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Australia: Turnbull rolled by climate sceptics: ALP
http://news.theage.com.au/national/turnbull-rolled-by-climate-sceptics-alp-20081031-5ey8.html
AAP: Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has hit out at federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull for failing to stand up to the "climate change deniers" within his party. Comprehensive economic modelling released by Treasury on Thursday painted a rosy picture of how emissions trading will affect the economy and Australians, forecasting that the average household bill will rise by just $7 a week. The modelling predicted the scheme would barely impact on economic growth and incomes, ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Australia: Drought aid may depend on farmers' viability
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=105502
West Australian: Farmers will have to seek independent advice confirming their business can be viable in the long term before being considered for drought assistance under a radical plan being considered by the Rudd Government. Under the scheme, Federal Government aid to farms worth more than $3 million could be cut, while farmers eligible for drought help would only be able to make a claim for funds three years out of every seven. A draft Productivity Commission report into drought support ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme: $1 a day to save planet
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24579279-5013404,00.html
Australian: THE Rudd Government has moved to ease fears about the impact of its emissions trading scheme, releasing Treasury modelling showing the scheme is affordable, with households paying up to $7 a week more for electricity and gas, and no industries forced offshore. Long-awaited Treasury modelling released yesterday assumes a modest cut in Australian emissions of between 5and 15 per cent by 2020, and - critically - that next year's UN summit in Copenhagen succeeds in reaching a climate ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
China toughens stance on role of rich nations in climate effort
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6e0ea162-a55a-11dd-b4f5-000077b07658.html
Financial Times: China raised the price of its co-operation in the world's climate change talks yesterday by calling for developed countries to spend 1 per cent of their domestic product helping poorer nations cut greenhouse gas emissions. The funding - amounting to more than $300bn (£190bn, 240bn) based on Group of Seven countries - would be spent largely on the transfer of "green" technologies, such as renewable energy, to poorer countries. Gao Guangsheng, head of the climate change office ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Papua New Guinea: World's First Climate Change Refugees to Arrive in Bougainville
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/081031/4/3rbcw.html
Asia Pulse: Bougainville expects the first 40 families of Carterets Island to move into their new mainland location by March next year, Administrator Raymond Masono said yesterday., reports Post Courier. They are still negotiating with landowners of Baniu Plantation for the piece of land which they would resettle on as their permanent home under the major climate change resettlement exercise. Mr Masono, however, said that the exercise would cost the Autonomous Bougainville and PNG ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Australia: 'Stand up to climate change deniers'
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/stand-up-to-climate-change-deniers/1348852.aspx
Canberra Times: Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has hit out at federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull for failing to stand up to the "climate change deniers" within his party. Comprehensive economic modelling released by Treasury yesterday painted a rosy picture of how emissions trading will affect the economy and Australians, forecasting that the average household bill will rise by just $7 a week. The modelling predicted the scheme would barely impact on economic growth and incomes, ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Antarctica feeling the heat too - study
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20081031-169457/Antarctica-feeling-the-heat-too--study
Agence France-Presse: Antarctica, which seemed to have largely escaped the global warming heating up the rest of the planet, is melting too, according to a study. The new research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, also provides the firmest proof to date that climate change at both poles is not the result of natural fluctuations. "Our results demonstrate that human activities have already caused significant warming in both polar regions," said Alexey Karpechko, a professor at the ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Scientists claim proof humans to blame for polar warming
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/31/2406845.htm?section=world
BBC: Scientists say they have been able to prove for the first time that human activity is contributing to the warming of both the Arctic and Antarctic. British researchers say their analysis shows that increasing temperatures cannot be explained by natural causes alone. The researchers say that they expected this result for the Arctic because of the recent sharp increase in the summer melting of sea ice in the region. But temperature variations in the Antarctic have until ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Mankind Melting Ice Caps
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Antarctica-Ice-Caps-Being-Melted-By-Human-Impact-Not-Natural-Sources-A-Scientific-Experiment-Reveals/Article/200810415136263?lpos=World_News_News_Your_Way_Region_9&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15136263_Antarctica_Ice
Sky News: It's official - humans are to blame for melting the ice caps as natural forces are not powerful enough to do it alone, a new experiment has revealed. Giant icebergs are surrounded by drifting ice in Vincennes Bay, Antarctica Scientists have analysed more than 100 years of temperatures from the Arctic and 50 years in the Antarctic and they have discovered without humans the polar temperature would not be rising. It had already been confirmed that our modern way of living ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Australian PM warns against delaying carbon reduction
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200810/s2406922.htm?tab=latest
Radio Australia: Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has warned that if Australia does not move quickly enough to introduce a carbon reduction scheme then other nations are likely to impose big tariffs as a penalty. The federal opposition says Australia should not introduce a carbon trading scheme in 2010 as the Government intends. Mr Rudd, however, says it is easier to bring down emissions if a scheme starts earlier and he warns there could also be financial penalties if Australia waits ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Electric Cars Are A Big Chance For China - Mckinsey
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50827/newsDate/30-Oct-2008/story.htm
Reuters: China should push electric cars to curb its dependence on imported oil and foreign automobile technology, although they offer smaller cuts in carbon emissions than alternatives like hybrids, McKinsey and Company said. In two decades it could create a world-leading industry and a domestic market alone worth up to 1.5 trillion yuan (US$219.4 billion), even if less than a third of drivers go electric, the consulting firm said on Wednesday in a report, "China Charges Up". "China ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Four Projects To Save Jobs And Cut Emissions
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50860/story.htm
Reuters: A growing "carbon army" of environmentalists and bankers have seized on political support to boost flagging economies to press for more spending on climate-friendly projects. In times of downturn, spending on infrastructure can prime demand, provide work and avert depression, a lesson learned from US President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s. Following are four major projects to cut carbon emissions that would need a large input of funding. 1. OFF-SHORE ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Business Books: US Activist Urges Poor To Think Green
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50858/story.htm
Reuters: Civil rights activist Van Jones for years has fought to keep poor kids in Oakland, California, off the streets and out of jail. Now, he's got a solution he ripped off straight from the West Coast elite -- urging the nation's toughest neighbourhoods to think green. In his book, "The Green Collar Economy" (Harper One, $25.99), Jones argues that the predominantly white and wealthy environmental movement and those living in low-income, mainly black and immigrant communities should ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
UK Aims To Support Small Renewable Power From 2010
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50855/story.htm
Reuters: Britain says it wants to guarantee a price premium for small producers of renewable power, for example from the wind and sun, from 2010. The government included the proposals in amendments tabled on Wednesday to an energy bill being debated and due to pass into law by December this year. The plan would support households and communities which install solar panels or small wind turbines on their property. They would earn a feed-in tariff, which guarantees a price premium ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Australia Carbon Scheme To Cut Growth 0.1 Pct - Govt
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50861/story.htm
Reuters: Australia's plans to introduce carbon trading from July 2010 would cut the country's average gross national product growth by 0.1 percent, the Treasury department said on Thursday. "Average annual GNP growth will be only one tenth of 1 percent less than it would be in a world without action to tackle climate change," Treasurer Wayne Swan and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said while releasing Treasury data for the scheme. The modelling found the cost of curbing greenhouse ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Australia Govt Allays Fears On Carbon Scheme
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50852/story.htm
Reuters: The Australian government sought to ease fears about the impact of its carbon trade scheme on Thursday, saying the coming regime would have a minimal impact on economic growth and exporters amid financial turmoil. Treasurer Wayne Swan and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong released Treasury modelling which found carbon trading would cut average per capita growth by 0.1 percent a year from introduction in 2010 to 2050, with only a small one-off inflation impact. The cost of ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
'Living Fossil' Tree Contains Genetic Imprints Of Rain Forests Under Climate Change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081030192853.htm
ScienceDaily: A "living fossil" tree species is helping a University of Michigan researcher understand how tropical forests responded to past climate change and how they may react to global warming in the future. The research appears in the November issue of the journal Evolution. Symphonia globulifera is a widespread tropical tree with a history that goes back some 45 million years in Africa, said Christopher Dick, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who is lead ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Climate change at the poles is man-made
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-change-at-the-poles-uisu-manmade-980256.html
Independent: Changes to the climate due to human activity can now be detected on every continent, following a study showing that temperature rises in the Antarctic as well as the Arctic are the result of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases. It is the first time scientists have been able to prove the link between the temperature changes in both polar regions are down to human activity and it also undermines climate sceptics who believe the warming trend seen in the Arctic in recent decades is ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
United Kingdom: People-power a step closer in energy bill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/31/renewable-energy-micro-generation-national-grid
Guardian: The prospect of households with wind turbines and solar panels being able to sell power back to the national grid has come a step closer after the government tabled an amendment to a bill that would allow people to generate enough power to serve a community of more than 1,000 people. The government said 10 days ago it was keen to get the proposal into the energy bill after facing down opposition from power companies concerned that allowing individuals and communities the chance to ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Climate ideas put under spotlight
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7701006.stm
BBC: From the twilight zone of science fiction, the idea of "geo-engineering" is emerging into the harsher daylight of science fact - and I'm going to risk the prediction that we'll hear a lot more about it in the coming years. Only a few years ago, the very notion of planetary-scale projects to tackle climate change was derided by many as too nutty to bother with. Mainstream media coverage tended to gently poke fun at the images of galaxies of mirrors in orbit or fleets of giant ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Morocco invests US$3.2 billion in renewable energy
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/morocco-invests-us-3-2-billion-in-renewable-energy.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: Morocco has announced plans for a new campus providing knowledge-based services to strengthen research and training in clean technology. The 'knowledge campus' is part of a US$3.2 billion five-year renewable energy investment plan, prepared by the Moroccan National Electricity Office and scheduled to run between 2009 and 2014. Mouloud Ait Haddou, Morocco's general secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment, said his country aims to increase renewable ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Time to bury the 'clean coal' myth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/30/fossilfuels-carbonemissions
Guardian: Who came up with the term "clean coal"? It is the most toxic phrase in the greenwash lexicon. George W Bush, by promising to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the pursuit of advanced "clean" coal technologies, certainly popularised it. But I'd love to know where it came from. Any thoughts out there? It is, of course, oxymoronic. Coal is about acid rain and peasouper smogs, asthma and mercury contamination, radioactive waste emissions and ripping apart mountains, killing trees, ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
New Study: 10 billion tonne saving in CO2 possible with wind energy by 2020
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/global-wind-energy-outlook-30102008
Greenpeace: Wind power could produce 12 percent of the world's energy needs and save 10 billion tones of CO2 within 12 years, according to a new report published today. The 'Global Wind Energy Outlook 2008', published by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and Greenpeace International, looks at the global potential of wind power up to 2050 and found that it could play a key part in achieving a decline in emissions by 2020, which the IPCC indicates is necessary to avoid the worst consequences of ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Royal Society to look at planetary intervention
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229446/royal-society-look-planetary
Business Green: The Royal Society is launching a major new study into planetary scale geo-engineering projects amid fears that it may already be too late to prevent runaway climate change. Geo-engineering projects are large-scale interventions in the Earth's natural climate system designed to reduce CO2 and prevent global warming. Any such scheme would be a last resort, said Professor John Shepherd, chair of the working group that will undertake the study. "Whatever solutions technology ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Financial crisis has lessons for climate fight:expert
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49T1M420081030?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The world still has the funds and ability to fight climate change and nations should not use the financial crisis to delay policies on tackling global warming, a top carbon expert said on Thursday. James Cameron, vice-chairman of London-based Climate Change Capital, said the mobilization of trillions of dollars over recent months had demonstrated the strength and scale of cooperation in tackling a global crisis. "We run the risk that governments will choose to focus on the ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
E-ON forces Greenpeace armada to leave Kingsnorth
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229454/forces-greenpeace-armada-leave
Business Green: A group of ships led by environmental group Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior have been forced to abandon protests against an E.ON-owned coal plant in Kent following legal action by the power company. According to statements released by Greenpeace on Thursday, campaigners from the group were forced to move on from the controversial facility in Kingsnorth after a high court injunction was issued on behalf of E.ON. "In the early hours of this morning, after bailiffs served us a high ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Government accused of breaking rules over Sellafield decommissioning plans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/30/edmiliband-nuclear
Guardian: The government was last night under pressure from parliament's most powerful watchdog committee to re-open consultations on the deal which has landed taxpayers with the bill for nuclear accidents and leaks when a private consortium takes over the decommissioning of Sellafield next month. Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, has written to Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, telling him that his ministry had broken Treasury rules and failed ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Carbon market could supply cheap debt -bankers
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49S7I720081030?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European energy companies struggling to raise cash from banks to fund projects could turn to the European carbon market, say bankers. Energy infrastructure projects are typically 70 or 80 percent debt-financed, but following the financial crisis many banks are closed for any new lending for the remainder of 2008 and possibly into 2009, developers say. One tactic to raise cash could be for energy companies with installations participating in the Europoean Union's emissions ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Thin film giant First Solar targets residential market in $25m deal
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229466/thin-film-giant-first-solar
Business Green: In a groundbreaking move for the embryonic thin film solar sector, leading US manufacturer First Solar has signalled its intention to crack the residential market announcing a $25m (£15m) investment in solar panel installation firm SolarCity. Under the terms of the deal, which forms part of a $30m funding round for SolarCity, First Solar will provide 100MW of solar modules to the company over the next five years, with the first batch being delivered early next year. The move is ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Exclusive: GE bets big on waste heat recovery
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229469/ge-bets-waste-heat-recovery
Business Green: General Electric's clean tech division has identified waste heat recovery systems as one of its most promising upcoming product lines, according to its head of research in Europe. Harnessing the waste heat produced by industrial processes and internal combustion engines for re-use has long been touted by environmentalists as an area that could deliver huge energy efficiency gains. However, adoption of such systems have been hampered by high up front costs and technical challenges ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Global-warming methane spiked in 2007
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn15079-globalwarming-methane-spiked-in-2007-.html?feedId=climate-change_rss20
New Scientist: Levels of climate-warming methane – a greenhouse gas 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide – rose abruptly in Earth's atmosphere last year, and we don't know why. The concentration of methane, the primary component of natural gas, in the atmosphere has more than doubled since pre-industrial times, but remained largely stable over the last decade or so before rising in 2007, researchers said. This stability in methane levels had led scientists to believe that emissions of the gas ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Aviation industry defies environmental pressure
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229472/aviation-industry-defies
Business Green: The results of a government survey into consumer attitudes to flying shows that nearly half of consumers would be happy to pay more to offset environmental impacts. The survey, released today by the Department for Transport (DFT), revealed that despite growing publicity around the impact of aviation on climate change, consumers ranked cost as a significantly more important factor than environmental damage when it comes to reasons not to fly. Only one per cent of the 1,000-plus ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Climate change to help short-lived creatures: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49T8O420081030?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Climate change is likely to disrupt food chains by favoring animals with short lifespans over often bigger rivals that are worse at tolerating temperature swings, scientists said on Thursday. The researchers in Germany and Canada said that studies of the physical characteristics of animals showed that all have widely differing "thermal windows" -- a range of temperatures in which they best feed, grow and reproduce. That meant that climate change would not affect all ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Obama's potential green team
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/30/network
Guardian: So what exactly does change look like? Barack Obama has ambitious energy and environmental plans. If he wins on November 4, who will he recruit to carry them out? Will he rely more heavily on Washington newcomers or on Clinton administration veterans who know their way around the White House? (See who John McCain might choose to green his White House here) Obama's choice for a transition team leader -- John Podesta, former Clinton chief of staff -- suggests he's willing to look back ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Follow Cuba's emissions standard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/30/carbonemissions-cuba
Guardian: The difference between before and after New Labour is that time has been wasted and the world is nearer the brink of environmental disaster. Either we reduce carbon emissions by 90% over the next 40 years, or we face the consequences of runaway climate change and the conflict and disruption caused by growing scarcities of oil and other resources. Consumerism is the biggest obstacle to sustainability and the pressure to consume is stoked by greater inequality. Inequality amplifies ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
United Kingdom: "Grotesque" oil profits prompt renewables demands
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229486/grotesque-oil-profits-prompt
Business Green: As Royal Dutch Shell today announced third quarter profits of £6.6bn, environmental groups added their voices to those of Labour backbench MPs and unions calling for a windfall tax on the profits of oil giants to fund investment in carbon emission reduction initiatives. The calls began yesterday after BP announced record profits of £6.4bn incensing MPs such as John Mcdonnell, who branded the results "grotesquely obscene profiteering". His criticism was echoed today by Friends ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
NY sets code to axe dirty business in clean energy
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49T7A920081030?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: New York's Attorney General launched an ethics code on Thursday that seeks to fight dirty business in the state's emerging wind power farm business. "Clean energy requires clean government," Attorney General Andrew Cuomo told reporters. Wind power is a bustling business in upstate New York offering jobs in poor regions. About 450 wind turbines have been installed, and another 900 are planned. But residents have charged that wind power companies have intimidated them and ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
UK firms urged to wake up to peak oil risk
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229490/uk-firms-urged-wake-peak-oil
Business Green: UK business leaders were today urged to undertake an assessment of the risks posed by the so-called peak oil phenomenon and join in efforts to lobby the government to take the threat more seriously, following the publication yesterday warning global oil supplies could peak within five years. The report from the newly-formed Peak Oil Group -- a coalition of eight UK firms including Scottish and Southern Energy, Solarcentury, and transport giants, FirstGroup, Stagecoach and Virgin -- ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
United States: Pickens delays world's biggest wind farm project
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/30/windpower-energy
Guardian: The multibillion dollar project to build the world's biggest wind farm in Texas has been delayed because of the fall-out from the credit crunch and the drop in the price of natural gas, it emerged today. T Boone Pickens, a renowned Texan oilman who is raising the capital for the wind farm, told a US television station today that the twofold problem was slowing down his ambitious plan. Pickens, who made a fortune from the oil industry but has been converted to renewable energy as a ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Man-made climate change seen in Antarctica, Arctic
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49T81020081030?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Both Antarctica and the Arctic are getting less icy because of global warming, scientists said on Thursday in a study that extends evidence of man-made climate change to every continent. Detection of a human cause of warming at both ends of the earth also strengthens a need to understand ice sheets on Antarctica and Greenland that would raise world sea levels by about 70 meters (230 ft) if they all melted, they said. "We're able for the first time to directly attribute warming ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Manmade global warming evident on every continent, polar report finds
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/30/climatechange-poles
Guardian: No corner of the Earth is immune from the effects of global warming, according to a new study that confirms manmade temperature rises in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Temperature records over the last century show that warming in the planet's coldest and most remote wildernesses is caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases. The study, published today in Nature Geoscience, is the first to find the fingerprints of manmade global warming on the Antarctic, where a shortage of ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Polar warming 'caused by humans'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7700387.stm
BBC: The rise in temperatures at Earth's poles has for the first time been attributed directly to human activities, according to a study. The work, by an international team, is published in Nature Geoscience journal. In 2007, the UN's climate change body presented strong scientific evidence the rise in average global temperature is mostly due to human activities. This contradicted ideas that it was not a result of natural processes such as an increase in the Sun's ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Methane Gas Levels Begin To Increase Again
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081029141043.htm
ScienceDaily: The amount of methane in Earth's atmosphere shot up in 2007, bringing to an end a period of about a decade in which atmospheric levels of the potent greenhouse gas were essentially stable, according to a team led by MIT researchers. Methane levels in the atmosphere have more than doubled since pre-industrial times, accounting for around one-fifth of the human contribution to greenhouse gas-driven global warming. Until recently, the leveling off of methane levels had suggested that the ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Global business backs UN efforts to clinch climate change deal
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5guIQfD0EWtRmdIEYDjrzgG1RfAYw
Agence France-Presse: Global business leaders meeting Wednesday in Warsaw endorsed the United Nations' drive to clinch a new global framework to curb climate change at its December 2009 climate summit in Copenhagen. "Business is a solution to the climate change crisis," Lars G. Josefsson, president and CEO of European power giant Vattenfall, told reporters after roundtable talks of business leaders on climate change. Josefsson is also the coordinator of the Combat Climate Change 3C initiative ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Brazil: Expert: Amazon may lose 50 pct of tree species
http://www.pr-inside.com/expert-amazon-may-lose-50-pct-r887617.htm
Associated Press: Global warming could kill off half of the tree species in Brazil's vast Amazon jungle by 2050, a leading international climate change expert said Wednesday. A worst-case rise of 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) would wipe out half of the region's tree species by making the Amazon much drier and causing increased humidity in Brazil's non-Amazon southern region, said Martin Parry of the U.N's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A lower rise of 2 degrees Celsius ...
Fri, 31 Oct 08
Global warming, soil decomposition studied
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/10/29/Global_warming_soil_decomposition_studied/UPI-99151225314734/
United Press International: U.S. scientists say they've found elevated temperatures created by global warming don't result in persistent elevated levels of decomposing organic matter. University of Georgia researchers say current models of global climate change predict warmer conditions will increase the rate by which bacteria and other microbes decompose organic matter -- a scenario that pumps even more heat-trapping carbon into the atmosphere. But the scientists say their new findings show that while ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Russian leaders downplay tensions over arctic resources
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=109410
United Press International: Russian officials have tried to play down tensions with the United States, Norway and other nations over possible conflicts in the Arctic Ocean. "Media assessments of possible aggression in the arctic, even a third world war, are seen as extremely alarmist and provocative. In my opinion, there are no grounds for such alarmism," Anton Vasilyev said Oct. 15, according to a report from the RIA Novosti news agency. RIA Novosti described Vasilyev as "a high-ranking official on the ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Australia: Seal levels tipped to rise 1m this century
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24561491-24331,00.html
AAP: SEA levels will rise by 1m this century, according to German scientists who warn global warming is happening faster than previously predicted. Citing UN data on climate change, two senior German scientists say that previous predictions were far too cautious and optimistic. Earlier estimates predicted a rise of 18cm to 59cm in sea levels this century. But that estimate is woefully understated, according to Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who heads the Potsdam Institute for Research ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Australians resist acting on climate
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/australians-resist-acting-on-climate/1347480.aspx
Canberra Times: There was both good and bad news for climate change activists from the results of an ANU poll conducted last month into the environmental attitudes of Australians. The poll confirmed what has now become accepted wisdom in Australia that most of us believe global warming to be the most important problem facing the nation today and, encouragingly, it found a majority of people would be prepared to accept a lower standard of living, or pay higher prices in order to protect the ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Palin calls for break from Bush energy policy
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h21ZbzgPbTVRftcJPT5vkHkonY5QD944EG7G1
Associated Press: Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin called Wednesday for a "clean break" from the Bush administration's energy policies, which she says rely too much on importing foreign oil. In her second policy speech in a week, the Alaska governor said the recent drop in gas and oil prices shouldn't deter consumers and lawmakers from seeking alternative energy sources. She cast energy independence as a national security issue and said dependence on Middle East oil leaves the U.S. ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Australia: Emissions trading scheme costings due today
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/2-0&fp=49093042b72c35b5&ei=lBoJSd_vAYOYgwOsqPm4Aw&url=http%3A//www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/10/30/Emissions_trading_scheme_costings_due_today&cid=1263846623&usg=AFQjCNEht9I9YTWmJpxg0-yEmWv-pjEW8g
LiveNews: The costs of an emissions trading scheme will be made clearer when treasury modelling is released later today. Businesses claim that the introduction of an emissions trading would be damaging to local companies, and could result in job losses. But the long-awaited economic advice is expected to show local companies won't be forced offshore to remain competitive. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says the government is working to get the balance right. "We can ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Living - rather than dealing - with dryness/drought
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/30/2405262.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: For some time, there has been a general recognition that existing drought policy, prepared in the late 1980s and tweaked occasionally since then, is no longer able to respond either to the changing weather patterns or the changing social conditions of rural Australia. As the Bureau of Meteorology recently reminded us: this is an event "without historical precedent". A unique review of policy is enabling a reconsideration of our responses to climate variability and rural Australia. The ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
China issues post-Kyoto plans on climate change
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-10/30/content_7156216.htm
China Daily: The clean development mechanism (CDM) should continue to be implemented even after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires, says a white paper on China's policies on climate change. But the CDM, the carbon trading system established under the Kyoto Protocol, needs to be amended to encourage more technology transfer to developing countries, says the paper, issued by the State Council Information Office Wednesday. "China will continue to play an active and constructive role at UN ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Fears methane spike will fuel warming
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/environment/fears-methane-spike-will-fuel-warming/1347255.aspx
Canberra Times: Global methane levels have jumped by almost 28 million tonnes in the past two years, and could accelerate the rate of climate change, according to new research. The methane spike, which began in mid-2006, appears to be generated by the rapid melting of ice across the Arctic circle, driven by hotter than average summer temperatures. ''It's not good news for future global warming. It's a big jump and we don't know if it will continue,'' CSIRO senior climate scientist Paul Fraser ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Another potent greenhouse gas on the rise
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2279/another-potent-greenhouse-gas-rise
: The amount of methane in Earth's atmosphere shot up in 2007. This brings to an end a decade in which levels of the potent greenhouse gas were relatively stable says a report in the journal Geophysical Review Letters. Methane levels in the atmosphere have more than tripled since pre-industrial times. Though much less methane is generated than carbon dioxide, it is more effective at trapping heat from the Sun, meaning that it accounts for around 20 per cent of the human contribution to ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Seabirds are hit hard by a disastrous breeding season
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/environment/display.var.2464279.0.Seabirds_are_hit_hard_by_a_disastrous_breeding_season.php
Herald: Many of Scotland's seabirds have had a terrible breeding season with virtually no chicks reared to fledging in the far north, the RSPB said yesterday. The charity believes that changes in food supply, which may be linked to climate change, could threaten the future of three species - kittiwakes, Arctic terns and Arctic skuas - in the UK. Declines of up to 90% have already been recorded. RSPB Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to ensure that it puts the environment ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Sea birds in danger of dying out in UK, warns RSPB
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/30/easeabird130.xml
Telegraph: The RSPB blamed changes in food supply, which may be linked to climate change, and could ultimately threaten the future of these species in the UK. However other seabird species seem to be weathering the storm. Great skuas, gannets and cormorants have experienced modest increases in their numbers, while herring gulls have remained stable. Earlier this year, the RSPB predicted a bad breeding season, after noticing abandoned nests and empty cliffs during the spring where there ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Eastern Europe looks to nuclear revival to meet its power needs
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/29/business/renuk.php
International Herald Tribune: From the Baltic to Bulgaria, governments in Eastern Europe are increasingly looking toward a revival of nuclear power generation to meet growing energy demand. The renewed interest in nuclear energy in a region that has been under intense pressure from the European Union to close unsafe older-generation plants coincides with a lively debate in several West European countries, in which governments seek cleaner energy options to combat climate change. Even in Germany, where ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Report indicates climate change to affect water supply planning
http://www.alamosanews.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=75&story_id=10081
Valley Courier: The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) recently released a report, "Colorado Climate Change: A Synthesis to Support Water Resource Management and Adaptation." The report focuses on observed trends and projections of temperature, precipitation, snow and runoff. "This report provides the physical science basis to support Governor Ritter's Climate Action Plan and state efforts to develop water adaptation plans to respond to changes in climate that cannot be avoided," said ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
United States: Climate change wrecking Walden's flowers
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/10/29/climate-change-wrecking-waldens-flowers/
Christian Science Monitor: Some 27 percent of the flowers around Walden Pond in Concord, Mass. have vanished since the mid 19th century, and another 36 percent are on the brink of disappearing. We know this because we have meticulous records of Walden`s plant species and birds, taken by none other than Henry David Thoreau. On nearly every spring morning from 1851 to 1858, the transcendentalist writer explored the woods around the pond, noting the first seasonal blooms of 465 species of flowers. Since ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Climate damage science studied
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7698805.stm
BBC: The UK's Royal Society is to investigate whether ambitious engineering schemes could reduce the impact of global warming. Several "geo-engineering" schemes have been proposed including putting mirrors into space and iron filings in oceans. The society says these must be properly assessed - however fantastical. But environmental groups warn that technological solutions should not divert attention away from reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses. I do think that ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Climate-warming methane levels rose fast in 2007
http://news.stv.tv/environment/36859-climatewarming-methane-levels-rose-fast-in-2007/
Reuters: Levels of climate-warming methane -- a greenhouse gas 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide -- rose abruptly in Earth's atmosphere last year, and scientists who reported the change don't know why it occurred. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, has more than doubled in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times, but stayed largely stable over the last decade or so before rising in 2007, researchers said on Wednesday. This stability led scientists to believe that the ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
United Kingdom: "Carbon army" hopes to grab slice of New Deal cash
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE49T0AZ20081030
Reuters: A growing "carbon army" of environmentalists, bankers and investors has seized on official backing last week for major public spending announced in Britain and the United States. They see it not just as a way to boost flagging economies, but also as an opportunity to promote investment in green energy projects. In times of downturn, spending on infrastructure can prime demand, provide work and avert depression, a lesson learned from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Australia: Acting now on climate change will cost less: Swan
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/30/2405497.htm?section=australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Treasurer Wayne Swan says Treasury modelling proves that acting now to reduce carbon emissions will be cheaper than taking no action. Speaking in Brisbane today, Mr Swan said the newly-released Treasury modelling suggested that costs for countries who act now to reduce emissions will be 15 per cent less over the next 40 years compared to those countries who wait. "The message is clear - acting early is an economic imperative," he said. "The modelling proves that the ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Australia Won't Delay Carbon Plan on Credit Crisis, Wong Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aj6vdX7HJVaw&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Australia won't delay its planned introduction of carbon trading because of the global financial crisis, said Climate Change minister Penny Wong. Delaying carbon trading would only increase the cost of tackling greenhouse gas emissions and harm investment, Wong said today at a conference on the Gold Coast, Australia. The government will consider economic conditions when setting targets for greenhouse gas reductions, she said. The Australian government plans to start the carbon ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Time to rank the best ideas to engineer the climate?
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/mg20026803.100-time-to-rank-the-best-ideas-to-engineer-the-climate.html?feedId=climate-change_rss20
New Scientist: IT'S time to stop churning out ideas for repairing Earth's climate and start working out which show the most promise so they can be tested. So says a researcher who is calling for an international organisation to rank all ideas to geoengineer the climate. Various proposals have been put forward, from putting "sunshades" in space to burying carbon dioxide. "The ideas for how to change our climate keep getting pumped out. They get lots of column inches," says Philip Boyd of the National ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Royal Society to research geo-engineering potential to limit global warming
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/30/climatechange-carbonemissions
Guardian: The Royal Society has announced plans today to study which planetary-scale geo-engineering techniques might play a practical role in stemming the worst impacts of climate change. Geo-engineering includes everything from placing mirrors in space that reflect sunlight from the Earth to seeding the oceans with iron to encourage the growth of algae that can soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Royal Society study will look at which techniques might be feasible to carry out and what ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Brussels backs scrapping older cars to promote fuel-efficient models
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/30/automotive-regulators-fuel-efficiency
Guardian: The European commission yesterday threw its political weight behind industry calls for an EU-wide scheme to offer motorists incentives to take their old cars off the road and buy new fuel-efficient, cleaner models. The commission also urged the European Investment Bank (EIB) to offer up to 40bn (£32bn) in soft loans to help the car industry design new green technologies. The push emerged from a meeting of commissioners, motor industry chief executives, ministers and MEPs to ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Tanis Taylor on precycling - cutting out packaging and buying only what you need
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/30/ethicalliving-waste
Guardian: Every Tuesday, as a house, we put out two big green boxes of recycling. I say green because a) they literally are and b) the presumption is that by using them, so are we. But wouldn't it be greener not to put out the recycling - to generate so little waste that, come Tuesday, there is nothing to put in the green box? It is an idealistic notion, but is it practical? I decided to try it for a month to find out. And in doing so, I inadvertently discovered that I'd joined a ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Challenges dog nuclear option, despite low carbon benefits
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/analysis/2229349/carbon-concerns-put-nuclear
Business Green: The world is choking on carbon. We're entering an energy-constrained economy as consumers and businesses alike begin to wonder where their next electron is coming from. No wonder, then, that French company EDF recently agreed to take over the British nuclear industry by purchasing British Energy for £12.5bn. The purchase gives it access to all but two of the country's nuclear power plants, which will in any case shut down in 2010. The government has touted the purchase as part ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Earthworms affect forest carbon chemistry
http://it.moldova.org/stiri/eng/161009/
United Press International: U.S. scientists say they've determined earthworms can change the chemical nature of the carbon in North American forest litter and soils. Purdue University scientists, along with researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and Johns Hopkins University, studied the effect of earthworms on forest chemistry by comparing carbon composition in forests that vary in earthworm activity. They found forests with greater numbers of invasive earthworms tend to have litter and soil organic ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Conservationists Warn of Ecological Credit Crunch
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-29-voa38.cfm
Voice of America: A report by a number of leading conservation groups warns that unless prompt corrective measures are taken, the planet is heading toward an ecological credit crunch. For VOA, Tom Rivers reports from London. Cover of the Living Planet ReportThe report is simple and stark. Our demands on natural resources overreach what the Earth can sustain by almost a third. The World Wildlife Fund, the Zoological Society of London and Global Footprint Network all worked jointly on what is ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Supreme Court Rules Logging Rights In PNG Illegal
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0810/S00583.htm
Scoop: The Supreme Court has quashed a decision granting logging rights over the huge Kamula Doso forest area in Western Province to Rimbunan Hijau (RH) in a court case brought by the PNG Eco-Forestry Forum, and ordered the company to pay costs to the Forum. SEARCH NZ JOBS Search Businesses FindA Find the property for you For all your PROPERTY needs BUY RENT INVEST today! "This is a major victory for good governance," said Kenn Mondiai, Chairperson of the Forum. "This decision ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Environment, Economy Weigh On Bottled Water Sector
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50826/story.htm
Reuters: The world's top sellers of bottled water are trying to stop western consumers turning back to the tap by addressing environmental issues and trumpeting health benefits, while expanding aggressively in emerging markets. Nestle, the world's biggest bottler of water with brands like Perrier and Poland Spring, said last week the economic slowdown and environmental concerns were hurting sales in western Europe and North America. PepsiCo saw double-digit declines in the third quarter ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
EU Carmakers To Press Call For 40 Bln Euro EU Loan
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50830/story.htm
Reuters: European carmakers will press their call for an EU loan of 40 billion euros (US$50.98 billion) to help develop greener cars in a meeting with the bloc's executive on Wednesday, their industry association chief said. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) says the economic crisis and sliding consumer confidence has made it increasingly difficult to achieve EU targets to curb carbon dioxide emissions from cars by 18 percent by 2012. Asked on arrival at the ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
EU Ready To Help Car Industry Develop Greener Cars
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50828/story.htm
Reuters: The European Commission is ready to support the car industry and help it achieve EU targets to curb CO2 emissions despite the economic crisis, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday. "We are open to the possibility of providing support for the development of low emission cars, high tech cars that could help the European motor industry maintain its global competitiveness," Barroso told a news conference. He added that any aid to the car sector should ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Pickens Plan Reality Check: Energy Freedom or Farce?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081029-pickens-plan-energy-facts.html?source=rss
National Geographic: "I'm T. Boone Pickens. I've been an oilman all my life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. And I have a plan. ... " The twangy entreaties of a Texas tycoon have been filling the pre-election airwaves in the U.S. TV ads for the so-called Pickens Plan have gotten many Americans thinking about wind power and natural gas-fueled cars as ways to reduce dependence on foreign oil. The plan's environmental claims have even won the conservative oilman some strange ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
First Solar enters U.S. residential market
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49S7GH20081029?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: First Solar is entering the U.S. residential market with a five-year deal to supply 100 megawatts of thin-film solar modules to installer SolarCity, the manufacturer said on Wednesday. First Solar, which produces the lowest-cost solar cells in the industry, will also take a minority stake in SolarCity with a $25 million equity investment in the privately held company, which installs clean-power systems in California, Arizona and Oregon. Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar has ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Hunger hotspots of the future revealed
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/mg20026803.600-hunger-hotspots-of-the-future-revealed.html?feedId=climate-change_rss20
New Scientist: Where in sub-Saharan Africa will climate change hit hardest? When it comes to food supply, prospects for much of the centre and east of the region are looking grim. Reduced crop yields along with a rising population mean that Tanzania, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are likely to face serious shortages by 2030, according to a comprehensive new study. A team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology in Dübendorf led by Junguo Liu ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Greenhouse gas from flat-screen TV makers soars
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/mg20026803.500-greenhouse-gas-from-flatscreen-tv-makers-soars.html?feedId=climate-change_rss20
New Scientist: OUR new-found love of flat-screen TVs could come back to haunt us. Levels of a potent greenhouse gas, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), released in their manufacture are four times as high as estimates in 2006, and rising, reveals the first study measuring atmospheric levels of the gas. Researchers warned earlier this year that the growing popularity of LCD technology was releasing increasing amounts of NF3 into the atmosphere. Though it is 17,000 times as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Ecological credit crunch: we cannot bank on nature
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3413
People and Planet: The world is heading for an ecological credit crunch as human demands on the world's natural resources reach nearly a third more than earth can sustain. That is the stark warning contained in the latest edition of WWF's Living Planet Report, the leading statement of the planet's health. It shows that species and wildlife continue to decline, and around 50 countries are slipping into a state of permanent or seasonal water stress. Ecological Footprint by country. Growth of the ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
China warns more extreme weather to come
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/29/content_10274950.htm
Xinhua: China warned on Wednesday that it faces more warmer weather, more extreme climate events and more severe drought in the future. "Extreme climate phenomena, such as high temperatures, heavy rain and snow and severe droughts, have increased in frequency and intensity," it said in a white paper released Wednesday. The average temperature of Earth's surface in China had risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius from 1908 to 2007, according to the white paper. But China admitted that it ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Yellowstones amphibians declining fast due to climate change
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/yellowstones-amphibians-declining-fast-due-to-climate-change-re-issue_100112767.html
Asian News International: A research has determined that despite being protected longer than anywhere else on Earth, Yellowstone National Parks amphibians are declining fast, all due to climate change. Yellowstone National Park, founded in 1872, has been protected by law longer than anywhere else in the world. In 1992 and 1993, researchers in Elizabeth Hadlys group at Stanford University surveyed amphibians dwelling in ponds left behind by glaciers in northern Yellowstone National Park. Over the ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
China predict 'climate phenomena' from global warming
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/29/2405083.htm?section=justin
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Chinese Government has made dire predictions of increased disasters due to global warming. In releasing a major policy document on climate change, the Chinese Government has warned that global warming has already had massive adverse effects on China. A major policy paper on climate change has warned of the difficulty of reducing the country's reliance on coal and the potential devastation that this could cause According to the so-called White Paper, "Extreme climate ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Ireland: Warmer seas to blame as our cod vanish
http://www.herald.ie/national-news/warmer-seas-to-blame-as-our-cod-vanish-1512262.html
Herald: COD, salmon and eels could soon become a rare sight in Irish waters, scientists warned today. And it is not necessarily because of overfishing, pollution or habitat destruction. Studies carried out by teams of scientists in Maynooth, Galway and Mayo suggest another culprit -- climate change. Long term changes in the temperature and salt content of our seas may force cold water species, like salmon, into deeper colder waters. It may see them replaced with warm water fish ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
China's emission now equals that of the US
http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/B14E76AD9649E1FC652574F100439C75?OpenDocument
Press Trust of India: China, dubbed as the "the factory of the world," today said its emissions almost equalled that of the US, the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas blamed for the bulk of global warming. China's emissions of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas from fossil fuel burning, accounted for eight per cent of the world total from 1904 to 2004. "According to our data, China's current total emissions are almost as the same as that of the United States," Xie ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
China says coal addiction makes climate change fight hard
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gs4IUSInbVEyv5W2NmI-MsdsORqw
Agence France-Presse: China warned Wednesday its heavy dependence on coal to fuel its fast-growing economy made it difficult to control greenhouse gas emissions, but said fighting global warming remained imperative. Releasing a policy paper on climate change, the Chinese government acknowledged the deep impact global warming had already made on the world's most populous nation -- and warned of much worse to come. "Extreme climate phenomena, such as high temperatures, heavy precipitation and severe ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Bligh embarrassed by leaked email on reef rescue plan
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,27574,24572946-3102,00.html
Courier-Mail: PLANS to abandon water monitoring in coastal Queensland were afoot when Premier Anna Bligh unveiled her campaign to save the Great Barrier Reef. An email leaked to Greens MP Ronan Lee has revealed the Environmental Protection Agency was planning to slash funding to its water science division. The October 7 email warned that EPA budget cuts would mean monthly monitoring of estuaries between Noosa and north Queensland would have to be abandoned. The revelation is a major ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Climate change felt at Walden Pond
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/29/america/walden.php
Boston Globe: In the 1850s, a few years after he had gone to "live deliberately" in a cabin in the woods at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau began to compile detailed records on hundreds of species of plants in his beloved Concord, Massachusetts. That same data are now being used to measure the effect of climate change, and the news is not good, researchers announced Monday. Scientists from Boston University and Harvard reported that 27 percent of the species documented by Thoreau have ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Australia: Kevin Rudd is firm on carbon cut plan
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24573905-11949,00.html
Australian: THE Rudd Government will press ahead with its emissions trading scheme, arguing that modelling to be released today proves it is pro-growth and good for the nation's long-term economic competitiveness. In a strongly worded speech to be delivered today, Wayne Swan will make it clear the Government will stare down critics who argue that the introduction of the emissions trading scheme should be put on the backburner during the global economic crisis. Instead, the Government will ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Forest preservation-carbon credit schemes in Asia
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE49S0NA20081029?sp=true
Reuters: U.N. climate change talks in Bali last December formally launched pilot projects for a pay-and-preserve scheme that would allow developing nations to potentially earn billions of dollars by keeping their rainforests standing. Under the U.N.-backed process, called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), rich nations would meet some of their emissions reduction targets by buying carbon credits from developing nations, whose forests soak up vast amounts of ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Australia carbon plan no company killer: Government
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE49S0NL20081029
Reuters: Australia's plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions through carbon trade will not be the "company killer" feared by business and no major polluters will be forced to move offshore, the government said on Wednesday. Treasury department modeling of the impact of the scheme after its mid-2010 introduction showed that even if the center-left government adopted a tougher-than-expected 25 percent emissions cut, no major companies would be forced to close. "The modeling shows that ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
China Firm on Climate Change Policy ahead of International Negotiations
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-29-voa16.cfm
Voice of America: China, one of the world's top polluters, has again said that developed nations should help it, and other developing economies, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Chinese officials say they will have trouble cutting the country's use of polluting coal without cash and technology from rich countries. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing. Visitors walk through the polluted air at Beijing's Tiananmen Square (File)A new policy paper released Wednesday repeats China's stance that developed ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Experts call for better data on climate change migrants
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/20316/2008/09/29-144726-1.htm
Reuters: There's no shortage of researchers lining up to tell us that climate change poses a big threat to coastal cities and their populations - from Dhaka to New Orleans to Mombasa. At the recent launch of the U.N.'s State of the World's Cities 2008/2009 report, lead author Eduardo Lopez Moreno noted that 3,351 of the world's cities are located in what's known as the "low elevation coastal zone" - less than 10 metres above sea level. "In case there is an increase in sea level, there will be ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Japan's prime minister and Prince Charles agree on environment
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ihLfMr6hE8Hp-NyMAFk5s_J1pf1w
Canadian Press: Britain's Prince Charles and Japan's prime minister Wednesday celebrated 150 years of diplomatic ties between their countries, pledging to strengthen friendship and co-operation on environmental issues, officials said. Prime Minister Taro Aso expressed hopes to co-operate with Britain in taking initiative in climate change issues, as Prince Charles renewed his commitments to environmental protection, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the talks, held at a Tokyo ...
Thu, 30 Oct 08
Rainbow Warrior activists reach Kingsnorth
http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Rainbow-Warrior-activists-reach-Kingsnorth-newsinkent17470.aspx?news=local
Kent News: Climate campaigners are trying to breach Kingsnorth power station's security in a bid to hold a peaceful protest against E.ON's coal plans for the plant. Dozens of eco-activists set foot on the station's river-facing jetty earlier today, having reached the plant in a nine-boat flotilla led by the Greenpeace's iconic Rainbow Warrior vessel. The group aims to reach the site of the proposed coal-units to hold 'a sombre and dignified ceremony for the victims of climate ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
True cost of China's coal: $250 billion in pollution, environmental damage, and social ills
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1028-hance_china_coal.html
Mongabay: Every year China is spends 250 billion in hidden costs due to its reliance on coal, according to a report compiled over three years by top Chinese economists. These hidden costs are in the form of both environmental degradation and social ills. Commissioned by Greenpeace China, WWF, and the Energy Foundation, the report shows that the hidden cost of coal is present in almost every aspect of Chinese life, including air pollution, water shortages, polluted soil, ecosystem degradation, ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Italy repeats opposition to EU climate plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49R7Y420081028?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The Italian government on Tuesday said it would stick to its opposition to an EU climate plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth by 2020, saying it would be too harmful for industry. A statement said the plan was not acceptable because it would cost Italian companies 40 percent more than other EU countries. "This would be untenable for our production, particularly in light of the current global economic crisis," it said. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi shocked ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Massive Shift to Clean Energy Could Start Tomorrow
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44479
Inter Press Service: An aggressive shift towards renewable power generation and energy effiency could save the world from the most devastating impacts of climate change, and at the same time create a multi-billion-dollar industry and save trillions of dollars in future fuel costs, experts say. A report released Monday by the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and Greenpeace International entitled "Energy [R]Evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook", estimates that investments meant to create a ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Mass. AG settles pollution case for $2.3 million
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/10/28/mass_ag_settles_pollution_case_for_23_million/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: An Attleboro manufacturer will pay $2.3 million to settle allegations it broke state pollution laws in the second largest environmental protection settlement in Massachusetts history, Attorney General Martha Coakley's office announced Tuesday. The chemical plant, owned by Somerset, N.J.-based Zinsser Co. Inc., makes a range of materials used in the production of everything from pharmaceuticals to varnish. The state accused it of inaccurately reporting its emissions of certain ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Can U.S. Go 'Green' Even When Oil Prices Drop?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96185899&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Like clockwork, it seems like every time oil prices skyrocket in the United States, the country takes a step toward energy independence. Then the price of oil recedes and American energy consumers revert to their profligate ways. It happened in 1973 when Middle East countries imposed an oil embargo. It happened in 1979 in the aftermath of the revolution in Iran. And it has happened again in the past few years as fuel prices spiked and a flush economy combined to propel the nation ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Charles warns of 'climate crunch'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7695881.stm
BBC: Prince Charles has warned that the financial crisis should not distract from the longer-term problem of the "climate crunch". Speaking during a visit to Tokyo, the Prince of Wales said the global economy was "rightly a preoccupation of vast significance and importance". "But we take our eye off the climate crunch at our peril," he added. Prince Charles, along with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, is visiting Japan for the first time since 1970. Their arrival was ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
United Kingdom: London on track to become "car club capital of the world"
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229266/london-track-become-car-club
Business Green: Local councils and transport planners across London are working on plans for a huge expansion of car club initiatives that could take up to 60,000 cars off the capital's roads by 2020. Transport for London (TfL) last year provided £500,000 in funding for local authorities to help them provide parking spaces for car clubs and is to provide a further £550,000 this year as part of a programme that could ultimately see about 3,000 cars made available to car club members. A ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
EU urged to prepare to tackle "carbon leakage"
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229268/eu-ready-stop-carbon-leakage
Business Green: The EU must develop a comprehensive set of policies in readiness to tackle carbon leakage, the loss of business to companies in regions unconstrained by emissions trading schemes or carbon taxes, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The report claims that while the first phase of the emissions trading scheme neither hampered the competitiveness of European firms nor prompted any to relocate, that could change, as the EU begins to impose tighter emission caps -- a move ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Heathrow: MPs plot revolt against third runway
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23578849-details/Heathrow:+MPs+plot+revolt+against+third+runway/article.do
Evening Standard: PLANS for a third runway at Heathrow were threatened today by a Cabinet revolt. Ministers were said to be secretly fuelling a Commons rebellion against expansion of the airport. Dozens of MPs were joining a campaign to scupper the proposed runway amid doubts over whether it would be needed if aviation traffic slows in a global economic slowdown. By lunchtime, at least 48 Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs had signed a Commons motion urging the Government to ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
China in global warming cash call
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2KFg30vEZBckhmREnzC6h4YgHzw
Press Association: China demanded richer countries set aside a fixed amount of their national income to help poorer nations fight global warming. The country has long called on developed countries to shoulder what it says is their historic burden to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for a rise in global temperatures. But the latest remarks by a senior Chinese climate official were the first to propose specific demands on rich countries. "The funds that developed countries provide ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
China defends energy policy after scathing report
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6KTiMsgaylQNAIetaCrEv4LqNJg
Agence France-Presse: China on Tuesday defended its energy policy a day after three influential green organisations criticised its dependence on coal. "The Chinese government attaches great importance to the development and exploration of clean energy," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters. "It has been making great efforts to increase the share of clean energy in the energy mix." A report commissioned by Greenpeace, the Energy Foundation and WWF on Monday said China's ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Keep up climate change fight amid financial crisis: wind group
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5je5OzNsJIc0uLvx2QHKbkowT7Dzw
Agence France-Presse: The head of the Global Wind Energy Council warned Tuesday of dire consequences if governments weakened their fight against climate change due to the global financial crisis. "Don't take your eyes off the big picture, it's irresponsible," said Steve Sawyer, the council's secretary general, ahead of a major wind power conference starting Wednesday in Beijing. "In the next two, three decades, it's critical for the survival of human civilisation as we know it," he said. "The ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Buyers amped about renewable energy
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_10831421
Denver Post: The market for renewable energy -- driven by big corporate buyers like Pepsico and Intel Corp. -- has tripled since 2004, according to a analysis by the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In 2007, 18.1 billion kilowatts of green power -- such as wind, hydro, landfill methane gas -- were sold and business customers made up three-quarters of those sales, the report says. There were a total of 860,000 electricity customers across the country purchasing green power ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
World expert: Climate sceptics embarrassing
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24566557-5005961,00.html
AAP: AUSTRALIANS have been told they have nothing to fear from emissions trading from one place that knows first-hand – Europe. The European Union has had emissions trading since 2005. Simon Marr, a senior EU official who is on a fact-finding visit to Australia, said the scheme worked well. "There's no reason to be afraid of it, certainly not," Dr Marr told AAP. He gave the thumbs up to Australia's draft plan for emissions trading, due to start in 2010. "I think ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Major EU cities pledge to fight climate change
http://www.euractiv.com/en/sustainability/major-eu-cities-pledge-fight-climate-change/article-176720
EurActiv: Published: Tuesday 28 October 2008 Some 130 major European cities yesterday committed to bringing climate change into citizens' hearts and minds by adopting ambitious sustainable public procurement policies. But they stressed that results would only be achieved if central governments gave them more power. Background: The European Commission considers cities to be at the heart of EU sustainable development efforts. In January 2006, it launched a Thematic Strategy on the ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Prince gives 'climate crunch' talk
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iL0WYaG2AFzjBuHiJBb6KByFVnhg
Press Association: The Prince of Wales warned Governments around the world not to let concerns with the global "credit crunch" distract them from the growing problem of the "climate crunch". In a speech to businessmen and government officials in Japan, Charles said the financial turmoil reinforced the idea that tackling the major environmental problem could stimulate economic activity. The Prince made the comments during a visit to the Miraikan Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo, ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Philippines: NGO calls for stop to agrofuel dev't
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/topstories/topstories/view/20081028-168930/NGO-calls-for-stop-to-agrofuel-devt
Philippine Daily Inquirer: An international non-government organization has urged a moratorium on agrofuel development, saying this is not the solution to the worsening food situation or the ill-effects of climate change. The Southeast Asia Regional Initiative for Community Empowerment (Searice) accused the government of recklessly jumping into the global frenzy for agrofuel without setting clear parameters or considering its implications on the growing demand for food. "The government has to stop ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Scientists probe Antarctic glaciers for clues to past and future sea level
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/uota-spa102708.php
EurekAlert: International team exploring two of the last uncharted regions of Earth, the Aurora and Wilkes Subglacial Basins, to learn about past climate change and future impacts on global sea level Scientists from the U.S., U.K. and Australia have teamed up to explore two of the last uncharted regions of Earth, the Aurora and Wilkes Subglacial Basins, immense ice-buried lowlands in Antarctica with a combined area the size of Mexico. The research could show how Earth's climate changed in the ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Climate change keeps swans in Siberia
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/28/easwans128.xml
Telegraph: Hundreds of swans due to spend winter in the UK are staying put in Siberia because climate change has made the region warm enough to remain, bird experts have said. Bewick's swans are usually expected in wetlands around England in late October but flocks have been arriving later every year. This year it is feared the endangered birds, which are the smallest species of swan to be found in the UK, will fail to turn up at all since it is now warm enough to stay in Siberia. At ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Yellowstone's amphibians declining fast due to climate change
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/279324.php
Asian News International: A research has determined that despite being protected longer than anywhere else on Earth, Yellowstone National Park's amphibians are declining fast, all due to climate change. Yellowstone National Park, founded in 1872, has been protected by law longer than anywhere else in the world. In 1992 and 1993, researchers in Elizabeth Hadly's group at Stanford University surveyed amphibians dwelling in ponds left behind by glaciers in northern Yellowstone National Park. Over ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Councils' carbon footprints revealed for first time
http://www.24dash.com/news/Housing/2008-10-28-Councils-carbon-footprints-revealed-for-first-time
24dash: New research has revealed detailed breakdowns of local authorities' carbon footprints for the first time. The latest data released from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) measures CO2 emissions at district level, and categorises the amounts produced through different aspects of people's lifestyles including transport, housing, and consumption of food and other goods. The information shows great variation between local authorities, namely a marked tendency for more ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
United Kingdom: People power can beat climate change
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7693973.stm
BBC: If it becomes law, the UK's climate change legislation will be the toughest of its kind in the world, says Lord Puttnam. However, in this week's Green Room, he says the government is still failing to make the most of an untapped resource - local communities. There is a pressing need to understand how we can draw on the drive of local communities to reduce CO2 emissions Ed Miliband's appointment as the first Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is testament to what has ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Climate Change Devastates Flora, Fauna in Walden Pond and Yellowstone
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Climate_Change_Devastates_Flora_Fauna_in_Walden_Pond_and_Yellowstone_27583.html
eFluxMedia: Humanity can no longer deny the manifestation of climate change on our planet, and with every new season, we witness more and more dramatic alterations in the lives of plants and animals around us. Plants have changed the timing of their seasonal flowering; animals are suffering from habitat degradation in natural ecosystems, and humans watch hopelessly how the planet changes before their eyes. Thanks to naturalist Henry David Thoreau's 150-year-old observations in Concorde on the ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Climate is the real crisis: Britain's Prince Charles
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMravVh-i5DstEKNc4xATwfIMniw
Agence France-Presse: Britain's Prince Charles urged the world Tuesday to fight climate change, saying that while the global credit crunch may be temporary, the effects of the "climate crunch" were irreversible. The heir to the British throne issued his appeal on a visit to Tokyo, where he and his wife Camilla are marking the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Britain. "Given the current turbulence in the international financial system and the immediate and damaging effect ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Rich nations need to increase climate fight: China
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/28/2403958.htm?section=world
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: China wants rich countries like Australia to contribute 1 per cent of their economic worth to fight global warming. A senior Chinese official says that the current financial crisis should not stop wealthy nations like Australia from making a big contribution to fixing climate change. Chief of the National Development and Reform Commission's Climate Change Office, Gao Guangsheng, says that rich countries should hand over 1 per cent of their economic worth to help poorer ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Australia: Sea-level rise threat to coast
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/sealevel-rise-threat-to-coast/2008/10/28/1224956039688.html
Sydney Morning Herald: SYDNEY'S iconic beaches, coastal houses, commercial property and roads will be threatened by rising sea levels by 2050, while the city's temperature is expected to rise by at least 2 degrees, a new scientific study, launched by the Premier, Nathan Rees, reveals. "Today, the science is in for Sydney," Mr Rees said yesterday as he proclaimed the influence of the climate sceptic and former treasurer Michael Costa at an end in NSW. "The Costa era of ambiguity around this issue is ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Financial crisis must not derail environmental efforts
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/financial-crisis-must-not-derail-environmental-efforts/2008/10/28/1224956011814.html
: Both the environmental and the economic crises are caused by the same disease - running up debt that we and future generations can't afford. Throw in short-termism - the focus on getting more and bigger things faster - and we have the perfect ethical storm. The environmental crisis of global warming and the retreat of the natural world are taking place more slowly than the financial storm, and are less pressing in the minds of decision makers. But it did not take ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
New Global Warming Warnings, From Tropics to the North Pole
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/global-warming-47102801
Daily Green: Two new reports from dramatically different climate zones on the face of the Earth both have the same conclusion: Global warming is being felt more intensely, and earlier, than expected. From the Arctic, in what is now familiar-sounding finding, we find that sea ice is not only receding to record and near-record extents each summer, but thinning to a degree unprecedented since modern measurements began decades ago. The report, detailed by the BBC, shows that after five years of ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Arab nations must do more on environment
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15526&channel=0&title=Arab+nations+must+do+more+on+environment
Edie: Arab nations are not doing enough to control pollution and manage waste responsibly and need to invest more in the development of clean technologies. This is the damning conclusion of a report, Arab Environment : Future Challenges, published by Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED), an NGO active in the region. The report looks at a number of key areas including water supply, energy generation, pollution and waste management and outlines where governments and ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
How US candidates differ on energy policy
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/28/business/renus2.php?WT.mc_id=glob_mrktg_lnk2&WT.mc_ev=click
International Herald Tribune: High energy prices and growing awareness of climate change have made energy policy a major issue in the U.S. presidential election, closely tied to voters' main concern: the staggering economy. The platform of the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, leans toward traditional energy supplies and market-based solutions, while the plan of the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama, would change course on energy sourcing and require greater government participation. The ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Reducing carbon emissions no easy task for Europe
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/28/business/rencarbon2.php?WT.mc_id=glob_mrktg_lnk1&WT.mc_ev=click
International Herald Tribune: Weakening growth, huge investment needs and a highly contentious policy framework are just a few of the reasons why European Union member states may not get close to their goals for reducing carbon emissions in the next decade or so. As industrialization worsens pollution across the planet - the International Energy Agency, in Paris, forecasts a 50 percent rise in emissions by 2030 - Europe has laudably tried to take a lead in finding a solution. In March 2007, months before ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Australia: Cost of carbon regime 'modest'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24569272-5013871,00.html
Australian: AUSTRALIAN iron ore production will soar and domestic steel production will remain internationally competitive under an emissions trading regime, the Rudd Government's long-awaited Treasury modelling has found. The Australian has learned that - contrary to dire predictions by the industry - the modelling concludes that the output from emissions-intensive steel-makers would be unaffected by a domestic carbon price. The finding suggests Treasury has made generous assumptions ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Transport Experts Spark Global Electric Car Industry
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2008/2008-10-27-02.asp
Environment News Service: Cars around the world will one day be propelled by electric motors, transportation expert Daniel Sperling told a meeting of international transportation experts and policymakers in London today. Sperling said the transformation of automobiles and the entire automotive industry has begun with gasoline-electric hybrids, and will continue in the next decades with the wide adoption of plug-in electric hybrids, battery-only electric cars, and fuel cell electric vehicles. Director of ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
China's crush on coal costs economy $250bn a year
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229245/china-crush-coal-costs-economy
Business Green: There is a strong economic case for China to curb its reliance on coal according to a major new report which argues that the country's reliance on the fossil fuel costs the country $250bn a year in social and environmental impacts. The report from a coalition of Chinese academics and environmentalists including green groups Greenpeace, The WWF and The Energy Foundation, found that the wider impacts of coal mining and energy generation such as mining deaths, water and air pollution, ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
China coal 'true cost' at $250bn
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7694014.stm
BBC: China's coal industry has hidden annual costs of $250bn (£159bn) in terms of damage to health and the environment, a report by Chinese experts says. The report said pollution affected water, land and air around mines. It also said the burning of coal led to emissions of mercury and acid rain, and mining accidents killed nearly 3,800 people and injured many more in 2007. The report said coal prices would have to rise by around 25% to reflect the true cost to Chinese ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Climate bill 'to include planes'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7693875.stm
BBC: Aviation and shipping look set to be included in a government bill targeting cuts in greenhouse gases, to head off a rebellion by backbench MPs. MPs will vote later on a bill to enforce an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. More than 50 Labour MPs have backed an amendment calling for the law to cover emissions from planes and tankers. Ministers said the bill would "take into account" the two sectors, a move welcomed by environmental ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Climate inaction 'will worsen credit crisis'
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24559933-5009760,00.html?from=public_rss
News.com.au: NICHOLAS Stern, one of the world's leading environmental economists, said today that the global economy will face a more severe downturn than the current crisis if it fails to halt climate change. Lord Stern, the author of a key climate change report and a former World Bank chief economist, said moves towards a low carbon economy should not be stifled by the fallout from the current economic downturn. "One thing we should have learned from this experience of the financial ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Asia, EU back 2009 climate deal
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/asia-eu-back-2009-climate-deal/article-176677?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: China, the EU and 23 other Asian nations have signed a declaration pledging to tackle climate change within the framework of UN-led negotiations that will wrap up at a major summit in Copenhagen in December 2009. "We call upon the international community to consider the most ambitious set of targets" for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reads a joint declaration signed in Beijing over the weekend (24-25 October) by the 45 nations that take part in regular summits organised ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Global airlines blast EU ETS decision
http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/global-airlines-blast-eu-ets-decision/article-176679
EurActiv: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has condemned a decision by EU ministers to ignore the current economic downturn and approve a compromise deal on including aviation activities in the bloc's emission trading scheme (EU ETS). Background: In an effort to tackle aviation's small but fast-growing contribution to climate change, the Commission issued a legislative proposal in December 2006 to include the sector in the EU's emission trading scheme (EU ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
MEPs advance climate vote
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/meps-advance-climate-vote/article-176694?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: The Parliament has brought forward the date of a plenary vote on the EU's climate and energy proposals in what is widely seen as a strategic move to avoid being handed a fragile compromise between national governments that leaves MEPs little room for manoeuvre. On 3 and 4 December 2008, the full Parliament will vote on a package of four proposals, tabled by the Commission on 23 January this year to reduce the EU's CO2 emissions by 2020 while boosting the share of renewable energies to ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Economic impacts of alternative climate policy architectures
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/economic-impacts-alternative-climate-policy-architectures/article-176693?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: None of the currently proposed models for a global climate agreement are strong enough to keep global warming below the temperature target of two degrees envisaged by the EU, but they differ greatly in respect of their environmental, economic and distributional consequences, argue researchers from the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei in a new CESifo Working Paper. Warning of the dire consequences of climate change and the need for international cooperation, the October paper by Valentina ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Cap and trade in America: US climate policy at a crossroads
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/cap-trade-america-us-climate-policy-crossroads/article-176710?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: "The EU has been the sole leader in climate protection so far, but the US should soon join in," says Klaus Deutsch in a July paper for Deutsche Bank Research, pointing out that the Senate has begun preparations for a wide-ranging climate bill. Deutsch claims that the US Senate initiated an unprecedented debate on a "radical" climate protection policy, explaining how it has been working on a Climate Security Act, which would represent a significant US contribution to fighting global ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Arctic Sea Ice Is Getting Thinner As Well As Receding
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081027200309.htm
ScienceDaily: Last winter, the thickness of sea ice in large parts of the Arctic fell by nearly half a metre (19 per cent) compared with the average thickness of the previous five winters. This followed the dramatic 2007 summer low when Arctic ice extent dropped to its lowest level since records began. Up until last winter, the thickness of Arctic sea ice showed a slow downward trend during the previous five winters, but after the summer 2007 record low extent, the thickness of the ice also ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
The rules governing green energy need to be tightened up. But the smaller end of the m
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/28/renewableenergy-utilities
Guardian: In "The great green electricity con" Fred Pearce is right to point out the greenwashing going on among many of the UK's large electricity suppliers. However, by deliberately ignoring the independent generation and supply sectors, he tars all renewable electricity suppliers with the same brush and taints the whole sector. The electricity industry in this country is dominated by a handful of large players. As his article shows, the percentage of renewable electricity offered in ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Duke scales back solar ambitions amidst monopoly fears
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229203/duke-scales-back-solar
Business Green: US utility Duke Energy has been forced to scale back its $100,000 plan for distributed solar energy generation on rooftops following negative reactions from the North Carolina Public Utilities Commission and local businesses including Wal-Mart. The utility, which announced plans in June to install $100,000 of solar panels on residential and commercial rooftops, has now proposed a scaled-down version of the plan, after concerns were raised about the cost of the proposals and the ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Prince Charles says climate crisis trumps economy
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2008/10/28/prince_charles_says_climate_crisis_trumps_economy/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Britain's Prince Charles said Tuesday the current financial crisis should not distract from the larger issue of global warming. "The credit crunch is rightly a preoccupation of vast significance and importance. But we take our eye off the climate crunch at our peril," he said in a speech at a science museum in Tokyo. The heir to the British throne is visiting the world's second-largest economy for the first time since 1970, and his arrival coincides with plunging global markets ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Oregon governor outlines climate change agenda
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/10/28/oregon_governor_outlines_climate_change_agenda/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Oregon's governor unwrapped an ambitious 2009 legislative climate change package with proposals for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for homes and buildings by 2030, with benchmarks to be sure the goal is reached. Gov. Ted Kulongoski also wants to replace the $1,500 tax credit on hybrid vehicles with a $5,000 credit on all-electric cars and to fund energy efficiency for 800 low-income homes a year. Oregon already is the highest per-capita user of hybrid cars in the nation, he ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Report - zero carbon global economy possible by 2090
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229215/report-global-zero-carbon
Business Green: The world's energy needs could be met entirely from renewable sources by 2090, according to a major new study from Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC). The 210-page report, entitled Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook, argues that improvements in energy efficiency could slash energy requirements in half compared to business as usual scenarios, enabling renewable technologies to meet the remaining energy requirements. The study says ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
GDF Suez snaps up Econergy as offset market consolidation continues
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229218/gdf-suez-snaps-econergy-offset
Business Green: The consolidation of the global carbon offset market stepped up a notch yesterday, after Goldman Sachs' purchase of a stake in US offset specialist Blue Source was followed by news that French energy giant GDF SUEZ Energy International has all but completed its long-running takeover of carbon reduction project operator Econergy International. Suez tabled a £39m bid for UK-listed Econergy back in June, gazumping a £27m bid from carbon trading specialist Trading Emissions ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Australia: Emissions kill off coral larvae: study
http://news.theage.com.au/national/emissions-kill-off-coral-larvae-study-20081028-5a5i.html
AAP: Carbon dioxide emissions have the potential to kill off coral larvae used to build the Great Barrier Reef, a new study has found. The research, conducted by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the University of Queensland, has concluded that earlier studies may underestimate the likely damage to coral reefs caused by man-made change to the atmosphere. In an experiment conducted on Heron Island, off the coast of Queensland, researchers simulated CO2 and temperature ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Australia: Green group wants stop to more Qld coal mines
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/28/2403301.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The environmental group Friends of the Earth says no more coal mines should be approved in Queensland. Spokeswoman Emma Brindal says Queensland coal produces about 378 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, more than double the state's total emissions for energy, transport and agriculture. Ms Brindal says the coal mined by the proposed Hancock project in the Galilee Basin would be used to fuel coal-fired power stations. "The burning of coal is actually the ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Indonesia: Don't let the financial crisis cause environmental catastrophe
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20081028.R03&irec=2
Jakarta Post: The media bombardment on the global economic crisis has left us in no doubt that the impacts will be deep and far reaching. Newspapers, radio and television are hammering home the dismal details of how the situation is going to affect jobs, pensions, savings and the like. But there's all too little mention of what this might mean for the environment. My fear is that we are going to allow a financial crisis to turn into a ecological catastrophe. With an election looming, ...
Wed, 29 Oct 08
Google looking to invest in energy sector: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE49R0QX20081028
Reuters: Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc is increasingly looking at the energy sector as a potential business opportunity, the New York Times reported. Engineers at Google are hoping to soon unveil tools that could help consumers make better decisions about their energy use, the paper said. To support these efforts, Google has hired engineers who are conducting research in renewable energy, former government energy officials, scientists and even a former NASA ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Vietnam: Mekong nations save forests to help fight climate change
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=08SOC281008
Viet Nam News: Experts from six Mekong River nations yesterday agreed that preserving forests was one of the most effective measures to fight the impacts of global climate change. The representatives from Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, China, Laos and Myanmar discussed ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation at a workshop that opened in Ha Noi. The workshop, co-hosted by Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the University of Queensland ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Finland: Endangered Saimaa seal threatened by fishing, climate change
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hBlvbVl8nNwetbTuAnCuyhCdgALg
Agence France-Presse: The rare Saimaa ringed seal, which lives only in Finland and whose population is estimated at just 260, is increasingly threatened by fishermen's nets and the melting of its icy habitat due to climate change, experts say. The seal lives only in Finland's biggest lake, Lake Saimaa, in the eastern part of the country. It is a subspecies of the ringed seal that became a fresh water mammal some 9,500 years ago when ice melted after the ice age and it became trapped in the lake. It ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Climate change laws to force companies to reveal pollution levels
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3270430/Climate-change-laws-to-force-companies-to-reveal-pollution-levels.html
Telegraph: The Climate Change Bill to be debated in the House of Commons on Tuesday will commit the UK to cutting greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050. An amendment put down by the government will also require all companies to publicly reveal their greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. Joan Ruddock, climate change minister, said the measure would ensure business goes green. "This will allow companies to demonstrate their green credentials and provide transparency for investors and ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
United Kingdom: MPs set to back climate change Bill
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hV-MaOIT0w-jTFO9jxWeaKeW_IBw
Press Association: MPs are expected to give their support to a "world class" climate change law which will make the UK the first country to bring in legally-binding targets to cut emissions. The Government is expected to table measures to include international aviation and shipping in the Climate Change Bill when MPs vote on a series of amendments to the legislation. Ministers have already agreed to strengthen the long-term target for the Bill, which will now commit the UK to cutting its ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
United States: Troubling toll in Thoreau's backyard
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2008/10/28/troubling_toll_in_thoreaus_backyard/
Boston Globe: In the 1850s, a few years after he had gone to "live deliberately" in a cabin in the woods at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau began to compile detailed records on hundreds of species of plants in his beloved Concord. Those same data now are being used to measure the effect of climate change, and the news is not good, researchers said yesterday. Scientists from Boston University and Harvard reported that 27 percent of the species documented by Thoreau have disappeared, and another 36 ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Group To Cut Spending, Wind Power Growth
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50785/story.htm
Reuters: FPL Group, the largest operator of wind-power generation in the United States, said Monday it would slash its 2009 spending because of the economic slump, reducing its wind turbine additions. The company said it would cut 2009 planned capital expenditures nearly 25 percent to $5.3 billion and add 1,100 megawatts in new wind-power generation rather than the 1,500 megawatts it originally had planned. "Current planning allows the flexibility to quickly ramp plans up or down as ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Nuclear Power No Panacea For Poor Nations - IAEA
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50783/story.htm
Reuters: Nuclear energy is undergoing a worldwide renaissance, but poor nations yearning to develop need to realize that it is no panacea to profound poverty, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Monday. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, many governments questioned the value of nuclear power. Some European countries, like Austria and Germany, decided to wean themselves off nuclear energy. But issues like global warming and the ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Spain Probes Wind, Solar Power Subsidy Claims
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50777/story.htm
Reuters: Spain's energy watchdog, the National Energy Commission (CNE) will inspect solar parks in the renewables energy-dependent country to verify they met deadlines that entitle them to subsidies, the CNE said. Spain has boosted renewable energy in recent years to cut its heavy dependence on oil and gas imports, but has scaled down "feed-in" tariffs designed to gradually make wind and solar competitive with conventional generators. An Industry Ministry official said the energy ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
EU Moves To Crack Down On Illegal Logging Trade
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50768/story.htm
Reuters: EU farm ministers on Monday broadly welcomed plans to crack down on the lucrative illegal timber trade by making exporters obtain licences to prove their wood does not come from endangered rainforests. Ministers will negotiate the proposals in detail over the next few months, after a discussion in which some voiced concern over the plan's costs for business and others said the scheme was long overdue. The proposals, drafted by the EU's executive Commission, would oblige ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
China sets price for cooperation on climate change
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49R10T20081028?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China wants rich countries to commit 1 percent of their economic worth to help poor nations fight global warming, and will press for a new international mechanism to spread "green" technology worldwide. Unveiling the demands on Tuesday, a senior Chinese official for climate change policy, Gao Guangsheng, said the financial turmoil rattling the global economy should not deter a big increase in funds and technology to poor nations. "Developing countries should take action, but a ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Rising CO2 accelerates coral bleaching: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49R0YE20081028?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Rising carbon dioxide levels in the world's oceans due to climate change, combined with rising sea temperatures, could accelerate coral bleaching, destroying some reefs before 2050, says a new Australian study. The study says earlier research may have significantly understated the likely damage to the world's reefs caused by man-made change to the Earth's atmosphere. "Previous predictions of coral bleaching have been far too conservative, because they didn't factor in the ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Air travel may be powered by biofuels in 3-5 years
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1027-aviation.html
Mongabay: Boeing says biofuel-powered planes are only three-to-five years away from being a reality, reports The Guardian. "The certification will happen much sooner than anybody thought," Darrin Morgan, Boeing's director of environmental business analysis, told the newspaper. "We are thinking that within three to five years we are going to see approval for commercial use of biofuels - and possibly sooner." Morgan said that while future jets will be capable of running on biofuels, supply ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
United States: Amphibians in US park 'in decline'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7693381.stm
BBC: Amphibian populations at Yellowstone - the world's oldest national park - are in steep decline, a major study shows. The authors link this to the drying out of wetlands where the animals live and breed, which is in turn being driven by long-term climate change. The results, reported in the journal PNAS, suggest that climate warming has already disrupted one of the best-protected ecosystems on Earth. The park covers some 9,000 sq km (3,500 sq miles) in the western United ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
United Kingdom: More than 30 arrests at Aldermaston anti-nuclear protest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/28/anti-nuclear-aldermaston-protest-disarmament
Guardian: More than 30 people were arrested yesterday during one of the biggest anti-nuclear protests at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston for 10 years. The gates of the site were blocked as people attached themselves to concrete blocks which had to be broken apart by police. Others climbed scaffolding or lay in the road at the demonstration by about 400 people to mark the start of the UN World Disarmament Week. They were protesting against a decision to modernise the Aldermaston ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Guatamala: Could climate change and economic collapse consign us to the same fate as the Mayans?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/28/climatechange-population
Guardian: The ruins lie silent and abandoned in the heart of the jungle; blocks of stone surrendered to the vines, which twist and writhe over temples, plazas and pyramids. Weeds and forest creatures have colonised the inner sanctums; mahogany and cedar trees swallow what once were roads, blotting out the sun. This is Tikal, the ancient Mayan city of northern Guatemala. There was a time when tens of thousands of people lived here. The architecture and urban planning - there are epic monuments, ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Big decline in depth of Arctic winter sea ice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/28/arctic-ice-climate-change-thinning
Guardian: The thickness of sea ice in the Arctic dramatically declined last winter for the first time since records began in the early 1990s. The research by British scientists shows a significant loss in the thickness of the northern ice cap after the record loss of ice in the summer of 2007, although the weather was not abnormally warm. The findings, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, raise the possibility that the loss of the Arctic sea ice could accelerate, because as ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Reviled firms lead European corporate responsibility list
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/28/corporate-responsibility-british-american-tobacco
Guardian: Some of Europe's most commonly criticised companies, including British American Tobacco and Royal Dutch Shell, have been named as leaders in the field of corporate responsibility reporting. Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the banks bailed out by the government, Nestlé, which was boycotted for years over the marketing of its baby milk, and mining groups BHP Billiton and Xstrata are also among 11 companies named as the best of the 50 biggest publicly listed firms in Europe. The ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Models Help Assess Biofuels' Sustainability
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081013195322.htm
ScienceDaily: Many agricultural products can be converted into feedstocks for alternative fuel. Now analysis from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) suggests that they can be used this way without reducing the nation's food supply, soil production capacity or environmental quality. ARS scientists are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and USDA's Natural Resources ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Swans stay in 'warm' Siberia
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/swans-stay-in-warm-siberia-975515.html
Independent: The arrival of thousands of swans fleeing plunging temperatures in their breeding grounds in western Siberia is usually one of the first signs that winter is on its way in Britain. But wildlife experts are reporting that the swans' 1,800-mile mid-October migration has so far failed tomaterialise, with climate change turning the once famously harsh Russian region into a more inviting winter haven for the majestic birds. Some 300 Bewick's swans -- of the 8,000 or so which usually ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Families sought for new trial of electric cars
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5027579.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Families willing to exchange their petrol or diesel car for one that plugs into the mains are being sought to take part in a Government trial of electric vehicles. They will have to be prepared to run the risk that the car's battery will run flat during a journey and then take several hours to recharge. In return, they will enjoy running costs of about 2p a mile, discounts on congestion charges and the satisfaction of knowing that their electric cars will be emitting less than ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Financial Aspect to Google's Environmental Goals Grows
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=109191
New York Times: Google, the Internet search and advertising giant, is increasingly looking to the energy sector as a potential business opportunity. From its beginning, the company has invested millions of dollars in making its own power-hungry data centers more efficient. Its philanthropic arm has made small investments in clean energy technologies. But in recent weeks, Eric E. Schmidt, Google`s chief executive, has hinted at the company`s broad interest in the energy business. He also joined ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Thoreau Is Rediscovered as a Climatologist
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=109190
New York Times: Henry David Thoreau endorsed civil disobedience, opposed slavery and lived for two years in a hut in the woods here, an experience he described in 'Walden.' Now he turns out to have another line in his résumé: climate researcher. He did not realize it, of course. Thoreau died in 1862, when the industrial revolution was just beginning to pump climate-changing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In 1851, when he started recording when and where plants flowered in Concord, he was ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Arctic ice thickness 'plummets'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7692963.stm
BBC: The thickness of Arctic sea ice "plummeted" last winter, thinning by as much as 49 centimetres (1.6ft) in some regions, satellite data has revealed. A study by UK researchers showed that the ice thickness had been fairly constant for the previous five winters. The team from University College London added that the results provided the first definitive proof that the overall volume of Arctic ice was decreasing. The findings have been published in the journal Geophysical ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Yellowstone amphibians in decline due to climate change
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1026-yellowstone.html
Mongabay: Climate change appears to be responsible for a "marked drop" in the population of three of four species of amphibian once common to Yellowstone National Park, the world's oldest national park, report researchers writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using surveys and remote sensing to monitor and record changes in wetlands in northern Yellowstone National Park, Sarah McMenamin of Stanford University and colleagues linked declining amphibian populations to drier ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Biofuels or Food?: Can Crops Feed Our Cars--And the Hungry?
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=biofuels-or-food
Scientific American: Humanity has enjoyed an unusual streak of food surplus since the green revolution began in the mid-1960s. These trends sustained economic development and a significant reduction in global hunger and poverty. A sharp reversal is now possible, however, given strong economic growth in the world's most populous countries and loss of suitable cropland. People with rising incomes consume more meat and livestock products, which in turn requires more grain per unit of food produced. The rapid ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
We did it, we can undo it
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/27/opinion/edlovejoy.php
International Herald Tribune: In the course of Earth's history, life collectively has had a strong influence on atmosphere and climate. It has helped shape both, and has been shaped by both. Today atmospheric and climate changes are driven by a single species - ourselves - and they are happening very rapidly. One of the principal elements in this is carbon, the most basic of the building blocks of living organisms. When we burn fossil fuels, we release solar energy captured by ancient green plants and ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
The Clean Air Act: Jump-starting climate action
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/27/network
Guardian: The urgency of the current situation cannot be overemphasized: The latest scientific research tells us that global warming is accelerating at a rate beyond previous expectations, and that the window for a timely response is closing quickly. Despite some political efforts to muddy the waters, there is scientific agreement that greenhouse gas emissions must now be stabilized within seven years or the world will face unpredictable climate-related catastrophes -- far beyond the serious impacts ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
'Ambitious' climate change bill
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hF6W1OJPPN4bUZG88G4scUPme6KQ
Press Association: New legislation will put Scotland at the forefront of global action on climate change, the Scottish Government said. Finance secretary John Swinney set out a plan to strengthen the forthcoming climate change bill. It will include international aviation and shipping within its targets, as well as emissions from all six greenhouse gases, not just carbon dioxide. The measures were first announced at the recent SNP conference. Ministers claim it will be the most ambitious ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Microbiology has much to offer climate change science
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/microbiology-has-much-to-offer-climate-change-scie.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Rising temperatures, which promote algal blooms and the spread of pathogens, are setting a new agenda for microbiologists, says Bernard Dixon. In reporting and debating climate change impacts and solutions, the popular media tends to focus on researchin climatology, ecology, meteorology, and computer modelling. But given that microorganisms play diverse roles in driving some of the largest-scale phenomena on the planet -- from photosynthesis and nitrogen cycling to pandemics of ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Environment costing Arab countries 5 pct of GDP: study
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ioOQgOAxKJXgfrpQKg8NFOl5n3yA
Agence France-Presse: Degradation of the environment in Arab countries is costing them around five percent of gross domestic product every year, according to a study presented in Manama on Monday. The report, "Arab Environment: Future Challenges" says Arab countries face a shortage of drinking water and desertification as well as air and sea pollution because of climate change and other problems. "Climate change, population growth and the rapid pace of urban and economic development in some Arab ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
China's hidden coal cost equal to 7.0 pct of GDP: green groups
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iD9_xEYfeMYTx2MIsSgQ_5pRXPRw
Agence France-Presse: China's dependency on coal as its major energy source is creating hidden environmental and other costs worth more than seven percent of its annual gross domestic product, green groups said Monday. A report entitled: "The True Cost of Coal", jointly commissioned by Greenpeace, the Energy Foundation and conservation group WWF, said taking into account the real expense was vital to the nation's future energy security. The unaccounted costs equate to an estimated 1.7 trillion yuan ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Greenpeace: China's coal use cost it $248 billion
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D942UD9O7.htm
Associated Press: China's reliance on cheap coal to fuel its economy cost a hidden $248 billion last year through damage to the environment, strain on the health care system and manipulation of the commodity's price, according to a report released Monday by Greenpeace. Coal accounts for more than 70 percent of China's energy use, helping to buttress the country's double-digit economic growth. But as demand for electricity has soared, supplies of coal have been strained -- and the government's role in ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Climate change campaigners deliver petition against new Kingsnorth Power Station
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/27/eagreenpeace127.xml
Telegraph: Development groups like Tearfund and Oxfam joined environmental organisations like the World Wildlife Fund and Friends of the Earth and more conservative groups like the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Women's Institute on board the Rainbow Warrior. The Greenpeace ship is famous for clashing with the authorities during numerous protests over the years against nuclear testing, whaling and other environmental issues. But she took just a gentle cruise around the ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Citizens urged to wage war vs climate change
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/10/27/08/citizens-urged-wage-war-vs-climate-change
ABS-CBN: Every Filipino citizen should be on a 'war footing' and Philippine society 'totally mobilized' as the world moves closer to irreversible climate change, a presidential adviser warned. In an interview over dzMM Sunday, Heherson T. Alvarez, presidential adviser on global warming and climate change, told his former colleague in the Senate, Jose Lina, that there are only 42 years left before the world reaches the point where it may no longer be able to mitigate destructive climate ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Both candidates tout "Clean Coal" -- but it doesn't exist!
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/sustainability/greenwash/2008/10/holy_crap_is_the_onslaught.html
MarketPlace: Holy crap. Is the onslaught of 'clean coal' internet ads driving anyone else nuts? You can`t open a news website without being subjected to greenwash about the benefits of coal. 'It`s what powers America.' No duh! Coal is responsible for a majority of carbon emissions. That`s the problem! It`s like touting grain alcohol as a cure to alcoholism. Talk about lipstick on a pig. 'Clean Coal' is apparently an oxymoron that both party`s candidates can support. Saying it`s clean doesn`t make ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
CSR reports hits mainstream, but carbon disclosure lags behind
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229149/csr-reporting-hits-mainstream
Business Green: The number of large multinational firms releasing corporate responsibility data either in stand alone reports, or as part of their annual financial reports has increased significantly in the last three years, according to a new survey from accountancy giant KPMG. The study found that 80 per cent of Global Fortune 250 companies now release corporate responsibility data, covering issues such as climate change strategy, environmental policies and employee and stakeholder relations, up ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Ice sheet secrets set to be seen
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7693701.stm
BBC: The secrets of the largest ice sheet on earth are to be revealed under plans to map the Antarctic landscape in detail for the first time. A team including Edinburgh scientists is to travel across East Antarctica in a four-year project to explore the land hidden beneath the ice-covered region. Radar instruments will be used to penetrate the ice, which is several kilometres thick. They hope to examine the composition and density of the underlying rock. The area ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Soyrust found in two more Illinois counties: USDA
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49Q5TO20081027?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The yield-cutting soybean rust fungus was found in two more counties in Illinois, four days after the country's second-largest soy grower found its first 2008 case, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday. The fungus was found in Jackson and Union counties in the southwestern part of Illinois, where the state borders Missouri. Illinois reported its first case of soyrust last Thursday in McLean County, which is 130 miles southwest of Chicago, on a late-planted double-crop ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Calif. Rule Casts Shade On Solar Panels
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96175833&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Solar panels are this season's must-have construction accessory in Southern California. But there's a regulatory roadblock. Green boosters say one more state rule needs to change if solar is going to be anything bigger than a flash in the pan.
Tue, 28 Oct 08
GE cleantech sales to top $17bn this year
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229158/ge-cleantech-sales-show-steady
Business Green: US engineering giant General Electric (GE) has announced that revenue from its cleantech products will rise 21 per cent to $17bn (£10.9bn) in 2008, arguing that sales of environmental technologies could yet escape the clutches of the global credit crisis. In a market update released last week, the company said that it will invest $1.4bn in cleantech research and development in 2008 as part of its "Ecomagination" initiative. It added that to date the scheme has resulted in 70 green ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Cutting Cows' Gas Emissions
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081024-cowgas-video-ap.html?source=rss
National Geographic: Cow's emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas, can be reduced with a more natural diet, farmers are learning. Methane is a powerful contributor to global warming.
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Brazil: Marina Silva: We must slash emissions to prevent destruction of the rainforest
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/marina-silva-we-must-slash-emissions-to-prevent-destruction-of-the-rainforest-974431.html
Independent: Deforestation is a challenge of enormous proportions, and it is a challenge that is going to permeate this century. Brazil still has 60 per cent of its territory covered by forests. This is a tremendous advantage, and an enormous responsibility. What can we do to protect it? When I was Environment Minister, I made a great effort to reduce land clearing; concentrating on combating illegal activities we had a 47 per cent drop in deforestation; approximately 1,500 illegal companies were ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Prince Charles arrives in Tokyo to campaign on global warming
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5023119.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): The Prince of Wales flew halfway round the world today for an official tour of Japan in which he will be calling for a drastic reduction in carbon output. Accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, he was greeted in Tokyo by Crown Prince Naruhito, who cut a solitary figure, being unaccompanied, as usual, by Crown Princess Masako, who has not carried out official functions since being diagnosed with depression. Clarence House officials are already working hard to promote the key ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Hidden cost of China's coal is $250 billion: survey
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49Q4FI20081027?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China's dirty and dangerous coal mining industry cost the country a hidden $250 billion last year in lost and damaged lives, wasted energy and environmental devastation, according to a survey launched on Monday. Pollution affected water, land and air around mines, thousands died and many more were hurt in mining accidents, and acid rain-causing sulphur dioxide and mercury were among dangerous emissions when coal is burned in factories and power plants. None of this is reflected ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
China pays high environmental and social price for reliance on coal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/27/carbonemissions-energy
Guardian: China's main source of power is so destructive that its social and environmental impact costs £160bn annually, warns a new report from green campaigners. The country is the world's largest producer and consumer of coal, relying on it for more than 70% of energy production, compared with a global average of around 40%. The True Cost of Coal, published by Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and The Energy Foundation, says by-products ranging from water pollution to mining deaths ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Australia's Stern review warns of runaway global warming
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/27/climate-change-australia
Guardian: Carbon pollution levels are rising so fast that the world has no realistic chance of hitting ambitious climate targets set by Britain and the G8, an influential report to the Australian government has warned. The report, from economist Ross Garnaut, says existing carbon goals, such as those in Britain's climate change bill, are based on out-of-date emissions figures, and are so ambitious that they could wreck attempts to agree a new global deal on global warming. Garnaut says ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
World can halt fossil fuel use by 2090
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn15043-world-can-halt-fossil-fuel-use-by-2090.html?feedId=climate-change_rss20
New Scientist: The world could eliminate fossil fuel use by 2090, saving $18 trillion in future fuel costs and creating a $360 billion industry that provides half of the world's electricity, the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and environmental group Greenpeace said on Monday. The 210-page study [pdf] is one of few reports – even by lobby groups – to look in detail at how energy use would have to be overhauled to meet the toughest scenarios for curbing greenhouse gases outlined by the ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
Energy versus Water: Solving Both Crises Together
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-future-of-fuel
Scientific American: In June the state of Florida made an unusual announcement: it would sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the corps's plan to reduce water flow from reservoirs in Georgia into the Apalachicola River, which runs through Florida from the Georgia-Alabama border. Florida was concerned that the restricted flow would threaten certain endangered species. Alabama also objected, worried about another species: nuclear power plants, which use enormous quantities of water, usually drawn from rivers ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
The World's Top 10 Worst Pollution Problems
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=worlds-top-10-worst-pollution-problems
Scientific American: The "I Trust My Legs" gold mine in Ghana is a local affair, where miners shift silt from rudimentary pits and then combine it with mercury. The element (a toxic metal that can cause brain damage) captures all the gold in the dirt and then, when the mixture is heated, dissipates into the air, leaving just gold bits behind. Unfortunately, in what is known as artisanal mining, the mercury also enters the lungs of miners, their families and others nearby. The United Nations Industrial ...
Tue, 28 Oct 08
European Scientists: 'Let's Set Up A Global Solar Energy Grid'
http://www.enn.com/energy/article/38496
Environmental News Network: The Europeans are serious about nanotechnology to wean countries off using fossil fuels in the next century. There´s considerable interest in setting up a solar grid that is global because the sun consistently shines on some part of the planet. The technologies European scientists say are going to dominate the sustainable energy sector include Dye Sensitized solar Cells (DSCs) and biomimetics. These two technologies are popular because they show great promise for capturing or storing ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Australia: Councils want national planning for coastal climate change
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200810/s2402003.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Scientists and local councils are calling on the Federal Government to draw up a national plan to stop development in places where sea level rises will threaten the coast. The CSIRO says a national coastal planning code is needed because giant waves during storms could swamp houses now being built. Coastal shires are dealing with a big migration of people from inland Australia and the cities. Paul Bell, from the Local Government Association, says the Commonwealth can't ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Emissions from planes included for first time in climate change plans
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/3264520/Emmisions-from-planes-included-for-first-time-in-climate-change-plans.html
Telegraph: Ed Miliband, the new secretary of state for energy and climate change, won environmental plaudits when he declared earlier this month that the UK would be the first country in the world to commit to legally binding cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Change Bill committed the country to cut greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050. But the target did not include emissions from international aviation and shipping. Green campaigners said the omission made the ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Low Oil Prices Take Wind Out Of Renewables
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/26/MNSK13NNK4.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: This decade's historic high prices for oil and natural gas have stoked the rise of renewable power and alternative fuels. As fossil fuel prices smashed record after record, options like ethanol, hybrid electric cars, solar power and wind looked better and better. Now oil costs less than half what it did this summer. Ditto natural gas. If prices keep dropping and stay down, future fuels like cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel will have a harder time competing. So will solar and wind ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
MPs reach climate bill deal on transport
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b9156cf2-a3b3-11dd-942c-000077b07658.html
Financial Times: A compromise deal has been reached to include shipping and aviation in the climate change bill after ministers bowed to pressure from backbench MPs and environmental campaigners. Under the deal, the government will "take account" of shipping and aviation as it plans to meet emission reduction targets, but leaves the method of measurement to be set in coming years. The concession by Ed Miliband, energy secretary, is likely to defuse a growing revolt in the House of Commons and ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Sea levels to rise a metre this century, German experts warn
http://eyugoslavia.com/featured/27/sea-levels-to-rise-a-metre-this-century-german-experts-warn-221005/
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Sea levels around the world will rise one metre this century, according to German scientists who warn that global warming is happening much faster than hitherto predicted. Citing UN date on climate change, two senior German scientists say that previous predictions were far too cautious and optimistic. Earlier estimates predicted a rise of 18 to 59 centimetres in sea levels this century. But that estimate is woefully understated, according to Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who heads ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
US Ethanol Profits Soft On Weak Motorist Demand
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50744/story.htm
Reuters: Average US ethanol distillers profits were narrowly positive this week on soft input costs like those for corn and natural gas, but remained tough overall on weak fuel demand, analysts said. Prices for ethanol fell as oil refiners were unwilling to pay up as motorists were driving less than they did last year, a factor that has helped lead to some delays in the building of new ethanol plants. "Thin margins and lower prices for ethanol don't help the bottom line of the ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Is electricity the future for cars?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/politics_show/7680739.stm
BBC: The BBC's Politics Show has learned that, this week, the government will announce plans to buy a number of electric cars and vans for a new pilot scheme. Its aim is to see how these vehicles fair on Britain's roads. Ministers hope the trials will take place in three cities, and the information collected from drivers taking part, will be the basis of bigger plans. In total, the whole package will cost around £100m. Car makers will be invited to bid to supply the vehicles ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Minister bows to calls on climate change bill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/27/climate-change-bill-shipping-aviation
Guardian: The government is to announce tomorrow that it will include rapidly growing aviation and shipping emissions in Britain's commitment to curb its carbon footprint by 80% by 2050. Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, will bow to pressure from environmentalists and rebel Labour MPs by announcing he will accept an amendment to include these emission sources in the climate change bill which is due to become law next month. The decision not to include aviation and ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
CO2 curbs may be too late for reefs, study warns
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/27/coral-reefs-co2-wildlife-conservation
Guardian: A new global deal on climate change will come too late to save most of the world's coral reefs, according to a US study that suggests major ecological damage to the oceans is now inevitable. Emissions of carbon dioxide are making seawater so acidic that reefs including the Great Barrier Reef off Australia could begin to break up within a few decades, research by the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University in California suggests. Even ambitious targets to stabilise greenhouse gas ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Biofuel flying will take off in three years, says Boeing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/27/biofuel-boeing-carbon-offsetting
Guardian: Biofuel-powered aircraft could be carrying millions of passengers around the world within three years, according to Boeing. Darrin Morgan, an environmental expert at the US jet manufacturer, said the group was expecting official approval of biofuel use in the near future. "The certification will happen much sooner than anybody thought," he said. "We are thinking that within three to five years we are going to see approval for commercial use of biofuels - and possibly ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Now is the perfect time to save the planet
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/27/green-new-deal-climate-change
Guardian: Banking crisis, recession, stocks tumbling, house prices collapsing - it's been a deluge in the past few weeks to compare with any turbulence of previous decades. It's easy, as a result, to be gloomy about the prospects. Recession, after all, is already here and everyone is worried about the immediate future. There's also a lot of talk that switching the world economy to a carbon-free future is now something that cannot be afforded. Not so. There were three important events in ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
United Kingdom: National Grid delays 'will mean that climate targets are missed'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5019749.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Renewable energy and climate change targets for 2020 will be missed unless the National Grid speeds up the rate at which new generators are connected, leading industry figures have said. The grid is undergoing its biggest upgrade since the 1960s as part of a £14 billion investment project by 2012 and up to £13.5 billion more by 2020. Unless it is made easier, however, for renewable energy generators, particularly wind farms, to connect to the grid, the investment will fail to ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Can smoke and mirrors ease global warming?
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49Q02B20081027?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Backers of extreme technologies to curb global warming advocate dumping iron dust into the seas or placing smoke and mirrors in the sky to dim the sun. But, even though they are seen by some as cheap fixes for climate change when many nations are worried about economic recession, such "geo-engineering" proposals have to overcome wide criticism that they are fanciful and could have unforeseen side effects. "We are at the boundaries, treading in areas that we are not normally ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Germany struggles to strike economy-environment balance
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20081027d3.html
Japan Times: Germany's ambitious targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions -- coupled with its policy of phasing out nuclear power generation -- pose a very serious challenge for the competitiveness of German industries, Daniel Goffart, a senior editor for politics and the economy at Handelsblatt, told the Oct. 10 symposium. As a country lacking in sufficient natural resources just like Japan, Germany relies on its technology on the one hand and energy imports on the other to sustain its ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Europe forcing airlines to buy emissions permits
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/26/business/25emissions.php
International Herald Tribune: European Union governments gave formal approval Friday to a potentially costly system of capping greenhouse gases from any airline flying into or out of the trade bloc -- just as the airline industry reported new evidence of the impact of a worsening economy. Airline chiefs immediately criticized the decision, saying it would cost the industry at least 3.5 billion euros ($4.4 billion) each year to comply. The Europeans are "acting in a bubble -- even in the middle of a global economic ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Wal-mart mulling contribution to Brazil's Amazon rainforest fund
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1026-brazil.html
Mongabay: Wal-mart may contribute to Brazil's fund for conserving the Amazon rainforest, said Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc. Speaking to the press Friday following the first meeting of the Amazon Fund's Guiding Committee, Minc said that Wal-mart, Petrobras, and American energy company AES have expressed interest in contributing the Brazil's newly established fund for promoting conservation and sustainable development of the Amazon rainforest, according to O Globo. The fund seeks to ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Report warns of future environmental challenges for Arab countries
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1439148.php/Report_warns_of_future_environmental_challenges_for_Arab_countries_
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: A new report about the state of the environment in the Arab world warns of fresh water scarcity, desertification, air quality and marine pollution among the top challenges facing the countries in the region. The Arab Environment: Future Challenges report, released at the opening of the first Arab Forum for Environmental Development (AFED) in the Bahraini capital Manama on Sunday said that urgent action was needed to prevent such problems from intensifying. The report, compiled ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Climate action not hostage to economic crisis
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/772/39813
Green Left Weekly: A public statement endorsed by 40 of Australia's leading environmental scientists warns that the global economic crisis must not be allowed to detract from action to halt global warming. The letter was published on crikey.com.au on October 21. The authors, Dr Barrie Pittock and Dr Andrew Glikson, point out that "recent developments in the state of the Earth's climate [including the] increasing extent of spring melt of Arctic Sea ice, mid-winter break up of the Wilkins ice shelf in ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Algae goes from the lab to the fuel tank
http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=90847
Houston Chronicle: One man's pond scum is another man's ticket to energy independence. Just ask attendees of a conference Friday in The Woodlands that focused on the potential of algae in making renewable fuels. "It's basically the new petroleum," said Robert Morgan, chief technology officer at PhyCO2, this is as close as we can get to cq; ideally the 2 would be subscripta California firm developing technology for large-scale algae production for biofuels. He is not alone in the view. ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Climate Emergency Action Network begins organising
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/772/39827
Green Left Weekly: Save Our Gulf Coalition (SOGC), Adelaide Hills Climate Action Group, Eco-socialist Convergence, the 3D Environment Show, the Young Greens, the Socialist Alliance, the Wilderness Society and the Conservation Council were just some of the groups represented at the inaugural meeting of the Climate Emergency Action Network (CLEAN) in Adelaide on October 23. Inspired by the success of the recent Climate Emergency conference in Adelaide, 35 people heard Jenny Bain, one of the conference ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Ore. governor pursues climate change package
http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-27/1224996649146210.xml&storylist=orlocal
Associated Press: Gov. Ted Kulongoski sees the upcoming 2009 Oregon Legislature as his chance to take a final swing at curbing global warming and positioning Oregon as a leader in the clean energy economy. On Monday, Kulongoski will roll out an ambitious "climate change" package to reduce carbon emissions and establish more wind and solar energy incentives, along with supporting energy efficiency and electric cars. Kulongoski also plans to provide details on how he wants Oregon lawmakers to ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Financial crisis takes toll on Australia carbon scheme
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD53772.htm
Reuters: Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd won office promising to be a climate change warrior but his chief weapon -- a carbon trade scheme to slash emissions -- is falling victim to shifting politics and world financial tumult. A former diplomat, Rudd made ratification of the Kyoto climate pact -- opposed by the former conservative government for more than a decade -- his first act after winning November elections tinged green by the seeming onrush of climate shift. "The Rudd ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Friedman connects energy, the economy and the environment in 'Hot, Flat, and Crowded'
http://www.mercurynews.com/books/ci_10795836
Bloomberg: In "Hot, Flat and Crowded," Thomas L. Friedman steps onto a U.S. military base in Iraq and meets two soldiers who manage convoys of diesel-fuel trucks, those wide targets for insurgents and roadside bombs. They're eager to curtail convoys by powering generators with solar panels and wind turbines. "Keeping people off the roads is the most important thing we can do," Sergeant Major Mike Wevodau tells Friedman. "Why can't we have solar and wind out here? I see them every time I ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Yosemite glacier on thin ice
http://www.theolympian.com/nationworld/story/636137.html
McClatchy Newspapers: As melting water gushed off the ice in a tinseled maze of rivulets and tumbled through a gaping chasm, the hikers watched, wondered and worried. Unlike most backcountry travelers who pitch their tents along the John Muir Trail in the upper reaches of the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River, these visitors had not pushed on to scale the summit of Mount Lyell - Yosemite's highest peak. Instead, they scrambled up a ridge of rose-tinted granite and over a mound of dark, unstable ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Needed: A few ideas on what to do when oil's gone
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/6078811.html
Houston Chronicle: Energy is on everyone`s mind these days, particularly Houstonians, after we just spent weeks without electricity. Imagine doing without electricity, natural gas, gasoline and water, all at the same time! Despite the recent drop in the price of oil (which is likely only temporary), many experts believe big changes are ahead in the world when it comes to energy, especially how we supply and use it. Last October, the city of Houston and the UH College of Technology sponsored the ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
State to study health impact of climate change
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/state-to-study-health-impact-of-climate-change-20081026-5932.html
Age: FEARS that climate change will damage the health of Victorians have prompted a major investigation by the state's health officials. Amid warnings that climate change could lead to more cases of heat-related illness, mosquito-borne viruses, food poisoning and depression around the world, Victoria's Department of Human Services has confirmed it has commissioned its own investigation into the extent to which Victorians might be affected. In a move described as both "heartening" ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Seaweed farms 'could fuel future'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7690973.stm
BBC: Pilot seaweed and algae farms are needed to assess Scotland's marine biomass potential, experts have urged. The recommendation comes in a report on using biomass for heating and fuel while avoiding the use of valuable agricultural land. Scientists want to see pilot farms and research into the most energy-rich types of seaweed. The report was carried out by the Scottish Association for Marine Science for The Crown Estate. Prof Mike Cowling, science and research ...
Mon, 27 Oct 08
Italy: Greenpeace tells Enel to "Quit Coal" in Genoa
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/greenpeace-tells-enel-to-quit-coal-26102008
Greenpeace: Greenpeace called on the energy company Enel to shut down its coal-fired power plant in Genoa, the capital of the Liguria region of Italy, in a series of actions this morning. Enel is persisting in keeping the plant open, despite demands by the Liguria regional government to shut it down immediately. Activists entered the power plant, and Greenpeace climbers hung a banner from Genoa's landmark "Torre della Lanterna" lighthouse. At the same time, activists from the Greenpeace ship ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Australia: Tas Premier calls for calm amid forest protests
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/26/2401311.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett will not be drawn on calls for new laws to be introduced giving police more powers to remove protesters from the state's forests. Tensions are rising between activists and loggers, amid allegations of violence and firebombing of cars in the Upper Florentine Valley. Police are investigating an alleged assault on an activist and protesters say there has been an arson attack on their camp only days later. Forest contractors say they do not ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Warning on renewables goal
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fb33c33e-a162-11dd-82fd-000077b07658.html
Financial Times: Britain will be unable to reach its target for renewable energy by 2020 without "wholesale changes on all fronts" to its current strategy, a parliamentary committee will warn today. The UK has been set a target of producing 15 per cent of its energy use from renewables by 2020, compared with a 2005 level of 1.3 per cent. The overall European Union goal is for a 20 per cent renewable share. The House of Lords' EU committee highlighted the importance of the UK reaching its own target. ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Drax to invest £2bn in renewable energy
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8f5a03b6-a163-11dd-82fd-000077b07658.html
Financial Times: Drax, the owner of western Europe's largest coal-fired power station, yesterday unveiled a £2bn renewable energy investment plan in an effort to diversify its business and cash in on government subsidies. Drax said it planned to build three 300MW power plants that would burn biomass, including energy crops and agricultural or forestry waste. The plants will be built in partnership with Siemens of Germany, with Drax owning 60 per cent of the project and operating the plants and Siemens ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
California should invest in high-speed rail
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_10816804
Mercury News: Next month California voters will have the opportunity to invest in a major piece of infrastructure that will shape California's 21st century future – high-speed rail. The project would link San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento with 200-mph trains on a route running through the fast-growing Central Valley. Big dollars – $9.5 billion – are involved, a down payment on a total project cost approaching $40 billion (the balance of funding would come from federal and private ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Canada: BC set for wind power as residents ponder life next to turbines
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxGRH_bY2JQoS7L9XjXDxf5SOn0Q
Canadian Press: After watching jobs vanish and saw mills close down amid the province's troubled forest industry, the mayor of the small northeastern B.C. town of Chetwynd sees hope in the wind. Evan Saugstad believes his community is poised to be at the front of B.C.'s newest industry: wind power. "Mostly in the construction area there are a lot of jobs," Saugstad from the town of about 3,100 people nestled in foothills more than 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver. "The jobs that will ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Methane Gas in the atmosphere on the rise
http://www.examiner.com/x-325-Global-Warming-Examiner~y2008m10d25-Methane-Gas-in-the-atmosphere-on-the-rise
Examiner: Methane gas in our atmosphere rose by 27 million tons last year after 10 years of virtually no increase. There is now 5.6 billion tons of methane in the air. That represents an increase of only 0.125% but, methane is 25 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. Methane is the second most potent greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, which increased by 0.6% last year. Carbon Dioxide comes from burning fossil fuels. Methane comes from landfills, natural gas released ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
United Arab Emirates: Climate change could affect Dubai coast radically
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10254502.html
Gulf News: Reinforcement measures around Dubai's coastline should be taken to avoid any damage from rising sea levels caused by climate change. Regionally, Kuwait and the Nile Delta would be severely affected by sea levels rising by just one metre, said Raymond S. Bradley, director of the Climate System Research Centre and distinguished professor at the University of Massachusetts. "You have to ask how will development be affected by sea-levels rising one to two metres here. The Deira ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Wind farms may pose risk to shipping
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3258362/Wind-farms-may-pose-risk-to-shipping.html
Telegraph: The rush to build massive offshore wind farms around Britain's coastline may pose a safety risk to shipping and other maritime users, transport officials have warned. The Department for Transport has told the wind energy industry that shipping operators have serious concerns about plans to build thousands of huge wind turbines out at sea in a bid to meet the Government's ambitious renewable energy targets. Cargo ship owners and yachting groups fear the turbines, which will in ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Asda comes in from the cold with fridge doors to save energy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3259395/Asda-comes-in-from-the-cold-with-fridge-doors-to-save-energy.html
Telegraph: The chain's new "low carbon" branch will also use geothermal pumps to bring up hot water from underground aquifers and a wood pellet-burning boiler to help heat the store. Asda hopes the changes will attract the "Thatcher generation" of consumers who are willing to reward retailers with good environmental and social credentials. For many years supermarkets have refused to put doors on anything except shelf-height frozen food because the added inconvenience for shoppers led to a ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Alaskan fish defecting to cool Russian waters
http://www.startribune.com/world/33282904.html?elr=KArks:DCiUBcy7hUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
LA Times: America's biggest catch lands here and at nearby ports every year: more than 2 billion pounds of Alaskan pollock to feed a global appetite for fish sticks, fast-food sandwiches and imitation crabmeat. The tightly managed Alaskan pollock fishery has been a rare success story in the United States, which has seen the collapse of species such as New England cod and now imports 80 percent of its seafood. Yet the careful management that helped make Alaskan pollock a billion-dollar ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
United Kingdom: How I made it: Jeremy Leggett, Founder of Solarcentury
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article5014557.ece
Times (UK): AS a professor of earth sciences at Imperial College in the mid-1980s, Jeremy Leggett ran a research project on the geological history of the planet. His studies left him extremely concerned. 'I got really worried about global warming and climate change - well ahead of it being fashionable,' he said. 'Everything I have done from then on has been trying to do something about that.' Leggett left his teaching post determined to make a difference. He became an environmental ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
United Kingdom: PM plans green investment drive
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/pm-plans-green-investment-drive-973824.html
Independent: Ministers are planning a huge increase in green investment to create jobs and help to get Britain out of the coming recession. The unprecedented drive -- which will be laid out in a White Paper early in the new year -- will place particular emphasis on expanding renewable energy and introducing electric cars as part of a "transition to a green economy". Tomorrow, Gordon Brown will signal his support for the initiative by reviewing a collection of electric cars in Downing ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
France: turmoil must not hurt climate change bill
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/10/20/france_turmoil_must_not_hurt_climate_change_bill/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: France and Germany urged smaller European Union economies not to use the world financial meltdown as an excuse to gut legislation that aims to combat global warming with deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said at an EU environment ministers' meeting that "the European Union must keep its leadership role" in climate change to nudge the United States and others into a global deal on slashing emissions. The bill, which aims to cut ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Oil shale resonates as Western election issue
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/130095
Aspen Daily News: A key issue in the Rocky Mountain West this political season is how to tap Western oil reserves that could be twice as large as Saudi Arabia's -- but are encased in rock. "At a time when Americans are screaming for energy independence, no policymaker can ignore that there are between 1 and 2 trillion barrels of oil shale and 800 billion barrels of oil equivalent to be recovered," says Bob Schaffer, a Republican and former congressman who is running for Colorado's open U.S. Senate ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Austin embraces solar energy market
http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=222859
News8: HelioVolt had its opening Friday. For decades, Austin has courted high tech as its mainstay for a vibrant economy. But now, going green is the mantra as political leaders look to cure our current economic crisis. "There is fortunately bipartisan agreement from both of the presidential nominees to address the critical problem of climate change and global warming," Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said. Supporters said the solar energy market could be the key to cleaning up ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
India: PM takes dig at West over gas emissions
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/PM_takes_dig_at_West_over_gas_emissions/articleshow/3640991.cms
Times of India: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday complained that the western nations have not lived up to their commitments for technology transfer and additional financing since the Rio Conference in 1992. He called for a global action plan to promote both food and energy security. Gas emissions of developed countries is actually rising and progress of the Kyoto Protocol has been slow, Singh told leaders of 43 nations attending the seventh Asia Europe Meeting here on Saturday. "We ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Poor Asian Nations Accept Emission Limits for New Global Accord
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aRI.OC6IzseI&refer=india
Bloomberg: Developing Asian countries including China pledged to limit growth in emissions blamed for climate change in a bid to bolster the chances of a new global agreement that would impose tougher curbs on rich nations. The Asian group that also includes India and Indonesia said they would reduce greenhouse gases below levels expected under current trends with Western financial and technological help. The vow, made at an Asia-European Union summit today in Beijing, comes before international ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
2 greenhouse gases on the rise worry scientists
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ibwC_yqdCtXd24mBJe6lMkwnUBaAD9415G5O0
Associated Press: Carbon dioxide isn't the only greenhouse gas that worries climate scientists. Airborne levels of two other potent gases -- one from ancient plants, the other from flat-panel screen technology -- are on the rise, too. And that's got scientists concerned about accelerated global warming. The gases are methane and nitrogen trifluoride. Both pale in comparison to the global warming effects of carbon dioxide, produced by the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels. In the past couple ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Pond scum could be fuel of the future
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/25/1025algae.html
Austin American-Statesman: With oil costs relatively high and ethanol production linked to rising food costs, University of Texas researchers have turned their attention to a promising alternative fuel source: pond scum. Biologists and engineers have teamed with private companies, the state government and U.S. government on a batch of projects that are examining ways to cultivate algae, break open their oil-rich cells, and ultimately develop a new kind of biofuel. Researchers at UT, home to the largest ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Philippines: 'Women Take the Brunt of Climate Change'
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44431
Inter Press Service: Filipina farmer Trinidad Domingo views the coming rice harvest season with trepidation. A typhoon destroyed much of her crop and Domingo estimates that her two-hectare plot will produce less than the usual 200 sacks of rice. Typhoons are a part of life for most Filipino farmers but they know how to minimise losses brought on by heavy rains. Domingo starts tilling rice as early as June and July -- the start of the wet season. By planting early, she can avoid most rain ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Asia-Europe talks turn to climate change, energy security
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j41pjg9ujPGWljgSDYGIzqKhbeLQ
Agence France-Presse: European and Asian leaders buckled down for a second day of talks in Beijing Saturday with climate change and energy security on the agenda after calling for reform of the global financial system. Leaders from the more than 40 members of the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) used the first day of the talks in Beijing to discuss the worst economic meltdown since the 1930s, with an appeal to overhaul the world's financial mechanisms. "Leaders pledged to undertake effective and ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
India: Manmohan urges Europe to "do more" to combat climate change
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200810251221.htm
Press Trust of India: India on Saturday appealed to its European partners to "do more" to combat climate change as it suggested adoption of a "holistic approach" to tackle the problem which threatened the global environment and development. Noting that the progress on the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol has been slow, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that emissions of developed countries have actually increased by 2.6 per cent from 2000 to 2005. "We should call upon our European partners to ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Canada: Don't believe in climate change? You still need a carbon tax
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=0f6ce84c-f861-4e1e-bca4-9c83ad7f2472
Ottawa Citizen: Whenever I write about the urgent need to act on climate change, I hear from folks who say there is no such need. Climate change is bunk, they say. For today only, let's say they're right. Who knows? They may be. Scientific conclusions are never absolutely certain. Maybe all those thousands of scientists are wrong. Maybe the national science academies of the world screwed up when they issued a joint statement declaring the problem to be real and urgent. Anything's possible. And it ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Barroso: Climate change to become more serious if no action is taken
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/25/content_10250642.htm
Xinhua: European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said here on Saturday that the financial crisis must not become an excuse for not properly dealing with the climate change. If countries do not take effective actions to tackle the climate change, there would be larger threats, Barroso told a press conference of the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on Saturday. He said a comprehensive global agreement would be made on the basis of the Bali Road Map, and through the Poznan ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Drought, beetles killing Forests
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081025-9999-1n25forest.html
San Diego Union-Tribune: Bugs and diseases are killing trees at an alarming rate across the West, from the spruce forests of Alaska to the oak woodlands near the San Diego-Tijuana border. Several scientists said the growing threat appears linked to global warming. That means tree mortality is likely to rise in places as the continent warms, potentially altering landscapes in ways that increase erosion, fan wildfires and diminish the biodiversity of Western forests. It also could prompt new approaches ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
McCain's Climate Plan Is Strong on Offsets
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/community-news/energy-security-55102402
Daily Green: The presidential election of 2008 marks an important turning point in the history of American climate policy. We aren't debating whether to limit emissions of greenhouse gases that accelerate global warming; both major candidates agree we need to do so. The current debate is about how best to rein in these emissions. Sen. Obama offers bolder long-term goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but Sen. McCain also calls for ambitious targets with specific milestones along the way. ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Greens: 'Economic growth is killing the planet'
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/5798
Canada Free Press: If you need more evidence that the Greens intend to destroy our standard of living, you need not look further than the Oct. 18 issue of New Scientist magazine--the cover of which reads, 'The Folly of Growth: How to stop the economy killing the planet.' The issue features eight articles that New Scientist editors believe justify their editorial entitled, 'Why economic growth is killing the planet and what we can do about it.' Presented below the editorial is an ominously drawn graph ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Leaders announce new Asia-Europe climate goals
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=131636
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Asian and European Union leaders on Saturday committed their 43 nations to agreeing to new goals on climate change by the end of next year. The 16 Asian and 27 EU leaders issued a joint statement saying they planned to finalize a post-Kyoto Protocol deal on climate change goals to 2012 at talks in Copenhagen scheduled for December 2009. New targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions would build on the December 2007 climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, they said, ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Australia: Tuvalu refugees 'last resort'
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,27574,24553193-2682,00.html
Sunday Mail: AUSTRALIA will help resettle climate change refugees but only as a last resort, federal immigration officials have admitted. This has prompted the Greens to call for a new visa category to cover climate change refugees. Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young raised the issue at a Senate Estimates hearing on Tuesday. Her questions were triggered by the special report in the Sunday Mail on how rising seas from climate change threaten to overwhelm low-lying ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
EU's Barroso says new climate deal possible in 2009
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/081025124219.b14zfdoy.html
Agence France-Presse: A crucial global pact on climate change is possible by next year, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said here on Saturday following two days of talks between Asian and European leaders. Barroso said he had emerged from the two-day Asia Europe Meeting optimistic about concluding the global warming deal that has been beset by differences between rich and poor nations. "I really believe that after the very good exchanges that we had today, it's possible to reach an ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Asia, Europe reaffirm determination to tackle climate change
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/25/content_10251866.htm
Xinhua: Leaders from Asia and Europe reaffirmed their resolutions to fight against global climate change and pledged to settle relevant negotiations for a deal at the Climate Change Conference at the end of 2009. In the Beijing Declaration on Sustainable Development issued after the conclusion of the seventh summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), leaders emphasize that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol are the main channels for ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Is the Sun Setting on Solar Power in Spain?
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=is-the-sun-setting-on-solar-power-in-spain
Scientific America: On the outskirts of Seville, Spain, 600 rotating mirrors send shafts of light to a collector atop a soaring 380-foot- (115-meter-) tall tower. Its scalding 480-degree-Fahrenheit (250-degree-Celsius) steam drives a turbine generating a peak capacity of 11 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the national grid. This "power tower" is the first of nine to be built by Spanish engineering giant Abengoa Solar, which all told will produce enough electricity for 153,000 homes by 2013. From power ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Forest Peoples' Rights Key To Reducing Emissions From Deforestation
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081015110238.htm
ScienceDaily: Unless based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and forest communities, efforts by rich countries to combat climate change by funding reductions in deforestation in developing countries will fail, and could even unleash a devastating wave of forest loss, cultural destruction and civil conflict, warned a leading group of forestry and development experts at a recent meeting in Oslo. The experts are gathering in Oslo with policymakers and community leaders for a conference ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Alternative Energy Suddenly Faces Headwinds
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=109029
New York Times: For all the support that the presidential candidates are expressing for renewable energy, alternative energies like wind and solar are facing big new challenges because of the credit freeze and the plunge in oil and natural gas prices. Shares of alternative energy companies have fallen even more sharply than the rest of the stock market in recent months. The struggles of financial institutions are raising fears that investment capital for big renewable energy projects is likely to get ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
What's Really Wrong With the Price of Oil
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=109027
New York Times: Back before the mortgage meltdown turned into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the country`s big economic problem was energy. The presidential campaign was on fire over what to 'do' about the price of oil. Gas cost more than $4 a gallon, it was slowing down the economy, people were driving fewer miles and they were flying less. Believe it or not, this was an economic crisis that affected people who didn`t happen to be pinstriped bankers, hedge-fund managers or cabinet ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Europe's Leadership in Carbon Control at Risk in Credit Crisis
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=109025
New York Times: Europe`s role as a global leader in combating climate change risks becoming the next victim of the global financial crisis. As the threats of global recession and rising unemployment loom after the expensive bank bailouts, some European leaders are demanding that the trade bloc backpedal on a pledge announced with much fanfare last spring to cut greenhouse emissions by 20 percent and to generate 20 percent of power through renewable sources by 2020. At a meeting Monday in ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Germany: D. Bank sees green 'opportunities' in economic slump
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/bank-sees-green-opportunities-economic-slump/article-176638?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: Funding shortages and recession fears should not be used as excuses for shying away from tackling climate change, while governments have a key role to play by setting the right carbon price on polluters, according to a new report by Deutsche Bank. "The current economic downturn presents governments with an historic opportunity to 'climate proof' their economies as they upgrade infrastructure as a core response to the economic downturn," argues Mark Fulton, head of climate change ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
EDF to Sue EPA Over Outdated Landfill Methane Standards
http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2008/10/24/edf-sue-epa-over-outdated-landfill-methane-standards
ClimateBiz: The Environmental Defense Fund will sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over outdated methane emissions standards for the country's landfills. Methane is a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide and contributes to smog and climate change. The methane generated by decomposing solid waste in landfills is the second largest source of human-caused methane in the U.S. The gas, also produced in abundance on the nation's dairy farms, has gained popularity in ...
Sun, 26 Oct 08
Cheap oil bad for renewable energy
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/24/oil_and_renewables/
Marketplace: Bill Radke: Oil dependent countries are quaking as the price of a barrel of crude drops and drops. This morning, OPEC oil ministers meeting in Vienna agreed on a big production cut -- 1.5 million barrels a day starting next month. But oil is still trading below $63 a barrel this morning compared to $147 this summer. That might sound great as you watch the price of gas fall below three bucks, but as Sarah Gardner reports from the Marketplace Sustainability Desk, as oil goes, so goes renewable ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Salt levels in the ocean reflect human-induced climate change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/24/easea124.xml
Telegraph: The Met Office and researchers at the University of Reading looked at levels of salinity in the Atlantic Ocean. In the subtropical zone salt has increased to a level outside natural variablitity over the last 20 years, suggesting less rainfall and increased evaporation caused by human-induced climate change. However in the North Atlantic, where there are more changeable weather patterns, an increase in salt levels was put down to natural variation. This reverses previous ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Funding becoming harder to get for green startups
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7920364
Reuters: Saving the planet is looking a lot less profitable than it was a few months ago, and investors once enamored with finding the next high-flying alternative energy startup are retrenching. Venture capitalists poured a record number of dollars into alternative energy companies as oil prices peaked at $147 in the third quarter, but some say that investment has trailed off substantially as crude prices declined and the global economy has slipped toward recession. Not only are ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
New EU CO2 caps anger airlines
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gnFiV2DkrLspTtmU0HsRPsA3mgUA
Agence France-Presse: The European Union on Friday imposed tougher pollution limits on airlines from 2012, angering the air industry and the United States, whose carriers will be included. From January 2012, all airlines operating in or out of the European Union will have to limit carbon dioxide emissions to 97 percent of 2005 levels. From 2013, that figure will dip to 95 percent. "The main objective of the new law is to reduce the impact of aviation on climate change, given the rapid growth of this ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Climate Change Seeps into the Sea
http://www.physorg.com/news144066924.html
Physorg: Good news has turned out to be bad. The ocean has helped slow global warming by absorbing much of the excess heat and heat-trapping carbon dioxide that has been going into the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution. All that extra carbon dioxide, however, has been a bitter pill for the ocean to swallow. It's changing the chemistry of seawater, making it more acidic and otherwise inhospitable, threatening many important marine organisms. Scientists call ocean ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
The Most Potent Unknown Greenhouse Gas Revealed
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2008/2008-10-24-01.asp
Environment News Service: A gas used in manufacture of flat panel televisions, computer displays, microcircuits, and thin-film solar panels is 17,000 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and it is far more prevalent in the atmosphere than previously estimated. The powerful greenhouse gas nitrogen trifluoride, NF3, is at least four times more widespread than scientists had believed, according to new research by a team at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Project examines urban dwellers' vulnerability to heat in face of climate changes
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/asu-peu102408.php
EurekAlert: Sophisticated climate and environmental data will be combined with social science knowledge by a team of Arizona State University researchers investigating human vulnerability to deadly heat exposure. With the mounting effects of climate change and half the world's population now living in urban areas – one-third of the people in slums – the potential for the increasing frequency and severity of heat waves is cause for grave concern, says Sharon Harlan, an associate professor of ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Oceans may provide clues to future rainfall
http://www.physorg.com/news144070264.html
Physorg: Changes in the salinity of our oceans are being brought about by man's influence on our climate, suggests new research conducted by the Met Office Hadley Centre and the Walker Institute for Climate System Research at the University of Reading, to be published in Geophysical Research Letters next month. Using data from the Atlantic Ocean and Met Office climate model simulations, the study reveals increasing salinity in the sub-tropical zone -- an indication of less rainfall and ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
New California rules target big-rig pollution
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-trucks25-2008oct25,0,3204314.story
LA Times: California's Air Resources Board today released long-awaited draft rules to clean up big-rig pollution that can aggravate asthma, cancer and heart disease across the state. The rules, which are scheduled to take effect in 2010, would affect toxic diesel emissions from more than 1 million heavy-duty trucks that operate in the state, many of them transporting merchandise from the massive complex of ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles. Diesel truck transport from the ports and ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Rainbow Warrior's protest against coal plant
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kol08/article/default.asp?article_id=50309
Kent Online: The flagship of the Greenpeace protest fleet sailed up the River Medway on Friday. The Rainbow Warrior docked in Chatham as part of the Give Coal the Boot Campaign. The activist group chose to come to Medway to highlight how the decision to build a new coal power station at Kingsnorth in Hoo could have an impact on the fight against global warming around the world. Onboard the vessel were around 30 people from local organisations including Medway Council, the RSPB, the ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Green to the extreme
http://www.mercurynews.com/homeandgarden/ci_10806369
New York Times: Simon Woods, who is 6, would like to play on a baseball team. His mother, Sharon Astyk, is sympathetic, but is also heavily committed to shrinking her family's carbon footprint. "We haven't been able to find a league that doesn't involve a long drive," she said. "I say that it isn't good for the planet, so we play catch in the yard." That is one way that Astyk, a mother of four, expresses her concern for the environment. She has unplugged the family refrigerator, using it as an icebox ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Environmentalists blamed for increased regulations
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/24/ap5603631.html
Associated Press: A push by environmentalists to reduce coal's role in the nation's energy future will drive up costs and hurt efforts to wean the country from oil, say the chairmen of two major coal concerns in West Virginia. During separate gatherings in West Virginia on Thursday, the chairmen of Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy (nyse: MEE - news - people ) and CSX Corp. (nyse: CSX - news - people ) discussed coal's future. "There's a move afoot among the environmentalists to block the usage ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
UN climate chief says media not getting it
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/10/24/un-climate-chief-says-media-not-getting-it/
Christian Science Monitor: Speaking at a gathering of US environmental journalists last week, the chair of the UN`s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that the news media has not done enough to communicate the severity of global warming. Rajendra K. Pachauri, who last year shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president Al Gore, told those gathered at the Society of Environmental Journalists` (SEJ) annual meeting in Roanoke, Va., last Friday that many news outlets have been missing the story ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Australian shines in 'solar explosion'
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/australian-shines-in-solar-explosion/1343260.aspx
Canberra Times: New-generation solar technology created in Australia will drive ''a solar explosion'' across California, the state's Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, says. ''Today, we celebrate clean energy and new jobs,'' Mr Schwarzenegger told a crowd at this week's launch of the biggest solar thermal energy plant built in the United States. The 5-megawatt plant, which will power more than 3500 homes, was built by Ausra, a company established last year by former University of Sydney solar ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Imagining a low-carbon future must begin today, declares think tank
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Imagining-a-lowcarbon-future-must.4629155.jp
Scotsman: IMAGINE yourself living in Scotland in 2050. We all now exist in a world where mankind's carbon pollution has been cut back to the emission levels of 100 years ago in the mid-20th century. We each participate in daily democratic debates through an online virtual parliament, and monitor how our carbon footprints rise as we buy consumer products, and fall as we plant trees. The world is now home to around 9.5 billion people, which has put increased pressure on natural ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Biofuels Boom and Bust
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44438
Inter Press Service: The Kenyan government has hailed bio-diesel as an innovation that combines green politics with poverty reduction. But recent drops in biofuel prices have caused concern about the sustainability of alternative fuel production. Rural farmers who have invested all their savings into growing oil seeds now fear they have opted for the wrong venture. Over the last few years, the Kenyan government, NGOs and industry have pushed the production of bio-diesel -- which is environmentally ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Science 'should blaze a trail' in China's development
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5900/362?ijkey=C3MAVI76qDDuE&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
Science: 2008 has been a roller-coaster ride for China and for Premier Wen Jiabao. Recent highs were the spectacular Olympics and the successful space walk late last month during the Shenzhou-7 mission, a key step toward China's aspirations of building a space station and sending astronauts to the moon. Lows included the Tibet riot, a devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, and the tainted milk scandal. In 2003, early in his first term as head of China's government, Wen promoted measures ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Digesting The Termite Digestome: A Way To Make Biofuels?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081021190648.htm
ScienceDaily: If the biofuel known as bioethanol is to make a major contribution to our fuel supplies, then we may well require the assistance of some tiny insect helpers, says Michael Scharf, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Florida, Gainesville. In a review to be published in Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining, Scharf and his colleague Aurélien Tartar describe how the enzymes produced by both termites and the micro-organisms that inhabit their gut -- known as ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Biofuel of the Future: Oil from Algae
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=biofuel-of-the-future
Scientific American: The future of biofuel may lie in one word: algae. The tiny primitive plants can produce a lot of oil in a little space. Solix Biofuels has a pilot plant in the New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colo., that uses the excess carbon dioxide from beer making to feed algae growing in indoor tanks. Global Green Solutions has a test facility in El Paso, Tex., that grows algae in tall, thin, sunlit bioreactors. One company prefers to stay in the dark, however. Solazyme in South San ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Flatscreen TVs turn up the heat on climate
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn15032-flatscreen-tvs-turn-up-the-heat-on-climate.html?feedId=climate-change_rss20
New Scientist: Our new-found love for flat-screen TVs could come back to haunt us. Earlier this year, researchers warned that the growing popularity of this technology was releasing increasing amounts of a powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. Now, researchers say levels of the gas are four times as high as previously estimated, and warn they are rising "quasi-exponentially". Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) is 17,000 times more effective at warming the atmosphere than an equal mass of ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Poland looks to China for coal support in Copenhagen
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229055/poland-looks-china-coal-support
Business Green: Poland is looking to form an alliance with China in upcoming global climate talks to ensure that their economies are protected by any agreed targets, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said yesterday. China and Poland, both deeply reliant on coal, should look to ensure that any targets agreed would not adversely tax them, and co-operate further on clean coal technologies. Tusk's comments came on a four-day visit to Shanghai and Beijing. "I expect that in China, we will ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Aviation inclusion in emissions scheme is formally agreed
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229062/aviation-inclusion-emissions
Business Green: European Union governments have formally approved an earlier decision to include aviation in the EU Emission Trading Scheme from 2012. A spokesperson confirmed that the process, which has been building for several months, and agreed in principle earlier this year, was officially passed today by the European Council. "Because it is a commission decision, first parliament votes and then council and parliament discuss and then the council finally adopts it, which is what happened today," ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49N4VI20081024?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European Union governments gave their formal approval on Friday to include aviation in the bloc's emissions trading scheme, they said in a statement. As a result of the decision, the 27-nation bloc will include aviation from 2012 in the program, a key tool in its plan to fight climate change. Aviation generates 3 percent of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the EU but has been left out of the trading scheme so far due to fears it would damage the industry's ability to ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Mirrors Up at New California Solar Thermal Power Plant
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2008/2008-10-23-092.asp
Environment News Service: Turning a long line of mirrors to catch the California sunshine, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today fired up the first solar thermal power plant built in California in nearly 20 years. The new Kimberlina concentrating solar thermal power plant in Bakersfield was built by Ausra Inc., a large-scale solar thermal energy developer and manufacturer based in Palo Alto. "This next generation solar power plant is further evidence that reliable, renewable and pollution-free technology ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
United States: Houston Retrofits City Buildings to Save Energy, Protect Climate
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2008/2008-10-24-091.asp
Environment News Service: Houston is about to become the first U.S. city to retrofit municipal buildings to reduce energy and water consumption as part of the Clinton Climate Initiative. The energy efficiency improvements are projected to save enough electricity annually to create millions of dollars in savings and lower greenhouse gas emissions from America's fourth largest city. The project also will focus on making emergency response facilities disaster-resistant and passively survivable, strengthening the ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Solar panels linked to "powerful" greenhouse gas
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229052/solar-panels-linked-powerful
Business Green: Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) is at least four times more prevalent in the atmosphere than scientists previously thought, according to recent research. The compound, which is 17,000 times more effective at warming the atmosphere than an equal mass of CO2, is used in the production of solar panels, flat-screen TVs and computer displays. Researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), discovered that the amount of the gas in the ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Seabass And Chips: Harnessing Science To Predict Ocean Climate Change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081023222558.htm
ScienceDaily: Cod, salmon and eels and other native cold water fish might eventually become a rarity in Irish waters--and not necessarily because of overfishing, pollution or habitat destruction. Long-term changes in the temperature and salt content of our regional seas, brought about by climate change, may force species such as these into deeper, colder waters and replace them with warm water species such as sea bass and boarfish. As an island off the Atlantic coast of Western Europe, Ireland is ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Potent Greenhouse Gas From Computer Display and TV Manufacture Prevalent In Atmosphere
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081023120230.htm
ScienceDaily: A powerful greenhouse gas is at least four times more prevalent in the atmosphere than previously estimated, according to a team of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Using new analytical techniques, a team led by Scripps geochemistry professor Ray Weiss made the first atmospheric measurements of nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), which is thousands of times more effective at warming the atmosphere than an equal mass of carbon dioxide. The amount of ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
West's 'clean oil fields' to benefit from grid upgrade
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15508
Edie: Ireland's western region has 40% of the country's renewable wind power generating capacity, according to a plan to double the electricity transmission network. Eirgrid, the independent electricity transmission system operator, launched its Euro 4bn Grid25 plan to develop the grid infrastructure of which Euro 1bn is to be invested in the west. Ireland's transmission network could be doubled by the year 2050, boosting current capacity and supporting renewable energy development, ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
EU Lawmakers Endorse Climate Goal but Obstacles Remain
http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2008/10/23/eu-lawmakers-endorse-climate-goal-obstacles-remain
ClimateBiz: The European Parliament affirmed its 2020 emissions reduction goal this week, setting the stage for a December battle to hammer out a deal opposed by several bloc members because of the global economic crisis, the Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, Japan sought a different approach to reducing emissions with the approval of a voluntary carbon market that lets companies set their own targets without penalties for missing their goals. The European Parliament's plan involves a ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Calif. Efficiency Laws Saved State Big Bucks
http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2008/10/23/calif-efficiency-laws-saved-state-big-bucks
ClimateBiz: A report from the University of California, Berkeley, reaffirmed research recently released by the state Air Resources Board: Strong energy policies will become a key driver for improving job creation, household incomes and the Gross State Product. Energy efficiency measures have already helped the state cut energy independence and boost productivity compared to 30 years ago, according to "Energy Efficiency, Innovation and Job Creation in California." Nonprofit Next 10 funded the ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Eco-horror films shocking us into action
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/22/eco.films/index.html#cnnSTCText
CNN: There's a new wave of horror films stalking the box office. Master of modern horror? Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' presented eco-disaster as both shocking and a call-to-arms. You can forget the torture porn of "Saw" and "Hostel" - in fact these new films are marked by a distinct lack of blood and guts. But there is no doubting their ability to chill audiences to the core: Welcome to the world of eco-horror. Unlike most horror films these movies aren't fiction, they ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Government to fund renewable energy skills
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229011/government-fund-renewable
Business Green: Energy conservation and renewables have been named as two of the sectors vital to the future prosperity of the UK by skills secretary John Denham, who claims he will fight to make sure workers are able to compete in the world economy. In a speech to the CBI this week, Denham announced that £98m will be earmarked for skills development in key industries including those associated with climate change. "If government policy creates the expectation of future business -- by ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Chinese business giants join climate group
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229015/chinese-business-giants-join
Business Green: Three giants of the Chinese economy today signed a commitment to reduce their carbon emissions in a sign that developing economies are being won round to the idea that fighting climate change and economic growth are not mutually exclusive. China Mobile, the world's biggest wireless operator, Broad Air Conditioning, the world's biggest manufacturer of low-energy air-conditioning units and Suntech, the world's third largest solar energy company all joined the Climate ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Many pesticides in EU may damage human brain: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49N38O20081024?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Many pesticides used in the European Union may damage brain growth in fetuses and young children, according to a study published on Friday. The study urged the European Union to tighten restrictions. "Toxicity to the brain is not routinely included in testing pesticides," Philippe Grandjean of the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Southern Denmark told Reuters. "Because many of them are by design toxic to the brain of insects, it is very likely that ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Long term approach to renewables vital, say MPs
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2229036/government-long-term-approach
Business Green: The government has been warned by MPs that a rush to meet 2020 renewables targets may mean over expansion of existing technologies and not enough research into new ones. As part of an EU target to increase renewables by 20 per cent by 2020, the UK was set a 15 per cent renewable energy target. But to encourage a long term approach the cross-party EU committee wants the government to adopt 2030 targets soon. "We believe that the EU's 20 per cent by 2020 target, and the ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Is The Media Doing Enough?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44430
Inter Press Service: The media has a key role to play in effectively addressing the two major challenges of the 21st century -- sustainable development and climate change. But is it doing enough? The verdict was mixed -- at least judging by the views expressed by a group of academics, journalists, scientists, government officials and representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and U.N. agencies at a seminar held at The Hague in the Netherlands Thursday. "Media has been focussing on the ...
Sat, 25 Oct 08
Earlier global warming produced a whole new form of life
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200810240924.htm
Hindu: Researchers from McGill University, along with colleagues from the California Institute of Technology, the Curie Institute in Paris, Princeton University and other institutions, have unearthed crystalline magnetic fossils of a previously unknown species of microorganism that lived at the boundary of the Paleocene and Eocene epochs, some 55 million years ago. Their results were published Oct. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. According to a press release issued ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Study blasts one-size-fits-all approach to climate change
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvjaQMT8C2LD91rUdWVhNbQhZRvA
Canadian Press: A new study on the economy and the environment recommends the federal government combat climate change with a "silver buckshot" of policies rather than a single silver bullet. No one policy is adequate to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, concludes a report released Friday by the Pembina Institute. The 120-page report, commissioned by the TD Bank, says governments should instead consider a range of options when crafting environmental policy. Those options could include a ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
United States: Summer temperatures up 2 degrees every year since 2000, study shows
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/10/23/102408_8A_global_warming.html
Grand Junction Sentinel: Grand Junction's recent hot summers are part of a warming trend in temperatures across Colorado, in which average annual temperatures have been more than 2 degrees above the historical average every year since 2000, according to a study released by Environment Colorado. The study, 'Feeling the Heat: Global Warming and Rising Temperatures in the United States,' compared temperatures from 2000 to 2007 against historical averages from 1971 to 2000 for all 50 states. Alamosa and ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Five ways California vintners are weathering climate change
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/23/WI8013C8VG.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: The Arctic ice cap is almost gone and glaciers are melting. European wineries are dealing with warmer temperatures, drought and changes in rain and weather patterns, yet while many California wineries are taking many steps to reduce their carbon footprint, most don't seem overly concerned about how climate changes will affect their wines. The reason is fairly simple. They're not seeing anything they aren't already dealing with. While local wine grape growers have been buffeted ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Potent greenhouse gas more common than estimated: study
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g1bNVEkdu08uja6rFE0tKvwlyjOA
Agence France-Presse: A potent greenhouse gas many thousands of times more effective at warming the world's atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2) is four times more prevalent than previously thought, according to a study released Thursday. Researchers using a new NASA-funded measurement network discovered there was 4,200 metric tons of the gas nitrogen trifluoride in the atmosphere in 2006, not 1,200 tons as previously estimated for that year. In 2008 there are 5,400 metric tons of the gas in the ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Major cities call for dramatic emission cuts by all nations
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081024a9.html
Kyodo News: Mayors and officials from 32 major cities from around the world urged "all nations" Thursday to achieve "drastic cuts" in greenhouse gas emissions under a global climate accord to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. "The international community must cooperate in making an abrupt shift in direction for drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions," Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and Toronto Mayor David Miller said in a joint statement issued after a two-day meeting in Tokyo of the so-called ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Carbon credit biz feels meltdown heat
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/Carbon_credit_biz_feels_meltdown_heat/articleshow/3634798.cms
Times of India: With developed economies staring at a recession, talks of the global financial meltdown forcing climate change negotiations into a freeze have gained ground. The collateral damage from the financial contagion closest home could be to India's carbon trade that has already locked in investments generating 31 million carbon credits annually up to 2012. Other projects worth 439 million credits that are in the pipeline could now come under the cloud. The negotiations, meant to ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
United States: Dynegy agrees to disclose climate change risk
http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081023/REG/810239973/1036
Financial Week: Another energy company agreed today to disclose information about financial risks posed by climate change--after prodding by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo. Under the binding agreement, Dynegy agreed to disclose in annual filings the material risks from climate change, including "present and probable future climate change regulation and legislation" and related litigation. The energy company will also disclose current and projected carbon emissions from coal-fired power ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Solar cells, flat-panel screens are source of potent greenhouse gas
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1023-nt.html
Mongabay: Solar cells, flat-panel screens are source of greenhouse gas 17,000 times more potent than CO2 Atmospheric concentrations of nitrogen trifluoride -- a gas used in the manufacture of liquid crystal flat-panel displays, thin-film photovoltaic cells and microcircuits -- are at least four times higher than previously estimated, reports a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Using a technique that measures the prevalence of nitrogen trifluoride for the ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Dynegy to Warn Investors on Risks of Coal Burning
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=108899
Associated Press: Dynegy has agreed to put detailed information in its financial filings on any material business risks posed by climate change. That could include warning investors about looming government regulations that might make it more expensive to emit carbons, or the possibility that the company could be sued over pollution. The agreement is the second of its type. Xcel Energy made a similar pledge with Mr. Cuomo`s office in August, and the attorney general has pressured three other ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
California gets 'next generation' solar plant
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27344659/
MSNBC: Calling it a sign of things to come, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday helped unveil a demonstration facility that concentrates the sun's rays via mirrors to produce electricity. "This next generation solar power plant is further evidence that reliable, renewable and pollution-free technology is here to stay," Schwarzenegger stated. "Not only will this large-scale solar facility generate power to help us meet our renewable energy goals, it will also generate new jobs ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Md. environmentalists are listed as suspected terrorists
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081023/NEWS01/81023058
Capital News Service: Environmentalists Mike Tidwell and Joshua Tulkin said Thursday morning that the Maryland State Police listed them as suspected terrorists in a federal database and conducted unwarranted surveillance of their activities. At a press conference, the two environmental leaders, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and leaders of several other environmental organizations, called for legislation to ensure that such surveillance is prohibited in the future. "It's a ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
UN report: Few coastal cities to be spared by climate change
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/24/content_10241897.htm
Xinhua: A UN report launched here on Thursday says few of the world's coastal cities will be spared by climate change. In the 20th century, sea levels rose by an estimated 17 centimeters, and global mean projections for sea level rise between 1990 and 2080 range from 22 centimeters to 34 centimeters. The low elevation coastal zone -- the continuous area along coastlines that is less than 10 meters above sea level -- represents 2 percent of the world's land area but contains 10 percent of its ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Despite financial chaos, donors pledge $100M for rainforest conservation
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1023-fcpf.html
Mongabay: Donors meeting this week in Washington D.C. pledged more than $100 million to the World Bank's new initiative for conserving tropical forests. In addition to the $100 million in donations, the World Bank announced that more than forty developing countries have asked to join the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility -- the Bank's foray into the emerging market for forest carbon credits. 25 countries have so far been selected to participate in the initiative, which builds capacity for ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Rebels to force climate change Bill concessions
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/rebels-to-force-climate-change-bill-concessions-971527.html
Independent: Ministers are preparing concessions to head off a Labour rebellion over plans to exclude aviation and shipping from new targets to cut Britain's carbon emissions. Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, is working on amendments to the Climate Change Bill which pledges that the UK will reduce emissions by 80 per cent before the middle of the century. But emissions from international shipping and air traffic were originally excluded from the calculations, prompting ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
United States: Stop the Buckeye warns of global warming impact
http://www.freep.com/article/20081023/NEWS06/81023105/1054/SPORTS06
Detroit Free Press: That's the tongue-in-cheek message delivered by a group of Michigan environmentalists and public health advocates concerned about potential dangers if global warming is allowed to continue to go unchecked. Recent scientific analyses about the effects of global warming have indicated that the growing range for Buckeye trees, which are native to Ohio, as well as other species of trees, is as well as other species of trees, migrating further north. That means Michigan, the Wolverine ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Renewable energy - 'Massive shake-up needed to meet targets'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/24/earenew124.xml
Telegraph: Britain gets only about two per cent of its energy from renewable sources, mostly from wind farms and will be hard-pressed to meet the 15 per cent target imposed by the EU, the report concludes. Much will depend on the Government being able to persuade the public to use less power and to begin thinking about producing their own electricity at home - so called micro generation. To achieve this planning laws will have to be shunted aside and Ministers given more powers to drive ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Carbon finance seen solid despite global crunch
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Developmental_Issues/Carbon_finance_seen_solid_despite_global_crunch/articleshow/3635462.cms
Reuters: Carbon finance has escaped a hit from the global credit jitters but regulators must act fast to speed up project delays to maintain the momentum to combat climate change, World Bank and industry officials said. The carbon market's value has grown to $50bn in the first six months of this year, similar to 2007, and is expected to double this year. "It is reasonable to expect the overall market to touch $100bn by end of 2008," Karan Capoor from the World Bank's Carbon & ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Read the fine print on presidential energy plans
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/23/EDV213N2H3.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: At long last, the energy economy is central to local, state, national and global political and social agendas. This is welcome news: It opens to door to addressing meaningfully the linked issues of energy security, global warming and the opportunity to redirect the $700 billion we spend each year on imported fuels instead into building innovative companies and moving into sustainable job growth. Thankfully, both presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, are talking ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
After 30 slow years, US nuclear industry set to build plants again
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/23/europe/nuke.php
International Herald Tribune: After three decades without starting a single new plant, the American nuclear power industry is getting ready to build again. The U.S. nuclear industry's announcement several years ago that it would resume plant construction was met with deep skepticism. Not since 1973 had anybody in the United States ordered a nuclear plant that actually got built, and the obstacles to a new generation of plants seemed daunting. But now, 21 companies are seeking permission to build 34 new ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Japan Power Bourse to Start UN Carbon-Credit Trade Next Month
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aONOvuE5jcHE&refer=japan
Bloomberg: The Japan Electric Power Exchange will start trading United Nations-emission credits and carbon- free electricity next month, a bourse official said. The exchange plans to charge a 2,000 yen ($20.61) commission on each transaction of 10,000 tons of the certified emissions credits, known as CERs, the official said under condition of anonymity because the details haven't been announced yet. Tokyo Electric Power Co., Marubeni Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. are among exchange ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Candidates' energy plans like peas in a pod
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/21/MN6I13EAQ2.DTL&feed=rss.news
San Francisco Chronicle: Both John McCain and Barack Obama have grand plans for America's energy future that include weaning us off imported oil, boosting renewable power, filling the freeways with plug-in hybrid cars and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Whether either one will be able to afford those plans as president is another matter. "There's a financial crisis going on, and that's going to determine a lot of what they can do," said William Hogan, professor of energy policy at Harvard ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
United Kingdom: 'Drastic' reforms on energy urged
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7687960.stm
BBC: "Urgent and drastic" policy and system changes are needed if the UK is to meet EU targets on renewable energy, according to a committee of Lords. The UK's commitment to producing 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 is "laudable, but an enormous challenge", the EU committee said. It said planning law must be reformed to allow ministers to overrule local opposition to projects like wind farms. It also called for more consideration of other technologies, like ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Big Chinese companies join climate group
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/24/china-mobile-climate-group
Guardian: One of China's biggest companies will today become the first state-controlled business in the country to join an international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The powerful Climate Group will announce three Chinese members, including the majority state-owned China Mobile, which has 420 million customers and is one of the country's 10 biggest companies. It is the world's biggest mobile phone operator. The other two companies are Suntech, the world's third largest solar ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Drax Group has £2bn plan for biomass power stations
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/24/drax-group-alternative-energy
Guardian: Drax Group, the owner of Britain's most carbon-intensive power station, is turning green with a £2bn plan to build the country's first large-scale biomass plants which burn plant-based materials. The three facilities in Hull, Immingham and probably the North Yorkshire village of Drax itself, will have the capacity to produce 900 megawatts of electricity - enough to supply 3% of the country's total needs - but environmental groups warned that Drax must ensure the crop fuel is ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Climate change targets deal could include aviation and shipping emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/24/climate-change-carbon-emissions-miliband
Guardian: Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, is close to reaching an agreement on toughening his legally binding climate change targets by promising to take into account emissions from shipping and aviation. He is also expected to include a commitment that by 2012 businesses will be required to report annually on their carbon emissions. Business is responsible for 30% of total emissions. Miliband was praised by environmentalists last week when he increased the UK legal target to cut the ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Harmonious Cities - a Social and Environmental Solution
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44424
Inter Press Service: Sao Paulo emits only a tenth of the greenhouse gases that San Diego produces, even though this Brazilian metropolis is four times larger than that city in California, according to a report released today by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). Based on such comparisons, the State of the World's Cities 2008/2009 -- a report published every two years by the UN agency, which in this new edition focuses on "Harmonious Cities" -- concludes that the contribution of ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Ausra Opens US Solar Plant, Hopes First Of Many
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50736/story.htm
Reuters: Solar thermal power developer Ausra Inc on Thursday opened a 5-megawatt demonstration plant in California that it says will prove it can deliver on its promise of providing clean energy cheaply. Ausra, the first to erect a solar thermal plant in California in nearly 20 years, is among a handful of so-called concentrating solar power (CSP) developers that say they will deliver utility-sized solar plants in the next three to five years that will be able to sell power at prices ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Ethanol No Longer Seen As Big Driver Of Food Price
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50737/story.htm
Reuters: Heavy demand for corn from ethanol makers was seen as a key driver of corn futures to record highs in June, but since then the sharp decline of corn along with other commodities shows that belief was mistaken. Corn is down about 50 percent from its record high in June, even as the amount of the grain used to produce the renewable fuel in the United States remained the same. "The record high prices were a speculative bubble," said Stewart Ramsey, senior economist for Global ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Iraq's Farm Sector Crumbling As Drought Bites
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50730/story.htm
Reuters: A severe drought will force Iraq to import 40 percent more wheat in 2008/09, the agriculture minister said, even as the country struggles to revive a sector crippled by decades of neglect and decay. "In 2007, average rainfall was just 40 percent of the normal level in Iraq, falling more than half and severely affecting crop production," Agriculture Minister Ali al-Bahadli told Reuters in an interview. Ministry figures provided to Reuters on Thursday showed that Iraq expects to ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Greenhouse gas 4 times higher than thought
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49M8WP20081023?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Levels of a powerful greenhouse gas are four times as high as previously thought, according to new measurements released on Thursday. New analytical techniques show that about 5,400 metric tons of nitrogen trifluoride are in the atmosphere, with amounts increasing by about 11 percent per year. Ray Weiss of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, and colleagues said it had not been possible to accurately measure this gas before. They said nitrogen ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Nuclear Power May Be in Early Stages of a Revival
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=108864
New York Times: After three decades without starting a single new plant, the American nuclear power industry is getting ready to build again. When the industry first said several years ago that it would resume plant construction, deep skepticism greeted the claim. Not since 1973 had anybody actually built a nuclear plant in the United States, and the obstacles to a new generation of plants seemed daunting. But now, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 21 companies say they will seek ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Yikes! China's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Could Double
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/china-carbon-emissions-47102302
Daily Green: Just a couple weeks ago, the U.S. government reported the depressing fact that carbon emissions are up nearly 40% since 1992, and that China has overtaken the U.S. as the world's biggest polluter. Now, this: If China continues under a business-as-usual trajectory, without seriously cutting back on its carbon emissions, then its greenhouse gas output could double -- or more -- by 2030. By that time, China's emissions would be equal to nearly half of all the world's emissions in ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
It's not too late to save planet, says UN climate chief
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/its-not-too-late-to-save-planet-says-un-climate-chief/1342187.aspx
Canberra Times: THE head of the UN's peak scientific body on climate change believes it is still possible for the world to reach an agreement that will avoid the risk of catastrophic global warming. Dr Rajendra Pachauri's optimism about an accord is at odds with the Federal Government's adviser, Professor Ross Garnaut. Dr Pachauri said world attention on climate change would increase despite the current economic crisis, leading people to call for tougher action to keep global temperatures from rising ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Experts: It will take sacrifices to fight global warming
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2008/10/23/experts_it_will_take_sacrifices_to_fight_global_warming
Urbana/Champaign News-Gazette: Americans can fight global warming and its causes, but they'll have to make some sacrifices to do so. That was the gist of the message three experts delivered during a Wednesday discussion about global warming and the public policy necessary to fight it. The conversation took place at the University of Illinois' Beckman Institute, the sixth annual Craig S. Bazzani Lecture in Public Affairs. After experts gave 10-minute talks on their primary findings concerning global warming and the ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Water in Australia: The dry last ditch
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12480905
Economist: AFTER 17 years, Tony and Michelle McManus are preparing for their last sheep-shearing season on Toorale, a sprawling outback property near Bourke in western New South Wales (NSW). By Christmas, Toorale's 30,000 sheep, 1,200 cattle and irrigation machinery will all be sold, ending a way of life on the ranch begun by the region's European pioneers in the 1870s. Last month Australia's federal and NSW state governments bought Toorale for almost A$24m ($17m), not to run it as a farm but to take ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Potent Greenhouse Gas More Common in Atmosphere Than Estimated
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Potent-Greenhouse-Gas-More-Common/story.aspx?guid={29C9DBA4-25F3-4A21-A265-F3D71723413B}
MarketWatch: New research indicates a powerful greenhouse gas is at least four times more prevalent in the atmosphere than previously estimated. The research, based on data from a NASA-funded measurement network, examined nitrogen trifluoride, which is thousands of times more effective at warming the atmosphere than an equal mass of carbon dioxide. Using new analytical techniques, Ray Weiss of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., led a team of researchers in making the ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Australia plans electric vehicle network
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5il6f9UKjXLMrq0sQ-Ccd8vh5VANA
Agence France-Presse: A US firm Thursday unveiled plans to build a massive one-billion-dollar (667 million US) charging network to power electric cars in Australia as it seeks cleaner and cheaper options to petrol. Better Place, which has built plug-in stations for electric vehicles in Israel and Denmark, has joined forces with Australian power company AGL and finance group Macquarie Capital to create an Australian network. Under the agreement, Macquarie will raise one billion dollars to build ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Cities pledge action on climate change
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gZZ10QCH3kNpBmmA_xuDp3h7K-HQ
Agence France-Presse: Leaders of 40 of the world's major cities pledged action Thursday to fight climate change, taking measures ranging from promoting solar energy to tracking genetically modified food. Warning that crowded urban areas were especially susceptible to the planet's rising temperatures, city officials said they needed to take the lead in adapting to climate change. "Very important actions are taking place by mayors who act," Toronto Mayor David Miller, the chairman of the so-called C40 ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Sustainable development is the only way out of the world's crisis
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/10/24/2003426811
Taipei Times: Amid the pressures of the global financial crisis, some ask how we can afford to tackle climate change. The better question is: How can we afford not to? Put aside the familiar arguments – that the science is clear, that climate change represents an indisputable existential threat to the planet and that every day we do not act, the problem grows worse. Instead, let us make the case purely on bread-and-butter economics. At a time when the global economy is sputtering, we need ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Taking on climate change as a region
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81092
IRIN: Climate experts and ministers in West Africa have committed to coordinating national efforts to fight climate change, at the conclusion of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting in Benin's economic capital, Cotonou, on 22 October. Benin's UN Development Programme representative, Edith Gasana, told participants "no country will be able to handle the struggle alone." Experts on the UN-convened independent climate panel, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Potent Greenhouse Gas More Prevalent than Thought
http://www.livescience.com/environment/081023-potent-greenhouse-gas.html
Live Science: A potent greenhouse gas is at least four times more prevalent in the atmosphere than was previously estimated, a new study reports. Using new analytical techniques, a research team in California made the first atmospheric measurements of nitrogen trifluoride, which is thousands of times more effective at warming the atmosphere than an equal amount of carbon dioxide (though carbon dioxide is much more prevalent, and therefore still the key greenhouse gas of concern in terms of global ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
US energy company to warn investors on coal plants
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--cuomo-energy1023oct23,0,6368742.story
Associated Press: A major owner of coal-burning power plants has agreed to tell investors more about how global warming could be bad for business. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that the energy company Dynegy Inc. has promised to put detailed information in its financial filings on any material business risks posed by the outcry over climate change. That could include warning investors about looming government regulations that might make it more expensive to emit ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Impacts Of Climate Change On Lakes
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081021120918.htm
Science Daily: Scientists from Hokkaido University, the Hokkaido Institute of Environmental Sciences, Kagoshima University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) compared current measurements with measurements taken 70 years ago. This confirmed a rise in temperatures in the deep water layers of lakes in the south of Japan, while the deep water temperatures of lakes in the north remained the same. Rising temperatures can lead to changes in nutrient exchange and turnover in the water. In ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
United States: Dell's Renewable Energy Purchase Up 870% Since 2004
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/10/23/dells-renewable-energy-purchase-up-870-since-2004/
Environmental Leader: Tod Arbogast, Dell`s director of sustainable business, recently spoke with Huffington Post`s green expert panel and shared how the company is becoming more environmentally friendly. Arbogast says the company is taking a series of steps to drive environmental efforts throughout its global supply chain. The company now requires primary suppliers to report GHG emissions data during quarterly business reviews. If a supplier doesn`t comply, it`s overall score will likely be reduced, and ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Climate change impact on lakes is studied
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/10/23/Climate_change_impact_on_lakes_is_studied/UPI-39671224785090/
United Press International: A study led by Japanese and German researchers suggests climate change will have different effects on lakes in warmer and colder regions of the Earth. Scientists from Hokkaido University, the Hokkaido Institute of Environmental Sciences, Kagoshima University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research compared current measurements in Japan's very deep caldera lakes with measurements taken 70 years ago. The findings, said the researchers, confirm a rise in temperatures ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Worst Forms of Pollution Killing Millions
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44415
Inter Press Service: Gold mining and recycling car batteries are two of the world's Top 10 most dangerous pollution problems, and the least known, according a new report. The health of hundreds of millions of people is affected and millions die because of preventable pollution problems like toxic waste, air pollution, ground and surface water contamination, metal smelting and processing, used car battery recycling and artisanal gold mining, the "Top Ten" report found. "The global health burden from ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Dynegy Required to Disclose Climate Change Risks
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aby4Iym3BfsE&refer=us
Bloomberg: Dynegy Inc., owner of power plants in 11 states, must disclose significant financial risks associated with climate change stemming from its operations under an accord announced by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. ``Investors have a right to know all the material financial risks faced by coal-fired power plants associated with global warming,'' Cuomo said today in a statement. Gore said the deal ``is a key step in the effort to solve the ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Tories criticised over pledge to ditch Heathrow runway in favour of railway
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/23/theairlineindustry-transport
Guardian: Tory plans to replace a third runway at Heathrow airport with a high-speed rail line were dealt a blow today after a government adviser warned passenger demand for 180mph train journeys might be too low. Robert Cochrane, an adviser to the Department for Transport on long-distance travel, said Britain could not assume the success of high-speed rail networks in Europe would be replicated here. The UK has a different distribution of population and economic centres compared with countries ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Coal giant sees future in biomass
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228972/coal-giant-sees-future-biomass
Business Green: Facing pressure from environmental regulations and direct action from protest groups, coal power operator Drax Group has announced plans to develop a 900MW biomass-fired business with the help of German engineering giant Siemens. The companies announced this week that they plan to build, own and operate three dedicated biomass-fired generation plants in the UK at the cost of about £2bn. Each plant is expected to pay back the costs of construction in six years from the time it becomes ...
Fri, 24 Oct 08
Government will fund world's largest biofuel project
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228981/government-fund-world-largest
Business Green: The government has today made more than £6m funding available to companies looking to bring second generation algae-based biofuels to the commercial market. The Carbon Trust and the Department for Transport will provide the funding for R&D and a test project with the hope the scheme can help the UK meet emissions targets and become a global centre of excellence for development of the fuels. The recent furore over biofuels affecting food prices has shown that they must be ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Australia: Climate crime outbreak may occur: study
http://news.theage.com.au/national/climate-crime-outbreak-may-occur-study-20081023-574u.html
AAP: Australia may need to brace for an outbreak of climate crime as the world warms and greenhouse gas emissions reduction plans are imposed, a new study warns. The crime could take the form of complex frauds involving carbon trading schemes to water theft and even more hot weather-induced drunkenness and domestic violence. Also, climate change could provoke violent protests over perceived inadequate government responses, a paper by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Nitrous oxide emissions respond differently to no-till depending on the soil type
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/ssso-noe102208.php
EurekAlert: The practice of no-till has increased considerably during the past 20 yr. The absence of tillage coupled with the accumulation of crop residues at the soil surface modifies several soil properties but also influence nitrogen dynamics. Soils under no-till usually host a more abundant and diverse biota and are less prone to erosion, water loss, and structural breakdown than tilled soils. Their organic matter content is also often increased. In addition, no-till is proposed as a measure to ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Carbon project brings sustainable hope to remote tract of Amazon
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081022/sc_afp/brazilenvironmentamazon_081022160351
Agence France-Presse: Juma Reserve, in the heart of Brazil's vast Amazon forest, stands as an example of the perils weighing on the world's largest tropical woodland. Illegal loggers are tearing down the green canopy, and residents in this, one of the most remote zones on Earth, live in extreme poverty. But the situation is changing, thanks to a pioneer carbon project organized by the government of Amazonas state with collaboration from the US-based international hotel chain Marriott. The ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Government expands geothermal energy leasing
http://casperstartribune.net/articles/2008/10/22/news/wyoming/b82d0aa93ff511f6872574eb0004039a.txt
Associated Press: The Interior Department plans to make available 190 million acres of federal land in a dozen Western states for development of geothermal energy projects -- a move that could produce enough electricity for 5 million homes. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Wednesday that under a leasing program, as many as 270 communities could benefit from direct use of geothermal energy, generated from intense heat deep beneath the Earth. "Geothermal energy is replenished, is a ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Support for Australian government's climate change policy falls
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200810/s2398800.htm?tab=latest
Radio Australia: A survey of Australians has found there's been a slump in public support for the Australian government's climate change policy. A poll has found that 28 per cent of Australians think Labor is the party best able to handle climate change, compared to 43 per cent just after the election. John Connor from the Climate Institute says the change of heart may be driven by a belief that the federal government is dithering in its approach to climate change. He's using the ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
McCain, Obama on drilling, clean coal, climate change
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/37320
Scripps News: When it comes to energy and the environment, there's a lot for activists on both sides of the debate to like and to loathe about the proposals offered by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. California environmental activist Alan Sanders credits both candidates with pushing to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but fears that neither is paying enough attention to protecting the Earth's natural treasures. "What you hear a lot is, 'Well, we'll do this, and we'll do ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Better Place Plans Electric Car Network in Australia
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aFv0AJe_6xkU&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Better Place LLC, a developer of electric car networks, said it plans to raise A$1 billion ($670 million) to develop a grid for powering vehicles in Australia, backed by AGL Energy Ltd. and Macquarie Capital Group. The first mass-market cars are expected to be available in Australia by the 2012 model year, a year after a similar start- up in Israel and Denmark, Palo Alto, California-based Better Place said today in an e-mailed statement. Macquarie will assist in business development ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Climate change model must be reassessed: Opposition
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/23/2398954.htm?section=australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Federal Opposition says the Government's climate change modelling is meaningless because it fails to factor in the global economic crisis. A Senate Committee has heard that Treasury modelling has not considered the most recent meltdown. The Coalition's emissions trading spokesman, Andrew Robb, says the Government will now struggle to meet its goal of bringing in a carbon reduction system in 2010. "We're told it's taken no account of the financial meltdown in the last ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Australia: Uncertainty over Melbourne's drinking water
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/23/2398878.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The head of Melbourne Water says there is still uncertainty about the city's drinking water despite a $4.9m plan to secure long-term supplies. The desalination plant at Wonthaggi and the north-south pipeline are being built to secure the city's water supply for the next 50 years. But the Melbourne Water Chairwoman, Cheryl Batagol, says there are doubts about whether it will be enough. "There are always degrees of uncertainty and further climate change impacts and ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Green New Deal will spark global economy, create jobs
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1022-green_new_deal.html
Mongabay: A "Global Green New Deal" that focuses the world economy "towards investments in clean technologies and 'natural' infrastructure such as forests and soils is the best bet for real growth, combating climate change and triggering an employment boom," according to a new initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). "The financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 are in part a result of speculation and a failure of governments to intelligently manage and focus markets," ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
United Kingdom: MPs rebelling over climate bill
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7685537.stm
BBC: The government is fighting to head off a backbench rebellion over its plans to exclude aviation and shipping from the UK's greenhouse gas targets. They are being left out because there is no system for sharing responsibility for international emissions. Fifty-six Labour MPs are demanding the sectors be included, enough to defeat Gordon Brown when the Climate Change Bill goes to a Commons' vote next week. Campaigners say it is "unfair" to give the sectors "special ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Indian, Japanese industries to fight climate change
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Developmental_Issues/Indian_Japanese_industries_to_fight_climate_change/articleshow/3631206.cms
Press Trust of India: Indian and Japanese industries have formulated a joint action plan for low carbon economic growth in both countries even as debates around climate change mitigation strategies and role of businesses rage globally. Industry body CII signed an agreement on climate change with Japans business associations - Nippon Keidanren and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The agreement sought to combine complementary strengths of both the countries in various technologies, ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Samoa aims for 20pc renewable energy
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10539112
New Zealand Herald: Samoa aims to achieve 20 per cent renewable energy usage by 2030, and part of that goal is to create and interest in the issue of energy. According to Renewable Energy Advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Apia, Thomas Jensen, the only time people care about energy, is when there's a lack of it. He says otherwise people switch on the lights without thinking about the energy they are using. Jensen says that renewable energy is the only certain way ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Australia: Plan to fit out Melbourne with electric car charging points
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24540422-2862,00.html
AAP: VICTORIANS will be able to drive an electric car and recharge it at plug-in points at home, the office or shopping centres within four years. The mass use of electric cars moved a giant step closer to reality today, with power company AGL and finance group Macquarie Capital signing an agreement with international group Better Place to provide infrastructure to support the environmentally-friendly vehicles. Under the agreement, Macquarie will raise $1 billion to build an ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
UK announces world's largest algal biofuel project
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/23/biofuels-energy
Guardian: The world's biggest publicly funded project to make transport fuels from algae will be launched today by a government agency which develops low-carbon technologies. The Carbon Trust will today announce a project to make algal biofuels a commercial reality by 2020. The plan could see up to £26m spent on developing the technology and infrastructure to ensure that algal biofuels replace a signficant proportion of the fossil fuels used by UK drivers. Mark Williamson, innovations ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Wealth gap creating a social time bomb
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/23/population-egalitarian-cities-urban-growth
Guardian: Growing inequality in US cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new United Nations report on the urban environment. In a survey of 120 major cities New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Many were above an internationally recognised acceptable "alert" line used to warn governments. "High ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Study probes clouds' climate role
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7682836.stm
BBC: An international team of scientists is hoping to shed light on how clouds over the Pacific Ocean are affecting global climate and weather systems. The clouds, some of which are bigger than the US, reflect sunlight back into space and cool the ocean below. The team hopes to learn more about the clouds' properties and if pollution from activities such as mining affect the formation of these systems. The month-long study will involve more than 200 experts from 10 ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Fred Pearce on the great green electricity con
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/23/energy
Guardian: The offers are tempting for any self-respecting green. For a small premium, or sometimes no premium at all, you can make sure that only clean, green, renewable electricity comes down the grid into your home. But what do you get for your money? Does the planet really benefit? Is this greenwash? Most of us are not foolish enough to suppose that our electricity supplier specially packages up "green energy" for us, and shoves it down the wires. We just get regular electricity, of course. ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Green routes to growth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/23/commentanddebate-energy-environment-climate-change
Guardian: There are two crucial lessons we must learn from the financial turbulence the world has been facing. First, this crisis has been 20 years in the making and shows very clearly that the longer risk is ignored the bigger will be the consequences; second, we shall face an extended period of recession in the rich countries and low growth for the world as a whole. Let us learn the lessons and take the opportunity of the coincidence of the crisis and the deepening awareness of the great danger of ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
The Food Chain Drought Resistance Is the Goal, but Methods Differ
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=108774
New York Times: As the world`s population expands and global warming alters weather patterns, water shortages are expected to hold back efforts to grow more food. People drink only a quart or two of water every day, but the food they eat in a typical day, including plants and meat, requires 2,000 to 3,000 quarts to produce. For companies that manage to get 'more crop per drop,' the payoff could be huge, and scientists at many of the biggest agricultural companies are busy tweaking plant genes in ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Australia: Big water projects not enough: expert
http://news.theage.com.au/national/big-water-projects-not-enough-expert-20081023-56jm.html
AAP: The Victorian government's $4.9 billion water plan might not be enough to secure Melbourne's long-term water needs, a senior water bureaucrat says. Melbourne Water chairwoman Cheryl Batagol said the forthcoming desalination plant, the controversial northsouth pipeline and other projects may need to be supplemented by other schemes within a decade, Fairfax newspapers reported on Thursday. "Victoria is undertaking major water augmentation projects, but it remains in the back of ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Corals gain climate-change shield
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/10/22/corals-gain-climate-change-shield/
Christian Science Monitor: Rare species of staghorn corals may bear some good news for reef conservation: It appears that some rare types of staghorns can readily breed with related species, creating hybrids that may be far more resilient to climate change or other stresses than anyone thought. That's the word from a team of coral researchers at James Cook University and the Australian Research Council's Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Townsville, Queensland. Reefs worldwide are under ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Spain's ex-prime minister blasts 'new religion' of climate change
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gAZR7yJ8hMxAwgRYoYk9p9vO1Udg
Agence France-Presse: Former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar Wednesday dismissed climate change as a "new religion" that is drawing hundreds of billions of euros at a time of economic crisis. Aznar made the remarks at the presentation of a book by Czech President Vaclav Klaus, "Blue Planet in Green Shackles", in which he also questions the widely held theories about climate change. "In these times of global cooling of the international economy ... the standard bearers of the climatic ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
EU's Climate Change Role May Be Weakened By Credit Crisis
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/10/22/eus-climate-change-role-may-be-weakened-by-credit-crisis/
Environmental Leader: Just recently, European Union countries agreed to maintain their targets and schedule to tackle climate change. But once again, Europe`s leadership in tackling climate change may be weakened by the credit crisis as Italy, Poland, Latvia and others at the EU meeting last week threatened to veto Europe`s carbon plan unless they were softened, New York Times reports. At a recent meeting in Luxembourg, Stefania Prestigiacomo, the Italian environment minister said her country had "many ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
GE Stepping Up Push For Battery-Powered Cars
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50717/story.htm
Reuters: General Electric Co is stepping up its investment in developing new battery technologies for autos as it looks to increase its role in electrifying cars -- one of the key strategies to boost autos' fuel efficiency. The US conglomerate has raised its investment in A123 Systems Inc, a developer of batteries for hybrid cars and other electric devices, to $55 million, and is working with US automaker Chrysler to secure government funding to develop a system to electrify larger passenger ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
EU Lawmakers Give Boost To Green Vehicles
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50719/story.htm
Reuters: Europe's local authorities and bus companies will have to buy greener, more fuel-efficient vehicles in future, following a vote by European Union lawmakers. The move is expected to boost eco-friendly vehicles by increasing their share of local governments' annual demand for around 110,000 cars, 110,000 vans, 35,000 lorries and 17,000 buses in the EU. Lawmakers adopted proposals on Wednesday forcing local governments to look at the environmental impacts, and not just the price, ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
United States: Debating 'Drill, Baby, Drill' At Site Of '69 Spill
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95801383&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Presidential campaigns come and go, but John McCain's camp has proliferated a slogan that could live on well past the election: "Drill, baby, drill," the battle cry for those who believe the U.S. should be drilling for more of its oil offshore. Since 1969, when a devastating oil spill occurred off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., there has been a federal ban on new offshore rigs in American waters. But now that the ban has been lifted, some attitudes are changing, even near the ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
"New Deal" approach needed for climate change: U.N.
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49L78D20081022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The world should take a leaf from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's playbook for tackling the Great Depression and fund a "Green New Deal" to fight climate change, a U.N. agency proposed. A two-year United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) initiative launched on Wednesday would promote research into marketing tools, such as Europe's carbon emissions trading scheme initiated in 2005, to aid the environment. This is because political efforts to curb pollution, protect ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
The absurd claims companies make to boost their environmental credentials
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/23/ethicalbusiness-consumeraffairs
Guardian: Back in the days of no-holds-barred advertising by Madison Avenue's finest, anything went. Drinking alcohol made you sexy, smoking cigarettes was good for your lungs and every washing powder contained a magic ingredient that made your whites super-white. And guess what? Those days are back, at least for green advertising. As more and more customers demand environmental responsibility from companies, few large corporations with any sort of public profile now dare to enter the ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Window of Opportunity Closing Rapidly
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44396
Inter Press Service: The global financial crisis has pushed climate change off the front pages despite new evidence that it is happening faster and with stronger impacts than previous projections, a new report warns. Meanwhile, some political leaders in Europe, Canada and elsewhere are saying that now is not the time to make sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions because the global economy is heading into a recession. "It is clear that climate change is already having a greater impact than ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
South Korea: Seoul turns to bicycles to combat global warming
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i2lMxNkmhsUoo2G4eWwMqKfEopSg
Agence France-Presse: The Seoul city government has announced plans to build 207 kilometres (129 miles) of cycle paths over the next four years extending to all corners of the South Korean capital, according to officials. The 120-billion-won (88-million-dollar) plan is based on a "road diet" programme, under which the number of lanes for passenger vehicles in major roads will be cut to create new cycle paths. It calls for the construction of 17 main cycle paths totaling 200 kilometres that ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
EU-Mediterranean conference on water set for October 29
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gErlptUI4GGQQWjTC2OjpY_2Xyww
Agence France-Presse: Forty-three countries in Europe and the Mediterranean rim will meet in the Jordanian Dead Sea resort town of Sweimeh next week for a conference on water, the French ecology ministry said on Wednesday. The talks aim at setting down "the first concrete projects" following a Mediterranean summit, staged in Paris in July under the chairmanship of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also current head of the European Union (EU). The meeting will also seek to set down guidelines ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
EU lawmakers back climate change goals
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5grBetIopLWR4CgQ1rYhMd2nlpgagD93VLQGG1
Associated Press: EU lawmakers backed the bloc's goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 despite concerns in many countries about the financial impact on industries already struggling with the economic downturn. The European Parliament also passed a bill Wednesday to promote greener transport by obliging public authorities, public transport operators and state-owned companies to take energy consumption and pollution levels into account when buying new vehicles. The call to reduce ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Value a forest, cool a planet
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1023/p08s01-comv.html
Christian Science Monitor: Cutting forests is the third-largest source of climate-warming carbon emissions today, larger than the emissions produced by either the US or China. Including them in a "carbon market" is a tempting solution. It comes down to this: Today, trees are worth more dead than alive. This despite the fact that they stash away billions of tons of carbon in their soil and themselves and constantly inhale more carbon from the atmosphere. They also help regulate the earth's climate in other ways, ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
UN announces green 'New Deal' plan to rescue world economies
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/22/eaunep122.xml
Telegraph: A global green 'New Deal' is needed to transform the world's economies, according to a new UN report. It would be similar to Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal which helped the US recover from the Great Depression of the 1930s. Achim Steiner: 'There will be enormous economic, social and environmental benefits likely to arise from combating climate change' But it would be aimed at a fundamental restructuring of economies weaning away dependence on oil and towards cleaner and ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Deforestation Fear in Indonesia
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081021-forest-video-ap.html?source=rss
National Geographic: The environmental group Greenpeace warns that if Indonesia doesn't eliminate rapid deforestation in the country, its forests could be gone in 10 years.
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Nasdaq bets on emissions trading market
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228849/nasdaq-bets-emissions-trading
Business Green: Although most financial markets currently resemble a particularly extreme amusement ride, some experts are still betting on emissions trading to offer some potential for returns. Exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group announced this week that it will use assets from a recent acquisition to move into energy and carbon derivatives. Nasdaq announced its acquisition of Norwegian electricity exchange Nord Pool this week. The combined companies plan to launch a new offering 'Nasdaq Omx ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Debenhams plans to go 100 per cent renewable
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228835/debenhams-plans-100-per-cent
Business Green: Debenhams has announced a deal with Scottish Power to supply all its stores with electricity from renewable sources. Under the two-year deal announced this week, Scottish Power will supply 35MW of electricity to all 178 of Debenhams stores across the UK. The deal has been agreed on a flexible purchase basis enabling Debenhams to be able to purchase electricity at set amounts throughout the life of the contract. According to Nigel Palmer, Debenhams' retail operations director ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
UK to boost wind farm power generation by a third
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49L5WB20081022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Britain will boost the generation of power from wind farms by a third next year as part of efforts to hit renewable energy targets, a government minister said on Wednesday. Energy and climate change minister Mike O'Brien said the government was expecting to increase the UK's installed wind power generating capacity to four gigawatts by this time in 2009. That compares with the three gigawatts achieved following completion of construction of a wind farm owned by Centrica Plc off ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
California State University Goes Solar
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2008/2008-10-21-095.asp
Environment News Service: The state of California has partnered with SunEdison to provide affordable solar power at 15 California State University campuses and the CSU executive office. Under the power purchase agreement signed Monday, SunEdison will finance, build and operate the solar panels for 20 years. California State University will be able to buy the renewable power they generate at or below current retail rates while avoiding the cost of installing the system. The public-private partnership ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
EU presses China and India to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/22/climate-change-carbon-emissions
Guardian: The EU is pressing emerging economies such as China and India to agree to cut their greenhouse gas emissions under the proposed new post-Kyoto agreement on climate change. European environment ministers this week urged developing countries to cut their emissions by 15-30% below "business as usual" under any new global deal to take effect from 2013. Emerging economies are not bound by the current Kyoto protocol targets on the grounds that global warming is the result of ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
German ministry sees EUA allocation within days
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49L3LZ20081022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Germany may receive permission from Brussels to issue carbon emission permits to its industry for 2008 within days, the environment ministry said on Wednesday. "It is up to the Commission to allocate us the certificates. We are in talks about this with Brussels and hope that these can be concluded within the next few days," it said in a written response to Reuters. "We are making very good headway," it added. The European Union's executive Commission last week approved a ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
UN says investment in in clean technologies and natural resources will rebuild world economy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/22/climate-change-renewable-energy
Guardian: The United Nations today called for a refocusing of the world's economy towards investments in clean technologies and natural infrastructures such as forests in a Green New Deal that could revive the stumbling global economy, combat climate change, and cut poverty. The UN's Environment Programme (UNEP) said the financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 highlighted the need for an innovative approach similar to the state-funded scheme used by US president Franklin D Roosevelt, in ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Fedex to construct solar powered hub in Germany
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228771/fedex-construct-solar-powered
Business Green: Fedex Express -- a subsidiary of Fedex -- began work this week on a new distribution hub in Germany that will be partly powered by a 1.4MW solar power system. Ramp, freight and parcel sorting facilities in the hub will draw energy from 16,000 square meters of solar panelling on the roof. "On-site renewable energy generation has been extremely efficient and successful for FedEx, and we are continuously looking for new investments," said Mitch Jackson, director of environmental ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
German government cuts 2009 biofuels blending target
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49L2GW20081022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Germany's government has trimmed its proposed biofuel blend levels in fossil fuels for 2009, the country's Environment Ministry said on Wednesday. The cabinet approved a proposal from the ministry that oil refineries would have to mix 5.25 percent biofuels in fossil fuels by energy content in 2009 instead of a previously planned 6.25 percent blend. From 2010 the biofuel blending level would be increased to 6.25 percent and remain fixed at that level until 2014, the ministry ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Scientists 'can help Africa adapt to climate change'
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/scientists-can-help-africa-adapt-to-climate-change.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: African scientists need to be empowered and supported if they are to aid government decision-making on climate change adaptation, says Mozambican scientist Filipe Lucio. He was speaking at the Science in Africa Symposium, ahead of the 29th General Assembly of the International Council for Science (ICSU) meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, yesterday (20 October). Lucio, the senior scientific officer for the World Meteorological Organization's Disaster Risk Reduction Programme, said ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
China report warns of greenhouse gas leap
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49L0Z920081022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China's greenhouse gas pollution could double or more in two decades says a new Chinese state think-tank study that casts stark light on the industrial giant's role in stoking global warming. Beijing has not released recent official data on greenhouse gas from the nation's fast-growing use of coal, oil and gas. Researchers abroad estimate that China's carbon dioxide emissions now easily outstrip that of the United States, long the biggest emitter. But in a break with official ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
3000 amphibian species face extinction
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24535941-5009760,00.html?from=public_rss
AAP: UP to 3000 species of amphibians face extinction, giving the world its greatest conservation challenge, a leading expert says. Chicago-based Amphibian Ark director Kevin Zippel said the looming crisis was entirely man-made and only human intervention could stop it. "This is really a major extinction crisis," Dr Zippel said. "We've never seen a group like this singled out for extinction and what's interesting is that this isn't a natural phenomenon. "Everything ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Scientists Go Cloud-hopping In The Pacific To Improve Climate Predictions
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081021190646.htm
ScienceDaily: A 20-strong -team of cloud and climate experts from the UK's National Centre for Atmospheric Science will today set off for Chile to investigate how massive swathes of clouds that hang over the Pacific are affecting climate and weather all round the world, including the UK. This new £3M project aims to reduce some of the largest errors currently in our climate models and thus greatly improve predictions of future climate change. These immense clouds -- often exceeding the area ...
Thu, 23 Oct 08
Tough Economic Times and a Climate Change 'Shake Out'
http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2008/10/21/tough-times-and-a-climate-change-shake-out
ClimateBiz: Despite the tanking global economy, the climate change sector will grow some in 2009 before roaring back in 2010, according to a new report from research firm Verdantix. Verdantix expects corporate spending on climate change-related action will dwindle as companies focus on surviving the worldwide economic crisis, according to the report, "Financial Crisis Triggers Climate Change Shake Out." Chief financial officers will find themselves in two categories as they put off cobbling ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
69% of Chinese willing to shift lifestyle for climate
http://www.china.org.cn/environment/opinions/2008-10/22/content_16648299.htm
Xinhua: Up to 69 percent of Chinese consumers surveyed are willing to change their lifestyles so as to help with global efforts to slow down the climate change, according to a latest survey. Findings of the survey, which was conducted on 1,000 consumers in 16 major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, were released earlier this week by Beijing Consumer Association and Beijing Climate Center. The survey aimed to collect information on the influence of climate change on ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Australia: Drying, dying, Murray loses wetlands
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/drying-dying-murray-loses-wetlands/1339816.aspx
Canberra Times: Australia has failed to meet its global obligations to protect important wetlands across the Murray-Darling Basin, with 90 per cent already lost, a new report says. An environmental group, the Inland Rivers Network, has called for the Rudd Government to amend the 2007 Water Act to create a national wetlands protection program, with explicit laws to prevent water diversion and theft. It wants future federal management plans for the basin to ensure enough water is set aside to ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Climate change dimishing Solomons province fish supplies
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200810/s2397697.htm?tab=latest
Radio Australia: The Solomon Islands environment minister says the people of Ontong Java are relying on supplies from Honiara, as climate change affects their once arable low-lying atolls. The residents on the atolls in Malaita Province are struggling to survive as fishing and farming opportunities diminish. Traditional fishing grounds are now harder to reach and produce gardens supplying the staples for a population of about five thousand are being contaminated by salt ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Australia: Invest in solar power to stop prices going through the roof
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/invest-in-solar-power-to-stop-prices-going-through-the-roof/2008/10/21/1224351253456.html
Sydney Morning Herald: AS THE world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter per capita, you would think sun-kissed Australia would be getting stuck into solar energy like a seagull into a bag of hot chips. So why don't we all have solar panels on our roofs? Critics who say it takes more energy to make a panel than the amount of energy the panel saves are wrong: energy payback takes one to four years, says a US Energy Department report. But are panels good for the hip pocket? A family home would need a ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Peru's Fledgling Ethanol Industry Eyes Growth
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50712/story.htm
Reuters: Energy companies, gobbling up land and pouring money into projects along Peru's northern coast, are betting they can leverage the country's impending access to US markets to make it an important producer of sugar cane-based ethanol. So far, eight companies have invested some $480 million to develop the popular alternative fuel in Peru. Most intend to export it to the United States, the world's largest ethanol consumer, which will give Peruvian ethanol imports free entry starting next ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Japan: Tokyo demands action on climate change
http://news.smh.com.au/world/tokyo-demands-action-on-climate-change-20081022-5639.html
Agence France-Presse: Tokyo's outspoken governor berated national leaders on Wednesday for their "foolish" failure to halt global warming as the world's biggest cities met to plan action on the climate. Mayors or senior officials from 36 of the world's largest cities were gathering for two days of talks in Tokyo on how to fight global warming in the latest meeting of the so-called C40 climate initiative. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, in an opening address, lashed out at Russia and the United ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
UK's Brown Says Downturn Won't Hit Green Plans
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50701/story.htm
Reuters: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday the global economic downturn would not affect a government drive to reduce the country's carbon emissions. However, an industry executive cast doubt on the ability of the UK's existing power transmission network to cope with planned increases in wind power output. Brown told a wind energy conference in London ministers were committed to meeting a target to produce 15 percent of the UK's energy supply from renewable sources, ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Australia Cannot Be An Island In Carbon Market
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50711/story.htm
Reuters: Australia cannot fence itself off from the world carbon-trading market, a leading industry expert said, despite signs it may attempt to do just that in order to keep costs down for local greenhouse-gas polluters. Australia, which will require polluters to buy carbon emission permits from 2010 in an effort to combat climate change, has hinted it will limit links between its own market and offshore markets for at least the regime's first few years. "You do not want to create ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Australia: Brisbane's rivers, creeks in ailing health: report
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/brisbanes-rivers-creeks-in-ailing-health-report/2008/10/22/1224351311766.html
Brisbane: Several rivers and creeks upstream from Brisbane have worsened in condition in the past 12 months - slumping from a D rating to a F rating - the latest check on the health of Moreton Bay's waterways has revealed. The poor results for the Bremer River and Lockyer Creek catchments, to the west of Ipswich, were released this morning at the launch of South-East Queensland's Healthy Waterways annual report card, which measures the water quality at 389 points around the river ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Climate change factors into conservationist buys
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2008-10-20-landbuy_N.htm?csp=34
USA Today: Climate change is prompting some conservation groups to broaden strategy in buying pristine lands, recognizing that some may be under water in 50 years or undergo other drastic changes. For the first time, land trusts and other conservationists are factoring in evidence that global warming is altering the migration of species, reconfiguring coastlines and transforming natural habitats. "Natural habitat in one place now might move 100 miles in 50 years because of climate ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Australia: Climate must stay on agenda
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24531381-5013404,00.html
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: FORTY scientists from fields as diverse as physics and genetics have signed a statement warning that efforts to tackle climate change must not be scuttled by the global economic crisis. Further, the scientists argue that efforts to stem the financial meltdown could be boosted through investment in infrastructure projects - such as improved public transport - that were designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The co-author of the statement, Barrie Pittock, former head of the ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Australia: Fraser in warning on climate
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/fraser-in-warning-on-climate-20081021-55jz.html
Age: FORMER prime minister Malcolm Fraser has urged the Federal Government not to let the financial crisis slow its response to climate change. He warned that Australia lacked urgency in tackling environment problems. In an interview with The Age, he called for an "overall and full-blooded plan" for the environment spanning several decades to be worked out by state and federal governments at Council of Australian Governments meetings. His call came as he backed a new open ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
How Japan Plans To Meet Its Kyoto Emissions Cut Goal
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50709/story.htm
Reuters: Japan, the world's fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, plans to cut emissions to meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol in two ways. The government plans more forest conservation at home while investing in clean energy projects abroad, which gives it credits to offset emissions. The other step is to seek voluntary pledges on emissions cuts by major industry sectors, including electricity generators and steel-makers. Unlike the European Union, Japan has been ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Australia: Outback Qld urged to start climate change preparation
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/22/2398133.htm?site=westqld
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Communities and industries in north-west Queensland and the Gulf of Carpentaria are being urged to start preparing for the effects of climate change. The North West Climate Change Alliance will meet in Mount Isa today, to discuss issues including environmental changes and increases in energy costs. Donald Coventry from Southern Gulf Catchments says the region needs to start planning for a sustainable future. "It's about saying like the credit crisis we can ignore it and ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Acid ocean could start kicking out CO2, says expert
http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n15_21102008.htm
Herald: THE ocean is becoming more acidic because it is struggling to absorb the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) we're putting up into the atmosphere – and no one knows when the "tipping point" will come, when the ocean starts to expel CO2. That's the chilling warning from department of environment affairs (Deat) climate change specialist Dr Ashley Johnson, who addressed a packed public meeting – organised by Deat, the Wildlife and Environment Society and Bayworld – in Port Elizabeth last ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Betting on 'cleantech' billions
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=741:betting-on-cleantech-billions&catid=46:bloomberg-specials
Bloomberg: Dan Reicher isn't a politician. Far from it. He's the director of climate and energy initiatives at Google.org, the search giant's philanthropic arm. Yet as he addresses 250 Silicon Valley venture capitalists and entrepreneurs at Denver's Curtis Hotel during the Democratic National Convention, Reicher sounds like a seasoned pol stumping for his cause: fighting global warming and dependence on fossil fuels. "Washington is not ready for action, it does not have the policies in place to move ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Climate change's threat to water needs more study
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/bcdb0dc6444c7d6151ce3bbfdbbbecc6.htm
IRIN: Models to predict the impact of climate change on potable water and the management of wastewater are needed to deal with the expected increase in water-related illnesses as result of global warming, says a new policy brief by the United Nations University (UNU). "We need greater investment in the development of models to aid decision-making, reduce uncertainty and augment costly monitoring programmes," said Corinne Wallace, a leading water health researcher at UNU's International ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Emissions from burping cows 'higher than family car'
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/emissions-from-burping-cows-higher-than-family-car-967995.html
Press Association: A herd of cows belches out more climate-changing gas than a family car, a university researcher said today. Dr Andy Thorpe, an economist at the University of Portsmouth, explained that 200 cows burp the annual equivalent amount of methane to the energy produced by a family car being driven 111,850 miles. The amount of methane produced by a herd was the same as the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced by a car burning 21,400 litres of petrol, he said. He added that ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Environmental Failure: A Case for a New Green Politics
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/21/network
Guardian: The US environmental movement is failing – by any measure, the state of the earth has never been more dire. What's needed, a leading environmentalist writes, is a new, inclusive green politics that challenges basic assumptions about consumerism and unlimited growth. All of us who have been part of the environmental movement in the United States must now face up to a deeply troubling paradox: Our environmental organizations have grown in strength and sophistication, but the environment ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Finance, climate crises two sides of same coin: experts
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gL5o9Gtu_lbDS_0dCpM1HR5aW7gg
Agence France-Presse: The financial and climate change crises facing the world are interlinked and businesses can only tackle them through concerted, coordinated and coherent action, environmental experts said Tuesday. "They can't be separated, they're two sides of the (same) coin and therefore the solutions have to be coordinated too," said Erik Rasmussen, head of a Danish think tank and member of the Copenhagen Climate Council. Rasmussen was speaking in Geneva as representatives from over 150 ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
George Monbiot: If an hour is a long time in politics, we must start thinking in centuries
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/21/economy-green-politics
Guardian: The problem is simply stated. As Gordon Brown - discussing what he perceives to be an improvement in his political fortunes - says, "an hour is a long time in politics". It used to be a week, but everything is speeding up. To remain in office or to remain in business, decision-makers must privilege the present over the future. Discount rates ensure that investments made today are worth nothing in 10 years' time; the political cycle demands that no one looks beyond the next ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Japan launches voluntary CO2 market
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49K1KR20081021?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Japan on Tuesday launched a voluntary carbon market based on companies' pledged emissions cuts and hopes thousands of firms will sign up to what could become a forerunner of a mandatory cap-and-trade scheme. The scheme, once it's up and running by next year, is expected to be the nation's broadest emissions market. But some said the scheme still fell short of what Japan needed to make deep emissions cuts and could backfire. The trial over-the-counter market is aimed at ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Japan to introduce voluntary carbon market
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/21/business/carbon.php
Reuters: The Japanese government said Tuesday that it would introduce a voluntary carbon market based on companies' pledged emissions cuts and hoped that thousands of firms would sign up to what could become a forerunner of a mandatory cap-and-trade project. The project, once it is up and running next year, is expected to be the broadest emissions market in the country. But some say it still falls short of what Japan needs to make deep emission cuts and could backfire. Japan has been ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Canada: Lawsuit against Canada over Kyoto accord dismissed
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49K6Y720081021?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environmentalists have lost a legal challenge to force the Canadian government to abide by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which Canada signed but has refused to implement. The Federal Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Friends of the Earth Canada that alleged the government broke the law by missing deadlines for implementing the treaty to cut emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. It is not up to the court to decide if the government acted ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Mass. Firm Opens Algae-growing Greenhouse
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/21/tech/cnettechnews/main4535437.shtml
CNET: GreenFuel Technologies on Tuesday is expected to announce what few in the algae fuel business can claim--a paying customer. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company detailed a multi-year deal worth $92 million to build greenhouses that grow algae, which can be harvested for vegetable oil to make biodiesel or to make animal feed. In the greenhouses, the algae will be fed sunlight and carbon dioxide from the Holcim cement plant near Jerez, Spain. The project developer is Spain's ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Obama aide signals tough stance on climate
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228737/opama-aide-signals-tough-stance
Business Green: One of Barack Obama's key policy aides has signaled that if elected, the democratic presidential candidate intends to get tough on reducing US emissions, bypassing Congress if necessary. In an interview with Bloomberg last week Jason Grumet indicated that "in the absence of congressional action" in 18 months Obama's administration would move to make the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classify carbon under existing clean air laws -- a move that doesn't need Congressional ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Rich world seen behind global pollution
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE49K9BB20081021
Reuters: Rich countries are partly responsible for pollution from poor ones, including poisonous mining discharge, because they buy many of the raw materials and goods that produce the waste, environmental groups said. "In our part of the world, these problems have been fixed for the most part," said Richard Fuller, founder of the New York-based Blacksmith Institute, which has compiled a database of 600 of the world's worst polluted places. "We have exported our industry overseas and ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
UK overtakes Denmark as world's biggest offshore wind generator
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/21/windpower-renewableenergy1
Guardian: The UK now leads the world in generating electricity from offshore wind farms, the government said today as it completed the construction of a farm near the coast off Skegness, Lincolnshire. The new farm, built by the energy company Centrica, will produce enough power for 130,000 homes, raising the total electricity generated from offshore wind in the UK to 590 megawatts (MW), enough for 300,000 UK homes. The completion of 194MW of turbines at Lynn and Inner Dowsing means that ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
'Heat' breaks down the issue of global warming
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/ellen_gray/20081021_Ellen_Gray___Heat__breaks_down_the_issue_of_global_warming.html
Philadelphia Daily News: AS THAT great philosopher Kermit the Frog once said, it's not easy being green. And it's not going to seem any simpler after tonight's two-hour "Frontline" presentation, "Heat," in which correspondent Martin Smith takes viewers on a tour of the roadblocks that currently stand between 6.5 billion Earthlings and any serious attempts to halt global warming. But first there's a detour to Mount Everest, where mountain climber and filmmaker David Breashears leaves Smith behind for an ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Britain becomes offshore wind world leader
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15490&channel=0&title=Britain+becomes+offshore+wind+world+leader
Edie: Britain has overtaken Denmark to become the largest generator of offshore wind in the world, the Prime Minister has announced. Speaking in a video message to the British Wind Energy Association's (BWEA) conference on Tuesday, Gordon Brown also announced that UK wind energy has passed the three gigawatt mark. "We have known for a long time that Britain has the best wind and wave resources in Europe," he said. "We are now well on our way to exploiting that resource in ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Britain leads the world on wind power
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/britain-leads-the-world-on-wind-power-967895.html
Press Association: Britain was today declared a world leader in wind power generation, as the Government announced a major programme to cut the cost of off-shore wind farms. Under the £30 million Offshore Wind Accelerator scheme, designed by the Carbon Trust, the cost of transforming wind into usable energy should be reduced by 10 per cent. The savings would mean the cost of every kilowatt hour of electricity produced by offshore windfarms would drop from 9p to 8p. Five international ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Cow burps are making a growing contribution to global warming
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/21/eacows121.xml
Telegraph: But new research has found cows are just as bad by producing methane, a greenhouse gas with a longer lifetime in the atmosphere and therefore higher global warming potential. Dr Andy Thorpe, an economist at the University of Portsmouth, found a herd of 200 cows can produce annual emissions of methane roughly equivalent in energy terms to driving a family car more than 100,000 miles (180,000km) on more than four gallons (21,400 litres) of petrol. He added that while carbon ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Drop In Oil Prices Dulls Enthusiasm For Renewable Energy
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/10/21/drop-in-oil-prices-dulls-enthusiasm-for-renewable-energy/
Environmental Leader: As oil prices soared, investors looked into renewable energy. But now that oil prices have dropped below $70 a barrel, from $147 in July, the key rationale for investors to pump cash into alternative fuels has been removed, at least temporarily, Wall Street Journal reports. New Energy Finance reported that global renewable energy stocks dropped about 45 percent, compared with a 23 percent decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the same period. At least in the short ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Economic Crisis Dims Alternative Energy Plans
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95924795&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: There's a lot of talk lately about the importance of alternative energy. However, the economic crisis is making it difficult for some fledgling energy companies to move ahead with their projects.
Wed, 22 Oct 08
EPA may be overstating enforcement penalties
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49K6NK20081021?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency may be overstating the impact of its enforcement programs, even as the amount of penalties assessed by the agency declined, a government report said on Tuesday. The report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended that the EPA, which enforces major federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, overhaul its reporting methods. Overall, the GAO's report found that adjusted for ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
EU Climate Stalemate Could Threaten Global Deal
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,585541,00.html
Spiegel: Time is running out. If the European Union is unable to resolve internal differences over its ambitious emissions reduction plan, then global climate talks could suffer, say experts. The world needs European leadership. The vision is an admirable one. Last spring, the European Union announced ambitious new goals to radically cut CO2 emissions across the entire 27-nation bloc. Once the details of the reductions were agreed on, the EU would be in pole position going into the global ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
EU, Italy to debate economic impact of climate fight
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49K49N20081021?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European Union and Italian experts will launch discussions next week on how the bloc's plan to fight climate change might impact EU economies. Italy, one of several critics of the plan to cut greenhouse gases emissions, has asked to discuss the impact as negotiations continue among the bloc's 27 governments and the European Parliament. "There will be technical discussions between the Italian authorities and the European Commission and these discussions, as far as I am aware, ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Italy Rocks EU Climate Meet, Others Eye Global Deal
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50684/story.htm
Reuters: Italy kept up the pressure to dilute European Union climate proposals on Monday, but most other EU nations reaffirmed the goals and stressed they would approach global talks this year in "full negotiating mode". Global talks in Poland in December have been overshadowed by worries the United States is nowhere near ready to discuss a global deal to fight global warming, but environment ministers meeting in Luxembourg called for unified action. They also reminded developing ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Nations urged to keep up climate fight during credit crunch
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15494&channel=0&title=Nations+urged+to+keep+up+climate+fight+during+credit+crunch
Edie: The financial crisis will affect all sectors, a recent report warned Some of the world's major economies - and major carbon emitters - have pledged not to let the credit crunch derail their climate change policies. At an EU summit last week, member states were divided over the course environmental policies should now take. Commission President José Manual Barroso and Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas urged nations not to back down on tough targets, a stance backed by ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Pakistan launches task force on climate change
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/pakistan-launches-task-force-on-climate-change.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: Pakistan's planning commission has established a task force to investigate the impact of climate change on the country's agriculture, economy and natural resources. According to a World Bank report, the country loses 365 billion Pakistani rupees (US$4.5 billion) annually from environmental disasters. Ishfaq Ahmad, science and technology advisor to the prime minister and chairman of the task force, told SciDev.Net that they will undertake a serious effort to understand the ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Seed Size May Help Predict Climate Change Impact
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/10/21/seed-size-climate.html
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Plants closer to the equator are more likely to have larger seeds, a fact that could help predict the risk that climate change poses to native plants, according to an Australian researcher. Evolutionary biologist Angela Moles of the University of New South Wales will this week receive an Australian Institute of Policy and Science Tall Poppy award for her research, which looks at how climate and other factors influence plant traits across the world. Moles argues a better ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Solar technology maker warns of tough times
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228741/solar-technology-maker-warns
Business Green: Norwegian solar products maker Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) has reported a smaller than expected rise in earnings for the third quarter and admitted that the credit crisis could affect demand for solar energy projects. The company announced earnings of 711m Norwegian krone (£63m) in the three months to the end of September which was up from 643m in the same quarter a year ago. However, according to Reuters reports, the Q3 results were below the 789m (£70m) estimate ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Sugar Harvest Advances Have Social Cost In Brazil
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50690/story.htm
Reuters: Ines Ferreira dos Santos lives with four of her kids in a spacious, colourful house at the end of a dusty street. "With money from sugar cane we built this house. It has been good to us, too good," the 43-year-old housewife said. This is the eleventh year that her husband, Joao Barbosa dos Santos, has travelled the 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) to work as a sugar cane cutter in Sao Paulo state in southern Brazil. This time he is accompanied by three sons, also labouring ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett backs logging in forestry debate
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24529039-5009760,00.html?from=public_rss
Australian: TASMANIAN Premier David Bartlett has sided with the forest industry in a fierce debate with conservationists about whether old-growth forests should be protected as reservoirs of carbon. Mr Bartlett told The Australian that calls by the conservation movement to suspend old-growth logging, because of evidence they might be more valuable as carbon sinks, were nonsense. "This is bulls**t - this is just not true," the Premier said. "They can make that claim at the moment ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
UK offshore wind suffering from cost inflation
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228703/industry-struggling-business
Business Green: The beginning of the annual meeting of the British Wind Energy Association has seen some significant developments in the fight to get offshore wind projects up and running amid serious concerns that these actions still may not be enough to help the UK meet its 2020 renewables targets. The Crown Estate, which controls much of Britain's marine coastline, has promised to pay half of all pre-construction development costs for a third round of wind farms that companies are bidding to ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
UK's Brown says downturn will not affect green effort
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49K2C620081021?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday the global economic downturn would not deflect the UK government from efforts to reduce Britain's carbon emissions and combat global warming. Brown told a wind energy conference in London ministers were committed to meeting a target to produce 15 percent of the UK's energy supply from renewable sources, such as wind and wave power, by 2020. "You may have heard some people say that these difficult economic times should or will ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
UN chief: Climate change is world's defining issue
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2008/10/un_chief_tells_harvard_climate_change_our_.html
Boston Globe: Calling global warming "the defining issue of our time," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged immediate international action to counteract the "imminent threat" of climate change. In a wide-ranging speech this afternoon at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Ban said it was crucial to ratify an international treaty on greenhouse-gas emissions before the Kyoto Accord expires in 2012. Climate change "is no longer theory, it has become a fact," he told an audience of several ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Wood heat rises again
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/10/21/wood-heat-rises-again/
Christian Science Monitor: George and Judith Reilly own a big antique house on the main street of Brandon, Vt., a picturesque town on scenic Route 7. The house's front parlor doubles as a gallery to display the fabric art Judith creates in her upstairs studio. Last spring, when oil for the house's furnace began to top $4 per gallon, Mr. Reilly did some quick calculating and decided he could save up to 50 percent on his heating cost this winter by installing a stove that burned sawdust pellets. Over the summer, ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
Boosting Green Energy Can Boost UK Jobs-Minister
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50685/story.htm
Reuters: Britain must remove bottlenecks holding back wind farms and other renewable energy projects as part of a drive that will create new jobs in green technologies, climate minister Ed Miliband said on Monday. Britain is trying to work out how to meet its EU target of getting 15 percent of UK energy from renewable sources such as the wind and sun by 2020, compared to just 1.3 percent in 2005. But dozens of windpower projects are stuck in the country's outdated and cumbersome ...
Wed, 22 Oct 08
British explorer to measure Arctic ice cap next year
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRMK16X3QczDk65zSrk-QeC242PQ
Agence France-Presse: A British explorer said Tuesday he would go ahead next year with a pioneering expedition to measure the thickness and density of the rapidly shrinking Arctic Ocean ice cap. Pen Hadow and two other British explorers will set off in February for a four-month, 1,200-kilometre (750-mile) trek to the North Pole to take samples of ice, snow and air. The trip had been due to start in February this year but was postponed to allow the expedition's scientific remit to be ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Ethiopia: Biggest Sub-Saharan wind farm planned
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228618/biggest-sub-saharan-wind-farm
Business Green: The largest wind farm in Sub-Saharan Africa is to be built in Ethiopia following an agreement between the country's national power company and France's only wind turbine maker. The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPC) signed the deal with French turbine maker Vergnet earlier this month in a move that will see the installation of 120 one-megawatt turbines over three years. The first 30 turbines are expected to be in place next year, the backers claim. The deal is being ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Climate change accelerating far beyond the IPCC forecast, WWF says
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/20/eawwf120.xml
Telegraph: Climate change is happening much faster than the world's best scientists predicted and will wreak havoc unless action is taken on a global scale, a new report warns. Extreme weather events such as the hot summer of 2003, which caused an extra 35,000 deaths across southern Europe from heat stress and poor air quality, will happen more frequently. Power station emissions: The report predicts the collapse of eco systems on both land and sea Britain and the North Sea area ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Climate change leads to $300 bn business
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Climate_change_leads_to_300_bn_business/articleshow/3617645.cms
Indo-Asian News Service: With the problems of climate change gaining urgency, tackling it has become a bigger business than software and biotechnology combined, a research report says. Global annual revenues from climate change businesses - which include renewable energy, nuclear power and energy management - have now surpassed $300 bn, HSBC's global banking and markets research team has found. HSBC said that 390 companies around the world could now be classed as providing goods or services that tackle ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Crunch fails to crush cleantech investment
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228591/cleantech-investment-stays
Business Green: Global cleantech investment appears to have been unaffected by the financial crisis as worldwide investment in the last quarter more than doubled compared with the first quarter of the year, according to figures released today by analyst StrategyEye. Investment across biofuel, wind, energy and resource efficiency, geothermal, transport and pollution management sectors has risen from $1.4bn in the first quarter of 2008 to $3.8bn in the third quarter. Algae-based biofuels in ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Don't kill the planet in the name of saving the economy
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-dont-kill-the-planet-in-the-name-of-saving-the-economy-966936.html
Independent: We are living through two great meltdowns -- the credit crunch, and the climate crunch. The heating of the planet is now happening so fast it's hard to pluck a single event to fix on, but here's one. By the summer of 2013, the Arctic will be free of ice. How big an event it this? The Wall Street Crash hadn't happened for 80 years. The Arctic Crash hasn't happened for three million years: that's the last time there was watery emptiness at the top of the world. The Arctic is often ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Global warming leads India tigers to village attacks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49J1FW20081020?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The number of tiger attacks on people is growing in India's Sundarban islands as habitat loss and dwindling prey caused by climate change drives them to prowl into villages for food, experts said Monday. Wildlife experts say endangered tigers in the world's largest reserve are turning on humans because rising sea levels and coastal erosion are steadily shrinking the tigers' natural habitat. The Sundarbans, a 26,000 sq km (10,000 sq mile) area of low-lying swamps on India's ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Gordon Brown is getting greener
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/20/leader-climate-carbon-gordon-brown
Guardian: Until recently, even friends of Gordon Brown scarcely bothered to pretend he had much interest in the environment. Poverty and education, they said, got him out of bed; climate change was something he approached intellectually, not instinctively. Less friendly colleagues would put it more bluntly: the subject bored him rigid. There are welcome signs that the prime minister's preoccupations are shifting. Having developed a taste for financial statesmanship of late, Mr Brown is now said to ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Italy: Greenpeace starts an energy revolution in Sardinia
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/energy-revolution-sardinia-20102008
Greenpeace: Sardinian authorities have promised to revise the region's energy plans to meet EU climate protection targets, following a Greenpeace blockade at the E.ON owned Fiume Santo coal-fired power station to protest planned expansion of climate changing coal capacity in the region. Early Sunday morning, Greenpeace activists blocked conveyor belts at the plant, preventing coal from being carried to the furnace. Together with E.ON - one of the largest utilities companies in Europe - the ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Canada: OIL SANDS-PART 3: Biggest Customer Has Second Thoughts
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44354
Inter Press Service: As Canada's tar sands extraction expands full steam ahead, a perfect storm of internal and external opposition could derail some of the voracious growth at the world's largest energy project. Together, skyrocketing construction costs, falling crude prices, increasingly vocal opposition from some native groups, and a little known section of the 2007 U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act all threaten growth projections in northern Alberta. "If I was an investor, I wouldn't ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Opportunities seen widening for clean tech investors
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49J3WI20081020?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Opportunities in the renewable energy technology sector are becoming more diverse as regulatory support extends to technologies other than wind farms, Steve Read, investment manager of the Ventus Funds, said. Read said the Ventus Funds, venture capital trusts operated by Climate Change Capital, are spreading their investments more evenly between wind farm projects and other renewable energy technologies such as land-fill gas and waste biomass. The change has come as viable wind ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Report: California saves money by saving energy
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRBGylRzLEJHTCdE-glGnA20M7cgD93U4V481
Associated Press: California has saved about $56 billion in electricity costs and created 1.5 million jobs over 35 years by using energy more efficiently than other states, according to a new study. The report released Monday by an economist at the University of California at Berkeley found that state policies that boost energy efficiency aren't just good for the environment, they're also good for the economy. "Energy efficiency is very good for real incomes, purchasing power and job creation," ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Risk of Disease Rises With Water Temperatures
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/10/19/ST2008101901645.html
Washington Post: When a 1991 cholera outbreak that killed thousands in Peru was traced to plankton blooms fueled by warmer-than-usual coastal waters, linking disease outbreaks to epidemics was a new idea. Now, scientists say, it is a near-certainty that global warming will drive significant increases in waterborne diseases around the world. Rainfalls will be heavier, triggering sewage overflows, contaminating drinking water and endangering beachgoers. Higher lake and ocean temperatures will ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
The 'win-win' solution failing the rainforests
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/20/conservation-brazil
Guardian: On paper, the idea looks like a conservation masterstroke. Take a huge swath of pristine rainforest, put a price on the rainfall it produces and other "services", and sell these off to rich philanthropists with a conscience. That's precisely the rescue package dreamt up by investment house Canopy Capital. And it's working. The London-based firm has persuaded 10 wealthy individuals to buy into the "ecosystem services" of Guyana's heavily forested Iwokrama Reserve. The logic is ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
The heat is on - climate change gathers pace faster than scientists expected
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=148141
WWF: Global warming is accelerating at a faster rate than climate change experts had previously predicted, according to a new compendium of scientific research released today by WWF. In 2007, the Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their Fourth Assessment Report – a study of global warming that involved nearly 4,000 scientists from more than 150 countries. However, the science of climate change has moved on in the year since this respected ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Zoos 'a battleground against extinction'
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24522394-5009760,00.html?from=public_rss
AAP: THE world's zoos are becoming field hospitals in a war zone, as they try to salvage species from extinction, Adelaide and Monarto Zoo chief executive Chris West says. "We've watched for too long critical species being overcome by habitat destruction, over-exploitation from logging, fishing and hunting, invasive species, pollution and emergent diseases," Dr West said. "But now climate change is looming as a huge new horseman of the apocalypse, whose impact threatens to dwarf ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
$100m Canadian aid to poor nations to flight climate change
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/International_Business/100mn_Canadian_aid_for_climate_change/articleshow/3617319.cms
Indo-Asian News Service: Canada on Sunday announced $100-million in aid to developing countries to flight global warming. Making this announcement at the end of the Francophonie summit - a gathering of the 52 French-speaking nations - in Quebec City, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada was extending the aid as many poor countries didn't have the resources to fight global warming. La Francophonie - the French equivalent of the Commonwealth - is a grouping of 52 French-speaking countries and 13 ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
'Europe Cannot Allow Itself to Fall Behind'
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,585144,00.html
Spiegel: German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel discusses the rift among EU member states over a current proposal to slash carbon dioxide emissions. He says a deal will likely be reached, but that flexibility is needed to prevent companies from leaving Europe and taking jobs with them. SPIEGEL: Mr. Gabriel, the European Union heads of state and government are at a loggerheads over climate protection. Is this the end of Europe's role as the leader in climate change issues? Gabriel: ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Alternative fuels could put strain on water supplies
http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/transport/i/1438/
Energy Efficiency News: Alternative fuels, such as biofuel or hydrogen, could use much more water in their production than conventional petroleum-based fuels, says new research. According to Carey W. King and Michael E. Webber at the University of Texas at Austin, the production of some alternative fuels could put a strain on water resources in some regions. The researchers compared the amount of water withdrawn (water taken from source, used and returned for reuse) and consumed (water that is not ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Arctic temperatures at record highs
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\20\story_20-10-2008_pg6_16
Associated Press: Autumn temperatures in the Arctic are at record levels, the Arctic Ocean is getting warmer and less salty as sea ice melts, and reindeer herds appear to be declining, researchers reported. "Obviously, the planet is interconnected, so what happens in the Arctic does matter" to the rest of the world, Jackie Richter-Menge of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, NH, said in releasing the third annual Arctic Report Card. The report, compiled by 46 ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Australia won't copy Britain's carbon targets
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKTRE49J36T20081020
Reuters: The Australian government on Monday ruled out following Britain with a tougher target for carbon emissions by 2050, saying business needed certainty over targets in the run-up to carbon trading. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said Australia had set an ambitious target to cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2050, and the target would not change. "The government position is that 60 percent, particularly for an economy like Australia's, is an ambitious target," ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Carbon capture needs $20bn in global investment
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228619/20bn-global-investment-needed
Business Green:
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Climate change is occurring faster than predicted: WWF
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Global_Warming/Climate_change_is_occurring_faster_than_predicted_WWF/articleshow/3617838.cms
Asian News International: A new WWF report warns that climate change is occurring much faster than predicted by the scientific fraternity, and will wreak havoc unless action is taken on a global scale. The report suggests that 'extreme weather events' like the hot summer of 2003, when heart stress and poor air quality claimed about 35,000 extra lives across southern Europe, will happen more frequently. It further states that violent cyclones will hit Britain and the North Sea area more often, and that ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Conservationist warns of Mad Max scenario
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/20/2396515.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The president of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums says the type of barren landscapes shown in Australia's famous Mad Max movies could become a common reality because of global warming. Professor Gordon McGregor Reid was speaking in Adelaide where more than 300 zoo and conservation leaders have gathered for the association's international conference. Professor McGregor Reid, who is also the chief executive of Chester Zoo in Northern England, says zoos around the world ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Environment will wither whoever win US election
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4974536.ece
Times (UK): Eager anticipation of the next American president offering a dramatically different policy on climate change is being tempered by the chill winds of the financial crisis. Barack Obama or John McCain will inherit a blighted economy, a ballooning deficit set to reach $1 trillion and a political landscape in upheaval from the market turmoil of recent weeks. Environmental groups are already bracing themselves for delays or disappointment on action to tackle global warming which, ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Francophonie to cut CO2 emissions in half by 2050
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gV8nzVPwcCCjm0v9DEmYTxQhYMQA
Agence France-Presse: Seventy French-speaking nations and regional governments pledged to help cut global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, at the close of the 12th Francophonie summit on Sunday. The group reaffirmed its backing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. And it said it would draft a "concerted francophone position" for upcoming climate change conferences in Poznan in December and Copenhagen in 2009. The two meetings are to try ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Italy seeks "revision clause" in EU climate plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49J4G120081020?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Italy said on Monday it wanted big changes to be made to a European Union plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, including a clause allowing for its revision once the deal's costs have been assessed. "We have many requests for changes, including the introduction of a revision clause," Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo told reporters ahead of EU talks on the plan in Luxembourg. Rome was ready for "real negotiations on this package that needs deep changes," she ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Jobs blow revealed in wind energy report
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/12b42d04-9e3f-11dd-bdde-000077b07658.html
Financial Times: The massive planned expansion of renewable energy may produce far fewer jobs than the government has claimed, a study has found. Producing enough renewable energy to meet government targets would create about 36,000 jobs in the wind energy sector by 2020, according to a study by Bain & Company for the British Wind Energy Association, to be published today. Wind is expected to account for most of the renewable energy produced by 2020, as the potential for the expansion of other ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Nuclear Power is NOT the Solution to Our Global Warming Woes
http://www.enn.com/energy/article/38439
Environmental News Network: As our presidential campaign season draws towards a close and the attacks / counter-attacks reach a fever pitch, it's almost impossible to separate fact from fiction. So many contradictory proposals, so many disparate numbers -- I wouldn't be surprised if someone says the sky is bright pink before we're through. The debate about energy policy is a case in point: the proposals so far have ranged from sound (invest in multiple forms of renewable energy) to questionable (clean coal, 45 ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Obama or McCain: environmental voting records in Congress
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/20/network-uselections2008
Guardian: Barack Obama comes out top against John McCain on green policy positions. But what about voting records? Here the heavy lifting has been done by Environment America , who have searched back through the past few years of Congressional activity to pick out 22 key environmental votes. How Obama and McCain jumped in each case is revealed below. (For more details, see the fuller summaries here.) Tallying all these up, Environment America have awarded Obama an impressive total score of 86%, ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Oil Industry Must Step Up Cooperation on Carbon, Executive Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=a4r0RYLNIoD4&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Oil and gas companies need to step up cooperation with each other and with regulators on carbon capture and disposal to help address climate change, said Leo Roodhart, president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. The global financial crisis, which threatens to slow international efforts to tackle global warming, makes collaboration more important, Roodhart, who is also head of strategic innovation at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's international unit, said in an interview. Carbon ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Protesters block Eden entrances
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/7679587.stm
BBC: Protesters blocked traffic into the Eden Project in a demonstration against plans for a giant wind turbine. The 127m (416ft) machine would be put on the northern side of the Eden site, near St Austell in Cornwall, if Restormel Borough Council agrees. Protesters, who called off the protest after about an hour, clashed with visitors and police. Environmental charity Eden said the turbine would have to be large to be economical and to power the site. The three main ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Putting a price on nature can save forests, rivers
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE49J0F7.html
Reuters: Putting a price on nature by creating tradeable credits can the limit the loss of forests, wetlands and rivers from the expansion of agriculture, the head of an international forestry investment firm said on Monday. Carbon, water and biodiversity were emerging as the three main environmental market forces this century, said David Brand, managing director of New Forests, and his company was developing projects in all three areas to yield saleable credits. "If the remaining ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Recession retards Australia's climate plan
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1437955.php/ANALYSIS_Recession_retards_Australias_climate_plan_
Sid Astbury: Australians are keen on others saving the planet: in an opinion poll from the privately funded Lowy Institute, they rated the economy, employment, terrorism and food scarcity more problematic than global warming. It's no surprise that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is paying lip service to curbing climate change but not doing much about it. 'What I would say to leaders around the world, and the community here in Australia, is that the problem of climate change and global warming ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
States, cities step up climate-change responses
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008286950_opin20peirce.html
Seattle Times: Before the fiscal crisis, there was the global climate crisis. After the fiscal crisis, we'll still have the global climate crisis -- for the rest of our lives. A nightmarish future awaits our children unless we can forge international accords, with teeth, to cut carbon emissions -- the kind the Bush administration has scorned. But top-down won't do it all: Thousands of low-carbon strategies need to be fashioned from America's grass roots. The severity of the threat is ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Warming, a threat to 'national security'
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=vn20081020053641554C629780
Cape Times: Climate change has altered the way states regard national security, as they are faced with a major threat that has no defined parametres and cannot be tackled by military means. Climate change threatens not only the security of the state, but the security of entire sections of their populations, and the threats to Africa's security are "the most dramatic and urgent". These were the findings of Denise Garcia of the political science department at Northeastern University in the ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Winds Shift for Renewable Energy As Oil Price Sinks, Money Gets Tight
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122446199550848849.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: The prospects of renewable-energy companies soared with oil prices, but the global credit crunch and the easing of energy costs have brought them back to earth with a thud. Stronger players, such as Iberdrola of Spain, are buying wind farms from cash-strapped rivals. With banks reluctant to lend and their stock prices tumbling, many green-energy concerns are struggling to find the long-term funding they need to expand in a capital-intensive industry. In the past three ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Australia Should Use More Local Gas to Reduce Carbon
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aRBvgIlkfIaQ&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Australia should use more of its locally produced natural gas in power generation to help reduce carbon emissions harmful to the environment, said Colin Barnett, premier of Western Australia. Building a pipeline across Australia to take gas from fields in the northwest to the most-populous southeastern states would help cut emissions blamed for global warming, Barnett said today at a conference in Perth. Such a move would be ``easier'' than introducing a carbon tax, or trading system, ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Brits snuggle up to cut energy bills
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hKWQfcF5cJKh4LGU2ytJTFgcS5Tw
Press Association: The global economic downturn may be starting to bite, but saucy Britons have hit on ways to keep costs down. Two out of three people living in the UK would snuggle up in bed with another person to cut their heating bills, or share a shower to save water, a poll for the energy Saving Trust found. And 68% said they would happily tuck in to leftover food to eliminate waste. The survey, released at the start of Energy Saving Week, asked people across Europe about their ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
California energy policy will create jobs, lead to savings, study says
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10748517
Mercury News: Three decades of emphasis on energy efficiency in California has created 1.5 million jobs and $45 billion in payroll, and measures to combat global warming will result in similar gains in the decade ahead, a UC-Berkeley researcher says in a report to be released today. In fact, policies that mandate cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, such as the state's landmark law known as AB 32, will require energy-efficiency improvements that will mean 403,000 new jobs with a payroll of $48 billion ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Australia: Canberra sees cost benefit in CO2 trades
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/29396ae8-9e40-11dd-bdde-000077b07658.html
Financial Times: Australia will press ahead with a national carbon trading scheme in spite of claims from businesses that it could damage their competitiveness. Penny Wong, minister for climate change and water, told the Financial Times that the global financial crisis was not a reason to put off commitments to reduce emissions: "We were elected last year with a very clear commitment to emissions trading . . . Australians have been clear that they want the government to take action." She said: ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Debenhams in 'landmark' renewable energy deal
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/debenhams-in-landmark-renewable-energy-deal-967211.html
Press Association: Retail giant Debenhams has signed a deal that will mean electricity in all of its stores will be provided by renewable energy. All 172 of the department chain's stores are to be provided by wind power after the company signed a "landmark" deal with energy supplier Scottish Power. Debenhams will be supplied with 35 MW of green energy per month, enough to light and heat 50,000 homes. Outlining the deal, Nigel Palmer from Debenhams, said "This agreement to power our stores ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
EU urged to act against 'faster, stronger' climate change
http://euobserver.com/9/26962
EUobserver: Climate change is happening faster and its extent is wider than the world's leading scientists had predicted, according to a new report by pro-green group the WWF released on Monday (20 October), urging the EU to take ambitious action. "It is clear that climate change is already having a greater impact than most scientists had anticipated, so it's vital that international mitigation and adaptation responses become swifter and more ambitious," Jean-Pascal van Ypersele - a professor of ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
FAO says climate change a major threat to agriculture and fisheries in Pacific
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=42608
Radio New Zealand International: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that climate change is a major threat to sustainable agriculture and fisheries in the Pacific region. Paul Tomane, the assistant FAO representative for the sub-regional office in Apia, says that the changing seasons and temperatures are already affecting traditional food sources. And he says that with an increasing dependency on imported foods, people are now dealing with the impacts of soaring food prices, as ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Fight both the recession and global warming
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081020/COLUMNIST/810200323/-1/NEWSSITEMAP
Washington Post: There are two powerful and opposing economic forces buffeting the American people that could undermine efforts to address global warming. Oil prices are the lowest they've been since June 2007. This good news at the pump may spell trouble for the environment if drivers return to the roads and reverse months of stunning reductions in gas consumption. Meanwhile, the looming recession will lessen the political will in Washington to pursue policies that would add costs to doing business or take ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Australia: Govt Murray strategy threatening food security
http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/govt-murray-strategy-threatening-food-security/1338410.aspx
AAP: The Federal Government is threatening food security by buying irrigation properties while not spending the billions of dollars already budgeted for water infrastructure, the Opposition says. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has revealed in an ABC TV interview she didn't know who the owners of Toorale station were before the commonwealth helped the NSW state government buy the property. Former deputy prime minister John Anderson told the Four Corners program, to be broadcast ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Italy denies isolation in Europe on climate change
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/20/10/2008/italy-denies-isolation-in-europe-on-climate-change/
euronews: Deep cracks are appearing in Europe`s bid to set the global pace on fighting climate change, with the Italians and Poles saying proposed measures are too costly. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denied on Sunday Italy was isolated in Europe because of its stance. It all follows last week`s comments by Europe`s environmental commissioner, who said he was 'astonished' at Berlusconi`s costing of climate change measures for Italy at 20 billion euros, when the European Commission`s ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Solomon Islands: Ontong Java Threatened by Climate Change
http://solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=2856
Solomon Times: The Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Mr. Rence Sore has stated that relocation would not be forced upon inhabitants of the remote atoll of Ontong Java in the Solomon Islands. The Ontong Java atoll is currently being threatened by the effects of climate change. According to Mr. Sore, the relocation for Ontong Java atoll dwellers would only be done through intensive consultations. Mr. Sore said they have been living next to the sea all their lives, ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Canada: PM unveils $100M for climate
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/520292
Toronto Star: Despite criticism that his government hasn't done enough to deal with climate change here in Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday announced $100 million to help poor countries deal with the pressing environmental issue. The money will be distributed this fiscal year primarily through international development organizations, Harper announced during the closing press conference of the summit of la Francophonie, held in Quebec City. "Those monies are to be distributed ...
Tue, 21 Oct 08
Pollution Credits Let Dumps Double Dip
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122445473939348323.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: America's garbage dumps are reaping a windfall from the fight against global warming. But their payday might not be doing much to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. For more than a decade, the landfill here has made extra profit simply by collecting methane given off by rotting trash, and selling it as fuel. Last year, the landfill learned that doing this also qualified it to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars via a new program that pays companies to cut their greenhouse-gas ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Australia: Farm forestry could drive biofuel for transport
http://business.theage.com.au/business/farm-forestry-could-drive-biofuel-for-transport-20081019-540h.html
Age: FORESTRY can best contribute to fighting climate change in Australia by mass planting of trees on farm land to provide biofuels for transport, according to a researcher. Farm forestry plantations would take up a maximum of 30% of a farmer's land, using wood as a feedstock for bio-methanol, says Barney Foran, a research fellow at the Institute of Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University in Albury. Mr Foran, a former CSIRO agriculture and ecology researcher, envisages ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Australia: Rich polluters stand to rake in $3 billion
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/rich-polluters-stand-to-rake-in-3-billion/2008/10/19/1224351056972.html
Sydney Morning Herald: A NEW report estimates the Rudd Government could hand almost $3 billion to some of the richest companies in Australia in free carbon pollution permits when its scheme to cut greenhouse gases begins in 2010. The report released by the Australian Conservation Foundation found much of the assistance, an estimated $825 million, would go to big aluminium producers, including Rio Tinto in Australia and Britain, the American company Alcoa, the Norwegian company Norsk Hydro and the Australian ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
An old energy source kindles new interest
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6065463.html
Associated Press: The push for more power from renewable fuels has renewed interest in one of the oldest energy sources: wood. While airwaves have been permeated by advertisements for solar and wind power, last year wood generated more net electricity in the U.S. than those two up-and-comers combined. New wood-burning electricity plants are again being proposed from Massachusetts to New Mexico as the nation deals with a volatile energy market. Using wood for electric power generation grew ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Beijing offers cash to curb capital's pollution
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE49I0UC20081019
Reuters: The Beijing government will give companies who stop highly polluting production up to 2.3 million yuan ($336,500) as a bonus, state media said Sunday, in the latest attempt to clear the capital's notoriously poor air. "The move is to stimulate the replacement of high-pollution industries with environmentally friendly economies," the official Xinhua news agency cited the Finance Bureau of Beijing as saying. "Companies such as small cement and paper producers will be on the top ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Indonesia: Biofuel boom endangers orangutan habitat
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-fg-palmoil19-2008oct19,0,4032219.story?track=rss
LA Times: In the rush to feed the world's growing appetite for climate-friendly fuel and cooking oil that doesn't clog arteries, the Bornean orangutan could get plowed over. Several plantation owners are eyeing Tanjung Puting park, a sanctuary for 6,000 of the endangered animals. It is the world's second-largest population of a primate that experts warn could be extinct in less than two decades if a massive assault on its forest habitat is not stopped. The orangutans' biggest enemy, the ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Migrating Alaskan pollock are creating the potential for a new dispute with Russia
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-pollock19-2008oct19,0,6659556.story
LA Times: Yet the careful management that helped make Alaskan pollock a billion-dollar industry could unravel as the planet warms. Pollock and other fish in the Bering Sea are moving to higher latitudes as winter ice retreats and water temperatures rise. Alaskan pollock are becoming Russian pollock, swimming across an international boundary in search of food and setting off what could become a geopolitical dispute. Andrew Rosenberg, former deputy director of the National Marine Fisheries ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Tropical cyclones can bury greenhouse gases: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49I23W20081019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Tropical cyclones may be a tiny help in slowing global warming by washing large amounts of vegetation and soil containing greenhouse gases into the sea, scientists said on Sunday. A study in Taiwan of the LiWu river showed that floods caused by typhoon Mindulle in 2004 swept into the Pacific Ocean an estimated 0.05 percent of carbon stored in leaves, branches, roots and soil on the hillsides being studied. The carbon sank to the seabed. "Tropical cyclones could have a ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
United States: Economy deflates renewable fuel plans
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_10751236
Denver Post: The nation's severe credit crisis is dimming the appeal of a long-awaited extension for renewable-energy tax credits. After months of delays, Congress finally passed the extension Oct. 3 – just in time for the alternative-energy industry to face the full brunt of the upheaval in financial markets that has sharply reduced commercial lending. Some wind- and solar-energy projects are moving forward under the impetus of the renewed tax credits. But many others are on hold as ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Italy: Greenpeace protests coal energy at Sardinia power plant
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/081019144531.fihhkuae.html
Agence France-Presse: For the second time in a week, Greenpeace activists demonstrated at an Italian power plant Sunday in favour of renewable energy, amid government doubts about signing onto an EU climate change plan. "Sardinia must scrap all obstacles to wind energy," said the environmental NGO, which entered the power plant on the Italian island to protest the use of coal power over wind energy. It also accused leftist regional president Renato Soru of imposing power limits on wind ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Next US president must take action on climate change, scientists say
http://www.freep.com/article/20081019/NEWS15/810190376
Detroit Free Press: On the big picture, Barack Obama and John McCain agree -- with a shared sense of urgency -- that the United States can't keep pumping global-warming gases into the atmosphere unchecked, because their accumulation threatens to bring rising seas, mass extinction of plants and animals and more hunger, disease and natural disasters. Scientists say the next president must take action on climate change. McCain and Obama both say that the country will need to respond with a system to limit ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Rainbow Warrior in coal protest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7678575.stm
BBC: The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior has sailed from Greece to the UK to join the protest against coal-fired power. The vessel sailed along the Thames into London before visiting Kent, where the first coal-fired power station is planned at Kingsnorth on Hoo. Protesters said there was a "huge coalition" building against coal-fired power, including Greenpeace, Oxfam and the Women's Institute. The ship arrived two days ahead of schedule because of good sailing ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Respecting forest dwellers rights can lead to reduced deforestation
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/respecting-forest-dwellers-rights-can-lead-to-reduced-deforestation_100108966.html
Asian News International: A new report has determined that setting up legal rights for forest-dwelling peoples costs little, and can make a big difference to efforts aimed at reducing deforestation. Supporting the rights of the world``s forest-dwelling peoples has long been seen as an essential part of reducing deforestation. Yet policymakers have been unwilling to take on the economic and political costs of enforcing these rights. According to a report in Nature News, fresh research has now shown that the monetary ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Taiwan's bicycle makers riding high on global crisis
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCy_nfY3kfXlOUTtaCTmjdPNRzOA
Agence France-Presse: For the past six months Wayne Hsu has been cycling 45 minutes to his office every day, which he says gets him off to an energetic start and, more importantly, slashes his monthly petrol bill. Hsu, an airline sales representative in Taiwan's northern Taoyuan county, is among a growing number of people here opting for bikes over cars amid rising inflation and a slowing economy. "Cycling is an inexpensive way to exercise and I've encouraged my colleagues and even my boss to follow ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Australia: A tipping point for the climate action movement
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/771/39769
Green Left Weekly: "How can we maintain a safe and habitable climate? That's the question we need to pose to build this movement", Kirrliee Boyd from the Adelaide Hills Climate Action Group told a workshop at the Climate Emergency -- No More Business as Usual conference on October 10-11. The conference was a collaboration between the Australian Education Union (SA) and the newly formed Climate Emergency Action Network (CLEAN). More than 250 people from a wide range of organisations and communities ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
Arkansans Protest Against New Coal Use
http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1008/562555.html
KATV: There are currently two proposed coal-fired power plants in the works. One would be located in the southwestern Arkansas, the other in the eastern part of the state. The group is definitely passionate about it's quest for no new coal use in this state and Saturday they tried to get their message out to other Arkansans. Saturday's protesters were not hard to miss as they chanted "no new coal" from the state capitol steps on Saturday. (Glen Hooks, Sierra Club) "All ...
Mon, 20 Oct 08
California sets out green vision
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228554/california-sets-green-vision
Business Green: California published a radical climate change plan this week, outlining its intention to have its wide-ranging policy proposals formally approved by the end of the year and up and running by 2012. Under the personal stewardship of Governor Schwarzenegger, the state has consulted 42,000 members of the public on the so-called AB32 scoping plan. This sets out the policy measures required to ensure the state meets its high-profile 2006 commitment to reduce emissions to 1990 levels ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Candidates Agree on Need to Address Global Warming
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=108463
New York Times: Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama part company on many issues, but they agree that the Bush administration`s policies on global warming were far too weak. Both candidates say that human-caused climate change is real and urgent, and that they would sharply diverge from President Bush`s course by proposing legislation requiring sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury. Such rare agreement has both industry and environmental groups expecting a big shift, no ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Lethal build-up of ozone poses threat to UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/19/climatechange-health-ozone
Guardian: Britain is ignoring the dangers posed by one of the world's worst air pollutants: ozone. Researchers say that levels of the gas - a powerful contributor to global warming and the cause of hundreds of deaths a year from respiratory illnesses - are rising at an alarming rate. They have also warned that measures to curtail the gas are failing. As a result, ozone-related deaths, of which there are about 1,500 a year in the UK, could rise by 50 per cent over the next decade. Stronger ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
United Kingdom: On our present course, the bold new carbon target is worthless
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/19/carbon-emissions-climate-change-renewable
Guardian: The decision by Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, to commit Britain to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 is welcome. Recent research has made it clear that the government's previous target of a 60 per cent reduction would be insufficient to help halt profound climate change this century. New measures were required. But we should note that setting goals is the easy part of fighting global warming; implementing them is harder. This point is ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
UK wind farm plans on brink of failure
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/19/renewable-energy-greenhouse-carbon-emissions
Guardian: A major threat to Britain's ambitions for renewable energy will emerge this week when wind industry leaders admit that targets set for 2020 are looking increasingly unrealistic. They will use a high-profile conference in London to warn Gordon Brown that there is little chance of achieving the government's goal - of wind generating one third of all UK electricity within 12 years - without a huge injection of public money. It comes as an Observer investigation reveals that ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
United States: Warming In Yosemite National Park Sends Small Mammals Packing To Higher, Cooler Elevations
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081009144057.htm
Science Daily: Global warming is causing major shifts in the range of small mammals in Yosemite National Park, one of the nation's treasures that was set aside as a public trust 144 years ago, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, biologists. The study, published in the Oct. 10 issue of Science, compared small mammal populations in the park today versus 90 years ago and found that mammals like shrews, mice and ground squirrels have moved to higher elevations or reduced ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Green energy is not a middle-class conceit, more the only way forward
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/green-energy-is-not-a-middleclass-conceit-more-the-only-way-forward-966068.html
Independent: So that's it, then, choruses the commentariat. Collapsing confidence, crashing stock markets and credit-starved banks spell doom not just for the economy, but for environmental concerns. Saving the planet may be all very well in the good times, but is an unaffordable luxury when things turn bad. The argument is pervasive, persuasive and gaining ground. Even some environmentalists half-accept it, believing they should mute their message. But it is plain wrong. Never have green concerns ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Where the winds blow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/19/wind-power-energy-renewable-highlands
Guardian: If Britain is to generate a third of its electricity from wind power, many upland areas will be blanketed in wind farms, but people in the lowlands may be shocked to find giant pylons carrying 400,000 volts across favourite areas of the countryside. Bringing so much wind power from Wales, the Highlands and offshore demands a £5bn-£9bn upgrade and expansion of the high-voltage grid with larger, heavier pylons, up to 220ft high, according to National Grid, the company responsible for ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Drop the shops: Samantha Weinberg on her year without shopping
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/19/credit-card-crunch-budget
Guardian: When I decided to give up shopping for a year, it was all about the grand environmental gesture. I'd already made a start. I gave up eating fish six years ago, and then flying four years later, and I wanted to stretch my commitment a little further, to see if I could do without something that I've always enjoyed. Or at least assumed I had. I didn't give much thought to what it would involve at first; I just wanted to lighten the load of those vast, smoke-belching cargo ships by a few ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Japan: Global warming funds draw fire from investors
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081019a4.html
Kyodo: A group of investors may soon file a complaint against two Tokyo investment partnerships that attracted around ¥600 million via government-issued credit transfer certificates for failing to pay dividends and reimburse investors, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday. The partnerships, represented by several men in Tokyo, secured investments from around 250 people nationwide in connection with the leasing of power-saving equipment, the sources said. But many of the ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Full speed ahead? Voters to decide fate of high-speed rail project in California
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10749060
Mercury News: It was 139 years ago when railroad baron and future university founder Leland Stanford drove in the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah, completing the transcontinental railroad and forever changing California. Supporters of a new high-speed rail measure on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot hope voters will perform the electoral equivalent, hammering home a yes vote and reshaping the state's future again. Proposition 1A would authorize the sale of $9.95 billion in bonds to begin ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
First world must help poor nations on climate change
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQHiLgDBFBbYEpWNvO8XjNxmEAKQ
Agence France-Presse: Developed countries are obligated to help poorer nations cope with disasters that may be exacerbated by climate change, a UN-sponsored gathering of legislators in the Philippines said Saturday. The meeting, sponsored by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), also called on countries to take pre-emptive steps to make communities less vulnerable to disaster instead of just reacting to such calamities. "Industrial countries have a historical responsibility ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Green group damns EU logging plan
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/10/17/eu.environment.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Associated Press: EU nations need to take tougher action to curb imports of illegally logged timber to try to save rare forest species and tackle climate change, the bloc's environment chief said Friday. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has called for an end to global deforestation by 2030. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas unveiled plans Friday to try to cut the rapid destruction of the world's forests by half by 2020 -- but environmentalists condemned the proposals as ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Indonesia: Greenpeace Discovers Illegal Logging in Nabire
http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2008/10/18/brk,20081018-140839,uk.html
Tempo Interactive: Greenpeace announced it had found evidence of illegal logging activities in Kaimana, West Papua, carried out by two companies whose licenses had been suspended. "We found evidence that the operation was in progress. These activities are illegal," said Greenpeace forestry campaign person for Southeast Asia, Bustar Maitar in a press release. The finding was a result of monitoring by Greenpeace from their ship, the MV Esperanza, which arrived in Papua on October 7 for the "Forests for ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Cocos (Keeling) Islands: Rising sea threat to Cocos
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=103314
West Australian: The Cocos Islands lie in the middle of the Indian Ocean, almost as close to Sri Lanka as to mainland Australia. But they are Australia's islands, administered by the Attorney-General's Department and governed by Australian laws. And the two atolls and 27 coral islands, home to about 600 people, are at serious risk of becoming uninhabitable or disappearing completely because of climate change. The two inhabited islands, Home and West islands, are no higher than 5m above ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Japan: Autumn foliage season getting later; global warming blamed
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081018p2a00m0na016000c.html
Mainichi Daily News: The autumnal foliage period is now two weeks later compared to 50 years ago, a result of global warming, Meteorological Agency officials said. The "autumnal tint front" has already begun to move southward, but this year the peak of autumn leaves is expected to come later than normal. Autumn leaves are expected to be at their peak in wide areas of the Kanto and Kansai regions between mid- and late November, about a week later than the average over the past decade, according to ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Bolivia's climate challenge
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/18/bolivia-climatechange
Guardian: As the growing season starts in Bolivia, thousands of families are struggling to cope with droughts in five of nine regions. The lack of water threatens to destroy a significant part of this year's staple cereal crop, quinoa. Some farmers have begun growing drought-resistant crops, like Brazil nuts, to adapt to this change in climate. (Bolivia now exports 75% of the world's Brazil nuts, compared to just 20% from Brazil.) These efforts have been painfully slow, however, because they ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Canada: Clinton praises BC carbon tax as great economic generator
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081018.BCCLINTON18/TPStory/Environment
Globe and Mail: Gordon Campbell, the embattled Premier of British Columbia, received some big-name support yesterday afternoon for his controversial carbon tax: Bill Clinton, former president of the United States. Mr. Clinton called Mr. Campbell's efforts to combat climate change "the greatest economic generator you could embrace." "I know he's taken some heat," Mr. Clinton said of Mr. Campbell's critics. Mr. Campbell's Liberal government on July 1 brought in a carbon tax on fossil ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Crisis may slow emissions: Expert
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20081018.D03&irec=3
Jakarta Post: The current global financial crisis may mean slower growth in greenhouse gas emissions for one or two years, a noted Australian economist said here Friday. However, as soon as it's over the crisis may lead to increased reluctance to invest in long-term-gain climate change mitigation, said Ross Garnaut, professor of economics at the Australian National University. He said the slow-down effects of the United States-led financial crisis on economic growth could mean "a pause for a ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Canada: Suzuki urges youth to push for action on climate change
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=aa7b5b57-91a4-4da7-a78c-c96a182e8879
Ottawa Citizen: For all his efforts - and after more than 40 years of being Canada's go-to environmentalist, there have been many - David Suzuki knows that he'll probably never feel the effects of climate change. But it's not himself that he's worried about. "It's not going to affect me, but it sure as hell is going to affect my grandchildren. And that's what makes me mad." That's why the 72-year-old activist and grandfather of three spoke at the Flick Off event Saturday afternoon in ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
UN climate chief says Wall Street meltdown is a chance for change
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/un-climate-chief-says-wall-street-meltdown-is-a-chance-for-change_100108734.html
Asian News International: United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer has said that the present meltdown on Wall Street should be seen as an opportunity to create and enforce policy which stimulates private competition to fund clean industry. Talking to reporters here, de Boer said the chance to grow a greener world economy will come this December in Poznan, Poland, where governments will begin to formulate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol to combat global warming. The deadline for a final agreement is ...
Sun, 19 Oct 08
Pay indigenous people to protect rainforests, conservation groups urge
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/17/forests-endangeredhabitats
Guardian: Rich countries should try to cut the greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation by first investing in the people who live and use forests, rather than relying on the financial carbon markets to encourage conservation, leading development experts have proposed. If not, they risk unleashing a wave of land grabs, corruption, cultural destruction and civil conflict, said the Washington-based Rights and Resources Initiative, a coalition of of UN- and government-funded research ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Meltdown? The ill wind is bringing ethical banks nothing but good
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/oct/18/savings-ethicalmoney
Guardian: The UK's ethical banking sector is not only surviving the meltdown, it is experiencing new levels of consumer confidence and investment. At Bristol-based Triodos Bank, profits are up more than 50%, inflows into its cash Isa are up 25%, and the amount of money deposited by savers is up by 15% - nearly four times the mainstream bank saving rate of 4%. So why are Triodos, and other ethical institutions, bucking the trend? "We operate a transparent and easy-to-understand business model," ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Water worries take deeper root in South
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/oct/18/water-worries-take-deeper-root-in-south/
Associated Press: The drought that has plagued the Deep South for more than a year is creeping north. Officials in several states are restricting outdoor burning in the face of water shortages and forest-fire risks from falling leaves and tinder-dry conditions. Extreme drought conditions, the second-worst possible, have now spread into Kentucky, and severe conditions have returned to West Virginia and southwestern Virginia, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. "The last three months ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
United States: Rare Coalition Fights Renewable-Energy Measure
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=108414
New York Times: In California, the titles given to ballot initiatives can mean everything to their success or failure. Which may be why Proposition 7, which goes by the name 'The Solar and Clean Energy Law of 2008,' seemed like a surefire winner in summertime polls. The proposition would set among the toughest standards in the country for increasing wind, solar and geothermal sources of electrical power. But renewable-energy companies, environmental groups and the Democratic Party – virtually ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Australia: Don't delay emissions cuts, carbon scheme
http://www.streem.com.au/green/6969-dont-delay-emissions-cuts-carbon-scheme-garnaut
Streem: Penny Wong says trouble in the financial markets cannot delay climate action in Australia. Professor Ross Garnaut has warned against Australia deferring it's introduction of emissions cuts and a trading scheme. There has been speculation business groups may call on the Government to delay the emissions trading scheme's introduction due to the current financial crisis. The scheme will be introduced in 2010 and will place a value on carbon, making it a tradable ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Australia: Emissions scheme will stimulate economy: Garnaut
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/18/2394749.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Federal Government's climate change adviser Ross Garnaut says the Government's proposed emissions trading scheme should go ahead as planned, despite the global financial crisis. The Government wants the scheme to begin in 2010, but there have been calls for it to be delayed because of current economic conditions. Professor Garnaut has told Radio National's Saturday Extra program that now is the best possible time to push ahead with the scheme. He says the resources ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
EU sticks to energy plan despite economic fears
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/eu-sticks-to-energy-plan-despite-economic-fears-20081017-539c.html
Age: EUROPEAN Union leaders have pledged to stick to a costly plan for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, saying the crisis in global financial markets must not deter efforts to combat climate change. After presiding over a two-day summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that, despite misgivings about costs, "climate change is so important that we cannot use the financial and economic crisis as a pretext for dropping it". He had warned leaders of the 27-nation EU they ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
German company opens US solar cell plant
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/18/america/NA-US-Solar-Plant.php
Associated Press: In the thick of Oregon's "silicon forest" and far from his home in Germany, SolarWorld founder Frank Asbeck walked through his company's newest plant Friday with the excitement of a child in a toy factory. "This is like my playing field," said the 49-year-old Asbeck as he walked down a quarter-mile-long corridor and passed machines converting chunks of silicon into crystals. "Our parents didn't buy us enough toys when we were little." The $440 million plant, which opened its ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
A Green Lining in Market Meltdown?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44319
Inter Press Service: Clean and green technologies may end up a big winner in the current global financial crisis, say investment professionals. Billions of dollars in new investments have been made in clean/green tech such as renewable energy and energy efficiency in recent years. And, despite fears of a major recession in the U.S., nearly all investment professionals and institutions reported plans to introduce new investment opportunities before the end of 2009, according a new survey of the 500-member ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Amid green energy euphoria, some solar concerns
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1735178220081018
Reuters: Matt Cheney said he felt like the boy who cries "The emperor has no clothes," during this week's Solar Power International conference in San Diego. Talk from industry executives featured a rosy future for solar power, despite worldwide recession fears. "Hey, didn't anybody around here notice the dive the markets took last week?" said Cheney, the CEO of MMA Renewable Ventures, which builds solar power plants. The solar industry has a lot to be happy about. It got a shot ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Analysis: What would the bank-bail out money buy for the environment?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/17/marketturmoil-climatechange
Guardian: Countries could protect nature, help halt climate change, and provide food and clean water for a billion people for little more than has been pledged to bail out the world's banks in the last week, according to a series of authoritative economic reports from the UN, world bodies, major charities and banks. Estimates of the sum committed this week by governments to rescue the world's financial system range between $2-4 trillion. Investment on this scale to reduce greenhouse gas ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Brazil tests carbon reduction in Amazon forest
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49G5SQ20081017?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: In the Juma forest reserve deep in Brazil's Amazon, conservationists will receive money from a Brazilian bank and a global hotel chain to protect trees and combat global warming. The project is seen as a test case watched by other potential donors, mostly in rich countries, who want to help preserve tropical forests as a way to reduce their carbon footprints but have doubts about accountability and measuring success. The Washington, D.C., area-based Marriott hotel chain agreed ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Canada: Campaign misinformation has set back climate change debate
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=711cd873-686e-417d-95b7-c2a8c7f57fc7
Canwest News Service: Climate change experts and economists are concerned that Stephane Dion's failed attempt to sell his Green Shift may leave a lingering stink of failure around the idea of taxing carbon emissions. The concept of a carbon tax is widely seen among experts as Canada's most efficient and effective weapon against climate change, and surveys taken before the election campaign showed that most Canadians recognized a carbon tax as a "positive step." But the New Democratic Party and the ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
EC issues lame deforestation plans
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=148063
WWF: European Commission plans to halve rather than halt tropical deforestation by 2020 have been sharply criticized by WWF today. The European Commission's communication on reducing emissions from deforestation and a legislative proposal to tackle the problem of illegal logging are unlikely to meet their intended objectives of halting deforestation and eliminating the trade of illegal wood, according to the global conservation organization. At the Convention on Biological ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
EU climate change push in disarray as Italy joins Iron Curtain revolt
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4957408.ece
Times (UK): Europe's commitment to ambitious green goals became the latest victim of the global financial crisis yesterday when a growing number of EU countries rebelled, claiming that the plans were now too expensive. Plans for binding European legislation by December were dropped as the EU watered down the carbon dioxide blueprint that it had announced with a fanfare 18 months ago. The revolt by eight countries, led by Italy and Poland, left the EU's self-proclaimed mission to shape a ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
EU Move Against Illegal Timber 'Toothless'
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44320
Inter Press Service: A European Union blueprint for curbing import of illegal wood has been branded "toothless" by green activists. Citing estimates that 19 percent of timber brought into the EU comes from trees that have been felled illegally, the European Commission recommended Oct. 17 that all traders in forestry products should seek guarantees that their wood comes from bona fide sources. Officials are touting the plan as a response to deforestation, one of the single largest contributors to ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
EU must not backslide on climate: UN official
http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed7/idUSTRE49G78W20081017
Reuters: The European Union must avoid backsliding on agreeing a package to fight global warming in 2008 even though economic turmoil may make targets hard to hit, the top United Nations climate change official said on Friday. Yvo de Boer said many countries were looking to the 27-nation EU to spearhead a fight against climate change with its plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. "My main concern is slippage and not having clarity on when the ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
EU seeks tougher rules on illegal logging
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gjspB8JYMHE4E0p57nA_GIouO--g
Agence France-Presse: The European Commission on Friday proposed tighter rules against illegal logging aimed at fighting climate change and protecting forests across the world. "We must also send a firm message to timber suppliers that illegal timber or timber products will not be tolerated on the EU market," said European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, unveiling the draft law. Under the proposed rules, which will have to be approved by the European Parliament and the 27 member states ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
EU steps up battle to halt deforestation by 2030
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49G4QA20081017?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Europe's environment chief suggested using some of the cash generated by the EU's landmark emissions trading scheme to tackle the loss of forests, home to half the world's known species and a third of its land area. Speaking at a news conference on Friday, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said he wanted to reduce gross tropical deforestation by at least 50 percent by 2020 and halt global forest cover loss by 2030 at the latest. "We are not going to have effective ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by 80 per cent, says Government
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/3211494/Greenhouse-gas-emissions-to-be-cut-by-80-per-cent-says-Government.html
Telegraph: China is the world's biggest source of carbon emissions, followed by the US, Russia then India Photo: REUTERS Ed Miliband, the new Climate Change and Energy Secretary, said that the current target of 60 per cent was not stringent enough to tackle global warning. He told MPs that the Government would not "row back" on green issues, despite the pressures on the economy of the current downtown. Describing the new target, which is compared with 1990 levels, as "tough but ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
How To Be Conversant About Climate Change
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95813793&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Talk of the Nation, October 17, 2008 · What does a person need to know to be able to discuss climate change in an educated way? Climate expert Michael Oppenheimer discusses the history of climate research and some common misconceptions regarding the global climate. Oppenheimer is co-curator of the American Museum of Natural History's "Climate Change" exhibition, and is a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University.
Sat, 18 Oct 08
In echo of Kingsnorth Six, US climate change activists go on trial over blockade of $1.8bn coal-fired power plant
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/16/climatechange-energy-activists-dominion11
Guardian: Eleven climate change activists are due in court today on criminal charges after they blockaded a planned $1.8bn coal-fired power plant, providing an American echo of the Kingsnorth Six trial. The activists were arrested last month in rural Wise County, Virginia, at the gates of a power plant being built by Dominion, the No 2 utility in the US. The 11 chained themselves to steel barrels that held aloft a banner, lit by solar panels, challenging the utility to provide cleaner energy ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Italy aims for carbon-neutral farm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7669522.stm
BBC: An attempt to create a pioneering carbon-neutral farm is starting in Italy. A range of new technologies is being installed at the farm in the central region of Umbria as part of an experiment to cut its CO2 emissions to zero over the course of the next year. They include everything from electric farm vehicles to sun-reflecting paint on storage buildings. It is all taking place at the Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio olive oil farm, north of Rome. With its vineyards ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Minister pledges UK will make 80% cut by 2050
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/17/4
Guardian: Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, yesterday committed the UK to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the middle of the century, prompting praise from green groups. But there were warnings his ambitious goal will not be achieved if he presses ahead with a new generation of coal-fired power stations and the expansion of Heathrow. The previous government target of a 60% cut on 1990 levels had now been overtaken by the science, said Miliband, agreeing with the ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Canada: OIL SANDS-PART 2: "Where I Come From Is Ground Zero"
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44317
Inter Press Service: The wheels of the Caterpillar 797B, the world's largest truck, are always going round and round at Shell Canada's Albian Sands mine. The massive dump trucks, with wheels standing twice the size of a person and tires costing some 40,000 dollars apiece, carry tar sand 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "There isn't a lot of work in Newfoundland [a traditionally poor province on Canada's Atlantic coast], so you can do pretty well out here," Brian Paley, a mechanic who fixes and ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Top UN officials warn EU to meet climate goals
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gnUIZjXS87m3qdj8E1YwmKwp2JPw
Agence France-Presse: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the European Union on Friday to set an example to the rest of the world and maintain its climate change goals despite the global economic downturn. European Union leaders have came under pressure to roll back their climate-change plans as the global financial crisis bites. "One crisis must not become an obstacle to action on another," Ban said in a statement. The European Union, he said, "should continue to provide leadership on ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
US election: Climate change negotiator feels Obama would work to limit emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/17/uselections2008-carbonemissions
Guardian: The UN's chief climate change negotiator has predicted that a Barack Obama victory next month would jump-start progress toward global limits on carbon emissions. Dr Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC), said yesterday that other nations would solidify their position on emissions caps after watching how the new American president approaches the issue. "If Obama is elected, and this seems more likely, this would create positive ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Another green dream?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/17/climatechange-carbonemissions
Guardian: The British government's commitment to raise the UK greenhouse gas emission reduction target in the Climate Change Bill from 60% to 80% by 2050 is rightly ambitious. But is this yet another unrealistic green target? The answer is yes. Many businesses, investors, green groups and policy wonks have very little confidence in the government's ability to put policies in place to meet our 2020 EU emission target, let alone an 80% reduction by 2050. Part of the reason for this is that ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Arctic air temperature at record high due to sea ice loss
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/17/eaarctic117.xml
Telegraph: The continuing loss of sea ice has pushed the air temperature in the Arctic to a record high above normal, scientists have revealed. Less summer ice - which deflects solar radiation - has resulted in a rise in both the ocean and atmospheric temperature. A boat skims through melting ice on the west coast of Greenland The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says autumn air temperatures in the region are at a record 5ºC (9ºF) above ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
British Charity Launches Climate Change Green Guide for Muslims
http://www.daily.pk/world/europe/7817-british-charity-launches-climate-change-green-guide-for-muslims.html
Pakistan Daily: Tomorrow in London the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES) will launch a Muslim Green Guide to Reducing Climate Change at the Islamic Cultural Centre and the London Central Mosque. The 20-page guide explains the impact of climate change using Islamic references and encourages Muslims conserve water, heating, electricity, and consider public transport. The guide also promotes recycling and offers tips on the environmental impact of food products. The ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
European states plead poverty as credit crisis threatens 'son of Kyoto' agreement
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/european-states-plead-poverty-as-credit-crisis-threatens-son-of-kyoto-agreement-964299.html
Independent: The global downturn could scupper plans for a landmark "son of Kyoto" deal to combat climate change, green campaigners have warned. The warning came after the European Union's ambitious plans to combat climate change were left in disarray at the close of its summit in Brussels yesterday. Some member states are calling for the programme to be watered down on the grounds that it cannot be afforded in a downturn. Sharp divisions over whether or not the EU's flagship goal to cut ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
John Vidal on Britain's new climate change pledge
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/audio/2008/oct/17/climate-change-edmiliband
Guardian
Sat, 18 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Major tidal power plan revealed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7675510.stm
BBC: Major tidal power plan revealed By Steven McKenzie Highlands and Islands reporter, BBC Scotland news website Hundreds of jobs and heat for Prince Charles' organic business in Caithness have been identified as spin offs from a proposed green energy project. Tidal power developer Atlantis Resources Corporation confirmed it was considering a site near Castle of Mey for a computer data centre. The plan - still in the early stages - would see the centre powered by a ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Netherlands, Artumas Tanzania sign carbon offset deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49G35T20081017?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The Netherlands and the Tanzanian arm of Canada's Artumas Group Inc have signed a carbon offset deal for 200,000 tonnes of greenhouse emissions to run for seven years, its embassy in Tanzania said. AG&P Power Ltd, the Tanzanian branch of Artumas, discovered a gas deposit in Mnazi Bay in Mtwara, southeastern Tanzania, and is already using part of it to generate some 5 megawatt (MW) out of a 12 MW plant it has installed in the area. The Oslo, Norway-listed oil and gas firm ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
New-generation Finnish nuclear reactor hit by fourth delay
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/18/nuclearpower
Guardian: Europe's first new-generation nuclear power plant is now three years behind schedule and will not come on stream until 2012, the Finnish utility behind the project admitted yesterday. The delay raises fresh doubts over the "nuclear renaissance" planned by Britain, France and other European countries to ensure security of energy supplies and combat climate change. Areva, the French state-owned group building the European pressurised reactor (EPR) at Olkiluoto with German partner ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Post-bubble possibility
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/17/globaleconomy-banking
Guardian: Well, it was nice while it lasted. The action by the world's central banks to prevent a death spiral in global financial markets prompted a relief rally, but it lasted just 48 hours. Now it's back to business as usual, with shares tumbling, awful economic news and banks whingeing about their bail-out terms. In all likelihood, state intervention means there will not be an implosion of the financial system leading to a 1930s-style depression. Central banks have made it clear that they ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Scientists confirm oceans acidifying at unprecedented speed
http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=6712&codi=38817&idproducttype=8&level=0
UNESCO: The acidification of the world's oceans, caused by the absorption of huge volumes of carbon dioxide, is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, threatening marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of tens of millions of people, concluded scientists attending the Second International Symposium on the Ocean in a High CO2 World held in Monaco from 6-9 October. The meeting, attended by 250 marine scientists from 32 countries, was organized by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Canada: Shortage of turbines puts the brakes on wind power industry
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=79e64e0c-ed48-4a78-8d6a-79dc97769e2e
Vancouver Sun: Canada's booming wind energy sector is becoming a victim of its own success, says a spokesman for the Canadian Wind Energy Association. A global surge in wind energy development is making it difficult for proponents to secure equipment for new projects, and waiting times for turbine blades and other components are increasing. "Right now there is a shortage of turbines internationally," David Huggill, western Canada policy manager for the Canadian Wind Energy Association, said ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
The climate change disconnect
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/17/climatechange-edmiliband
Guardian: Bully for Ed Miliband, committing the government to an 80% cut in UK carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 1990. The previous target, set in 2000, had been a 60% cut. All those who care about fighting climate change (which ought to be everybody) should be pleased. The only question is: how credible is it? Britain's net CO2 emissions were 161.5m tonnes in 1990. A 60% reduction therefore requires that UK emissions should go down by 96.9m tonnes by 2050, and that implies that emissions ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
US election: John McCain and Barack Obama get low ratings from US environmental group
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/17/uselections2008-greenissues
Guardian: Both John McCain and Barack Obama tout their green credentials on the campaign trail, but today their frequent absences from Congress doomed them to abysmal ratings on a leading US environmental group's annual scorecard. The League of Conservation Voters has ranked the environmental commitment of members of Congress for 37 years on its annual scorecards, which tally votes that legislators take on green issues. Missed votes detract from one's score, however, which proved bad news for ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
What is 'clean coal,' anyway?
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/10/17/what-is-clean-coal-anyway/
Christian Science Monitor: Call it a hat trick: The phrase 'clean coal' turned up in all three presidential debates, with both McCain and Obama supporting it. It turned up four times if you count the vice-presidential debate. And woe betide any politician who doesn`t appear to be in favor of it. Speaking Tuesday in Joe Biden`s hometown of Scranton, Pa., Sarah Palin blasted the Democratic vice-presidential candidate for telling an activist in Ohio last month that the Obama campaign doesn`t support clean coal. ...
Sat, 18 Oct 08
Arctic domino effect from global warming
http://www.barentsobserver.com/arctic-domino-effect-from-global-warming.4519557-16176.html
Barents Observer: Climate changes are shown more clearly in the Arctic than other places, because the Arctic is a very sensitive system where changes occur relatively fast and in dramatic ways. One change leads to a domino effect of multiple causes. Temperature increase, a near record loss of summer sea ice, and continuing melting of the surface ice on Greenland are important indicators of the dramatic temperature increase in the Arctic. Both within and beyond the Arctic, the implications of global ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi buys 20% of London offshore wind farm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/17/windpower-renewableenergy
Guardian: Abu Dhabi has taken a 20% stake in the London Array - the £3bn project to build the world's largest offshore wind farm in the Thames estuary. Masdar, part of Abu Dhabi's multibillion-pound drive to develop green energy technologies, is buying part of the 50% stake in the project held by the German-based utility E.ON. The link-up, which came as the government committed the UK to slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, was welcomed by the prime minister, Gordon ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Australian leader holds firm on climate change
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/17/business/AS-Australia-Climate-Change.php
Associated Press: World leaders must deal with the threat of global climate change despite the spreading "cancer" of the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Friday. Rudd backed the majority view that the 27-nation European Union reached in Brussels on Thursday that deep cuts must be made in greenhouse gas emissions despite slowing world economies. Ahead of a meeting with Australian business leaders in Sydney, Rudd told Sky Television the economic problems made it "tougher for ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Crisis may cut greenhouse emissions
http://news.theage.com.au/national/crisis-may-cut-greenhouse-emissions-20081017-52yi.html
AAP: The world economic crisis could have a silver lining - it might reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the short-term. But in the longer term the crisis is likely to exacerbate climate change as people put the economy ahead of the environment. Climate economist Frank Jotzo, from the Australian National University, says the financial meltdown will likely lead to less economic and export activity around the globe during the next few years. That means less electricity and ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Australia: Fight against climate change must continue: Rudd
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/17/2393847.htm?section=justin
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says worldwide action against climate change must continue despite the worsening global economic crisis. Overnight the EU agreed to maintain its pollution reduction goals but strong concerns over the reduction targets were voiced by some countries such as Poland and Italy. Mr Rudd says the crisis makes international negotiations over cutting pollution tougher but the global warming problem is not going away. "What I would say to leaders around ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Russia Doubts CO2 Market Can Fix Climate Change
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50638/story.htm
Reuters: Moscow doubts carbon trading can solve climate change because recent swings in stock and commodities prices show markets are unable to fix global problems, an official Russian document showed. The document, outlining Russian views on a new UN climate pact meant to be agreed in December 2009, also expressed scepticism about tough international targets for greenhouse gases and said any deal should not be "punitive" to violators. "Market approaches are one of (the) effective means ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Crisis Shows Urgency of Going Organic - Shiva
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50637/story.htm
Reuters: Indian physicist and environmental activist Vandana Shiva said the financial crisis showed it was high time for countries to rebuild local, diverse farms to become independent from global turmoil. "The lesson to be learned from the financial meltdown is that the world is at a tipping point," Shiva told Reuters at the Frankfurt Bookfair on Thursday, where she is promoting her new book "Soil not Oil". "When one thread rips somewhere its effect is felt around the world," said ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
East Europe Wins Special Treatment in Climate Fight
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50642/story.htm
Reuters: European leaders handed concessions to heavy industry and former communist nations on Thursday to smooth the path to a December agreement on fighting climate change amid economic turmoil. At a two-day summit overshadowed by tumbling stockmarkets and the threat of a punishing recession, leaders stuck to a tough December deadline and ambitious targets of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth by 2020. But a group of east European countries led by Poland claimed victory in ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Fuel Your Car With Coal? Less Likely Now
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50640/story.htm
Reuters: When crude oil was more than US$145 a barrel and investors were flush with cash, building plants to turn coal into liquid fuel for cars and trucks looked like a winning bet. But, as oil has fallen below US$70 a barrel amid a looming global recession and slowing fuel demand, plans to convert plentiful US coal supplies into liquid fuels look less certain. "Things have tightened up," said Bob Kelly, chairman of DKRW Energy LLC, which is eyeing a so-called coal-to-liquids, or CTL, ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
PC turn off specialist improves assessment tool accuracy
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228480/consultancy-improves-assessment
Business Green: PC turn off software specialist Living Life Green yesterday announced plans to enhance the reporting functionality of its Carbonwise energy management suite, so that collected carbon emission reduction data can be used to help firms qualify for future green tax breaks or incentives. The company said it will integrate standards-based carbon emission tracking software from AMEE into its CarbonWise package, which measures the energy use of PC networks and enbles firms to automatically ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Australia's Snowies braces for major climatic changes
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200810/s2394153.htm?tab=latest
Radio Australia: Big changes are forecast for the Snowy Mountains, in the state of New South Wales as climate change takes hold. A state government forum on climate change, has told south-east business leaders and local government representatives to be prepared for the effects of global warming, especially in the sensitive alpine areas. Experts say that average high and low temperatures could vary by up to three degrees by 2050. The state member for Monaro, Steve Whan, says this will ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Energy-Hungry Poland Eyes Nuclear Plants
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50639/story.htm
Reuters: Poland hopes to reduce its heavy reliance on coal, which produces harmful greenhouse gases, by building a few nuclear power plants by 2030, Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak said on Thursday. Pawlak's ministry is currently working on a new energy strategy designed to meet the Polish economy's booming demand for electricity and to modernise its communist-era power plants. "We are in consultations on a new energy policy for Poland up to the year 2030 and ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Merkel Says EU Sticks to December Climate Deadline
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50646/story.htm
Reuters: European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to stick to a December deadline for agreeing ambitious measures to fight climate change, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. She told reporters on leaving a two-day summit early that the leaders agreed the package must take account of each country's specific situation, which suited Germany as a major industrial power. "The discussion was about how we should of course implement the climate protection goals and to find solutions by the ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
UK commits to 80pc emissions cuts by 2050
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/17/2394067.htm?section=justin
Reuters: Britain has committed itself to the most ambitious greenhouse gas emissions cuts in the world. Energy and Climate Minister Ed Miliband says the Government is raising its target from a 60 per cent cut to 80 per cent by the year 2050. Mr Miliband says the global financial crisis should not be used as a justification to shelve climate change initiatives. "In tough economic times, some people will ask whether we should retreat from our climate change objectives," he ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Vietnam Calls For International Support In Coping With Climate Change
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=365193
Bernama: Vietnam's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat called for international support in dealing with the effects of climate change at a meeting to mark World Food Day held in Hanoi on Thursday, Vietnam news agency (VNA) reported. Though being able to ensure food security and exporting 4 million tonnes of rice a year, Vietnam is facing huge challenges as a result of climate change, with the coastal region one of its most vulnerable, Minister Phat said. Although ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Arctic air temperatures climb to record levels
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49F9OE20081016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Fall air temperatures have climbed to record levels in the Arctic due to major losses of sea ice as the region suffers more effects from a warming trend dating back decades, a report released on Thursday showed. The annual report issued by researchers at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other experts is the latest to paint a dire picture of the impact of climate change in the Arctic. It found that fall air temperatures are at a record 9 degrees ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Britain says to cut emissions 80 percent by 2050
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49F55W20081016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Britain will adopt a more severe target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, increasing this to 80 percent from 60 percent, newly installed Energy and Climate Minister Ed Miliband said Thursday. The move came against the grain of intense industry lobbying to dilute an ambitious European Union climate change program, including tough carbon caps, at a meeting of EU leaders on Thursday. Business lobby groups argue that cutting carbon emissions will add to fuel bills, but ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
EU 'holds firm' on climate goals
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7673684.stm
BBC: EU leaders will maintain their targets and timetable for tackling climate change, despite objections from some nations, the French president has said. At a summit in Brussels, Nicolas Sarkozy said "solutions" would be found for those that had expressed concerns. Some countries have threatened to block a deal agreed last year for EU-wide cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, citing the economic slowdown. The split over climate change contrasts with EU unity over the banking ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
EU leaders split on costs of meeting climate change targets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/16/climatechange-carbonemissions
Associated Press: European Union leaders agreed today to stick to ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020, but divisions over how to share the cuts were widened by fears over the impact of the financial crisis. Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, threatened to veto the plan unless changes were made to lessen the burden on Italian industry. "Our companies are in no state to take on costs like those we thought about last year," Berlusconi told reporters. And the leaders of ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
EU to keep "cost-effective" climate plan deadline
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49F1N120081016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European Union leaders were set to reaffirm a December deadline for agreeing bold plans to fight climate change but vow to make them cost-effective in view of the financial crisis, a draft statement showed on Thursday. "The European Council confirms its determination to honor the ambitious commitments it has made on climate and energy policy," said the draft circulated to leaders ahead of the final session of a two-day summit, and obtained by Reuters. "In this connection, it ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
EU, Kyoto carbon trading link "up and running"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49F2DU20081016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A link between European Union and Kyoto Protocol carbon trading schemes will allow EU companies to pay developing countries for cheap greenhouse gases emissions permits from Thursday, EU officials said. The Kyoto and EU schemes form the hub of a global carbon market expected to exceed $100 billion in trades this year. The long-awaited link will cut the cost for European industry to comply with an ambitious EU climate program, which some industry groups want watered down after ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Government commits to 80 per cent carbon emission cut
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228441/government-commits-80-per-cent
Business Green: The government has today announced it will introduce legally binding targets in the forthcoming climate change bill that would require the UK to cut its carbon emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050. The original version of the bill would have committed the UK to delivering a 60 per cent cut, but climate scientists have become increasingly concerned that such a reduction in emissions would not be sufficient to avoid dangerous levels of climate change. The government's ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
New energy economy is emerging in the United States
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3402
People and Planet: As fossil fuel prices rise (irrespective of short-term fluctuations), as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging in the United States. The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not have imagined even a year ago. Consider Texas. Long ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Canada: OIL SANDS-PART 1: Showdown at Ft. McMoney
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44299
Inter Press Service: The sun rises in a bright, red line over flat land, small lakes, boreal forest and peat bogs as our small double engine plane bumps through early morning turbulence between Edmonton and Ft. McMurray, Canada. With more than 173 billion barrels of oil recoverable with current technology and more than 100 billion dollars in committed capital investment, the Alberta tar sands around Ft. McMurray are considered the largest industrial project on earth. Unlike conventional crude, oil here ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Protesters disrupt European biofuels summit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/16/activists-biofuels
Guardian: Europe's largest conference on biofuels was brought to a halt this morning when environmental activists invaded the main hall and accused the industry of destroying rainforests, evicting communities, and increasing hunger and climate change around the world. As six protesters from a group calling itself Action against Agrofuels climbed into the rafters of the main conference hall in Newark, Nottinghamshire, other activists at the European Biofuels Expo set off rape alarms inside the ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
The EU has 10 weeks to broker a deal on climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/16/carbon-emissions-climate-change-eu
Guardian: Europe's leaders know where they want to be when it comes to tackling global warming. The problem is they don't know how to get there. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, running a two-day summit of EU leaders which ended in Brussels today, hoped to propel Europe towards a December deal. Instead, he has set the stage for a Christmas showdown. It's the 20/20/20 vision, as they say in Brussels when referring to the aim and the deadline. The idea, according to the programme ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Tougher climate target unveiled
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7673748.stm
BBC: The government has committed the UK to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the middle of this century. Climate Change and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the current 60% target would be replaced by a higher goal. He told MPs the government would not "row back" on green issues in the light of the current economic crisis. He also warned the big energy companies they face a crackdown on "unfair" pricing policies in his first statement as head of the new ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
U.S. solar field foresees cost parity with coal, gas
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49F7OH20081016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. producers of solar power will no longer need federal subsidies within eight years because by then solar power will cost less than electricity generated by conventional power plants, industry players said this week. The U.S. government recently extended tax breaks for wind and solar producers for another eight years. They are set to expire in 2016. Solar power, which contributes less than 1 percent of U.S. electricity generation, has been growing rapidly in the United ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
80 per cent - the reaction
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228463/80-per-cent-reaction
Business Green: Today's commitment from the government to increase its legally-binding target for cutting UK emissions from 60 to 80 per cent, prompted a mixed reaction from green groups who welcomed the new goal but argued more detail was required on how the government plans to deliver such large scale emission reductions. Responding to Ed Miliband's confirmation the government will increase emission reduction targets in line with the recommendations of the climate change committee, WWF chief ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Acidifying oceans
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/38419
Environmental News Network: James Zachos fishes around his desk and pulls outa plastic bag filled with chunks of deep-sea sediments. The sediments, wrested from the South Atlantic in 2003, are 55.5 million years old and 'deep red in color because they are almost entirely clay. Missing is the abundance of shelly residue that gives abyssal sediments their typically pallid complexions. "This is what you end up with when the ocean is being acidified," the University of California, Santa Cruz, paleo-oceanographer ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Australia, China share renewable energy ideas
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/17/2393859.htm?section=business
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The chairman of the Australia-China Council says secrecy no longer exists between scientists from the two countries. An Australia-China symposium is being held on Queensland's Gold Coast and is looking at better ways to build stronger links in the development of clean coal technology and renewable energy. Professor Mark Wainwright says both nations want to share their ideas. "Perhaps there may have been some [secrecy some] time ago, but in the last decade I haven't seen ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
EU green goals stay despite economic gloom
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/16/eu.climate.ap/?iref=mpstoryview
Associated Press: European Union leaders agreed Thursday to stick to their ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gases despite concern about the impact on industries already struggling with the global market meltdown. "The objectives remain unchanged, the calendar remains the same," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a news conference at the end of the two-day summit. "The deadline on climate change is so important that we cannot use the financial and economic crisis as a pretext for dropping ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
EU set to backtrack on emissions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7673411.stm
BBC: EU leaders look set to give way to demands to water down the bloc's ambitious climate change plans. Countries like Poland and Italy have threatened to block a package agreed last year for deep EU-wide cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. But, on the final day of a summit in Brussels, leaders were preparing to reword the pact, giving "regard to each member state's specific situation". The split over climate change contrasts with the unity over the banking crisis. All ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
EU upholds climate plan despite financial turmoil
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/10/16/eu-climate.html
CBC: Europe's financial market crisis will not interfere with an expensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the continent, leaders of the EU pledged Thursday. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, centre, looks on as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso speaks at the close of an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. (Michel Euler/Associated Press) French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the 27-country European Union, said ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
EU vows "cost-effective" climate plan amid crisis
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49F39L20081016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European Union leaders planned on Thursday to appease critics of the bloc's bold plans to fight climate change amid economic turmoil with concessions to heavy industry and former communist nations. But they were set to reaffirm a December deadline and stick to their ambitious targets of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth by 2020 at a summit overshadowed by tumbling stock markets and the threat of a punishing recession. "The European Council confirms its determination ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Government pledges to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/16/greenpolitics-edmiliband
Guardian: The government today committed the UK to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 80% by the middle of the century in a bid to tackle climate change. In a move that was widely welcomed by environmental campaigners, Ed Miliband, the new energy and climate change secretary, said that the current 60% target would be replaced by the higher goal in the climate change bill. Miliband told MPs that the tough economic conditions were not an excuse to "row back" on the commitment to tackle ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Greenpeace: Climate change threatens China's food safety
http://www.enn.com/lifestyle/article/38421
China Daily: China is likely to face inadequate food supply by 2030 if the current climate change trend continues, warns a new Greenpeace report released Wednesday. If the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) continues to be high, the impact of climate change - including rise in temperature, loss of arable land, shortage of water and extreme weather - could reduce China's overall food production by 23 percent by 2050, the report said. "China's agriculture sector is already suffering from the ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Himalayan pollution 'could impact monsoon cycle'
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/himalayan-pollution-could-impact-monsoon-cycle-.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Researchers have shown that pollution from China, India, Nepal and Pakistan can reach altitudes of over 5,000 metres in the Himalayas, contributing to the warming of the atmosphere and potentially affecting the South-East Asian monsoon cycle. They also found that new aerosol particles -- ultrafine particles suspended in the atmosphere -- can form at these heights. The French--Italian team, whose findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Miliband hints at adoption of stronger emission targets
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228389/miliband-hints-adoption
Business Green: The new energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband has hinted that he will accept a recommendation from the climate change committee to increase Britain's emissions reduction targets from 60 per cent to 80 per cent by 2050. Earlier this month, Lord Adair Turner produced a report saying the government should upgrade the carbon emission reduction targets in the climate change bill, after he was asked to look at the feasibility of increasing targets by prime minister Gordon ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Off-grid data centre powered by tidal energy planned for Scotland
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/16/waveandtidalpower-renewableenergy
Guardian: A plan to build a large, off-grid computer data centre in Scotland, powered directly by tidal energy, is set to be announced by the US investment bank Morgan Stanley. The scheme sidesteps one of the biggest barriers to installing renewable energy -- the long wait for connection to the national grid. It also addresses the need to find low-carbon ways of powering fast-expanding and power-hungry data centres which house large arrays of servers. The data centre will be located in ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Poland says EU to use unanimity for climate plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49F53T20081016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to use unanimity rather than majority voting to take the final decision on adopting ambitious climate change measures, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. The legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy sources would normally be adopted by qualified majority voting under EU procedure when member states and the European Parliament are co-legislators. Poland had threatened to veto a December deadline for ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Scientists to probe Antarctica for sea rise clues
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49F2MS20081016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The scientists, including from the University of Edinburgh and working with the British Antarctic Survey, will drill into the ice and use radars on the Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic peninsula, the nearest part to South America. A chunk of the shelf, Larsen A, broke off in 1995 and another part, Larsen B, in 2002. The remaining Larsen C is about 10 times larger -- about the size of Scotland. "Scientists are to survey a fragile Antarctic ice shelf to determine what effect ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
Solar power industry a bright light amid economic gloom
http://www.enn.com/energy/article/38427
Statesman: Not this week. As part of the Solar Power International conference here, big businesses such as equipment maker Applied Materials Inc. and solar cell manufacturer SunPower Corp. rented out bars and restaurants and shut down the streets to serve up free drinks and food to executives who partied through the night. "It's amazing, the euphoria in the industry right now," Victoria Hollick, vice president of Conserval Engineering Inc., said as a disc jockey played songs like "Good Times" ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
SunPower net income triples on strong demand
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49F4SX20081016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: SunPower Corp on Thursday said quarterly net income nearly tripled on strong sales of components for solar power systems, sending its shares up 10 percent. The U.S. solar company also raised its full-year profit forecast slightly. Shares of SunPower, which makes the highest-efficiency silicon solar cells and modules, have been pummeled in recent weeks on fears that the global financial crisis will temper demand in the high-flying renewable energy sector. On Thursday, ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
When it comes to forest soil, wildfires pack 1-2 punch
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/38426
Environmental News Network: For decades, scientists and resource managers have known that wildfires affect forest soils, evidenced, in part, by the erosion that often occurs after a fire kills vegetation and disrupts soil structure. But, the lack of detailed knowledge of forest soils before they are burned by wildfire has hampered efforts to understand fire's effects on soil fertility and forest ecology. A new study led by the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station addresses this critical information gap and ...
Fri, 17 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Climate change targets: 'Bold and courageous' or just more hot air?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/10/17/dl1701.xml
Telegraph: In view of the uncertainty over the future direction of the British and the world economies, the timing of Ed Miliband's announcement of new "green" targets was odd to say the least. The younger brother of the Foreign Secretary was only recently installed in the new post of Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. It might have been imagined that he would take stock of the extraordinary turmoil in the financial world before committing the country to further environmental measures. ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Target to cut carbon emissions may be increased as Miliband insists climate change is priority
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/16/11
Guardian: The new energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband yesterday hinted he will today accept proposals from Lord Turner's climate change committee to increase Britain's target to cut carbon emissions from 60% to 80% by 2050. In his first interview since appointed secretary of state at the new Department for Energy and Climate change, Miliband insisted there would be no retreat from the government's climate change agenda in the face of the coming recession. While refusing to be ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Affluent districts stamp carbon footprint on the rest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/oct/16/local-government-councils-carbon-footprint
Guardian: Despite the current financial crisis turning attention away from sustainable development issues, the urgency of climate change makes the green agenda ever more pressing. As the EU council prepares to meet in Luxembourg later this week to discuss targets for greenhouse gas emissions cuts for 2020, it is a good time to take a closer look at the contribution of British communities to climate change. A snapshot of local authorities' per capita carbon footprint by Local Futures draws on ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
EU climate deal unravelling - fears
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iqoOBPgBAJ7JE_qFK-fZF5ttyq6w
Press Association: Europe's climate change ambitions are at risk of unravelling amid the fall-out from the global credit crunch. As pressure mounted on government finances across the EU, Italy and Poland called for tough - and expensive - environmental targets to be dropped. The threat came at an EU summit after Gordon Brown had won full backing for sweeping new plans to reshape the international financial order. The Prime Minister's standing on the world stage was boosted once again when ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Decision expected on emissions goal
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5itX5Jycw04jgsH00FWVpnixSSSFg
Press Association: The Government is expected to announce whether it accepts recommendations that the UK should cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by mid-century. The new Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband will respond to the climate change committee's advice to toughen up the 2050 target as part of a statement to the Commons. The Government-appointed committee, chaired by Lord Turner, recommended last week that the UK should commit to an 80% reduction on 1990 levels for all ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Garnaut says world financial crisis may delay climate change progress
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Garnaut-says-world-financial-crisis-may-delay-clim-KG4AL?OpenDocument
Business Spectator: Federal government climate change adviser Ross Garnaut has admitted the world financial crisis could delay progress towards climate change, but says the issue needs urgent attention. Speaking in Melbourne at the launch of The Garnaut Climate Change Review, Professor Garnaut said the world had failed to galvanise around climate change in the same coordinated way as had occurred over the credit crisis in recent weeks, because the two issues had different timespans. Professor ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Norway's REC Says Solar Not Immune to Crisis
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/50631/story.htm
Reuters: Renewable Energy Corp's business is holding up for now, but it "would be naive" to think that the fast-growing solar industry will not be affected by the global financial crisis, its chief operating officer said on Wednesday. "We have not to date received any cancellations or postponements of shipments or orders, but it would be naive to think the (photovoltaic) industry would not be affected," REC COO John Andersen said in an interview. Solar panel companies need access to ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Army of loft insulators to cut gas bills and tackle climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/15/economy-greenpolitics
Guardian: An army of loft insulators and draught-proofers is to be released on to the streets of Britain as Gordon Brown combines his fight against climate change with the need to provide jobs in an economic downturn. In an echo of the New Deal, launched by the US president Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the prime minister said that a new employment scheme would train thousands of loft insulators. Speaking in Brussels at the EU summit, Brown expressed his ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
EU car nations close to agreeing slower CO2 curbs
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49E81P20081015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Italy is close to backing a French plan to phase in European Union curbs on greenhouse gas emissions from cars by 2015, leading to a united front among car-making nations, sources in the talks said on Wednesday. The deal would delay full introduction of the executive European Commission's proposed limits by three years and lower the punishment for non-compliance, angering environmental campaigners. The Commission proposed legally binding cuts on carbon dioxide output from cars ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
EU leaders guard economies in climate battle
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49E7HQ20081015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European Union leaders vowed to maintain ambitious targets to battle climate change despite the economic crisis, saying green industries would drive growth, deliver new jobs and protect against oil shocks. Wednesday's meeting in Brussels had been expected to focus on how the EU would reach its goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020, but was overtaken by failing banks, plunging stock markets and warnings of recession. The 27-nation bloc hopes to lead the ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
EU Members Changing Their Mind
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44283
Inter Press Service: Plans by the European Union to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by one-fifth encountered serious difficulties this week as some of the bloc's governments deemed the measures too costly. Although leaders from all of the EU's 27 countries committed themselves last year to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released by their economies by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, the turbulence that has beset the world economy in the interim has prompted some of them to rethink the ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Fast growing India faces ecological crunch
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3399
People and Planet: As the world grapples with the escalating effects of the financial crisis, ecologists are pointing to another mounting – and unsecured – debt: a growing gap in India between the amount of natural resources the country uses and how much it has. India now demands the biocapacity of two Indias to provide for its consumption and absorb its wastes, according to a report released by Global Footprint Network and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The report, was presented this week ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Forest, Wildlife Protection Pledged at World Conservation Congress
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2008/2008-10-14-01.asp
Environment News Service: The cost of biodiversity loss is greater than that of the world's current financial problems and in many cases, the loss of species is irreparable, said the International Union for Conservation of Nature today at the close of its 10 day World Conservation Congress. "We're showing how saving nature must be an integral part of the solution for any world crisis," said IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefevre. ""The clear message coming out of this meeting is that biodiversity underpins ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Going Beyond Climate Change
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44270
Inter Press Service: While the financial mayhem continues to draw the headlines, the cost of persistent biodiversity loss has yet to be established. But it is believed to be bigger than that of the meltdown, and in many cases also irreparable. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) now plans to gather incontrovertible evidence on the value of preserving biodiversity and the cost of losing it. The world's oldest and largest global environmental network will task its scientific ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Poland threatens veto of EU climate deal deadline
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49E6GO20081015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Poland threatened on Wednesday to veto a December deadline for adopting ambitious European Union legislation to fight climate change unless changes are made to shield the coal-based Polish economy from the impact. Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Reuters: "It is a difficult poker game in which Poland is ready to present its veto if there are attempts to force us into agreement on the climate package next month. We cannot agree to that." Although the legislation can be ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
'Black silicon' boosts solar cell efficiency
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/15/alternativeenergy
Guardian: An ultra-sensitive form of the silicon used in most solar panels may soon help to harness the near limitless power of the sun. Thanks to an extremely rough surface, "black silicon" can absorb more light and can also trap a wider range of frequencies, including infra-red rays, that normally pass straight through standard silicon. Eric Mazur, a physicist at Harvard University, discovered black silicon by accident in his laboratory in 1998 when one of his research team blasted normal ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Adonis hints UK is wavering on biofuel targets
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228255/adonis-indicates-uk-push-back
Business Green: The government has indicated it could scale back biofuel adoption targets, in response to continued concern that soaring demand for plant-derived fuels is having an adverse effect on biodiversity and food prices worldwide. Transport minister Lord Adonis today formally accepted the recommendations of the Gallagher Review and proposed that the government's biofuel targets should be delayed so that biofuels make up five per cent of transport fuel used in the UK by 2013-14, rather than ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Climate concern as EU meets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7670814.stm
BBC: Green groups are fearful that a summit opening in Brussels will see attempts to dilute the EU's climate and energy package because of the economic crisis. Multi-billion-euro bank rescue schemes are due to dominate the two-day meeting of EU leaders but they will also discuss the climate change package. The EU's environment commissioner has told the BBC that the target of a 20% cut in emissions by 2020 still stands. But states may be able to trade away part of their ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Energy-Saving Windows A Legacy Of '70s Oil Crisis
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95309739&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: You may have noticed that clear-glass buildings are springing up in cities across the United States. The reason dates back to some 1970s-era research designed to make windows more energy-efficient. In fact, this line of research turns out to be one of the biggest success stories to come out of the last energy crisis -- and there are lessons to be learned, as America once again ramps up its energy research. Glass Towers The technology is called low-emissivity window ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
EU climate pact in crisis ahead of summit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/15/climatechange-carbonemissions
Guardian: French attempts to craft a global warming pact to make the EU a world leader in tackling climate change are gridlocked, with governments unable to agree on how to share the pain and costs of slashing greenhouse gases by 20% within 12 years. A European summit tonight in Brussels will fail to agree on the means to the end of meeting the EU's ambitious targets, warned diplomats and officials. The deal has to be struck by the end of the year for the package, which was agreed ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Fears mount as EU climate talks hit deadlock
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228264/fears-mount-eu-climate-talks
Business Green: Fears are mounting that the implementation of the EU's flagship climate change package could be delayed beyond the end of the year, after it emerged that member states are at loggerheads over almost every aspect of the legislative programme. Despite last year agreeing unanimously to targets that would require the EU to cut carbon emissions by 20 per cent and source 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020, member states are now split on how the costs of meeting the targets ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Financial crisis must not overshadow climate crisis
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=147921
WWF: WWF has launched an appeal to the French Presidency of the European Union and to all European governments not to let the financial crisis undermine the need to reach an agreement on a solid package of measures to address climate change before the end of the year. At the European Council meeting taking place in Brussels on 15-16 October 2008, and in relation to the "EU climate and energy package", the European Council will discuss the controversial issue of the potential impact of the ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Global carbon price set to soar
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228269/carbon-price-set-soar
Business Green: New research from analyst firm New Carbon Finance suggests that the average price of carbon on the world's carbon markets will soar to $49 (£28) a tonne over the next 12 years. The EU is expected to lead the gains, with the price of credits in its emissions trading scheme more than doubling from an expected average of $39 during the current trading period up to 2012 to $97 by 2020. Similarly, large-scale price hikes are also predicted for planned carbon markets in North ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Greenpeace hails Apple's green laptops
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228296/apple-launches-world-greenest
Business Green: Computer giant Apple yesterday launched what it claims are the greenest laptops ever produced, securing praise from former critic Greenpeace. The seven new MacBook models all adhere to Energy Star 4.0 energy efficiency standards, are fully compliant with the EU's Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, and have attained a gold ranking in the US Green Electronics Council's EPEAT rating system. They also all feature a new LED-backlit display that contains no ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Plight Of The Penguins
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/38416
WWF: Half to three-quarters of major Antarctic penguin colonies -- including the iconic Emperor Penguin, which was made famous by the blockbuster hitMarch of the Penguins-- will likely experience significant decline or disappearance as a result of climate change, according to a new report from World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The findings follow a massive rescue operation on Tuesday in which hundreds of temperate penguins that mysteriously turned up on warm Brazilian beaches -- possibly due to ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Safeguarding forests could halve cost of fixing climate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/15/climate-change-deforestation
Guardian: Consider two propositions. First, avoiding climate catastrophe could require cuts in carbon emissions of as much as 80%. Second, deforestation accounts for 17% of the total. The upshot is obvious. Unless we somehow safeguard the forests, the carbon savings needed elsewhere could entail virtually shutting down the fossil fuel economy. Yesterday a government-commissioned review by the businessman Johan Eliasch spelled out this steely logic. It made an overpowering financial case for investing ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Voluntary carbon offsetting not yet crisis victim
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49E6PM20081015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Battling climate change is so important to the image of many companies, and so cheap, that carbon offsetting is unlikely to be an early casualty of the financial crisis, delegates at a London conference said. Carbon offsetting entails paying someone else to cut greenhouse gas emissions. It has become increasingly popular despite criticism it is simply a means to pay to avoid taking significant action against global warming. This voluntary market could be vulnerable to budget ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
World Conservation Congress urges CO2 cuts
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3400
People and Planet: An international meeting of governments, scientists and conservationists has called for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and said financial turmoil must not sideline work to safeguard animals and plants. Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director-General. Photo: IUCN/Group J. Muntaner "The clear message coming out of this meeting is that biodiversity underpins the well-being of human societies and their economies," said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, head of the International Union for ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Australia: Climate report won't harm environment
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24500345-5009760,00.html?from=public_rss
News.com.au: THE 680-page final report on the impact of Australia of climate change will be published tomorrow - after its publishers paid for carbon credits to make up for the environmental damage caused by printing it in the first place. Professor Ross Garnaut's report, released online last month but largely overlooked by media coverage which was instead focusing on that day's Wall St meltdown, spells out how climate change will affect this country and what can be done about it. At its ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Environment officials meet in Warsaw to address climate change
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/38413
Xinhua: Environment ministers and officials from more than 30 countries held an informal meeting in the Polish capital this week to prepare for a major UN climate conference. Progress in battling climate change, long-term climate strategies and the impact of the current economic crisis on climate protection were among the themes of the meeting organized in preparation for the forthcoming climate summit in Poland, Polish news agency PAP reported on Tuesday. Poland is preparing to host ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Italy business warns EU on CO2, climate goals
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49E2VM20081015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European Union plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions could cause economic damage because they are so costly, Italian industrial leaders said in comments published on Wednesday. Their remarks followed an appeal to EU leaders by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso not to sacrifice the fight against climate change to the urgent economic problems thrown up by the global financial crisis. The EU has set goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
United States: Mixed reaction to state air board's plans for cutting emissions
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/15/MN3L13HNUJ.DTL&tsp=1
San Francisco Chronicle: California regulators, following the lead of Bay Area air quality managers, will impose fees on the state's worst air polluters as part of a bold proposal to slash emissions to 1990 levels. The fees, along with green technology job training and a "cap and trade" system outlined today by the California Air Resources Board, would vault the state ahead of federal efforts to curb climate-changing greenhouse gases. The plan is "recognition of the severity of the problem and ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Oil puts Brazil on collision course with future
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/38411
Japan Times: Brazil is poised to take its place among the world's petro-powers. Estimates of its newfound oil reserves place it in eighth place among oil-producing nations, ahead of Nigeria as well as Brazil's rival for influence in Latin America, Venezuela. Such newfound wealth is normally a source of celebration. But Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, perhaps fearing the infamous "resource curse" that has blighted the development of so many countries blessed with mineral wealth, is ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Recession will cut EU carbon costs: Deutsche
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49E47L20081015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Industrial carbon emissions will fall faster in Europe as result of a coming recession, cutting the demand for and price of emissions permits under the European Union's emissions trading scheme, said Deutsche Bank analysts. Lower carbon prices may hand an unexpected boost for politicians and green groups urging industry and bankers not to back down in the fight against climate change. Recession will cut industrial carbon dioxide emissions by about 100 million tonnes in 2009 ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
There must be no backpedalling on EU policies to help the environment
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/15/eu-climatechange
Guardian: In March 2007, European leaders embarked on the most far-reaching and ambitious EU policy undertaken since the launch of the euro. They not only agreed on a 20% target for overall emissions reduction by 2020, but – crucially – binding targets for 20% of all energy to be sourced from renewables, and for 10% of transport fuels to come from biofuels. Now, with full-blown recession in Europe a serious possibility, politicians are getting cold feet. It's not hard to see why. The ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
UN: Crisis Must Not Stop Climate Change Action
http://www.sanfernandosun.com/sanfernsun/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2828&Itemid=1
San Fernando Valley Sun: Environment ministers agreed Tuesday that the world financial crisis must not halt efforts to combat global warming, a top United Nations climate official said. Officials from the U.S., China, Canada, India, the European Union and more than 30 other countries met for two days of informal talks in Warsaw ahead of a climate conference in December. "There was a very strong consensus that the current financial turmoil should not be an excuse to slow down action on climate change," ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Vietnam says to have five biofuel plants by 2010
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49E3JH20081015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Vietnam plans to complete five biofuel plants by 2010 to meet a tiny part of domestic demand for petrol and diesel, the government said. The plants will churn out a combined 100,000 tonnes of ethanol 5 percent gasoline (E5) and 50,000 tonnes of biodiesel 5 percent (B5) per year to meet 0.4 percent of national demand, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Van Lang said in a report. The plants will use cassava and sugarcane as feedstock. Lang said the government ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Clean tech bigger than biotech, software, and Greece
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228137/clean-tech-bigger-biotech
Business Green: Companies dedicated to tackling climate change are now worth more than the entire economy of Greece, according to a new study from HSBC released yesterday. The research from HSBC's Global Banking and Markets research arm found that globally cleantech firms boast combined market capitalisations of $300bn, making the sector bigger than the software and biotech sectors combined. "It seems amazing but companies that are deriving profits from addressing climate change are now worth ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Climate deal seen helping overcome financial crisis
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20081014/twl-environment-us-financial-climate1-1202b49.html
Reuters: Tackling climate change will help, not hinder, governments' efforts to overcome the global financial crisis, the EU's environment chief said on Tuesday. Skip related content The 27-nation European Union has set ambitious goals to curb carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, partly by making power generators and heavy industry pay for permits to pollute in its emissions trading scheme. Critics say the financial crisis makes it very difficult for ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
EU chief urges leaders not to ditch climate goals
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081014/tts-eu-chief-urges-leaders-not-to-ditch-04d4001.html
Agence France-Presse: EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso urged European leaders on Tuesday, the eve of an EU summit, not to use the financial crisis as an excuse to downgrade their commitments to tackling climate change. "This is not a luxury we now have to forego," in economically troubled times, Barroso told reporters in Brussels. "Climate change does not disappear because of the financial crisis. Tackling climate change is central to Europe's future prosperity and to preserve the quality of ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Global fund 'could pay owners to keep rainforests safe'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/14/greenpolitics-climatechange
Guardian: A revolutionary multibillion-pound fund should be set up to pay the owners of the world's rainforests not to cut them down, a report to the prime minister will say today. The report by special adviser John Eliasch says the scheme would be a comparatively cheap way to reduce climate change emissions and would also inject vital funds into developing countries to help alleviate poverty. The report says that a global carbon market could pay the tropical rainforests' owners, or people ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Money doesn't grow on trees
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/14/forests-carbonemissions
Guardian: Today's report from Johan Eliasch on the measures needed to save the tropical rainforests demonstrates how we have reached an important watershed in a key environmental debate that has raged on for more than two decades. I came to this issue in 1990, when I took on the role of running Friends of the Earth's tropical rainforest campaign. Back then the focus was on development projects such as dams and roads, the international commerce in tropical hardwoods and the land rights of ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Pay-to-protect forest plan gets cautious welcome
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/14/forests-conservation
Guardian: A proposal for a giant global fund to pay the owners of the world's forests not to cut them down has received a guarded welcome from environmental groups. They warn of the risks of giving rich nations a cheaper alternative to cutting their own greenhouse gas emissions and to the human rights of the tens of millions of people who live in or who depend on forests for their livelihoods. The independent report, revealed by the Guardian, was written for the prime minister, Gordon Brown, ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
This stock collapse is petty when compared to the nature crunch
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/14/climatechange-marketturmoil
Guardian: This is nothing. Well, nothing by comparison to what's coming. The financial crisis for which we must now pay so heavily prefigures the real collapse, when humanity bumps against its ecological limits. As we goggle at the fluttering financial figures, a different set of numbers passes us by. On Friday, Pavan Sukhdev, the Deutsche Bank economist leading a European study on ecosystems, reported that we are losing natural capital worth between $2 trillion and $5 trillion every year as a ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Bleak warning that UK fish face extinction
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/14/fishing-conservation
Guardian: A hidden catastrophe is unfolding off the coasts of Britain which could leave our seas filled with only algae and jellyfish, a leading conservation organisation warns today. The Marine Conservation Society says severe overfishing is the biggest environmental threat facing Britain and is having a profound effect on marine ecosystems. The warning comes in Silent Seas, a report released as the government prepares its marine bill for parliament. The report comes the day after the ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Build UK wind farms near land to cut costs: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49D3QM20081014?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Britain will fall woefully short of its own renewable energy targets unless the government allows wind farms to be built closer to shore, the Carbon Trust said in a report on Tuesday. Only a quarter of the wind power capacity Britain needs to meet its target of getting 15 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020 will be built unless controls on offshore turbines are relaxed to cut costs. The report "Offshore wind: big challenge, big opportunity" also calls on the ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
China: China plans string of dams in south Tibet
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/14/china-tibet
Guardian: China is planning to build a string of new dams in southern Tibet to boost its electricity supply, the region's chief of water resources told the Guardian. Hundreds of millions of people across Asia depend on rivers that originate in Tibet, and previous hydroelectric proposals have proved controversial because of their impact on the environment, local people and communities downstream. But officials in Lhasa argue the dams are the least damaging way of providing power and ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Don't let crisis push climate off agenda: Barroso
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49D4U120081014?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The head of the European Commission appealed to EU leaders on Tuesday not to sacrifice the fight against climate change to the urgent economic problems thrown up by the global financial crisis. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the credit crunch was no reason to go back on ambitious EU plans to combat global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cutting energy consumption and promoting alternative energy sources. "This is not a luxury we now have to forego. ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Existing homes 'should cut CO2 by 80%'
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15452
Edie: Homeowners should be given more help to make their homes low carbon Government should create a clear long-term plan for low-carbon homes and commit to at least an 80% cut in CO2 emissions from UK households by 2050. Those are among the major recommendations of a report published by the UK Green Building Council (UK- GBC) on Monday following a summer of consultation. The Low Carbon Existing Homes report said that a lack of a "coherent long-term plan" from Government has ...
Thu, 16 Oct 08
Financial crisis must not slow talks on CO2 emissions: UN
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081014/tsc-financial-crisis-must-not-slow-talks-f86fa4c.html
Agence France-Presse: The financial crisis cannot slow negotiations on a future accord to fight climate change or derail the process, United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer said here Tuesday. "We can't afford to let the process slip," de Boer told AFP on the sidelines of an environment ministers' meeting in Warsaw paving the way for a UN climate change conference in Poznan, western Poland, in December. "The ministers were very clear that the financial crisis should not be an excuse to slow down ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
Rich countries to keep up climate funds: World Bank
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49D8PP20081014?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Despite the current global financial storm, rich countries are resolved to keep up funding to help developing nations combat climate change, a top World Bank environment official said on Tuesday. Countries that have pledged to donate a total of $6.1 billion to the bank's newly created Climate Investment Funds are "very resolute," said Kathy Sierra, the international lending organization's vice president for sustainable development. "They are going to continue to support these ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
Australia: Climate action still a priority - Wong
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24493674-5009760,00.html?from=public_rss
AAP: THE global financial crisis does not reduce the need to respond to climate change, the Federal Government says. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, in Poland for talks ahead of a key UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, says the crisis will be factored into the design of a future emissions trading scheme. The Government was also very aware of the desire of many business leaders for certainty and clarity, she said. Ministers attending the Poland meeting have ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
Kyoto 'a waste of time' say half of Australians
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24491822-5009760,00.html?from=public_rss
News.com.au: ALMOST half of Australians believe the signing of the Kyoto Protocol - a cornerstone of Kevin Rudd's election campaign - was a waste of time. A whopping 73 per cent of respondents to a news.com.au survey, conducted by CoreData, also said the Rudd Government was not doing enough or could be doing more to combat climate change. Interactive: Live snapshot of the health of the planet Pictures: Climate change - its deadly toll on Earth Mr Rudd's much-lauded ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Brown's plan to save rainforests
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7666516.stm
BBC: A new global deal to protect the world's rainforests has been proposed in a report drawn up for Gordon Brown. The idea is part of a review into deforestation and green energy by Swedish businessman Johan Eliasch. The ex-Tory donor says cash put aside for carbon saving in rich countries should be transferred to nations with rainforests in need of protection. Rainforest destruction accounts for about a fifth of the carbon emissions blamed for fuelling climate ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
United States: Forests, fish and skiers have place in drought plans
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2008/10/12/news/denver_bureau/doc48f187cc381ab122676862.txt
Pueblo Chieftan: Colorado's forests, already under siege from pine beetles, fire and mismanagement, could fare worse with climate change. Federal stewards don't want to see that happen. "Forests serve as a natural sponge that absorbs, stores and slowly releases water to the rivers," said Tony Dixon, regional deputy forester with the U.S. Forest Service. "If you have no forests, you have no rivers. They are like water towers and they are under siege." While most think of the Forest ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
How Climate Change Will Impact Animals
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1849698,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics
Time Magazine: The threats to wildlife on the African island of Madagascar are manifold: rampant deforestation that has stripped most of the island of its original forest cover, leaving a wasteland; a human population that is growing at 3% a year, straining natural resources and hunting animals for food, especially Madagascar's emblematic lemurs; extractive industry, including a nickel mine not far from a national park that could become the world's biggest. There's another danger that's invisible, ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
How Does Climate Change Affect The Water Cycle?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081013143031.htm
ScienceDaily: Climate change is having an impact on the water cycle, raising the issue of whether we should be investing in adapting to these impacts or focusing on more pressing water resource issues, such as providing water and sanitation for increasing populations? If investment in adapting to climate change is a priority, then is it best to invest in protecting natural ecosystems or developing engineered infrastructure? 'The traditional way of handling extreme events such as floods and ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
Remember small-scale farmers, policymakers told
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/remember-small-scale-farmers-policymakers-told.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Scientists have urged policymakers to consider small-scale livestock producers when developing new policies to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the sector. Carlos Sere, director-general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), says researchers should play a role in providing methods that protect small farmers, in a paper presented at the 13th Animal Science Congress of the Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies in Hanoi, Vietnam, last ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Traditional light bulbs to be phased out from March
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15434
Edie: Energy efficient bulbs use 20% of the energy of traditional bulbs From next year traditional light bulbs are to be phased out of shops in Ireland, the Minister for the Environment has said. John Gormley said the move was to help reduce greenhouse gases as well as cut the energy bills of consumers who were feeling the pinch of the economic crisis. The phasing out of the old style bulbs will be done in a four stage process up until 2012, beginning in March 2009. Bulbs ...
Wed, 15 Oct 08
Climate Change: Pushing Species To The Brink
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081013142545.htm
ScienceDaily: Thirty-five percent of the world's birds, 52 percent of amphibians and 71 percent of warm-water reef-building corals are likely to be particularly susceptible to climate change, the first results of an IUCN study have revealed. The report identified more than 90 biological traits which are believed to make species most susceptible to climate change. It found that 3,438 of the world's 9,856 bird species have at least one out of 11 traits that could make them susceptible to climate ...
Tue, 14 Oct 08
Tough Global Limits Imposed on Air Pollution from Large Ships
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2008/2008-10-13-01.asp
Environment News Service: Regulations to reduce harmful air emissions from large ocean-going ships were unanimously adopted Friday by the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations specialized agency responsible for improving maritime safety and preventing pollution from ships. Effective as of July 1, 2010, the new plan will require ships to use low sulfur fuel in designated Emission Control Areas - first reducing permissible sulfur levels to 1.0 percent in 2010 and then dropping the permissible ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Australia: Activists disrupt logging in Tasmania
http://news.theage.com.au/national/activists-disrupt-logging-in-tasmania-20081013-4zk0.html
AAP: Forest activists have disrupted logging in a part of Tasmania that was subject to a protesting truce, the state's forestry body says. Police said they were called on Monday to remove a tree-sit protester and about 20 other activists blocking a road to a harvesting area of state forest in the Upper Florentine Valley, 120km west of Hobart. Forestry Tasmania spokesman Steve Whiteley said the area was formerly covered by a truce signed between Forestry Tasmania and the Still Wild, ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Government urged to help homes go green
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/13/greenbuilding-greenpolitics
Guardian: The government must urgently begin improvements to make Britain's 25m homes more energy efficient if it is to reduce the UK's carbon footprint by 80% by 2050, a report says today. The report, by the Green Building Council (GBC), says some homes are so environmentally harmful that they may have to be demolished. It also wants the government to introduce a system of "green mortgages" to pay for improvements such as new windows and boilers. All new homes must be zero-carbon from ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
PNG and Norway leaders see eye-to-eyen on climate change
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=42471
Radio New Zealand International: Papua New Guinea`s Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare says his country and Norway see eye to eye in the fight against global warming. Sir Michael has had talks with his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg in Oslo where they discussed an ambitious, global climate regime to be established next year. The two leaders say rich countries should shoulder the main burden under the regime, which is to include measures to reduce emissions from deforestation in developing ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
World Food Scarcity and the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio Energy
http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=7401
Seoul Times: 'Rarely has the World Food Day assumed greater meaning than in present times, as rapidly rising food prices risk increasing the number of hungry in the world,' according to the Food And Agriculture Organization (FAO). FAO was founded in 1945 on the 16th of October - a day which is observed as World Food Day (WFD) in about 150 countries all over the world. The theme for this year's WFD is 'World Food Scarcity : The Challenges Of Climate Change And Bio Energy' as there is a strong need ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
English coastlines in danger of crumbling away, says National Trust
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/13/eacoast113.xml
Telegraph: They are the breathtaking landscapes and historic buildings which help define the south-west coast of England. The report says 170 miles of coastline could be affected by erosion The familiar, rugged coastlines, cliffs and beaches of Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset are quintessentially English. Ancient monuments, pathways and sheltered harbours all provide clues to a rich maritime history. But the National Trust, responsible for the care of special places ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Australia: Grim warning on ocean shells
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,24486875-3462,00.html
Mercury: GLOBAL warming could dissolve the shells of marine life as oceans become more acidic, scientists in Hobart said yesterday. Shell-life in the Southern Ocean will face the acid test first, because colder waters will become acidic faster. Researchers investigating the effects of ocean acidity left Hobart aboard the Aurora Australis yesterday -- its first voyage for the summer season. A major focus of research in Antarctica this season will be the future of shells in an ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
A 'Green New Deal' can save the world's economy, says UN
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/a-green-new-deal-can-save-the-worlds-economy-says-un-958696.html
Independent: Top economists and United Nations leaders are working on a "Green New Deal" to create millions of jobs, revive the world economy, slash poverty and avert environmental disaster, as the financial markets plunge into their deepest crisis since the Great Depression. The ambitious plan -- the start of which will be formally launched in London next week - will call on world leaders, including the new US President, to promote a massive redirection of investment away from the speculation ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Economic woes chill effort to stop global warming
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jFaQmoLWbpKq8HH1AAQ5GoGZjz0gD93OTVC00
Associated Press: Attempts to tackle global warming are being made more difficult by the spreading economic crisis even as Democratic congressional leaders say it's still a top goal for next year. At the very least, fear of a prolonged economic downturn is expected to delay attempts by the United States to cap greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate as well as both presidential candidates say addressing climate change by imposing mandatory ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Financial crisis clouds EU's climate change plans
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ilDZhe7VXRCY-zNcNcAul_qS0bLQ
Agence France-Presse: The financial crisis and slumping economic activity are threatening Europe's ambitious plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions, with governments eager to avoid saddling companies with additional burdens. "The Germans are giving up and the Italians are getting ready to follow," said one European negotiator on condition of anonymity. The European Union's French presidency wants EU leaders to agree to "keep the balance and the fundamental framework" of Europe's ambitious plans to ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Warmer climate to dry up peatlands: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49B2MD20081012?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Warmer temperatures in the years ahead will dry up peatlands, release more carbon dioxide into the world's atmosphere and aggravate global warming, a study in Japan has found. Peat is the accumulation of partially decayed vegetation in very wet places and it covers about two percent of global land mass. Peatlands store large amounts of carbon owing to the low rates of carbon breakdown in cold, waterlogged soils. Using computer modeling, scientists in Japan found that peatlands ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Westminster protester prepared to risk jail in cause of climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/12/activists-climatechange
Guardian: Tamsin Omond doesn't live like the granddaughter of a baronet, a candidate for priesthood or a first-class honours graduate from Cambridge who will be sitting her Open University MA examination tomorrow. Despite a flat crammed with political treatises and teetering heaps of campaign banners, high-visibility protest jackets and demonstration handouts, Omond is all three. In a few hours' time, however, the dissonance between Omond's lineage and her surroundings could be even greater. ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Exotic climate study sees refugees in Antarctica
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE49B3V120081012?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Refugees are moving to Antarctica by 2030, the Olympics are held only in cyberspace and central Australia has been abandoned as too dry, according to exotic scenarios for climate change on Monday. British-based Forum for the Future, a charitable think-tank, and researchers from Hewlett-Packard Labs, said they wanted to stir debate about how to avert the worst effects of global warming by presenting a radical set of possible futures. "Climate change will affect the economy at ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Fiscal crisis puts global warming on shelf
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/12/MNO313EQ65.DTL&tsp=1
San Francisco Chronicle: The financial crisis and a deepening economic downturn are threatening to delay efforts to deal with another pressing global crisis: climate change. Hopes for action had been running high since both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama had pledged to make cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions a top priority. But environmentalists now fear that the next president may be more focused on reviving a flat-lining economy, and Congress could be wary of supporting any measures ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
From energy efficiency to war: thinktank sees 2030 climate future
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-1bT--4E3woiTik5Y9iscDX708A
Agence France-Presse: The challenge posed by climate change could be resolved by a peaceful switch to a low-carbon economy, or alternatively inflict stresses that could include war and desertification of swathes of the US and Australia, a thinktank said on Monday. The provocative report is published by a British NGO, Forum for the Future, which carries out strategic analysis on sustainable development on behalf of business. It sketches a wide range of social consequences from today's global warming ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Global warming grips Greenland, leaves lasting mark
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081012/NEWS06/810109858
Toledo Blade: Beyond the howl of sled dogs echoing across this hilly coastal village is the thunderclap of ancient icebergs splitting apart, a deafening rumble you feel in your bones. There's no mistaking its big, loud, and powerful boom, a sound that can work up to a crescendo like rolling thunder. Or be as sudden as a shotgun blast. Lifelong Greenland resident Karen Jessen Tannajik said people who live in Ilulissat -- an Inuit word for icebergs -- notice more about what's been calved by ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Indonesia, WWF agree to protect Sumatra forests
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20081012.A04&irec=1
Jakarta Post: The Indonesian government and WWF have announced a bold commitment to protect the remaining forests and critical ecosystems of Sumatra. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said the historic agreement had represented the first-ever island-wide commitment to protect Sumatra's stunning biodiversity. The commitment was announced Thursday at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Barcelona and endorsed by the governors of Sumatra's 10 ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
The climate change unbelievers
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/the-climate-change-unbelievers-958237.html
Indendent: The caption calls him the "high priest of deceit and global destruction". The picture has him belching fire like a dragon. And who is the subject of this highly personal attack? None other than Al Gore, who last year won the Nobel Peace Prize, along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for their success in bringing the climate-change crisis to global public attention. Not everybody likes Gore and his beliefs about the future of our planet -- and especially not ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Warming may kill coral, amphibians
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081012a2.html
Kyodo: Climate change may soon cause the extinction of coral in the Ogasawara Islands and amphibious animals in Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures, a recent report by the Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature says. Coral collapse: A diver examines the once colorful coral reefs off Taketomi Island in Okinawa Prefecture that have died and since turned white. More than 7,000 species of coral are feared at risk of perishing because of rising ocean temperatures caused by ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
'Fight climate change with vegetarianism'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/Fight_climate_change_with_vegetarianism/articleshow/3587850.cms
Times of India: In the city to participate in the golden jubilee celebrations of the Geological Society of India, French scientist G De Marsily spoke to The Times of India on issues that will hit us hard in the coming days. Marsily is a professor at the University of Paris and French Academy of Sciences. He specializes in hydro-geology and has done extensive research on water issues related to climate change. Excerpts: What impact could climate change in India have on water? The impact of ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Australia: Climate change more threatening than economic crisis: Greens
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/12/2388675.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Greens have warned that ignoring the threat of climate change will send the world into an economic tailspin far greater than that of the global financial meltdown. The Opposition is arguing the Government should delay introducing an emissions trading scheme until the economic crisis eases. But Greens Leader Bob Brown has told a rally in Canberra the Government cannot sideline its response to climate change. "I would say to Kevin Rudd, listen to the people of ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Ed Miliband will follow EU instructions on climate change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/10/12/do1206.xml
Telegraph: For all the acres of newsprint devoted to the return to the Cabinet of Peter Mandelson, by far the most important and potentially damaging move in Gordon Brown's recent Government reorganisation could well be his setting up of a wholly new ministry, laughably called the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Under a new Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, the new department merges two groups of officials who, over the past year, have been ever more obviously at war with each other; and ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Mediterranean region to be hardest hit by climate change - EU report
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=76693
Malta Independent: The economies of southern Europe and the Mediterranean, including Malta, are forecast to suffer the most adverse effects of climate change, according to a new report drawn up by the European Environment Agency, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and the World Health Organisation. The report warns that the effects of global warming will create turmoil for the region's energy demand levels, agricultural productivity, water availability, ecosystems and summer ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
Ministers in Warsaw to address climate change
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/12/europe/EU-Poland-Climate-Change.php
Associated Press: Environment ministers from more than 30 countries are holding talks in the Polish capital this week to prepare for a major U.N. climate conference. The two days of informal meetings in Warsaw that start Monday mark the first time top-ranking officials from the key players in the climate change debate -- including the United States, the European Union, India and China -- have gathered since hard-nosed international talks last December in Bali, Indonesia. Poland is preparing to ...
Mon, 13 Oct 08
United Kingdom: Threatened coastal 'gems' reveals
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ja71gTVNqX5XhIiHI9lIkuKlBr0g
Press Association: Miles of coastline, ancient monuments, listed buildings, a historic garden and the habitat at Brownsea Island are all at risk of erosion or coastal flooding in the South West, the National Trust warned. As part of its work looking at the long-term future of the UK's coasts, the Trust has published a detailed examination of which of its sites and coastline was at risk in the south west of the country. The study found 173 miles of National Trust coastline and 2,105 acres of land ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Chainsaw massacre: They clean our air, reduce carbon and will save the planet ... So why are trees public enemy No1?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/12/conservation
Observer: Everyone professes a love of trees. I cannot find anybody who'll admit to hating them, or the lesser charge of finding their gnarled trunks, light-blocking canopies or autumnal tendency to drop leaves everywhere even vaguely irksome. Ostensibly, then, we're a nation of tree fanciers and huggers who relish being custodians of a rich woodland legacy. No surprise that the oak tree is a potent symbol of Englishness, its proud crown even providing cover for the occasional monarch on the run. The ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
EC set to grant industry relief on carbon trading
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/12/europe-carbon-trading
Observer: Energy-intensive industries are set to receive a huge cash boost from the European Commission as part of a controversial move to protect Europe's industrial sector from world recession. Within weeks the EU is to debate whether to allow European industrial giants tens of millions of pounds off carbon allowances they have to buy as part of the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). Günter Verheugen, European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, in an exclusive interview with ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Driving Mr. Lynx
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/10/12/driving_mr_lynx/
Boston Globe: ON AN OVERCAST, late-July morning, a five-car caravan of environmentalists arrived at a patch of North Carolina forest in the Smoky Mountains. Armed with shovels and 3-gallon buckets for watering, they unloaded several 2-foot specimens of Torreya taxifolia, a gangly, long-needled pine tree native to North Florida. Only several hundred Torreya pines remain in the wild, clinging to a few ravines by Florida's Apalachicola River, less than 1 percent of the stock a century ago. Most of the ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Charles questions 'green' buildings
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iUbbIXmyVQWKCjXyxuKfsw4AYiQg
Press Association: The Prince of Wales has criticised the "green building industry" for relying on eco-gadgets like wind turbines and solar panels to justify inefficient buildings. The Prince called on developers to use traditional methods and materials alongside the best in "eco-technology" to solve the problem of creating environmentally friendly properties instead of opting for "slick, highly marketed techno-fixes". His comments received a mixed welcome from Paul King, chief executive of the ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Australia: Don't lose nerve on emissions: Greens
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24483868-2702,00.html
AAP: GREENS leader Bob Brown has warned the government not to lose its nerve on an emissions trading scheme as Treasurer Wayne Swan refused to commit to its 2010 timetable. Just a week ago Climate Change Minister Penny Wong indicated there was no reason to delay the start of an ETS because of the current international turmoil. But today Treasurer Wayne Swan was giving no such guarantees. Mr Swan told ABC TV the government was planning to review all spending commitments amid ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Cost of forest loss estimated at $2 to $5 trillion each year
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1010-forests.html
Mongabay: Deforestation and degradation is costing the world economy $2 to $5 trillion per year -- an amount greater than Wall Street losses during the current financial crisis -- said the lead author of a study that estimated the cost of environmental damage in terms of services provided by healthy ecosystems. Pavan Sukhdev, lead author of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, a report released this past May, told BBC News that the costs from destruction of ecosystems dwarfs the ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Papua New Guinea: Illegal Logging Alarming
http://www.islandsbusiness.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=18198/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl
Islands Business: THE PARADISE FORESTS OF INDONESIA, PAPUA New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are falling at an alarming rate. Every year 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the logging of natural and ancient forests. Illegal and destructive logging in PNG is fuelling global warming which is melting icecaps, contributing to the drowning of Pacific Islands Countries and low-lying areas in PNG. PNG's forests can either help fight climate change if left standing or put the foot ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
2-degree rise in temperature may doom penguins
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1010-penguins.html
Mongabay: More than half Antarctica's penguin colonies are at risk by a 2-degree global rise in temperatures, according to a report released by the environmental group WWF. 2°C is Too Much cites research showing that 50 percent of the emperor penguins and 75 percent of the Adélie penguins are at risk by a 2-degree increase in temperatures. The report says loss of sea ice will impede penguin nesting and diminish krill populations, an important source of food in the Antarctic food ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Climate Will Add $100B to Development Costs
http://us.oneworld.net/article/357947-climate-will-add-100b-development-costs
OneWorld US: Failure to factor climate change into the Millennium Development Goals was a major mistake, Lord Nicholas Stern told a meeting in London this week. "We mustn't make that mistake again," emphasized the former adviser to the British Government on the economics of climate change and development who also headed the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. Because a hostile climate made successful economic growth efforts more costly in developing countries, he said, the cost of ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
How badly could a recession hurt cleantech?
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=108091
New York Times: It`s safe to say that the cleantech investors who pumped tens of billions of dollars into cleantech over the past three years didn`t expect a serious recession any more than anyone else. Yet with one on the horizon, it looks as if heavily funded technologies like wind and solar power could get hit from more than one direction. The obvious danger is a slowdown in venture funding, as pointed out in a leaked Sequoia Capital presentation and this contributor piece from Advanced Technology ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Over 7000 species susceptible to climate change: Study
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Flora__Fauna/Over_7000_species_susceptible_to_climate_change_Study/articleshow/3583739.cms
Press Trust of India: More than 7,000 species in the world - 35 per cent of birds, 52 per cent of amphibians and 71 per cent of warm-water reef-building corals - are likely to be particularly susceptible to climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has said in a study. The IUCN, considered the world's most prestigious organ in assessing the vulnerability of species, said the report marked the first systematic assessment of species susceptibility to climate change. The ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Seattle trawlers may face new limits on crucial pollock fishery
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008254637_webpollock11.html
Seattle Times: The biggest fishery in North America is likely to take a big tumble next year as a result of ocean surveys that show a sharp decline in abundance of Bering Sea pollock. The fish, which is processed into fillets, surimi paste and other products, typically brings in more than $1 billion in annual revenue and is a mainstay of Seattle-based trawl fleets. Bering Sea pollock populations have been on decline for several years, and that downturn appears to have accelerated. Recent ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
'Global finance crisis an opportunity to promote green growth'
http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/0E4F3E5710445595652574DF0017E9A4?OpenDocument
Press Trust of India: The current global market crisis could provide an opportunity for the world financial system to reconstruct itself to promote "green" growth, a top UN climate change official has said. "Governments have an opportunity to create and enforce policy which stimulates competition to fund clean industry," Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said yesterday. The demand for energy worldwide is expected by surge more than 50 per cent ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Money woes ignite CO2 debate
http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2008/10/10/Analysis_Money_woes_ignite_CO2_debate/UPI-62221223670742/
United Press Internatinal: Energy reform must be implemented if the United States is to escape the burgeoning financial crisis, experts say, but how to do it, and whether the public will stand for it, remains uncertain. Before Wall Street's tumble, figuring out how to get public support for significant carbon dioxide reductions was difficult; now, it may be impossible, experts said Thursday at an event hosted by Columbia University. The old argument that some short-term pain will lead to long-term gain ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Chile: Pedalling Against Pollution
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44227
Inter Press Service: As greenhouse gas emissions drive global warming and fuel prices continue to soar, pedalling has come back in style in many cities of the industrialised world. In Chile, as well, public bicycle services, bike routes and special parking areas are some of the initiatives currently being developed. "The most efficient, convenient and beneficial mode of transportation in polluted and congested cities is the bicycle," Amarilis Horta, president of the non-governmental Chilean Bike-Culture ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
United States: Report: Global warming makes animals move
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/10/10/Report_Global_warming_makes_animals_move/UPI-61321223665104/
United Press International: Global warming is forcing animals to higher elevations, causing them to intrude on established populations, a U.S. scientific journal says. Some mountain animals, left with smaller ranges to forage for food, face extinction while others are competing with animal populations in new habitats, Science reported. "These kinds of changes have been going on forever," said James Patton, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. "The ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Ghana: Tree-Felling Not Attracting Appropriate Court Anger
http://www.newtimesonline.com/content/view/18075/48/
Ghanaian Times: MR. Joe Ackah, Brong-Ahafo Zonal Plantation Manager, has called for the enforcement of laws on illegal felling of tress, to help check the practice, especially in the country's forest reserves. He said the laws were flexible and expressed worry that in most cases offenders were freed without even a fine to serve as deterrent to others. Mr Ackah who was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, said the illegal exploitation of teak trees and other ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Global warming threatens tropics
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/10/tropics.threatened.ap/index.html#cnnSTCText
CNN: If you can't stand global warming, get out of the tropics. "Many lowland tropical species could be in trouble," a team of researchers said. While the most significant harm from climate change so far has been in the polar regions, tropical plants and animals may face an even greater threat, say scientists who studied conditions in Costa Rica. "Many lowland tropical species could be in trouble," the team of researchers, led by Robert K. Colwell of the University of ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
McCain, Obama and the environment
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/10/10/eco.presidenteco/index.html#cnnSTCText
CNN: When it comes to successful electioneering, Bill Clinton's unofficial 1992 campaign mantra for the U.S. presidency, "It's the economy, stupid" often holds true, but what about the environment? Same but different: The two presidential candidates share some common positions on dealing with climate change U.S. Democrat Barack Obama called climate change "one of the biggest challenges of our time" but with just weeks to go until the election and the economy and current financial ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Nature loss 'dwarfs bank crisis'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7662565.stm
BBC: The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study. It puts the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion. The figure comes from adding the value of the various services that forests perform, such as providing clean water and absorbing carbon dioxide. The study, headed by a Deutsche Bank economist, parallels the Stern Review into the economics of ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
U.N. says credit crisis could enable "green growth"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4999DN20081010?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Instead of sidelining the fight against climate change, the global credit crisis could hasten countries' efforts to create "green growth" industries by revamping the financial system behind them, the U.N. climate chief said on Friday. But that would depend on governments helping poor countries -- who are key to saving the planet's ecology -- tackle their problems, instead of spending most available money on rescuing the financial world, Yvo de Boer told reporters. De Boer said ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
ABC deems Al Gore's non-profit Alliance for Climate Protection advert too 'controversial' for television
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/10/algore-television
Guardian: The ABC network has refused to air an advert produced by Al Gore's environmental group, ruling that its charge of US government favouritism to the oil industry is too "controversial" for television. The TV commercial, part of the WE campaign run by Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection, was submitted for airing after this week's presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain - both of whom have vowed to limit greenhouse gas emissions if elected. But ABC concluded ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Claim That Simulated Temperature Trends For Tropics Inconsistent With Observations Is Flawed, Expert...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081010151121.htm
ScienceDaily: Using state-of-the-art observational datasets and results from computer model simulations archived at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, LLNL researchers and colleagues from 11 other scientific institutions have refuted a recent claim that simulated temperature trends in the tropics are fundamentally inconsistent with observations. This claim was based on the application of a flawed statistical test and the use of older observational datasets. Climate model experiments invariably ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Garnaut final report met with protest
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/770/39709
Green Left: Professor Ross Garnaut delivered his final report on impacts of -- and responses to -- climate change to Australian federal and state governments on September 30. In the previous week, a series of protest actions was held around the country to highlight the need for emergency action on climate change. In Sydney, Climate Emergency Service workers pulled together to save polar bears and important local landmarks, including Martin Place and Circular Quay, from flooding due to ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Keeping track of climate change
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/10/nasa.climatetimemachine/index.html#cnnSTCText
CNN: It can often seem like hard work keeping track of the changes happening to our planet. Another day, another new prediction. Another week, another warning. It's enough to make even the most conscientious climate change student issue a weary discombobulated sigh. According to NASA, the Arctic sea ice minimum has reduced by 38 percent since 1979. Well, fear not. Scientists at NASA, along with a dedicated team of their designers, programmers and researchers, have put together one ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Methane study reveals serious new climate threat
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/770/39705
Green Left: Millions of tonnes of the potent greenhouse gas methane have apparently begun leaking from the seabed beneath wide areas of the Arctic Ocean, the British Independent reported on September 23. Scientists on board the research ship Yakov Smirnitsky recently finished taking precise measurements of methane along Russia's entire northern coastline. Conducted under the International Siberian Shelf Study 2008, the research revealed methane concentrations as much as 100 times background ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
US wildfires pushed ozone past legal limits
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn14913-us-wildfires-pushed-ozone-past-legal-limits.html?feedId=climate-change_rss20
New Scientist: Legislate against pollution all you like, but don't expect nature to tow the line. Recent research on the wildfires that raged in California in 2007 shows that ground ozone levels were probably pushed significantly past legal "safe" limits. When found high up in the atmosphere, ozone benefits life by blocking harmful radiation from the Sun. At ground level, though, it is responsible for a number of respiratory illnesses, ranging from coughs to bronchitis and emphysema. It also ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
'Landmark consensus' on forests' pivotal climate role
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/landmark-consensus-forests-pivotal-climate-role/article-176247?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: Meeting in Barcelona on 8 October, representatives of governments, forest owners and forestry companies, trade unions and civil society urged world leaders to take into account the "pivotal role" forests can play in mitigating climate change. Old-growth forests important carbon sinks, says study EU states failing on forest protection says WWF Council wants better co-ordination of EU forest policy Call for more EU co-ordination on forest policy Finland forest sector eyes biomass ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
Solar continues to shine despite the dark future
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2228034/solar-continues-shine-despite
Business Green: Solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings claims the market for solar panels is still seeing demand outstrip supply despite the economic downturn. "With the financial crisis, the high demand relative to supply has sort of shrunk a bit," the company's chief strategy officer Steven Chan told Reuters this week. "But we still feel like we are in a situation where there is still more demand than supply of modules." But Chan's comments contrast with news this week from Goldman Sachs, ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
US ethanol profits stay weak on poor fuel demand
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN1055086920081010
Reuters: Average U.S. ethanol distillers profits rose a few pennies this week on softer corn prices but remained weak overall on poor motor fuel demand, analysts said on Friday. "Those companies that are able to keep costs under control continue to do okay. Those that can't are in a world of hurt," said Rick Kment, analyst at DTN in Nebraska. Average U.S. distillers were making about 10 to 20 cents per gallon for the week ending Thursday, analysts said. That was up about five to ...
Sun, 12 Oct 08
US publishes first global carbon dioxide map
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/11/content_10177528.htm
Xinhua: A team of U.S. researchers published the first global satellite maps of the key greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in Earth's mid-troposphere, an area about 8 kms above Earth, the U.S. space agency NASA reported Friday. The team's study reveals new information on how carbon dioxide, which directly contributes to climate change, is distributed in Earth's atmosphere and moves around our world. The team, led by Moustafa Chahine of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, found the ...
Sat, 11 Oct 08
Because Oil Is Not Green
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44221
Inter Press Service: Several environmental organisations have asked the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to stop accepting funding from Shell, the giant international oil company. IUCN signed an agreement with Shell in October last year to support the private corporation's activity in protecting the environment. The agreement also brought the IUCN at least 1.2 million dollars, according to IUCN sources. The IUCN is the world's oldest and largest global environmental coalition, ...
Sat, 11 Oct 08
Call to maintain climate targets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7662753.stm
BBC: Ed Miliband, the new energy and climate secretary, has urged Europe's leaders to withstand recession fears and maintain climate chan