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Tue, 30 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Delegates welcome Tory plan for high-speed rail link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/29/toryconference.conservatives 4
Guardian: Delegates at the Conservative conference cheered today as Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, said a future Tory government would say no to a third runway at Heathrow and instead give the green light to a £20bn 180mph rail link between Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London. "This is one of the hardest decisions we've faced as a party and we will not run away from it," she said. A high-speed link from St Pancras to Heathrow, connecting the north, could replace ...

Tue, 30 Sep 08
Vietnam: Heeding Climate Change Warnings
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44046
Inter Press Service: With a predicted sea level rise of one metre by 2100, Vietnam may end up being one of the nations worst hit by climate change. Such a rise would affect five percent of the land area, 11 percent of the population and seven percent of the agriculture. With worsening storms and flooding already lapping at its shores, this South-east Asian country is heeding the dire warnings. A report released by World Vision on Sep. 18, 'Planet Prepare', focused on the multi-faceted climate ...

Tue, 30 Sep 08
Tories signal support for UK high speed rail
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2227083/tories-signal-supp ort-uk-speed
Business Green: The Conservative party will today seek to reinvigorate its environmental agenda with a high-profile pledge to ditch plans for a third runway at Heathrow in favour of a TGV-style high-speed rail network linking London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. The party said that the 180mph line would aim to cut 66,000 flights a year from Heathrow by tempting domestic travellers onto trains capable of travelling from London to Birmingham in 45 minutes; London to Manchester in 80 minutes; and ...

Tue, 30 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Are the Conservative party's plans for a high speed train really that green?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/29/travelandtransport.tory conference
Guardian: So the Tories want a high speed rail line rather than a third runway at Heathrow. Leaving aside the fact that Boris Johnson wants a new airport in the middle of the Thames Estuary which suggests that the party is not quite singing from the same hymn sheet, there are lots of reasons to be sceptical about whether a high speed line – called HS2 in the business, as HS1 is St Pancras to the Channel tunnel – will ever be built. Politics first, though. It is commendable that the Tories are ...

Tue, 30 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Conservative conference: Tories unveil plans to encourage energy-efficient homes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/29/toryconference.conservatives 5
Guardian: Businesses that improve the energy efficiency of their employees' homes will be able to offset the savings against the company's own carbon footprint under radical Conservative proposals unveiled today. Grant Shapps, the shadow housing minister, said that the scheme would make real reductions in Britain's overall carbon emissions and help companies take their corporate social responsibility seriously. He told Conservatives at the party's autumn conference in Birmingham: ...

Tue, 30 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Tory transport plans received mixed response
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/29/toryconference.transport1
Guardian: Rail groups hailed but business criticised Conservative plans, unveiled today, to scrap the third runway at Heathrow and build a £20bn rail link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. John Stewart, the chairman of Heathrow anti-expansion group Hacan, said the Tory plan was "a bold one fitting for the 21st century". He said: "The Conservatives realise that business is not clamouring for a third runway. What they desperately want is a better rather than a bigger ...

Tue, 30 Sep 08
Big oil sands: In remote northern Alberta, bitumen industry is booming
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/09/28/business/biz84.txt
Billings Gazette: They say everything is big in Texas, which is still the major producer of crude oil in the United States. Well, you might say everything is bigger in the Canadian province of Alberta, the site of the fastest-growing oil-extraction project on earth. There, giant shovels scoop up 100 tons of oil-saturated sands in one pass and dump them into 33-foot-high trucks that carry 400 tons. Tens of thousands of workers swarm over billions of dollars' worth of construction ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Canada PM Oil Sands Plan Puzzles Industry, Greens
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50380/story.htm
Reuters: Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Friday he would ban exports of tar-like bitumen from Alberta's oil sands to countries that do not match Canadian efforts to cut carbon emissions, a campaign promise that perplexed both the oil industry and environmentalists. The policy could affect Asian countries that are the target of a proposed Enbridge Inc pipeline that would move oil sands-derived crude to Canada's West Coast to be shipped across the Pacific Ocean by tanker, Harper ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
China's the biggest carbon polluter
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008929story_29-9-2008_pg6_1 7
Agence France-Presse: China has leapfrogged the United States as the world's biggest carbon emitter and India is heading for third place, scientists said on Friday in a report that warned global greenhouse-gas levels were scaling record peaks. The report, by a research consortium called the Global Carbon Project (GCP), confirms an estimate that China has become the biggest producer of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal gas that causes global warming. Until 2005, rich countries emitted most of the world's ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Obama Says Wall St Bailout May Cut His Energy Plan
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50393/story.htm
Reuters: US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Friday that if elected he might have to scale back his plan for energy investment to help pay for a proposed US$700 billion financial industry bailout. "I want to make sure that we are investing in energy in order to free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. Now, that is a big project. That is a multi-year project," Obama said in a televised debate with Republican rival John McCain. "I'm not willing to give up the ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
One More Chance on Energy
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/opinion/29mon2.html
New York Times: Last December, Congress passed a useful energy bill that ratcheted up fuel economy standards for the first time in decades. That seems a long, long time ago. Since then, Congress has gone steadily and sadly backward on energy policy. One reason is the bitter partisan divide, especially in the Senate, where Republicans have made it impossible for innovative ideas to achieve a filibuster-proof 60 votes. Combine that with Republican pandering (joined by a fair number of Democrats) on ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Tories plan £20bn 180mph rail link instead of Heathrow third runway
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/29/toryconference.transport
Guardian: A third runway at Heathrow airport would be scrapped by a Tory government that would instead build a £20bn TGV-style high speed rail link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. In one of David Cameron's boldest moves on the environment, the party will today unveil plans to cut 66,000 flights a year from Heathrow by tempting passengers on to the first new rail line north of London in more than a century. Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, told the ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
US climate debate may be sidelined
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/us-climate-debate-may-be-sidelined-2008092 8-4pno.html
Age: AN INCONVENIENT truth, rarely mentioned in Australia's climate change debate, is that the effectiveness of any state-led response to the greatest challenge of the 21st century rests in the hands of two countries: America and China. Unless the two powers, which together contribute almost half the world's carbon dioxide emissions, can reach agreement on obligations to slash their emissions, there is scant hope that the international community will be able to stabilise atmospheric ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Aussies put jobs 'before climate change'
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=638529
AAP: Australians are putting their jobs before climate change, a new poll shows. The 2008 Lowy Institute Poll revealed that Australians want action on climate change, but not if it costs jobs or hits them in the back pocket. A telephone poll of 1001 people conducted between July 12 and 28, 21 per cent were not prepared to pay anything extra on their electricity bill to help solve climate change. Another 32 per cent favoured paying only $10 per month extra on their electricity ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Aussies want renewables not coal - poll
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24417572-26103,00.html
Australian: AUSTRALIANS want the Government to invest profits from an emissions trading scheme (ETS) in renewable energy not the coal industry, a Newspoll shows. The poll, commissioned by Greenpeace Australia, found 84 per cent of respondents didn't want profits to be used to compensate the coal industry. And just 10 per cent think coal-fired power generators should be compensated under the scheme. Greenpeace spokeswoman Trish Harrup called on the Federal Government to amend its ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Australia Carbon Plan May Chill Investment Climate
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50385/story.htm
Reuters: Australia's plans to protect its climate from global warming, by cutting greenhouse gases, could end up playing havoc with its investment climate instead. The government has promised to make polluters pay for their carbon emissions within two years, but there is still confusion and controversy over how the system should work. Even a very modest reduction target could wipe out billions of dollars in profits from listed firms, such as steel-makers and mining companies, without ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Australia Could Get 35% of Power Supply From Waves, Study Shows
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aY782IUv3oGU&refer=aust ralia
Bloomberg: Australia could economically get 35 percent of its needs for continuous power supply from energy generated by waves, helping cut greenhouse gases, said Carnegie Corp., an Australian clean-energy technology company. The country has a wave energy resource in near-shore areas where water is less than 25 meters deep of about 171,000 megawatts, Perth-based Carnegie said today, citing a report. That's about four times total installed power generating capacity, it said, citing research from ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Britain explores the supply chain as a carbon target
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24415280-5005200,00.html
Australian: WHILE the Australian Government continues its consultations on the proposed emissions trading scheme, companies in Britain have begun looking for creative ways to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing energy use in their supply chains. Booz & Co Sydney-based consultant Greg Lavery said several British companies had been examining more energy-efficient supply chains as a "hidden source of emissions reductions". "In a carbon-constrained environment, energy-efficiency ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Australia: Climate changes on how we rank economy
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/climate-changes-on- how-we-rank-economy/1284879.aspx
Canberra Times: The worldwide economic turmoil has led Australians to move the economy ahead of the environment on their priority list, according to a new poll. Last night, the Lowy Institute issued extracts of its 2008 poll, to be published today, showing that tackling climate change has dropped from equal first place along with protecting the jobs of Australian workers to equal fifth, when considering the country's most important foreign policy goals. Two-thirds of Australians now ranked ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Australia: Climate fight only worth $10 to Aussies
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24416711-2702,00.html
AAP: AUSTRALIANS have put a price on what they're prepared to pay to help fight climate change -- $10 extra a month on their electricity bill. The 2008 Lowy Institute Poll reveals that Australians want action on climate change, but not if it costs jobs or hits them in the back pocket. In a telephone poll of 1001 people conducted between July 12 and 28, a majority of 32 per cent favoured paying only $10 a month extra on their electricity bill to help solve climate ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Climate heats up lawsuits
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/29/climate-heats-up-lawsuits/
Washington Times: Climate change spilled over into the nation's laws and policies in recent days, giving environmentalists plenty of fodder for public interest lawsuits. Part of the problem is that everyone has a different idea on how the laws should be applied. One of the disputes contributed to the firing of former D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer in December. She filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a lawsuit by several states against the Environmental Protection Agency. The states want the ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Australia: Don't go soft on climate, PM warned
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/dont-go-soft-on-climate-pm-warned/20 08/09/28/1222540246989.html
Sydney Morning Herald: IN A move that will test the Rudd Government's climate credentials, Australia's leading climate scientists have written an open letter to the Prime Minister urging him to impose deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and back a tough global agreement that will avoid dangerous climate change. The 16 scientists, who all worked with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, warn "there is no time to lose" and call on Mr Rudd to slash Australia's emissions by at least ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
France Plans to End Biofuel Tax Breaks by 2012
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50382/story.htm
Reuters: The French government said on Friday it will phase out tax breaks for biofuels by 2012, arguing that higher oil and grain prices have removed the need for fiscal support. In its draft 2009 budget, the government said it will remove in stages from January reductions given to biodiesel and ethanol on France's national fuel tax (TIPP). "The cost price of biofuels is no longer structurally disconnected from those of standard fuels," the government said, stressing that crude oil ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Australia: Garnaut review to show way on emissions trading
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24415199-664,00.html
Herald Sun: CORPORATE Australia will tomorrow get the clearest picture yet of how emissions trading will affect its bottom line. It is the day Federal Government adviser Ross Garnaut releases his final Climate Change Review. The completed report will for the first time include detailed modelling from Treasury forecasting the financial impact on the business community, which could run to billions of dollars. Under Prof Garnaut's preferred carbon reduction scenario, outlined in his ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Japan to Subsidise Solar Equipment Home Use - Nikkei
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50378/story.htm
Reuters: Japan plans to provide a subsidy of about 200,000 yen (US$1,887) to households that buy a solar power system to promote its use and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday. The subsidy represents 10 percent of the cost of a standard solar power system, which is about 2 million yen, it said. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry hopes the subsidy will help stimulate mass production of such solar power systems and lower ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Scotland to build world's first 'wind farms under the sea'
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Scotland-to-build-world39s-first.4536146. jp
Scotman: SCOTLAND has taken a major step towards leading the way in marine renewable energy with the announcement that the world's first tidal farms could be built within three years. Two tidal projects, each with up to 20 turbines, could be installed on the seabed in the Pentland Firth and the Sound of Islay. A third is planned off the North Antrim coast in Northern Ireland. The aim is that all the underwater turbines would be coADVERTISEMENTnstructed in Scotland, kickstarting the renewables ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Spain Ratifies New 500-MW Solar Subsidy Cap
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50395/story.htm
Reuters: Spain's Cabinet has ratified proposals to set a new limit on subsidised solar power at a capacity level of 500 megawatts, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said on Friday. The approval ends weeks of wrangling over the new subsidy cap, which is far below the 1,200 MW fixed in a current subsidy scheme expiring on Monday that helped make Spain the world's third-largest solar market after Germany and the United States. A statement from the Cabinet office said ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
EU Eastern States Fear Carbon Plan Empowers Russia
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50384/story.htm
Reuters: Eastern members of the European Union said on Friday its tough plans to tackle global warming could force them to rely more on Russian gas and the bloc should be equally ambitious in ensuring their energy security. The EU is pushing through measures aimed at cutting CO2 emissions by a fifth by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, in hopes of averting the worst effects of climate change. But ex-communist EU members such as Warsaw fear such targets will increase their reliance on ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Australia: Hip pocket a bigger worry than climate
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/hip-pocket-a-bigger-worry-than-clima te/2008/09/28/1222540247028.html
Sydney Morning Herald: FEAR about the outlook for the economy and jobs have overtaken climate change as the top foreign policy concerns for Australians, according to a new poll to be released today. The Lowy Institute survey also found that 51 per cent were not confident in the Rudd Government's ability to deal with climate change and people were less convinced about the need to take immediate action to tackle the future effects of global warming. Those favouring action dropped from 68 per cent to 60 per ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Scottish Power Plans $184 Million Spend on Tidal Power Turbines
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a3HCt5SyVWFk&refer=euro pe
Bloomberg: Scottish Power Ltd., Iberdrola SA's U.K. unit, plans to invest more than 100 million pounds ($184 million) on tidal-power developments as the utility develops energy-production that doesn't add to carbon-dioxide emissions. Scottish Power is studying two sites in Scotland and another in Northern Ireland for deploying underwater turbines capable of generating a combined 60 megawatts of electricity, enough for more than 40,000 homes, the Glasgow-based company said today in a statement. ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Tidal power scheme to launch in Scotland
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/09/29/eatidal12 9.xml
Telegraph (UK): An experimental tidal power scheme is to be launched in Scotland. Underwater turbines which harness the power of the tides to generate electricity will be placed at three sites. The Lànstrøm tidal turbine, which will be used at the three Scottish tidal energy generation sites The Lànstrøm tidal turbine, which will be used at the three Scottish sites ScottishPower Renewables has identified the Pentland Firth, the Sound of Islay, and the North Antrim coast off ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Carbon capture and storage - should Europe invest 12bn?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/28/utilities.carboncapturestora ge
Guardian: It used to be called Stinky Town - a smoke-belching, coal-burning industrial powerhouse in what was once the heart of East Germany. But the old folk of Spremberg no longer have to check which way the wind is blowing before venturing outside. Earlier this month, Spremberg, or 'Stink-Stadt', made history. It is now host to the world's first power plant that collects emissions from coal burning and pipes them deep underground. Built by Swedish power firm Vattenfall, it emits up to 90 per ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
China: Clogged Beijing unveils new traffic controls
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/38276
Reuters: Flushed with the success of Olympic traffic controls and struck by the painful return to congested normality, Beijing on Saturday unveiled plans for smaller-scale but permanent controls on its drivers. Cars will be banned from the roads one out of five weekdays, in a system based on the number of their license plate, and 30 percent of government cars will be taken off the road entirely, the official Xinhua agency reported. The new rules will kick in for a six-month trial on ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Europe warms fast: Med drier, north ever wetter
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48R4GU20080928?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Europe is warming faster than the world average and governments need to invest to adapt to a changing climate set to turn the Mediterranean region arid and the north ever wetter, a study showed on Monday. Europe's mountains, coasts, the Mediterranean and the Arctic were most at risk from global warming, according to the report by the European Environment Agency and branches of the World Health Organization and the European Commission. "Global average temperature has increased ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
How the green path can lead to a stronger, wealthier nation
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/entertainment/books/20080928_How_the_green_p ath_can_lead_to_a_stronger__wealthier_nation.html
Philadelphia Inquirer: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America By Thomas L. Friedman Farrar, Straus and Giroux 438 pp. $27.95 Much is at stake when a new Thomas Friedman book comes out. He is one of our most influential writers; people read his books to feel for the pulse of the moment. In 1999, The Lexus and the Olive Tree introduced thousands to the notion of globalization; it was like the gun that went off to signal that word and idea had arrived. When The World Is Flat ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Return to the Good Life is the solution to the food crisis
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3097160/Return-to-the-Good-Life-is-t he-solution-to-the-food-crisis.html
Telegraph (UK): Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University, urged people to follow the example of the 1970s sitcom The Good Life starring Felicity Kendal and Richard Briers, by cultivating their own food in their back gardens or in allotments. Prof Lang, who advises the Government on the crisis, said that people who relied on the large supermarkets for their food did so at their peril. "Ultimately people have to take more control of their food systems," he said. "If you ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Netherlands: Scientists work with algae to see if it could become the fuel of the future
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gQ3sAwA4Lwa15Z-fIiZyWJejgRUg
Canadian Press: Set amid cornfields and cow pastures in eastern Holland is a shallow pool that is rapidly turning green with algae, harvested for animal feed, skin treatments, biodegradable plastics - and with increasing interest, biofuel. In a warehouse about 200 kilometres southwest, a bioreactor of clear plastic tubes is producing algae in pressure-cooker fashion that its manufacturer hopes will one day power jet aircraft. Experts say it will be years, maybe a decade, before this simplest ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Solar Cell Sets World Efficiency Record at Over 40%
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1570520/solar_cell_sets_world_efficie ncy_record_at_over_40/
redOrbit: ENERGY Scientists at the U.S. Dept. of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8% of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date. The so-called inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell was designed, fabricated and independently tested at NREL. The 40.8% efficiency was measured under concentrated light ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
The Yup'ik Eskimos are the world's first climate-change refugees
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/28/alaska.climatechange
Guardian: Peter John has known for years that the change was coming. The elders had foretold it. As a young Eskimo boy he would sit at the feet of his father and grandfather, uncles and great uncles as they arranged themselves in a circle in the qasgiq, the house built of sods dug deep into the tundra and reserved only for the men. Outside, snow would lay thick on the ground and the sea would be a single block of ice. Inside, the heat of the men's bodies would keep young Peter warm. An elder would be ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Africa awash in sunlight, but not solar energy
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMM7je0c_5HgWo2_K64Ptt-BRdyg
Agence France-Presse: From household solar panels to thermal generators big enough to power a town, sun power has enjoyed explosive growth around the world. Everywhere, that is, except on the sun-drenched continent of Africa. With an average daily dose of five-to-seven kilowatts per hour (kWh) for every square metre (10 square feet), Africa has more potential for producing energy from the sun than almost anywhere on Earth, with the possible exception of northern Australia or the Arabian ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Al Gore calls for civil disobedience against new coal plants
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0928-gore_hance.html
Mongabay: Former Vice President and Nobel Prize winner, Al Gore, told the audience at the Clinton Global Initiative that the moment had arrived for civil disobedience against new coal plants. 'If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done,' Gore said, according to Reuters. 'I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Kiribati: Climate change 'sinking Pacific nation'
http://news.theage.com.au/national/climate-change-sinking-pacific-nation-20 080928-4pm1.html
AAP: An immigrant from a tiny Pacific Ocean nation is appealing to the Australian government to assist in evacuations because she says her homeland is sinking under rising sea levels. Currently bedridden with pneumonia, Kiribati Australia Association member Wanita Limpus in a statement told the Climate Emergency Week rally outside Queensland's Parliament House how climate change was destroying her home nation. Ms Limpus said since she left Kiribati in 1976 to marry her Australian ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Canada: No-emissions house takes builder from zero to eco-hero
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=74137e43-7ebc-4d5f-8908 -e486090985a9
Edmonton Journal: Peter Amerongen was a self-described hippie building log houses in the 1970s when the energy crisis hit. That's when he started designing decidedly more airtight and insulated houses -- a baby step towards his latest project, a hyper-efficient duplex that produces at least as much energy as it consumes. "Then it was about scarcity. I was convinced nothing was infinite and that we needed to save energy for future generations." View Larger ImageThe Riverdale NetZero ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Greenland: Roar of melting glacier sounds
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Enter tainment/28-Sep-2008/Roar-of-melting-glacier-sounds-climate-change-alarm
Agence France-Presse: Flying low over the vast expanse of Greenland's Ilulissat glacier, one of the world's biggest, the effects of global warming are painfully visible as the ice melts at an alarming rate. The helicopter lands on a granite cliff overlooking the Ilulissat ice fjord, or Kangia in Greenlandic, offering a magnificent, panoramic view of elaborate ice formations as they float towards the sea at a rate of two metres (yards) an hour, spilling massive icebergs into the open water. Off in ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
United Kingdom: The Queen tackles climate change by buying world's biggest wind turbine off North East coast
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1063549/The-Queen-tackles-climate-c hange-buying-worlds-biggest-wind-turbine-North-East-coast.html
Daily Mail: The Queen's estate has purchased the world's biggest wind turbine in a bid to tackle climate change. The 100-metre high turbine will supply 7.5 megawatts of power to the national grid when it is installed off the North East coast of England. It is hoped the Queen's involvement will speed up the development of specialist deep water turbines and encourage energy firms to invest in renewable energy. The Queen's estate has bought the 100-metre off-shore wind turbine, which ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Wind power is blowing our way
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpwind285861517sep28,0,1172749.story
Newsday: The winds of change may be returning to New York's energy landscape. There were three signs this month that things are starting to blow in the right direction for clean and renewable energy. The optimism began with the announcement last week that the Long Island Power Authority and Consolidated Edison have started a joint study for an offshore wind project in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of the Rockaways. This follows a Public Service Commission ruling allowing a major ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
United States: As emissions grow, so does opportunity
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/1269560.html
Editorial: In recent weeks, the crisis in the world's financial markets has eclipsed concern over climate change. That's understandable. When your house is on fire, it's hard to get worked up about a hurricane on the horizon. But the hurricane is still coming, and a study released last week by the Global Carbon Project, a consortium of scientists based in Australia, suggests that the storm is building faster than expected. According to the report, the world's nations set a record for ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Cities can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Cities_can_help_reduce_greenh ouse_gas_emissions/articleshow/3536785.cms
Economic Times: A new study has determined that cities are being unfairly blamed for most of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions and this threatens efforts to tackle climate change, as cities are part of the solution and not the problem. The study, which appears in the October 2008 issue of the journal Environment and Urbanization, says cities are often blamed for 75 to 80 percent of emissions, but that the true value is closer to 40 percent. It added that the potential for cities to help ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
End of offshore oil drilling ban signals shift of US energy strategy
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/28/content_10126969.htm
Xinhua: U.S. Senate on Saturday approved the lifting of a quarter-century ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, a move analysts say marks a major shift in U.S. energy strategy. Senators approved a 630-billion-dollar spending bill by a 78-12 vote. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the same bill which dropped the offshore drilling bans. The move indicates that the United States has shifted from heavy reliance on imports to a balance between imports and self-reliance in ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Japanese make post-Kyoto plan
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=d805baaf-efc5-4b95-a77 6-b1d06473ccd0
McClatchy-Tribune: The Japanese government plans to propose setting more than one base year in the post-Kyoto Protocol framework, in a bid to improve the current system believed to be disadvantageous to Japan as it has already made progress in energy saving, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. In the proposed framework that will succeed the Kyoto accord in 2013, the government also will call on the United Nations to impose obligations on countries considered by Japan as newly industrialized countries, such ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Motorists seek more green cars
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvnYlItos6luWLfRd1BmpAd3U9OQ
Press Association: Environmental considerations are driving more motorists to seek green alternatives when considering a new car, it was revealed. Three in four buyers would look for a vehicle with low carbon dioxide emissions when making their next purchase, a survey for the Newspaper Marketing Agency (NMA) found. Two in three of the 2,665 people polled would change their choice of car to reduce their emissions, while 51% were prepared to pay more for low-emission technology. The survey ...

Mon, 29 Sep 08
Gore Warns of Sub-Prime Carbon Catastrophe
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2008/2008-09-27-01.asp
Environment News Service: "I believe we've reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction [applause] of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration," Al Gore declared at the opening session of the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting this week at the Sheraton New York. Coal-fired power plants emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide that is joining other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, blanketing the planet and raising the global ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Uganda: Path to progress; why cutting down Mabira is not an option
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_business/Path_to_progress_why_c utting_down_Mabira_is_not_an_option_72204.shtml
Sunday Monitor: Jeffrey Sachs has a new book out. The renowned author and economist, in a follow-up to his 2005 best seller, "The End of Poverty," continues his assessment of the global economy and what it will take to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In the book titled, "Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet," Sachs argues that unless the world comes together to face the four major challenges of global poverty, stabilising the global population, narrowing the gaps between the rich ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Climate talks
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/climate-talks/2008/09/27/1222217588636.htm l
Sydney Morning Herald: CALIFORNIA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he planned to invite politicians from around the globe to try to find solutions to the problem of climate change. The Governor said yesterday he would invite officials from Australia, as well as from Europe, China, India and other countries, to California, in the hope of forming an international alliance of community and regional leaders. He is planning the conference for November, a month before the United Nations holds its next ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Gore Says Climate Change Deserves Attention The Bailout Is Getting
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10577439
San Jose Mercury News: Al Gore said in San Jose Saturday that the climate crisis deserves the same type of attention and money from Washington that the financial meltdown is getting. "Instead of a focus only on a bailout, we need to bail in renewable energy," Gore said during a 50-minute speech at the Civic Auditorium. Gore, who turned 60 this year, was a three-term U.S. Senator from Tennessee, vice president for eight years and narrowly lost the 2000 presidential election to George Bush. But it was ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Celebrities embark on climate change voyage
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/09/25/cape.farewell/?iref=intlOnly onCNN
CNN: If the craggy, icy west coast of Greenland doesn't inspire them, perhaps Vanessa Carlton's vodka infusions will. British comedian Marcus Brigstocke aboard the Cape Farewell ship in 2007. He's back again this year. On Friday, the American singer-songwriter and self-professed "expert infuser" will join an unlikely ensemble of 40 artists, scientists and musicians aboard the 10-day "Cape Farewell" expedition to Disko Bay. Musicians Jarvis Cocker, KT Tunstall, Martha ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Climate change and allergies a bad mix
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/1189163,CST-NWS-allergy28.article
Chicago Sun-Times: If you have respiratory allergies, you have an environmental problem: Something in the air is making you sniffle, sneeze, feel stuffed up or wheeze. And growing evidence suggests your problem might be linked with the biggest environmental problem of all: global climate change. That could be especially true for pollen sufferers. Tree, grasses and weeds -- including the ragweed tormenting many people right now -- churn out more pollen over more weeks when temperatures and carbon ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
United States: Global warming unites outdoor groups
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20080927/NEWS/809269872/1062&title=Global% 20warming%20unites%20outdoor%20groups
Rocky Mountain News: Too little snow to track elk; water too warm for trout's liking; birds at higher elevations than they were a decade ago. Global warming is real enough to Colorado's anglers and hunters that they've embraced an idea by an environmental group to hold workshops on how to deal with changing and dwindling habitat where they hunt and fish. "Wildlife at a Crossroads: Conserving Colorado's Wildlife Heritage and Promoting a New Energy Future" is holding workshops Thursday in Denver, ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Study says methane from ocean floor is "time bomb"
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080927/Methane_Climat e_20080926/20080927?hub=Canada
Canadian Press: New research suggests there may be a methane "time bomb" on the ocean floor threatening to catastrophically warm the climate and Canadian scientists wonder what effects this may have on people's efforts to combat global warming. Preliminary findings from an international study suggest that significant amounts of methane gas -- a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide -- are being released from the ocean floor off Russia's north coast. Permafrost on the ocean ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
The UK needs to show commitment to renewable energy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/27/renewableenergy.energy
Guardian: The government is committed to massive new nuclear build in Britain. We do not yet know the details of Gordon Brown's nuclear plan, least of all how all the new nuclear power stations are to be paid for. But substantial public subsidy is definitely part of the deal, as described by David Lowry on Commentisfree and David Burke, writing in Prospect. After all, EDF would hardly have paid £12.5bn for British Energy if it did not have a clear promise of jam tomorrow. But while the Brown ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Lebanon: Climate change, fuel prices cutting into Lebanon forests
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=28080
IRIN: Devastating fires caused by climate change are threatening forests in Lebanon, in turn accelerating the pace of global warming, an environmental activist has warned. "We are witnessing a rise in temperature which leads to the dryness of forest soil and pushes it towards desertification," Sawsan Bou Fakhreddine, director-general of the Association for Forests, Development and Conservation (AFDC), a local NGO, told IRIN from Beirut. The country is witnessing forest fires earlier ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Govt wants aviation excluded from renewables target
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/economy-and-finance/energy/govt-wants-aviati on-excluded-from-renewables-target-$1242447.htm
Politics.co.uk: Environmentalists have reacted with outrage after it emerged the government wants aviation to be excluded from an EU-wide renewables commitment. The government has admitted it does not approve of aircraft being subject to the EU's target of taking 20 per cent of all energy from renewable sources by 2020 because it believes the sector would struggle to meet this goal. The news was condemned by Friends of the Earth's (FoE) energy campaigner Robin Webster, who said the government ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
In praise of ... toads
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/27/endangeredspecies.wildl ife
Guardian: As moths are to butterflies, so toads are to frogs - close biological cousins who fair very differently in the popularity stakes. The taxonomy tables reveal great physical overlap in what passes for a frog and for a toad; culturally, however, a chasm divides the two. Toads are not blessed with princess kisses, nor are children encouraged to pay loving attention to toad spawn. Instead, their name is used in vain as a particularly contemptuous insult. Kermit has picked up prizes including an ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
United States: More federal wildfire money approved
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_10577490?source=rss
LA Daily News: An additional $910 million in emergency federal funding for fighting wildfires has been approved by Congress and sent to the president, Sen. Dianne Feinstein's Los Angeles office announced today. The federal firefighting budget has been depleted by an unusually-active fire season this year, including the worst rash of lightning-caused fires in California history, the senior senator from the Golden State said. "This year California was hit by wildfires in a scale that was ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Canada: Rally calls for investment in "green-collar" jobs
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2008/09/27/6904401.html
Canadian Press: Alberta activists held a rally in Edmonton to call for an investment in what they're calling "green collar" jobs. Members of Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition were expected to gather in an Edmonton park to demand the provincial government turn away from things like the oilsands and start investing in alternative energy. Mike Hudema, a Greenpeace activist, says such an investment could create about 200,000 ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Rich nations pledge 6 billion dollars to fight climate change
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/science/news/article_1433434.php/Rich_nat ions_pledge_6_billion_dollars_to_fight_climate_change
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Ten of the world's richest countries have pledged 6.1 billion dollars to help poor countries deal with the effects of global warming, the World Bank said Friday. The money will be part of two new investment funds to be run by the World Bank and other development banks to finance projects that help poor nations cut their greenhouse-gas emissions and tackle some of the already-existing consequences of a warming planet. Countries will get the funding through a combination of loans and ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Arctic Saw Fastest August Sea Ice Retreat On Record, NASA Data Show
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080926194613.htm
ScienceDaily: Following a record-breaking season of arctic sea ice decline in 2007, NASA scientists have kept a close watch on the 2008 melt season. Although the melt season did not break the record for ice loss, NASA data are showing that for a four-week period in August 2008, sea ice melted faster during that period than ever before. Each year at the end of summer, sea ice in the Arctic melts to reach its annual minimum. Ice that remains, or "perennial ice," has survived from year to year and ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Don't Blame Cities For Climate Change, See Them As Solutions, New Study Says
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080926100629.htm
ScienceDaily: Cities are being unfairly blamed for most of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions and this threatens efforts to tackle climate change, warns a study in the October 2008 issue of the journal Environment and Urbanization. The paper says cities are often blamed for 75 to 80 percent of emissions, but that the true value is closer to 40 percent. It adds that the potential for cities to help address climate change is being overlooked because of this error. "Blaming cities for ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Financial turmoil no bar to climate deal: U.N.
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48P3YT20080926?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Global financial turmoil should not hamper a new world climate deal because high energy prices remain an incentive to improve energy efficiency, the U.N.'s top climate official said on Friday. Some analysts have said the current crisis sweeping financial markets may leave no money for investments in limiting greenhouse gas emissions amid U.N.-led talks aimed at clinching a new international deal to tackle global warming. "I have personally not seen an economic analysis that ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
House OKs extending renewable energy tax credits
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48P64P20080926?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The House of Representatives approved legislation on Friday to extend billions of dollars in tax credits for renewable energy but the bill faces an uncertain future with opposition in the Senate. The House measure, passed by a margin of 226-166, is similar to the bill that cleared the Senate earlier this week, except that the House bill includes measures to pay for the tax breaks, which are opposed by most Republicans. It is unclear whether the House and Senate will be able to ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Ireland: Radical change needed to meet CO2 targets
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15374
Edie: Ireland will have to take drastic steps in order to meet EU greenhouse gas emissions targets, according to a major report. As one of the highest per capita emitters in the world, Ireland will face an uphill struggle to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent (compared to 1990 levels) by 2020, according to the Irish Institute foe European Affairs' report. Not meeting the legally-binding targets could mean that as well as accelerating and increasing the likelihood of climate ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Rich nations' greenhouse gases fell in 2006: survey
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48P6OL20080926?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Rich nations' greenhouse gas emissions dipped for the first time in five years in 2006, easing 0.1 percent despite robust economic growth, a Reuters survey of the latest available information showed Friday. The figures were less gloomy than a report this week, based on scientist estimates to 2007, which said world emissions were surging, led by rocketing growth in poor countries such as China and India twinned with a tiny rise by industrialized nations. The Reuters survey, of ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Wind power dollars pour into west Texas economy
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48P77T20080926?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Millions of dollars in new tax revenue generated from the wind power boom sweeping rural west Texas have helped fund a rash of school building projects, the first signs of an expected economic revival. "It's the greatest thing that has happened here," said James Bible, superintendent of the Blackwell Consolidated Independent School District, where the shell of a new school is rising, financed mainly by tax revenue from windmills. "It's like day and night for the school ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
California invites countries to carbon cap meeting
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48P8MX20080926?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California plans to host a meeting of several countries in November to discuss ways to limit greenhouse gas emissions, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Friday. The governor's office has invited China, India, European countries, Australia, Canada and Mexico to a meeting ahead of international climate talks the following month in Poland. Details still are being worked out. Schwarzenegger aims to reach out to certain Chinese states, for example, on emissions limits because the ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Clean tech start ups dogged by funding gap
http://feeds.businessgreen.com/c/554/f/7118/s/1f95161/l/0L0Sbusinessgreen0N 0C2226999/story01.htm
Business Green: The failure of many investors to appreciate the specific requirements of clean tech startups is contributing to a "funding gap" that is threatening to undermine Europe's ability to establish itself as a clean tech hub. That was the stark warning from a panel of clean tech investment experts speaking at the Library House Essential Cleantech conference in London yesterday, who argued that while firms are keen to invest in clean tech companies, they are often ill equipped to provide the ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Combating climate change requires a reduction in energy consumption
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/sep/26/climate.chan ge.gore.clinton
Guardian: The Clinton Global Initiative sets itself up with an impressive challenge: collecting the most wealthy and powerful world actors to tackle the world's most pressing problems. Among the four issues on this year's agenda is energy and the environment. But a visit to the Wednesday and Thursday morning plenary sessions exposed an underlying timidity in the seemingly bold rhetoric on climate change. While many speakers urged major investments in renewable energy to replace fossil fuels, hardly ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Donors pledge $6.1 billion to climate change funds
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48P8AQ20080926?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Industrialized countries pledged more than $6.1 billion on Friday to international investment funds aimed at helping developing countries adopt cleaner technologies and mitigate growth in greenhouse gas emissions, the World Bank said. The first projects to benefit from grants, highly concessional loans and loan guarantee instruments from the Climate Investment Funds are expected to be announced in early 2009, the World Bank said. Representatives of 10 countries -- Australia, ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Kicking oil habit harder than they say
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-anxiety-energysep26,0,12 97430,full.story
Chicago Tribune: Barack Obama and John McCain are promising voters a Tomorrowland of electric cars and high-speed trains and solar panels, a vision of American life without a drop of imported oil. But their plans to get there look more like Fantasyland. A host of energy policy experts agree that true "energy independence"--a key catch phrase of this presidential campaign--would be far more expensive and disruptive than either candidate is telling you. Our oil addiction hamstrings ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Solar Winds, Crucial To Life On Earth, Decreasing
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95086000&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Solar winds -- invisible gas plasma emitted by the Sun -- protect the solar system from cosmic rays that are hostile to terrestrial life. But new data from the Ulysses NASA probe indicate solar wind output is lower than has ever been previously documented. David McComas, principal investigator for the Ulysses Solar Wind Observations Over the Poles of the Sun (SWOOPS) experiment, explains what this development might mean for the solar system.

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Energy And The Economy: An Overview
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95085986&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Between environmental concerns and rising gasoline prices, energy use has never seemed more entwined with the economy. Guests discuss how oil prices are tied to economic growth, and give a roundup of the latest energy news. Guests: Martin Hoffert, professor emeritus of physics at New York University Amy Myers Jaffe, a Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in energy studies and associate director of the energy program at Rice University

Sun, 28 Sep 08
GE and Google Call for Clean Energy Policies
http://www.enn.com/energy/article/38268
Worldwatch Institute: The recently announced alliance between technology giants General Electric and Google may provide the lobbying arsenal necessary for the U.S. to overhaul an outdated electric grid widely considered as a barricade to a low-carbon future. The collaboration brings together two industry leaders with significant investments in U.S. renewable energy. Their focus on electricity infrastructure may stimulate improvements in transmission efficiency and utility access to clean energy sources, ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Haiti warns hurricanes set country back years
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48P6S920080926?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Recent hurricanes have devastated Haiti, killing hundreds and destroying years of fragile economic progress in the hemisphere's poorest nation, President Rene Preval said on Friday. Around 700 people were killed when the Caribbean country was battered by tropical storms Fay and Hanna and hurricanes Gustav and Ike in just a few weeks. "The damage caused by the passage of these four successive hurricanes in less than two months has set Haiti back several years," Preval told the ...

Sun, 28 Sep 08
Ireland: 20 times more land needed for bio-energy crops
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15368
Edie: More than 20 times the amount of land currently growing bio- energy crops will have to be dedicated to the plants if Ireland is to meet its 2015 renewable heat and electricity targets, according to advisory body Teagasc. The body, which unveiled the "energy-crop calculator" at the National Ploughing Championships, said over 70,000 hectares of bio-energy crops such as willow and miscanthus were necessary. Currently only 3,500 hectares are planted with energy-crops and ...

Sat, 27 Sep 08
Brazil unveils deforestation plan
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7637070.stm
BBC: The Brazilian government has pledged to end net deforestation by 2015. It is one of the key commitments in a draft climate change plan, which stops short of setting specific targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The plan - setting out how Brazil will help prevent climate change, and how it will adapt to it - was promised nearly a year ago by President Lula. But the environmental group Greenpeace criticised it for simply highlighting existing proposals. It ...

Sat, 27 Sep 08
Europe's amphibians at risk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/sep/26/conservation.wild life1?picture=337988267
Guardian

Sat, 27 Sep 08
Australia: Clean coal plan divides green groups
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24404241-2702,00.html
Australian: KEVIN Rudd has split green groups by placing new emphasis on clean coal technology to combat climate change, telling the UN its development has to be at the "forefront of the agenda" to cut global carbon pollution from power stations and not destroy the coal industry. In a move that will avoid strife with the powerful Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, but stir growing divisions in the environmental movement, the Prime Minister has joined former US president Bill Clinton ...

Sat, 27 Sep 08
Leak shows UK is lobbying to remove aviation from EU renewable energy targets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/26/biofuels.climatechange
Guardian: Britain has been accused of trying to wreck Europe's plan to tackle climate change by lobbying to remove aviation from renewable energy targets. Leaked documents from the council of the European Union show that the UK is exerting strong pressure on other EU governments. The argument being used is that biofuels made from plants or algae will not be ready for use as commercial aviation fuel until after 2020. EU leaders pledged last year to generate 20% of all energy from renewable ...

Sat, 27 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Met Office slams climate sceptics
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2226987/met-office-slams-c limate
Business Green: The UK's Meteorological Office has issued a damning attack on climate change sceptics, arguing that recent slow down in warming trends is entirely in line with scientists expectations. "Anyone who thinks global warming has stopped has their head in the sand," said the organisation in a brochure published last week. The Met Office was responding to suggestions that global warming is a myth because of slower warming in the past decade, and recent years that have been ...

Sat, 27 Sep 08
UN predicts green job boom, but warns developing world could miss out
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2227026/un-calls-careful-m ove-low
Business Green: The shift towards a low carbon economy will create millions of jobs and could help accelerate the development of poorer economies, according to a wide ranging report from the UN. The study predicts that a raft of new jobs will be created in sectors such as energy supply, transportation, basic industries, agriculture and forestry. It also estimates that a worldwide transition to energy-efficient buildings would create millions of jobs, as well as "greening" existing employment ...

Sat, 27 Sep 08
Rising solar output could hit producers' margins
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7827049
Reuters: Solar companies' success in ramping up new production lines and factories could leave the fast-growing renewable energy market awash in solar panels next year, driving down prices and profit margins in the nascent industry. The recent move by this year's hottest solar market, Spain, to cut its cap on subsidies for new solar panels has sparked fears that big producers may see their selling prices drop by as much as 20 percent as they scramble to sell out their production. Those ...

Sat, 27 Sep 08
Desertification - World Bank to Assist Country On Tree Planting
http://allafrica.com/stories/200809250396.html
Daily Trust: The World Bank will assist Nigeria in its quest to plant one billion trees across the country's six geopolitical zones to reduce the negative impacts of desertification and climate change, the Bank official, has said. Dr. Herbert Acquay, Programme Coordinator, Environment and Natural Resources, Africa Region of the Bank, said this in Abuja, Tuesday when he paid a visit to the Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs Halima Tayo Alao, in her office. He said ...

Sat, 27 Sep 08
EU Parliament Panel Backs Plan to Cap Car CO2 in 2012
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aFb6TEKi0l44&refer=germ any
Bloomberg: The European Parliament's environment committee voted to cap carbon dioxide from all new cars in 2012, rejecting German demands to ease costs for automakers such as Daimler AG and Porsche SE by excluding part of their fleet. The committee in the European Union assembly decided to impose the emission curbs in one step rather than bow to German demands for a phase-in over three years until 2015. The verdict endorses a proposal by the European Commission, the EU's regulatory arm, and ...

Sat, 27 Sep 08
Angola: Tourism Sector Warns About Consequences of Climatic Changes
http://allafrica.com/stories/200809250140.html
Angola Press Agency: Angola's Hotels and Tourism Ministry on Tuesday here held a workshop on impact of climatic changes, aimed at warning about unstable conditions of the climate and the need to adopt preventive measures to face challenges of this problem. According to the incumbent minister, Eduardo Jonatão Chingunji, who was speaking during the workshop's opening ceremony, said that every sector of the society should work together in order to reduce the negative impact of caused by climatic changes to ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Amphibians facing a wipeout by 2050
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4828032.ece
Times (UK): Half of Europe's amphibian species could be wiped out in the next 40 years. Scientists from the Zoological Society of London say that the combined force of climate change, pollution, disease and habitat loss and degradation has left many with 'nowhere to run'. After assessing the amphibians' prospects, they predicted that more than 50 per cent of the 81 species native to Europe faced extinction by 2050. Even surviving species, they said, were likely to suffer a decline in ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Global Warming Pollution Increases 3%
http://www.nysun.com/national/global-warming-pollution-increases-3-percent/ 86670/
Associated Press: The world pumped up its pollution of the chief man-made global warming gas last year, setting a course that could push beyond leading scientists' projected worst-case scenario, international researchers said yesterday. The new numbers, called "scary" by some, were a surprise because scientists thought an economic downturn would slow energy use. Instead, carbon dioxide output jumped 3% between 2006 and 2007. That's an amount that exceeds the most dire outlook for emissions from ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Carbon Is Building Up in Atmosphere Faster Than Predicted
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/25/AR200809250 3989.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Washington Post: The rise in global carbon dioxide emissions last year outpaced international researchers' most dire projections, according to figures being released today, as human-generated greenhouse gases continued to build up in the atmosphere despite international agreements and national policies aimed at curbing climate change. In 2007, carbon released from burning fossil fuels and producing cement increased 2.9 percent over that released in 2006, to a total of 8.47 gigatons, or billions of ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Frogs and toads face extinction
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Frogs-and-toads-face-extinction.4531048 .jp
Scotsman: MORE than half of Europe's frog, toad and newt species could be wiped out by the middle of the century, scientists have warned. Amphibians across the world are at risk of extinction as a result of climate change, habitat destruction and disease, according to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). At a lecture at London Zoo last night, Dr Trent Garner, a ZSL research fellow, warned that UK species, such as the common toad, were among those increasingly under threat. With less ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Wal-Mart to Cut Global Plastic Shopping Bag Waste
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50365/story.htm
Reuters: Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Thursday it will cut its worldwide plastic shopping bag waste by an average of 33 percent per store by 2013, an effort the world's biggest retailer said could eliminate more than 135 million pounds of plastic waste globally. To meet that goal, Wal-Mart stores will give out fewer bags and encourage shoppers to use reusable ones. The announcement is part of the discount retailer's overarching goal of one day creating zero waste. It also comes ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Australia's greenhouse emissions rising
http://news.theage.com.au/national/australias-greenhouse-emissions-rising-2 0080926-4o8k.html
AAP: Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are still rising by about two per cent a year, international research conducted partly by the CSIRO has found. Pep Canadell, a CSIRO carbon specialist who spearheaded the research, said Australia was unique as a developed country which had rapidly growing emissions. "Every year of continuing growth makes the future reduction requirement even steeper," Dr Canadell said. Climate change adviser Ross Garnaut has called for Australia to ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Cabinet split on Kingsnorth power station
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cabinet-split-on-ki ngsnorth-power-station-942811.html
Independent: The Cabinet is split over whether to approve a controversial plan for a £1bn coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent which has become a key test of its green credentials. John Hutton, the Business Secretary, wants to approve the project even if it is not chosen for an experiment in which its carbon emissions would be "captured" and stored under the sea. But his position is strongly opposed by Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, and his predecessor David Miliband, now ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
First Auction of Pollution Rights
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=107248
New York Times: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an effort by 10 Northeastern states to combat climate change, held its first auction of pollution rights on Thursday. The program caps the amount of carbon dioxide that power plants can emit, forcing utilities to buy allowances to pollute. Not all utilities participated in the auction. The prices and number of allowances sold will not be known until Monday. Critics have charged the program will have little benefit in the near term, ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Global Carbon Emissions Soar
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50370/story.htm
Reuters: Global carbon emissions are rising rapidly, an international study says, with production of carbon dioxide in 2007 up sharply from the year before through the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and cement making. Following are highlights from the Global Carbon Project's 2008 report "Carbon budget and trends 2007". The project is a programme supported by the International Council for Science. CARBON DIOXIDE GROWTH Annual mean growth rate of atmospheric CO2 was 2.2 ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Greenhouse emissions rise by 2pc a year
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/greenhouse-emission s-rise-by-2pc-a-year/1283238.aspx
Canberra Times: Greenhouse gas emissions are still rising by about 2 per cent a year, according to international research conducted partly by the CSIRO. A CSIRO carbon specialist who spearheaded the research, Pep Canadell, said Australia was unique as a developed country that had rapidly growing emission levels. ''Every year of continuing growth makes the future reduction requirement even steeper,'' Dr Canadell said. Climate change adviser Ross Garnaut has called for Australia to cut ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Greenhouse gases a lot worse: study
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=99720
West Australian: Humans added almost 10 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases last year, according to a report which shows that world carbon emissions are growing four times faster than in the 1990s. Michael Raupach, who co-chaired the survey led by CSIRO scientists, said yesterday that Australia was the only developed country whose greenhouse emissions were still growing rapidly. The chief executive of the Global Carbon Project, Pep Canadell, said the findings highlighted a worrying trend in ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Lloyd's of London braced for tide of claims as storms rip into profit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/26/lloydsoflondon.insurance
Guardian: A ruptured gas pipeline in Australia and damaging Caribbean hurricanes were among catastrophes that halved profits at Lloyd's of London in the first six months. Lloyd's, the world's oldest insurance market, said yesterday a sharp decline in investment income was also responsible for its first interim profit decline in two years. It reported pre-tax profit in the six months to June 30 of £949m, down 47% from £1.8bn in that period last year. Chief executive Richard Ward said the ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
United States: Solar panels are new hot property for thieves
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/26/solarpower.renewableenerg y
Guardian: Glenda Hoffman has an answer for the thieves, should they choose to return to her home in Desert Hot Springs, California. "I have a shotgun right next to the bed and a .22 under my pillow." Hoffman was the victim of a theft that one industry professional has dubbed "the crime of the future". Another observer has come up with the term "grand theft solar" to describe the spate of recent burglaries in sunny California. In May Hoffman lost 16 solar panels from her roof in three ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
China biggest carbon polluter, world levels at record: scientists
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hUsBKvXulUVKSeD__EVrPPkthyrw
Agence France-Presse: China has leapfrogged the United States as the world's biggest carbon emitter and India is heading for third place, scientists said on Friday in a report that warned global greenhouse-gas levels were scaling record peaks. The report, by a research consortium called the Global Carbon Project (GCP), confirms an estimate that China has become the biggest producer of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal gas that causes global warming. Until 2005, rich countries emitted most of the ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Denmark, Norway Grapple with Growing CO2
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43999
Inter Press Service: Even as Scandinavian leaders have assumed a prominent role in international efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, both Norway and Denmark have failed to reduce their own emissions. In Denmark, emissions of CO2 from road transport went have actually increased 36 percent since 1990, according to the National Environmental Research Institute. In Norway, emissions from greenhouse gases have never been higher, growing 3 percent last year alone, according to ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Does Al Gore think he's too old for civil disobedience?
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/09/25/does-al-gore-think-hes -too-old-for-civil-disobedience/
Christian Science Monitor: Speaking at the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York Wednesday, former vice president and climate activist Al Gore called for 'civil disobedience' to stop the construction of conventional coal-fired power plants. Here`s what he said, according to Reuters : 'If you`re a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
ECONOMY: It Pays to Go Green
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44011
Inter Press Service: A new report shows how a greener economy could eradicate poverty by creating tens of millions of new jobs. But it will not happen solely through the market's "magic hand". "We are sending signals that low-carbon, energy-efficient and less polluting technologies and production processes will be the winners in the new emerging economy," Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), told IPS. Together with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Environment Agency calls for carbon-capture on all new coal power stations
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/25/carboncapturestorage.clim atechange
Guardian: The UK government's own environmental watchdog has called for a halt to the construction of a new generation of coal-fired power stations unless they are built with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology installed from the outset. The comments, made as part of the Environment Agency's official response to the government's consultation on CCS, also urged faster progress in proving that the technology was commercially viable. "Building a new generation of coal fired power ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Global carbon emissions rising rapidly: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48O3KZ20080925?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Global carbon emissions rose rapidly in 2007, an annual study says, with developing nations such as China and India now producing more than half of mankind's output of carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global warming. The Global Carbon Project said in its report carbon dioxide emissions from mankind are growing about four times faster since 2000 than during the 1990s, despite efforts by a number of nations to rein in emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Emissions from ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
House to vote on extending energy tax credits
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48O6VR20080925?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The House of Representatives will try to take up legislation extending renewable energy tax credits before lawmakers head out of town in the next few days for the November elections campaign trail. The House tax package, which may be voted on later on Thursday, is slightly different from legislation passed by the Senate Tuesday, throwing into question whether there is time to reach a final deal. With Congress expected to adjourn in the next few days for the November elections, ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Carbon goes on the auction block in Northeast
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hjn2nTv5FL2iEzbyIev3nuTHX-fAD93E08O82
Associted Press: Greenhouse gases went on sale Thursday as 10 Northeastern states held the nation's first auction of pollution credits aimed at curbing global warming. "It is time really to turn the tide on global warming," said New York Gov. David Paterson, who opened the auction by ringing the ceremonial bell at the New York Mercantile Exchange. "And we hope that we've done this today." The program puts a price on carbon dioxide pollution, giving power plants a financial incentive to cut ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Cities get too much blame for global warming: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48O9V120080925?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Cities often blamed for producing most of the world's greenhouse gas emissions actually generate just two-fifths or less, according to a study published on Friday. U.N. agencies, former U.S. President Bill Clinton's climate change initiative and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have all said that 75 to 80 percent of total emissions come from cities, the paper in the journal Environment and Urbanization says. But using data from the U.N. climate change panel, it estimates the ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Cleantech urged to embrace "policy wonks"
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2226957/clean-tech-urged-e mbrace-policy
Business Green: Climate change entrepreneurs and investors were today advised to increase their engagement with policy makers or risk having their business models undermined by "wrong-headed" legislation. Speaking to about 400 attendees at the Library House Essential Cleantech conference in Central London earlier today, former speaker of the California legislature and cleantech entrepreneur Robert Hertzberg warned that green businesses had to improve the level of dialogue with the legislators who ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
First U.S. greenhouse cap-and-trade market opens
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48O91C20080925?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Ten states in the U.S. Northeast kicked off the country's first cap-and-trade market on greenhouse gas emissions on Thursday, gaining accolades from environmentalists and many businesses but also eliciting concerns about how the states will spend the money the plan raises. The states from Maryland to Maine formed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to limit emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants in the absence of guidance from the Bush administration on regulating ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Government's own watchdog voices opposition to coal plans
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2226900/government-own-wat chdog-voices
Business Green: The government's plans for a new generation of coal-fired power stations received a major blow today after its own green watchdog, the Environment Agency, recommended that no new coal power plants should be built without carbon capture and storage (CCS) capabilities. Earlier this week, business secretary John Hutton reiterated the government's plans for a new fleet of coal-fired power stations, claiming that "I will not turn my back on another critical source of energy security for ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
There are many tiger widows here'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/25/conservation.climatechang e
Guardian: Tarak Babu could have seen or heard little in the seconds before he died. His village of Jelepara in the far south-west of Bangladesh is desperately poor and has no electricity, and the young fisherman was walking back with food for his family at about 8.15 in the evening. It was June 20 - monsoon season. Tarak was walking along the high earth embankment that protects Jelepara from the river Chunkuri, and had just passed a small Hindu temple with its gaudy, painted wooden effigies of ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
UN: Tackling climate change will boost - not destroy - jobs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/25/climate.jobs
Guardian: Far from destroying jobs, tackling climate change will boost employment, claims a major new report published today by the UN and the international labour movement. The Green Jobs study goes even further than the British government's Stern report in 2006, which urged countries to invest money in reducing emissions and adapting to climate change to avoid much greater costs later. The latest report has been hailed as crucial to overcoming global resistance from the labour ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Biden coal gaffe turns up heat on democrats
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2226909/biden-coal-gaffe-t urns-heat
Business Green: The media jumped on Senator Joe Biden, Barack Obama's running mate, after he seemed to fly against the democratic platform by condemning clean coal technology this week. Biden, on the stump in Ohio, was responding to a question from a young environmental campaigner. 'Wind and solar are flourishing here in Ohio, so why are you supporting clean coal?' she asked. 'We're not supporting clean coal,' he said, before arguing that China was polluting with its coal, and proclaiming his support ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Calif. initiatives boost renewable power
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/25/politics/p16525 2D69.DTL&type=health
Associated Press: With 32 years in the solar business, Gary Gerber should be one of the biggest fans of an initiative to increase California's production of renewable energy. But he and hundreds of other small business owners say an alternative energy initiative on the November ballot could force them out of business at a time California is struggling to boost its production of clean power. Proposition 7, one of two alternative energy ballot measures, would require California utilities to ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Clinton confab discusses poverty, climate change
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j8B1-PwJBy-WAKKzvQQClqRjT4mwD93E1O3G2
Associated Press: Global warming and poverty are intertwined because the world's poorest people are the ones hardest hit by changes in the climate, and solutions for both problems need to be found, panelists said Thursday at the second day of an annual conference spearheaded by former President Bill Clinton. "We need programs to match public policy to empower the poorest people and at the same time public policy to fight climate change," President Felipe Calderon of Mexico said at the panel Thursday at ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
EU lawmakers snub big carmakers over carbon curbs
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48O2SD20080925?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European Union lawmakers rejected a bid to delay planned limits on carbon dioxide emissions from cars in a surprise backlash on Thursday against the motor industry's efforts to ease its burden in the fight against climate change. "This was a big surprise," German Green group member Rebecca Harms said. "There was a big fight with industry and governments, and the Germans and French were adding a lot of pressure." German conservative lawmakers led the efforts to soften plans by ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
EU panel resists pressure to water down car emission targets
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jlxxJoIiJlcjfQRAy4mTjFC6ogyA
Agence France-Presse: An EU environment panel resisted pressure on Thursday from Europe's powerful car-making industry to water down plans to force automakers to slash carbon dioxide emissions. A majority in the European Parliament's environment commission voted down efforts to weaken European Commission plans to fine car-makers for failing to meet emissions targets, a spokesman said. The two biggest political groups in the parliament, the conservatives and the Socialists, had supported a watering ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Half of Europe's amphibians could be extinct by 2050
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/09/25/eafrogs12 5.xml
Telegraph (UK): More than half of all amphibian species in Europe could be extinct by 2050, scientists have warned. They face threats from pollution, disease and loss of habitat caused by climate change. A Majorcan midwife toad, which was thought to be extinct until 1977 (left) and a Sardinian painted frog Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) who have been carrying out research into the decline said Europe faces losing half of its 80 species of frogs, toads, ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Labour's shocking CO2 admissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/25/carbonemissions.climate change
Guardian: Last week a leaked government document revealed that Labour ministers are lobbying the EU to allow Britain to meet up to half of its 2020 emissions reductions targets by buying credits from the developing world. It is true that a tonne of carbon dioxide pollution saved in Bangalore is the same as a tonne saved in Birmingham – but by paying others to make carbon reductions for us, Labour are selling Britain short by subsidising abroad the efficiencies and savings we need to make at ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Tax breaks in the House: battle with Senate awaits
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iEeZHDYihRxri_aauxdnC9kCTONwD93E0N304
Associated Press: The House on Thursday introduced a $57 billion measure to extend and expand tax breaks, putting it on a collision course with the Senate. The upper chamber moved its own version of the tax bill earlier this week. At stake in the waning hours of this congressional session is tax policy affecting billions of dollars in business investment and millions of taxpayers, including more than 20 million exposed to the alternative minimum tax. The House, steered by fiscally ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
UK opposes green aviation target
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7636780.stm
BBC: The UK government is lobbying for aviation to be excluded from an EU target to increase renewable energy. Documents passed to BBC News reveal that Whitehall wants the industry exempted from a general target of 20% renewable energy by 2020. It also wants interim targets leading up to 2020, and targets on clean energy in new homes, to be optional. The government says the targets on aviation are pointless while there is uncertainty over the use of biofuels. But green ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Carbon Dioxide Emissions Booming, Shifting East, Researchers Report
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080924162938.htm
ScienceDaily: Despite widespread concern about climate change, annual carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels and manufacturing cement have grown 38 percent since 1992, from 6.1 billion tons of carbon to 8.5 billion tons in 2007. At the same time, the source of emissions has shifted dramatically as energy use has been growing slowly in many developed countries but more quickly in some developing countries, most notably in rapidly developing Asian countries such as China and India. These ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Congress to let offshore drilling ban expire
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48N6AF20080924?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The offshore drilling ban that became a flash point in the U.S. presidential election looks set to expire next week after Democrats decided to drop the prohibition from a temporary spending bill that would keep the government running. The end of the ban will not lead to a rush of new drilling any time soon, but it would be a big win for Republican Presidential nominee John McCain who has made opening most U.S. offshore areas to drilling a key part of his campaign. His Democratic ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Gore urges civil disobedience to stop coal plants
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48N7AA20080924?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmental crusader Al Gore urged young people on Wednesday to engage in civil disobedience to stop the construction of coal plants without the ability to store carbon. The former U.S. vice president, whose climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Academy Award, told a philanthropic meeting in New York City that "the world has lost ground to the climate crisis." "If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Republicans Boycott Senate Review of Bush Environmental Record
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2008/2008-09-24-02.asp
Environment News Service: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing today to review the Bush administration's record on public health and environmental matters, but it was conducted in the absence of Ranking Member Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a Republican and former chair of the committee. Senator Inhofe was not ill or out of town, he boycotted the hearing, and he asked the two government witnesses scheduled to honor his objection. Neither one attended the hearing nor did any of ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
Severe Climate Change Costs Forecast For Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, North Dakota, And ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080924125045.htm
ScienceDaily: The economic impact of climate change will cost a number of U.S. states billions of dollars, and delaying action will raise the price tag, concludes the latest series of reports produced by the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER). The new reports project specific long-term direct and ripple economic effects on North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. In most cases, the price tag could run into billions of dollars. The ...

Fri, 26 Sep 08
U.N. launches program to cut deforestation emissions
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE48N91C20080924?feedTy pe=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United Nations launched a program on Wednesday that it hopes could be the foundation for a system in which rich countries would pay poor ones to slow climate change by protecting and planting forests. The new program, called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Program, or UN-REDD, will assist nine developing countries, including Bolivia, Indonesia and Zambia, in establishing systems to monitor, assess and report forest cover. "Forests are worth more ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Australia: Coastal development ruling overturned
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/coastal-deve lopment-ruling-overturned/1282108.aspx
Canberra Times: A CONTROVERSIAL proposal to build about 200 houses on a headland at Sandon Point, near Wollongong, is back on the agenda after a landmark climate change ruling was overturned yesterday. The former planning minister, Frank Sartor, since ejected from that portfolio, had a win of sorts when he successfully appealed against a Land and Environment Court decision that blocked approval for the development. The ruling, handed down last November, meant the Planning Department might have ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
"Green" energy should create 20 mln jobs by 2030: UN
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE48N48O20080924
Reuters: Development of alternative energy should create more than 20 million jobs around the world in coming decades as governments adopt policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a U.N. report released on Wednesday. Some 2.3 million people already work in green energy jobs with half of them in biofuels, said the report "Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World," commissioned and funded by the U.N.'s Environment Program. Creation of the jobs ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Barack Obama's campaign has rushed to proclaim his support for 'clean coal' technology
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/24/energy.uselections2008
Guardian: Barack Obama's campaign yesterday rushed to proclaim his support for "clean coal" technology after remarks by running mate Joe Biden cast doubts on Democratic friendliness to the coal industry. In a videotaped exchange with an environmental campaigner in Ohio, Biden allowed Republicans to change the subject from the financial gloom that has put John McCain on the defensive this week. Asked why he and Obama backed the expensive prospect of capturing and storing carbon dioxide ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Crisis no reason to dilute climate plan - EU
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7822607
Reuters: The global financial crisis is no reason to water down the European Union's flagship plan to fight climate change, the bloc's environment chief said on Wednesday. Even before the current financial meltdown, many EU companies said the programme, involving cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, would hurt them by boosting costs. Some EU officials now say privately the economic downturn highlighted by bankruptcies and takeovers in the financial sector may lead the bloc to adopt a less ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
House takes up Senate-passed tax break package
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/1181584,CST-NWS-tax24.article
Associated Press: Major tax legislation that would save 20 million people from the clutches of the alternative minimum tax and renew dozens of popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals is being taken up in the House, where its fate is uncertain. The tax package passed the Senate on Tuesday on a 93-2 vote, but faces obstacles in the House, where fiscally conservative Democrats object to tax relief that is not paid for with an increase in revenues elsewhere. The House plans to offer a ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Solar stocks set to shine after Senate measure
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE48N4JH20080924
Reuters: Solar power companies' shares rallied in early trading on Wednesday, the day after the U.S. Senate voted to extend tax credits worth $18 billion for renewable energy sources. The measure, which the House of Representatives and President George W. Bush are expected to approve, would give businesses a 30 percent tax credit to offset the development costs of solar and other clean energy projects. Among the top gainers on Wednesday was Yingli Green Energy, which rose 9 percent to ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Africa: Continent 'Worst Hit By Convergence of Crises'
http://allafrica.com/stories/200809240507.html
This Day: As the world, especially African heads of state convene to discuss continental compliance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), experts have decried the grim food situation on the continent. According to ActionAid International, it is clear that the sudden massive rise in food prices has added up to 25 per cent to the cost of food imports for poor countries in Africa and is driving millions of poor people in to hunger. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) arm of ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Ahead of the Bell: Alternative energy tax credit
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/00397fbf47eb5e8469f80ff 03e3d184f.htm
Associated Press: Wind and solar companies could be poised for a big day on Wall Street Wednesday after the Senate passed a bill that provides more than $17 billion in renewable energy tax incentives. The energy legislation extends for eight years, through 2016, investment tax credits for the solar power industry. Jefferies & Co. analyst Paul Clegg said the long-term commitment could help the U.S. become a significant solar photovoltaic market force. Clegg said in a client note that ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Brown hints at tougher carbon targets
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2226795/brown-indicates-st ronger
Business Green: Environmental groups have welcomed the clearest signal to date that Gordon Brown is prepared to strengthen the carbon emission reduction targets included in the upcoming climate change bill. Speaking at the Labour Conference in Manchester, Brown reiterated his desire for the recently formed Climate Change Committee to examine the feasibility of an 80 per cent cut in emissions rather than the previously proposed 60 per cent cut by 2050. "I am asking the climate change committee ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Climate change demo cost police £6m
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jZoRZo7OIXIGBkFuXpGXNjDKR7oQ
Press Association: The estimated cost of policing a week-long protest against climate change stands at just under £6 million, it has been disclosed. Around £5.9 million has been spent policing the Camp for Climate Action event which was held last month close to Kingsnorth Power Station near Hoo, Kent. The money, revealed to BBC South East following a Freedom of Information Act request, was spent on officers, accommodation, air support and planning. But Kent Police expect the figure to rise ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Climate scientist warns severe carbon cuts needed in shipping and aviation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/24/carbonemissions.emissions trading
Guardian: Carbon trading will not solve the problem of soaring emissions from the aviation and shipping industries, a new analysis shows. Future carbon cuts must be so severe, that both sectors will have to curtail future growth to tackle global warming, according to research presented at a climate change conference at Exeter University today. Emissions from international aviation and shipping are growing rapidly, but are excluded from existing plans to cut carbon. Faced with ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
EU lawmakers plan to make climate goals cheaper
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE48N4HP20080924
Reuters: EU lawmakers will vote next month on steps to lower carbon penalties for industry and funnel billions of euros annually into climate change-fighting technologies, a European Parliament document shows. The European Union's emissions trading scheme puts a cap on carbon emissions from industry, and forces factories and power plants to pay for carbon permits above a certain free quota. The European Parliament's environment committee will vote in two weeks on the suggested changes ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Giant Mirrors Tap Sun, Subsidies in Europe's Clean Power Bid
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aESker8lE5B4&refer=euro pe
Bloomberg: As the sun rises over Seville in southern Spain, its blinding light bounces on a field of 624 mirrors surrounded by sunflowers. The moving mirrors reflect sunbeams onto a 115-meter-high white tower that uses the concentrated heat to boil water, making steam that spins an electric turbine 97 times a second. This is Europe's first commercial solar-thermal-electricity plant, at the forefront of a growing movement for green power. ``Look! Look!'' exclaims plant manager Valerio ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Is US renewable tax credit saga finally nearing its end?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2226816/renewable-tax-cred it-saga
Business Green: Fears that growth in the US renewable energy sector was about to be halted by the failure of legislators to extend a package of tax breaks that was due to expire last year alleviated somewhat yesterday after the Senate approved plans to extend $18bn in tax credits for using renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal. The proposals, which include measures to provide generous tax incentives for firms installing solar energy systems and purchasing electric cars, still ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Millions of Green Jobs Possible With Right Investment: UN
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/green-collar-4709240 4
Daily Green: Transforming the economy of the world to run on renewable energy can create millions of jobs, but even staving off the worst consequences of global warming won't prevent the loss of jobs in agricultural and tourism sectors, according to a new United Nations report. In other words, acting to curtail global warming can create jobs, but we'll lose some jobs to climate change whether we act or not. The only way to add jobs is to act. Among the report's findings: The global ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
New Push to Tap the Oceans for Electricity
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1566055/new_push_to_tap_the_oceans_fo r_electricity/
International Herald Tribune: For years, technological visionaries have painted a seductive vision of using ocean tides and waves to produce power. They foresaw large installations off coastlines and in tidal estuaries that could provide as much as 10 percent of U.S. electricity needs. But the technical difficulties of making such systems work are proving formidable. Last year, a wave-power machine sank off the Oregon coast. Blades have broken off experimental tidal turbines in the turbulent East River in New ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Report: EU carbon market will not raise power prices
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/report-eu-carbon-market-raise-pow er-prices/article-175667
EurActiv: "The auctioning of allowances in the [EU Emissions Trading Scheme] market in 2013 and beyond is unlikely to have a material impact on power prices," says the report, prepared by New Carbon Finance, a carbon-market consultancy based in the UK. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is the cornerstone of EU efforts to tackle climate change. New rules proposed by the Commission for the period 2013 to 2020 call for 100% auctioning of emissions permits for the EU power sector, after ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Senate Renews Alternative Energy Tax Credits
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/renewable-energy-tax -credit-47092402
Daily Green: The Senate renewed a $17 billion tax credit that benefits renewable energy developers, a piece of legislation that environmental and energy advocates have said is fundamental to weening the nation off foreign oil and fossil fuels. The House and Senate still have to reconcile spending bills before the tax breaks, and President Bush sign off on it, before they become law. The tax break alone won't achieve such far-reaching results, but without it, even stepwise investments in that new ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Solar Panels Are Vanishing, Only to Reappear on the Internet
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=107182
New York Times: Solar power, with its promise of emissions-free renewable energy, boasts a growing number of fans. Some of them, it turns out, are thieves. Just ask Glenda Hoffman, whose fury has not abated since 16 solar panels vanished from her roof in this sun-baked town in three separate burglaries in May, sometimes as she slept. She is ready if the criminals turn up again. 'I have a shotgun right next to the bed and a .22 under my pillow,' Ms. Hoffman said. Police departments in ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Solar stocks set to shine after Senate measure
http://www.enn.com/business/article/38261
Reuters: Solar power companies' stocks appeared set to climb on Wednesday ahead of the market open following the U.S. Senate's passage of a bill that would extend $18 billion in tax credits for renewable energy for eight years. The measure, which is expected to be approved by the House of Representatives and President George W. Bush, gives businesses a 30 percent tax credit to offset the development costs of solar and other clean energy projects. Industry experts had warned that failure ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Type Of Plankton -- A Food Source For Many Fish -- Has Ability To Survive Climate Change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080924075311.htm
ScienceDaily: Billions of Calanus finmarchicus, a plankton species, which are just a few millimetres in size, live in the waters of the North Atlantic where the research was carried out. It showed they responded to global warming after the last Ice Age, around 18,000 years ago, by moving north and maintaining large population sizes and also suggests that these animals might be able to track the current change in habitat. The effect of global climate change on the planet's ecosystems is one ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Vegetarian shift seen helping climate, not poor
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnLO486181.html
Reuters: Eating less meat can help rich nations to combat global warming but may not work for poor countries where people depend on livestock for survival, a leading expert said on Wednesday. U.N. reports show that the livestock sector accounts for about 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming -- more than the transport industry. Eating less beef, pork or chicken is often advocated as a way to cut emissions. "We agree that the world as a whole could eat less ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Will saving a forest save us money?
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/38260
Environmental News Network: How much is a forest worth? And how do we calculate that value? Do we simply count the trees and figure out how much we could get for them if we were to cut them down and turn them into logs, lumber, and pulp and paper? That's been the traditional approach, but it hasn't served us well. A forest is much more than the timber it holds. A forest provides habitat for wildlife, recreational opportunities for hikers and hunters, a place for quiet contemplation, and filtration and storage of ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Wind turbines would harm 'wilderness of park'
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/Wind-turbines-would-harm-39wildern ess.4522431.jp
Yorkshire Post: PLANNERS from the Peak District National Park Authority have objected to plans for a five-turbine wind farm on the border of Sheffield and Barnsley. The Peak District planning committee has told Barnsley Council that the proposed wind farm on Sheephouse Heights, between Penistone and Stocksbridge, would be a "visual intrusion" that would harm the landscape and impact on the rural economy. Anne Ashe, who chaired the committee, said: "Members of the committee felt that having ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
United States: Berkeley eyes carbon tax
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/24/BA21133LE9.DTL& tsp=1
San Francisco Chronicle: The revenue proposals, as well as dozens of energy-saving goals for residents and businesses, are part of the Climate Action Plan the City Council considered at a special meeting Tuesday night. The plan is not scheduled for final approval until January. A carbon tax would have to be approved by the voters before implementation. The 183-page plan is meant to help Berkeley meet its Measure G goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. "It's probably ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
British official: Climate Change Bill set to become law
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/24/content_10104687.htm
Xinhua: The Climate Change Bill introduced by Britain's ruling Labour Party is about to become law, British Secretary of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hilary Benn said here Wednesday. Paying tribute to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's "strong leadership" on the last day of the Labour Party Conference, Benn said Britain's carbon dioxide emissions fell by over 10 million tons last year and the country is considering raising its 2050 carbon emission reduction target to 80 percent from the ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Canada: City called ecological disaster
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/09/24/6859841-sun.html
Sun Media: Green crusader David Suzuki took a swipe at Calgary's environmental record yesterday, slamming the city as an ecological disaster. In attendance at the Canadian Urban Forest Conference in Sherwood Park, the broadcaster-turned-activist took aim at Calgary when asked by reporters how Alberta compares to other provinces when it comes to dealing with climate change. "Calgary is an ecological disaster -- the urban sprawl there is crazy," he said, training his sights on ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Climate caused extinction of Pakistan species
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Earth/Climate_caused_extinction_of_Pak_ species/articleshow/3520148.cms
Indo-Asian News Service: Many of giraffe, rhino and elephant species, along with a multitude of rodents, bush pigs, horses, antelope and apes, once roamed northern Pakistan. But climate change eight million years ago radically altered the vegetative profile, resulting in the extinction of most species, when they could not adapt to the new ecosystem, said a long-term study of mammal fossils spanning a five-million-year period. Michigan University paleoecologist Catherine Badgley said: "The climate is ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Climate change 'must remain priority'
http://www.epolitix.com/latestnews/article-detail/newsarticle/climate-chang e-must-remain-priority/
ePolitix: Fighting climate change must remain a priority despite the economic downturn, the environment secretary has said. Hilary Benn told the Labour Party conference in Manchester on Wednesday that a low-carbon economy would create a million jobs. And commending Gordon Brown's "strong leadership" on climate change, he pointed to government measures to help people cope with rising fuel bills, such as winter fuel payments and funding for loft insulation. "But, conference, as well ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley up carbon investments
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2226824/deutsche-bank-morg an-stanley
Business Green: They might no longer be certain what the future holds for the financial sector but two of the world's largest banks have this week signalled their on-going support for the carbon market. DWS Investments, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank's asset management division, announced yesterday that it is setting up a new carbon fund that is expected to invest in the burgeoning global carbon market. The fund, which will be aimed at retail customers, is seeking to raise around ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Canada: Dion pushes his own carbon tax on Vancouver stop
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080924.BCELECTION24/TPSt ory/National
Globe and Mail: Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion made a campaign stop in the Vancouver area yesterday to try to win converts to his Green Shift carbon-tax proposal despite B.C. voter anger over a similar levy the province has already slapped onto fuel. He offered no special breaks for B.C. consumers, who started paying the provincial carbon tax in July, but instead reminded voters that the $15-billion Green Shift plan includes income-tax breaks to offset his proposed federal levy. "We will give ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
EDF Agrees to Buy British Energy for $23 Billion
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=a4Sgev4VLqsA&refer=uk
Bloomberg: Electricite de France SA, the world's biggest nuclear utility, agreed to buy British Energy Group Plc for a sweetened 12.5 billion pounds ($23 billion) as the U.K. turns back to atomic power after decades of neglect. EDF will pay 774 pence a share for the country's biggest electricity producer, according to a statement today. That's 35 percent above British Energy's closing price on March 14, the last trading session before the East Kilbride, Scotland-based utility said it may receive ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
EDF completes UK nuclear line-up
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7532542.stm
BBC: Less than two months after British Energy shareholders walked away from an earlier deal, EDF has bagged the UK nuclear power generator in a £12.4bn deal. Britain's nuclear future is expected to be dominated by French firms Selling British Energy to EDF is about more than just a handover of physical assets. The deal also completes the line-up of participants in a nuclear race that will lead to the creation of two essentially new branches of Britain's nuclear ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Evergreen Solar, Energy Conversion Surge on Tax Bill
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aVjpIIMqWY0M&refer=us
Bloomberg: Energy Conversion Devices Inc., Evergreen Solar Inc. and Akeena Solar Inc. surged after the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would extend tax credits on solar power installations through 2016. Energy Conversion, based in Rochester Hills, Michigan, climbed $7.64, or 14 percent, to $64.10 at 9:31 a.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. Marlboro, Massachusetts-based Evergreen rose 58 cents, or 10 percent, to $6.33, and Los Gatos, California-based Akeena gained 93 cents, or 22 ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
French utility set to buy British Energy for $23.18 billion
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/24/business/25edf-fw.php
International Herald Tribune: Électricité de France will buy British Energy for $23.18 billion in a deal that gives the French company a dominant role in the British nuclear power industry, the companies confirmed Wednesday EDF raised its offer to 774 pence a share, according to a statement, from an initial 764 pence that was tendered in July for the utility. That appeared to be enough to bring on board two large British Energy shareholders, the fund managers Invesco and M&G, who had previously opposed the ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Industry committee MEPs not interested in tackling dangerous climate change
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/news/index.cfm?uNe wsID=146081
WWF: Climate Action Network Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace and WWF have heavily criticized the outcome of today's vote by the European Parliament's industry (ITRE) committee on 'effort sharing'(1) . Environmentalists slammed the committee's opinion that countries should be able to buy their way out of real emission cuts in the EU by being able to purchase an even greater quantity of offsets than originally proposed by the European Commission. The ITRE committee vote would ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Kent cops eco protest bill will cost us £3 million
http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Kent-cops-eco-protest-bill-will-cost-us -%C2%A33-million-newsinkent16445.aspx
Kent News: Around half the estimated £6m spent policing the Climate Camp protest at Kingsnorth Power Station is to be paid by the Government. The Home Office has confirmed it is willing to contribute £3.2m to the bill which will most likely rise as other costs are factored in. A Home Office spokesman said: "We have offered Kent Police £3.2m and Kent Police have asked for more. We are considering that request." About 1,400 officers policed the event and 1,000 activists attended the ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Poland's coal miners protest 'climate package'
http://www.polskieradio.pl/thenews/news/?id=92075
Thenews.pl: Around 300 coal miners and power engineers from the Solidarity trade union will protest in Brussels on Thursday against the European Commission's 'climate package,' which is to limit carbon dioxide emissions. The trade union warns that introducing the new regulations might spell disaster for Polish coal mining and the power industry, which is based 95 percent on coal. Miners from collieries from all over Poland - Silesia, Belchatow, Konin, Kalisz and Szczecin - will take part ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Police bill for Kingsnorth protest could top £6m
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kol08/article/default.asp?article_id=48604
Kent: The Home Office today announced it will pay £3.2 million towards the £6 million bill for policing the Camp Climate protest at Hoo. A spokesman for the Home Office said:"Kent Police have asked for more money and this request is currently being considered." Kent Police revealed this week that the bill for for officers, accommodation, air support and planning during the week-long protest in August was £5.9 million, though the total could rise. Up to 1,400 officers from 26 ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
United Kingdom: Rising cost of oil will not derail climate strategy, says Hilary Benn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/24/labour.greenpolitics
Guardian: Hilary Benn today defended the government's measures to help people with domestic fuel bills and pledged that the rising cost of oil would not derail its efforts to tackle climate change. In his speech to Labour party conference, the environment secretary said he still believed the best way to reduce bills was through loft and cavity insulation rather than one-off payments. Benn also pledged that the government would work to increase its carbon dioxide emission targets. It is ...

Thu, 25 Sep 08
Solar wind blows at 50-year low
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7632331.stm
BBC: The solar wind - the stream of charged particles billowing away from the Sun - is at its weakest for 50 years. Scientists made the assessment after studying 18 years of data from the Ulysses satellite which has sampled the space environment all around our star. They expect the reduced output to have effects right across the Solar System. Indeed, one impact is to diminish slightly the influence the Sun has over its local environment which extends billions of kilometres ...

Wed, 24 Sep 08
Green idealists most likely to take long-haul flights, says study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/24/ethicalliving.recycling
Guardian: People who believe they have the greenest lifestyles can be seen as some of the main culprits behind global warming, says a team of researchers, who claim that many ideas about sustainable living are a myth. According to the researchers, people who regularly recycle rubbish and save energy at home are also the most likely to take frequent long-haul flights abroad. The carbon emissions from such flights can swamp the green savings made at home, the researchers claim. Stewart ...

Wed, 24 Sep 08
Vegetation Expansion Minimises Global Warming - Expert
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_world.php?id=360952
Bernama: The main cause of global warming is the high level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Therefore, to reduce it, extended green plants area is needed, experts said. "Lately, the green plants existence in the world has decreased, mostly because of human's action. This results in the increasing of the temperature," Antara news agency quoted Professor of the Faculty Mathematics and Physics (MIFA) University of North Sumatra (USU) Retno Widhiastuti, as saying here ...

Wed, 24 Sep 08
Australia's Wong Warns of Ongoing Water Shortage
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50334/story.htm
Reuters: Farmers in Australia's food bowl Murray-Darling river basin need to adapt to ongoing water shortages as climate change prolongs the worst drought in a century, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday. The basin, which covers an area the size of France and Germany, accounts for 41 percent of Australia's agriculture and provides A$21 billion (US$17.6 billion) of food exports. "We can and must adjust for a future where there is likely to be less water," Wong told ...

Wed, 24 Sep 08
British public 'unwilling' to pay for environmental agenda
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/24/climate.change.science.of climatechange
Guardian: Public confusion over the environmental agenda appears to be as high as ever, with a majority in the UK calling for more action to tackle climate change while at the same time saying they are not willing to pay more to help. Nearly two-thirds of people told a poll by Opinium they thought recent government measures to boost energy conservation needed to go much further, and half said they were doing their bit by installing insulation or turning down the thermostat. However more ...

Wed, 24 Sep 08
Spain Eases Plan to Slash Subsidy for Solar Power
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50341/story.htm
Reuters: Spain has decided to ease proposed sharp cuts in a generous subsidy scheme