's collapse of a key part of the government's nuclear strategy was chalked up by many as yet another defeat ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
Canada: Record heat, flooding force Arctic park closure
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080801/park_closed_080801/20080802?hub=TopStories
CTV: Global climate change may be driving the factors behind the partial closure of one of Canada's Arctic parks, says Parks Canada. Much of Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island was cut off to visitors this week after flash flooding in the region. Parks officials continue to worry that erosion linked to warming weather may erode the walls of earth forming some of the park's lakes. That could flood large portions of the park. The park and surrounding communities have ...

Sun, 3 Aug 08
United States: State not on track to meet renewable energy goals
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10078970
Associated Press: State regulators are warning that California's electric utilities won't meet state-mandated goals to expand use of renewable energy if Congress doesn't extend tax credits for wind and solar power. The state's large investor-owned utilities are supposed to generate 20 percent of the power they sell from renewable energy sources by 2010. But a report released Friday by the California Public Utilities Commission says the utilities probably won't reach that goal until 2012 or ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
Despite sceptics' noise, scientific consensus is growing
http://www.smh.com.au/news/global-warming/despite-sceptics-noise-scientific-consensus-is-growing/2008/08/01/1217097533889.html
Sydney Morning Herald: Anyone keeping up with current affairs could be forgiven for thinking scientists are riven with doubt over climate change. Climate sceptics have enjoyed a resurgence as the federal Coalition danced around the introduction of carbon trading and heavy-polluting industries began an intensive lobbying effort to convince the Federal Government of their special needs. The Page Research Centre, a think tank associated with the Nationals, last week hosted a forum that concluded that the ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
Australia: After struggle with affluenza come intimations of morality
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24115365-16947,00.html
Australian: CLIVE Hamilton has considerable drawing power among the reading public, but will a book about non-religious spirituality based on the premise that we need to be good for goodness's sake walk off the shelves? Professor Hamilton took to the airwaves yesterday morning to talk up his latest offering, The Freedom Paradox: Towards a Post-secular Ethics. He explained to Radio National Breakfast host Fran Kelly that despite a surfeit of material possessions, people were unhappy and ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
China's 'rapid renewables surge'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7535839.stm
BBC: China's rapid investment in low carbon technologies has catapulted the nation up the global renewable energy rankings, a report shows. The Climate Group study said China invested $12bn (Â£6bn) in renewables during 2007, second only to Germany. However, it was expected to top the table by the end of 2009, it added. The findings have been published as China faces criticism over its air quality ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, which begin on 8 August. The ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
United States: EPA approves air permit for Navajo power plant
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jKINq4fACGLARzCKy_-Gc0MCojygD929CI480
Associated Press: Both environmentalists who have been fighting a proposed coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation and supporters of the project expected it: an air permit for the plant. On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency signed off on the permit for the Desert Rock Energy Project, which the agency says will set a new standard for coal-fired plants in the United States. Navajos hailed the EPA's decision as necessary to improve conditions on their vast reservation, while ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
China Announces More Pollution Controls
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104115
New York Times: China's environmental regulators on Thursday unveiled stricter emergency pollution controls for the Olympic Games that would shutter more factories and expand traffic restrictions if air quality failed to meet approved standards once the competition began next week. The measures, posted on the Web site of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, would be invoked during the Games only in the case of "extremely unfavorable weather conditions" – for example, hot, humid air without wind ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Former chief scientist, Sir David King, attacks new coal power station plans
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/01/eapower101.xml
Telegraph: The former Government chief scientist has launched a stinging attack on plans for Britain's first new coal-fired power station in 20 years - as thousands of climate change activists gather for a week of protests at the site. Professor Sir David King, who stood down at the end of last year, warned that a return to coal-fired power risked returning the planet to the pre-ice age era, when "the Antarctic was a tropical forest". A week-long protest called "Climate ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Incinerator targeted in climate change protest
http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Incinerator-targeted-in-climate-change-protest-newsinkent15044.aspx
Kent Online: Green activists will be laying a wreath at a controversial incinerator in a bid to highlight the health concerns associated with it, Yourmaidstone reports. Maidstone Green Party will be joining a convoy of caravans making their way to Allington Incinerator tomorrow as part of Climate Camp week, where the UKWIN group will be laying the wreath to make people aware of what effects the incineration has on the planet. The Green Party, which has long campaigned against the plant in ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
New source of ocean methane discovered
http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=8819&codi=35343&idproducttype=8&level=0
Environmental Expert: Scientists searching for an explanation for high levels of the potent greenhouse gas methane in the oceans have discovered a new means of production, which could explain the source of previously unaccounted for methane. The discovery has great significance for understanding the ocean's role in global warming. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that has contributed approximately 20 per cent to the Earth's warming since pre-industrial times. Now scientists have found that the ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
Solar breakthrough simplifies storage
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/07/31/solar_storage
Marketplace: Kai Ryssdal: Think about this fact for a second as you consider the high price of fossil fuels: Enough sunlight hits this planet every hour to meet its energy needs for an entire year. Energy crisis solved, right? Not to mention global warming, too. Except it's not that easy. The thing about solar power is that it's inefficient and expensive to store kind of power when the sun's not shining. Today, a researcher at MIT said he's found a way around the darkness, and that has ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
The Climate Costs of a Glass of Milk
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43413
Inter Press Service: A simple glass of milk on the breakfast table can carry high environmental costs. Because of this, some farmers and scientists are looking for ways to reduce the impacts of agriculture and livestock, which are responsible for 12 to 14 percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases. There are already studies to measure the climate costs of that glass of milk, or of a country's entire milk production, from raising the cow to the final product on the table. The farming sector's ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
Wind energy lobbyist maps US power superhighway
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN3149186820080801
Reuters: Cutting photocopier costs was once Randall Swisher's top concern, now it's redrawing the United States' power grid into a $60 billion superhighway. When Swisher became executive director of the industry group the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) in 1989, he had four employees and fuel was cheap. So the energy business largely ignored him. Ten years ago, cutting office costs topped the agenda. Now, with all-time high fossil fuel prices and rising worries about global ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
Wis. governor says no to coal for power plants
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-doyle-coal,0,446094.story
Associated Press: Gov. Jim Doyle says the state should lead by example and move away from using coal at state-owned power plants in Madison. Doyle said Friday the state must lower greenhouse gas emissions and encourage new alternative energy sources. The governor's comments come after a global warming task force he created called for dramatically cutting greenhouse gas emissions. A study released Friday looked at 13 options for the three existing state-owned heating plants in Madison. ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Â£12bn nuclear deal collapses
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVXJFKEMW2OH_6zvQR9BtmOlltSw
Press Association: The UK's nuclear power strategy is mired in uncertainty after a takeover of generator British Energy collapsed at the 11th hour. The Â£12 billion swoop by state-owned EDF of France had been seen as a key step towards the proposed construction of new nuclear power plants in the UK. But EDF's hopes of unveiling a takeover deal were dashed when two of British Energy's biggest City shareholders reportedly called for a higher price tag to reflect rising energy prices. The ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
2 Reports Raise Hopes on Energy
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/us/01hydrogen.html?_r=1&ref=environment&oref=slogin
New York Times: Storing energy is a crucial but expensive component of plans to turn intermittent sources of energy, like wind and sun, into reliable replacements for coal and natural gas. But two new scientific papers show progress in materials science and chemistry that could cut the cost. The advances apply to the process of converting electricity into hydrogen for storage and then converting the hydrogen back to electricity when needed. The first half is done in an electrolyzer, which splits a ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
Brazil: Biodiesel to Bring Electricity to Amazon Villages
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43405
Inter Press Service: Oil from native tucuma, ouricurÃ and murumurÃº palm trees will be used to provide electricity to isolated communities in the depths of the Brazilian Amazon, which are too remote to supply with power by conventional means. A research team is preparing to start producing biodiesel this year at a plant in CarauarÃ, a district of 25,000 people that can only be reached by a 1,600-kilometre river journey, or by a two-and-a-half hour flight from Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state. ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate change means more floods for a drying Thames basin
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/37823
WWF: A drying Thames river basin in the UK would still face five times the current risk of flooding by 2080, a recent assessment of the effects of climate change has found. The Thames Vulnerability Assessment Report prepared by WWF-UK also found dire results for fish and wildlife, the lawns and flowerbeds of the traditional English garden and London's antiquated sewers and drains. The 14 million people in the internationally important basin – and the additional two million expected ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
United Kingdom: EDF decision sets back UK nuclear power plans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/01/edf.britishenergy.nuclear1
Guardian: Gordon Brown's plans to initiate the construction of a new generation of nuclear power stations suffered a setback today after the dramatic collapse of a Â£12bn takeover deal for British Energy. The French power giant EDF abandoned its plans to buy British Energy, the nuclear power group, after negotiations broke down unexpectedly at the last minute over the price. The decision will hold up the construction of new nuclear power stations, which the prime minister believes are ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
Global shakeup 'behind diversity shift'
http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/science/autocodes/countries/indonesia/global-shakeup-behind-diversity-shift-$1234354.htm
InTheNews.co.uk: London's watery past may provide the answers to conservation challenges posed by climate change, it has been claimed. An international team of researchers publishing their study in today's Science journal claims their findings help explain how the hub of marine life on Earth has shifted over time. Fifty million years ago a shallow tropical sea covered much of what is now north-western Europe, containing a diversity of life unparalleled elsewhere on the planet. Since then ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
Green pond algae 'could be made into biofuel'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/01/eaalgae101.xml
Telegraph: The green algae floating on top of ponds could be transformed into fuel for cars and planes in the future, an energy company has claimed. The liquid fuel would be chemically identical to crude oil but would not contribute to climate change when it was burnt, Sapphire Energy say. The so-called 'green crude oil' produced from algae could be converted into diesel or petrol using conventional refineries. The San Diego based company also boast that unlike other biofuels, ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
United States: State's global warming solutions should produce good jobs
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/31/EDGH122UNM.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Today is the final day for public comments on the draft plan for implementing AB32, California's global warming solutions plan, and one area that has still received far less attention than it should is the key role California's workers must play in restructuring our economy to reduce our carbon footprint. Here are some ideas we should incorporate into the plan: -- Invest in the California workforce. We need to make sure there is an adequate supply of workers trained in the new ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
The climate change clock is ticking
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/01/climatechange.carbonemissions
Guardian: The UK is in denial about its real carbon emissions, suggests a report from the Stockholm Environment Institute. The academics conclude that if "outsourced" emissions produced in countries like China on goods which are imported into the UK are included in our total carbon footprint, this country's total greenhouse gas emissions are 49% higher than currently reported. So we should think twice when blaming the Chinese for emitting the CO2 that is required in the manufacture of our ...

Sat, 2 Aug 08
U.S. Utilities Advance Solar Projects
http://www.enn.com/business/article/37821
ENN: Several major U.S. utility companies may accelerate plans to integrate solar power into their electricity mix following a fact-finding trip to Germany. Twenty-three electric utilities were represented on the trip to Germany, the world's leading producer and installer of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. All of them may now advance solar projects in the United States, a trip leader said, further expanding a growing solar market. "Every single utility would decrease the time ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
United Kingdom: A dangerous untruth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/01/ukcoal.climatechange
Guardian: Imagine the impact of the second world war. This, according to former World Bank chief economist Nicolas Stern, captures the scale of the economic impact of climate change, left unchecked. The social and environmental effects are predicted to be similarly catastrophic. Given the widely accepted need for rapid and deep cuts in CO2 emissions, the response to E.ON's application to build the UK's first coal-fired power station in 30 years, at Kingsnorth in Kent, and news that business secretary ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Can This Planet Be Saved?
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=104094
New York Times: Recently the Web site The Politico asked Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, why she was blocking attempts to tack offshore drilling amendments onto appropriations bills. "I'm trying to save the planet; I'm trying to save the planet," she replied. I'm glad to hear it. But I'm still worried about the planet's prospects. True, Ms. Pelosi's remark was a happy reminder that environmental policy is no longer in the hands of crazy people. Remember, less than two years ago Senator ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
China 'leads the world' in renewable energy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/01/renewableenergy.climatechange
Guardian: China is the world's leading producer of energy from renewable sources and is on the way to overtaking developed countries in creating clean technologies, according to a report by the Climate Group. Published today, the group's report, China's Clean Revolution, shows that supportive government policies investing billions of dollars in energy efficiency and renewables are driving huge levels of innovation in China. The Climate Group says that, despite its coal-dependent ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
China to Be World's Top Manufacturer of Green Energy Technology
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaIm318czoz8&refer=home
Bloomberg: China, the world's biggest greenhouse- gas emitter, is poised to lead world production of solar cells, wind power turbines and low-carbon energy technology. China is already the world's largest renewable-energy producer as measured by installed generating capacity, according to a report today from the Climate Group, a coalition of companies and governments that support solutions to global warming. The country is also the world's top manufacturer of solar cells and will be the leading ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
United Kingdom: Climate campers pitch tents to protest 'insanity'
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/07/31/climate.camp/
CNN: The site has been secured, the tents pitched, banners raised and, most importantly, compost loos installed; there is little to do now but wait for thousands of campers to arrive for one of Britain's biggest environmental protests this year. Last year, the Camp for Climate Action had the new Heathrow airport runway in its sights. This year they're targeting the proposed site of Britain's newest power station in its namesake village of Kingsnorth in England's Kent district. The ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Climate change? Blame your stuff
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1217566503179850.xml&coll=7
Oregonian: To cut energy use, save money and, while you're at it, live a greener life, you can turn down the air conditioning, back off the accelerator, hop on a bike. But when it comes to your personal energy tally, there's another big but not as commonly considered source: The stuff you buy. Every product, from televisions to teapots, takes energy to get to the shopping bag -- energy to mine raw materials, make the product and ship it. Yet that use goes unreported in Oregon's tracking ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Green Revolution Emerges in Smokestack China
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49609/story.htm
Reuters: China, pilloried as the world's biggest polluter, has quietly taken a lead in moving to a low carbon economy, an independent climate advisory group said on Friday. Although it is building one coal-fired power station a week and its carbon dioxide emissions have surged since 2002, from seven percent of the global total to more than 24 percent, China is also making strides in renewable energy and green technology. "Everybody sees China as this monster polluter, but it is doing so ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
MIT Develops Way to Bank Solar Energy at Home
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49613/story.htm
Reuters: A US scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night. A new catalyst produces the oxygen and hydrogen that fuel cells use to generate electricity, while using far less energy than current methods. With this catalyst, users could rely on electricity produced by photovoltaic solar cells to power the process that produces the fuel, said the ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Report warns of Canadian oil sands climate risks
http://www.euractiv.com/en/energy/report-warns-canadian-oil-sands-climate-risks/article-174693
EurActiv: The rush to exploit Canada's heavy tar-sand oil, which necessitates more energy to recover than conventional oils, could significantly increase global risks of dangerous climate change, warns a new report by the WWF and the Co-Operative Financial Services (CFS), a UK financial group. The exploitation of unconventional oil reserves in Canada and North America could increase global atmospheric CO2 levels by up to 15%, says the report, 'Unconventional Oil: Scraping the bottom of the ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
US Bill Renewing Clean Energy Credits Fails Vote
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49620/story.htm
Reuters: US legislation extending renewable energy and energy-efficiency tax credits failed a key procedural vote Wednesday and lawmakers will now set the bill aside, at least temporarily. The extensive tax package includes measures providing an eight-year extension of solar energy investment credits, and a one-year extension of tax credits for biodiesel, renewable diesel and wind power. The bill required 60 "yes" votes in the 100-member Senate to move forward, but received only ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Pakistan: 'Global warming can affect agricultural ecosystem'
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C08%5C01%5Cstory_1-8-2008_pg7_38
Daily Times: The agricultural ecosystem can collapse due to global warming and associated risks as it is feared that rising temperature can lead to catastrophes like droughts, water shortages, productivity and biodiversity loss across the world, said Dr Tariq Mehmood, University of Arid Agriculture Rawalpindi's (UAAR) Department of Environmental Sciences chairman, here on Thursday. Talking to a delegation of Monsoon Asian Agro-Environmental Research Consortium (MARCO) here, he said 70 percent of ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
As one door closes, another door opens to a healthier planet
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/as-one-door-closes-another-door-opens-to-a-healthier-planet/2008/07/31/1217097424368.html
Sydney Morning Herald: Lee Kuan Yew hailed it as one of man's greatest inventions, Boris Yeltsin claimed it gave him a cold and used it as an excuse to get out of work. Public Enemy sang about it, at least metaphorically, Jimmy Carter donned a cardigan and had words with the nation about turning it down and Bill Clinton increased its energy-efficiency standards months before leaving office. The common theme here is air-conditioning. Air-conditioning is not an inalienable right, but in a culture of constant ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
California moves ahead with plan to sue EPA
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_10060042
Press-Telegram: Fed up with the federal government's refusal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, aircraft and farm equipment, California announced Thursday it was preparing to lead five states and New York City in a landmark lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency. It's the second time this year California and its allies have pursued legal action to force federal air quality regulators to adopt a tougher stance on global-warming issues. During a news conference in the ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Canada: Climate change puts seniors' health at risk
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2008/08/01/6323941-sun.html
Edmonton Sun: Canada's elderly population -- expected to double in the next 25 years -- will be especially hard-hit by the dire effects of climate change, warns a sprawling study by Health Canada. The much-anticipated document, released late yesterday, says Canada will face climate change hazards ranging from more natural disasters to increases in infectious disease to spikes in respiratory illness. "Climate change is expected to increase a broad range of risks to the health of Canadians," ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
New Zealand: Fresh water's value
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/editorial/15803/fresh-water039s-value
Otago Daily Times: Precedence in access to fresh water resources has to be given to its vital uses - human consumption first, plant and animal growth second - yet it is surely extraordinary that in such a young country with such a low population, and abounding in apparently unlimited fresh water, that we have already reached the stage where water distribution involves rationing. "Climate change" notwithstanding, no year passes without water resources being placed under considerable strain ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Microbe diet key to carbon dioxide release
http://www.sindhtoday.net/world/8330.htm
Indo-Asian News Service: Microbes help decompose plant matter, enriching the soil with nutrients and releasing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Duke University scientists found that the ratio of nitrogen to carbon in this organic matter ensures how much nitrogen is available to plants and how much carbon dioxide is released. We have been able to demonstrate that the pattern of carbon dioxide release through decomposition is governed by the same properties everywhere, from the ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Canada: Oil: Tar sands less damaging than coal, insists Shell
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/01/oil.fossilfuels
Guardian: Shell warned environmentalists and ethical investors yesterday that failure to exploit tar sands and other unconventional oil products would worsen climate change because it would lead to the world burning even more carbon-heavy coal. Jeroen van der Veer, Shell's chief executive, said the world needed every kind of energy source it could find at a time of soaring demand. He said groups that had threatened to organise a ban on alternative fossil fuels should be careful because without ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Pelosi blocks offshore drilling vote GOP wants
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/01/MNSH122TA3.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: For weeks, pressure has been mounting in Congress to approve more domestic oil drilling, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has held the line, using her power to block a vote on offshore drilling. President Bush has made almost daily calls for Democratic leaders to take action. House GOP leaders, citing a new poll showing that a slim majority of Californians now favor offshore drilling, issued a release Thursday saying "even (Pelosi's) own California neighbors oppose her efforts to ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Russia Govt Shake-Up Stalls Kyoto Scheme Approvals
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49614/story.htm
Reuters: Russia has not approved any projects to cut greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol due to a reshuffle of government ministries by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia's top Kyoto official said on Thursday. Although six months have passed since applications were invited, none have been approved, the official, Oleg Pluzhnikov, told Reuters. Under the United Nations scheme, investors can sell emissions cuts to other industrialised nations, which need them to meet their own ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Staff Urged to Dress Down, Stay Cool as UN Heats Up
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49617/story.htm
Reuters: The United Nations is encouraging its New York staff to trade wool business suits for cooler attire this summer so the organization can slash air conditioning costs and help the environment. "There is going to be a relaxing of the dress protocols and people are being encouraged to wear lighter clothing," said US architect Michael Adlerstein, who is overseeing a US$1.8 billion renovation of the 60-year-old UN skyscraper. Adlerstein said about US$100,000 would be ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
'100 months' to stop overheating
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/01/carbonemissions.climatechange
Guardian: Rising greenhouse gas emissions could pass a critical tipping point and trigger runaway global warming within the next 100 months, according to a report today. The estimate from the New Economics Foundation is based on when emissions will reach such high levels that it "is no longer likely" the world will be able to avoid a 2C rise in average temperatures. "We know climate change is a huge problem, but there's a missing ingredient of urgency," said Andrew Simms, ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Zimbabwe: Africa should tackle climate change
http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=1523&cat=13
Herald: If you are one of the many Zimbabweans who do not know or do not care too much about climate change, perhaps it is time to think again. Climate change has become a global challenge and was the most contentious topic at this year's G8 Summit held in Japan. Of course, the Western media's attention was on what the G8 would have to say about political developments in Zimbabwe and so many people missed the fact that the meeting was mainly about climate. Our own Ministry of ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Australians ready for carbon scheme: Albanese
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/01/2321271.htm?section=justin
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese says Australians will be prepared for the cost of an emissions trading scheme even if there is a downturn in the economy. Poor retail sales and bank lending figures in recent days have led to further concerns about the future of the economy. But Mr Albanese says households and businesses understand the urgent need to do something about climate change. "Australia has already squandered 12 years due ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49612/story.htm
Reuters: The UK's Department for Transport on Thursday clarified rules surrounding the inclusion of aviation in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme from 2012. Aviation generates 3 percent of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the 27-member bloc but has been left out of the EU's flagship trading scheme so far due to fears it would damage the industry's ability to compete in international markets. With air traffic set to double by 2020, however, Europe is keen to apply the ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
World Bank Struggles to Prioritize Sustainability
http://www.enn.com/business/article/37815
Worldwatch Institute: World Bank investment projects fail to dedicate sufficient attention to long-term sustainability, an internal review said last week. Although the world's largest multinational financer has heightened its focus on mitigating environmental degradation and climate change in recent years, the institution places uneven emphasis on the economic benefits of environmental preservation, the assessment revealed. The World Bank considers itself among the world's leading advocates for ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Cheap way to 'split water' could lead to abundant clean fuel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/31/energyefficiency.energy
Guardian: Scientists have found an inexpensive way to produce hydrogen from water, a discovery that could lead to a plentiful source of environmentally friendly fuel to power homes and cars. The technique, which mimics the way photosynthesis works in plants, also provides a highly efficient way to store energy, potentially paving the way to making solar power more economically viable. Hydrogen is a clean, energy-rich fuel that many experts believe could become important as nations ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Congress still deadlocked on tax credits for renewables
http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_10057502
San Jose Mercury News: Renewable energy companies in the Bay Area and investors in solar and wind projects suffered another defeat on Capitol Hill this week, as Congress failed again to extend tax credits that expire at the end of the year. With Congress leaving Friday for a long recess, the continuing gridlock over a variety of tax issues means September is the earliest that tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable sources could be enacted. Companies say they need at least six months of lead ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Exxon Mobil turns biggest US quarterly profit
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iyqhbREqQWI0VE1kowfNjvxDlcJwD929331O0
Associated Press: Exxon Mobil reported the fattest operating profit in U.S. corporate history Thursday but took a beating anyway – from politicians railing against Big Oil, drivers bleeding cash at the pump and investors who expected more. The world's largest publicly traded oil company turned a profit of $11.7 billion for the second quarter, lifted mostly by meteoric crude prices. Its earnings were up 14 percent from a year ago. Total sales: $138 billion – roughly the gross domestic product of ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Lawmakers to Big Oil: invest in alternative energy
http://uk.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_3_MOLT/idUKN3135461320080731
Reuters: Congressional Democrats on Thursday urged big oil companies to invest more of their record profits into boosting U.S. oil production and developing renewable energy instead of buying back their own stock. Exxon Mobil, which reported on Thursday the biggest quarterly corporate profit in history at $11.7 billion (5.9 billion pounds), has bought back $16 billion of its stock in the first half of 2008. Other oil companies have also spent billions of dollars buying their stock, earning the ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Oil Not Costly Enough to Prompt Needed Changes - Experts
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43397
Inter Press Service: Just about everyone is complaining about the high price of oil, but it does not even reflect the environmental costs and is still insufficient to promote the changes needed to ensure a less catastrophic future for humanity, experts warn. The "brutal and rapid" rise in the price of oil over the last few years has not generated changes that would bring about the indispensable regulation of the global economic system, but has merely given rise to "adaptations" that ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Senate Democrats call for EPA chief to resign
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hqL8ovqHhI2FutMS3xzjq5vY0W4AD927PVL80
Associated Press: Four Democratic senators called Tuesday for Stephen Johnson to resign as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to begin an investigation into whether he lied in testimony to a Senate committee. The senators, all members of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said Johnson – the first career scientist to head the agency – had repeatedly succumbed to political pressure on decisions vital to protecting health and the ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
UK in 'delusion' over emissions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7536421.stm
BBC: The UK has been living under a delusion over its claim to be cutting greenhouse gases, according to two reports that will shake the climate change debate. They show that instead of falling since the 1990s, UK greenhouse emissions have being growing in line with the economy. This is dependent on emissions from aviation, shipping and imported goods being counted. At the moment they are excluded under the internationally-agreed system for carbon accounts. Both ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
'Oil from algae' promises climate friendly fuel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/31/biofuels.travelandtransport
Guardian: A liquid fuel made from plants that is chemically identical to crude oil but which does not contribute to climate change when it is burned or, unlike other biofuels, need agricultural land to produce sounds too good to be true. But a company in San Diego claims to have developed exactly that – a sustainable version of oil it calls "green crude". Sapphire Energy uses single-celled organisms such as algae to produce a chemical mixture from which it is possible to extract fuels for cars ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
California threat to sue US govt over ship, aircraft emissions
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iEX1t5PYvACsBatkGLZeLD9Y2jmQ
Agence France-Presse: California said Thursday it planned to sue the US government for failing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, aircraft, construction and agricultural equipment. In the latest legal threat from the state against the Environmental Protection Agency, California's Attorney General Jerry Brown said the body was "wantonly ignoring" its duty to set pollution standards. California is already suing the EPA over the agency's failure to approve the state's proposed ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Canadian infrastructure at risk from climate change, engineering panel warns
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=dce7983b-40ca-413b-a9f4-deff482890d6
Canwest News Service: Climate change is making Canadian roads, water supplies, sewer systems and government buildings more vulnerable to multibillion-dollar failures that place human health and safety at risk, warns a new national engineering assessment uncovered by the Vancouver Sun. The study, Adapting to Climate Change, is the first national engineering vulnerability assessment in Canada and comes on the heels of other government reports about the impacts of global warming and potential health ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Canada: Climate-change researchers should use more data to avoid errors: study
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hKXJHl_6mj0LgMGxYvZ54hxp_YWQ
Canadian Press: Many biologists who are studying the potential impacts of climate change on different species and the environment could be coming to faulty conclusions unless they widen the scope of their research, a new Canadian study suggests. The report, published in the journal Global Change Biology, suggests biologists often use only one of the 31 different climate-change models provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Those models, while generally consistent at ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Congress takes five-week vacation without passing energy bill
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10059455
Salt Lake Tribune: Congress sets off on summer vacation Friday with Republicans and Democrats fired up over the lack of action on gas prices and blaming each other for not lessening the pain at the pump. The House and Senate are taking a five-week-long vacation starting Friday afternoon, but before they cast off, members took turns sniping at the opposing party for their inability to pass any legislation affecting oil prices. Utah's Republican senators, Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, argued ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Creation itself under threat from environment damage, church leaders say
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/07/31/eachurch131.xml
Telegraph: Bishops gathered in Canterbury for their once-a-decade meeting, the Lambeth Conference, say their discussions have proved that the changing climate is already a pressing concern in many countries, where crops are failing and deserts growing. They say the church must provide moral leadership in warning of the dangers of increasing pollution and in telling worshippers to repent of their ecological sins. Safeguarding "God's creation" should also be a prominent part of a ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Canada: Diseases, heat-related deaths likely to spike from climate change: report
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/07/31/climate-report.html
CBC: A new Health Canada report warns Canadians of the potential health risks of climate change, including spikes in heat-related deaths, an increase in respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and the spread and emergence of diseases. "The findings of this assessment suggest the need for immediate action to buttress efforts to protect health from current climate hazards," says the 500-page report, entitled Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Exxon posts record $11.68 billion profit
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/31/news/companies/exxon_profits/?postversion=2008073110
CNN: <body>Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income of $11.68 billion on revenue of $138 billion in the second quarter. That profit works out to $1,485.55 a second. That barely beat the previous corporate record of $11.66 billion, also set by Exxon in the fourth quarter of 2007. "The fundamentals of our business remain strong," Henry Hubble, Exxon's vice president of investor relations, said on a ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Green group touts Al Gore's clean energy goal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN3151584420080731
Reuters: The head of a group founded by Al Gore told lawmakers on Thursday that the former vice president's goal of generating all U.S. electricity from clean, renewable sources within 10 years is ambitious but attainable. Cathy Zoi, CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection, told the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming that there were no technological or other obstacles in the way of clean power. "Many Americans have a hard time thinking about our ...

Fri, 1 Aug 08
Health Canada issues climate change health warning
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jB1hmGJoZzjWf376PHzgXalJ4CGg
Canadian Press: A major Health Canada report is warning of a jump in health problems across the country as the planet's climate changes, ranging from more heat-related illnesses and deaths to outbreaks of previously unknown infectious diseases. A 500-page report released Thursday urges the federal government to act immediately to gird the nation for an onslaught of climate change calamities. "The findings of this assessment suggest the need for immediate action to buttress efforts to ...