Climate Change
Main
Science
Beeb ScienceClimate Change
Eco News
Science Daily
Random Feeds
Archives
| Dec 2008 | Nov 2008 | Oct 2008 | Sep 2008 | Aug 2008 | Jul 2008 | Jun 2008 | May 2008 | Apr 2008 | Mar 2008 | Feb 2008 | Jan 2008 | Dec 2007 | Nov 2007 |Sun, 30 Nov 08
Climate Change Opens New Avenue For Spread Of Invasive Plants
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081119161125.htm
ScienceDaily: Plants that range northward because of climate change may be better at defending themselves against local enemies than native plants. So concludes a team of scientists including a University of Florida geneticist. The team's findings, reported online in the journal Nature, suggest that certain plants could become invasive if they spread to places that were previously too cold for them. "This paper is the first to suggest that the mechanisms that aid invasive species when they ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Ocean currents can power the world say scientists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/renewableenergy/3535012/Ocean-currents-can-power-the-world-say-scientists.html
Telegraph: The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe. Existing technologies which use water power, relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams, are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea. Turbines and water mills need an average current of ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Bioethanol likely outlet for big German sugar crop
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8091498
Reuters: Germany's sugar farmers are targeting sales to the bioethanol industry to shift a large crop this season but face competition from the grains sector where falling prices have made cereals a viable biofuels feedstock. Germany is forecast to produce 3.6 million tonnes of refined sugar from its 2008/09 crop, well over the country's EU sugar production quota of 2.7 million tonnes, which has been cut as part of European Union reforms to curb farming subsidies. With 178,000 tonnes of ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Germany: German CO2 Emissions Fall Below Kyoto Requirements
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3834202,00.html
Deutsche Presse-Agenture: Germany's emissions came in 22.4 percent below Kyoto requirements Germany has cut its greenhouse gas emissions to below levels required under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the government in Berlin announced on Friday. Europe's biggest economy's CO2 emissions, which are blamed for causing global warming, last year came in at 22.4 percent below Kyoto's base years of 1990 and 1995, the environment ministry said in a statement. At 957 million tons, total CO2 emissions last ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
EU vows to push for progress at UN climate change conference in Poznan
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/28/content_10428419.htm
Xinhua: The European Union (EU) on Friday vowed to shift international negotiations on a new global climate treaty into higher gear and to press for progress on a range of issues at the UN climate change conference in Poznan, Poland. The Poznan conference, which runs between Dec. 1 and 12, represents an important staging-post in the international negotiations which were launched in Bali, Indonesia, last December and are due to lead to the conclusion of a new global agreement at the end of ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Smart metering is essential to hit 2050 cardon emission targets
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthcomment/3534211/Smart-metering-is-essential-to-hit-2050-cardon-emission-targets.html
Telegraph: Never more so than today when the effects of the credit crunch are becoming more and more apparent. As the wave of pain felt by financial markets washes across other sectors, there are some who claim that environmental issues should again be returned to the periphery. This must not happen. As Lord Stern noted in his 2006 report into the economics of Climate Change, we are dangerously close to a tipping point when no amount of remedial action will be enough to counterbalance the ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
'Financial crisis no excuse to slow down carbon fight'
http://thepost.com.pk/IntNewsT.aspx?dtlid=194397&catid=1
Associate Press of Pakistan: The world financial crisis must not be used as an excuse for backsliding on efforts to curb global carbon emissions in the fight against climate change, a top UN environmental official warned. "Of course the financial crisis will have a serious impact on this process, and is already having an impact on this process. But I would argue that to use the financial crisis as an excuse not to act on climate change would basically amount to setting yourself up for the next financial crisis," ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
India debates wind feed-in tariff
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=111760
United Press International: In order to increase its wind power, India is considering a transmission tariff mechanism. By setting uniform grid connectivity standards and putting in place renewable energy credits, the government will be able to help increase the growth of the renewable energy sector, said R.N. Nayak, executive director of the Power Grid Corp. of India. Putting in place new incentives for renewable energy would help the industry expand and grow and evolve. With more money the industry could ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
UN: financial crisis a burden on climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8093373
Associated Press: The global financial crisis will make it harder for countries to agree on an ambitious new treaty to combat global warming and underscores the need to make green technologies profitable, the U.N. climate chief said Thursday. "Climate change is an environmental problem looking for an economic answer," Yvo de Boer said at a news conference in Warsaw. "The challenge...is to achieve green economic growth." De Boer spoke ahead of a major two-week climate change conference that ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Climate battle will fail unless poor helped: EU president
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/world/11/29/08/climate-battle-will-fail-unless-poor-helped-eu-president
Agence France-Presse: Efforts to tackle global climate change will fail unless poorer countries are helped to adapt to the environmental and technological challenges, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was set to say in Doha on Saturday. "Climate change is going to be crucial for developing countries," Barroso was to tell the UN conference on Financing for Development, according to prepared remarks. He was referring to a conference next month in Poznan, Germany and a summit in Copenhagen ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
When climate change reform meets a slowing economy
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/when-climate-change-reform-meets-a-slowing-economy-20081129-6nea.html?page=2
Age: THIS week in Poznan, Poland, the world's environment ministers are meeting to begin negotiations for a new treaty to reduce global warming. They are doing so in an unstable economic climate, with more countries moving into recession and unemployment rising. Traditionally, when times are tough, environmental issues take a back seat. In the words of Barbara Helfferich, the European Commission spokeswoman on the environment, "investing in reducing emissions is more difficult to do in times of ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
UN chief 'satisfied' with Obama's view on climate change
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/081129123458.znqkmg2f.html
Agence France-Presse: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Saturday that he was encouraged by US president-elect Barack Obama's view of the global problem of climate change, hailing a new attitude from the United States. "With some satisfaction I noted the recent statements of president-elect Obama and our discussions on the changing attitude of the United States on global warming," the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza quoted Ban as saying in an interview published Saturday. Ban's comments came ahead ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Indigenous People Demand Voice in Climate Talks
http://us.oneworld.net/places/bahrain/-/article/358797-indigenous-people-demand-a-voice-climate-talks
OneWorld US: Calls for greater participation of the world's indigenous leaders are on the rise as another round of talks on global climate change opens in the Polish city of Poznan next week. At the 2008 World Summit of Indigenous Cultures in Taipei. (c) carf (flickr)"It is incomprehensible how governments believe they can discuss the effects of climate change and agree targets without the input of those who already face [its] impacts," said Mark Lattimer of the London-based Minority Rights Group ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Shell says EU carbon plan may harm refinery -paper
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSLT56084320081129
Reuters: European Union plans to tighten carbon trading rules after 2012 risk damaging the global competitiveness of Royal Dutch Shell's (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Pernis refinery, a Shell executive told a newspaper published on Saturday. Rob Routs, Executive Director of Downstream (oil products and chemicals), said the oil major was concerned about the consequences for Europe's biggest oil refinery if the EU pursued its plans without the United States and China on ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
UN chief: Green techology could aid economies
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/29/europe/EU-Poland-UN-Climate.php
Associated Press: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says investment in green technologies could help remedy the global financial crisis. Ban is quoted in an interview published Saturday in Poland's daily Gazeta Wyborcza as saying that, "Clean industry and investment have already shown that they generate high revenue and long-term benefits." He went on to say, "For that reason the means that we will use to fight global warming may help in fighting the financial crisis." Ban was ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Philippines: War footing needed for nat'l survival against global warming
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/nov/30/yehey/top_stories/20081130top1.html
Manilla Times: THE Philippines is vulnerable to the quadruple-whammy effects of global warming. These are rising sea levels, floods spawned by killer typhoons, dwindling water supplies induced by droughts and shriveling food supplies from parched farmlands. The melting of the Greenland ice caps could cause sea level to rise up to 7 meters, equivalent to the height of three adult Filipinos. Small islands like Guimaras would get submerged, and low level areas like Malabon, Navotas and Manila ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Destruction continues in Brazil's rain forest
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/243973,destruction-continues-in-brazils-rain-forest.html
Deutsche Presse-Agenture: The destruction of Brazil's rain forests is continuing unabated, according to a government report released Saturday, just days before a UN climate conference in Poland. The Brazilian government had pushed for the data's release ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland. Environmentalists have routinely accused Brazil of not doing enough to preserve its rain forests. The data from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) shows continued ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Obama buzz felt at global climate talks
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/29/europe/EU-Climate-Change-Obama.php
Associated Press: The president-elect won't be there, but an Obama buzz will crackle through the conference hall when negotiators gather Monday for a final push toward a sweeping new global warming treaty. "America is back," says Sen. John Kerry, underscoring that Barack Obama's election signals a U.S. intent to regain a leadership role on climate change. "After eight years of obstruction and delay and denial, the United States is going to rejoin the world community in tackling this global ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Influence Of Climate Warming On The Increase In Tick-borne Diseases
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081129100146.htm
ScienceDaily: Rises in the ambient temperature modify the behavior of dog ticks and increase their affinity for humans. There is thus a risk that episodes of global warming may be associated with epidemics of tick-borne diseases. This work, carried out by the Unité de recherche sur les maladies infectieuses et tropicales émergentes (CNRS/ IRD/ Université de la Méditerranée) is headed by Didier Raoult. Dog ticks are mainly prevalent during the spring. They do not usually bite humans. The few ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Asleep at the wheel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/29/transport-carbon
Guardian: This week, the chancellor announced more money for transport spending to get the economy moving again. He's borrowed £1bn. If you're worried about climate change, look away now: 80% is going on road-building projects. There's another, more famous, 80% statistic: it's the government's latest target for reducing our carbon emissions by 2050. Coincidentally, the Department for Transport has just released its latest thinking on how to make that happen: Delivering a Sustainable ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Poland: The Poznan talks
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081129.CLIMATELAYERING29/TPStory/?query=Martin%20Mittelstaedt
Globe and Mail: Negotiators are trying to figure out how to extend the Kyoto Protocol, set to expire at the end of 2012. It calls for industrialized countries, on average, to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels during the 2008-to-2012 period. Canada will miss the goal by a wide mark, with emissions currently about 30 per cent over target. Developing countries did not have reduction targets under Kyoto. The international air travel and shipping industries were exempted from the ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Wilkins Ice Shelf Under Threat
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081128132029.htm
ScienceDaily: New rifts have developed on the Wilkins Ice Shelf that could lead to the opening of the ice bridge that has been preventing the ice shelf from disintegrating and breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula. The ice bridge connects the Wilkins Ice Shelf to two islands, Charcot and Latady. As seen in the Envisat image above acquired on 26 November 2008, new rifts (denoted by colourful lines and dates of the events) have formed to the east of Latady Island and appear to be moving in a ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Renewables deal edges 'closer' despite French pressure
http://www.euractiv.com/en/energy/renewables-deal-edges-closer-despite-french-pressure/article-177610
EurActiv: EU countries and the European Parliament are "tantalisingly close" to a compromise agreeement on legislation to promote renewable energy, but the French EU Presidency is stalling the negotiations, according to the European Parliament's rapporteur on the dossier, Green MEP Claude Turmes. Turmes, who is responsible for guiding the proposal through Parliament, said while much progress had been made in 'trialogue' negotiations between the European Commission, Parliament and the French ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Saving the world through software - Microsoft's green agenda
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15675
Edie: Software and the internet can play a great part in efforts to help the environment - as they did in winning the US Presidential election for Barack Obama. This was the message of Jan Meuhlfeit, Microsoft's European chairman, when he spoke at a conference bringing together global business leaders in London this week. Speaking at Green Strategy 08, Mr Meuhlfeit said that th4e huge public support - and funding - raised by Obama's campaign via the internet should be a lesson to ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Stiffer emission rules proposed
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/nov/29/na-stiffer-emission-rules-proposed/news-breaking/
Various: State officials return to the Florida Environmental Regulation Commission next week to argue that Florida should adopt California's tough emission standards for cars and light trucks. It's the first major test of Gov. Charlie Crist's multipronged effort to cut greenhouses gases across the state. The commission planned to vote at its meeting in October, but delayed the vote to gather more information. Under pressure from industry lobbyists, three of the seven commissioners are ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
U.S. moves ahead on oil, gas leases on public land
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/28/AR2008112802502.html
Washington Post: A decision by federal officials this week to press ahead with a controversial sale of oil and gas leases in eastern Utah is stoking the debate over how to balance the nation's needs for fossil fuels against concerns over the environmental impact on iconic national parks and other sensitive areas. The Bush administration, which has sought to reduce American dependence on imports to meet the continuing demand for oil and gas, has aggressively pushed to open up energy exploration across ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Obama under pressure over role of ethanol in energy policy
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/11/21/obama-under-pressure-over-role-of-ethanol-in-energy-policy.html
U.S. News and World Report: Environmentalists agree with President-elect Barack Obama on many points, but his policy on ethanol isn't one of them. In the ongoing debate over the future of the country's energy policy, biofuels occupy a unique and precarious position: reviled in some quarters, championed in others. Ethanol producers have enjoyed meteoric rises in the amount of ethanol they can make and sell, but they also have been accused of harming the environment, prompting food riots abroad, and throwing away ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Farmers may pay a stiff price for contributions to global warming
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/election/103878.php
Des Moines Register: Farmers are being warned they could pay a stiff price for their contributions to global warming. That could happen if the Environmental Protection Agency goes forward with regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the federal Clean Air Act, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. Under the law, livestock operations of all sizes and farms with as few as 500 acres of corn could exceed emissions thresholds and would be required to pay for permits, USDA says. These ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Time to face the truth on warming: EU
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=United%20Kingdom%20%26%20Europe&month=November2008&file=World_News2008112915519.xml
Deutsche Presse-Agenture: It is time for the world to get down to the tough details on how to fight global warming, the European Union executive said yesterday ahead of a key climate conference in the Polish city of Poznan. The conference "must shift gear from exploratory discussions to concrete negotiations," and aim for a global deal at a similar conference to be held in Copenhagen in a year's time, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement. The European Commission and EU member states ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Canada: Opposition critics offered a seat at next week's climate conference
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081129.CLIMATE29/TPStory/Environment
Globe and Mail: Through a series of casual chats on Parliament Hill, Environment Minister Jim Prentice has personally invited his opposition critics to join him at the UN's global climate-change talks taking place next week in Poland. It is a small but symbolic gesture that signals a clear change in tone on the environment file from the Harper government. This time last year, opposition environment critics were furious at then-environment-minister John Baird, who broke from established ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
UK's climate change body to unveil emissions cut plans
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AR55X20081128?sp=true
Reuters: Britain's chief climate change adviser will recommend on Monday how the government can meet tough targets to pare planet-warming carbon emissions, including what role coal should play in the country's energy future. In its first report, the Committee on Climate Change will weigh how Britain can meet ambitious goals to slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions while taking account of the economic downturn, energy security and volatile fuel prices. British Prime Minister ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Access to water must be high on climate agenda: group
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AR4FU20081128?sp=true
Reuters: Access to water is a basic human right and should be high on the agenda of climate change talks in Poland next week, the head of an Italian advocacy group said on Friday. With more than 1 billion people having no access to safe water, the World Water Contract group for years has sought to make availability of water a basic right and add it to the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "Given that water is threatened by climate change, it is time to include the human ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Green taxes need explaining or risk backlash: study.
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AR3OK20081128?sp=true
Reuters: Governments must do a better job of explaining environmental taxes such as charges on driving in cities or higher electricity bills or risk a public backlash, a study showed on Friday. Governments often fail to link green taxes to their goal of curbing energy use or helping a shift to renewable energies, according to Steffen Kallbekken, of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo. "People do not understand environmental taxes," he told Reuters. ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Lubicon band calling for a halt to TransCanada Pipeline project
http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1321331
Herald-Tribune: Lubicon band councillors say they, and their people, are getting increasingly frustrated by negotiations between the North Peace band and TransCanada Pipeline. The Lubicon are calling for a halt to the project until they can have some serious discussions with the company. "We want to try to come to an agreement," said Lubicon band councillor Alphonse Ominayak. "We're willing to work with them. Councillor Dwight Gladue agreed. "It needed to be discussed right from the ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
United States: Walking the green walk
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/saturdayextra/story.html?id=a0ed80c3-a47a-44c5-ac9a-e8a6246ce365
Gazette: As CEnO of the third largest city in the United States, Sadhu Johnston is responsible for implementing Mayor Richard M. Daley's environmental initiatives across city government. "My role is to bring the department of environment into each department," Johnston, who is also the mayor's deputy chief of staff, has said of his job. Similarly, in Calgary, the role of spurring environmental action across city government belongs to Dave Day, the city's director of environmental and ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Formula developed to better understand iceberg creation: study
http://www.terradaily.com/2007/081128105630.7cpe5dbo.html
Agence France-Presse: A mathematical formula developed by US researchers could help scientists predict when and where icebergs will break away from their mother ice shelfs, according to a study published Friday. The development could also prove invaluable for climate models that predict the world's evolving environment, said researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. "To predict the future of the ice sheet and to understand the past, we have to put the information into a computer," said Richard ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Whatever happened to the hydrogen economy?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026841.900-whatever-happened-to-the-hydrogen-economy.html
New Scientist: WHATEVER happened to the hydrogen economy? At the turn of the century it was the next big thing, promising a future of infinite clean energy and deliverance from climate change. Generate enough hydrogen, so the claim went, and we could use it to transform the entire energy infrastructure - it could supply power for cars, planes and boats, buildings and even portable gadgets, all without the need for dirty fossil fuels. Enthusiasts confidently predicted the breakthrough was just five to 10 ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
How geothermal heat pumps could power the future
http://www.livescience.com/environment/081126-pf-geothermal-heat-pumps.html
Live Science: The term "geothermal energy" might bring to mind hot springs and billows of steam rising from the soil, but you can get energy from the ground without moving to Iceland or Yellowstone. You just need a geothermal heat pump. "We call anything below the ground geothermal," said John Lund, director of the Geo-Heat Center at the Oregon Institute of Technology. This includes geothermal heating, in which hot underground water is used to heat a building, and geothermal power, in which ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
UN's Ban urges world to think big on global crises
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/uns-ban-urges-world-to-think-big-on-global-crises-1040726.html
Independent: The world needs "to think big" to solve the global financial crisis while helping reduce poverty, the UN secretary-general said yesterday. Ban Ki-moon, speaking after an informal retreat with leaders attending a UN development financing conference in the Qatari capital, said it was important to avoid focusing only on financial problems and chided leaders of rich nations for not attending in greater numbers. "We need to think big," he said at a news conference. "The financial ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Brazil: Amazon deforestation trend on the increase
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=151501
WWF: Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon forests has flipped from a decreasing to an increasing trend, according to new annual figures released yesterday by the country's space agency INPE. Commenting on the figures, Brazilian environment minister Carlos Minc confirmed that the government will on Monday announce forest related carbon emission reduction targets, which will link halting deforestation to the national climate change campaign. From August 2007 to July 2008, Brazil ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
U.N. urges climate cash boost for poorest
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AS18820081129?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United Nations and aid groups are pushing for an urgent increase in international funding to help the world's poorest countries cope with climate change, even as the global credit crunch strains rich nations' budgets. Aid experts say tens of billions of dollars are needed to prepare for more extreme weather and other effects of global warming like rising seas. The issue will be on the agenda at 190-nation climate talks starting on Monday in Poznan, Poland. "The need for ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Brazil: Amazon deforestation accelerates
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7756241.stm
BBC: The destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has accelerated for the first time in four years, Brazilian officials say. Satellite images show 11,968 sq km of land was cleared in the year to July, nearly 4% higher than the year before. The government said the figure was unsatisfactory but could have been a lot worse if it had not taken action against illegal logging. High commodity prices had allegedly tempted farmers to clear more land. In recent years the ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Biodiversity, ecosystems threatened by climate change
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_11095542
Salt Lake Tribune: World financial systems took extreme risks that stunned us all. We will pay the consequences. We react with alarm to the collapse on Wall Street, but the collapse of our ecosystems often receives only passing consideration. We will all pay the consequences of this, too, now and in the future. Accustomed to the availability of our natural resources, we think of them as free and take them for granted. But, a decade ago, the World Resources Institute estimated an annual global price tag ...
Sun, 30 Nov 08
Scientists study Yangtze delta monsoons to understand human impact on climate
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/29/content_10429098.htm
Xinhua: Chinese scientists are for the first time to start tracking monsoons in the eastern Yangtze River Delta in an attempt to reveal how human activities have impacted on climate change. Fu Congbin, chairman of the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) of Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS), told Xinhua Saturday, he and his colleagues had found out that the most serious dry area in China was the semi-arid area in the northwest, also the northern boundary of summer monsoons, ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Australia to Release Carbon Targets on Dec. 15, Wong Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=aq66QLWWRBEU
Bloomberg: Australia will release its medium- term targets for carbon emissions on Dec. 15, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said. The government will release a so-called White Paper in Canberra on the design of its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and medium-term targets, Wong said in an e-mailed statement. Laws on the system will be released in early 2009, she said. "The global financial situation has heightened the importance of providing business certainty on the Carbon Pollution ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Cost of reducing emissions by 2030 likely to surge: UN report
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jW7uNtjy-taCuOE9ue0_wwZO857w
Agence France-Presse: Hundreds of billions more dollars are likely to be needed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by a 2030 target, according to UN estimates published on Friday ahead of global talks on climate change. The report, to be presented at the December 1-12 conference in Poznan, Poland updates 2007 estimates that said investment to mitigate carbon emissions had to be ramped up in the coming years, reaching between 200-210 billion dollars annually in 2030. The goal, in this benchmark ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Brazil floods are early sign of global warming, expert warns
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/243890,brazil-floods-are-early-sign-of-global-warming-expert-warns.html
Deutsche Press-Agenture: The rains that devastated 30 towns in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina could be an early consequence of global warming, a climatologist from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said Friday. At least 99 people died and 80,000 had to be evacuated because of the rains and subsequent flooding. Santa Catarina was hit by a hurricane in 2004 and is frequently affected by tornadoes. Climatologist Carlos Nobre told Globo TV that heavy, persistent rains in ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Brazil: Amazon deforestation up almost 4.0 percent
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hlS0-CdPKGEmIVmPTpdV0bu_LOEA
Agence France-Presse: Brazil's Amazon jungles, known as the lungs of the world, lost almost 12,000 square kilometres (4,800 sq. miles) in just 12 months, a rise of almost 4.0 percent, new figures showed Friday. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said the deforestation of the vast jungles due to encroaching farm exploitation, was 3.8 percent higher from August 2007 to July 2008 than in the previous 12 months. The areas most affected were in northern Para and in the central Mato Grosso ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Aust delegation heads to Poland for climate talks
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/29/2433200.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says an Australia delegation will arrive in Poland this weekend to begin work on a new global climate deal. About 9,000 people are expected to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference and meeting of parties to the Kyoto Protocol which start in Poznan on Monday. Senator Wong says the entrenched positions of the undeveloped economies have to move in order to achieve agreement by 2009. "What is the live issue in the ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Turn veggie to save planet, says Sir Paul
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/turn-veggie-to-save-planet-says-sir-paul-1040251.html
Independent: Sir Paul McCartney has teamed up with a Nobel Prize-winning scientist to urge people to become vegetarian to save the planet from the greenhouse gases created by rearing livestock. In a letter to The Independent, the musician joins Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to blame worsening global warming on a rise in the number of people who eat meat. The musician and Mr Pachauri, who are both vegetarians, also believe that ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Green tax is the end of low-cost flights
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article5246670.ece
Times (UK): Airlines and tour operators have reacted angrily to this week's pre-Budget announcement, warning that plans to increase green taxes on the 'cash cow' of travel will hasten the end of low-cost flights. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, said on Monday that air passenger duty charges on long-haul flights would more than double by 2010, making a trip to Australia £45 more expensive in economy class and £90 more in business. Meanwhile, the cost of European flights will also rise, with ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Drought deepens strain on a dwindling Colorado
http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_11096669
Salt Lake Tribune: The drought gripping Utah, Southern California and the rest of the Southwest this century shows no sign of ending. Scientists see it as a permanent condition that, despite year-to-year weather variations, will deepen as temperatures rise, snows dwindle, soils bake and fires burn. That's grim news for all of us in the West, perhaps most especially for the 10 million residents along the northern stretch of the Colorado River -- Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado -- whose water ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Sharp, Enel To Invest $1.6 Bln In Solar Venture: Media
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/50703
Reuters: Japan's Sharp Corp, Italy's Enel SpA and a European machine maker will invest about 150 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) in an Italian solar cell venture, local media said, as the sector continues to ramp up even as the global economy worsens. Sharp, the world's No.2 maker of solar cells, will hold a minority stake in the venture, while Enel, Italy's largest power company, and a third machine maker will together hold a majority stake, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday, pushing up ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Bangladesh's climate refugees search for higher ground
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iNLHVFelv7Vvje4-IGVHOdT6p8JA
Agence France-Presse: In the mountainous village of Hoaikong in southeastern Bangladesh, villagers are used to welcoming new residents on a weekly basis. The once-sparsely populated jungle, home to only a handful of tribal families, houses some 2,000 people who have sought higher ground as the island where they once lived becomes increasingly submerged by the sea. Ex-fisherman Jaber Ahmed, who has turned his hand to farming crops in his new environment, says there are two camps of thought among ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Boris set to halve congestion zone
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-set-to-halve-congestion-zone-1038873.html
Independent: The western extension of the London congestion charge zone is to be scrapped by the Mayor Boris Johnson, amid huge opposition to the traffic-calming scheme. Originally the £8-a-day charge applied to the City of London and the West End but the former mayor, Ken Livingstone, widened it in 2003 to cover most of the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, as well as Bayswater, Belgravia and Pimlico. Mr Johnson made reversing the move a central promise in his campaign to win control of ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Huge reserve of fuel ice in South China Sea verified
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90884/6542740.html
People's Daily: The total reserve of fuel ice (natural gas hydrate) on the northern continental slope of the South China Sea has finally been verified. It reaches an equivalent of 18.5 billion tons of oil, which equals six times the verified geological reserve of oil and gas in the deep waters of the South China Sea, said an official recently. Yang Shengxiong, chief engineer of Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, said this at a recent academic seminar on "Marine Geology, Mineral Resources and ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
China's Energy Demand Increases Global Pressure to Seek Out New Sources
http://www.physorg.com/news147096245.html
Physorg: China's escalating energy consumption places increasing stress on the world's energy prices, leading to mounting global pressures to seek potential energy supplies through technology and exploration. Chinese energy demand has more than doubled during the past decade. According to the study "China's Quest for Energy Resources on Global Markets" published in Pacific Focus by Wiley-Blackwell, China will consume about 41% of global coal consumption and 17% of global energy supply by ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Germany says well on track to meet Kyoto goals
http://www.physorg.com/news147107252.html
Agence France-Presse: The German government released data for 2007 greenhouse gas emissions on Friday that it said showed it was well on track to meet its international climate change commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for causing global warming, were 22.4 percent lower in 2007 than the base years of 1990 or 1995 set out in the protocol, the environment ministry said in a statement. Germany pledged under Kyoto in 1997 to lower its emissions by 21 percent by 2012 ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Germany meets Kyoto target for CO2 emissions
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1128-germany.html
Mongabay: Germany has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions below levels mandated under the Kyoto Protocol reports Bloomberg. Industrial emissions by Europe's largest economy fell 2.3 percent last year to 957 million tons of CO2. Under Kyoto Germany pledged to reduce emissions to an average of 974 million tons a year during the 2008-2012 commitment period -- 21 percent below from 1990 levels. Germany was helped by the integration of East Germany which saw its emissions plunge following ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Climate change will damage forests, creating hardship for rural communities
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1128-forests.html
Mongabay: Climate change will transform forests that directly sustain nearly one billion people, warns a report to be released next week at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Poznán, Poland. The report, issued by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), calls for the implementation of adaptation measures to reduce the vulnerability of forests and forest-dependent communities to wildfires, drought, flooding, disease, and other ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Amazon deforestation rises slightly to 4,600 square miles in 2008
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1128-amazon.html
Mongabay: <MAP Name="1"> </MAP> Amazon deforestation rises slightly to 4,600 square miles in 2008 mongabay.com November 28, 2008 Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased slightly for the August 2007-July 2008 period, reports the country's National Institute of Space Research (INPE). The rise is the first since 2004 when 27,379 square kilometers were destroyed. INPE estimates that 11,968 square kilometers (4,600 square miles) of rainforest were cleared during ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Horrified by your latest utility bills? Then it's time to take action
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/nov/29/energy-energy-efficiency-bills
Guardian: Heating Space-heating accounts for 57% of a house's energy use, so it is the first place to look to economise. Wear more, heat less Cutting your thermostat temperature by just one degree will shave 10% off your heating bill. For a really skinny bill, pile on the layers and drop it to 18C. Insulation, insulation, insulation Ask the local council about schemes for help, or call the Energy Saving Trust (0800 512 012, est.org.uk). Insulating a loft will save ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Nations urged to agree new formula for cutting greenhouse gases
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5254478.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times: Attempts to force countries to reduce their carbon emissions per head of population are to be put forward next week at a United Nations climate change conference. The plan, which is being drawn up by Brazil, is designed to put pressure on other nations to agree how targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions should be shared. The revised per capita scheme is thought to go some way towards easing resentment in developing nations that they are being asked to take on an unfair burden ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
United States: Beating Washers Into Wind Turbines
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97591683&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Sure, Iowa's known for corn. But for decades it was a major source of house hold appliances. Industry giants like Amana, Maytag and others supplied much of Americans' demand. Most of the factories are closed now, and the losses hit hard in places like the Amana Colonies, communal villages where ancient German customs are carefully preserved. But Iowa has since taken the lead in the emerging field of wind energy. Some of the same workers who use to make appliances are now busy building ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Canada to consult with provinces on climate talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AR6UB20081128?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Canada's environment minister said on Friday the federal government would give the country's provinces a consultative role in any negotiations with the United States on a North American pact to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. The minister, Jim Prentice, said Canada intended to pursue such talks with the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama on a national level. Even so, he said, "There will be extensive consultation (with the provinces) before we ever sit down ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
UN climate chief calls for green technology 'revolution'
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/un-climate-chief-calls-for-green-technology-revolu.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: Environmentally sound technologies need "a revolutionary push", says Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. On the eve of the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, he said: "Incrementalism is the enemy of fundamental change. We are really going to need a major fundamental shift, and technology has to be at the heart of that." The transfer of "green technology" from industrialised to developing countries is one ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Germany cuts carbon-dioxide emissions to below Kyoto target.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=ay9P5MmIBoa8&refer=germany
Bloomberg: Germany reduced carbon-dioxide emissions to below levels required under the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement aimed at stemming climate change. The nation's factories, power plants and other emitters released a combined 957 million tons of CO2 last year, a decline of 2.3 percent from the previous year, the environment ministry reported today in an e-mailed statement. Germany, home to Europe's largest economy, encouraged homeowners and businesses to cut air pollution by ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Living up to the Pope's words: the Vatican turns to solar power
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1128-hance_pope.html
Mongabay: In his three years since being inaugurated, Pope Benedict XVI has made the environment one of his central issues, proclaiming that "God entrusted man with the responsibility of creation". He has described the need to confront climate change as a 'moral obligation' and spoken eloquently on the destruction of arable soil, forests and marine life. Compelled by the Pope's rhetoric, the Vatican is now taking action: 2,400 photovoltaic panels have been installed on the roof of the Vatican's ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
New hope of curing amphibian plague
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1128-hance_amphibians.html
Mongabay: Amphibians worldwide are in trouble. One of the most endangered animal groups, amphibians are increasingly threatened by habitat loss, pollution, and climate change. However the largest threat is chytridiomycosis, a devastating disease caused by a parasitic chytrid fungus known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, otherwise known as Bd. Some hope for frogs and toads has been found at the Institute of Zoology in London. Scientists have discovered that tadpoles infected with Bd are cured ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Global Carbon Dioxide Hit Record Levels in 2007
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2008/2008-11-26-01.asp
Environment News Service: Climate-heating greenhouse gases continue to increase in the atmosphere, and last year, global concentrations of carbon dioxide again reached the highest levels ever recorded, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the World Meteorological Organization. Greenhouse gases trap the Sun's radiation within the Earth's atmosphere causing it to warm. Human activities, such as fossil fuel burning and agriculture, are major emitters of the gases, which scientists recognize as ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Mystery of iceberg 'birth' solved
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16163-mystery-of-iceberg-birth-solved.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: US scientists have figured out how icebergs break off Antarctica and Greenland, a finding that may help predict rising sea levels as the climate warms. Icebergs form fastest when parent ice sheets quickly spread out over the sea, the scientists say. It's too late to help the Titanic, but this newly derived, simple law may help researchers improve their climate models and predict ice sheet break-up, they say. Other factors, such as ice thickness, width of the ice flow, ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Insurers call on governments to deliver clearer climate adaptation plans
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2231605/insurers-call-clear-climate
Business Green: The insurance industry is calling on nation states to develop clear global warming adaptation strategies so that it can accurately price insurance cover to help spread the cost of dealing with the effects of climate change. The costs of counteracting climate change-related risks, such as the increased frequency of floods and extreme weather events, are likely to run to trillions of dollars, but insurers are arguing they will struggle to offer long-term cover against such threats ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
United Kingdom: New targets to cut carbon emissions expected to cost
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/emissions/3533993/New-targets-to-cut-carbon-emissions-expected-to-cost.html
Telegraph: Under plans to tackle climate change targets, businesses will be expected to invest in updating equipment, improving insulation and replacing transport fleets. And individuals will also be expected to make big lifestyle changes, for example by improving energy efficiency in the home, turning off appliances and paying more for products or services that pollute the environment. Next week, Lord Turner will set out how the Government is expected to cut greenhouse gases by 80 per ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Brazil Amazon destruction rises after 3-year fall
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AR5W420081128?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Destruction of the Amazon forest in Brazil accelerated for the first time in four years, the government said on Friday, as high commodity prices tempted farmers and ranchers to slash more trees. Satellite images showed nearly 4,633 square miles (12,000 sq km), or an area nearly the size of the U.S. state of Connecticut, were chopped down in the 12 months through July, the National Institute for Space Studies said. That is up from 4,332 square miles (11,224 sq km) last year but ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Multi-tasking canola: California miracle crop?
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/nov/27/ca-multi-tasking-plant-112708/?zIndex=16736
Associated Press: A hardy but pedestrian plant is doing triple duty in California's agricultural heartland, absorbing a salt that once deformed waterfowl by the millions, creating clean-burning biofuel and nourishing cattle with the leftovers. Crop-crippling selenium in soil and groundwater makes the arid west side of the San Joaquin Valley a challenge for farmers, whose diesel tractors have been blamed for helping cause the worst air quality in the nation. But farmers, water managers and ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Germany on track to meet Kyoto targets
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20081128-15795.html
Local: The German government released data for 2007 greenhouse gas emissions on Friday that it said showed it was well on track to meet its international climate change commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for causing global warming, were 22 percent lower in 2007 than the base years of 1990 or 1995 set out in the protocol, the environment ministry said in a statement. Germany pledged under Kyoto in 1997 to lower its emissions by 21 percent by 2012 and ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Government defends zero-carbon home progress
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2231574/government-defends-zero-carbon
Business Green: The government has insisted it remains "absolutely committed" to legislation that require all new homes built from 2016 to be zero-carbon, despite reports today that so far only 15 new homes have qualified as zero-carbon. Under a scheme first unveiled in 2006, buyers of new zero-carbon houses and flats would be exempted from stamp duty, saving purchasers around £15,000. But according to reports in today's Times, only 15 homes have qualified as zero-carbon in the first year of ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
European leadership lacking ahead of global climate talks
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=151061
WWF: Europe will face major embarrassment at international climate change talks next week if it fails to live up to its commitment to tackle global warming, environment and development groups warned today. The world is looking at how high Europe will set the bar at climate talks in Poznan, Poland, starting on December 1st. Its position will be crucial in determining the chances of agreeing a global deal consistent with keeping global warming below 2°C compared to pre-industrial ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Frustration Over Veto of Glacier Protection Law
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44898
Inter Press Service: NA: Frustration Over Veto of Glacier Protection Law Homepage Latest News Search Languages Contact Us About Us Friday, November 28, 2008 14:24 GMT IPS Direct to Your Inbox! <NOBR></NOBR> - Global Affairs - Africa - Asia-Pacific Afghanistan Iran - Caribbean Haiti - Europe Union in Diversity - Latin America - Mideast & Mediterranean Iraq Israel/Palestine - North America Neo-Cons Bush at War - Development MDGs City Voices Corruption - Civil Society - Globalisation - Environment ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Obama Faces Tight Deadline On Climate Change
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97436389&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: International climate negotiations get under way next week in Poznan, Poland. Hopes are high that the United States, under President-elect Barack Obama, will take on a leadership role in these ongoing talks once he is president. The problems Obama will inherit are huge. Scientists say the world needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions rapidly over the coming decades. That means shifting from cheap energy like coal to cleaner, but more expensive, alternatives. And nations around the ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
A land rush in Wyoming spurred by wind power
http://www10.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/us/28wind.html?_r=5
New York Times: The man who came to Elsie Bacon's ranch house door in July asked the 71-year-old widow to grant access to a right of way across the dry hills and short grasses of her land here. Ms. Bacon remembered his insistence on a quick, secret deal. The man, a representative of the Little Rose Wind Farm of Boulder, Colo., sought an easement for a transmission line to carry his company's wind-generated electricity to market. His offer: a fraction of the value of similar deals in the area. As Ms. ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Only 15 homes meet Gordon Brown's zero-carbon test
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5248063.ece
Times (UK): A £15 million project to build hundreds of new zero-carbon homes has fallen flat after only 15 qualified in the first year, The Times has learnt. Gordon Brown's scheme, which he championed in his last Pre-Budget Report as Chancellor, has failed because the Government's specification for a zero-carbon home is not practical, the building industry says. In November 2006 Mr Brown said he would waive stamp duty for new zero-carbon houses, giving buyers savings of about £15,000. This ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Global coal damage costs 360 billion euro annually: Greenpeace.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iz_At_t5JwlGPUpmwwIxJJivy_Gg
Agence France-Presse: The use of coal for energy production causes at least 360 billion euros worth of damage to human health and the environment every year, Greenpeace said in a new report published on Thursday. "When taking into account about 90 percent of the global emissions and looking at these damages, we get a conservative but robust cost figure of 360 billion euros annually," Agnieszka Markowska, damages expert and co-author of Greenpeace's "True Cost of Coal" report told reporters in ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
United States: Alliance: Stop Cape Wind at all costs
http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2008/11/26/alliance-stop-cape-wind-at-all-costs?blog=53
Cape Cod Today: How determined is the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound to stop the proposed Cape Wind project? Very determined, judging from the letter the organization sent out to raise funds from potential supporters. "In short, we will do whatever it takes to win," said the letter, which went out over the signatures of Glenn G. Wattley, president and chief executive officer of the not-for-profit organization, and development officer Eric R. Steinhilber. "We will never allow Cape Wind to ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Australia: Researchers fear widespread reef coral bleaching
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/28/2432270.htm?section=australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Marine researchers fear the Great Barrier Reef will suffer more coral bleaching than normal over the next 12 months because of rising sea temperatures. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is using data from the weather bureau to formulate its yearly forecast, which indicates there is a high risk the bleaching will be widespread. The authority's Dr Paul Marshall says global warming is having a significant impact on the ocean. "So particular species of coral reef ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Climate fight costs may be three times more
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE4AQ71520081127
Reuters: The cost of efforts to avoid dangerous global warming may be 170 percent higher than 2007 estimates, a report for the U.N.'s climate agency said on Thursday. The report comes four days before the U.N. leads a fresh round of talks in Poland to agree a successor to the Kyoto Protocol in ongoing negotiations marred by squabbles over who should bear the cost of fighting climate change. The U.N. report cited research by the International Energy Agency (IEA), energy adviser to 28 ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Low carbon price may stunt investment in wind, sun
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/50702
Reuters: Falling prices for European carbon emissions permits could stunt investment in the renewable energy sector both within and outside Europe, but the credit crunch continues to have a greater impact. Renewable energy's rapid growth has been slowed by the credit crunch and financial crisis: energy projects depend on debt finance which is now in short supply and more costly. A falling carbon price could worsen the economics of renewable energy further, as falling demand for carbon ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Scientists crack iceberg mystery.
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/50693
Reuters: US scientists have figured out how icebergs break off Antarctica and Greenland, a finding that may help predict rising sea levels as the climate warms. Writing in Friday's edition of the journal Science, they said icebergs formed fast when parent ice sheets spread out quickly over the sea. "It won't help the Titanic, but a newly derived, simple law may help scientists improve their climate models" and predict ice sheet break-up, they said in a statement. The Titanic sank in ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Necessity, not a 'green movement,' drove past generations to conservation, efficiency
http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2008/12/01/focus1.html?b=1228107600%5E1739684
Houston Business Journal: When all they had were crude tools and their imaginations, building designers made the most of both. For centuries, functional, sustainable buildings that used little or no electricity weren't part of a 'green movement.' They were a necessity. 'During the early 1900s, buildings were designed to encourage air to flow through them,' says architect Jody Henry, project manager for SHW Group. 'This was one of the 'greenest' things we could do, especially in the hot and humid ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Investment funds push an environmental agenda
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=111647
New York Times: Until recently, green investment funds were mostly a niche for individual investors. But now investing with the idea of improving the environmental actions of corporations, not just maximizing profit, is catching on among some big pension funds and foundations, particularly in Europe and even in the United States. These funds are redirecting investment toward companies that do the least environmental damage and those that try to limit their output of the emissions thought to ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
EPA, Interior Dept. chiefs will be busy erasing Bush's mark
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/27/AR2008112702184.html
Washington Post: Few federal agencies are expected to undergo as radical a transformation under President-elect Barack Obama as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, which have been at the epicenter of many of the Bush administration's most intense scientific and environmental controversies. The agencies have different mandates -- the EPA holds sway over air and water pollution, while Interior administers the nation's vast federal land holdings as well as the Endangered ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
New land-use law's message: build near transit
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/27/MNON1491JM.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Many California planning and environmental groups are heralding the passage of legislation designed to address global warming by curbing suburban sprawl as a watershed moment, perhaps the state's most important land-use law in more than 30 years. "It's a sea change in the way we're planning and funding growth and development," said Stephanie Reyes, senior policy advocate with San Francisco's Greenbelt Alliance. "The winds are shifting, and this is the time to get on board." But ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Carbon is forever
http://www.nature.com/climate/2008/0812/full/climate.2008.122.html
Nature: Carbon dioxide emissions and their associated warming could linger for millennia, according to some climate scientists. Mason Inman looks at why the fallout from burning fossil fuels could last far longer than expected. After our fossil fuel blow-out, how long will the CO2 hangover last? And what about the global fever that comes along with it? These sound like simple questions, but the answers are complex -- and not well understood or appreciated outside a small group of climate ...
Sat, 29 Nov 08
Hot times at the apocalypse
http://www.montrealmirror.com/2008/112708/news3.html
Montreal Mirror: For the last 30 years, Canadian-born and London-based author and journalist Gwynne Dyer has been writing about the crises of the day around the globe. But in his new book, Climate Wars, he addresses the security threats--and potential solutions--facing the planet as a whole, due to catastrophic though entirely avoidable climate change. With vivid, speculative scenarios interspersing chapters based on interviews with high-level scientists, researchers and activists, and drawing on his ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Compromise or lose climate deal, Poland warns EU
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AQ5JE20081127?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Europe risks failing on a deal to fight climate change this year because richer nations refuse to budge in a battle with poorer states over the costs, Poland's EU affairs minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz said on Thursday. An EU deal next month is seen as vital to catalyze global talks on cutting greenhouse gases from other big emitters such as Russia, China, India and the United States. "There is no guarantee of success -- we are very far," Dowgielewicz told reporters. "The number ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Greenpeace report reveals the true cost of coal
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/true-cost-of-coal-27112008
Greenpeace: Greenpeace today released an analysis showing that the global cost of coal was at least 360 billion last year alone. The report, "The True Cost of Coal", released with the independent Dutch Institute CE Delft, arrived at this figure by looking at very modest CO2 damage costs, health costs and mining accidents. The report was released as Industry Ministers from at least 20 big emitting countries met in Warsaw with the world's climate-polluting industries (1). "The relentless ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
United States: Polymer Solar Cells With Higher Efficiency Levels Created
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081126133435.htm
ScienceDaily: Currently, solar cells are difficult to handle, expensive to purchase and complicated to install. The hope is that consumers will one day be able to buy solar cells from their local hardware store and simply hang them like posters on a wall. A new study by researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has shown that the dream is one step closer to reality. Reporting in the Nov. 26 edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Yang Yang, a ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Boris Johnson outlines green plans for London
http://www.newbuilder.co.uk/news/newsFullStory.asp?ID=2750
Green Building: Boris Johnson, Mayor of London has outlined his vision for creating a 'green' economy in the capital. He plans to make London more energy efficient, help cash-strapped households cut energy bills, and make London a more pleasant place to live. In the Mayor's first major speech on the environment since being elected, he set out his priorities on how London can cut carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025 and make the city a 'greener', more civilised place to live and ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
EU Car Emissions Agreement Stalls
http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2008/11/26/eu-car-emissions-agreement-stalls
ClimateBiz: New vehicle emissions rules for the European Union stalled after the governments couldn't agree on penalties for carmakers who miss their CO2 targets. Envoys of the 27 EU member states appeared to agree in principle on cutting emissions by roughly 18 percent for partial fleets in 2012 and and reaching full compliance by 2015. The bloc's overarching goal involves cutting CO2 emissions to 95 grams per kilometer by 2020. But the talks stalled on the issue of penalties for ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Looking for Carbon in Renewable Energy
http://www.climatebiz.com/feature/2008/11/26/looking-carbon-renewable-energy
ClimateBiz: Back in the mid-1990s, Rob Harmon wanted to develop wind farms. Like other aspiring developers, he identified promising locations and then talked to local utilities about buying the power. He encountered a common response. "They told me they'd pay me what they paid for commodity electricity," Harmon recalls. The commodity price for electricity was often determined by coal plants. Unlike new wind farms, these plants had often paid off their capital costs years ago. They also ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Enlargement split in EU climate feud?
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/enlargement-split-eu-climate-feud/article-177513?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: Opposition from Poland and several of the bloc's newer member states to the energy and climate package has raised questions about the capacity of an enlarged EU to push through such ambitious policy agendas. The "fault line" of the EU's climate agenda is being drawn along its eastern borders, testing the ability of the enlarged union to realise its ambition of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, Michael Zammit Cutajar, former head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
United Kingdom: We need eco-extremists - Miliband
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15669
Edie: The scale of the popular movement and the force with which activists and agitators deliver their arguments is key to the success of any future international agreement to tackle climate change. These were the somewhat surprising words of the new Secretary of State for Climate Change and Energy, Ed Miliband, when he spoke at the Environment Agency's conference this week. "We need the utopians and we need the agitators," he said. "We need the people who say that people like ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Kahsay Beyen - 'This is the Worst Drought I Have Seen in My Life'
http://allafrica.com/stories/200811260736.html
IRIN: Like many areas in the Horn of Africa, northern and northeastern Ethiopia are experiencing severe drought caused by the failure of the short (Belg) and long rains (Meher), resulting in low crop yields or even total crop failure in some areas. Kahsay Beyen, 63, a farmer in Afenjiwo village, Ruba Feleg peasant association in Atsbi Womberta woreda in the eastern zone of Tigray, lost all the crops he had planted in May. He spoke to IRIN on 23 November: "I had planted wheat, beans ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
S.F. considers congestion tolls on cars
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/26/MNS614C8S1.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Drivers could pay $3 to enter, leave or pass through parts of San Francisco during morning and evening commutes under a proposal designed to push motorists out of their cars. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority, which has been studying the idea of imposing congestion-based tolls on city streets for nearly two years, released some of the details of its study Tuesday at a meeting of its board, which is made up of the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors. The board ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
The coal question
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=7565&catid=&volume_id=398&issue_id=407&volume_num=43&issue_num=09
Various: GREEN CITY Over the past few years, a growing number of environmentalists have called for greatly curtailing the burning of coal, a practice that threatens the health of people and the planet. On Nov. 14-15, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) held protests in San Francisco and more than 50 other cities against Bank of America and Citibank, two of the largest financial backers of coal projects. RAN cites data showing that coal is responsible for nearly 40 percent of US global warming ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
United States: Automakers' emissions suit dismissed
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20081126/BUSINESS/811260391/1003
Associated Press: Automakers cannot sue to block Rhode Island from enforcing tighter standards on tailpipe emissions that were first adopted by California because the industry has already lost similar lawsuits elsewhere, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres dismissed General Motors, Chrysler and two automaker associations from the case, but his ruling permits several local car dealers to pursue the lawsuit for now. The manufacturers have lost similar cases in California and ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Europe's different approaches to energy & climate change
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/europeinsight/archives/2008/11/europes_energy.html
Business Week: For many, Europe`s stance on energy policy and climate change appears united. The European Commission has announced targets of a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and 20% electricity generation from renewables all by 2020 (the so-called 20-20 by 2020). Yet behind these objectives, there are wide divisions between European countries on how best to tackle global warming and energy security. Just how big these differences are was made clear by a recent report by consultants ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Arctic's long-lost forests show carbon links, scientists say.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a61C3MoVAAMA&refer=canada
Bloomberg: A warm period 3 million years ago, when forests dotted the Arctic region and sea levels were 80 feet (24 meters) higher, is providing clues about how heat-trapping greenhouse gases can boost global temperatures, scientists said. Fossils from the mid-Pliocene epoch reveal a far warmer planet with a concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of only about 5 percent more than exists today, said Harry Dowsett, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist. A reconstruction of the climate 3 ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Mine permit OK'd on potential wind farm site
http://wvgazette.com/News/200811250710
Associated Press: State regulators have approved a permit change that will allow Massey Energy to start a mountaintop removal mine on a Southern West Virginia site that environmentalists are trying to preserve for a wind farm. Federal permits for the 6,000-acre Coal River Mountain project are pending, but last week's action by the state Department of Environmental protection allows Richmond, Va.-based Massey to start mining on a 150-acre tract. It also removes another hurdle to the larger ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Renewable energy hitting a snag
http://www.northjersey.com/environment/environmentnews/35116639.html
Herald News: Despite their penchant for saving money in the long run, renewable energy projects may face a slump during the economic downturn because of high upfront costs. The two most popular projects in New Jersey -- solar panel installations and more recently, wind farms -- are expensive even with government incentives, some of which are being pulled back. "Emerging technology and other long-range investments are often the first to suffer when the economy turns," said Frank Felder ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Greenland gambles on warmer, richer climate
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081126/full/news.2008.1257.html
Nature: Greenland's residents have voted overwhelmingly to take a step closer to full independence. The move towards gaining the full status of 'country' has been spurred not just by feelings of national pride, many say, but by climate change. Greenland has long been an administrative division of Denmark, with powers of home-rule in areas such as health-care and education since 1979. Many have pushed for further economic and foreign-policy independence, but this has been hampered by the fact ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
United States: Solar projects catch fire
http://www.mountainx.com/news/2008/112608solar_projects_catch_fire
Mountain Xpress: Across Western North Carolina, a wave of solar projects have been announced over the past few months. The YWCA of Asheville plans to install 30 solar-thermal panels on its roof to heat water for the nonprofit`s pool and showers, and in Haywood County, a seven acre 'solar farm' featuring more than 3,000 photovoltaic panels is planned for a former landfill site in Canton. On the sunny side: Workers recently set up one of the largest photovoltaic installations in Western North Carolina ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Economy may force Barack Obama to cut back on green pledge
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/27/obama-us-climate-change
Guardian: Barack Obama, who promised last week to write a "new chapter in America's leadership" on the environment, could find his hands tied by the economic crisis, a leading figure in global climate change negotiations said yesterday. John Kerry, who will lead the US Senate's delegation to the UN's climate meeting in Poznan, Poland, next month, said his country was now in a position to play a leading role on global climate change negotiations. But he also said Obama's administration would be ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Now is the perfect time for a dollar-a-gallon gasoline tax.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_11084147?nclick_check=1&forced=true
Mercury News: Don't look now, but energy history is on the verge of repeating itself. All those discussions of a new paradigm in the form of conservation and alternative sources are washing away in less expensive oil. Six months ago, people were incensed by the greed of foreign oil producers; today "inexpensive" gasoline is a welcome respite in an otherwise failing economy. All the big talk of energy independence in Congress has been pushed aside as we struggle to keep our jobs and pay our mortgages. ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
United States: Bay Area mayors endorse $1 billion plan for electric cars
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11032113?nclick_check=1&forced=true
Mercury News: A Palo Alto start-up with powerful backing on Thursday unveiled an ambitious $1 billion plan to help make the Bay Area the nation's electric-car capital. Endorsed by all three of the Bay Area's big city mayors, the plan would provide the re-charging infrastructure that must be in place before most consumers would consider buying or leasing an electric car. Better Place, headed by former high-tech executive Shai Agassi, plans to install about 250,000 charging ports, 200 ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Save the economy, and the planet
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=111564
New York Times: Environment ministers preparing for next week`s talks on global warming in Poznan, Poland, have been sounding decidedly downbeat. From Paris to Beijing, the refrain is the same: This is no time to pursue ambitious plans to stop global warming. We can`t deal with a financial crisis and reduce emissions at the same time. There is a very different message coming from this country. President-elect Barack Obama is arguing that there is no better time than the present to invest heavily in ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Carbon Offsets Could Swamp EU Carbon Price - Report
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/50669
Reuters: A ballooning global supply of carbon offsets could flood the European Union's emissions market and dent prices, according to a report to be published next month by Britain's Carbon Trust. EU member states, lawmakers and the EU executive Commission are in negotiations now to revamp the bloc's emissions trading scheme (ETS) from 2013-2020, and face a mid-December deadline. The EU ETS is the cornerstone of European climate policy. It distributes to industry a fixed quota of carbon ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Japan Aims To Limit Speculation In Emissions Trade
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/50670
Reuters: Japan's prime minister wants to limit speculative trading in his country's carbon emissions trading scheme, a senior policy negotiator said on Tuesday. Kunihiko Shimada, principal international policy coordinator for the Ministry of the Environment, said Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said he wants to examine ways of curbing speculative trading in Japan's emissions trading trial scheme. "This is a directive coming from the top...they have issues with speculative trading," ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
UK takes legal lead on climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/27/climate-change-carbon-emissions-politics
Guardian: The UK was set to make history last night when the climate change bill received royal assent and brought into law the world's first legally-binding targets for a nation to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. This and future governments will be committed to cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. Progress towards this target will be laid out and monitored by a new independent climate change committee, which on Monday will recommend the first three ...
Fri, 28 Nov 08
Climate change watchdog backs expansion of Heathrow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/27/climate-change-carbon-emissions-heathrow
Guardian: The UK could meet its ambitious pledge to slash greenhouse gas pollution even if ministers give the go-ahead to expanding Heathrow airport, the government's leading climate change adviser has signalled. This week the chairman of the government's Environment Agency, Lord Smith of Finsbury, joined critics who say that adding a third runway at Britain's biggest airport would destroy the government's promise to tackle climate change, and increase local air and noise pollution to ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Missouri retailers selling gasoline without ethanol
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AP9LO20081126?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Retailers across Missouri have been selling gasoline without ethanol blended into the motor fuel for several weeks, according to a state official. The absence of the grain-based alcohol, used to reduce pollution, has pushed Missouri's gasoline prices to the lowest in the United States, said Ronald Hayes, director of weights and measures for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, which regulates gasoline sales. "If the price for ethanol is more expensive than the price for ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Supermarkets banish the plastic bag
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/supermarkets-banish-the-plastic-bag-1036888.html
Independent: Britain's biggest supermarkets say they are on course to reduce by half their use of plastic bags by Easter. Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Waitrose are making progress in cutting the number of free bags handed out to shoppers at the checkout. Plastic bags are made using oil and take hundreds of years to degrade in landfill sites, often after a single use. An estimated 13 billion plastic bags are handed out by UK retailers every year. In February last year, six trade associations ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Testing times for Lord Turner who is juggling financial crisis and climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/27/green-politics-economy-lord-turner
Guardian: It is hard to think of anybody who has a busier diary at the moment than Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, who has found himself advising the government on how to save both capitalism and, between meetings, the planet from climate change. Turner became chairman of the Financial Services Authority in September, on a weekend sandwiched between the collapses of global investment bank Lehman Brothers and UK mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley. Between meetings about the crisis in the ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
The 10 big energy myths
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/27/renewableenergy-energy
Guardian: Myth 1: solar power is too expensive to be of much use In reality, today's bulky and expensive solar panels capture only 10% or so of the sun's energy, but rapid innovation in the US means that the next generation of panels will be much thinner, capture far more of the energy in the sun's light and cost a fraction of what they do today. They may not even be made of silicon. First Solar, the largest manufacturer of thin panels, claims that its products will generate electricity in ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
More Americans Are Getting On The Bus
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/50674
Reuters: Many Americans have abandoned their love of getting behind the wheel during the last year, and opted to hop on buses instead, according to a study released this week. Inter-city bus service jumped 9.8 percent between the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008, the highest growth rate in more than 40 years. "The growth in intercity bus traffic is being driven by a number of factors, chiefly the spiking price of fuel over the past year," said Joseph Schwieterman, professor of public ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
"Green" palm oil sales expected to pick up
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/50685
Reuters: Palm oil producers in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea may sell 1 million tonnes of "sustainable" palm oil next year, up ten-fold on 2008 although still only a tiny fraction of global sales, officials said. Under fire from green groups and some Western consumers, the palm oil industry established the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2004 to develop an ethical certification system, including commitments to preserve rainforests and wildlife. RSPO palm oil ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Carbon market could pay poor farmers to adopt sustainable cultivation techniques
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1126-agroforestry.html
Mongabay: The emerging market for forest carbon could support agroforestry programs that alleviate rural poverty and promote sustainable development, states a new report issued by the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF). The report -- which will be presented at the upcoming UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Poznán, Poland -- suggests that proceeds from the carbon market could be used to reward farmers who adopt cultivation techniques that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Europe Eases the Way for Cars
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44877
Inter Press Service: José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission's president, has a penchant for large cars. At the same time as he was publicly encouraging citizens to be more sparing in their use of energy, it emerged in 2006 that his vehicle of choice was a Volkswagen Touareg. With its rapacious appetite for fuel, Barroso's 4x4 emits 265 grams of carbon dioxide for every kilometre driven. That was more than twice an objective for the maximum discharge of greenhouse gases from cars that the EU's ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
2008 Atlantic hurricane season blows away records
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6134160.html
Associated Press: The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Sunday, appears to have attained Olympian heights, setting at least five weather records in the United States and Cuba. "It was pretty relentless in a large number of big strikes," said Georgia Tech atmospheric sciences professor Judith Curry. "We just didn't have the huge monster where a lot of people lost their lives, but we had a lot of damage, a lot of damage." Data on death and damage are still being calculated. Three ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Guide to reducing emissions through forest conservation released
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1126-redd.html
Mongabay: Ahead of next week's climate meeting in Poznań, Poland, the Global Canopy Programme -- an alliance of 37 scientific institutions in 19 countries -- has launched a layman's guide to a proposed mechanism for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by reducing deforestation. Deforestation and land use change accounts for roughly 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions -- a larger share than all the world's cars, trucks, ships, and airplanes combined. The guide, titled The Little ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Heat we emit could warm the Earth
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026845.200-heat-we-emit-could-warm-the-earth.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: EVEN if we turn to clean energy to reduce carbon emissions, the planet might carry on warming anyway due to the heat released into the environment by our ever-increasing consumption of energy. That's the contentious possibility raised by Nick Cowern and Chihak Ahn of the School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at Newcastle University, UK. They argue that human energy consumption could begin to contribute significantly to global warming a century from ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Planes, trains or automobiles? Climate villains revealed
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026844.000-planes-trains-or-automobiles-climate-villains-revealed.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: WHICH is the biggest climate villain: cars, planes, ships or trains? Overall, road vehicles cause the most warming - in recent years, at least. Jan Fuglestvedt of the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) in Norway, and colleagues, inventoried the various types of emissions that were generated by transportation in 2000. They then calculated how each one-year "pulse" of emissions will warm the globe this century. The car and truck emissions caused ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Climate change survey gives mandate for action
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16147-climate-change-survey-gives-mandate-for-action.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: World governments have the backing of the majority of their citizens to take action on climate change, according to a global survey published today. Of people surveyed in the 2008 Climate Confidence Monitor, 77% said they thought their country should make emissions cuts to allow less developed economies to grow. In China, the popular opinion was at odds with their government's position in international negotiations: 62% of respondents said the country should reduce emissions by at ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
World's first climate change bill to get Royal Assent today
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2231371/world-first-climate-change-bill
Business Green: The UK will officially become the first country in the world to adopt legally-binding carbon emission targets later this evening when the long-anticipated climate change bill is given Royal Assent. It will be joined on the statue book by the new energy bill and planning bill, both of which will pass into law at the same time and provide the government with many of the enabling powers required to begin work towards meeting its target of cutting emissions by 80 per cent by ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Britain's first space facility will monitor the health of planet Earth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/26/esa-space-facility-harwell-earth-observation
Guardian: The government's aspirations to become health monitor for planet Earth received a boost yesterday when the European Space Agency (ESA) agreed to establish its first British space facility. The centre is expected to become a focus for research into space-based Earth observations, which the government is keen to establish as the cornerstone of its role in the heavens. Based at the home of Britain's atomic energy programme, Harwell in Oxfordshire, the new centre could be up and ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Solar Energy As A Sustainable Source Of European Economic Growth
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081126091621.htm
ScienceDaily: Scientists from leading European research institutions in the field of solar-to-fuel energy conversion call for unified action and substantial support for novel clean fuel technologies as well as a paradigm change in Europe's current energy policy. This is crucial if Europe is to maintain its environmental stability and economic development. Direct conversion of solar energy into fuel represents one of the very few major options that humankind has to provide socially, economically and ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Vatican unveils ambitious solar energy plans
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AP50M20081126?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: And then there was light -- and it was powered by the sun. The Vatican on Wednesday activated a new solar energy system and announced an ambitious plan that could one day make it an alternative energy exporter. The massive roof of the "Nervi Hall" where popes hold general audiences and concerts are performed, has been covered with 2,400 photovoltaic panels to provide energy for lighting, heat and air conditioning. After weeks of tests, the system went on line at full throttle ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Consumers worldwide want governments to lead climate change response
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2231358/consumers-worldwide-government
Business Green: Consumers in both developed and emerging economies want to see governments -- and by extension, businesses -- end the deadlock of climate change negotiations and sign up to carbon emission reduction targets, according to a global survey of 12,000 people. Carried out by a coalition of NGOs brought together by HSBC, the survey polled 1,000 people in 12 of the world's most polluting nations -- Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, UK and ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
EU nears deal on car CO2 emissions
http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/eu-nears-deal-car-co2-emissions/article-177483
EurActiv: The EU is getting closer to reaching an agreement to reduce CO2 emissions from cars, amid speculation that the bloc's car-making countries have struck a deal to lower fines for manufacturers that fail to meet their CO2 targets. The French EU Presidency, the European Parliament and the European Commission resumed talks yesterday (24 November) to thrash out an agreement on the main points of the proposed legislation. These include introducing emissions targets and setting out the ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
UN maps out national positions ahead of climate talks
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/un-maps-national-positions-ahead-climate-talks/article-177471?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: After a year of debate on what a post-Kyoto climate deal should look like, the United Nations has published a report setting out its ideas in the hope that it will facilitate an agreement during upcoming negotiations in Poznan, Poland, on 1-12 December. Since last year's UN talks in Bali (Indonesia), countries have held regular talks and floated ideas and positions to come up with the architecture for a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol, due to expire in 2012. A draft report ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
More Than 900 U.S. Mayors Agree to Kyoto Climate Goals
http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2008/11/25/more-than-900-us-mayors-agree-kyoto-climate-goals
ClimateBiz: The mayors of Savannah, Ga., Lake Placid, N.Y., and Redondo Beach, Calif., have agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their cities 7 percent below 1990 levels, pushing the number of mayors committing to meet the goals of the Kyoto Protocol past 900. Mayors of New Egypt, N.J. and Springfield, Ill. also signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement recently, which aims to reduce emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. All told, the mayors signed onto ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Kenya: Agencies Seek $390 Million to Offset Climate And Food Risks
http://allafrica.com/stories/200811250859.html
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks: The 2009 Emergency Humanitarian Response Plan (EHRP) for Kenya will target populations affected by internal displacement and climatic hazards as well as food and livelihood insecurity. "A lot of progress has been made in addressing displacement but much remains to be done," said Aeneas Chuma, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator, at the launch of the appeal, which will fund essential support for an estimated 1.6 million people in 2009. The 24 November appeal requested ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Politics And Technical Concerns Thwart Efforts To Use Carbon Markets To Halt Deforestation
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081125203141.htm
ScienceDaily: At the UN Climate Change Conference, World Agroforestry Center scientists argue that existing technology to effectively monitor carbon storage in developing country landscapes could save more carbon than closing 1,400 coal-burning power plants. Carbon credit politics and misplaced technical concerns are impeding efforts to encourage sustainable land use practices in tropical regions--such as better forest management and growing more trees on farms--that could curtail up to 20 percent ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
White House Prods Allies to Oppose Limits on Greenhouse Gases
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/25/AR2008112502743.html?nav=rss_nation
Washington Post: As the Bush administration prepares to issue its ruling on whether to limit greenhouse gases, it's sending out a message to some of its allies: Tell us how much you don't want us to regulate emissions linked to global warming. Last week, the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs sent an e-mail to mayors reminding them that time was running out if they wanted to comment on the proposal the administration issued in July, which laid out how the government might curb greenhouse ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
United States: Perry wants to talk to Obama about greenhouse gases
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6132906.html
Houston Chronicle: Preparing for a new administration in Washington, Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday that regulating greenhouse gas emissions would have "devastating implications" for Texas' economy and energy industry. Although the Bush administration has rejected such regulation, President-elect Barack Obama is believed to be more receptive to clamping down on the gases that have been blamed for global warming. Perry said he plans to discuss his concerns with Obama next week. He is among several ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Australia cries foul over climate rules on developing countries
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24708236-30417,00.html
Australian: CANBERRA is pushing to change the rules for international climate change talks in Copenhagen next year to prevent rich developed countries, such as Singapore and South Korea, being required to do less because the Kyoto Protocol classifies them as developing. Australia argues that the next global climate change deal should require binding economy-wide targets of developed countries, with unspecified binding "action" required of developing nations. But, in its submission to the UN ahead ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
China, India lead demand for extra help in climate change struggle
http://www.terradaily.com/2007/081126021527.f7c69eyb.html
Agence France-Presse: China and India next week will spearhead calls for rich nations to dig into their pockets to tackle climate change but will resist targeted curbs on their own carbon emissions, sources say. The 12-day UN climate talks, starting in Poland on Monday, are a stepping stone towards an international pact, due to be completed by the end of 2009, for addressing climate change beyond 2012. China, India and other developing countries will articulate a top priority, according to sources ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
People 'must be willing to make sacrifices to cut climate change.'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3521567/People-must-be-willing-to-make-sacrifices-to-cut-climate-change.html
Telegraph: The international survey found the number of people willing to spend extra money on tackling climate change fell by 29 per cent to a fifth, while the number willing to change their lifestyle for the planet fell 19 per cent to just under half in the last year. Most dramatically, the 2008 Climate Confidence Monitor found that the number of people who have heard a lot about climate change in the past year fell from three quarters to 36 per cent, suggesting that climate change has had ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
United States: EPA moves to ease pollution rules
http://coloradoindependent.com/16074/epa-moves-to-ease-pollution-rules
Colorado Independent: The Environmental Protection Agency seems on the brink of issuing a new regulation that would make it easier for power plants to operate longer hours -- and emit more pollution. Under the proposed rule, power plants would be able to measure their rate of emissions on an hourly basis instead of their annual total output. As long as the hourly emissions stay at or below the plant's established maximum, the plant would be treated as if it were operating cleanly -- even if its total ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Move fast on climate, environmental groups tell Obama.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/56469.html
McClatchy Newspapers: Don't wait until the financial crisis is over to attack global warming because cleaner ways to produce and use energy will lead to a stronger economy, leaders of environmental groups said Tuesday as they outlined their wish list for President-elect Barack Obama. The recommendations from 29 of the nation's most prominent environmental and conservation groups emphasized a clean-energy approach to economic revitalization but also included detailed suggestions for Alaska's Arctic region ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
UN: greenhouse gases at new record highs
http://www.heraldonline.com/426/story/979596.html
Associated Press: Greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere have reached new record highs and show no sign of leveling off, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday. Major greenhouse gases have been increasing every year since detailed records started being kept in 1998 and follow a trend of rising emissions that began with the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century. The report by the World Meteorological Organization was released a year before representatives from major countries meet in ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Climate change is a battle for existence in the Maldives
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iJ1fPXP3dS8lUoPulsUs123tStWg
Agence France-Presse: Among the many grim predictions of climate change experts, the future fate of The Maldives stands out as a genuine doomsday scenario with the island chain nation facing nothing short of extinction. A one-metre (3.3-foot) rise in sea level would almost totally submerge the country's 1,192 coral islands scattered off the southern tip of India. Experts predict a rise of at least 18 centimetres is likely by the end of the century. So pressing has the danger become that the new ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Warm winter 'major threat' to crops
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-11/26/content_7239388.htm
China Daily: Prolonged periods of drought resulting from China's 23rd consecutive "warm winter" will pose a serious threat to the country's crop yields, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said in a report published Tuesday. Some regions could experience droughts until the spring, the report said, adding that the warm weather might even continue until summer. In contrast, extreme falls in temperature are forecast for the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, where "natural ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
EU nations blow hot and cold on climate change package
http://www.terradaily.com/2007/081126011659.jqc944is.html
Agence France-Presse: Battered by the economic headwinds and unable to hammer out a plan to fight global warming, Europe has ruined its ambition to lead the world at upcoming international climate talks in Poznan, Poland. The European Union has fixed an ambitious triple objective for itself to achieve by 2020, the so-called 20-20-20 goals; a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels, bringing renewable energy use up to 20 percent of the total, and an overall cut of 20 percent in ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
United Kingdom: BAA to invite Heathrow noise watchdog if third runway is approved
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/3523656/BAA-to-invite-Heathrow-noise-watchdog-if-third-runway-is-approved.html
Telegraph: A spokesman for BAA said it would only increase the number of flights at the airport if it can operate within these limits. BAA also wants to use both Heathrow's existing runways for take-offs and landings simultaneously. If it gets this concession, BAA says it will not increase flight numbers but use the extra capacity to cut delays. BAA chief executive Colin Matthews said: 'We have listened to the many arguments around expansion at Heathrow. Although the economic case ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Drought drains Central Texas crops, livestock
http://seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ewcd=4152c527ba717f44
Associated Press: This time of year, Debbie Davis usually sees green clover and winter grasses across the grazing pastures of her ranch. Now she sees only yellowing fields. "There's nothing. It's bad." said Davis, who fears continuing dry conditions will also fuel wildfires like a small one near her San Antonio-area spread a few days ago. "It was small because they caught it early." Even though Texas was soaked by three hurricanes this year, nearly half the state remains under drought conditions ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Researchers investigate how plants adapt to climate
http://www.physorg.com/news146767868.html
Physorg: How many mouths does a plant need in order to survive? The answer changes depending on climate, and some of the decisions are made long before a new leaf sprouts. Stanford researchers have found that the formation of microscopic pores called stomata (derived from the Greek word stoma, meaning mouth) is controlled by a specific signaling pathway that blocks activity of a single protein required for stomata development. The findings are described in a paper published Nov. 14 in ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Tibetan glaciers are melting faster than previously believed
http://www.tajikistannews.net/story/434214
Asian News International: If reports are to be believed, the Tibetan glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought, putting nearly a billion people living in South Asia in peril of losing their water supply. Throughout India, China, and Nepal, some 15,000 glaciers speckle the Tibetan Plateau, some of the highest land in the world. According to a report in Discovery News, though the ice is perched in thin, frigid air up to 7,200 meters (23,622 feet) above sea level, research has shown that it has not ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Zombie Economics: Don't Bail out the System that Gave Us SUVs and Strip Malls
http://www.alternet.org/environment/108481/zombie_economics:_don't_bail_out_the_system_that_gave_us_suvs_and_strip_malls/
Various: Though Citicorp is deemed too big to fail, it's hardly reassuring to know that it's been allowed to sink its fangs into the Mother Zombie that the U.S. Treasury has become and sucked out a multibillion dollar dose of embalming fluid so it can go on pretending to be a bank for a while longer. I employ this somewhat clunky metaphor to point out that the U.S. government is no more solvent than the financial zombies it is keeping on walking-dead support. And so this serial mummery of ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Marine life faces 'acid threat'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7745714.stm
BBC: Man-made pollution is raising ocean acidity at least 10 times faster than previously thought, a study says. Researchers say carbon dioxide levels are having a marked effect on the health of shellfish such as mussels. They sampled coastal waters off the north-west Pacific coast of the US every half-hour for eight years. The results, published in the journal PNAS, suggest that earlier climate change models may have underestimated the rate of ocean ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
UN: 'Carbon sink' Africa counters greenhouse gases' impact
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/243243,un-carbon-sink-africa-counters-greenhouse-gases-impact.html
Deutsche Welle: Africa could be taking more carbon out of the atmosphere that it releases, thus helping to counter the effect of greenhouse emissions on global warning, a UN agency said Tuesday. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is basing its observations on a research project, CarboAfrica involving 15 institutions from Africa and Europe, including FAO. Studying wild fires in South Africa's Kruger Park, carbon dioxide flows in the rainforest of Ghana or weather patterns in Sudan, ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Wind power meets record demand in Spain: industry group
http://www.physorg.com/news146811875.html
Agence France-Presse: Wind power supplied a record 43 percent of all electricity demand in Spain, which is being lashed by heavy winds and rain, for a brief period on Monday, the Spanish wind power association said. Wind power supplied a record 43 percent of all electricity demand in Spain, which is being lashed by heavy winds and rain, for a brief period on Monday, the Spanish wind power association said. Spanish wind farms generated 9,253 megawatts of the total demand of 21,264 megawatts at around 5 a.m. ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Slump May Limit Moves on Clean Energy
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=111457
New York Times: Just as the world seemed poised to combat global warming more aggressively, the economic slump and plunging prices of coal and oil are upending plans to wean businesses and consumers from fossil fuel. From Italy to China, the threat to jobs, profits and government tax revenues posed by the financial crisis has cast doubt on commitments to cap emissions or phase out polluting factories. Automakers, especially Detroit`s Big Three, face collapsing sales, threatening their plans to ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
http://www.sciam.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=planes-trains-and-automobiles-08-11-25
Scientific American: Going home for Thanksgiving is a time-honored American tradition--and one that exemplifies the environmental burden created by all our hectic traveling. We spewed more than 2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from our trains, planes and automobiles in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. I love my beat up old junker of a car, but at 30 miles-per-gallon, I'm not doing the atmosphere any favors. Turning to ethanol or biodiesel doesn't help much, given that those fuels ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Chip maker promises to bolster energy from shaded solar panels
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2231307/chip-maker-promises-energy
Business Green: For many companies looking to install solar panels, an inconveniently placed tree or rooftop facing in the wrong direction can soon put paid to their green ambitions by casting a shadow over the best spot for their solar array. But now US-based electronics component manufacturer National Semiconductor is hoping to address the problem with the launch of a new product that promises to reduce the effect of shade on photovoltaic solar panels. The device, called SolarMagic, will be ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
EU mulls state aid for companies hit by CO2 costs
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AP2D320081126?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The European Union is considering state aid to help companies deal with the risk of electricity prices rising as the EU clamps down on carbon emissions, a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed. The measures are aimed at easing a stand-off with member states including Germany and Poland that fear big employers will simply move operations overseas to less regulated countries, rather than face the cost of cutting carbon at home. The EU is now reviewing its flagship ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Miliband invites green movement to be more critical
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2231315/miliband-invites-green-movement
Business Green: Ed Miliband yesterday used his first speech since his appointment as energy and climate change secretary to urge the public sector to play a greater role in the generation of renewable energy. Echoing comments made the previous day by Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith, Miliband told delegates at the Agency's conference that with the public sector owning 10 per cent of land in the UK, it should be capable of generating far more than the one per cent of the country's renewable ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Will we have solar pavements within five years?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2231330/solar-pavements-within-five
Business Green: Thin-film solar cells could soon become a ubiquitous feature of urban landscapes, integrated into everything from pavements to windows and paint to clothing. That is the prediction of researchers at IT giant IBM who claim solar technologies will become affordable for consumers within five years, as thin-film solar cells come of age. According to the company's Next Five in Five report, which assesses the innovations the company expects to make a big impact over the next five ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
Downturn will not put brakes on hybrid success
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2231339/downturn-put-brakes-hybrid
Business Green: The global economic recession will fail to halt hybrid vehicles' march into the mainstream, according to a new report from auto industry research firm R.L. Polk & Company. The study predicts that by 2012, one in 20 new vehicles sold in North America and Europe will be a hybrid model as customer concerns over fuel efficiency and carbon emissions continue to mount. That would represent significant growth in demand for hybrids, which currently account for just 2.8 per cent of ...
Thu, 27 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Critical Mass police ban blocked by law lords
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/nov/26/critical-mass-london-police
Press Assocation: Police attempts to outlaw the monthly Critical Mass cycle ride through the streets of London unless its route is notified in advance were blocked by the law lords today. The House of Lords allowed a challenge by a cyclist, Des Kay, to a court of appeal ruling that the Metropolitan police had the right to demand prior notice of the ride's date, time and route and the names and addresses of the organisers. Cyclists who gather on the South Bank and ride through the city to ...
Wed, 26 Nov 08
Credit crunch warning over UK energy security
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/26/utilities-energy-security-ofgem
Guardian: The credit crunch is forcing Britain's power companies to pay high prices for their borrowing and could have a long term impact on supply, according to the UK's top energy regulator. Alistair Buchanan, chief executive of Ofgem, said the global financial crisis was making it harder for companies to borrow and, when they could, the terms were increasingly expensive. Buchanan told the cross-party business and enterprise committee of MPs yesterday that companies were paying 4% to ...
Wed, 26 Nov 08
Consumers rank climate concerns ahead of economy in global survey
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/26/climate-change-carbon-emissions
Guardian: Consumers around the world want governments to stop haggling and start acting on climate change, according to a survey carried out in 12 countries by a coalition of climate groups. Despite the looming prospect of a deep global recession, 43% of the 12,000 respondents of the survey chose climate change ahead of the global economy when asked about their current concerns. Worldwide, 77% of respondents wanted to see their governments cutting carbon by their fair share or more, in order to ...
Wed, 26 Nov 08
'World mandate' on climate action
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7748247.stm
BBC: An opinion poll in 11 countries has produced what organisers term a "global mandate" for action on climate change. About half of the respondents wanted governments to play a major role in curbing emissions, but only a quarter said their leaders were doing enough. In developing countries, a majority of people were prepared to make "lifestyle changes" to reduce climate change. The survey was commissioned by the HSBC Climate Partnership, which includes business and ...
Wed, 26 Nov 08
Locust plagues may be eased by global warming
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16137-locust-plagues-may-be-eased-by-global-warming.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: It's not often we can report on some good news associated with climate change. But it seems that warming temperatures could give welcome respite to farmers - in China, at least - by suppressing locust plagues. Zhibin Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and colleagues have trawled through 1000 years of historical records documenting locust swarms and compared it with 1000 years of temperature, drought and flood data estimates. They found that the Oriental migratory locust ...
Wed, 26 Nov 08
United Kingdom: 'Go greener' call to schools, jails and hospitals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/26/green-politics-climate-change
Guardian: Ed Miliband has used his first speech as climate change and energy secretary to call on prisons, schools and hospitals to generate more renewable energy. Speaking to the Environment Agency yesterday, Miliband said the public sector, which accounts for 10% of land in the UK, should be contributing more than the 1% of renewable energy it now generates. Miliband also called on the environment movement to put more pressure on his department in the run-up to international climate ...
Wed, 26 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Wasted opportunities: Cutting back the vast tonnage of household food that ends up in landfill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/26/waste-environment
Guardian: Inviting people to assess their likelihood of having liver damage by noting how many booze bottles they recycle - as the Drink Aware Trust is currently doing - might make people drink less. But could encouraging the public to take a fresh look at the congealing carcasses, mouldy macaroni and rancid ratatouilles that make up 20% of the average household's rubbish help us shrink our food waste mountain? By 2013, when EU plans to enforce stricter waste targets and penalties will be ...
Wed, 26 Nov 08
Carbon regulation could "cripple" Texas: Perry
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4AP09920081126?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Texas Gov. Rick Perry said on Tuesday that the economy of the leading energy producing U.S. state would be "crippled" by a federal agency's proposal to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. Perry urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "to suppress the urge" to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, citing the "devastating implications for Texas' economy and energy industry." Responding to the EPA's proposed greenhouse gas rule-making under the Clean Air Act, Perry said ...
Wed, 26 Nov 08
United Kingdom: Severn Barrage should be scrapped in favour of tidal reef RSPB
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/wavepower/3515086/Severn-Barrage-should-be-scrapped-in-favour-of-tidal-reef---RSPB.html
Telegraph: The tidal power at the mouth of the River Severn has the potential to generate up to 5 per cent of the UK's electricity needs. At the moment the Government is currently looking at 10 different proposals on how to harness the power, including a tidal reef and a barrage. A barrage from Cardiff in Wales to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset on the other side of the river, is the most well known option. However it is unpopular with conservationists who say that the 10 mile dam will be ...
Wed, 26 Nov 08
Eastern EU members seek new climate proposal ahead of summit
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1227620822.46
Agence France-Presse: Eastern EU member states want to see a fresh proposal from France regarding the European Union's planned climate and energy package, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Monday. Speaking after a meeting of the nine nations' foreign ministers, Sikorski recalled that French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- whose nation holds the EU presidency -- will be in Gdansk 2on December 6, Saint Nicolas Day. "I hope he will bring us a present in the form of good prop